Policy and performance in Uganda's seed sector: Opportunities and challenges

Abstract

Motivation: Efforts to increase smallholder access to improved varieties and quality seed is often central to agricultural development, economic growth, and poverty reduction in low-income countries. Yet many governments and development partners grow impatient with slow progress in their seed sectors. Uganda stands out for its recent policy innovations, regulatory reforms, and market experiments for seed, and for the extensive analysis of its experience. Purpose: This article reviews the changing landscape ofUganda's seed system and assesses recent policy, regulatory, and institutional changes.Methods and approach: We draw on a wide range of documents, studies, and statistics.Findings: The low uptake of improved varieties and quality seed in Uganda has encouraged innovation to overcome failures in the country's seed market. These innovations include regulatory changes to allow the production of quality declared seed (QDS) by smallholder seed producers; labelling to allow text message verification of seed; and crowd-sourcing information on seed quality by farmers. All have promise, but it remains to be seen just how effective they will be. In the meantime, vested interests may resist moves to a more innovative seed sector, instead preferring to maintain the incumbent approach designed to use seed

Navigating toward resilient and inclusive seed systems

“…Even when multiplication works well, producers have problems with the transport and storage of seeds in remote areas. Some solutions have been proposed, such as revising the roles of public agricultural research institutes and parastatals to focus on the supply of EGS of diverse crops and varieties, leaving seed multiplication and dissemination to seed producers and distributors, thereby strengthening the interface between public improved variety/germplasm providers and seed producers ( 70 – 72 ). Nonetheless, seed production by public and private companies remains limited in the Global South ( 73 , 74 ), covering less than 20% of the seed demand for most food crops in many countries ( 5 , 10 ).…”

“…Common challenges in public systems include high overhead costs and inefficiencies that often lead to late delivery of seed, insufficient supply, or low seed quality ( 83 , 104 ). This is further complicated by the fact that in some countries, parastatals have monopolies over certified seed dissemination for political reasons ( 72 ). Private seed companies distribute seeds through their marketing outlets, such as agrodealers and cooperatives.…”

Emerging concepts in plant breeding and their use for the design of seed delivery and dissemination strategies: a systematic review

“…They are characterized by decentralized produc�on and marke�ng systems and unregulated (informal) seed quality control mechanisms (Sperling et al 2013;Munyi and De Jonge, 2015). They o�en produce and supply QDS, which is sold in local markets and/or within specific geographical boundaries specified by na�onal quality control authori�es, e.g., in Uganda (Nagarajan et al 2021;Bagamba et al 2021;Mastenbroek et al 2021;Bagamba et al 2022). Within this group we found several types with different names and arrangements and a common characteris�c: the produc�on and marke�ng of seed that is considered of higher quality than the seed produced by the informal sector Maharjan and Khanal, 2015;Bishaw and Niane, 2015;Sisay et al 2017;Mastenbroek et al 2021;Nagarajan et al 2021).…”

Maize seed aid and seed systems development: Opportunities for synergies in Uganda

“…Discussions on maize seed systems development have offered few insights on potential solutions to the varietal turnover problem. Efforts to develop formal seed systems for non-hybrid crops, such as sorghum, millet and groundnut, have proven to be even more challenging, given the lack of incentives for private sector investment in seed multiplication and distribution (Bagamba et al, 2022).…”