Delays in releasing improved crop varieties are hurting efforts to enhance food security and alleviate poverty.
Scientists blame regulatory red tape for failure to avail new varieties to farmers for periods stretching up to five years. Researchers say the hurdles at the approval stage mean that projects that could take three years end up to take two times that period.
Maize breeders, seed marketers and development partners say countries with slow approval processes are putting their farmers at risk of losses arising from drought, pests and diseases.
“Countries must have regulatory systems in place that can rapidly test and approve a continuous supply of new commercial varieties,” said Jane Ininda, founder of the Maize Breeders Network (MBNet).
Maize is the most important cereal crop in sub-Saharan Africa. According to the United Nations Food Programme, an estimated 50 per cent of the population in sub-Saharan Africa depends on maize as a staple food.
Usually, researchers develop improved maize varieties by working with pilot groups and then breed the varieties with the desired qualities over six to eight years. This is followed by a two to three year testing and approval process. In developed countries like the US, breeders usually are not required to wait for approval from the government so that they release their improved crop varieties to the farmers.
According to Dr. Bigirwa, once the breeders test the variety with the farmers and they like it, then it is released. “If the variety is not good, no seed company will sell it and farmers will not buy it either.’
“In some cases, new varieties are not being released to farmers for periods of up to five years,” said Josephine Okot, managing director of Victoria Seeds Limited-Uganda.
In Kenya, regulators grant new varieties a “pre-release” status, after just one year of testing in different locations before granting a full release in two years.
“There is real need for urgent action. Farmers can’t wait for years before getting their hands on good crop varieties,” Mr. Akin Adesina, Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa vice president of policy and partnerships, said.
Mr. Adesina said an efficient government approval system will be even more important as farmers struggle to cope with the effects of climate change, including intensified drought and floods predicted across large regions of the continent.
Business Daily Africa
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