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The Community of Practice of Seed Security Assessments for the Horn of Africa

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The Community of Practice of Seed Security Assessments for the Horn of Africa <[log in to unmask]>
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Mon, 4 Aug 2014 11:24:47 +0300
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The Community of Practice of Seed Security Assessments for the Horn of Africa <[log in to unmask]>
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Lita Joseph <[log in to unmask]>
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Dear Okidi, Dear Colleagues,

 

I have been following the discussions keenly and have liked the brilliant Ideas and experiences being shared, thanks to Joseph for setting the stage.

 

South Sudan is one of the countries in the horn of Africa where there has been massive humanitarian and recovery work in food security involving provision of seed aid. Concerns have been raised by some assisted famers about varietal unsuitable (un-adapted and un-preferred), this is common with seeds sourced from the formal seed systems from neighboring countries. What has been said about varietal adoptability by the previous discussants are true; I would therefore like to add some experience on varietal preference, an aspect of varietal suitability which has often been neglected.

 

TMT 14 Cassava variety was provided as seed aid to farmers in one of the rural areas in South Sudan where cassava is a stable food; the variety was highly adapted to the area but less preferred. This was because TMT 14 cannot survive for long in the field unlike the local varieties that can stay for as long as two years or more in the field without getting spoiled, supporting the practice of harvesting only a small quantity at a time. The beneficiaries, like majority of farmers in South Sudan were peasants who practice subsistence farming with inefficient post harvest handling techniques and had no access to markets where they could dispose off the excess produce. The TMT 14 cassava variety was therefore unsuitability to Socio economic setting in the project area. This is one of the scenarios related to seed variety unsuitability in terms of preference which could be solved by undertaking comprehensive Seed Security and Livelihood baseline survey and provision of adequate extension services following introduction of new varieties. The Farmer Field School approach is recommended.

 

 There has always not been adequate assessment of Seed Security of crises affected population where I have worked in South Sudan. Normally during or after a crisis, an Inter-Agency Assessment involving all humanitarian actors is conducted to determine the general situation of the crisis and recommend humanitarian actions. Specific Seed Security Assessment is considered inappropriate during emergency responses, beside capacity to conduct Seed security assessment being inadequate.  In case of South Sudan more capacity is needed to lead the humanitarian community in seed security assessment for appropriate programming of Seed Aid and Seed System Development in the country.

 

Whereas some humanitarian actors have tried to take into consideration interests of the affected populations when planning seed related interventions, consultations with the affected population has always been inadequate. This is even worse during emergency interventions where humanitarian agency keep stock of seeds for emergency responses.

In South Sudan, Accountability to the effected people in terms of provision of Seed Aid has however improved over the years, today, FAO a lead agency in FSL has adopted the seed fair modality where beneficiaries are provided with Seed Voucher and Venders are mobilized to supply the different seed. In this case the farmers have liberty to choice the seed type and variety of their choice. This is still being practiced on small scale and when fully adopted it will help improve accountability to the affected population.

 

Thank you

 

Best Regards

Lita

 

 

From: The Community of Practice of Seed Security Assessments for the Horn of Africa [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Patricia Philip
Sent: Friday, 01 August, 2014 11:21 AM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: Unsuitable crop parieties being provided to affected population in the form of seed aid in the horn of Africa region - POOR QUALITY SEED

 

Hello Joseph Okidi

greetings from Juba , hoping that you are very fine.

I feel interesting to be a part of discussion, and I agreed with some of the colleagues and friends, and that is why some of humanitarian project like agriculture dose not succeed. there are three major things to be involve
1. every body/farmer  need to learn a new variety most of humanitarian distribute seeds / variety with out giving farmers knowledge about its timing weather it is a quick variety of long term.
2. they don,t care about the type of soil, weather , climate and rainfall.
3.they don,t sit with the farmers to identify the best variety for the farmers compare to the market , and they don,t assess weather, there is a seeds / crops  locally with in the area or not.

so my advise to humanitarian actors is like this .
assessment is the main important instrument to identify the real needs of the main affected population to help you get a way forwards even in term of emergency.

any way thank you very much 

Patricia Philip 
PSO
Trocaire . south
 Sudan Juba
      










From:        "Okidi, Joseph (FAOKE)" <[log in to unmask]>
To:        [log in to unmask]
Date:        01/08/2014 09:42
Subject:        Re: Unsuitable crop parieties being provided to affected population in the form of seed aid in the horn of Africa region - POOR QUALITY SEED
Sent by:        The Community of Practice of Seed Security Assessments for the Horn of Africa <[log in to unmask]>

  _____  




Dear Michel,
 
I totally Agree with you that many humanitarian actors think famer’s seed are of poor quality. Much as I agree the we need to follow certain critical procedure in checking quality (germination, purity, MC etc), many times the guys from the seed companies tend to be smart enough in duping us  on quality. I have had some bad experience while working with FAO South Sudan. FAO Uses an international quality control agent, but I realized that if you totally rely on the paper work only you may easily be duped. Quality check done be done along supply chains – Kneeing where this seed have been produced, checking with the relevant government authority if the supplier actually has the capacity or quantity you need, sampling and testing seed before loadin, and final checking by the technical staff at field level. Most importantly, how do we punish those supplying BAD SEED?  Otherwise, as you have already mention, we shall do more harm than good to the affected population.
 
Regards,
 
Joseph
 
From: Micheal Yemane [ <mailto:[log in to unmask]> mailto:[log in to unmask]] 
Sent: Thursday, July 31, 2014 1:57 PM
To: The Community of Practice of Seed Security Assessments for the Horn of Africa
Subject: RE: Unsuitable crop parieties being provided to affected population in the form of seed aid in the horn of Africa region
 
Thanks Joseph for raising an important issue. 
You are right most of the agencies think farmer's seeds are of poor quality, which is not correct. One thing that we have to realize is the farmers are the best experts for their farm. They have been living for generations on the land and have wealth of accumulated knowledge. The great solution is not to start from scratch but it is to consult the farmers/target people. I have seen a cotton seed distributed, which can't germinate, wasting lots of money. I expect real professional to follow certain critical procedures. We have to know the variety, germination percentage, purity and its disease/drought tolerance. Without this basics, doing seed distribution will do more harm than good. 
In most cases affected people are not consulted before implementation of the program. It is understandable....time can be constraint in rapid onset emergencies. We may rush to secure the budget/funding but during implementation we have to sit with the farmers to know the specifics of the support. The interest of farmers can be rice seed but attention has to be paid to the variety equally. By giving rice seed, we cannot address their problem. 
As expert, there are certain areas that need improvement in farmer's routine exercise. Recent innovations and research ideas has to be tested in the field and disseminated in a proper way. By talking to the direct beneficiaries, we can be more efficient!
 
Regards! 
 
­­­­­­----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Micheal Yemane
Advisor, Food Security and Livelihoods
International Medical Corps,  From Relief to Self-Reliance
Cell Phone (in Eth): +251-913-283266
www.InternationalMedicalCorps.org <http://www.internationalmedicalcorps.org/> 
Skype: micheal.yemane1
 
From: The Community of Practice of Seed Security Assessments for the Horn of Africa [ <mailto:[log in to unmask]> mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Okidi, Joseph (FAOKE)
Sent: 31 July 2014 10:44
To:  <mailto:[log in to unmask]> [log in to unmask]
Subject: Unsuitable crop parieties being provided to affected population in the form of seed aid in the horn of Africa region
 
Dear All,
 
 


A lot of humanitarian and recovery work in food security in the Horn of Africa region involves provision of seed aid with significant direct seed distribution of seed sourced from the formal sector (seed companies). There have been concerns from some of the assisted famers in the recent past that some of the varieties are unsuitable (un-adapted and un-preferred). Many times famer’s seed are considered of poor quality by humanitarian actors, and therefore, the need to provide them with quality seeds of varieties which are improved – high yielding, disease resistant, drought tolerant etc.
 
1.      Do you agree that at times unsuitable varieties are being provided in the form of seed aid? What is your experience with this? And do you think this can be improved?
 
2.      Do you think seed security of the crisis/disaster affected population is well assessed and analyzed before any intervention – If not how do you want this improved?
 
3.      Are the views of the affected populations normally well taken into consideration when planning seed related interventions by humanitarian actors? 
 
Note: This e-discussion will run until 15th of August. 
 
Regards,
 
Joseph Okidi
 
Seed System Specialist
FAO REOA
 
 
 
 

 

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