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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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Patricia Philip <[log in to unmask]>
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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]] 

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

Skype: micheal.yemane1

 

From: The Community of Practice of Seed Security Assessments for the Horn 

of Africa [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Okidi, 

Joseph (FAOKE)

Sent: 31 July 2014 10:44

To: [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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