quality declared seed brief
DESCRIPTION
In this brief you can read about the pilot on quality assurance for Quality Declared Seed (QDS). QDS is a class of seed under the draft National Seed Policy 2014 in Uganda. QDS requires minimum field inspection and certification standards for variety purity and germination This meets the needs of smallholder farmers and is a basis for future certified seed market development. To promote QDS, ISSD Uganda has organised and empowered market-oriented farmers into Local Seed Businesses (LSBs). In this brief you can read more about how the process of field inspections and seed testing for QDS is implemented and how the LSBs are doing in terms of QDS.TRANSCRIPT
Supporting a vibrant, pluralistic and market oriented seed sector www.issduganda.org
Twitter: ISSD_Uganda
ISSD Uganda
Integrated Seed Sector Development
Background
The use of good quality seed and planting materi-
als of high yielding varieties significantly increas-
es crop production. It is essential that it is availa-
ble on time and place at affordable prices. In
Uganda, there are two co-existing seed systems
through which seed and planting materials are
availed to farmers. The formal system is regulat-
ed by Government and contributes about 15% of
total seed supply. The remaining 85% of seed is
produced through the informal system that is un-
regulated and depends on farm-saved seed from
previous cropping.
The Seed and plant Act 2006 provides for five
classes of seed including pre-basic, basic, certi-
fied (I & II), and standard. The draft National
Seed Policy 2014 adds Quality Declared Seed
(QDS) as the sixth class of seed to be implement-
ed under the Act. QDS requires minimum field
inspection and certification standards for variety
purity and germination This meets the needs of
smallholder farmers and is a basis for future cer-
tified seed market development. QDS is designed
to complement the traditional seed and planting
material inspection and certification scheme.
To promote QDS, the Integrated Seed Sector De-
velopment (ISSD) programme Uganda has or-
ganised and empowered market-oriented farmers
into Local Seed Businesses (LSBs). Currently, 30
LSBs with approximately 900 farmers are operat-
ing in Northern, South Western and West Nile
regions. LSBs produce and market QDS of mainly
food and nutritional security crops within their
communities and in areas where certified seed
from seed companies is not used or sold. In sea-
son 2015A, LSBs sold over 1000 tons of various
seed (Table 1).
Pilot Quality Assurance for Quality Declared Seed
October 2015
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Supporting a vibrant, pluralistic and market-oriented seed sector
Table 1: Quantity of QDS sold by LSBs in 2015A
QDS produced by LSBs was tested at the nation-
al seed laboratory in Kawanda and the seed met
the minimum national standards of variety puri-
ty and germination (Table 2).
Table 2: Quality of QDS produced by LSBs
Each seed class has a unique color label for dif-
ferentiation, for example green for QDS and
blue for certified seed. However, many seed us-
ers and law enforcers that tackle counterfeit
seed are not familiar with the labels on pack-
aged seed.
Figure 1: A sample of the green QDS label
Therefore, it is necessary to operationalize the
quality assurance for QDS through a multi-
stakeholder pilot project.
This will enhance the growth of the seed trade,
while encouraging the use of quality certified
seed by the farming communities.
Components of the pilot project
Goal
The goal of the innovation project is to test the
effectiveness of quality assurance system for
QDS and its decentralized field inspection.
Objectives
The main objectives are to:
Ensure quality control in production and
marketing of QDS
Promote use of QDS by smallholder
farmers
Popularise use of seed labels among
various stakeholders.
The project is being implemented in 25 districts
of Western Uganda, Northern Uganda, and West
Nile involving 30 already established LSBs.
Special attention will be paid to identifying those
LSBs that can graduate to a higher level and
they will receive further coaching. The main
partners are:
Ministry of Agriculture Animal Industry and
Fisheries (MAAIF) to support and supervise
the centralized operations
ISSD Uganda to provide technical and
financial support
30 LSBs producing QDS
District Agricultural Officers of the 25
districts to conduct field inspections
Kawanda seed laboratory and a pilot seed
testing at Ngetta ZARDI to test for purity
and germination
Uganda Seed Trade Association (USTA) to
popularize QDS and certified seed labels
The scheme for operationalizing the field
inspection and seed testing is presented in
figure 2.
Seed QDS Purity range (%)
Minimum national purity standard (%)
QDS Germination range (%)
Minimum national germination standard (%)
Soybean 99 98 88 65
Groundnuts N/A NA 82 - 92 60
Pigeon peas 99.8 98 90 70
Sesame 98 - 99.8 98 75 - 92 60
Beans 99.1 - 100 98 85 - 95 60
Sorghum 99.6 - 99.8 98 63-73 70
Rice 99.4- 99.5 98 90-96 75
Seed Quantity sold (kg)
1 Beans 146,539
2 Cassava 760,620
3 Groundnuts 3,071
4 Finger millet 938
5 Potato 13,900
6 Rice 38,053
7 Sesame 21,155
8 Soy bean 5,056
9 Pasture 500
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www.issduganda.org
Twitter: ISSD_Uganda
Figure 2: Schematic representation of the filed inspections and seed testing
LSBs sow foundation seed from
research or authorized entity
LSBs submit planting returns to authorized DAO
DAO inspects LSB fields (1st Inspection)
DAO inspects LSB fields (2nd Inspection)
QDS harvested and processed
Seed sampler picks seed from LSBs
Seed tested at Kawanda or Ngetta laboratory
Kawanda or Ngetta laboratory issues certificate
LSBs submit request for seed labels to ISSD
ISSD submits request for seed labels to MAAIF
MAAIF (NSCS) issues seed labels
Seed packaged and labeled
QDS marketed
Week 0
Week 2
Week 4
Week 17
Week 17
Week 18
Week 19
Week 19
Week 6-8
Week 16
Week 21
Week 23
Week 24
LSBs pay inspection fees to DAOs
LSBs pay testing fees to ISSD
If seed meet minimum standards
If fields meet minimum standards
If fields meet minimum standards
LSBs pay fees for labels to ISSD
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Supporting a vibrant, pluralistic and market-oriented seed sector
Sustainability
For a QDS system to be effective, it must be fi-
nancially viable for all actors involved in QDS
production and it’s quality assurance. The level
of the mandatory services and requirements
should take into consideration this vital require-
ment. This can be achieved by optimizing the
rigors of inspections and seed testing to ensure
conformity to standards, while ensuring that the
LSBs can afford it and smallholder farmers can
buy the seed. Thus, the pilot compares the cost
effectiveness of the decentralized scheme and
the current centralized inspection by the National
Seed certification Service (NSCS).
The comparison will look at effectiveness of:
Inspection and certification by NSCS vs dele-
gated DAOs
Seed sampling
Seed testing at Kawanda vs delegated seed
laboratory at Ngetta ZARDI
It is estimated the traditional centralized system
costs UGX 42M for the 30 LSBs over one
season, whereas using the decentralized
approach of delegated inspection to the DAOs
costs will be approximately UGX 8.7M. This
represents a significant reduction in transaction
costs and hence a more cost effective
decentralized system of inspection.
What are the benefits of QDS?
Through the quality assurance system, skilled
and enterprising farmers involved in informal
seed systems have an opportunity to “graduate”
into the formal seed system by expanding their
production of QDS, establishing a brand name,
and marketing their seed. This will promote use
of Quality seed among farming communities and
raise household incomes. QDS will also increase
smallholder farmers’ demand for quality seed so
as to boost crop productivity and ensure food
security.
With funding from the Embassy of the Kingdom of the
Netherlands, the Integrated Seed Sector Development
(ISSD) programme is implemented by Wageningen
University and Research Centre, Center for Develop-
ment Innovation (CDI) in partnership with the
National Agricultural Research Organization (NARO).