Seed business difficulty in Ethiopia:

1. Depends on availability of good supply of high quality basic and prebasic seeds for certified seed production. Main source of pre-basic and
basic seed material in Ethiopia are from Federal and Regional Research
centres and Universities and also the Ethiopian Seed Enterprise(ESE)
2. Due to weather risks: Seed production drops during drought same as
that of the Crop production. This can be met by cultivation in irrigated
land, but there is a shortage of Irrigated land availability in Ethiopia.
Hence this is a challenging factor for the Public and Private sectors
3. Price Issues makes it difficult for the farmers to adopt these seeds.
4. Absence of retirement period for the crops released

National Varietal Seed Committee (NVRC)

Testing and releasing of new varieties

Agri Input Quality Control Department of MoARD

Certifies the seed for distribution and issue license for seed production,
Import & Export, retailing, etc.

Agri Input Marketing Department of MoARD

Involved in assessing the National Seed demand and Supply

Ethiopian Seed Enterprise (ESE)

Involved in the process of multiplication & distribution of improved

seeds for all major crops

The seeds produced by ESE are given to the Regional and District
Bureaus which in turn is given to the Farmers for cultivation

Ethiopian Maize Seed Business

26 firms are licensed to produce seeds (only 8 firms are active and are

a contractor to ESE)
33 firms are licensed to Retail
4 firms are licensed to Export seeds

Private Seed Company involved:

Pioneer Hi-Bred International

NGOs involved:

World Vision
CARE
Catholic Relief Service

Seed System in Ethiopia

Formal
Informal

1. Formal System:
Original source of Improved seeds
ESE is the main Supplier of the Improved seeds
Only Tef and Horticultural crops are done
Major actors are: Natural Agricultural Research System (NARS), MoARD,
and ESE
Private Seed Company: Pioneer
NARS is involved in the varietal development and supply of initial seeds
ESE, RSE- Mass production of improved seeds
MoARD- variety release, multiplication, certification and distribution of seeds
in the country

2. Informal System:

Traditional method, semi-structured

Operate at individual community level

Use wide range of exchange mechanism

Deals with small quantity of seeds
About 60-70% seeds used by Ethiopian small holder farmers is saved

on-farm and exchanged among farmers

20-30% is borrowed or purchased locally
Informal system accounts for about 90% and only 10% of the farmers

use Improved seeds, this is because of:

Cheap and available in village just when needed
Allows use of seeds after testing on primarily adopted farmers
More reliable and sustainable than the formal seed system
The main disadvantage is the absence of seed treatment against
seed borne pathogens

Integrated Seed Sector Development (ISSD):

Recognizes the relevance between the formal and informal seed

system
Also balances the public and private sector involvement
Supports seed sector development by identifying and characterizing a
range of seed systems and work within it according to the seed value

chain
AIM: To promote market orientation and entrepreneurship and faster
the emergence of a diversity of international, national and local seed

businesses to contribute their strengths and operate in special niches

Driving Forces: Food security, biodiversity management, economic

development and promotion of Agricultural entrepreneurship

Key topics defining entrepreneurship: Entrepreneurial skills

capacities
Focus area of engagement for good entrepreneurs
Need to consider social responsibility and accountability for effective
seed entrepreneurship

Ethiopias Agricultural Research System:

and

Developed and released more than 664 varieties of 50 different crop

types(MoARD 2010)
ESE has been able to produce only 111 different seeds of just 26

different crop varieties in 2009 cropping season

Seed Multiplication by ESE: focuses mainly on 2 cereal crops-

Maize and Wheat

The annual supply of certified seeds is nor more than 20000 tons
Wheat and Maize constitute 85% of the total output (Marja H.et

al,2008)
Total area covered by improved seeds in 2009/10 is 364,154 ha. In the
same season, the higher amount of improved seeds used was that of
Maize- 5720 tons in 210,000 ha and Wheat- 4690 tons in 38,000 ha

Seed Legislation:

In times of crisis, it is recommended to bring seed legislation in

conformity with the International Seed Testing Association (ISTA) to
facilitate import and export

Farmer cooperative Unions (FCUs)

Virtual role in seed and fertilizer distribution

Any person who wants to engage in Seed production, Import/Export are
required

to

obtain

competence

assurance

certificate

from

MoARD/BoARD, register their fields for inspection and give proof of the

parental material of the registered variety

The regional Authority can issue certificates of competence for seed
producers, processors, distributors and retailers in accordance with
Article 25 & 26

NSIA- National Seed Industry Agency

ESE:
Operates a Central Seed Testing Laboratory at the headquarters
5 mini laboratories attached to seed processing plants and storage
facilities located in different regions
RSEs and private seed growers use these labs

Seed Demand and Supply

MoARD should allow private sector to take lead in production and sale of
certified seed while public sector produces breeder, pre-basic and basic
seeds

Seed Import/Export
Include private traders, private producers, and public enterprises (ESE, HDE,
NGOs, research institutes, universities, etc.)

Program for Africas Seed System (PASSs) four programs

work as follows:

EACI- Funds Training of African Crop Breeders (Masters & PhD levels)
FIAAC- Funds the development and release of crop varieties
SEPA- Helps African Seed Companies produce seeds
ADP- Trains new Agro-Dealers

PASS Seed Value Chain:

Research & Development - training Breeders

- Breeding new varieties
Delivery -Seed enterprises
- Agro-dealer networks

PASS Cumulative Outputs 2007 2013

PUBLIC SECTOR
BREEDING

SUPPORT-ACADEMIC

TRAINING

AND

PLANT

MSc & PhD Students enrolled

355 (138 PhD)

MSc & PhD Students graduated

175 (56 PhD)

Varieties released

432 (19% by PASS graduates)

Varieties commercialized

263 (23% by PASS graduates)

Qty breeder seed (MT)

1,088

PRIVATE SECTOR SUPPORT-SEED

INPUT RETAILERS
(AGRO-DEALERS )
Seed enterprises supported
# Companies with loan (Amt)
Foundation seed (except for cassava ) by
private seed enterprises(MT)
Certified Seeds produced (MT)
Agro-dealers trained/certified
Agro-dealer seed sales (MT)
Agro-dealer fertilizer sales (MT)
# Agro-dealers with loan (Amt)

ENTERPRISES

AND

VILLAGE

110 (81 SMEs)

16 ($12.3 million)
3953
119,240 (57,992 in 2012)
14,098
376,315
931,418
5,773 ($50.2 million)

PARTNERSHIPS
AGRA is catalyst for African Growth
PASS projections of 250,000 MT of high quality seeds by 2015 will require
collaboration on the
ground (technical,
financial, policy)
USAID

Why is Broad Bean cultivation declining in Ethiopia these

days?

Broad bean is least drought resistant among the legume crops

Slow emergence of the crop (takes 20-25 days)

Area harvested is declining from 512,067 in 2009 to 151,225 in 2013