Improved agricultural productivity in Africa is seen as a major priority for achieving poverty reduction, food security and inclusive economic growth. The role of new technology – and in particular seed technology and systems – is seen as an important potential contributor. While the African seed industry has grown through a period of liberalisation, there has been equally a decline in public sector inputs into the seed system. Increasingly multinational companies are playing a role.
However this combination of technical and marketing expertise may not be the optimal approach for the African setting given the diverse agroecologies and marketing contexts. Access to seeds for food security may be restricted by market failure, high costs, intellectual property restrictions and seed technology not geared to local conditions and demands.
This scoping and mapping research will investigate the proposition that the Indian seed industry, in collaboration with African actors, can provide low cost seed technology and marketing capacity for smallholders that will reduce poverty through improved agricultural production at lower cost, if certain financing, capacity and policy gaps/barriers are addressed. We will examine whether the seeds technologies on offer meet the food security needs of poorer farmers in Africa, and whether there are lessons from India’s wider seed system – from R and D through to marketing – for improving the productivity and resilience of African seed systems to meet food security and poverty reduction challenges. Stakeholder dialogue on the findings of the investigation will be used to strengthen partnerships and identify follow on actions geared to catalysing the potential development impact of Indian companies.
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