Project Briefs

Facilitation of seed sector innovations in West Nile: Using multi-stakeholder platforms for co-ownership of change

Farmers in West Nile, as elsewhere in Uganda, are faced with numerous challenges in accessing quality seed. Generally, seed is an expensive input, whereas its quality is often low with high levels of impurities, mixtures of different varieties and low germination rates, resulting in low crop productivity. Because of weak linkages between farmers and research organisations, new varieties do not always respond to farmers’ demands. Seed regulations are also weak and not enforced, and counterfeit seed in the West Nile seed market, as in other areas of Uganda, is a serious problem. These factors discourage farmers to invest their limited financial resources in buying quality seed.

Weak coordination between seed sector stakeholders is a hindrance in tackling seed value chain bottlenecks in the region. To respond to these issues, the ISSD team at the Abi Zonal Agricultural Research and Development Institute (ZARDI) established a seed MSP in the West Nile region in 2013. The platform objective was to engage with key West Nile seed sector stakeholders for dialogue and information sharing on key seed sector bottlenecks; work together on solutions to these bottlenecks; and, align and coordinate various actors’ seed interventions in the zone.