ICARDA Caravan 6

Reliable seed supply is a cornerstone of food security. Centralized supply systems find it difficult to meet the needs of subsistence farmers. But farmer-saved seed has its drawbacks. An appropriate compromise is needed. The Ethiopian Seed Enterprise seems to have found one for tef, the major subsistence crop in Ethiopia. It recently worked with ICARDA to assess the scheme--which could be a transferrable model for other regions and crops. Now it is being extended to one of ICARDA's most important mandate crops--food barley for subsistence.

From tef to barley. Top left: Women carrying tef to the threshing floor after the harvest in Ginchi, Western Showa, in December. Above: Storage facility at Addis Alen made of stakes and tef straw; cool, and raised to give extra protection, it is very effective. Left: ESE's scheme is now being extended to barley-seed production, initially involving about 50 farmers in Gondar. Below:  Members of an external review team, led by a Dutch donor representative (center), study the Barley Improvement Project run by the Ethiopian national program and ICARDA. The project's     goal--sustainable crop development through the use of landraces--would be assisted by the seed distribution system that ESE has developed.

By Sam Kugbei and Abeba Fikru

eed supply is a frequent, and serious, bottleneck in improving crop varieties for resource-poor smallholders. This can be as great a constraint to adoption of improved varieties as any other factor. Centralized seed production systems aren't always very effective in providing seeds for specifically-adapted crops, which are needed by small-scale farmers in order to provide food security. Centralized systems inherently limit the number of varieties available, they may not have outlets in the right place, and their efficiency may vary (although it may of course be excellent). The private sector is not usually an alternative for subsistence farmers, who can not pay a price that would make commercial seed production worthwhile.
        This problem is exacerbated by the fact that, in ICARDA's view,  subsistence crops must be specifically adapted for location and inputs, or they won't give the yield stability needed by the very poor. This can expose them to famine. So biodiversity must be kept in the field as well as in the genebank--a policy being energetically pursued by ICARDA in its barley-breeding strategy (see Three Among The Millions in Caravan No. 4).
        As an alternative, farmers can fall back on farmer-saved seed, either theirs or their neighbors'. But this does have disadvantages. The seed itself may  not be quite what it appears, and supply may not be completely reliable.
        ICARDA's Seed Unit works with small farmers to seek alternative cost-effective approaches to seed production and distribution within rural farming communities.  To this end, a study on an innovative seed distribution system is currently underway in Ethiopia in cooperation with the Ethiopian Seed Enterprise (ESE). The scheme has been designed around Eragrostis tef  (commonly known as tef), a crop on which ICARDA does not work, but the seed system is likely to be transferrable to other crops. Partly as a result of ICARDA's input, ESE is now extending the scheme to barley,  for which ICARDA has a world-wide mandate. In the meantime, some explanation of what tef is, and what it is used for, may help put the ESE experiment, and how it began, in context.

They are happy about the role; contract seed production is something they have always associated with larger, well-to-do farmers, and they regard it as prestigious. There has been growing evidence of farmer-to-farmer exchange, with seeds being given in exhange for crops rather than cash.
        Recently ESE decided that it was time to expand the scheme to cover other major tef-growing areas in Ethiopia. But it was thought wise to assess progress so far before this was continuing; and this was done in collaboration with ICARDA.
        It is logical to think that if smallholders were to become successful contract growers, this would provide a more reliable source of improved/certified seed for resource-poor farmers. Even more important, this could be a useful linkage between the formal and informal (traditional) seed sectors, a hitherto rather loose relationship. 
        ICARDA's survey amongst tef growers in Ethiopia suggests that ESE's methodology works, and could provide a good model for other countries and crops. But ICARDA also identified some effective ways of promoting this village-level seed production, while fostering functional relationships with formal sector institutions. 
        Firstly, instead of seed enterprises establishing direct contacts with small farmers, it is more effective to cooperate with extension agents of the Ministry of Agriculture, who often already work with these farmers in various aspects of general agriculture.  These agents will, however, require some seed-specific training to assist their advisory function. 
        Secondly, it has been observed that small farmers do not rely solely on messages from extension agents; they prefer to see things for themselves in the field and learn from experience.  This means, that prior to initiating a contract scheme, on-farm demonstration of new varieties is useful; moreover, this encourages collaboration between extension agents, seed staff and farmers.  Thirdly, where credit is required, this should be given in kind (e.g. foundation seed, fertilizer, herbicide, etc.) as much as possible to minimize misuse of funds, often a risk with cash advances.  Moreover, such credit should be channelled through extension agents to local organizations such as Peasant Associations, and not given to individual farmers.  It is recognized that peer group pressure within farmer organizations tends to encourage partnership, motivate farmers to work hard, and hence pay back their loans. 
        Fourthly, almost all small farmers generally save their own seed for planting the following season.  In the event that they are short of seed, their best alternative source is a trusted neighbor whose crop they have already seen growing in the field.  If this source is not available, they then proceed to the nearby local market where a wide range of grain is sold for seed from which they can choose.  This, of course, indicates that a village market place is an ideal location for an outlet selling seed to small farmers. 
        A fifth conclusion was that simple attempts at crop improvement--in this case, merely preventing physical admixture of red and white tef--can produce a superior, commercially- competitive material. It has been shown that even at subsistence level, sowing of clean, pure seed, followed by careful crop husbandry and post-harvest handling, and use of simple cleaning and storage facilities may be all that an ingenious farmer needs to develop a sustainable small-scale seed enterprise for tef.
ESE's innovation in contracting smallholders to produce tef seed has only been going a few years, and more time is required to demonstrate long-term sustainability. But the positive report from ICARDA's investigation has encouraged ESE to extend the scheme to food barley, which is grown for subsistence. About 50 small-scale farmers are involved for the 1997-98 cropping season,  in the province of Gondar. ICARDA's work on barley in Ethiopia has stressed breeding from local landraces, and this type of distribution system would help preserve them.
        The bottom line in making this work sustainable is a close partnership between researchers, seed technologists, extension agents, economists and farmers, all working together to remove constraints to tef, and now barley, production and improve quality.
        ICARDA's Seed Unit, and the WANA Seed Network it coordinates, could play a major role in this. ESE could find that its work is, indirectly, protecting farmers from seed shortage and even famine a long way from the Horn of Africa.



Dr Sam Kugbei is Seed Economist, ICARDA. Mrs Abeba Fikru is Head of ESE Finance Section and Coordinator of ESE/ICARDA collaborative work in seed economics.

Selling tef at a local store on the road from Debre Zeit to Addis Abeba.

        Injera for breakfast, injera for lunch, injera for dinner--it's the favorite daily dish for most Ethiopians.  The basic ingredient in injera, a pancake-like local bread, is flour produced from the grain of a cereal called tef, one of the tiniest of cultivated grains. Injera is consumed by Ethiopians, irrespective of where they are, and provides a highly-nutritious diet, being rich in protein. It also contains a good balance of essential amino acids--with the exception of lysine.  This is essential to growth, but local people are well aware of the deficiency and supplement injera with an accompanying soup or wot,  prepared from ground pulses such as lentils, chickpea or faba bean.  This eating habit is reflected strongly in a farming system where almost all small farmers cultivate a variety of crops--including  tef and food legumes.
        Tef  is characterized by a great wealth of genetic diversity, with many wild relatives currently being used in crop improvement work such as yield enhancement and drought tolerance and disease resistance. This diversity makes it all the more worthwhile to devise a seed-distribution system which does not reduce the genetic variation to be found in farmers' fields.
        There is a specific problem with seed production in tef. Maintaining pure unmixed seed of white and red tef is as important as obtaining high yield.  Consumers, particularly in urban areas (there is some commercial production), prefer white tef and are prepared to pay up to 50 per cent mark-up in price over the red for the white type. Consumer preference for white tef seems a purely market issue and appears to have little to do with differences in taste or nutritional value.  Farmers usually grow both types, keeping red tef for home consumption and taking white tef to the market.  It is essential to ensure that the two types don't mix.
        Keeping pure seeds of both forms is difficult, but possible, since tef is self-pollinating, and is not known to undergo out-crossing.  Admixture of white with red tef often arises from mechanical causes, such as volunteer plants in the field, poor cleaning of threshers or processing equipment between varieties, mixing of seed on threshing and drying floors, and use of old sacks for seed storage. 
        The Ethiopian Seed Enterprise (ESE) has found that attempts to produce seed on contracted state farms has resulted in large stocks of 'mixed material' which is of far inferior quality compared to white tef produced from local varieties by small farmers.  An innovative approach by ESE of contracting smallholders to produce certified seed of tef holds a lot of promise: it generates income for peasants in the rural areas, creates a community of seed producers, and helps develop effective distribution mechanisms that could spread improved cultivars through farmer-to-farmer exchange. ESE purchases part of the seed produced by growers, providing income for the contracting farmers. At the same time, the latter are encouraged to distribute seed through local exchange mechanisms to other farmers in the community. This helps to build a sustainable seed-supply system that strengthens the informal sector and links it well to the formal sector, while enhancing indigenous capability in quality seed production. The pilot scheme has now been underway for a few years, and involves about 150 farmers, including some women farmers, with around 0.5 ha each.