Farmers growing indigenous seeds want govt recognition

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Farmers growing and producing indigenous seeds are calling for support from the government to increase production.

Although smallholder farmers produce the indigenous seed informally, these are not recognized by the formal seed systems.

Farmers argue that indigenous seeds account for 30% of seeds sold and planted by farmers in the country.

According to Joseph Magezi, a farmer also chairperson of the Mityana District Farmers Association, indigenous seeds have better food values unlike formal seeds, which he said can be adjusted to introduce some nutrients such as magnesium, zinc, and iron among others.

He cited goose berries (Entuntunu) which he said have natural elements that detoxify the kidney but its seed production is limited due to lack of support from the government.

The Assistant Commissioner in charge of Seed Inspection and Certification in the Ministry of Agriculture Dr. Teddy Mary Asio assured the meeting that the government has plans of training those producing traditional seed to the acceptable standards. (Credit: Prossy Nandutu)

The Assistant Commissioner in charge of Seed Inspection and Certification in the Ministry of Agriculture Dr. Teddy Mary Asio assured the meeting that the government has plans of training those producing traditional seed to the acceptable standards. (Credit: Prossy Nandudu)

On how much seed his group could produce, Magezi said that currently, he works with 35 farmer groups producing indigenous seed of which the majority are youth.

“We have many farmers, the youth but we just need some small money to support these people to produce more seed because the seed being sold today is not enough for the population,” Magezi said.

Some of the seeds being produced by Magezi and other farmers include beans, bananas, coffee, jackfruit, avocado, pumpkins, all types of yams, and oranges among others.

On why they cannot get funds from government programs such as the Parish Development Model, Magezi added those giving out the money do not consider seed production as a venture.

He made the call on Wednesday during the capacity building workshop on ‘Promoting Farmer Managed Seed Systems to foster Food Sovereignty and Protection of Bio-cultural Diversity in Uganda and the EAC Region’ organized by SEATINI Uganda at Hilton Hotel Kampala.

Farmers argue that indigenous seeds account for 30% of seeds sold and planted by farmers in the country. (Credit: Prossy Nandudu)

His call was re-echoed by Huzaima Sekalema, the head of Agriculture Trade for Rural Transformation program at the Southern and Eastern Africa Trade Information and Negotiations Institute (SEATINI) Uganda.

According to Sekalema, research shows that over 75% of seed used by farmers in Uganda is sourced from formal seed systems. The other percentage is from other sources including farmer-managed seed systems.

“Unfortunately, current seed policies only recognize seed from formal sources; however, it's time now for the government to recognize seed produced by farmers. Once it is recognized then such farmers will be supported to make the seed better for production,” Sekalema explained.

He added through their engagements with the government, seed produced by farmers is considered not developed and hence cannot be certified.

He added that although there is another class of seed, called Quality Declared Seed (QDS), which is seed produced by farmers, under the supervision of seed inspectors from the Ministry of Agriculture, the system is restricted on the kind of seed to produce.

“So, through this engagement with stakeholders, we want to see how best the government can work with farmers to ensure that their seed is recognized and is not wiped out of the system by the current seed system in the country,” he added.

In response, the Assistant Commissioner in charge of Seed Inspection and Certification in the Ministry of Agriculture Dr. Teddy Mary Asio assured the meeting that the government has plans of training those producing traditional seed to the acceptable standards. 

She added that the training will consider the good seed production practices and the unique attributes that such seed brings on board.