Quality Declared Seed Brief

ISSD Uganda Integrated Seed Sector Development

October 2015

Pilot Quality Assurance for Quality Declared Seed

Background

ed under the Act. QDS requires

minimum field

inspection and certification standards for variety The use of good quality seed and planting materials of high yielding varieties significantly increases crop production. It is essential that it is available on time and place at affordable prices. In Uganda, there are two co-existing seed systems

purity and germination This meets the needs of smallholder farmers and is a basis for future certified seed market development. QDS is designed to complement the traditional seed and planting material inspection and certification scheme.

through which seed and planting materials are availed to farmers. The formal system is regulated by Government and contributes about 15% of total seed supply. The remaining 85% of seed is produced through the informal system that is unregulated and depends on farm-saved seed from previous cropping.

To promote QDS, the Integrated Seed Sector Development (ISSD) programme Uganda has organised and empowered market-oriented farmers into Local Seed Businesses (LSBs). Currently, 30 LSBs with approximately 900 farmers are operating in

Northern, South Western and West Nile

regions. LSBs produce and market QDS of mainly The Seed and plant Act 2006 provides for five classes of seed including pre-basic, basic, certified (I & II), and standard. The draft National Seed Policy 2014 adds Quality Declared Seed (QDS) as the sixth class of seed to be implementSupporting a vibrant, pluralistic and market oriented seed sector

food and nutritional security crops within their communities and in areas where certified seed from seed companies is not used or sold. In season 2015A, LSBs sold over 1000 tons of various seed (Table 1). www.issduganda.org Info@ISSDuganda.org Twitter: ISSD_Uganda

2 Table 1: Quantity of QDS sold by LSBs in 2015A Seed

This will enhance the growth of the seed trade,

Quantity sold (kg)

while encouraging the use of quality certified seed by the farming communities.

1

Beans

146,539

2

Cassava

760,620

3

Groundnuts

4

Finger millet

5

Potato

13,900

6

Rice

38,053

7

Sesame

21,155

The goal of the innovation project is to test the

8

Soy bean

5,056

9

Pasture

effectiveness of quality assurance system for

3,071

Components of the pilot project

938

Goal

500

QDS and its decentralized field inspection.

QDS produced by LSBs was tested at the national seed laboratory in Kawanda and the seed met

Objectives

the minimum national standards of variety puri-

The main objectives are to:

ty and germination (Table 2).



marketing of QDS

Table 2: Quality of QDS produced by LSBs

Seed

Minimum national QDS QDS Purity purity Germination range (%) standard (%) range (%)

Ensure quality control in production and

Minimum national germination standard (%)

Soybean

99

98

88

65

Groundnuts

N/A

NA

82 - 92

60



Promote

use

of

QDS

by

smallholder

farmers 

Popularise

use

of

seed

labels

among

various stakeholders.

99.8

98

90

70

The project is being implemented in 25 districts

Sesame

98 - 99.8

98

75 - 92

60

of Western Uganda, Northern Uganda, and West

Beans

99.1 - 100

98

85 - 95

60

Sorghum

99.6 - 99.8

98

63-73

70

Rice

99.4- 99.5

98

90-96

75

Pigeon peas

Nile involving 30 already established LSBs. Special attention will be paid to identifying those

Each seed class has a unique color label for dif-

LSBs that can graduate to a higher level and

ferentiation, for example green for QDS and

they will receive further coaching. The main

blue for certified seed. However, many seed us-

partners are:

ers and law enforcers that tackle counterfeit



Ministry of Agriculture Animal Industry and

seed are not familiar with the labels on pack-

Fisheries (MAAIF) to support and supervise

aged seed.

the centralized operations 

ISSD Uganda to provide technical and financial support



30 LSBs producing QDS



District Agricultural Officers of the 25 districts to conduct field inspections



Kawanda seed laboratory and a pilot seed testing at Ngetta ZARDI to test for purity and germination

Figure 1: A sample of the green QDS label



Uganda Seed Trade Association (USTA) to popularize QDS and certified seed labels

Therefore, it is necessary to operationalize the quality assurance for QDS through a multi-

The

scheme

stakeholder pilot project.

inspection and seed testing is presented in figure 2.

Supporting a vibrant, pluralistic and market-oriented seed sector

for

operationalizing

the

field

3

Week 0

LSBs sow foundation seed from research or authorized entity

Week 2

LSBs submit planting returns to authorized DAO

LSBs pay inspection fees to DAOs

Week 4

DAO inspects LSB fields (1st Inspection)

If fields meet minimum standards Week 6-8

DAO inspects LSB fields (2nd Inspection)

If fields meet minimum standards

Week 16

QDS harvested and processed

LSBs pay testing fees to ISSD Week 17

Seed sampler picks seed from LSBs

Week 17

Seed tested at Kawanda or Ngetta laboratory If seed meet minimum standards

Week 18

Kawanda or Ngetta laboratory issues certificate

Week 19

LSBs submit request for seed labels to ISSD LSBs pay fees for labels to ISSD

Week 19

Week 21

Week 23

Week 24

ISSD submits request for seed labels to MAAIF

MAAIF (NSCS) issues seed labels

Seed packaged and labeled

QDS marketed

Figure 2: Schematic representation of the filed inspections and seed testing www.issduganda.org Info@ISSDuganda.org Twitter: ISSD_Uganda

4 It is estimated the traditional centralized system costs UGX 42M for the 30 LSBs over one season,

whereas

using

the

decentralized

approach of delegated inspection to the DAOs costs will be approximately UGX 8.7M. This represents a significant reduction in transaction costs

and

hence

a

more

cost

effective

decentralized system of inspection.

What are the benefits of QDS? Through the quality assurance system, skilled Sustainability

and enterprising farmers involved in informal

For a QDS system to be effective, it must be fi-

seed systems have an opportunity to “graduate”

nancially viable for all actors involved in QDS

into the formal seed system by expanding their

production and it’s quality assurance. The level

production of QDS, establishing a brand name,

of the mandatory services and requirements

and marketing their seed. This will promote use

should take into consideration this vital require-

of Quality seed among farming communities and

ment. This can be achieved by optimizing the

raise household incomes. QDS will also increase

rigors of inspections and seed testing to ensure

smallholder farmers’ demand for quality seed so

conformity to standards, while ensuring that the

as to boost crop productivity and ensure food

LSBs can afford it and smallholder farmers can

security.

buy the seed. Thus, the pilot compares the cost effectiveness of the decentralized scheme and the current centralized inspection by the National Seed certification Service (NSCS).

The comparison will look at effectiveness of: 

Inspection and certification by NSCS vs delegated DAOs



Seed sampling



Seed testing at Kawanda vs delegated seed laboratory at Ngetta ZARDI

With funding from the Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, the Integrated Seed Sector Development (ISSD) programme is implemented by Wageningen University and Research Centre, Center for Development Innovation (CDI) in partnership with the National Agricultural Research Organization (NARO).

Supporting a vibrant, pluralistic and market-oriented seed sector