The Sunday Mail
Africa Moyo recently in Victoria falls
GLOBAL seed producers are exploring avenues of introducing seed varieties that increase yields per hectare with less fertiliser applied so as to reduce the cost to farmers.
This came out during a three-day African Seed Trade Association (AFSTA) conference held in Victoria Falls last week.
The conference ran under the theme, “AFSTA – Increasing African farmers’ productivity with improved, quality seeds”.
Over 350 delegates from around the world attended the conference and called for massive investment in seed research and development so that farmers can increase the yield per hectare.
Research by the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) has shown that in many parts of the sub-humid and semi-arid tropics, crop yields are declining in response to inputs such as fertilisers, droughts and shortages of irrigation water.
FAO says much of the agriculture in sub-Saharan Africa and Asia is not irrigated but rain-fed, with the associated uncertainty as to the onset, reliability and amounts of rainfall each year.
About 40 percent of all food is produced under irrigation from about 18 percent of the world’s area of arable land plus permanent crops, with 60 percent produced under rain-fed agriculture.
Sub-Saharan Africa requires a growth rate in food production of about four percent every year to keep pace with population growth up to 2030, against a backdrop of a growth rate of about two percent in previous years.
The problem of lower annual increases in yield per hectare is not confined to irrigated rice. Wheat and maize have apparently reached similar plateaus.
Statistics for paddy rice, wheat and maize show that the average yield increases between 1963 and 1983 were 2,1 percent; 3,6 percent and 2,9 percent respectively per year.
However, from 1983 to 1993, the rates of increase had declined to 1,5 percent (paddy rice), 2,1 percent (wheat) and 2,5 percent (maize) per year.
It is this decline which has resulted in seed producers striving to locate ways of increasing yields per hectare, even without using fertilisers.
Zimbabwe Seed Trade Association chairman Mr Walter Chigodora said Africa is not the only continent affected by falling yields per hectare, but the whole world.
“The conference has emphasised that we look at how we can grow yield per hectare for farmers.
“Falling yields per hectare is not only a problem in Africa, but the world over.
We also have to look at the issue of quality seeds for farmers and also come up with seed that is responsive to climate change.
“We are also looking at varieties that can be grown with less use of fertilisers; in other words, we are looking at growing much more with less,” said Mr Chigodora, who is also Agriseeds (Private) Limited managing director.
A report from the UN’s climate science panel says climate change is cutting global food supply through erratic rainfall.
Chief scientist for global change at the US geological survey and one of the report’s authors, Ms Virginia Burkett, said climate change is “about people now”.
“It’s more relevant to the man on the street.
It’s more relevant to communities because the impacts are directly affecting people – not just butterflies and sea ice.”
It is feared that changes in temperature and rainfall patterns could lead to food price increases of between three and 84 percent by 2050.
Other food sources are also under threat.
Fish catches in some areas of the tropics are projected to fall by between 40 percent and 60 percent, due to climate change.
AFSTA vice president Mr Dennis Zaranyika, who is also Seed Co managing director, told The Sunday Mail Extra on the sidelines of the conference that it is critical for global seed companies to come up with new breeding technologies, paying particular attention to how they can speedily introduce new seed varieties.
“You know in the past, it would take as many as seven to 15 years to come up with a hybrid but there are newer methods that will see new varieties coming up in three to four years,” said Mr Zaranyika.
He also said seed pricing is another issue that will be addressed once seed varieties that require less fertiliser are introduced.
“The issue of pricing will always be an issue particularly with farmers, but what you want to look at are aspects around pricing.
“It takes between seven and 15 years to come up with a product so the price has always attempted to ensure seed companies recoup their investment so that they do more for the farmer in terms of research and development.
“So when we reduce the amount of time taken before the introduction of a new variety, then the price will also come down, and when farmers are using less fertiliser, their costs will come down,” said Mr Zaranyika.
A 10kg bag of seed costs anything between US$23 and US$30 in Zimbabwe. Some farmers, especially communal, say it is too high.
However, Mr Zaranyika said Zimbabwe has the lowest seed prices in the region.
“We pride ourselves for that; we have managed to keep prices low. Our cost structures are lower than South Africa and other regional countries that is why our prices are low.”
Meanwhile, the conference also discussed the harmonisation of seed regulation in Africa to enhance seed trade inter-country and internationally.
Mr Chigodora said it was critical to explore avenues of improving seed trade between Zimbabwe and other countries.
“You know we are very strong in maize seed research and development and maize seed production. So we should be able to export seed to other countries so that we generate more revenue for the country.
“Also, we import a lot of seed like vegetables because we don’t have strong research and development in this area, so these are the things that we need to find people who can assist us in developing so that the whole seed basket is available locally,” said Mr Chigodora.
