Launch of Comesa Seed Harmonisation Implementation Plan (COMSHIP) in Seychelles |05 July 2017
The Seed Trade Harmonisation Regulations were developed and after approval by the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (Comesa) Council of Ministers, is now in force since February 2014.
The decision of the Council of Ministers now requires all member states to domesticate the COMSHIP regulations by developing relevant or revising existing national legislations to align with the provisions of the Comesa Regulations.
The same process for Seychelles on a national scale was launched last week at the Coral Strand Hotel, Beau Vallon with the representatives of Comesa, African Seed Trade Association (AFSTA), Alliance for Commodity Trade in Eastern and Southern Africa (ACTESA) and other local stakeholders.
In his remarks at the launch ceremony the principal secretary for fisheries and agriculture Michel Nalletamby noted that the Comesa region has the potential to produce significantly more food than at present.
“However, to do so our producers need better access to inputs, technologies and skills and capabilities that would allow for greater productivity, more consistency in yields and access to higher value markets,” he said.
“We all agree that one of the most important of these input are seeds and unfortunately, access to this input is constrained by many obstacles. One such obstacle is the disparate national seed legislations and regulations across the region which serve as major barriers to the local breeding, production, distribution and sales of seed varieties in the region, and as such a key barrier to farmer productivity growth. Hence, the COMPSHIP, which Comesa in partnership with AFSTA has put in place with the aim of rectifying this particular problem. The hope is that by establishing a more harmonised system where legislations are more common and requirements such as sanitary and phyto-sanitary measures do not serve as unnecessary barriers to trade in seeds, our farmers will enjoy easier access to the invaluable seeds,” the PS said.
He also noted that currently, there are no real seed breeders or any seed breeding programmes in Seychelles though there may be a few farmers who keep seeds of open pollinated crops, produced on farm for future use.
“One may thus question the relevance of such seed regulations in Seychelles and probably more so the need to align with the regional harmonised regulations. However, the fact that most of the seed requirements for our agricultural practices are imported from different international seed companies by the Seychelles Agricultural Agency (SAA) and to a much lesser extent by the private sector, we also need to ensure that access to this invaluable input is not haphazard. Furthermore, in a bid to allow for greater access to higher quality seed varieties, it is necessary to have the appropriate environment that does not hinder competition in seed trade locally and thus predictability in the related legislations are critical,” Mr Nalletamby said.
Dr John Mukuka, the main presenter at the workshop, explained clearly that “a lack of quality seed has contributed significantly to food and nutritional insecurity affecting regional integration. Regional seed trade is limited due to cumbersome, lengthy procedures differences for variety testing, seed quality control, quarantine, and phyto-sanitary measures. Current information shows that only 23% of 80 million small holder farmers are accessing quality improved seed. In line with article 129 of the Treaty on achievement of food security and rationalisation of agricultural production in the Common Market, Comesa ministers for agriculture in 2008 directed Comesa to come up with a harmonised seed trade regulation. And in response, Comesa through ACTESA, implemented the harmonisation of seed trade regulations from 2010 to 2012 within the private-public partnership. From October 2012, the technical agreements on seed certification, variety release and phytosanitary / quarantine measures were transformed into legal instruments. Consequently, the Comesa Harmonisation Regulations were approved by Comesa ministers for agriculture in September 2013 and finally approved in February 2014. With the directive from Comesa Council of Ministers in February, 2014, ACTESA has come up and COMSHIP was validated by technical experts in April 2014, endorsed by Comesa ministers of agriculture in February, 2015 and Comesa Council of Ministers in March, 2015 and gazetted in May, 2015. COMSHIP has been launched in 15 Comesa member States, now remaining with Comoros, Eritrea, and Djibouti (July, 2017). On Awareness Creation, over 13,500 Comesa Seed Trade Harmonisation Regulations and 3,000 brochures / folders printed and distributed and these are being translated into 14 local languages in the Comesa region”.
The main challenges, he further explained, is that COMSHIP is only being implemented in nine Comesa member States, there is need for more resources in the other Comesa member States, namely Madagascar, Swaziland, Sudan, Egypt, Mauritius, Seychelles, Comoros, Eritrea, Mauritius and Djibouti.
“Comesa member States are slow in the alignment of their National Seed Laws / Regulations to the Comesa Seed Trade Harmonisation Regulations and there is a lack of awareness creation on COMSHIP in most countries,” he added.
Justin Rakotoarisaona, secretary general of AFSTA, also made a presentation on the role of seed associations in COMSHIP facilitation.
At the end of the workshop, the delegates were encouraged to work together and bring forth their concern regarding this subject.