News

Contributors: Yacouba Diallo; Fidélia Bohissou; Hippolyte Affognon; Abdulai Jalloh; David Akana

It is becoming increasingly clear that the COVID-19 pandemic will have a negative impact on agriculture and food security in West Africa. The pandemic continues to threaten the lives and livelihoods of citizens in member states of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) and the Permanent Inter-State Committee for Drought Control in the Sahel (CILSS), the vast majority of whom are farmers or associated in some way with related value chains.

To contain the spread of the virus, member states have adopted a number of emergency measures to cope with the COVID-19 crisis. These measures range from the closure of borders and public institutions, including schools, markets, mosques and churches, to the isolation of households, communities and the total quarantine of regions and the entire state. These mitigation measures have led to various disruptions in the functioning of markets and supply chains for agricultural inputs and products. As a result, agricultural producers have limited access to the market for the distribution of produce, as well as their supply of quality seeds and other agricultural inputs.

As the virus continued to spread, with increasing numbers of people becoming infected, more stringent measures were taken to combat the pandemic. As a result, local, regional and global food systems will continue to face serious challenges to their effective functioning. It is heartening to note, however, that the global coalition is exploring ways to find sustainable solutions to this pandemic. In the meantime, and very fortunately, a number of countries have in recent days begun to implement a gradual opening plan, lifting containment measures where necessary.

Nevertheless, the impacts of COVID-19 on the agricultural and agri-food sector remain latent, notably with the inability of small farms to get their produce to markets, both semi-urban and urban, and to source quality inputs.

Unless swift action is taken to facilitate growers' access to seeds and other inputs, the disruption caused by COVID-19 will inevitably lead to a reduction in agricultural production due to the unavailability of the quality seeds needed to plant at the right time.

What's the situation?

West Africa is a net importer of foodstuffs, notably rice (the region being the largest importer in Africa), wheat and also vegetable seeds. The impact of COVID-19 on the countries from which our region imports will certainly affect the supply of foodstuffs and seeds on the world market, and could lead to a food crisis such as that of 2008, which caused political and economic instability and social unrest in the region.

Already for horticultural seeds, the Netherlands, which is the world's leading exporter, followed by the United States, France and Germany, is recording an increase in domestic sales of vegetable and flower seeds, which are soaring. With containment measures in place, more and more people are growing part of their own food. This will have an impact on the volume of produce that could be shipped to other regions, as they are more likely to satisfy their own needs first.

Seeds are the starting point for agricultural production, which is why in times of crisis such as the COVID-19 pandemic, seed delivery should be one of the essential services that must continue to operate to support the current and future production cycle. It is therefore crucial that farmers have access to agricultural inputs in a timely manner. Another important issue linked to movement restrictions is the impact on the availability of migrant labor on which many communities and countries depend.

The measures adopted by countries to halt the spread of the coronavirus must therefore take into account the specificity and strategic role played by the agricultural sector in food security. Governments, regional economic communities (RECs) and their partners should take strategic measures, including an emergency seed program to mitigate the negative impact of the COVID-19 crisis.

General measures to mitigate the negative impact of COVID-19

With COVID-19, the agricultural sector today faces unprecedented challenges that require concerted, country-specific interventions. Responses to mitigate its impact on farmers' seed supplies need to be immediate, short and medium-term. Immediate measures aim to guarantee seed availability for the current growing season. Making seeds available today will provide food for tomorrow and protect the region from food insecurity. Countries will need to be informed of the availability of certified seed in their respective systems, and assess any gaps between needs and availability. It is also important to facilitate access to and distribution of seeds. During this difficult period, when many countries have closed their borders, pre-basic, basic and certified seed should not be subject to any constraints on production, distribution and use. More specifically, the following measures should be taken:

• Make a rapid inventory of available seed stocks both at the community level and at authorized distributors;
• Direct seed distribution or seed vouchers for vulnerable farmers;
• Create solidarity networks for the social protection and conservation of seed stocks at farmer level and avoid selling them on the market;
• Set up an information and monitoring system to continuously disseminate information on seed supply and demand;
• Organize mini-bourses and seed fairs respecting social distance to facilitate the supply of seeds to producers;
• Exempt seed operators and small-scale farmers from movement restrictions while respecting precautionary measures, so that they can carry out field work and transport inputs and products;
• Facilitate cross-border seed trade. These measures will be very important in the coming months;
• As many countries are introducing social safety nets, it makes sense to give priority to vulnerable players in the agricultural sector.

Advice to growers

For centuries, farmers have been the saviors of seed systems in times of peace and crisis, playing a strategic role in the propagation and conservation of resistant seed varieties. To alleviate the seed system crisis caused by COVID-19, it is essential to ensure efficient storage of the quantities produced during the 2019 season as well as during the next 2020 season in order to avoid pest attacks and preserve a good germination rate. The following actions could be undertaken by growers:

• Farmers should safely save seeds already available for the next growing season;
• As far as possible, refrain from selling the seeds or consuming them;
• Stimulate strategic alliances that enable and strengthen collaboration between groups in the provision of appropriate storage conditions and intercommunity exchanges of quality seed;
• Ensure supply from reliable sources, in particular approved producers and distributors;
• Apply technical advice and good farming practices to intensify production and improve yields;
• Given the importance of the informal seed system in West Africa, it is recommended that farmers place greater emphasis on sorting, cleaning and hermetically preserving farmer-saved seed.

CORAF recommendations and actions

The COVID-19 crisis offers an important opportunity to rethink the regional seed system, to make structural changes both in the way it operates and in strengthening its recovery from shocks of various kinds. The Conseil Ouest et Centre Africain pour la Recherche et le Développement Agricoles (CORAF), as a major player in the seed sector in West Africa, considers that the most immediate challenge facing the seed system to mitigate the negative impact of the COVID-19 crisis is to ensure the availability of and access to the different classes of seed (pre-basic, basic and certified) for staple food crops. Seeds should be available to farmers during the pandemic and beyond. Concerted action is needed at several levels.

Policy guidance and implementation: CORAF calls on decision-makers to refrain from imposing export/import restrictions on seeds, as past experience shows that export/import restrictions can lead to rapid and unjustified price rises, to the detriment of resource-poor farmers and national economies. In this respect, CORAF believes that improved implementation of harmonized regional policies and regulatory frameworks for seed production, quality control and marketing will lead to a more efficient and resilient system. CORAF therefore calls for an intensification of partnerships and synergies to provide a concerted response in favor of sustainable and resilient agricultural systems in order to avoid adverse socio-economic shocks.

Given the potential disruption of the first crop year (June - August 2020) along the coast and in part of the Sahel, it is prudent to make appropriate arrangements for the second crop year (September - November 2020) so that any deficits from the first year can be made up in the second year, particularly in the case of short-season crops such as cereals and pulses.

Provision should be made for the effective cultivation of inland valley swamps and other lowland agroecologies to be grown during the dry season for food production as well as seed for the 2021 growing season. In this respect, national agricultural research institutes could be supported to produce more pre-basic seed in the coming season so as to be able to provide the basic seed needed to produce certified seed for the 2021 growing season.

National government agencies should ensure that the quality of agricultural inputs, including seeds, fertilizers and pesticides, is not compromised, while guaranteeing the safe use of these inputs, particularly pesticides.

Mobilizing multi-stakeholder platforms: CORAF will pursue its mission by supporting the establishment and operation of multi-stakeholder platforms at sub-regional, national and local levels for the concerted management of issues linked to the scaling-up of seed technologies, the sharing of technical experience and best practices related to the production, quality assurance and marketing of high-quality seeds. In addition, CORAF will continue to facilitate the development of local seed companies for the production of adapted varieties, as well as national seed trade associations and regional seed company umbrella organizations, so that they can better position themselves and improve the competitiveness of the regional seed supply chain with more deliveries of quality seed of high-performance varieties to agricultural producers.

CORAF's Agripreneur TV is being revitalized to provide daily or at least weekly weather forecasts, data on the national supply of certified seeds available in association with the Alliance pour une Industrie Semencière en Afrique de l'Ouest (ASIWA), and COVID-19 country reports. This medium will also provide possible feedback from States for informed decision-making by countries and the ECOWAS Commission.

Scaling up resilient seed technologies: CORAF will continue to facilitate farmers' access to high-yielding seeds that are resistant to biotic and abiotic stresses, as well as other modern agricultural technologies that improve productivity to meet farmers' food needs and generate marketable agricultural surpluses. CORAF is currently carrying out seed security assessments at national level by various means within the framework of its programs. National institutions, in collaboration with private players, will disseminate technological packages of inputs and best practices for different agro-ecological zones. They will establish demonstration plots for the promotion and dissemination of improved seed varieties; and they will support national agricultural research systems to establish information systems on seed technologies, supply and demand.

In conclusion, the COVID-19 crisis and its impact on seed systems will not affect just one country. It is a regional, if not global, challenge, requiring appropriate cooperation and coordination at all levels. West African countries should combine their efforts to contain and stop the spread of the virus, and take concerted action to mitigate the negative impact on seed systems and food security through the production and sharing of up-to-date information, the free circulation of seeds and plant propagation material, and the strengthening of seed systems for greater resilience.

See also:

• Forecasts for 2020 point to a shortfall in certified seeds
• "Burkina Faso can considerably reduce its rice imports" says a researcher