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"Last week, I delivered 40 tonnes of sorghum seed to Ghana," says Stephen Yacouba Atar, vice-president of the Seed Enterprises Association of Nigeria (SEEDAN) and CEO of Da-Allgreen Seeds Limited, one of the country's oldest seed companies.

This private seed company based in Kaduna in northern Nigeria has also recently done business with seed companies in Burkina Faso and previously with companies in Liberia, Sierra Leone and Senegal.

Does this have anything to do with theharmonization of seed regulations adopted by all West African countries in recent years?

"Yes," replies Mr. Atar.

"The harmonization of regional seed regulations has helped. Without that, we wouldn't have had these opportunities," he says.

"In the past, we found it very difficult to deliver seeds beyond our national borders."

When seeds were delivered to affected communities at the height of the Ebola virus crisis between 2014 and 2015 in Liberia, Guinea and Sierra Leone, recalls Mr. Atar, trucks carrying seed shipments could take up to a month to reach their destination, due to harassment on West African corridors.

"This time, it took us less than 2 weeks to deliver the necessary seeds from Nigeria to Ghana."

When the West and Central African Council for Agricultural Research and Development (CORAF) and its partners (the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), the World Bank and other political and civil society players) set out to standardize the rules governing seed certification, variety release and phytosanitary control, this was the desired outcome.

"Making the regional seed catalog accessible to all and implementing all the regulatory harmonization processes is not enough. True success is determined by the uninterrupted flow of quality seed across borders by businessmen at the start of each agricultural season", says Ms. Shirley Erves Kore, Advisor to the USAID West Africa Mission and one of the proponents of liberalizing the seed industry in West Africa.

"Overall, Nigeria now accounts for 60 percent of the total volume of seed marketed in West Africa," says Dr Philip Ojo, Managing Director of the National Agriculture Seeds Council of Nigeria, the government body responsible for seed issues in Nigeria.

In 2018 alone, Nigerian companies exported almost 1,200 tonnes of certified seed to Ghana. These included 830 tonnes of maize, 340 tonnes of soybeans and 30 tonnes of sorghum, according to the Seed Enterprises Association of Nigeria (SEEDAN).

In 2016, The Gambia imported 63 tonnes of basic rice seed from Nigeria and Sierra Leone imported around 55 tonnes. With a growing need for certified seed, The Gambia and Sierra Leone ordered around 450 tonnes of certified rice seed from Nigeria in the same year, to offset their deficits.

Until recently, achieving this volume of seed trade was no easy task, as each country had its own rules and regulations. The lack of open borders stifled the development of the seed trade.

Experts in the Nigerian seed industry recognize the crucial role played by CORAF in creating new windows of business opportunity, connecting players and providing relevant and useful knowledge that help them today to develop their activities beyond national borders.

"CORAF, through the West Africa Seed Program, has opened up new opportunities for the Nigerian seed industry like never before. Not only has CORAF provided market opportunities, but it has also helped to supply quality foundation seed to competent companies, as well as organizing the private seed sector in Nigeria," explains Professor Onyibe, SEEDAN's technical advisor and a lecturer at the University of Zaria in northern Nigeria.

So you can't dissociate the increase in corporate net income and productivity, both in Nigeria and in the West African region as a whole, from CORAF's interventions".

Not everything is perfect, there's still a lot of work to be done".

"There's still resistance from customs at the borders. Many still don't understand the rules," says the CEO of Da-Allgreen Seeds Limited Nigeria.

However, he says, things are beginning to change. "By speaking with one voice and raising awareness among these key players, they are beginning to understand and, in some cases, trucks that have been blocked at the borders, have been allowed to continue on their way."

"CORAF's work, combined with the strong political leadership of national and regional institutions, has made a considerable difference to the way seeds currently circulate in countries. But we also have to be honest in admitting that there's still a lot of work to be done to exploit the huge seed market opportunity in West Africa," says Dr. Yacouba Diallo, a seed expert currently working with one of the recent regional seed development programs. PAIRED (Partnership for Agricultural Research, Education and Development in West Africa).

With renewed political will and the interest of development players in West Africa, CORAF is currently strengthening a coalition of public and private players to continue accelerating the delivery of quality seeds to small-scale farmers in the region. As part of PAIRED, CORAF is seeking to expand access to seed-related technologies.