News

CORAF/WECARD jointly organized with the Institut du Sahel (INSAH/CILSS) and in cooperation with Mali's Ministry of Agriculture, the second statutory meeting of the Comité Unique Régional des Semences CEDEAO-UEMOA-CILSS (COASem &CRSU) from August 29 to 30, 2016 in Bamako, Mali.

For two days, committee members had to assess the state of implementation of the recommendations from the Committee's first statutory meeting, held last year in Côte d'Ivoire, and take stock of the implementation of the Harmonized Regional Seed Regulations at national level.

COASem's objective is to facilitate implementation of the harmonized regional seed regulations, which aim to create conditions conducive to the emergence of a strong seed industry capable of ensuring a regular supply of quality seeds in sufficient quantities and at the right time in the 17 countries of the sub-region.

A strong and dynamic seed industry is the key to real agricultural transformation. In West Africa, farmers depend on access to quality seeds to improve their productivity.

The interest of this harmonized regional regulation is to strengthen the seed industry, which faces challenges such as a political and regulatory environment unfavorable to the emergence of a strong seed industry, with several political constraints hindering the availability of standard quality seed of improved varieties and private investment in the sector.

Prior to the introduction of these regulations, several legal provisions coexisted within the same region. This situation is not only a source of wasted resources, but also of inefficiency and deadlock, particularly when the texts contradict each other.

To effectively support the implementation of this regulation, the ECOWAS Commission has entrusted CORAF/WECARD, its technical arm, through the West Africa Seed Program (PSAO/WASP), with setting up National Seed Committees and running the Secretariat of the West Africa Seed Committee for a transitional period of 5 years.

The Comité Unique Régional des Semences is already beginning to achieve its objective, which is to assist the ECOWAS and UEMOA Commissions and the CILSS Executive Secretariat in implementing the harmonized regional seed regulations. These regional seed regulations aim, among other things, to create conditions conducive to the emergence of a strong seed industry, capable of ensuring a regular supply, at the right time, of quality seeds in sufficient quantity, in the 17 countries of the sub-region.

"Between 2012 and 2016, 13 member states out of the 17 countries in the ECOWAS-UEMOA-CILSS space published the Community Seed Regulation in their Official Gazette, making it the national seed law. We are also seeing an exponential increase in the production and supply of pre-basic seed from genetic material adapted to the climate," points out Dr Ernest Asiedu, Regional Coordinator of the West African Seed Program (PSAO). "By ensuring that this regulation is properly applied at community level, we are helping farmers to improve their seeds and double or even triple their harvests, which will undoubtedly contribute to improving their living conditions", he continues.

Supported by the Harmonized Regional Seed Regulations, CORAF/WECARD has accelerated the post-Ebola rehabilitation of Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea by transporting over 10,000 tons as part of agricultural rehabilitation programs. CORAF/WECARD has also helped prevent the spectre of hunger for over 2 million farming families, through a seed multiplication program.