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CORAF and the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) have joined forces to improve the seed system in Mauritania. At the invitation of the Mauritanian government, experts from the two regional institutions are training seed experts from the Ministry of Agriculture and seed multipliers in control and certification techniques. The training is taking place in Kaédi, a town some 430 km south of the capital, Nouakchott.

"This training is designed to help Mauritanian technicians acquire the skills required to produce and supply quality seed to end-users," explains Dr Hippolyte Affognon, Coordinator of the Partnership for Agricultural Research, Education and Development in West Africa (PAIRED) program. PAIRED is a five-year intervention to supply quality seeds, implemented by CORAF and funded by USAID.

The four-day training course for seed experts from the Ministry of Agriculture aims to improve their skills in seed inspection and certification. These two techniques are a major prerequisite for a competitive and robust seed industry. In addition, Mauritania aims to reduce seed imports and boost local production and agricultural productivity.

"Despite a host of seed companies in the country, Mauritania remains heavily dependent on seed imports. The lack of technical skills on the part of private-sector players to produce seeds of sufficient quality and the unsuitable political and regulatory environment are some of the reasons for the low production of quality seeds in Mauritania", says Dr Yacouba Diallo, Agricultural Inputs Expert at CORAF.

Mauritania's underperforming seed sector 

Mauritanian agriculture is characterized, among other things, by the low use of certified seeds. To help meet this urgent challenge, the Mauritanian government approached FAO to help train its cadres to produce better seeds. FAO then invited CORAF to help conduct the training based on its extensive experience in seed development across West and Central Africa.

The first part of the mission consisted in a diagnosis of the main constraints of the Mauritanian seed production and certification system, together with recommendations. The second part consisted in strengthening the technical capacities of national players (private sector, government agents and technical services, etc.).

"Seed regulations are not known and are not implemented by the major players in the sector. There are also technical, logistical and organizational shortcomings in the private seed companies that produce and distribute seeds", added Dr Diallo.

This training should be followed by another workshop on quality seed production techniques for seed multipliers.