News

Key players in the West African seed industry will meet in the Senegalese capital, Dakar, on June 11-12, 2019, to assess progress in implementing harmonized regional seed regulations.

The Harmonized Regional Seed Regulations were adopted in 2008 by the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) and in 2009 by the West African Economic and Monetary Union (UEMOA).

The primary aim of the Regulation is to create a favorable environment for the growth of the seed industry. All ECOWAS member countries, including Chad and Mauritania, have adopted the law.

The meeting will be jointly organized by the West and Central African Council for Agricultural Research and Development (CORAF) and the African Agricultural Technology Foundation (AATF), with funding from the African Development Bank (AfDB) via its TAAT (Technologies for Agricultural Transformation in Africa) initiative.

Assessing the state of implementation, identifying bottlenecks and drawing up a roadmap to speed up implementation of the Seed Regulations will be the main themes of the meeting.

More specifically, discussions will focus on five main areas: a) certification for variety dissemination, b) quality control and seed certification, c) phytosanitary seed certification, d) institutional arrangements for implementing seed policy and e) private sector involvement in implementing this policy.

Nearly 50 workshop participants were drawn from the national seed systems of the 17 participating countries, regional economic communities, farmers' organizations, research institutions and financial partners.

Representatives from the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa and the Southern African Development Community were also invited to share their experiences.