Seed for bean production in sub-Saharan Africa: issues, problems and possible solutions

The bean seed market for the major bean producing areas of sub-Saharan Africa is examined in this paper. Seed issues of economic importance to bean farmers are the quality and quantity of seed. Important seed quality issues are seed contaminated with pathogens that cause diseases and seed of poor physical condition. The issues of seed quantity are the availability of seed of currently used and newly released cultivars. While many diseases of bean are seedborne, the research evidence to suggest that disease infested seed is a major economic problem across wide areas in sub-Saharan Africa is sparse. Poor physical quality seed is also not expected to be an economic problem as farmers have the skills necessary to manage the planting of seed of poor condition. While these issues can be of concern to farmers in localized areas, they are not expected to be major issues in the aggregate. The market for bean seed in sub-Saharan Africa is dominated by the small scale farmer who is both a supplier and demander of seed. With few exceptions, the bean seed market is supplied by small farmers who produce grain for both consumption and marketing. Seed is supplied from within the farm or from local markets or neighbors. This market has successfully operated for a long period of time and has been shown to be remarkably resilient in times of stress. There is no evidence to show that this market has not been able to supply the many types of bean cultivars demanded by bean producers. A major seed supply problem, however, emerges when new cultivars are released. There is no marketing mechanism that can produce and distribute seed to the many potential end users. Government organized seed firms have not been able to perform these vital functions. The private sector, either on a large or small scale basis, has not entered the market because many of the preconditions for successful financial operation are not in place. A market solution to the seed supply problem for newly released cultivars may not be readily available. Non-market intervention methods may be required to achieve a sufficiently rapid diffusion of newly released cultivars