Support to the seed sector
In Rwanda, agriculture employs more than 80% of the working population and accounts for about 45% of GDP. As part of the fight against food insecurity, the project to support the seed sector in Rwanda was intended to ensure both the production of, and farmer access to, sufficient quantities of high-quality seed suited to local agro-bio-climatic conditions. This required strengthening the institutional and organisational framework of the channel and of the private sector’s role in seed production and ensuring quality control throughout the chain.
The main characteristic of Rwandan agriculture is that it has among the lowest rates of use of modern inputs. At the beginning of the project, the rate of use of selected seeds was 1.5% and mineral fertilisers were used at a rate of 5 kg/ha/year (compared to 300-400 kg/ha/year in developed countries). This low input rate goes a long way to explaining the low productivity of Rwandan agriculture. Seeds, in particular, are extremely important because they determine production levels and, without them, the value of other input or investment is not realised.
Institutional anchoring
The project operated under the supervision of the Ministry of Agriculture and within the Rwanda Agriculture Development Authority (RADA). In the spirit of the National Agricultural Policy Strategy adopted in 2004, the project was intended to improve the capacity of these institutions to regulate and arbitrate the seed sector while withdrawing from their production and commercialisation to the benefit of the private sector.
Results and impact
While the results of a project are easily quantifiable against its initial goals, the same cannot be said of the overall impact of a project since the required data are often not available.
In the case of this project, beneficiaries report that farmers are now using quality seeds for their main crops. However, the fact that they are subsidised entails the risk that people will not take over. There is significant level of motivation and involvement on the seed producer side (increase in the number of registrations and the area farmed) but a resource problem remains in this high-risk sector. Granting loans is problematic because of the low rate of repayment, especially in the case of cooperatives (which often have management problems), and given that the goal was to set up working capital.
The evaluation also made it clear that certain objectives were too ambitious. For example, the goal of replacing the State by the private sector is not realistic because the latter still does not have the resources needed to take over. As a result, the Rwanda Agriculture Development Authority is still producing the base seeds and buying all certified seed.
Prospects
Given that this was a capacity strengthening exercise, the first step has been successfully taken. The project has already enabled the creation of seed producer consultation units at the regional and national levels and the private sector is involved in producing certified seeds. A gene bank has been built and equipped and personnel have been trained in the conservation of genetic resources. Base seeds are being produced in sufficient quantities and provincial quality control cells are operational.
However, if no other project takes over, the project team acknowledges that the results will not be durable: “The results obtained are still extremely fragile and their viability will depend on their consolidation via the continuation of financial and technical support.” Specialists estimate that another five years will be needed before the sector can become autonomous. BTC will therefore step in to provide support to the second phase of the Strategic Plan for Agricultural Transformation starting in mid-2011.
