Zewdie Bishaw

... Laverack (1994) defined variety maintenance as 'the per-petuation of a small stock of parental material through repeated multiplication following a precise procedure'. ... Page 453. 426 AJG van Gastel et al. Laverack and Turner, 1995). ...

Field establishment in Lentil is a key determinant in its production. To investigate the prediction of field emergence through various laboratory parameters, correlation studies between seed vigor tests and field emergence were carried out across two consecutive years in Sudan and in Syria. Correlation and path coefficient analyses were done to find the association of these seed vigor parameters and assess the direct and indirect contributions of each parameter towards field emergence. Correlations of speed of germination, seedling dry weight and electrical conductivity with field emergence in two types of soil were significant in Sudan. In Syria, no significant correlation was observed between vigor tests and field emergence. In Sudan, path analyses showed that seedling dry weight and 100-seed weight consistently reflected the highest positive direct contribution towards field emergence in the two types of soil whereas the highest negative direct effect was shown by seedling growth rate, followed by cold soil test. Path coefficient analyses indicated that seedling dry weight (6.443, 5.778) and hundred seed weight (5.267, 3.973) had a positive direct contribution towards lentil field emergence in both types of soil.Likewise, in Syria the highest positive direct contribution was exhibited by seedling growth rate, followed by speed of germination and standard germination towards field emergence. 100-seed weight, seedling dry weight and cold soil consistently reflected the highest positive indirect contributions via seedling growth rate towards field emergence. This study concluded that seedling dry weight, seedling growth rate and speed of germination could make the most accurate prediction of field emergence.

While the impacts of legume-cereal rotations on soil health are well documented, the literature on their economic benefits, especially in dry areas is scanty. By applying the propensity score matching and endogenous switching regression methods to a nationally representative sample of 1,230 farm households from Morocco, this paper provided empirical evidence that the individual and combined adoption of improved varieties of faba-beans and legume-wheat rotations lead to higher yields, farm income and household consumption. Considering a two-year period, the simultaneous adoption of both faba-bean-wheat rotation and improved faba-bean varieties led to $875/ha (136%%) higher net returns relative to wheat mono-cropping. In the face of these very high benefits, high risk of losing faba-bean crops due to pests, diseases or drought explain the low adoption of rotation and improved varieties which are at 26% and 16% respectively. For reaping both the economic and environmental benefits of f...

Today, Africa as a whole produces less than half of the wheat it consumed, and the chasm between demand and domestic production is widening because of increased population, income and change in food preferences. Compared to the global average wheat productivity 3.3 tonsha, the average wheat productivity in SSA very low, about 1.7 tonsha due to several biophysical and socio-economic constraints. The development of high yielding, heat tolerant and widely adaptable wheat varieties with integrated management packages has proved a breakthrough that opened up new opportunities to produce wheat competitively in the vast heat stressed agro-ecologies of Africa. The TAAT wheat initiative 2018-2020 aims to scale up proven wheat technologies involving over 2 million farmers to enhance food and nutritional security, job creation, economic growth and contributing to poverty alleviation across Africa. The Innovation platform is an effective approach for transferring proven technologies at scale by...

Seed Info aims to stimulate information exchange and regular communication among seed staff in the Central and West Asia and North Africa (CWANA) region and beyond. Its purpose is to help strengthen national seed programs and thus improve the supply of high-quality seed to farmers. The WANA Seed Network provides information on activities relating to global and/or regional cooperation and collaboration to facilitate the development of a vibrant regional seed industry. In this issue of Seed Info, we report on the regional seed courses organized by the International Center for Agricultural Research in the Dry Areas (ICARDA) and the activities of the FAO sub- Regional Office for Central Asia’s (FAO-SEC’s) project, Seed sector development in countries of the ECO. The FAO-Turkey Partnership Program (FTPP) and Economic Cooperation Organization (ECO) jointly funded this project. The FAO-SEC project seeks to foster regional seed sector development of ECO member countries by developing a harmonized regulatory framework and regional seed policy. We also report on a regional seed policy workshop held 5–7 January 2015 in Istanbul, Turkey, and the Turkish Seed Trade and Fairs of 7–9 January 2015, organized by the Turkish Seed Association. In the NEWS AND VIEWS section, Niels Louwaars from the Dutch Seed Association, Plantum, presents an article entitled Plant breeding: open borders for private investments. The article highlights the important role of plant breeding in variety development and progress of the national seed industry. Crop improvement requires both genetic resources and knowledge to serve farmers with better varieties. These two determining factors are in the hands of both public sector and private sector breeders. Policy makers in some countries want to stimulate national plant breeding by putting severe limitations on foreign nationals investing in plant breeding, but this restricts the sharing of good varieties. Plant breeders know that such political views are not optimal for providing farmers with good varieties and seeds. It urges countries to have an open door policy for private sector plant breeding. This may ensure the flow of germplasm and facilitate farmers’ access to the latest technologies. It will also encourage the private sector and spur investment. Other news in this section comes from regional and/or international organizations, such as the International Union for the Protection of New Varieties of Plants (UPOV), ICARDA, and the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT). The section on SEED PROGRAMS includes news from Afghanistan, Ethiopia, Iraq, Pakistan, and Uzbekistan. There are also reports on the release of chickpea and lentil varieties by the Agricultural Research Institute of Afghanistan (ARIA) from the productive partnerships with ICARDA. It is expected that seed of these new high yielding and (a)biotic stress tolerant varieties will soon become available to farming communities at large. They will help to increase agricultural production and productivity and ensure food and nutritional security in the country. From Ethiopia, we report on the initiative addressing the value chain of durum wheat by the Ethiopian Institute of Agricultural Research (EIAR) and ICARDA. This USAID-funded seed project established another milestone by bringing together value chain actors to revive durum wheat production and connect farmers with markets in the fight against wheat rusts. The RESEARCH section of Seed Info captures information on adaptive research or issues relevant to developing seed programs in the CWANA region and beyond. This issue features an article entitled ‘Farmers’ knowledge and use of malt barley varieties and seed quality perceptions in southeastern Ethiopia’ by Karta Kaske, Astawus Esatu, and Abebe Atilaw, from the Ethiopian Agricultural Research Institute. The paper discusses farmer’s knowledge and use of malt barley varieties in southeastern Ethiopia. The study identified seed shortage as a major problem and recommended promotion of new varieties to boost malt barley production in the region. Seed Info encourages the exchange of information between the national, regional, and global seed industries.

During the 1970s and 1980s, seed system support in developing countries was focused on strengthening public sector institutions including agricultural research centers, extension services and state-owned seed corporations. This approach achieved limited success in Africa such that structural adjustment programs in the 1980s and 1990s resulted in general withdrawal of state seed system support. It created space especially for the private sector but also for civil society seed organizations while maintaining linkages with public sector agricultural research systems. The 1990s also saw the emergence of large-scale direct seed purchase and distribution, particularly in Africa, in response to natural disasters and crisis. Since 2000, agricultural development has been at very low levels with widespread under investment in the sector worldwide. However, there are now indications that donors are regaining interest in agriculture and especially in the seed sector...

The genetic progress in seed yield and yield related characters of 10 kabuli chickpea varieties released by the Ethiopian Chickpea Crop Improvement Program from 1974 to 2017 was assessed during the main cropping season. The varieties were evaluated in the Randomized Complete Block design at Debrezeit Agricultural Research Center experimental research farm. The overall increase in seed yield over the local check, DZ-10-4, was estimated to be 739 kg/ha (38.9%). On station grain yield increased from 1900 to 3250 kg/ha during the last 43 years and the overall increase in seed yield of the Arerti variety over the oldest variety DZ-10-4 was estimated to be 1350 kg/ha or 71.1%. Based on the regression analysis, the estimated average annual rate of increase in grain yield potential was 10.87kg/ha/year with an annual relative genetic change of 0.57%/year. Genotypic change was an important source for increased grain yield potential during the studied period. Positive genetic gains were observ...

Identification of durum wheat variety adapted to drought environment is required to expand durum wheat cultivation to lowland areas in order to meet the growing demand of the crop for industrialization. The objective of the study was to evaluate and identify durum wheat genotypes tolerant to terminal drought, using morpho-agronomic traits. One hundred and forty four durum wheat ( Triticum turgidium var durum ) genotypes were grown in lattice design replicated twice under non-drought and drought stressed conditions, induced at anthesis stage at Debre-Zeit experimental station in 2017 during dry season. Analysis of variance showed that significant differences for all the traits, except days to heading and anthesis and between normal and stress conditions and also among studied genotypes as well as interaction effects of moisture environment and genotypes. Drought significantly affected reduction of all traits, except number of days to heading and spikelet number. In average, drought r...

In Morocco, the adoption of recent improved wheat varieties is low, casting doubt on whether investments in wheat research are paying off. This paper generates estimates of the returns to the national and international investment in wheat research for Morocco. The benefits are estimated by applying the endogenous switching regression model to data from a nationally representative sample survey of 2,296 wheat fields, whereas costs were estimated using data on public and CGIAR (INRA-CG) investments on wheat research in Morocco. Considering all the benefits and costs of wheat research investment in Morocco, we estimated a conservative benefit-cost ratio (BCR) of 19.64 with 623 thousand tons (14.8%) of additional wheat supply from domestic production and net economic benefit of US$355 million. We also estimated that institutional problems in the seed system identified by past research are causing the country to lose at least 746.6 thousand tons (17.7%) wheat production and net economic ...

Agriculture and agri-food systems of the highly vulnerable Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region needs a radical transformation under a changing climate. Based on a two-year effort, initially we developed a mega hypothesis on how to achieve climate-smart agri-food transformation in the region. In the study, we hypothesized that “Climate-Smart Lifts” implemented in the enabling environments can rapidly facilitate agri-food transformation in the region. In order to gather the stakeholders’ perception about this, we organized a collective conversation among ~400 stakeholders that represent various scales and sectors within the agriculture sector in MENA. These “listening cum learning consultations” were conducted through a survey followed by a series of webinars. The webinar discussions were strategically guided based on our hypothesis, the responses from the surveys and the regional needs. These discussions provided a forum to bring-out the stakeholders’ perspective on what new k...

The paper highlights the evolution of the organized seed sector and the progressive changes that took place over the last 35 years in Ethiopia. From its ad hoc arrangements and modest beginning in the 1940s, the formal seed sector went through several structural and organizational changes particularly during the last two decades due to several internal and external factors. Among these are the shift in international economic development (e.g. structural adjustment programs), the need for and emphasis on diversification to allow entry of the private sector, the separation between production and regulatory agencies and the recognition of the role of informal sector. These changes led to the development of policy and regulatory framework governing the national seed sector. Although much progress has been made in recent years, the Ethiopian seed sector remains less diverse where the public sector dominates and the choice for seed supply is limited to few major crops. The paper further discusses the challenges and opportunities presented within the agricultural transformation agenda of the country and calls for concrete steps to be undertaken in the implementation of national seed sector strategy through provision of adequate resources. It argues for a more facilitative seed policy and regulatory framework recognizing the diversity of the seed sector within the concept of integrated seed sector development embracing various types of formal (public and private), intermediate (semi-informal) and informal (farmer-saved and farmer-based) seed systems. It also calls for the integration of the national seed sector to the regional and global seed industry to benefit from developments elsewhere and become more competitive to serve the national agricultural research for development agenda.

This technical paper begins with an introduction to
grain legumes and their importance in Eastern Africa,
followed by trends in production and productivity,
variety development, release and promotion.
It proposes and describes 12 basic principles
necessary to mainstream legume seed systems (and
thereby legume production and utilization) in crop
development programmes for sustainable agricultural
intensification in Eastern Africa. These principles
include a closer look at the legume seed theory of
change, taking note of how the various players help
move activities of stakeholders through outputs,
outcomes and impacts and how they interact through
spheres of action, influence and interest; innovative
approaches for early-generation seed (EGS) supply;
a connection between EGS and commercial class
seed; strong policy environment; strong institutional
framework; multistakeholder involvement; linkage to
utilization and markets; and the role of legumes in
empowering women and youth.
This technical paper focuses on the Eastern Africa
subregion, particularly on Burundi, Djibouti, Ethiopia,
Kenya, Rwanda, Somali, South Sudan and Uganda.
Examples and cross-references are provided from
other parts of Africa and beyond for cross-learning
and experience sharing. The development of the
technical paper was a highly collaborative effort
among technical experts at the FAO Subregional Office
for Eastern Africa, CIAT, ICRISAT, ICARDA and Jomo
Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology.
The technical review of the paper was undertaken
by a Seed Security Expert of the Seeds and Genetic
Resources Team (AGPMG) at FAO Rome

This book documents ICARDA’s experience in rapid deployment of rust-resistant wheat varieties through bilateral and multilateral projects in general and the ICARDA-EIAR project entitled Deployment of rust-resistant varieties for ensuring food security in Ethiopia in particular highlighting the framework of fast track variety testing and release and accelerated seed production to mitigate and/or control wheat rusts. Chapter 1 presents ICARDA’s overall experience working with NARS in Egypt, Ethiopia and Pakistan. Chapters 2 to 7 considered the status of wheat rusts and the achievements and lessons learned in fast track variety release, accelerated seed multiplication, promotion of rust-resistant wheat varieties, awareness creation among stakeholders, training of farmers and development agents, and capacity building in terms of rust disease early warning system, and value chain development by enhancing linkage between smallholder farmers and agro-industries in Ethiopia. Chapter 2 highlights the historical and status of wheat rusts and the management options available to farmers. Chapter 3 presents, the development of rust-resistant wheat varieties and release including pre-release seed multiplication and variety maintenance at federal and regional agricultural research centers. Chapter 4 summarizes the early generation seed (breeder, pre-basic and basic) multiplication by NARS and large-scale certified seed production partnering with public seed enterprises and farmer seed producer’s associations. Chapter 5 elaborates on demonstration, popularization, on-farm seed production and capacity strengthening of stakeholders. Chapter 6 elucidates the past attempts and the project efforts in linking smallholder farmers to the durum value chain. In Chapter 7 the impact of the project in terms of wheat productivity, production, household food security, and the institutional innovations in variety releases, seed multiplication and delivery systems are presented. Chapter 8 presents the achievements and lessons learned on critical research, development and policy implications both at global/regional and national levels.