Enterprise Development And The Seed Market

The journey of an entrepreneur is littered with making hard decisions taxing heavily on the intellect. You need to be an astute practitioner to make the right decision at the right time and at the right place. In a recent networking Conference on Enterprise Development and Employment promotion organized by Giz at the UPSA, Consultant Stefanie Simon presented on the concept of 90%, 80%, and the 70% of the economic ecosystem from the Private sector perspective together with the 15, 10, and 5 complexities of Micro Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) She explained that 90% of registered companies are private and out of 2.1 million private companies the MSMEs was 1.7million. she also said the MSMEs generated 80% of employment and contributed 70% to Gross Domestic Product. She took the view that the MSMEs were regulated by 15 agencies and had to secure 10 permits and Licenses to be in business although most operated with not more than 5 employees. The Consultant expressed the need for support from the macro-organizations.

MSMEs constitute a very important channel to achieving food security through seed production. According to a Technical report by Lydia Nikoi for National Seed Trade association of Ghana (NASTAG) in 2022, Small holders’ farmers contributed more than 80% of total food production in Ghana. She however raised concern on access to and adoption of improved certified seeds as a debilitating factor to increased productivity. Given this constraint, Prof. Marian Dorcas Quain, a renowned Biotechnologist and the Deputy Director-General of the Council for Scientific and industrial research advocated for farmers to buy commercial seeds for better yields because yield decline with second or third generation seeds.

The opportunities in the seed market are enormous for MSMEs per the system in Ghana. In Ghana the formal sector is limited to these activities as indicated by Nikoi (2022): genetic resource management, variety breeding research, crop improvement, variety testing and release, conditioning and storage, marketing and distribution to farmers for use with quality control at each stage. It is also evident per the study that the production of certified seed and planting materials for sales to farmers in Ghana is a private sector driven activity and in this privatized seed market small and medium scale seed growers and dealers are registered and trained annually to produce and market seeds in Ghana.

The tension between the overall strategy of food regionalism and the day-to-day reality of facilitating the production of foundations seeds and certified seeds to meet the needs of farmers is a source of concern for stakeholders. The choice of best policies and decisions from the options and converting it into targets and interventions should support seed production, certification, marketing and the seed system. These core infrastructures must put the customer first to determine where the role of a stakeholder ends because post support services are just as critical as any service to food security. The solution can only be to minimize the difficulties that characterize limited access to improved certified seed, poor extension services, problem of ageing farmers and limited access to financial service.

MSMEs operating as out growers in the seed industry must deliver quality to gain competitive advantage. This will be the only tool for survival, competitiveness and success. According to Elsevier publication on quality, organizations that fail to deliver quality are on road to extinction. This will also mean appreciating all the processes or activities involved in production system to ensure availability, accessible and quality seed for farmers. There is need to appreciate the role of the seed system headed by the Ministry of Food and Agriculture, National Seed Council, National Variety Release and Registration Committee, the National Agricultural Research Institutes responsible for Varietal research and Breeder seed development and Grains and legumes Development Board as indicated by Nikoi (2022).

The transfer of seed technology is also aced from the backstopping services in planting and management of seeds, seed conditioning, crop pollination techniques, drying, cleaning, sorting and bagging. The CSIR-SARI and Crops research institute are some of the research organizations reputed for backstopping services. A transformative seed technology should enhance food security, reduce environmental impact and increase the efficiency of the system. Granted the constraints, strategic alliance between industry players can facilitate the production of foundations seed and certified seeds through input credit support in the areas of seeds, fertilizers, agro chemicals, land preparation services or increase in government subsidies and extension service capacity.

For total quality to work in the seed industry, actions plans and information needs must be understood by stakeholders. When this is embedded in the activities of stakeholders, everyone become responsible and accountable for quality. The bridge that connects MSMEs and the farmers includes field demonstrations, Seed fairs, conference demonstration activities, production leaflets, publications and media coverage. These channels become the conduit for transformative technologies, policies, education, technical operations and improved operation that secure food. MSMEs are better developed and positioned if they also appreciate the sources of risks and risk strategies for accelerated socio-economic development.