FARMERS cultivating maize under unpredictable weather, particularly those in drier climates, have been assured of varieties that will produce more and are better adaptable to such conditions, particularly in the Sub-Saharan Africa. The assurance came after successful field observations on their cultivation. This was the observation from a meeting of scientists drawn from various parts of Africa at Excellence Hotel, Ogba, Ikeja, Lagos recently to examine opportunities open to maize farmers in ensuring that they are less prone to harsh weather and drought while their maize crops perform optimally, even in drought.The one-day meeting, organised at the instance of the Ibadan-based International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA), was specifically to discuss on the field findings on a project called drought tolerance maize for Africa (DTMA) and how it could contribute to food security. In the report of the study carried out on drought tolerant maize (DTM), Dr. Abdoulaye Tahirou, the team leader, observed that many countries in Africa face diverse problems on maize supply.There are a number of problems that complicate the outcomes of bad weather, poor harvest and maize supply shortage in Africa. According to Tahirou, maize import restriction is high in countries under review, Nigeria inclusive. Others, he said, include constraints to wider dissemination of DTM seed companies; inefficient extension system in Nigeria, Ghana, Mali; seed problems, including adulteration among others.At the meeting, it was noted that the importance of drought is on the increase even as maize is gaining higher importance as a staple and industrial crop. Maize, it was observed, is increasingly used as industrial raw material, necessitating seed specialisation. But the need to enforce punishment on fake seeds was also raised as there were reports of seed adulteration by some of the participating countries. A point was, however, made that genetically modified organisms (GMOs) were not under consideration in the study, but rather conventional seeds.Problems raised on one country at the meeting seemed to resonate in others, essentially indicating that all the countries under study shared same experiences, although at varying degrees. Getting the DTM seeds to farmers may not be a smooth sail at the beginning of this campaign, it seemed, because of existing national laws on seeds.For instance, although Robert Agyeibi Asuboah from Ghana observed that, in his country, old seed laws are being changed, Dr. Wilfred Mwangi, DTMA coordinator for Africa, appeared a little sceptical on the ease and speed of changing old laws to allow the official adoption of such improved (DTM) seeds in various countries. Although the representative of Mr. Sobowale, Director General of National Seeds Services (NSS). Disclosing that a national seed council bill is awaiting presidential assent, Dr. Sam Ajala of the IITA observed that, in Mali, the seed laws are not known to all actors. A point was also agreed upon at the meeting that once a law is made, it might not be as easy to modify it as new realities emerge.'Kenya,' Mwangi noted, 'has 120 acts of parliament on agriculture and 30 of these are on seeds. To change the situation in consonance with regional demands will take many years. Two laws will take about 10 years to change because the parliamentarians sit three times in a week for just a few hours. Moreover, criminals in seed business can easily challenge seed laws in constitutional courts to defend their positions Mwangi's observation may have set a stage for the need to work out innovative ways of getting national parliaments to facilitate the adoption of DTM so their farmers could benefit.Aside government's possible legal obstacles, seed companies have been identified as critical stakeholders that need to be prodded to enhance the dissemination of the drought tolerant maize. Presently, said, Dr. Abebe Menkir, an IITA scientist, 'production and supply of enough hybrids has become a challenge' and 'conducting DTM field trials by seed companies is becoming a problem.'It was suggested that seed companies should train people, and not depend on roving breeders. They were also challenged to build capacity for their own personnel to make their impact better felt. Professor Johnson Oyimbe of the National Agricultural Extension Research and Liaison Services, ABU, Zaria, requested for information about the level of adoption of seeds, asking the private seed companies to identify critical areas that can win sympathy and support of donor agencies on seed development.It was made known that Nigeria's seed laws have implication for regional trade. Asuboah, for instance, noted that 'when the (regional) harmonisation issues come into play, most of these stringent rules (across border) may not apply. The position of Nigeria was made known by the representative of the NSS, who agreed that harmonisation was in line with ECOWAS and that Nigeria was 'keying into it and to world best practices.'How intended farmer beneficiaries would get DTM was an issue that the scientists tried to examine at the meeting. It was observed that most seeds don't get to remote areas because of the financial stress on seed companies, just as fraud cases were reported in participating countries of Benin, Nigeria and others. As one of the ways of taking the benefit to the grassroots, it was agreed that regional catalogues be created and that awareness was needed.The dearth of seed technologists and breeders in member states also was raised as a critical issue. It was suggested that something needed to be done to encourage people to go into these areas, including intellectual property rights rewards (such as royalties) to encourage breeders remain in the seeds business. It was also noted that certification for all classes of seeds in the sub-region has implication which needs to be considered.George Dimithe, making a presentation on behalf of ECOWAS, advised that regional laws should be harmonised. He said communication still remains aproblem in ECOWAS countries in respect of regional regulations. Tahir pointed out that maize import restriction was high in countries under review, Nigeria inclusive.Even as Tahirou lamented that maize prices fluctuate while fertiliser prices are nearly fixed, others suggested that agriculture be treated in ways that would generate more interests, especially the input and output prices. In solving the problem of high interest rates on bank loans, which make lending to the seed sub-sector unattractive and unprofitable, Stephen Yakubu, a seed company operator recommended that public service breeders should be allowed to certify seed companies. He said 'R & D is not cheap.' This appeared to be restated by Dr. Mwangi who said, in Kenya, 'most seed companies don't have the capacity to produce hybrids.'Despite identified obstacles to the widespread use of DTM, efforts have been made to disseminate the variety to farmers. According to Menkir, drought tolerant varieties of maize have undergone field trials before they are released. In West Africa, he stressed, 'we have regional trials and shared results with partners in the past three years.'Considering the need to help farmers appreciate improved varieties of seeds, Dr. Ajala suggested that new hybrids need to be taken up and old varieties left behind. In Kenya, noted Dr. Mwangi, 'there are evidences that hybrid maize outperforms OPV (open pollinated varieties) under any condition.' This was corroborated by Abebe: that the studies in Nigeria in the 80s showed hybrids as doing better than OPV. A contrary view was made known by Asuboah, that in some disease situations, hybrids succumb while OPV survived. However, it was advised that seed companies need to embrace hybrids if they want to survive.
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