IN

XII. STRATEGY AND APPROACHES FOR IMPROVEMENT

XII.2. STRATEGY FOR CREATING A USEFUL INFORMAL SECTOR

"Emphasis should be given to community-driven interventions to the maximum extent possible. This would enable the quick launch of an effective and financially sustainable program of recovery and rehabilitation" (ADB, UNDP, WB Preliminary Needs Assessment, 2002).

This exactly describes the following seed development system, which is considered to be the only feasible methodology under existing conditions.

And, ICARDA is ideally qualified to initiate such a program of "Village Seed Enterprise" development.

XII.2.1. AFGHANISTAN'S UNIQUE CONDITIONS

Afghanistan is a country of many valleys which are isolated to varying degrees. While each valley is different, they are similar in many ways. Transport is difficult. Communication is difficult.

Each village is a tightly-knit unit. Guided by the village Shurah, a village shows democracy in its basic form, with participation by each family, and all working together to benefit each family and all families.

Each family cultivates a small area, needs relatively small amounts of seed.

XII.2.2. WHAT AFGHANISTAN DOES NOT NEED

Afghanistan does not need the classic "formal seed sector" business which is large, handles large volumes of seed with large staff and markets/distributes its seed over wide areas to farmers who can pay cash for their seed and inputs.

XII.2.3. FITTING AFGHANISTAN'S NEEDS

To fit its conditions, Afghanistan needs a decentralized "informal seed sector", composed of "village seed enterprises" which produce high-quality seed to meet the needs of a village or small surrounding area.

This is a "quality-oriented informal sector" with government support and guidance.

This is neither:

It is a network of independent, locally-operated "informal sector village seed enterprises" to which a government agency (or ICARDA, initially) provides benign support and guidance, to help them produce high-quality seed.

In this system, each village (or one of the villages in a local area with several villages) has its own program of minimal infrastructure and operating costs, but which can produce the seed it needs. With adequate support and guidance, each decentralized "Village Seed Enterprise" can produce seed of a quality which permits local farmers to benefit from improved varieties while getting their seed at prices low enough to enable all village farmers to produce higher crop yields at a lower per-unit cost.

Expensive facilities are not needed. Large staffs and high overhead costs are not needed. Extensive marketing networks and promotional programs are not needed. Transport systems, communication networks, distribution sites, networks of retail dealers, are not needed. Large central storages, and smaller retail outlet storages, are not needed. Payments to growers are not delayed; there is no complex system of dealer discounts or "consignment sales". There would be no difficulty in identifying and producing "what the market needs". There would be no large stocks of unsold seed.

XII.2.4. BASIC UNIT FOR AFGHANISTAN'S CONDITIONS

There would be many small units, each producing what farmers in the local area need.

The basic unit would be the "Village Seed Enterprise". It would operate under the management guidance of the village Shurah, a local self-government system which involves the entire village.

The "village seed enterprise" would produce the amount and kind of seed needed by the village and farmers in its immediate area. Its "board of directors" would be the village Shurah, with participation by all village farmers who will use the seed produced.

This "Village Seed Enterprise" would be one or more of the better farmers in the village, known to all the village farmers, and trusted by them. The seed production would be in the local village area, where all "farmer customers" could see the production fields and know what is going on, know that the seed crop is pure and of high quality.

When extra labor is needed such as for roguing fields, other farmers (who are ultimately the customers using the seed produced) could be involved. They would be trained in what it takes to produce quality seed, and would be "sold on" is quality and benefits.

Relatively small amounts of seed would be produced, as needed by the village and farmers in its immediate area. The amount needed and which would be definitely sold (used by farmers) would be known before the seed crop was planted. There would be no excess unsold production, above the minimal "security stocks" decided upon in advance, by the villagers themselves. Minimal equipment would be needed, and transport and distribution would be minimal. Only a small storage would be required.

XII.2.5. SUPPORT AND GUIDANCE

To ensure that adequate supplies of seed are produced, that the varieties grown are the best for the local conditions, and that seed quality and purity are high enough to deliver benefits to the local farmers, in-depth support and guidance would be needed.

Guidance would be provided in a way which is educational for the local farmers who produce and/or use the seed grown by the "village seed enterprise". It would be based on research and variety development conducted under conditions similar to those in the local village. It would take the principles of scientific seed technology, adapt it to the scale and needs of the "village seed enterprise", and transfer it to the "village seed enterprise" through demonstration, training, regular visits, and "on-the-job" guidance. It would include planting guidelines for seed crops; roguing; controlling weeds, insects and diseases; pure seed harvest and handling; cleaning and treating procedures; storage and pest control.

Support would be provided by helping identify the varieties which are best-suited to village conditions; helping obtain pure stock seed to plant the seed fields of the "village seed enterprise"; helping locate and obtain equipment, supplies, seed treatment, etc., needed by the "village seed enterprise"; help in expanding their production to include other nearby farmers/villages as needed or desired.

Effective Agricultural Extension, in concept, is the ideal means of "transferring technology" by demonstration, training and guidance. A strong, dedicated Extension program could provide the support and guidance needed by "village seed enterprises", and use this base to deliver other improvements to villages-health, sanitation, nutrition, crop production, livestock and poultry, etc.

This would require an Extension program which is oriented to serving the needs of its client villages and farmers. The Extension would have to be structured to have, in each District, trained and motivated Extensionists (or ICARDA Community Liaison Officers) who are responsible for specific villages, in a number limited to what they can effectively serve. Higher up the Extension chain, the village Extensionists must be supported by programs and specialists who can help them with training materials and approaches, find and supply their needs (seed, equipment, supplies, etc.), and provide village Extensionists with vehicles, budgets and support needed to make them effective.

XII.2.6. ICARDA'S ROLE UNTIL EXTENSION DEVELOPS

Until a strong Agricultural Extension program develops, ICARDA could provide the needed guidance, support, and assistance to develop the Village Seed Enterprises. The ICARDA system of Community Liaison Officers is tailor-made for this type of work, and is already to some extent in place in Afghanistan, with a cadre of experienced seed workers. Supporting the Village Seed Enterprise system would simply be an extension of what ICARDA is doing now.

XII.2.7. INFRASTRUCTURE NEEDED

Some infrastructure is essential to maintain a "quality-oriented informal seed sector". However, it is far less than is required to support a formal seed sector. The basic need which the infrastructure must provide are:

XII.2.8. SUPPORT AT THE NATIONAL LEVEL

XII.2.8.1. Legal

At the national level, infrastructure required is (1) a National Seed Policy to establish a long-term government policy to support farmers and seed supply; (2) a National Seed Law, to spell out and guide the system; and (3) a network of seed testing laboratories to provide quality tests (germination, purity, storability, seed health).

Note that in a formal seed industry, this is "external quality control"; in this system, it is "seed quality assistance", with the emphasis more on helping prevent problems and providing guidance, rather than on the formal sector aspects of policing.

To minimize costs and bureaucracy, these can be designed for implementation by a single agency.

XII.2.8.2. Research and Technical

Adequate research programs must be maintained to ensure that there are always high-yielding varieties resistant to diseases. And, there should be useful research on crop production aspects and seed technology.

XII.2.9. TECHNICAL/OPERATIONAL SUPPORT AND GUIDANCE

An efficient, technically-competent Agricultural Extension program must be maintained. This is the key element of ensuring that the village level operations function effectively and maintain seed quality.

Extension should be a national organization, with specialists and technical support programs, program planning and assistance, etc., at the national level. At the provincial level, Extension should have specialists to work directly with and support the Village Development Extensionists (VDE) who work with villages and farmers. At the District level, there should be well-trained Village Development Extensionists who can work with villages and farmers to help them establish and operate "village seed enterprises". Each Village Development Extensionist should be responsible for no more than 10-12 villages, or the number that he can effectively assist and visit not less than twice a month (more often during planting, roguing, harvesting, and other critical crop periods).

XII.2.10. SUPPORT AT THE OPERATING LEVEL

The operating level is the "Village Seed Enterprise". Under the guidance of the village Shurah, the VSE will decide how much seed is needed, identify the village farmers who will produce the seed, how other villagers will help in the work, who will get the seed, and other operating matters. They will work with the guidance and support of the Village Development Extensionist responsible for their village.

XII.2.11. FACILITIES AND EQUIPMENT REQUIREMENTS

Facilities and equipment will be required at each level.

Research and Variety Development: requires equipment and facilities adequate to conduct their work, including on-station and in-laboratory research, on-farm trials, breeding, variety testing and screening, etc.

Extension Program: will require equipment and facilities to develop training materials and programs, support services, etc.

Seed Quality Assistance: will require laboratories and equipment to test seed for physical and physiological quality, and seed health. They should also have vehicles for going into the field to assist Extensionists and VSE's with seed quality problems.

Village Development Extensionists: vehicles adequate to maintain constant contact with VDE's, carry supplies, etc., to them, and equipment/supplies/budgets as required to train them, and guide/support them. Also, they will need access to and supplies of stock seed, bags, treating chemicals, equipment spare parts, etc., which they can supply to VSE's on a reimbursement basis.

Village Seed Enterprises: will require stock seed, bags, treating chemicals, basic seed cleaning/treating equipment (in such small-scale operations, most undesirable contaminant materials can be more efficiently removed in the field, thus minimizing requirements for seed cleaning machines), small short-term storage (in a VSE, seed may be all stored in a central place, or allocated and stored by individual farmers, as is decided locally).

XII.2.12. SEED QUALITY ASSISTANCE

In a formal seed sector, external seed quality control consists of a seed law and its implementation agency, seed certification, and seed testing laboratories. These are often separate entities.

In this Village Seed Enterprise system, these are not operated as external policing of seed quality. These are included as services: a seed law to spell out desired quality standards and government actions, seed certification actually by the Extensionist who works with the VSE and with back-up support from technical assistance/inspection from the Seed Quality Assistance Agency, and seed testing services to identify seed quality levels and help VSE's achieve a high quality level.

Services provided include training; identification of diseases, pests, varieties and problems; field inspection and guidance assistance; seed purity and germination testing; seed grow-out tests to identify problems and varietal purity; and seed health tests.

All three functions can be combined into a single agency, so as to coordinate the functions and to conserve funds.

This entity can also serve as the National Plant Quarantine Agency, as it should be able to test seed and materials for plant diseases and pests.

The Seed Quality Assistance Agency should have a network of seed testing laboratories over the country, so that its services can be readily available through contacts made by the Village Development Extensionists. The number of laboratories should increase as the Village Seed Enterprise system expands.

Each seed testing laboratory can conduct simple seed health tests. More advanced seed health testing should be referred to a single National Seed Health Testing Lab, staffed by seed and plant pathologists.

XII.2.13. EASE OF IMPLEMENTATION

While this may sound complex, in reality it is far simpler than even a basic form of the highly-structured formal seed sector. This system should be relatively easy to implement in Afghanistan, given the village Shurah system and pre-supposing the establishment of an effective Extension program.

This system will serve far more farmers than a formal seed sector, and will provide much better-quality seed than an informal seed sector.

Also, costs and wasted resources (excess seed) will be far less than a formal sector, wasted resources productivity will be more than in an informal sector, and new disease-resistant varieties can be distributed to more farmers in a shorter time. Also, rural agro-enterprise development is initiated.

XII.2.14. MOAL PLANS FOR EXTENSION

The Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock reportedly recognizes the importance of Agricultural Extension, and plans to rehabilitate and re-initiate Extension service to farmers.

The Ministry of Agriculture and Animal Husbandry of the interim government cites it priorities in rehabilitating Agricultural Extension as: