BY SIFISO NHLABATSI
EZULWINI – The Southern African Development Community (SADC) has committed to playing an active role in strengthening Africa’s seed systems and ensuring sustainable seed security across the continent.
Speaking during the inaugural Africa Seed Summit at the Ezulwini Palazzo ICC on Wednesday, SADC Plant Genetic Resources Centre Head Dr Justify Gotami Shava said the region was ready to contribute to the summit’s objectives and the broader continental agenda on seed security.
“The SADC region commits to play its active part in advancing this milestone’s goals in our collective journey to strengthen Africa’s seed systems,” Shava said.
He said SADC was already implementing programmes aimed at supporting sustainable seed systems, highlighting the region’s regional genebank as one of its key interventions.
According to Shava, the SADC regional genebank houses 82 000 accessions of seeds of African origin, which he described as essential ingredients for sustainable seed systems.
“The SADC region is the only REC with a regional genebank which is home to 82 000 accessions of seeds of African origin,” he said.
Shava also highlighted SADC’s harmonised seed regulatory system, whose catalogue currently contains more than 116 crop varieties.
He said the system also catered for smallholder farmers through the Quality Declared Seed category, while community genebanks were being promoted as focal points for farmer-managed seed systems.
“This is meant to ensure that all citizens of the SADC region have access to seeds despite category. Smallholder farmers are also catered for,” Shava said.
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