EAC set to harmonise seed, fertiliser policies

Arusha. The East African Community is set to harmonise seed and fertilizer policies for its member countries if the recently-launched agricultural inputs systems development project will be successfully implemented.

 The $300,000 project is funded by Alliance for Green Revolution in Africa (Agra), a continental organisation with a vision for agricultural prosperity across Africa in order to promote food security and sustainability.

 A principal agricultural economist with EAC, Mr Moses Marwa, said the two-year project, whose implementation started in July, also seeks to facilitate the establishment of fertiliser and seed regulatory systems in the region.

 “As a bloc, we need harmonised policies for seeds and fertilisers,” he told The Citizen over the weekend as the project managers consulted in Arusha to review its implementation roadmap.

 He said currently, each of the five member states – Tanzania, Uganda, Ken

ya, Burundi and Rwanda – has its own fertiliser and seed policies, which made it difficult for the regional organisation to implement some projects due to lack of harmonisation.

 The same applied to the regulation of the seeds and fertilizer sectors. “Tanzania has its own regulations. Kenya has the oldest regulatory body which acts differently from those in other states. We need a harmonised system”, he pointed out.

Mr Marwa added that the implementation of the project would involve all key stakeholders in the region from the public institutions such as the regulatory bodies, agro-dealers, agricultural research institutions, farmers and consumers.

In the case of Tanzania, the recently-formed Tanzania Fertiliser Authority (TFA) and the Tanzania Association of Seed Traders (Tasta), which is based in Arusha, would be fully involved, he explained.

 A policy officer with the Nairobi-based Agra, Dr Franklin Simtowe, said although the Alliance was supporting the project financially, its implementation rested with the EAC secretariat and the partner states with their respective private sector institutions dealing with improved seeds and fertilisers.

 “The overall objective of this project is to improve EAC farmers’ access to fertilizers and improved seeds of a wide variety, higher quality, affordable prices and which are better suited to the soil and climatic conditions of the region,” he said.

He expressed optimism that this plan will go in a long way in promoting inter and intra-regional trade of agricultural inputs as well as improving technology transfer.

Besides putting in place regulatory framework in seed and fertilisers, the project would also embark on awareness creation on benefit of use of harmonized policies and related instruments in enhancing intra-regional trade on agricultural products.