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LargegovernmentalorganizationscontrolledtheproductionofseedsinAfricaformanyyears. Ownersofsmallfarmshadtobuytheirseedsfromtheseagencies. ButnowthereisanefforttomakeseedsfromothersuppliersavailabletoAfricanfarmers. Thenew, improvedseedsmightsomedayhelpAfricafeeditself.
EdwardMabayagrewupinZimbabwe. Thereweretenchildreninhisfamily. Hisfatherwasaconstructionworker. Hismotherfarmedtheirland. Hesaysthesmallfarmwasverysuccessfulbecausehismotheruseddifferentkindsofseeds.
HesaysitwasatimewhenmanynewkindsofseedswerecomingintoZimbabwe. Hesaidsomefarmersbegantousethemandincreasedtheircropproduction. Mr. Mabayasaidhisparentsusedthemoneyearnedfromthosecropstosendalltheirchildrentoschool.
Mr. MabayaisnowaresearcheratCornellUniversityinNewYork. Heisworkingonaprojectthathehopeswillgiveothersmallfarmersthesamechancehisparentshad.
HeleadsTheAfricanSeedAccessIndex (TASAI), whichresearchesAfrica'sseedindustry. TheorganizationwaslaunchedinMarch. ItisajointeffortofCornellUniversity, anon-profitgroupcalledMarketMatters, Inc. andtheU.S. DepartmentofAgriculture.
TASAIhopestoprovideimprovedseedstoownersofsmallfarms. Mr. MabayasaysAfrica'sseedindustryiscomplexandcanbeinefficient. HesaysTASAIwilltrytoidentifyareasoftheindustrythatcanbeimproved.
SomeprivateseeddevelopersareoperatinginAfricabutnotmany. Andtheyhavenotworkedtodevelopnewseeds. MostfarmersinAfricausethesameseedstheyhavebeenplantingformanyyears, unlikefarmersintheWesternworld. Theseedshavenotbeenimprovedtoresistdiseaseortoleratedrought.
GeorgeBigirwaworksattheAllianceforaGreenRevolutioninAfricaorAGRA. HesaystherearenotenoughimprovedseedsinAfricatosupplythemillionsoffarmerswhoneedthem.
"IrememberwhenbeforeAGRAcamein, insomecountrieslikeBurkinaFaso, likeMali, evenGhana, therewerenoseedcompanies. Atleasttodayyouhaveanaverageofaboutsixtoeightseedcompaniesinplace. However, lookingattheamountofseedeachcompanyproduces, thatisstillverylittle."
Hesaysimprovedseedscanhelpsmallfarmersincreasetheirproductionbysixtimes.
Mr. Mabayasaysthisdifferencecanbeenoughtohelpfarmerswhoarenowgrowingjustenoughfoodtofeedtheirfamilies. Hesaysinsteadtheycouldgrowcropstosell, aswell. Hesaysthatcouldhelpthemescapepoverty.
Mr. MabayasaysthereisstillmuchworktobedonetofullydevelopAfrica'sseedindustry. ButhesaysifseedcompaniesandfarmersinAfricacontinuetousethesameagriculturaltechnologytherestoftheworlduses, Africawillsomedaybeabletofeeditself.
I'mMarshaJames.