By Esther Nakkazi
Uganda is creating a sweetpotato seed system with standards for inspection and certification.
Under the seed system farmers will buy clean, high quality planting materials from certified suppliers, which will ensure high yields and reduce the spread of pests and diseases.
Sweetpotato is vegetatively propagated where each cropping cycle is started by planting vine cuttings or root sprouts most of them sourced from farmers own fields or their neighbors.
This way there is no check on the quality of vines planted and increases the risk of spreading diseases despite farmers’ efforts to select healthy-looking vines. This also facilitates accumulation of pests and diseases leading to significant decline in yield. But this will change.
“We have developed and piloted seed standards and inspection procedures for sweetpotato so that farmers can access quality planting material of the right varieties and at the right time,” said Dr. Godfrey Asea, the director, National Crops Research Resource Institute (NaCRRI)
The sweetpotato standards have been developed with leadership from Prof Settumba B Mukasa, a plant genetic and lecturer at the school of Agricultural Science Makerere University who is working with the Phytosanitary and Quarantine Services of the Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries (MAAIF), HarvestPlus, International Potato Center (CIP) and other seed system stakeholders.
“The standards are currently in form of technical guidelines for field inspection primarily based on tolerance levels for visual disease readings, pest incidence varietal mixtures in the seed crop, land use history, source of planting material for the seed crop and laboratory testing,” said Prof Settumba.
As well, the team is also developing inspection instructional materials for sensitizing, training and technically empowering the plant inspectors, seed producers, laboratory operators, and net protected nursery multipliers, said Prof Settumba.
For Uganda and the other sub-Saharan countries that are members of the Sweetpotato for Profit and Health Initiative (SPHI) it is key to have policies that would ensure sustainability of a model of production for delivery of quality planting material.
The SPHI with 11 participating countries ̶ Burkina Faso, Ethiopia, Ghana, Kenya, Malawi, Mozambique, Nigeria, Tanzania, Burundi, Uganda̶̶ and Zambia have a target of reaching 10 million households in sub-Saharan Africa by 2020.
To reach this goal, the provision of quality sweetpotato seed or planting material is critical and it requires strong seed systems, said Margaret McEwan, senior project manager for sweetpotato seed systems at International Potato Center.
Participants from SPHI participating countries meeting in Uganda last month under the annual ‘Community of Practise’ get togather exchanged information on how to create and sustain sweetpotato seed systems.
“Scaling up sweetpotato seed systems is not only about the technologies, but also the factors which create an enabling policy environment, the social and behavioural change and new organizational arrangements which are needed, so that farmers can access quality sweetpotato planting material of the right varieties, at the right time,” said Asea.
Prof Settumba emphasised the same issue saying although there are a number of seed classification systems, whatever system is used, standards and guidelines are set by the government.
As well, to maintain sweetpotato seed systems, there is need to identify policy issues that would ensure sustainability of a model of production and delivery of quality planting material,” said Settumba.
ends
Uganda is creating a sweetpotato seed system with standards for inspection and certification.
Under the seed system farmers will buy clean, high quality planting materials from certified suppliers, which will ensure high yields and reduce the spread of pests and diseases.
Sweetpotato is vegetatively propagated where each cropping cycle is started by planting vine cuttings or root sprouts most of them sourced from farmers own fields or their neighbors.
This way there is no check on the quality of vines planted and increases the risk of spreading diseases despite farmers’ efforts to select healthy-looking vines. This also facilitates accumulation of pests and diseases leading to significant decline in yield. But this will change.
“We have developed and piloted seed standards and inspection procedures for sweetpotato so that farmers can access quality planting material of the right varieties and at the right time,” said Dr. Godfrey Asea, the director, National Crops Research Resource Institute (NaCRRI)
The sweetpotato standards have been developed with leadership from Prof Settumba B Mukasa, a plant genetic and lecturer at the school of Agricultural Science Makerere University who is working with the Phytosanitary and Quarantine Services of the Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries (MAAIF), HarvestPlus, International Potato Center (CIP) and other seed system stakeholders.
“The standards are currently in form of technical guidelines for field inspection primarily based on tolerance levels for visual disease readings, pest incidence varietal mixtures in the seed crop, land use history, source of planting material for the seed crop and laboratory testing,” said Prof Settumba.
As well, the team is also developing inspection instructional materials for sensitizing, training and technically empowering the plant inspectors, seed producers, laboratory operators, and net protected nursery multipliers, said Prof Settumba.
For Uganda and the other sub-Saharan countries that are members of the Sweetpotato for Profit and Health Initiative (SPHI) it is key to have policies that would ensure sustainability of a model of production for delivery of quality planting material.
The SPHI with 11 participating countries ̶ Burkina Faso, Ethiopia, Ghana, Kenya, Malawi, Mozambique, Nigeria, Tanzania, Burundi, Uganda̶̶ and Zambia have a target of reaching 10 million households in sub-Saharan Africa by 2020.
To reach this goal, the provision of quality sweetpotato seed or planting material is critical and it requires strong seed systems, said Margaret McEwan, senior project manager for sweetpotato seed systems at International Potato Center.
Participants from SPHI participating countries meeting in Uganda last month under the annual ‘Community of Practise’ get togather exchanged information on how to create and sustain sweetpotato seed systems.
“Scaling up sweetpotato seed systems is not only about the technologies, but also the factors which create an enabling policy environment, the social and behavioural change and new organizational arrangements which are needed, so that farmers can access quality sweetpotato planting material of the right varieties, at the right time,” said Asea.
Prof Settumba emphasised the same issue saying although there are a number of seed classification systems, whatever system is used, standards and guidelines are set by the government.
As well, to maintain sweetpotato seed systems, there is need to identify policy issues that would ensure sustainability of a model of production and delivery of quality planting material,” said Settumba.
ends
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