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Special
53
March 2015
Seed
In the spotlight:
Sorghum seed
production by smallholder farmers
NEMERA SHARGIE,
ARC-Grain Crops Institute
T
o achieve food security for the poor at household level,
smallholder farmers should be supported to increase food
production. Smallholder farmers grow food to directly feed
their households; if enabled they can create secure live-
lihoods for large numbers of people in communities that need it
the most.
The Limpopo province, where sorghum is mainly produced by
smallholder farmers, faces a major challenge in how to improve pro-
duction and productivity. In addition to varietal improvement and
enhanced crop management, use of quality seed significantly con-
tributes to improved productivity of sorghum.
Open-pollinated varieties are used in Limpopo and other parts of
South Africa. Training farmers in community-based seed production
can have an impact on farmers’ access to seed, provided that seed
production costs can be kept lower than those of the formal seed
sector and that the quality of the seed produced meets the farmers’
expectations.
The ARC-Grain Crops Institute (ARC-GCI) started a sorghum seed
production project with a group of smallholder farmers in the Lim-
popo province with funding obtained from the Department of
Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries (DAFF). The two projects are
the Difahlane project, in Makhuduthamaga municipality, where
twelve farmers took part; and the Ka-Dikweneng project, located in
Lepelle-Nkumpi municipality where four beneficiaries participated.
These two groups of seed growers produced certified seed of sor-
ghum over the last five years assisted by the ARC-GCI and local
extension officers. The standards for seed production have been
met and enforced by the South African National Seed Organisation
(SANSOR), which controls the seed certification scheme.
When producing seed, a producer usually wants to maintain the char-
acteristics of a variety. Cross-pollination between different sorghum
varieties must therefore be prevented. Isolating the seed production
field from other sorghum fields helps achieve this. If two different
varieties are grown next to each other, cross-pollination will occur
between the two varieties and the crop grown from such seed will
have unwanted characteristics from the other variety.
Quality control in sorghum seed
production
The production and distribution of quality sorghum seed requires
diligent efforts both during field production and post-harvest hand-
ling. Field inspections are commonly conducted at different crop
development stages to ensure quality. The certified seed crop
must be inspected at least three times by inspectors affiliated with
SANSOR, i.e. during the vegetative growth stage, at flowering and
at maturity.
Furthermore, various standard tests for moisture content, germina-
tion and physical purity can be conducted to evaluate the quality of
the seed. The most common evaluation conducted is germination
tests, designed to determine the seed’s capacity to germinate and
produce normal plants when sown under favourable conditions.
The model scheme adopted for the community-based seed produc-
tion was a farmers’ group producing certified seed and catering for
the seed demands of neighbouring producers (
Table 1
).
Training seed producers
Training courses are offered to individuals in the respective groups.
Sometimes field days are conducted to improve awareness of the
improved cultivars available and illustrate important aspects of seed
production (field selection, planting pattern, weeding and fertiliser
rates, and plant protection).
Strong partnerships should be established between communi-
ty-based farmers’ groups/seed producers, extension officers
from DAFF, the municipality and district admini-
stration and NGOs to promote the use of
quality seeds on smallholder farms at municipality
and district level.
Seed source
Basic seed from public sector breeding programme or a seed company;
currently ARC
Transport of source seed to seed producers
PDoA/ARC
Sourcing of other inputs (land preparation,
fertiliser and pesticides)
Seed producers group/some support from public funder
Training of seed producers
ARC/SANSOR
Certified seed crop – land registration and inspections
Paid by seed producers group
Quality control
DAFF Seed Quality lab paid by seed producers
Cleaning, storing, packaging and marketing
Processing facility at Madzivhandila Agricultural College/seed producers/PDoA
Output
Certified seed
Sustainability issues
Who is taking over the role of DAFF/PDoA in the long term? (Financial support
for supply of free basic seed, transport, organisation)
Other issues
Marketing of certified sorghum seeds was a challenge for some seasons, but
this current season’s demand was high and all seed produced was taken
TABLE 1: MODEL SCHEME FOR COMMUNITY-BASED SORGHUM SEED PRODUCTION.