Assessing the performance of Egypt’s seed sector

Abstract

Egypt is the agribusiness powerhouse of the Middle East and North Africa (MENA-region), watered by the Nile, with age-old soils in the delta, desert oases and the Nile, and with farming experience capable of greening the desert with productive agriculture. It is not only the region's primary producer of many crops like potatoes and onions; with over a hundred million people it is the greatest consumer market and biggest labour reservoir. Egypt is a major producer and exporter of agricultural products such as especially citrus and potatoes, which support Egypt's food security and unlock opportunities for Egypt's local market and export.To the Netherlands, Masr (Egypt) is not a pure development partner country, like fragile states in the Sahel or the Horn of Africa. Rather it is a 'combi-country' where we work on an integrated cooperation, trade and investment agenda. With a focus on Climate and Water Smart Agriculture the NL-Masr Agri-food Network will work with Dutch, Egyptian and international partners on the basis of mutual interest mutual benefit to create innovative, inclusive and sustainable win-wins.While the Egyptian agriculture sector is mature, it is not yet future proof. It is facing challenges such as water scarcity, contamination of soils and water due to excessive chemical input use, and land fragmentation, in the face of climate change, disrupted global supply chains and population growth. This creates a pressure to go from agri-business as usual to more resilient farming and agri-business models, based on investing in the soil, investing in collaboration, and investing in local innovation.The seed sector is central to responding to these challenges, by providing improved varieties for climate resilience. This requires attention that traits beyond productivity, taste and esthetics should be taken along, but also tolerance and resistance to pests, diseases, heat and salinity. The Integrated Seed Sector Development approach, developed by applied researchers at WUR will be especially suited to these challenges. Pluriformity will support the diversity needed for a transition to a food system able to provide sufficient, healthy and sustainable diets for all. This will allow Egypt to develop its own specific public-private approach to provide access to the seeds that farmers need to serve people, planet and profit.

Emerging concepts in plant breeding and their use for the design of seed delivery and dissemination strategies: a systematic review

“…With the few excep�ons discussed above, most studies address seed delivery and dissemina�on within the broader framework of seed systems (Hirpa et al 2010;Barker, 2013;Atlin et al 2017;Bossuet, 2017;Rachkara et al 2017;Almekinders et al 2019;Akpo et al 2020;Mastenbroek et al 2021;Louwaars and Manicad, 2022;Shilomboleni et al 2022) and seed value chains (Thijssen et al 2015;Rutsaert, et al 2021;Choudhary et al 2022). Broadly speaking, the literature recognizes three types of seed delivery systems: the formal, informal and intermediate.…”

“…As SPCs, LSBs/LSEs produce seed of self-pollina�ng and vegeta�vely propagated crops, for which the formal seed sector has litle or no interest, i.e., cereals, pulses, oilseed crops, roots and tubers. They have been promoted as a tool for increasing access, availability and affordability of quality seed since early 2000 (David, 2004), and established since then in a wide range of countries, contexts and crops, e.g., Uganda (common bean), Tanzania (pearl millet, chickpea and sorghum), Sudan (sorghum, millet, groundnut and sesame), Kenya (pigeon pea, groundnut, and chickpea), Ethiopia (wheat, maize, sorghum, teff, barley, common bean, len�l, cowpea, chickpea, potato, sesame, groundnut, sunflower), Afghanistan (wheat, rice, mung beans, potato), Algeria and Tunisia (durum wheat), Eritrea, Morocco, Pakistan, Pales�ne, Syria, and Yemen (Bishaw and van Gastel, 2008;Walsh et al 2015;Thijssen et al 2015;Bishaw and Niane, 2015;Ayana et al 2015;Aliy, 2016;Ojiewo et al 2018;Fikre et al 2020;Mastenbroek et al 2021). African countries (Alemu, 2011;Sperling et al 2013a;Ojiewo et al 2018).…”