National Seed Plan

The National Seed Plan is a national sectoral plan of the Republic of Ghana. Its main objective is to support the development and establishment of a well-coordinated, comprehensive and sustainable private sector-driven seed industry through systematic and strategic approaches which would continuously create and supply new improved varieties for use by farmers and, further, support successful seed production, certification, marketing and seed security systems which will form the basis for food security and support the overall development of the agricultural sector.
More specifically, it aims to enhance the support to research in the areas of upgraded human, physical and financial resources to undertake both basic and adaptive research in collaboration with partners, both internal and external, in order to derive new varieties which are most suited to the Ghanaian agro-ecologies and end use and to ensure that processes of variety testing, release and registration as well as issues of ownership and other rights are adequately addressed as per international norms and standards; to progressively create the necessary platform for safe and effective use of biotechnology applications and genetically modified crops in the national seed industry as a means of rapidly attaining the national food security goals; to ensure that public services devoted to the production of the early classes of seed are optimized to form a strong foundation for the seed industry and to strongly support the private sector to take up responsibility for the production of the certified seed class, initially assisting them with the outputs from the public sector mandated agencies and cushioning them to progressively develop their own breeder and foundation seeds as soon as possible; to support the informal seed sector to integrate with the formal sector and systematically upgrade some of its practices with a view to portions of it eventually evolving into the formal seed sector and enhancing the growth of the formal sector and the seed industry; and to ensure that past investments in seed conditioning and storage are adequately protected, maintained and efficiently deployed to meet the needs of existing public sector agencies involved in breeder and foundation seed production. Further, the document aims to enhance the maintenance of high quality seeds of crop varieties at the points of production, handling and also moving in commerce; to ensure that materials emanating from research and eventually proposed to be introduced into the seed market as new varieties are sufficiently screened as per laid down procedures; to support the development and implementation of a well-structured and targeted intellectual property rights legislation which will encourage breeders and farmers in their work to rapidly develop and release improved varieties, enhance seed accessibility and protect plant genetic products; to create an enabling environment and develop adequate capacities for a pluralistic extension system to play its critical roles in seed production, delivery and use; to ensure, in a manner consistent with prudent free market economics and other national goals, the regular availability of quality seed for seed users in the form, time and place they need it to guarantee crop production for food security and national development; to encourage seed export and minimize seed import; to develop the seed sector through the enhancement and integration of the seed value chain and commodity value chain; to encourage and promote the development of steps and processes aimed at quickly restoring the productive capacity of rural populations affected by disasters so that as soon as possible, they are able to recover their livelihoods and curtail or reduce their dependence on food aid; to support capacity building in the industry; and to promote international cooperation in the sector.