Abstract

It is a recognized fact; seed is the most vital input for crop production. The objective of this paper was to assess the major challenges and opportunities of seed system in Ethiopia which entirely influence quality and quantity of seed production and subsequent crop production. Seed system in Ethiopia represents the entire complex integration of organizational, institutional and individuals associated with the development, multiplication, processing, storage and distribution and marketing operations of seeds. Informal, formal and alternative seed systems co-exist in Ethiopia with low quality, low quantity and medium contribution for crop production, respectively. The informal seed system accounted about 90% of the seed used by smallholder farmers. It is relatively cheaper; readily available in the farmer’s villages and its sustainability is more guaranteed than the formal seed system. Alternative seed system includes community based seed production by organized farmers in the form of cooperatives, model farmers and/or individual entrepreneurs. The major challenges of seed system in Ethiopia were inadequate seed marketing information and infrastructure, diseases and pests introduction, lack of a clear seed strategy, inefficient extension service, limited collaboration within the seed sector, private companies tend to concentrate on profitable crops for their own pocket, lack of awareness and knowledge gap about seed production, inadequate basic seed supply, budget limitation and lack of effective large scale seed enterprises. Whereas, the best opportunities to minimize seed system constraints were presence of high seed demands with a limited seed supply, different agencies are currently reassessing their strategies, government investments in rural infrastructure and general agricultural policies, strong national and regional initiatives in seed production, availability of development agents and different cooperatives every corner of the country. Effective seed demand assessment mechanisms, involvement of end users farmers during seed system planning, every seed producers must be channeled into the seed system, seed system strategy should be prepared properly with respect to quality, time and place of supply and fair pricing, establish clear and simple institutional and functional linkages between research and seed producing institutions, formulation and implementation of clear seed strategy should be exercised in the seed system of Ethiopia.