Which body did ASIWA belong in the seed sector?

ASIWA

The introduction of Alliance for A Seed Industry in West Africa (ASIWA) has generated a question that want to know which body this platform belongs so as to avoid duplication of functions already being carried out by some known bodies.

The initiator of this question, Mr. Fajana said this question is pertinent for the avoidance of functions’ duplication as there are known international bodies playing both the role of ensuring quality seeds trade and regulation saying “ In the international  seed set up, there are association or organization dealing with seeds trade from seeds companies but purely on selling seeds.

 There are those that are regulatory which deals with anything that borders on seed standard and these two bodies are inter-related. The question is where does ASIWA belong to? Are they on the trade side or regulatory side? The reason for this question is that in West Africa, there is WASP i.e West African Seed Programme, and now there is ASIWA. The question is “ Is ASIWA part WASP that is already formed in Africa or are they an affiliation of African Seed Trade Association( AFSTA). We need to know so as to avoid duplication of function among ASIWA, WASP and AFSTA” 

Responding, Mr. Aje of ASIWA, said that the platform is one of the project of WASP that was meant to improve on the performance of private sector in the driving of the seed sector in Nigeria saying the need to form ASIWA was triggered by the subsisting weak synergy between the private and public sectors in the value chain of certified seeds production despite the huge potential demand and supply.

He added that West Africa has lagged behind the other African regions saying poor access to quality seeds is depressing the competitiveness of agricultural products from the region in the global market as well as contributing to pervasive poverty.