Seed Sector Performance Index (SSPI): 2023 Status Report for Africa

The 2023 Seed Sector Performance Index (SSPI) report provides an overview of the performance of national seed sectors in Africa. Developed by TASAI Inc., in collaboration with the African Union Commission’s African Seed and Biotechnology Program (ASBP) and AGRA, the SSPI is a new analytical tool that aims to provide a single score measurement of the health of seed systems across Africa. The current report is SSPI’s first (pilot) report. The SSPI report follows on the report entitled “Seed Sector in Africa: Status Report and Ten-year Action Plan (2020-2030),” published by the AUC in 2020 (African Union Commission, 2021). However, the SSPI departs from the previous report in that it uses a more rigorous and detailed methodology. Its findings have informed the results of the 4th CAADP Biennial Review report, slated for release in April 2024, in which seed sector performance was captured through the indicators on “the growth rate of the ratio of supplied quality agriculture inputs.” The specific parameters were “the quantity of seed (of improved and local varieties) required to cultivate the total area of one selected crop from the five priority value chains”, and “the quality seed of improved varieties of the selected crop supplied to farmers for planting”. The primary source of indicators for the SSPI were TASAI’s 22 and SeedSAT’s 166 indicators. The two sources yielded an initial short-list of 30 indicators, which TASAI reviewed with AGRA and ASBP members and further reduced to the current 17 indicators. These 17 indicators encompass all aspects of the seed system, from research and variety development to seed production, marketing and distribution, and the policy environment. The indicators are divided into five groups: five indicators are listed under breeding, variety release and maintenance, three under commercial seed production marketing and trade, two under seed distribution and farmer awareness, four under seed policy frameworks, and three under seed quality assurance and industry support. Each indicator is scored out of ten. The overall score for each country is the simple average of the 17 scores. All 55 AU Member States were approached to provide data for the SSPI. Forty-seven submitted a response, while Algeria, Cape Verde, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, Mauritius, Morocco, Sao Tome and Principe, and the Sahrawi Republic declined to participate. Each country’s dataset contains information on four crops of importance to the country (“the four priority crops”), which include cereals, legumes, vegetatively propagated crops, fruits, and vegetables. The ten most common priority crops, in order of frequency, were maize, rice, sorghum, groundnut, bean, millet, soya bean, wheat, cowpea, and cassava.