Shem Oirere07.20.22
Africa’s drive to stamp out fake seeds is fueling demand for scratch-off seed labels and related technologies as countries in the region race to boost agricultural production and entice more farmers into using certified farm inputs.
The campaign against fake seeds and the demand for quality seeds comes in the wake of the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organization contention that Africa loses an estimated 70% of its food production due to low quality or counterfeit seeds.
According to the African Union, a continental union consisting of 55 member states located on the continent of Africa, the prevalence of fake seeds “is a common problem facing the seed industry in Africa.” However, the African Seed Access Index (TASAI), which monitors indicators that are essential to seed sector development at the national level, says current reported cases of counterfeit seeds in Africa is an “underestimate.”
Previous reports point to seed distributors, retailers, and other agents as the source of the fake seeds that are circulating in the region, but thanks to the recent introduction of new seed labeling technology, there has been a reduction in the sale of fakes in the region.
With the scaling up in use of scratch-off labels on seed packaging, there is increased use of certified-seeds, especially by small scale holder farmers, particularly in the Sub-Saharan region. The labels enhance farm seed packaging through functional characteristics such as variety identification and providing vital information such as label test confirmation. Plus, the labels provide the seed industry with options such as anti-transmittance, one-time use, anti-theft code and confidentiality.
Distribution of scratch-off labels in some African countries, coupled with the use of radio and print media to sensitize farmers on the presence of fake seeds in the market, has enabled agencies, such as Nigeria’s National Agricultural Seed Council (NASC), to deploy the use of IT-based solutions to combat the proliferation of counterfeit seeds. NASC has launched the National Seed Tracker system that enhances the traceability of seeds from the farm to the point of sale with labels playing a crucial role.
Furthermore, the Council has introduced the use of an electronic authentication system called SEEDCODEX that allows farmers to receive feedback through SMS on the authenticity of the seed they have purchased. SEEDCODEX entails having a tag attached on seed packaging with a scratch-off label. There is a code under the label that farmers can send via SMS to the Seed Council and get an instant response, verifying the authenticity of the seed.
A similar initiative is underway in Kenya, where scratch-off labels are helping scale up the supply of high-quality seeds, hence supporting farmers to boost their crop productivity while improving their livelihoods.
The Kenya Plant Health Inspectorate Services (KEPHIS), a government agency whose responsibility is to assure the quality of agricultural inputs and the Seed Trade Association of Kenya (STAK), have introduced security labels on all seed packages destined for the market.
Just like in the Nigerian case, the labels are on the seed packaging and when scratched, they reveal a unique 12-digit code, which the buyer can send via text message to a designated phone number, and, in a matter of seconds, receive a response confirming whether the seed in the package purchased has been tested by KEPHIS.
KEPHIS and STAK have contracted MPedigree, a social enterprise working in three continents with governments, Fortune 500 companies, and activists campaigning to safeguard human health and food security through technology. MPedigree supplies the security labels to all seed companies in Kenya and says its latest seed label technology has enhanced security features that confirms if the packaged seed is certified at the point of purchase among other useful product information.
By 2018, KEPHIS had indicated at least 115 million scratch-off labels had been purchased by Kenyan seed companies and that since the introduction of the technology “there has been a marked decline in counterfeit seeds being sold in the seed market.” With the introduction of seed labels, KEPHIS is able to trace certified seeds along the value chain and prevent the stocking of those that have expired.
The scratch-off labels on seed packaging consist of several layers, including the silicone paper, which makes the base of the label, a layer of pressure sensitive adhesive that forms the middle layer, and the hologram that is placed at the outer-most layer of the label.
Although no data is available in the segmentation of scratch-off labels in use in the African seed industry, there has in the past been diverse designs for the labels with the seed holographic scratch-off labels being the most preferred in the agricultural farm input segment. The design could encompass valid pattern holographic scratch-off labels, rainbow effect holographic scratch-off labels, and other customized holographic scratch-off label options currently available in the African market.
Elsewhere, leading local and international seed producers in Africa, such as Monsanto, Syngenta, East Africa Seed & Pannar, Kenya Seed Company Ltd, and Pioneer DuPont, do use other seed labels, especially for the chemically-treated seed that requires a different approach than that used for non-treated seeds.
Since the seed packaging for treated seeds is not a pesticide container, the International Seed Federation says the packaging should carry data on the nature of the seed, weight of the packaging, and origin of the product. Such labels, ISF says, should generally display information on the active ingredients the seed has been treated with, and also the name and address of the local seed distributor or supplier.
Labels on treated seeds also display warnings against, for example, use of the seed for human consumption, or processing or caution to keep the seed out of the reach of children, livestock and wildlife.
Other seed companies packaging and distributing treated seeds are also required to have labels with contact details on the national/regional poison center or other similarly-qualified institution, details on user and operator safety and environmental protection measures.
In South Africa, the South African National Seed Organization has provided seed industry labeling standards that should be adhered to by its members. The standards include, among other requirements, mandatory use of permanent ink, contrasting to the background in letters, figures and symbols of not less than two millimeters high.
“SANSOR is of the opinion that only critical information should be printed on seed labels, as proposed by the seed industry, to keep the cost of seed to a minimum and to take the limited availability of printing space on packets sold in the retail market into consideration,” the organization says in its guidelines for labeling treated seed.
Despite the dearth in data on the most preferred holographic scratch-off label technology in use in Africa, there are indications mature agricultural economies, such as South Africa, Egypt, Zimbabwe and Nigeria, have the potential to deploy diverse options such as 3D-dot matrix, UV printing and jagged edges across end-use markets.
Meanwhile, Willy Bett, Kenya’s former cabinet secretary in the Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock, and Fisheries, was quoted as saying, “Unscrupulous business people are siphoning millions of shillings from farmers by packaging uncertified maize seeds in a racket that is threatening to undermine food production and leave the country vulnerable.”
Bett, who is also a former managing director of Kenya Seed Company Ltd, comments, “The problem has been compounded with lenient punishment meted out to fake seed dealers.”
“The counterfeiters are siphoning millions of shillings from farmers by packaging uncertified maize seeds in the company’s branded packaging materials and distributing them to unscrupulous seed stockists and agents for sale,” Bett said in a previous interview with media.
He noted that 20% of Kenya’s seed industry’s annual turnover of more than $12.8 million is “business being promoted by dishonest traders selling fake seeds.”
In Africa, the 1994-established Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA), a regional economic community in Africa with 21 member states stretching from Tunisia to Eswatini, became the first such institution to introduce the distribution of seed labels and certificates in 2019.
COMESA member-countries, with a combined estimated 130 million people who are food insecure, have been working with private seed companies to ensure supply of quality and improved seed as a first step in elimination of poverty and hunger.
Reports by the COMESA secretariat indicate that of the 80 million smallholder farmers in the region, only 20% of them have access to quality and improved seed, hence the launch of the COMESA seed labels and certificates.
Although the region has the potential for two million metric tons of quality and improved seeds, only 520,000 metric tons are produced and supplied in the region.
Recently, the COMESA Seed Program, through the Alliance for Commodity Trade in Eastern and Southern Africa (ACTESA), has developed four million physical seed labels ready for use by seed companies in the region.
The labels, COMESA’s brief on the program says, “enables companies engaged in regional seed trade for large seed consignments, crossing borders and in-country seed trade in smaller packages.” These COMESA seed labels are stuck on different sizes of bags, including 1kg, 2kg, 5kg, 10kg, 20kg and 25kg bags within 30 to 40 metric tons of COMESA certified seed lot.
“Seed labels are meant to provide an easy passage at the border and are now available at the COMESA secretariat at $0.35 per label in order to facilitate trade within the 21 COMESA member states,” says John Mukuka, a seed expert for ACTESA/COMESA. “Once a seed variety is on the COMESA seed catalog, it does not have to be subjected to more tests and can be improved, marketed and if necessary produced in any of the 21 countries,” he adds.
The COMESA secretariat supplies the labels to seed manufacturing companies in the 21 countries with the opportunity to supply them across the wider African market. Currently, there are several active seed manufacturers in Africa with Nigeria, the most populous country in the continent having approximately 106 companies. Other countries with a high number of active seed companies include Madagascar with 48, and both Mali and South Africa with 41 each.
The rest of the countries surveyed reported numbers ranging from 4–30, with the average number of seed companies around 20, according to the African Union’s (AU) report, “The Seed Sector in Africa; Status Report and Ten-year Action Plan 2020-2030.”
As more seed companies take up more seed labels to use in their packaging, the African seed labels market is expected to grow in the long term. The labeled packaging is mostly for grain seeds, especially maize and rice, the dominant variety of seeds in the African market.
Zimbabwe dominates seed sales in Africa, with average annual sales of 44,150 metric tons. Other seed markets, such as Kenya, South Africa, Zambia and Ethiopia, have recently reported seed sales of 43,954 metric tons, 33,223 metric tons, 33,018 metric tons, and 27,756 metric tons, respectively.
Demand for seed labels is expected to grow with the increased use of the seed labeling solution by leading rice producing countries, such as Nigeria, Senegal, Burkina Faso, Sierra Leone and Mali, who reported an output of 38,607 tons, 12,485 tons, 4,334 tons, 3,065 tons and 2,295 tons, respectively.
Egypt, however, is likely to consume more of the rice seed labels with a rice production that surpasses many producers at 25,676 tons.“Except for Nigeria, most of the rice seed produced in these countries is produced not by seed companies, but by individual seed producers, seed associations and seed cooperatives,” the report by African Union concludes.
The campaign against fake seeds and the demand for quality seeds comes in the wake of the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organization contention that Africa loses an estimated 70% of its food production due to low quality or counterfeit seeds.
According to the African Union, a continental union consisting of 55 member states located on the continent of Africa, the prevalence of fake seeds “is a common problem facing the seed industry in Africa.” However, the African Seed Access Index (TASAI), which monitors indicators that are essential to seed sector development at the national level, says current reported cases of counterfeit seeds in Africa is an “underestimate.”
Previous reports point to seed distributors, retailers, and other agents as the source of the fake seeds that are circulating in the region, but thanks to the recent introduction of new seed labeling technology, there has been a reduction in the sale of fakes in the region.
With the scaling up in use of scratch-off labels on seed packaging, there is increased use of certified-seeds, especially by small scale holder farmers, particularly in the Sub-Saharan region. The labels enhance farm seed packaging through functional characteristics such as variety identification and providing vital information such as label test confirmation. Plus, the labels provide the seed industry with options such as anti-transmittance, one-time use, anti-theft code and confidentiality.
Distribution of scratch-off labels in some African countries, coupled with the use of radio and print media to sensitize farmers on the presence of fake seeds in the market, has enabled agencies, such as Nigeria’s National Agricultural Seed Council (NASC), to deploy the use of IT-based solutions to combat the proliferation of counterfeit seeds. NASC has launched the National Seed Tracker system that enhances the traceability of seeds from the farm to the point of sale with labels playing a crucial role.
Furthermore, the Council has introduced the use of an electronic authentication system called SEEDCODEX that allows farmers to receive feedback through SMS on the authenticity of the seed they have purchased. SEEDCODEX entails having a tag attached on seed packaging with a scratch-off label. There is a code under the label that farmers can send via SMS to the Seed Council and get an instant response, verifying the authenticity of the seed.
A similar initiative is underway in Kenya, where scratch-off labels are helping scale up the supply of high-quality seeds, hence supporting farmers to boost their crop productivity while improving their livelihoods.
The Kenya Plant Health Inspectorate Services (KEPHIS), a government agency whose responsibility is to assure the quality of agricultural inputs and the Seed Trade Association of Kenya (STAK), have introduced security labels on all seed packages destined for the market.
Just like in the Nigerian case, the labels are on the seed packaging and when scratched, they reveal a unique 12-digit code, which the buyer can send via text message to a designated phone number, and, in a matter of seconds, receive a response confirming whether the seed in the package purchased has been tested by KEPHIS.
KEPHIS and STAK have contracted MPedigree, a social enterprise working in three continents with governments, Fortune 500 companies, and activists campaigning to safeguard human health and food security through technology. MPedigree supplies the security labels to all seed companies in Kenya and says its latest seed label technology has enhanced security features that confirms if the packaged seed is certified at the point of purchase among other useful product information.
By 2018, KEPHIS had indicated at least 115 million scratch-off labels had been purchased by Kenyan seed companies and that since the introduction of the technology “there has been a marked decline in counterfeit seeds being sold in the seed market.” With the introduction of seed labels, KEPHIS is able to trace certified seeds along the value chain and prevent the stocking of those that have expired.
The scratch-off labels on seed packaging consist of several layers, including the silicone paper, which makes the base of the label, a layer of pressure sensitive adhesive that forms the middle layer, and the hologram that is placed at the outer-most layer of the label.
Although no data is available in the segmentation of scratch-off labels in use in the African seed industry, there has in the past been diverse designs for the labels with the seed holographic scratch-off labels being the most preferred in the agricultural farm input segment. The design could encompass valid pattern holographic scratch-off labels, rainbow effect holographic scratch-off labels, and other customized holographic scratch-off label options currently available in the African market.
Elsewhere, leading local and international seed producers in Africa, such as Monsanto, Syngenta, East Africa Seed & Pannar, Kenya Seed Company Ltd, and Pioneer DuPont, do use other seed labels, especially for the chemically-treated seed that requires a different approach than that used for non-treated seeds.
Since the seed packaging for treated seeds is not a pesticide container, the International Seed Federation says the packaging should carry data on the nature of the seed, weight of the packaging, and origin of the product. Such labels, ISF says, should generally display information on the active ingredients the seed has been treated with, and also the name and address of the local seed distributor or supplier.
Labels on treated seeds also display warnings against, for example, use of the seed for human consumption, or processing or caution to keep the seed out of the reach of children, livestock and wildlife.
Other seed companies packaging and distributing treated seeds are also required to have labels with contact details on the national/regional poison center or other similarly-qualified institution, details on user and operator safety and environmental protection measures.
In South Africa, the South African National Seed Organization has provided seed industry labeling standards that should be adhered to by its members. The standards include, among other requirements, mandatory use of permanent ink, contrasting to the background in letters, figures and symbols of not less than two millimeters high.
“SANSOR is of the opinion that only critical information should be printed on seed labels, as proposed by the seed industry, to keep the cost of seed to a minimum and to take the limited availability of printing space on packets sold in the retail market into consideration,” the organization says in its guidelines for labeling treated seed.
Despite the dearth in data on the most preferred holographic scratch-off label technology in use in Africa, there are indications mature agricultural economies, such as South Africa, Egypt, Zimbabwe and Nigeria, have the potential to deploy diverse options such as 3D-dot matrix, UV printing and jagged edges across end-use markets.
Meanwhile, Willy Bett, Kenya’s former cabinet secretary in the Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock, and Fisheries, was quoted as saying, “Unscrupulous business people are siphoning millions of shillings from farmers by packaging uncertified maize seeds in a racket that is threatening to undermine food production and leave the country vulnerable.”
Bett, who is also a former managing director of Kenya Seed Company Ltd, comments, “The problem has been compounded with lenient punishment meted out to fake seed dealers.”
“The counterfeiters are siphoning millions of shillings from farmers by packaging uncertified maize seeds in the company’s branded packaging materials and distributing them to unscrupulous seed stockists and agents for sale,” Bett said in a previous interview with media.
He noted that 20% of Kenya’s seed industry’s annual turnover of more than $12.8 million is “business being promoted by dishonest traders selling fake seeds.”
In Africa, the 1994-established Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA), a regional economic community in Africa with 21 member states stretching from Tunisia to Eswatini, became the first such institution to introduce the distribution of seed labels and certificates in 2019.
COMESA member-countries, with a combined estimated 130 million people who are food insecure, have been working with private seed companies to ensure supply of quality and improved seed as a first step in elimination of poverty and hunger.
Reports by the COMESA secretariat indicate that of the 80 million smallholder farmers in the region, only 20% of them have access to quality and improved seed, hence the launch of the COMESA seed labels and certificates.
Although the region has the potential for two million metric tons of quality and improved seeds, only 520,000 metric tons are produced and supplied in the region.
Recently, the COMESA Seed Program, through the Alliance for Commodity Trade in Eastern and Southern Africa (ACTESA), has developed four million physical seed labels ready for use by seed companies in the region.
The labels, COMESA’s brief on the program says, “enables companies engaged in regional seed trade for large seed consignments, crossing borders and in-country seed trade in smaller packages.” These COMESA seed labels are stuck on different sizes of bags, including 1kg, 2kg, 5kg, 10kg, 20kg and 25kg bags within 30 to 40 metric tons of COMESA certified seed lot.
“Seed labels are meant to provide an easy passage at the border and are now available at the COMESA secretariat at $0.35 per label in order to facilitate trade within the 21 COMESA member states,” says John Mukuka, a seed expert for ACTESA/COMESA. “Once a seed variety is on the COMESA seed catalog, it does not have to be subjected to more tests and can be improved, marketed and if necessary produced in any of the 21 countries,” he adds.
The COMESA secretariat supplies the labels to seed manufacturing companies in the 21 countries with the opportunity to supply them across the wider African market. Currently, there are several active seed manufacturers in Africa with Nigeria, the most populous country in the continent having approximately 106 companies. Other countries with a high number of active seed companies include Madagascar with 48, and both Mali and South Africa with 41 each.
The rest of the countries surveyed reported numbers ranging from 4–30, with the average number of seed companies around 20, according to the African Union’s (AU) report, “The Seed Sector in Africa; Status Report and Ten-year Action Plan 2020-2030.”
As more seed companies take up more seed labels to use in their packaging, the African seed labels market is expected to grow in the long term. The labeled packaging is mostly for grain seeds, especially maize and rice, the dominant variety of seeds in the African market.
Zimbabwe dominates seed sales in Africa, with average annual sales of 44,150 metric tons. Other seed markets, such as Kenya, South Africa, Zambia and Ethiopia, have recently reported seed sales of 43,954 metric tons, 33,223 metric tons, 33,018 metric tons, and 27,756 metric tons, respectively.
Demand for seed labels is expected to grow with the increased use of the seed labeling solution by leading rice producing countries, such as Nigeria, Senegal, Burkina Faso, Sierra Leone and Mali, who reported an output of 38,607 tons, 12,485 tons, 4,334 tons, 3,065 tons and 2,295 tons, respectively.
Egypt, however, is likely to consume more of the rice seed labels with a rice production that surpasses many producers at 25,676 tons.“Except for Nigeria, most of the rice seed produced in these countries is produced not by seed companies, but by individual seed producers, seed associations and seed cooperatives,” the report by African Union concludes.