Author: African Union, 2020
Topics: Access to seeds, COVID-19, African Union, Dialogue, Seed Sector, Africa

Last year over the course of one month, the Department of Rural Economy and Agriculture of the African Union Commission engaged with non-state actors, academia, the private sector, research and development seed sector stakeholders including the African Seed Trade Association (AFSTA), The African Seed Access Index (TASAI) as well as Wageningen Centre for Development Innovation (WCDI).

These institutions had done some impacts assessments at individual level and a consensus was reached to consolidate the efforts to respond to the call made by ministers of AU Member States on assessing the impact of COVID-19 on food and nutrition security as it relates to access to seed. The present White Paper is the results of these consolidated efforts.

The White Paper proposes evidence-based mitigation strategies to minimize the impact of the COVID-19 crisis on access to seed for farmers among Member States, under the auspices of the African Seed and Biotechnology Platform.

Click on the following link to access the document:
https://au.int/en/documents/20201111/white-paper-covid-19-crisis-and-seed-sector-africa-impact-options-actions-and