Seed Security Assessment – Lesotho 2016 Response to the drought effects related to El Niño Seed Security Assessment – Lesotho 2016 Response to the drought effects related to El Niño Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations Rome, 2016 The designations employed and the presentation of material in this information product do not imply the expression of any opinion whatsoever on the part of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) concerning the legal or development status of any country, territory, city or area or of its authorities, or concerning the delimitation of its frontiers or boundaries. The mention of specific companies or products of manufacturers, whether or not these have been patented, does not imply that these have been endorsed or recommended by FAO in preference to others of a similar nature that are not mentioned. 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Cover photos: ©FAO/Rodger Bosch Contents Acknowledgements ...................................................................................................................................... vi Seed Security Assessment Team ................................................................................................................. vii Acronyms ................................................................................................................................................... viii Executive Summary ...................................................................................................................................... ix 1.0 INTRODUCTION ....................................................................................................................................... 1 1.1 Background ......................................................................................................................................... 1 1.2 Rationale for Seed Security Assessment ............................................................................................. 2 1.3 The assessment area ........................................................................................................................... 4 1.4 Objectives............................................................................................................................................ 7 2. ASSESSMENT METHODOLOGY .................................................................................................................. 8 2.1 Data collection tools ........................................................................................................................... 8 2.2 Data collection .................................................................................................................................... 9 2.3 Data management and analysis ........................................................................................................ 11 3.0 KEY FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION ........................................................................................................... 12 3.1 Household demographic and livelihood characteristics ................................................................... 12 3.1.1 Respondents’ gender, head of household gender, household size and constitution ............... 12 3.1.2 Sources of income ...................................................................................................................... 13 3.1.3 Savings and access to credit ....................................................................................................... 14 3.1.4 Livestock resources .................................................................................................................... 15 3.2 Crop systems and practices .............................................................................................................. 15 3.2.1 Major crops grown and their uses ............................................................................................. 15 3.2.2 Area planted, quantity of seed used and area harvested .......................................................... 17 3.2.3 Land preparation practices ........................................................................................................ 18 3.2.4 Use of inorganic and organic fertilizers ..................................................................................... 19 4.0 SEED SECURITY ...................................................................................................................................... 21 4.1 Availability ......................................................................................................................................... 21 4.1.1 Major seed sources .................................................................................................................... 21 4.1.2 Location of seed sources ............................................................................................................ 21 4.2.3 The time at which seed is available ........................................................................................... 22 4.2 Accessibility ....................................................................................................................................... 23 4.3 Quality (cleanliness) .......................................................................................................................... 25 4.4 Germination ...................................................................................................................................... 26 iii 4.5 Farming households plans for 2016-17 seasons ............................................................................... 28 5.0 FORMAL SEED SECTOR .......................................................................................................................... 32 6.0 LOCAL SEED PRODUCTION .................................................................................................................... 36 6.1 Seed growers’ background and structure ......................................................................................... 36 6.2 Seed production activities ................................................................................................................. 36 6.3 Capacity building and training .......................................................................................................... 38 6.4 Challenges ......................................................................................................................................... 39 7.0 SEED AID ................................................................................................................................................ 41 7.1 Receipt of seed aid ............................................................................................................................ 41 7.2 Seed aid access and terms ................................................................................................................ 42 8.0 CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS ........................................................................................... 45 8.1 Conclusions ....................................................................................................................................... 45 8.2 Recommendations ............................................................................................................................ 46 REFERENCES ................................................................................................................................................ 48 APPENDIX A: LIST OF PEOPLE MET.............................................................................................................. 49 APPENDIX B: ATTENDANCE LIST VALIDATION WORKSOP ........................................................................... 51 Tables Table 1: Agro-ecological characteristics and production opportunities ....................................................... 6 Table 2: Distribution of Focus Group Discussions, Seed Growers and Key Informants .............................. 10 Table 3: Number of agro-input dealers interviewed .................................................................................. 10 Table 4: Characteristics of respondents ..................................................................................................... 12 Table 5: Characteristics of households ....................................................................................................... 13 Table 6: Main sources of income (%)