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Seed Bill 2019 less restrictive—ministry

The Ministry of Agriculture, Irrigation and Water Development says the Seed Bill, 2019 when enacted, will ensure free movement of seed within Sadc and Comesa trade blocs as it is less “restrictive”.

Speaking in Lilongwe on Wednesday on the sidelines of the Seed Bill Stakeholders Validation Workshop, the ministry’s Principal Secretary Grey Nyandule Phiri also dispelled fears the soon-to-be law will kill the local seed industry because of an influx of imported seed.

Instead, he said local seed producers can also take advantage of the economies of scale by penetrating the regional markets.

Said Nyandule-Phiri: “The Bill is trying to align ourselves to the regional markets. We would want producers of seed in the country to not only sell seed in Malawi, but also in the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa [Comesa], Southern African Development Community [Sadc] and even beyond.”

He observed that the massive growth in the seed industry, coupled with the need to harmonise with the international and regional seed protocols to which Malawi is party, triggered the review of the Seed Act, 1996, which is thought to be “restrictive”.

The draft Seed Bill, 2019 proposes a maximum fine of K50 million and 10 years imprisonment for seed-related malpractices, a development expected to bring sanity in the seed sector.

The fine is a huge  increase from the Seed Act, 1996, whose penalties are seen to be lenient with a maximum fine of less than K1 million and less than two years imprisonment, in a way fueling the seed trade-related malpractices.

In an earlier interview, Prince Kapondamgaga, chief executive officer of Farmers Union of Malawi (FUM), an umbrella organisation representing about 1.5 million farmers, commodity associations, traders, processors and producers, agreed that the penalties are “strong”.

During the validation workshop,  stakeholders raised concern on the composition of the National Seed Commission, a semi -autonomous body which is earmarked to comprise seven commissioners, with only two—a representative of the seed companies and farmers—seen to be independent with others being government officials.

But Nyandule-Phiri defended the composition, arguing the commission, whose functions include charting national direction and establishing a national priorities in variety release, seed certification and quality control development, will be like a parastatal that will be reporting to the Ministry of Agriculture, Iirrigation and Water Development.

Meanwhile, stakeholders have one week to make their final submissions on the bill before it is submitted to the Ministry of Justice and Constitutional Affairs for final drafting and then taken to Cabinet.

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