The Seed Producers Association of Ghana (SEEPAG) has renewed its call on Parliament to pass without delay the National Seed Policy and Regulations Bill into law.

Reverend Patrick Apullah, National President of SEEPAG who reiterated the call at a day’s advocacy workshop in Accra, said this would help address the numerous challenges facing the seed sector.

The workshop was sponsored by Business Advocacy Challenge (BUSAC) Fund, to facilitate the development of the requisite legislative instruments and the implementation of guidelines to ensure an improved business environment for stakeholders in the private seed sector.

Rev Apullah said the passage of the Bill would contribute significantly to the work of the Association as well as the Ministry of Food and Agriculture (MOFA) and promote public/private partnership between farmers, seed producers and the Ministry.

He said inadequate supply of foundation seed for some varieties of crops is among the most pressing challenges facing seed producers, and this is besides marketing difficulties and high number of illegal seeds on the market.

“Other challenges include the operation of fake dealers in the market, weak structured seed value chain resulting in inefficient marketing and promotion, relatively high price of certified seed and low demand by farmers.”

The National President said the passage of such a law was long overdue and called on government and Parliament to expedite the processes for the enactment of the Bill.

He urged members of the Association to continue with their advocacy programmes in the communities, to weed out fake seed dealers and to win more members into their fold.

Mr Osman Mensah, BUSAC Consultant and a resource person, urged the government to broaden the stakeholder consultation and to speed up the process of developing the Legislative Instrument (LI) on the seed law to ensure that it addresses the challenges.

He appealed to the government to reduce its role in the marketing of seeds and allow the private sector to manage the distribution of quality seeds to farmers.