Zambia Alliance for Agroecology and Biodiversity – ZAAB says the proposed Licensing fees for crop variety is likely to have a negative impact on the sector which will cause the price of the seeds to go up.
In the 2025 National Budget Finance and National Planning Minister Dr Situmbeko Musokotwane has proposed introduction of licensing fees for crop variety, basic and certified seed sales, and parental lines sales.
Speaking in an exclusive interview with the Zambian Business Times – ZBT, Zambia Alliance for Agroecology and Biodiversity National Coordinator Mutinta Nketani said, the proposed introduction of licensing fees for crop varieties will most likely affect production due to increased prices of seeds.
“With the increase that we already know with Fertilizer, and other chemicals because of the war in Ukraine and Russia we have seen that there has been a sustained increase in the prices of fertilizer and other agro chemicals and now with this, the cost of the price of seed is likely to increase.” She stated
Nketani added that the proposed introduction of licensing fees will also have an impact on the cost of Agricultural production which will also increase.
“Now what this means for the small holder farmer is that having their own seed, like what we talk about farmer managed seed systems would actually come in handy for resilience building.” She said.
She further told ZBT, that there is need for the Government to promote Farmer managed seed systems where farmers are able to save and share their own seed.
Nketani further added that there is need to create community seed banks that will buffer this increase that is expected in seed prices.
