The setting up of laboratories for seeds inspection is underway on a plot of land in Akaki Qality District, behind St. Gabrial Church. The 23,000sqm land is under the Ministry of Agriculture (MoA), which plans to finance the construction of two facilities with a project cost of 700 million Br.

The project is part of the second phase of the Agricultural Growth Programme (AGP-II), designed to benefit 3.5 million rural households across seven regional states and Dire Dawa through small-scale irrigation schemes and other initiatives. It began in 2015 with a 661 million dollar budget, of which the World Bank covers 65pc. It has also approved 80 million dollars in additional financing.

Initially, the plan was to construct four laboratories. However, slow progress has pushed the Ministry to downsize.

The Ministry is expecting the disbursement of up to 200 million Br to resume the construction phase of the laboratory project, according to Fisseha Teshome, director of seed standard regulation at the Ministry. The installation of laboratory equipment is to follow the completion of construction. A private firm, Aspire Aecom Consulting Architects & Engineers, has designed the six-storey (each) edifices for half a million Birr.

There are over 1,400 seed varieties of 50 crop types, showing that seed varieties in Ethiopia remain small. In the absence of internationally accredited seed testing laboratories in Ethiopia, officials say the construction of the laboratories is necessary for improved seed quality provision for enhanced agricultural productivity.

Experts like Assefa Senbeta, a plant scientist who worked at the Ethiopian Seed Enterprise (ESE) for over 20 years, applauded the move. However, he cautions the federal government that it must work to make at least one of its seed testing laboratories serve as a domestic reference laboratory until the latest project is completed.

“Major investment is needed to procure and maintain lab equipment to upgrade existing laboratories,” said Assefa.

The Ethiopian Institute for Agricultural Research (EIAR), a federal agency providing seed quality inspection services, operates 20 research centres. They test 350 seed samples annually but cannot cover more than half of the demand. Six labs are located in the Oromia Regional State, while five are in the Amhara Regional State. Rural households' demand for improved seeds was estimated at 2.1 million quintals last year, over four times larger than the supply.

Seed certification involves both field and laboratory testing. Inspections focus on genetic purity, followed by laboratory tests that measure physical purity, moisture content, and germination rate. Purity should be at least 97pc, while the minimum acceptable germination rate is 85pc. The quality assessment also includes grow-out tests of seeds in the market to verify the genetic purity of specific seed samples.

“A seed variety recently exported to India was returned due to poor quality control," Fisseha Teshome, director of seed standard regulation at the Ministry, told Fortune. “If things go according to plan, the project will be completed in four years.”

Depending on crop type, it can cost between 250,000 Br and 1.5 million Br to certify and register a particular seed variety.

The Agricultural Input Authority, responsible for seed quality control, was dissolved 17 years ago. Since 2005, the Agriculture Ministry has been tasked to certify seeds following assessments at the research centres. The newly-established Ethiopian Agricultural Authority, one of nearly a dozen proposed government institutions to receive a nod from the Council of Ministers earlier this month, will oversee the issuance of permits for importers and distributors of agricultural inputs such as improved seeds.