A Kenyan seed company with extensive business activities across the East African region topped the Access to Seeds Index for Eastern and Southern Africa 2019. This is attributed to them playing a key role in raising smallholder farmer productivity, according to new research by the Amsterdam-based Access to Seeds Foundation.
Kenya-based East African Seed, placed first, has grown its activities in the region since the first index was published in 2016. According to this year’s edition of the index, East African Seed stood out for its robust strategies in servicing smallholder farmers, broad portfolio availability, research activities and a network of extension staff across multiple countries.
The Access to Seeds Index 2019 – Eastern and Southern Africa evaluates the actions of 22 leading seed companies in Eastern and Southern Africa. Besides East African Seed and Zimbabwe’s Seed Co, Thailand’s East-West Seed, US-based Corteva Agriscience, the agriculture division of DowDuPont, and Swiss-based Syngenta are ranked third, fourth and fifth, respectively. Ugandan companies Victoria Seeds, NASECO, Equator Seeds and FICA Seeds also made it in the Top 10 – showcasing smallholder-focused operations in their home country.
Rooted in the continent, regional companies are reported to have strong distribution channels and adoption programs to support the productivity of smallholder farmers, who are predominantly their main customers. Global companies, with headquarters outside the region, generally outpace their regional peers when it comes to comprehensive access to seeds policies and strategies underpinned by verifiable targets and demonstrate broader breeding programs.
“The index reveals that African seed companies are successfully reaching smallholder farmers” said Sanne Helderman, Senior Research Lead at the Access to Seeds Index. “The industry’s reach is however far too low, as a large majority of smallholders does not have access to quality seeds, resulting in low productivity and prompting food security challenges in the region,” Helderman added.
The report highlights a number of other key findings from across the region. The 22 companies are present throughout the region, ranging from 13 in Zambia to five and three in Lesotho and Somalia respectively, and are investing significantly in seed value chain activities. Eight companies report having breeding activities in South Africa, with the same number producing seed in both Kenya and Tanzania. The index also demonstrates that training of smaller holders is lagging far behind company sales activities, with none of the companies in Angola (eight), Namibia (seven), Madagascar (seven) and South Sudan (six) accompanying their sales with extension services.
Maize dominates breeding programs in the region as it outstrips nearest crops such as dry beans, soybean and tomato by over double, raising concerns about the ability of smallholder farmers to access a broad range of varieties of other important food crops, and in turn contribute to achieving sustainable food systems and healthy and diverse diets. Furthermore, while three-quarters of the companies have active breeding programs, the majority of varieties on offer are over three years old. This raises the question as to whether the industry’s response to rapidly changing climatic conditions is sufficient.
The 2019 Index for Eastern and Southern Africa, which evaluates 22 leading seed companies in the region, shows that companies are present across the region, invest in seed business activities in multiple countries, offer a variety of seed types and packages tailored to smallholder needs and are taking steps to curb counterfeit seed. However, the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA) reports that just 23% of the smallholders in its member countries have access to improved varieties of major field crops, demonstrating that the majority of farmers have yet to be reached.
“With over 80% of overall food produced in Asia, sub-Saharan Africa and Latin America coming from smallholder farmers, it is quite apparent that focusing on them will have a greater impact on enhancing food security,” said Ido Verhagen the Executive Director at Access to Seeds. “This focus will also greatly aid in achieving the second Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) of Zero Hunger, ” he added.
The number of undernourished people in the world reached an estimated 821 million in 2017. According to the FAO, the number of undernourished people has been on the rise in Southern Africa in recent years, and despite reaching its lowest levels in 2010 is also increasing once more in Eastern Africa. Climate variability and extremes have been identified as a major reason for the increase. The seed industry has a vital role to play in helping farmers to adapt to climatic challenges while simultaneously raising production levels.
The Access to Seeds Index 2019 is one of the first Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) benchmarks published by the World Benchmarking Alliance. The alliance was launched in September 2018 during the UN General Assembly in New York. The Access to Seeds Index was established with support from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and the Government of the Netherlands. The Access to Seeds Index for Eastern and Southern Africa focuses on 22 leading seed companies in this region. This was preceded by a ranking of the industry in South and Southeast Asia and a ranking of Global Seed Companies. An evaluation of the industry in Western and Central Africa is upcoming.
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