AGRA aims to revolutionise seed trade

Retailing of certified agricultural seeds may be headed for a transformation as a recently formed alliance to fight hunger and poverty in Africa strives to make access of the key in-put easier at the lowest retail point.

As part of a strategy to radically boost agricultural productivity, the Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA) envisages a grassroots-based delivery system, in which a farmer would walk to a shop or kiosk in his rural back yard and readily access high quality certified seeds. The kiosk attendant would also be trained to advise on how to maximise on the returns of his production venture, including aspects such as choice of right seed types, all for free.

“Access to seeds has been a missing link and challenge to merchandisers. In most rural areas you cannot find agricultural inputs yet the main activity there is farming,” said Fred Muhhuku, an agro-dealer network development officer with AGRA.

Though the number of seed companies has grown rapidly over the past 10 years, projections from the industry showed that growers still travelled about seven kilometres to access seed from stockists.

A recent study by Egerton University (Kenya) revealed that lack of proximity to stockists was a key impediment to productivity.

“The farmers often travel long distances to purchase inputs, mainly to take advantage of lower prices,” the institution’s research out fit, Tegemeo Institute stated in a research report titled: “Enhancing Access and Utilization of Quality Seed for improved Food Security in Kenya.”

AGRA is seeking to reverse this trend in Kenya and thirteen other nations through an elaborate agro-dealer system backed by a private sector arrangement that would ensure direct linkage to farmers at the lowest level and closest to their farms.

“Local boutiques are selling all sorts of things, be it Coca Cola, washing powder, cooking oil and cellphone airtime. There is no reason why they cannot sell seeds if they are cheap enough for farmers to purchase,” the director of AGRA’s programme for Africa’s seed systems, Joseph DevRies said. Hel said past strategies of providing free seeds to farmers through national programmes were not sustainable. “Farmers need access to seeds on an on-going basis,” he said.

Analysts, however, said the new strategy of make access to seeds easier at the grassroots by AGRA faced a major challenge of quality control.

“It will be interesting to see how the new system will cope with monitoring quality at the lowest points. We already have fake seed peddlers even at the existing broader levels of merchandising,” Paul Gamba, a researcher with Tegemeo Institute. He said the proposed new system would also demand that other inputs such as fertilisers are also distributed alongside the seeds.

According to the policy framework of the Nairobi-headquartered AGRA, it is expected to work throughout the continent on a wide range of interventions across the agricultural “value chain.” These range from strengthening local and regional agricultural markets, to helping improve irrigation, soil health and training for farmers; to supporting the development of new seed systems better equipped to cope with the African climate.

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