Western Seed
Improving Productivity of Farmers in East Africa
Western Seed develops and distributes high-quality hybrid seeds to improve crop yields for smallholder farmers in East Africa.
The Challenge
- Kenya's agriculture sector employs 24 million people, and 17 million of these farmers hold plots of less than 2 hectares of land each.
- Maize is staple crop, serving as a primary source of food and accounting for 14% income for rural households, but the use of inefficient technology often leads to small and irregular crop yields for smallholder farmers.
- Even though hybrid seed varieties producing higher yields exist in Kenya, their adoption has been limited because of insufficient supply and lack of appropriate marketing strategies for smallholder farmers.
- Improved adoption of hybrid maize varieties can potentially improve productivity, food security and income for a large portion of Kenya's farmers.
The Innovation
- Western Seed Company Limited (Western Seed) has invested heavily in crop research, and produces hybrid seeds which more than double the yield of existing farm-saved seeds and protect against disease and drought.
- Western Seed will use Acumen Fund's investment to expand its seed production capacity from 1,200 metric tons in 2009 to 6,400 metric tons in 2014, thus increasing supply of available hybrid varieties.
- Western Seed will also pioneer a Direct Access Sales program to directly market the hybrid varieties to rural farmers in Kenya's mid-and-lowland areas, where most farms use low-yield farm-saved seed are run on a subsistence basis.
The Impact
- The use of Western Seed's hybrid varieties will allow smallholder farming households to double crop yields and increase income from maize crop sales.
- With Acumen's investment, Western Seed has the potential to impact more than 800,000 smallholder farmers or over 4 million people by 2014.
- Western Seed's Direct Access Sales program will improve access to certified seed to farmers who currently do not access improved agricultural inputs; and will also deliver valuable extension services to help those farmers improve productivity.