Afriseed Growing Smallholder Seed Producers in Zambia
European Union grant recipient Afriseed Limited is increasing the number of smallholder seed producers by establishing rural bulking centres and rural mobile shops in order to improve the capacity of smallholder seed producers.
Afriseed is working with smallholder farmers such as Angela Tembo of Gonda area, Eastern Province by providing seed on loan and training in early land preparation and the importance of planting good quality seed.
Angela Tembo started working with Afriseed Ltd in the 2022 farming season. She received groundnut seed which she describes as a good seed variety. This has resulted in improved yields compared to planting recycled seed each year.
“I am very happy with the groundnut seed I received from Afriseed, I was able to sell some of the produce back to Afriseed and also kept some for my household which has greatly improved my children’s diets through preparation of porridge with pounded groundnuts,” Angela added.
Mervis Phiri, a smallholder farmer of Chimwemwe group is also working with Afriseed, who are providing an off-take market for her sunflower and soy bean seed. She is delighted with the additional household income from her sales.
Mervis Phiri explained some benefits from working with Afriseed, “the training on land spacing when planting have greatly helped me in increasing my yields. I plan to start a business of making soya fritters from the left-over soya beans and sunflower oil.”
Afriseed is implementing an inclusive supply chain model to scale up agricultural seed volumes from crops such as groundnuts, common beans, soya beans and sunflower due to increased market demand. The company sells most of the seed produced within the local market with a proportion exported to other neighbouring countries.