A new drive to revamp seed systems in Eastern Africa is gathering pace as a group of agricultural-oriented organizations, in partnership with financiers, close ranks to address food insecurity in the region through investment in the production and distribution of early generation seeds (EGS), and expanding seed banks, especially of climate-tolerant varieties.
A number of initiatives are underway in some of the countries in the region to build capacity to effectively respond to food security vulnerabilities through the strengthening of seed system foundations, improving input markets, and advancing digital early warning platforms to contribute to increased local production, according to the United Nations’ Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO).
One of these initiatives that is largely focused on the improvement of the region’s seed systems is the Strengthening Emergency Preparedness and Response to Food Crisis (SEPAREF) project, which is being implemented by FAO, backed by financing from the African Development Bank (AfDB), with emphasis on increasing agricultural production and productivity to ensure food and nutrition security in Burundi, Comoros, Somalia and South Sudan.
SEPAREF Project Expands Seed Capacity
Project updates by both FAO and AfDB say the initial trial phase was successful, including the production of 956 metric tons of early generation seed valued at $1.7 million, the rehabilitation of irrigation and seed storage facilities, providing support for more than 250 seed out-growers, and strengthening local seed production capacity.
“The project’s promising outcomes underscore the need to build on these initial results through a second phase of investment to ensure long-term sustainability and enable effective scaling,” FAO’s Africa regional office said in a statement.
One of the biggest components of the estimated $2.7 million SEPAREF project in the four countries is the scaling up of the production and availability of early generation seeds, with a focus on fodder and drought-tolerant staple food seeds aimed at boosting the resilience and adaptive capacity to climate change of the beneficiary nations, according to AfDB.
Somalia, Comoros, South Sudan and Burundi, the regional bank says, often grapple with food insecurity, as access to and consumption of grains such as wheat, sorghum, maize and millet is constrained by factors such as low agricultural output, climate change, economic decline, insecurity and political uncertainties, as well as ongoing global conflicts such as the Ukraine-Russia crisis.
“The overall goal of the proposed multinational project is to increase agricultural production, productivity and resilience of agricultural production systems in the target countries to mitigate the short-, medium- and long-term risks aggravated by the crisis in Ukraine,” the bank adds.
To ensure increased production and supply of early generation seeds, the project is supporting the availability of foundation seeds with a focus on fodder and drought-tolerant staple food seeds such as maize, rice, cowpeas, sorghum and fodder.
Toward a Regional Seed Framework
Each of the four countries will, through the project, be supported to identify, from their respective databases, the most adapted varieties in collaboration with their relevant national crop research institutions and affiliate centers of the France-based Consortium of International Agricultural Research Centres (CGIAR).
Furthermore, the project implementation will entail the sourcing and bulking of foundation seeds, mainly through national and regional seed institutions, for further on-site multiplication and secure conservation for additional bulking.
Through SEPAREF, existing seed policies, regulations and subsector implementation guidelines in each of the four countries will be reviewed with a view to coming up with a common regional seed framework that emphasizes fodder and drought-tolerant staple food seeds.
Moreover, the project targets carrying out a comprehensive analysis of existing national and regional seed frameworks, such as those previously developed by the Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD), an eight-country trade bloc, and also the East African Community (EAC), a regional intergovernmental organization of eight partner states, some of which are also affiliated with IGAD.
The planned review of the regional seed frameworks is to explore the possibility of developing a formula for forging and implementing a regional approach to seed security within the Eastern Africa region.
SEPAREF is also expected to support Comoros, Somalia, South Sudan and Burundi in improving their capacity in seed security assessment. Both FAO and AfDB are working with ministries of agriculture in the four countries to establish a core team of experts to lead the seed security assessments in their respective jurisdictions.
During the project’s implementation, FAO will facilitate the acquisition and supply of EGS in collaboration with Technologies for African Agricultural Transformation (TAAT), which is an initiative launched by AfDB to boost agricultural productivity across Africa. The national agricultural research organizations in the four countries and seed certification agencies will also be involved in the supply of the EGS.
“The FAO office in each of the target countries will provide oversight and quality assurance to ensure successful implementation of the project, including all fiduciary aspects, safeguards, monitoring and reporting of the project’s progress,” FAO previously said.
The U.N. agency indicated that during the implementation of SEPAREF, the national agricultural research organizations will be responsible for the production and maintenance of early generation seeds.
Meanwhile, the implementation of the project is expected to complement other separate initiatives aimed at improving seed markets in Eastern Africa, especially in South Sudan and Somalia, where civil conflict and the hostile effects of climate change have substantially compromised food security, and the governments are keen on reversing the trend.
Country-Level Efforts Take Shape
For instance, in Somalia, the government of Denmark and the European Union (EU), through the International Organization for Migration (IOM) Somalia, have supported the launch of a new seed bank to boost the Eastern African country’s drive to increase capacity to preserve and share indigenous seeds, which are best adapted to the country’s soils and climate, according to the Danish Embassy in Somalia.
“Seeds are a basic, natural resource, but one that’s becoming increasingly difficult for Somali farmers to access,” it said.
A statement by the embassy said climate change “continues to threaten Somalia’s agriculture by reducing yields, degrading the environment, and displacing communities.”
The innovative seed bank is hosted at the City University in Mogadishu and constructed using sustainable, natural materials — the building itself is a milestone, which is Somalia’s first large-scale earth construction.
“Beyond preservation, the seed bank empowers women as key custodians of traditional farming wisdom, supports regenerative agriculture, and links smallholder farmers to markets, strengthening both livelihoods and biodiversity,” the Danish Embassy’s statement added.
Seed Access Remains a Challenge
According to Somalia’s Ministry of Agriculture and Irrigation’s latest departmental report, despite agriculture accounting for up to 70% of the country’s gross domestic product (GDP) and providing employment for more than 80% of the population, the sector is battling crippling challenges, including low access to quality inputs, particularly seeds.
The country’s seed market is largely defined by the heavy reliance on farmer-saved seed or informal market supplies, which is the main source for more than 85% of the seed distributed across the country.
Seeds available in Somalia’s market, the ministry notes, are “often of poor quality, genetically mixed, or unsuitable for local agro-ecologies,” hence constraining agricultural productivity and farmer resilience to drought and other climate-related shocks.
The ministry recently committed to work with the six Federal Member States (FMS), which are the country’s autonomous regional governments, to ensure farmers receive certified, climate-resilient seed varieties.
In the last quarter of 2025, the ministry floated a tender for a seed supply company with capacity to “reliably procure, process, certify, package, and deliver improved seed to government warehouses, from where the ministry will carry out onward distribution to farmers as part of national programs,” according to an official statement in September 2025. The ministry is yet to confirm the preferred bidder for the contract.
Private Sector and Research Support Growth
Elsewhere in South Sudan, the Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA), a nonprofit organization focused on improving agricultural practices in Africa, is supporting the country to develop and release 36 high-yielding crop varieties.
It has also led in the establishment of 12 functional local private seed companies with a cumulative production of 8,000 metric tons of seed, the launch of 74 agro-dealers, and at least 183 village-based advisers.
In addition to training plant breeders at master’s and doctoral levels, AGRA had, by the end of 2022, established a seed quality assurance system by installing and equipping a central, functional seed testing laboratory according to International Seed Testing Association (ISTA) standards. The alliance is also working with South Sudan’s Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security to develop a national seed quality assurance strategy.
“As a result of the AGRA interventions, South Sudan has introduced and begun to commercialize, for the first time, maize hybrids with potential to double or triple farmers’ yields,” the Nairobi-based alliance said.
AGRA’s President Agnes Kalibata previously said in South Sudan, “Access to improved seed is faced with significant drawbacks: The commercial seed sector is virtually nonexistent; input supply networks are inadequate; farmers are largely unaware of improved seed varieties; and the lack of output markets makes investing in improved seed financially unattractive to farmers.”
Outlook for Regional Seed Security
With the political goodwill shown by governments in Eastern Africa when it comes to ending food and nutrition insecurity, the ongoing initiatives to revamp seed systems in the region are expected to boost not only the production and distribution of adequate quality seed but move the region closer to achieving sustainable food systems, hence mitigating the effects of global food chain disruptions.
Shem Oirere is a freelance writer based in Nairobi, Kenya.
He can be reached at shem@shemoirere.com.