Malawi puts $1 million behind its seed plan
The head of the farm body AGRA says African countries have good seed laws and weak delivery, and that plans written into national budgets are the ones that happen.
Lilongwe — Malawi has committed $1 million of public money to a national seed investment plan, according to the president of the agricultural organisation AGRA, who argues that Africa's seed problem is one of delivery, not policy, Nyasa Times reports.
Alice Ruhweza made the point in an article written with Evelyn Lusenaka, who leads AGRA's centre for seed systems, for the magazine New African.
Malawi's commitment was the smallest of three examples they gave. Nigeria has set up a seed fund of ₦50 billion, about $37.7 million, and Ethiopia has raised $5 million with the Gates Foundation. Countries that wrote seed plans into their own budgets moved fastest, they said: plans a government owns get paid for, while plans owned by donors tend to be shelved.
What the scorecard shows
The African Union opened its first Africa Seed Summit in Eswatini on 5 October. Its 2025 Seed Sector Performance Index, which scored 50 countries, makes the gap plain:
- the continental average was 4.63 out of 10;
- use of quality commercial seed averaged 3.06;
- none of the 46 countries with data met all their seed needs for four priority crops;
- fourteen countries released no new crop varieties between 2022 and 2024.
Southern Africa's regional bloc scored best, at 4.96 out of 10, for recognising the seed systems that farmers run themselves.
What they recommend
The authors make two proposals: every country should put its seed plan into its national budget, and regional blocs should recognise the varieties their neighbours have already approved, so that a seed cleared in one country does not have to start again in the next.
This report is based on reporting by Nyasa Times, via AllAfrica.
