Rwanda’s annual maize seed imports are set to drop drastically thanks to a new private sector partnership that seeks to produce hybrid seed locally and address challenges of delays in quality seed distribution to farmers, signatories of the cooperation have said.

The partnership was signed in Kigali yesterday between One Acre Fund, Western Seed Company (WSC) and Agro-Processing Industries (API). Western Seed Company is a Kenya-based firm focused on the development and distribution of new technologies in the form of hybrid seed varieties.

One-Acre Fund is a social entreprise that aims at increasing income for smallholder farmers while API is a subsidiary of Agro processing Trust Corporation (APTC).

The partnership aims to make Rwanda self-reliant in seeds and be able to export the surplus.

Rwanda spends Rwf5 billion on seed imports every year, according to the Director General of Rwanda Agriculture Board (RAB), Dr Patrick Karangwa.

Maize accounts for 75 per cent of the country’s seed imports. The country imports 3,000 tonnes of maize every year and a combined 1000 tonnes of wheat and soya.

Maize, Dr Karangwa said, is grown on large farmland in Rwanda as a staple food crop, highlighting its high demand mainly from agro-processing factories.

With an investment outlay of Rwf1.9 billion, partners have committed to produce, multiply and sell up to 600 tonnes of hybrid maize seed to local farmers by farmers by 2019 and increase the total seed and seed variety produced in subsequent seasons.

So far, production of improved seeds in the country is dominated by small-scale seed multipliers. The new partnership will address the challenges related to the low investment capital and limited expertise.

"There are many benefits from producing seeds locally, first, they are more affordable, they can be available on time as they address the issue of bureaucracy in procurement for seed import processes, deterioration seed due to long distance made, and defaults such as disease that seed can carry from the country of origin, as well as unsuitability of seed to the land it is going to be grown,” Karangwa said.

One Acre Fund Country Director, Eric Pohlman, observed that in the 2018/2019 agricultural year, they will produce over 600 tonnes of hybrid maize seed on 200 ha. They plan to scale up production of hybrid maize seed to over 2,000 tonnes per year.

"This partnership is not significant because of the monetary contribution, it is significant because it will ensure Rwandan farmers have on-time access to high-performing seed. And it contributes directly to the Government’s national objective to be self-sufficient in domestic seed production by 2021,” he said.

Talking about the benefits of the partnership, he said that for farmers, this partnership means more reliable access to high-performing maize seed.

"The hybrid varieties we are producing will significantly outperform open pollinated varieties and are comparable to any imported variety today. We estimate farmers will see up to a 50 per cent increase in farm profitability through the use of our seeds and good planting practice,” he said.

The seeds are expected to give up to 10 tonnes of maize per hectare on research fields, but, the yield might go down to between four and six tonnes due to issues including climate change and lack of good farming practices by farmers, according to Saleem Esmail, CEO of Western Seed Company.

Briefly describing what each partner brings to the venture, Pohlman said that Agro-Processing Industries will provide the land and labour on their farm in Nyagatare District, as well as machinery and warehousing infrastructure; One Acre Fund will invest in the irrigation equipment, seed processing and packaging plant, and marketing to farmers.; while Western Seed Company will provide the parent seed which is invaluable as it contains decades of research and development efforts, plus contribute its 20 years of experience in hybrid maize seed production.

The seeds which will be produced will go through the government’s seed and fertiliser subsidy programme.

Since 2016, APTC has been in charge of managing Rwanda’s inputs (seeds and fertilisers) distribution model under the Government subsidy scheme.

"We will plant hybrid seed on over 400 hectares of land. We already have expertise in seed production. We are carrying out highly mechanised agriculture on the same land, as well as distribution [of seeds],” said Justine Kutesa, Director of Sales and Marketing at APTC.

The National Strategy for Transformation aims to increase the use of improved seeds among Rwandan farmers from the current 52 per cent to at least 75 per cent by 2024, according to Dr. Karangwa.

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