Steering the seed revolving fund initiative to meet growing farmers’ demand for certified seed

Adoption of new varieties can never be successful until efficient seed delivery systems are in place. To increase the efficacy and impact of the existing ‘seed revolving fund initiative’ for groundnut and sorghum crops a decision to form a steering committee was taken at a recent AVISA project meeting in Tanzania.

The Tanzanian seed sector comprises of a wide variety of stakeholders from the public and private sectors, as well as civil society actors involved in seed production, processing and marketing. Currently, there are more than 100 private seed companies operating in Tanzania. However, only 5.3% of the seed used in Tanzania is certified. When it comes to sorghum and groundnut seed production, very few seed companies are involved.