Conference Sponsors

Kenya Plant Health Inspectorate Service - Kephis is a State Corporation in the Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock Development. It's mandate is to assure the quality of agricultural inputs and produce for a food secure nation and safe trade. We do this through three (3) key areas:

1.Seed Certification and Plant Variety Protection

2.Phytosanitary (or plant health) services

3.Laboratory Services

The Centre of Phytosanitary Excellence(COPE) that is domiciled at KEPHIS,enhances the capacity of Africa’s national phytosanitary systems to protect national agricultural systems & increase African countries’competitive ability in international markets by meeting market requirement .

COPE offers training to support capacity building by developing and offering training programs for compliance and facilitating sharing of information. They also offer consultancy services in Phytosanitary, Seed Systems, Variety Protection and Food Safety.

COPE also assists NPPOs and RPPOs with SPS awareness. In addition, COPE helps with the understanding of SPS market access requirements when exporting or importing plant commodities through trainings.

Agri Experience Limited                                       

Agricultural and Business Experience Serving Africa

Who we are

Agri Experience Limited is a consulting firm specializing in advisory services for seed systems development in sub-Saharan Africa. Agri Experience was founded in 2012, with the goals of leveraging the expertise of experienced practitioners in the seed sector and providing a platform for involving and training local professionals in seed systems development.The Agri Experience team has significant agricultural field experience in over 20 countries in Africa, in addition to the United States and India. The team includes leading seed systems experts in sub–Saharan Africa and a specialist in digital interfaces for seed systems.

What we do

Agri Experience’s seed systems development work encompasses: 1) implementation of project activities for clients; 2) consulting studies for clients; 3) client advisory, design and analytical work; and 4) development of seed sector information platforms, E-certification systems and farmer feedback loops.  

Clients, partnerships and collaboration

Agri Experience works with African governments, regulators, educational institutions, private sector companies, industry associations, development partners and other industry stakeholders.  

Our clients include: The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, Gatsby Africa, The Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa, The United States Agency for International Development (USAID), Catholic Relief Services, World Bank, The African Agricultural Technology Foundation (AATF), Wageningen Centre for Development Innovation, International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT), AgDevCo, RTI International, Department for International Development (DFID), VUNA Africa, ELAN, Tetra Tech, and more.

Why we are sponsoring the conference

Sponsoring the 1^st International Seed Quality Conference aligns with our commitment to advance the seed industry, and demonstrates our dedication to enhancing seed quality, promoting agricultural excellence and fostering innovation. The conference - which is very timely in the face of the current serious challenges affecting seed production and distribution - offers a unique opportunity to engage with key stakeholders, including seed producers, researchers, and regulatory bodies. We look forward to not only sharing our own expertise and innovations with a highly relevant audience, but also to the opportunity to learn from participants and to foster collaborative partnerships. Additionally, our sponsorship reflects our corporate social responsibility goals, as it supports an initiative that contributes to the broader agricultural sector and food security. Our support for the conference underscores our commitment to driving positive change in the seed industry.

CGIAR - Seed Equal initiative is working to support delivery of quality seed of improved varieties that are climate-resilient, market-preferred, and nutritious, providing farmers with a high rate of genetic gain while ensuring equitable access for women and other disadvantaged groups.

Smallholder farmers, especially women and disadvantaged groups, are particularly vulnerable to climate-related challenges, such as more frequent and severe droughts and erratic rainfall. These challenges threaten agricultural production and compromise farmer access to climate-resilient improved varieties and quality seed for their food, nutrition, and income needs, and for the wider benefit of our food systems. In addition, inadequate seed supply and delivery systems misaligned with user and market demand mean that smallholders continue to use poorly adapted varieties and poor-quality seeds, leaving them more vulnerable to pests and diseases.
With increasing population and climate pressure, inclusive and climate-smart intensification of food production is urgently needed to achieve global goals for food security, nutrition, poverty, gender, climate, and environment. Improved varieties, innovations, and approaches developed and promoted by CGIAR  and partners have the potential to transform agri-food systems and reduce yield gaps, “hunger months” and other disparities. However, limited access to and use of affordable, quality seed of well adapted varieties with desired traits remains a bottleneck.
Together with the partners in the seed chain, through its seven work packages including three of them focussing on crop types and four on the cross-cutting areas of seed systems, Seed Equal is working to address these challenges to ensure equitable access to quality seeds of the improved and market-demaned varieties for the smallholder farmers including women and the most disadvantaged groups of the society.

www.cgiar.org/initiative/seed-equal 

Mennonite Economic Development Associates

Cassava Seed System Development in Kenya and Rwanda: 2020 - 2026

About MEDA

Mennonite Economic Development Associates (MEDA) is an international economic development organization working in over 70 Countries with a mission to create business solutions to poverty. For over 70 years, MEDA, through unique market systems approach to project design has been creating business solutions to poverty that are sustainable, scalable, measurable and replicable. We work in agri-food market systems, focusing primarily on women and youth in rural communities in the Global South.

Overview of  cassava seed system development

Cassava is an important root and tuber crop that is a critical driver of food security and poverty alleviation, in Kenya and Rwanda, however, the sector is limited by a lack of quality seed, pests and diseases, inefficient markets and lack of an enabling environment thus undermining economic potential of the cassava sector. The greatest threat to cassava production and yields has been Cassava Brown Streak (CBSD) and Mosaic (CMD) diseases, which have been responsible for cutting production by more than 80% and further threatening food security of thousands of farmers in Kenya and Rwanda. The Virus Resistant Cassava for Africa (VIRCA) project aspires to address this challenge by developing and delivering CBSD and CMD resistant cassava seeds to farmers in Kenya and Rwanda to transform their livelihoods. MEDA is responsible for developing a sustainable cassava seed system in Kenya and Rwanda.

Scope

MEDA is implementing the VIRCA seed system development component in partnership with the Donald Danforth Crop Science Center (USA), International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA), Kenya Agricultural and Livestock Research Organization (KALRO), Rwanda Agriculture Board, Kenya Plant Health Inspectorate Service (KEPHIS), Rwanda Inspectorate, Competition and Consumer Protection Authority (RICA), INGABO Syndicate and other partners in Kenya and Rwanda and funded by U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID)’s Feed the Future initiative and other donors.

MEDA is addressing three key pillars of the cassava seed system which are:

• Capacity for Early Generation Seed (EGS) by supporting rapid multiplication technologies among EGS actors.

• Cassava seed quality assurance in partnership with KEPHIS and RICA

• Commercialization of improved cassava varieties through private cassava seed entrepreneurs (CSEs).

Project partners logos:

Contacts

MEDA Kenya

Gath Plaza
Muthangari drive Westlands
P.O. Box 3277-0050600, Tel: +254 748 186516

Nairobi, Kenya

MEDA Rwanda

 Kacyiru, KG563 street,#7, CIAT building 

P.O.Box 1269, Tel: +250788285352

Tel: +250 +250 788 285 352;

 Kigali, Rwanda

website:www.meda.org

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