The Access to Seeds Index is now part of the World Benchmarking Alliance. All indexes up to 2020 can be found here. New indexes and methodologies are published on the website of the WBA.
Stay here worldbenchmarkingalliance.org
Currently, there are more than 100 private seed companies operating in Tanzania, with many involved in variety development, seed production, processing, marketing, exporting and importing seeds. The private and public sectors both conduct seed production, processing and marketing.
The Tanzania Official Seed Certification Institute (TOSCI) is a semi-autonomous government agency, under the Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock and Fisheries, that was established in 2003 by the Seed Act No. 18. TOSCI is responsible for the certification and promotion of quality agricultural seeds produced or imported into the country for sale.
The government established the Tanzania Seed Company (TANSEED) to operationalize the law, which dealt with certified seed production, processing, marketing and distribution. TANSEED later closed because of competition after the government liberalized trade in the late 1980s. As a result, the Seed Act of 1973 was replaced by Seeds Act No. 18 of 2003. Since then, the country joined both the International Seed Testing Association for seed testing procedures and the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development Seed Scheme for facilitating international seed trade.
Tanzania created its Plant Protection Act in 1997 and the Protection of New Plant Varieties (Plant Breeders’ Rights) Act in 2002 and later added its 2008 regulations. In 2012, Tanzania enacted its new Plant Breeders’ Rights Act in line with the UPOV Convention of 1991.
There are 23 index companies present in Tanzania, and 10 of those have seed production locations. Corteva Agriscience, East African Seed, East-West Seed and Pop Vriend Seeds are the only ones involving smallholder farmers in seed production activities. East African Seed, East-West Seed, Pop Vriend Seeds and Rijk Zwaan stand out by having activities spanning the entire seed value chain
Twelve companies have testing locations and 10 provide extension services in the country, while six have breeding locations and processing locations.
| Company | Crops in portfolio | Company activities in country | ||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Companies selected for the Access to Seeds Index |
Field crops |
Vegetables | Breeding location |
Testing location |
Seed production |
Processing location |
Sales | Extension services |
||||||
| Advanta | ||||||||||||||
| Bayer | ||||||||||||||
| Bejo | ||||||||||||||
| Charoen Pokphand | ||||||||||||||
| Corteva Agriscience | * | |||||||||||||
| Demeter Seed | ||||||||||||||
| East African Seed | * | |||||||||||||
| East-West Seed | * | |||||||||||||
| Enza Zaden | ||||||||||||||
| FICA Seeds | ||||||||||||||
| Kenya Highland Seed | ||||||||||||||
| Kenya Seed Company | ||||||||||||||
| Known You Seed | ||||||||||||||
| Monsanto | ||||||||||||||
| Namdhari Seed | ||||||||||||||
| Nuziveedu Seeds | ||||||||||||||
| Pop Vriend Seeds | * | |||||||||||||
| Rijk Zwaan | ||||||||||||||
| Sakata | ||||||||||||||
| Seed Co | ||||||||||||||
| Syngenta | ||||||||||||||
| Zamseed | ||||||||||||||
Other index companies are also active in the country. However, country-specific information for these companies is not available or was provided under non-disclosure.
Other companies identified in the regional landscaping study and their activities
| Company | Crops in portfolio | Company activities in country | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Field crops |
Vegetable crops |
Breeding location |
Seed production |
Sales | ||||
| Beula Seed Company and Consultant | ||||||||
| IFFA Seed Company | ||||||||
