Digital crop variety catalogue seeking to transform access to improved seeds launched

Evalyne Laipon displays traditional seeds /ALICE WAITHERA

A transformative digital crop variety catalogue has been launched in the latest bid to enhance access to improved seeds. 

Announcing the launch of the African Digital Crop Variety catalogue, Agra called on governments, seed companies, researchers and development partners to adopt and contribute towards making it a living tool for the continent’s agricultural resilience and prosperity

“The digital seed catalogue is an important milestone to strengthen the seed market and therefore further scale high-yielding and nutrient-dense seed access by smallholder farmers,” said Jonathan Said, vice president, Centre for Technical Expertise, at Agra.  

The Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa is an organisation focused on scaling agricultural innovations that help smallholder farmers towards increased incomes, better livelihoods and improved food security. 

The African-led institution developed the catalogue in partnership with ministries of agriculture, the National Agricultural Research Systems (NARS) and national regulatory authorities across six countries. 

The catalogue provides the first comprehensive, interactive and searchable database of released crop varieties for the initial cohort comprising Ethiopia, Malawi, Nigeria, Rwanda, Tanzania and Uganda. 

Despite hundreds of improved crop varieties being developed and released in Africa over the last decade, no single, up-to-date platform existed where governments, NARS, seed companies and other stakeholders, including non-governmental and farmer organisations, could access comprehensive information on available varieties.

The digital catalogue addresses long-standing challenges in seed system development, particularly the fragmentation, outdatedness and limited accessibility of national crop variety lists.  

Alice Ruhweza, president of Agra, said, “In many African countries, vital data on crop varieties is incomplete, inaccessible, or absent altogether.”

“This has hindered farmers from accessing resilient, climate-smart and nutrient-dense crop varieties. The Africa Digital Crop Variety catalogue fills this critical gap by offering a centralised and transparent digital resource,” she added. 

This innovation is developed through the Centre of Excellence for Seed Systems in Africa, Agra’s one-stop platform for advancing seed systems on the continent. 

Cessa offers an integrated suite of tools, training, data, analysis and digital solutions aimed at ensuring equitable access to high-quality seed for farmers. 

The digital catalogue is a milestone in the implementation of recommendations of the Seed Investment Plan, a blueprint for advancing seed systems in Africa. 

The absence of such a platform hampered compliance, seed quality and certification processes and investments in seed systems, resulting in low adoption rates and a huge seed gap. 

Furthermore, the gap in information disproportionately affects women and young people, who often lack the networks and resources to access knowledge and business opportunities in seed systems.

Dr Jane Ininda, Cessa’s interim director, emphasised the platform’s importance. 

“This platform is not just a digital catalogue – it is a game-changer for seed sector transparency, equity, and growth,” Ininda said. 

“By consolidating variety data from across the continent, we're enabling smarter investment, research prioritisation and ultimately, improved livelihoods for farmers.”

Agra has been working on seed systems for 20 years, developing robust seed businesses and enabling better policies that support advanced seed systems. 

The organisation’s impact on Africa’s seed systems is enormous through a significant contribution to the release of 688 crop varieties and the strengthening of 114 African seed companies. Together with the empowerment of 38,000 agro-dealers, this is supporting 33 million farmers to access high-yielding seed. 

The catalogue significantly improves agriculture and seed systems across Africa by providing an up-to-date, comprehensive list of officially released crop varieties from multiple countries. 

Its searchable, user-friendly interface serves breeders, regulators, seed companies and policymakers, enabling quick access to detailed data that supports commercialisation and better decision-making in variety choices, seed production, selection and marketing. 

Anchored by the findings of Agra’s Seed Systems Assessment Tool (SeedSAT) and the Seed investment plans and report of the Seed System Performance Index (SSPI) – which was adopted by the African Union as a continental benchmark – the new platform reflects Agra’s commitment to actionable, data-driven reforms in Africa’s agricultural transformation. 

The platform promotes inclusivity by engaging both local and national seed stakeholders, strengthening grassroots participation.