East Africa’s emerging seed market under scrutiny as Tanzania fights for sovereignty

SUNDAY August 30, 2026

By Adam Ihucha

The Tranquillity News Correspondent, Tanzania

East Africa’s ambition to build a unified seed market has run into a fundamental question about the future of farming in the region: Who owns, controls, and benefits from the seeds that feed millions of people?

Tanzania has warned that the proposed East African Community (EAC) Seed and Plant Varieties Bill, 2025, risks tilting the regional seed economy too heavily towards commercial seed companies while weakening the farmer-managed seed systems that have sustained agricultural production for generations.

The warning comes as the EAC moves towards harmonising rules governing seed testing, certification, variety approval, plant breeders’ rights, and cross-border seed trade.

Supporters of the legislation argue that a regional framework could unlock investment, improve seed quality, and allow farmers to access better-performing varieties.

Critics say, in turn, the law must do more to protect indigenous seed diversity and the rights of smallholder farmers who conserve, exchange, and develop seed outside formal commercial markets.

The debate highlights a growing tension at the centre of Africa’s agricultural transformation: How to expand a profitable seed industry while protecting the informal systems that remain the backbone of food production.

A market opportunity worth billions

Seeds sit at the foundation of East Africa’s agricultural economy.

Agriculture contributes roughly a quarter of gross domestic product across many EAC economies and provides employment and livelihoods for a majority of households in the region.

The commercial seed sector, although still developing, is increasingly viewed as a strategic business opportunity.

Demand is being driven by population growth, climate adaptation needs, government agricultural programmes, and rising investment in improved crop varieties.

Africa’s overall commercial seed market is estimated to be worth several billion US dollars annually, but only a fraction of farmers consistently access certified commercial seed.

In many East African countries, smallholder farmers still rely heavily on saved, exchanged or locally selected seed.

For businesses, the opportunity is significant.

Improved seed varieties can increase yields, create new markets for seed producers, and support agricultural value chains from fertiliser and crop protection to processing and exports.

But the commercial market operates alongside a much larger farmer-managed system.

Across Africa, farmer-managed seed systems are estimated to supply the majority of seed used by smallholder farmers for many staple crops.

These systems are especially important for crops such as beans, sorghum, millet, cassava, and traditional vegetables, where locally adapted varieties often perform well under changing climate conditions.

Tanzania’s challenge: Harmonisation without exclusion

In submissions on the EAC Seed and Plant Varieties Bill, 2025, Tanzanian stakeholders broadly support regional cooperation on seed quality, certification, and trade.

However, they argue that the current draft gives insufficient recognition to Farmer Managed Seed Systems (FMSS) — community-based networks through which farmers save, select, conserve, exchange, and sometimes sell seed.

Their proposed amendments seek to rename the legislation the EAC Seed, Plant Varieties and Plant Genetic Resources Bill, 2025, arguing that the current title and scope do not adequately cover genetic resources, traditional knowledge, and farmers’ contribution to seed development.

At the centre of Tanzania’s position is concern that commercial regulatory requirements could unintentionally exclude farmer varieties.

One example is Distinctness, Uniformity and Stability (DUS) testing, a standard used in formal plant variety registration.

Tanzania argues that applying the same commercial requirements to farmer-developed varieties could create costs and administrative barriers that smallholder communities cannot meet.

The stakeholders want the law to recognise farmer varieties, non-commercial varieties, and smallholder farmers as distinct categories rather than treating all seed through the same commercial lens.

The business case for protecting biodiversity

The argument from farmer organisations is not only cultural; it is economic.

Seed diversity functions as a form of agricultural risk management.

Local varieties often contain traits linked to drought tolerance, disease resistance, and adaptation to specific environments.

With climate change increasing pressure on East African farming systems, genetic diversity has become a valuable economic asset.

“A seed system that protects diversity is also protecting future innovation,” farmers’ organisations argue.

Locally conserved varieties can provide genetic material for future breeding programmes, including commercial crop development.

The Eastern and Southern Africa Small Scale Farmers Forum (ESAFF) has argued that farmers should be recognised not merely as consumers of seed products but as contributors to agricultural innovation.

Irene Liborious of ESAFF said farmers have historically played a central role in conserving and developing seed diversity.

“Farmers must be recognised as custodians and developers of seed, not simply as consumers of commercially produced varieties,” she said.

Intellectual property and the ownership question

The most complex part of the debate concerns the relationship between commercial plant breeding and traditional genetic resources.

The proposed EAC framework seeks to strengthen plant breeders’ rights and establish a regional Community Register for approved varieties.

Tanzania is asking for stronger safeguards to ensure that genetic resources or traditional knowledge contributed by farming communities are not used commercially without recognition, consent, or benefit sharing.

Its proposals include requiring applicants for plant breeders’ rights to disclose: The origin of plant genetic resources used in developing a variety. Associated traditional knowledge. Evidence of lawful access. Benefit-sharing arrangements where applicable.

Tanzania also argues that breeders’ rights should not be interpreted as ownership of genetic resources themselves, nor should they override existing farmer rights.

The issue reflects a wider global debate over agricultural intellectual property: Whether innovation systems reward only formal breeders or also recognise communities that have maintained genetic resources over centuries.

Where the EAC seed law stands now

The EAC Seed and Plant Varieties Bill, 2025, remains under consideration following stakeholder consultations across partner states.

The legislative process has focused on creating a regional framework that would allow easier movement of certified seed, common testing standards, and mutual recognition of variety approvals.

The latest consultation phase has seen increased participation from farmer groups, including ESAFF, which coordinated smallholder farmer engagement across EAC countries.

Farmers submitted recommendations during consultations held on 27–28 August 2026, calling for stronger recognition of farmer-managed systems in the final law.

The final shape of the Bill will determine whether the region adopts a primarily commercial seed-market model or a broader framework that incorporates both formal seed companies and community seed systems.

A balancing act for investors and policymakers

For seed companies, a harmonised EAC market could reduce regulatory barriers and create a larger regional marketplace.

A farmer in one partner state could potentially gain easier access to approved varieties developed elsewhere in the bloc.

For governments, improved seed access is closely linked to food security goals. Higher-yielding varieties can increase productivity and improve resilience.

But the challenge is ensuring that market expansion does not weaken the very systems that have maintained crop diversity.

Smallholder farmers remain central to East Africa’s food economy.

Many operate on limited incomes, with seed decisions shaped not only by yield potential but also affordability, availability, and local environmental conditions.

The debate over the EAC seed law is, therefore, not simply about regulation.

It is about the structure of a future agricultural economy: Whether seed will be treated mainly as a commercial product or as both an economic asset and a shared biological resource.

As East Africa seeks greater agricultural investment and climate resilience, policymakers face the task of designing a seed market that encourages innovation while preserving the diversity and knowledge that underpin the region’s food systems.

The outcome could influence billions of dollars in future agricultural investment — and determine how millions of farmers access the most important input in farming: The seed itself.