By Chinenye Anuforo
With climate change disrupting food systems across the Sahel and West Africa, East-West Seed, a global leader in tropical vegetable breeding, is leveraging agricultural technology to help smallholder farmers adapt. The company is rolling out climate-smart hybrid varieties of tomato, okra, and amaranth, designed for short growing cycles, heat tolerance, and disease resistance.
Targeting farming communities in Northern Ghana, Northern Nigeria, and other dryland belts, the initiative aims to safeguard yields, strengthen food security, and improve nutrition as rainfall patterns grow increasingly unpredictable.
“Vegetables are a fast track to better nutrition, incomes, and climate resilience. With seeds that mature quickly, withstand heat, and resist disease, farmers can plan with confidence and invest in the future of their families”, said Pamela Afokpe, East-West Seed spokesperson in Benin.
According to Statista, the vegetable market in West Africa is projected at US$8.81 billion in 2025, before dipping slightly to US$8.64 billion by 2029. To unlock growth and strengthen farmer resilience, East-West Seed is investing in underutilized but high-potential indigenous crops. In Benin, breeders are enhancing Gboma, a resilient African leafy vegetable, while nutrient-rich, drought-tolerant pumpkin is being promoted as a commercial crop. In Uganda, company founder and 2019 World Food Prize laureate Simon Groot committed his US$250,000 prize money to developing the pumpkin value chain.
Beyond seed innovation, East-West Seed supports farmers through the East-West Seed Knowledge Transfer Foundation (EWS-KT), which delivers training in modern farming techniques, agribusiness management, and market access.
Active in Nigeria, Ghana, Uganda, Tanzania, and South Sudan, EWS-KT has already reached nearly one million farmers across Africa and Asia, with more than half of its funding sourced from donors and partners.
Operating 22 research and development centers across nine countries (including Benin and Tanzania), the company has developed over 650 vegetable varieties across 80 crops. It has been consistently ranked the world’s top seed company for smallholder farmers in the Global Access to Seeds Index, and featured on Fortune’s Change the World list in both 2020 and 2024 for its impact-driven innovations.
As climate shocks intensify, East-West Seed’s climate-smart hybrids and farmer-focused training model highlight how technology, research, and local innovation can future-proof agriculture in West Africa securing not just harvests, but livelihoods.
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