Zamseed Zambia Seed Company Ltd (Zamseed) was founded in 1981 as a joint

venture between the Government of Zambia and several private

entities, including the Zambia Seed Producers’ Association and the
Corporate data Zambia Cooperative Federation. The company produces certified seed
Headquarters: Lusaka, Zambia
Ownership type: Private
for both local and export markets, including a range of field crops and
Group revenue (2017): N/A vegetables. It also has recently diversified into vegetative propagation
www.zamseed.co.zm
materials, such as sweet potato vines and cassava cuttings, because of
popular demand. In countries outside of Zambia, the company’s main
focus is on maize.

Eastern and Southern Africa

19
Zamseed ranks 19th in the Eastern and
Southern Africa Index, a fall of nine
places from the 2016 Index. The
company scores moderately across all
rank out of 22 measurement areas, which is largely
score 1.43 attributable to a lack of disclosure on
its policies, commitments and
activities related to smallholder
farmers. Zamseed has significant but limited activities
related to certain measurement areas, including CEO/
board-level responsibility for smallholder commitments in
Governance & Strategy, and linkages with agritech
company Limalinks for improved access to output markets
in Capacity Building. Furthermore, in breeding it
addresses an array of relevant traits for smallholders in
Research & Development. It has also made efforts to tackle
counterfeit seed and strengthen customer feedback
mechanisms in Marketing & Sales. Otherwise, the
company’s lowest score comes in Genetic Resources, where
it does not offer any activities related to region-specific
conservation or benefit-sharing.

Leading practices Areas for improvement

n Zamseed collaborates with Lima Links, a n Zamseed is currently developing an access n The company is encouraged to disclose
market information system in Zambia, using a to seeds policy. The company is encouraged further information relevant to all measurement
mobile point-of-sale app to facilitate greater to ensure this policy is corporate-led, includes areas, particularly the specific aims and
seed access for smallholder users nationwide. clear targets and a tracking mechanism, collaborations in its breeding programs and
This allows the company to access a wider and is made publicly available to increase how monitoring and compliance with labor
audience and share information through a accountability. It should also consider aligning standards is ensured in its seed production
digital farmer database. this and other corporate policies with the activities.
Sustainable Development Goals.

n The company does not have codes of

business conduct in place that set internal
standards on anti-corruption, lobbying
activities, and social and labor standards. It
is encouraged to develop and publicize such
codes of conduct to drive internal behavior and
enhance accountability to its stakeholders.

Access to Seeds Index 2019 Last updated: February 2019

 Notable findings

n Zamseed has extensive seed activities in nn Zamseed is one of only three index
its home market, Zambia, with research, seed companies with chickpea in its portfolio, and
production and processing facilities alongside it is the only one that markets varieties from its
a marketing department. own breeding program.

nn Zamseed selects agents to work with the n The company produces all basic seed on
company and rural communities to facilitate its research farms under the supervision of
mobile sales. These agents earn 10%-15% company researchers. It states that it strictly
commission on sales, which encourages adheres to the Zambian Seed Act for quality
entrepreneurship and helps to advance the standards.
local seed sector.
n The company carries out agronomic
n The company reports that it is working on training in Zambia in partnership with the
tackling fall armyworm in its maize breeding local non-governmental organization Musika.
program. The partnership has allowed the company to
specifically target female farmer groups for
n The company has systems in place in inclusion in the training programs.
Angola, Mozambique, Tanzania and Zambia, as
well as the Democratic Republic of Congo, for n The company had a memorandum of
receiving feedback from smallholder farmers understanding with the US-based non-
to inform its breeding program. governmental organization Agricultural
Cooperative Development International/
Operations in scope Volunteers in Overseas Cooperative Assistance
from 2015 to 2017 to help smallholder farmers
Countries in scope gain access to output markets. Agro-dealers
Company presence have continued to procure and stock legumes
Production locations from smallholders in Zambia’s Eastern Province
Breeding station/R&D since the project’s completion.

Portfolio information Local crops in portfolio

Index crops Sales Seed type Source
in portfolio African eggplant

Own Public Licensed

AGO BWA NAM TZA ZMB ZWE Hybrid OPV GM breeding research from other Amaranth
program institute company

Cassava
Field crops
Beans, dry l l
Chickpea l l l
Cowpea l l l l l l
Groundnut l l l l
Maize l l l l l l l l l l
Pigeon pea l l l
Sorghum l l l l l l
Soybean l l l l
Sunflower l l l
Wheat l l l

Vegetables
Cabbage l l l
Carrot l l l
Cauliflower l l l l
Cucumber l l l
Eggplant l l l
Green bean l l
Green pea l l
Lettuce l l l
Melon l l
Okra l l l
Onion l l l l
Pepper (hot) l l l
Pumpkin l l l l
Squash l l l l
Tomato l l l l
Watermelon l l l l

Angola (AGO), Botswana (BWA), Burundi (BDI), Eswatini (SWZ), Ethiopia (ETH), Kenya (KEN), Lesotho (LSO),
Madagascar (MDG), Malawi (MWI), Mozambique (MOZ), Namibia (NAM), Rwanda (RWA), Somalia (SOM),
South Africa (ZAF), South Sudan (SSD), Tanzania (TZA), Uganda (UGA), Zambia (ZMB), Zimbabwe (ZWE)

Access to Seeds Index 2019 Last updated: February 2019