Selling seed of orphan crops in Kenya

The latest episode of BBC’s Horizon programme deals with a number of things we’ve blogged about here before, for example soil mapping in Africa and biochar. But the payoff for us here is the last segment, which is on a Kenyan seed company called Leldet, which…

…now offers farmers the opportunity to buy different varieties of previously forgotten under-utilised seeds, more suitable for the area. They supply them in smaller quantities so farmers aren’t over reliant on one crop.

Watch it quick, because I don’t know how long it will stay on the site.

4 Replies to “Selling seed of orphan crops in Kenya”

  1. This is such an excvellent idea that one wonders why the initiative has to come from a seed company and not from the Government or from international and national organisations. In fact, this is a very important step towards family gardening with seeds adapted to the local conditions. At the end of the day, every family in the drylands should be enabled to lay out its own kitchen garden, thus efficiently contributing to combating hunger and malnutrition.

    1. Thanks for your comment Willem.

      I wonder, why would you expect a nimble and entrepreneurial initiative to come from either government or an international or national organisation?

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