East-West Seed continues to support Africa’s vegetable farming boom

With Africa’s population estimated to double by 2050, the continent’s economy will continue to rely predominantly on agricultural activities as this sector grows rapidly.


The vegetable seed market in Tanzania alone is expected to increase in value from USD 25 million today to USD 60 million by 2025, according to the Tanzanian Horticultural Association.

“Smallholder farmers are vital to food security and nutrition, especially in developing countries, and are therefore our prime focal point for support,” says Coen Everts, the General Manager for East-West Seed Tanzania (EWSTZ).

Vegetable seeds in Tanzania

EWS started its journey in Tanzania as a flower seed production facility in 2007. It has since grown to a company employing over 600 people in the country, across various departments including Research and Development, and seed production.

In 2013, the company took on the challenge of importing hybrid vegetable seeds for local sales and distribution. In 2016, revenues for vegetable seeds outgrew the revenues for flower seed. “With this, the management of EWS Tanzania needed fundamental changes and I was tasked to transform the organization from an introvert, cost-oriented production company to a service-minded, customer-focused sales and marketing organization. We are attracting talent from the market to facilitate this exciting transformation and we are already seeing the first brilliant results,” Mr Everts says.


Along with the growth of the vegetable market in Tanzania, the demand for hybrid seeds is increasing exponentially in the country. This rapid growth leads Mr Everts to predict that EWSTZ’s top-selling hybrids will soon overtake open-field pollinated seeds in terms of total revenue. The hybrids include Kipato, Imara (both tomato varieties) and Andaman (watermelon) while the open-field pollinated seeds include Rio Grande, Nantes and Michi Hilli (tomato, carrot and Chinese cabbage respectively).

While there are still many challenges facing Tanzania’s agricultural sector - specifically in agricultural trade and marketing, access to finance, land tenure policy and agriculture input policy - Mr Everts says these can be successfully overcome.

“Tanzania is a fascinating country on a high growth path, mainly driven by innovations in the agricultural sector. At EWS, we are proud to be able to contribute to this development,” Mr Everts concludes.