Seed Systems Group

Name

Seed Systems Group

Legal name

Seed Systems Group

Website

https://seedsystemsgroup.org

Company type

Private

Founded year

2019

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Agricultural Development Services

NAICS

Soil Preparation, Planting, and Cultivating (115112)

SIC

Agricultural Services (700)

akta.pro primary industry

Seed Production & Multiplication (Contract Growing, Foundation/Certified Seed) (AFABAFAK)

akta.pro secondary industries

Sustainable Agriculture & Food Systems (BPAGAGAI), Seed Distribution & Wholesale (Channel Sales) (AFAGAIAM), Seed Quality Testing & Certification Support (Germination, Purity, Vigor) (AFAOADAK)

Keywords

• Seed systems development
• Agricultural development services
• Smallholder farmer support
• Crop variety dissemination
• Agricultural capacity building

Headquarters

HQ city

Nairobi

HQ country

Kenya

HQ region

Africa

Offices2 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Technology or R&D, Infrastructure

Revenue model

1. Grant funding and donations: SSG is a non-profit organization that mobilizes funding from international donors and development partners to implement seed systems development initiatives. Since its inception, it has mobilized approximately $20 million for implementation of its seed access programs.

Go-to-market motion2 records

Distribution channels5 records

Marketing channels6 records

Core offering

Seed Systems Group (SSG) is a U.S.-registered non-profit agricultural development organization that designs and implements seed-sector programs to establish a regular, dependable supply of high-yielding, resilient seed of food crops among smallholder farmers across underserved African countries. It delivers this through variety testing and release facilitation, capacity building for local seed companies, training of Village-Based Advisors and agro-dealers, and last-mile distribution of improved seed in small packs, operating on a public-private partnership model with research institutes, seed companies, and government agencies.

Product overview

Seed Systems Group (SSG) is a non-profit agricultural development organization, not a technology product company. SSG works to establish regular, dependable supply of high-yielding, resilient seed of a wide range of food crops among poor, smallholder farmers. The organization operates through a public-private partnership model that includes: supporting national agricultural research institutes to develop and release improved crop varieties; building capacity of local seed companies to produce and distribute certified seed; training Village-Based Advisors (VBAs) and agro-dealers; and distributing improved seeds via small seed packs. Key seed varieties supported include Exbaika rice, Legacy 26 and Opeaburoo hybrid maize, improved pearl millet, cowpea, sorghum, and groundnut varieties. SSG does not offer a software product or platform.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Quantifiable outcome

• Boost crop yields by 40% to 150% depending on crop and conditions
• +4 more outcomes

Named customers10 records

Segments5 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature2 records

Partnerships

15 partnerships are on record, tiered core and minor.

• Ministry of Food and Agriculture (MoFA) - GhanacoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 5 August 2026MoFA collaborated with SSG and CSIR-SARI to conduct capacity-building workshops for 50 agro-input dealers in Bolgatanga, Ghana. The training covered seed handling, business management, record-keeping, and regulatory compliance under the Vision for Adapted Crops and Soils initiative.
• CSIR-SARI (Council for Scientific and Industrial Research - Savannah Agricultural Research Institute)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerSSG collaborated with CSIR-SARI and MoFA to conduct capacity-building workshops for agro-input dealers in Ghana. SSG actively supports the production and distribution of improved pearl millet and cowpea seeds in northern Ghana.
• Institut Togolais de Recherche Agronomique (ITRA)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerSSG partnered with ITRA under IDRC and AGRA projects to strengthen capacity for basic seed production and delivery in Togo. The partnership includes varietal development, parental line transfer, and basic seed production. ITRA conducted comprehensive testing of Exbaika rice variety across agro-ecological zones.
• WFP (World Food Programme)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerWFP invited SSG specialists to assess farmers' access to improved seed in Guinea-Bissau. SSG established an agreement with WFP and INPA for testing improved varieties at research stations.
• Cornell UniversityminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerSSG partnered with Cornell University on a ground-breaking partnership to catalyze sustainable seed supply in Haiti and Senegal through the Cornell University-led initiative.
• CIMMYT (International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerCIMMYT provides improved germplasm and breeding support for hybrid maize development. CIMMYT's Harare breeding station supports Angola's seed companies to identify optimal hybrid varieties.
• IITA (International Institute of Tropical Agriculture)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerIITA provides improved varieties and breeding support. IITA developed a bio-fortified maize hybrid being produced in Burundi by local seed companies with SSG support.
• FIPS-Africa (Farm Input Promotions Africa)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerSSG collaborates with FIPS-Africa to identify and train Village-Based Advisors (VBAs) and implement the small seed pack approach for farmer awareness and seed distribution.
• KALRO (Kenya Agriculture and Livestock Research Organization)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerKALRO provides training on forage seed production techniques. SSG sponsored a forage seed production course at KALRO's Arid & Rangelands Research Institute in Kiboko, Kenya.
• WorldVeg (World Vegetable Center)minorStrategic or Co-development PartnerWorldVeg collaborates with SSG on Djibouti seed systems initiative, introducing improved vegetable and drought-tolerant forage crops through funding from IFAD.
• ILRI (International Livestock Research Institute)minorStrategic or Co-development PartnerILRI partners with SSG on forage seed systems development, supporting importation of new forage grass and legume accessions for testing and production in Somalia.
• ICAT (Institut de Conseil et d'Appui Technique) - TogocoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerICAT's field agents support the integration of Exbaika rice variety into demonstration plots nationwide, with 300 Village-Based Advisors trained to spread knowledge to new farming communities.
• INERA (Institut National de la Recherche Agronomique) - DR CongocoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerINERA is conducting foundation seed production of hybrid maize parental lines at INERA-Mulungu station to support long-term hybrid maize seed supply development in South Kivu, DR Congo.
• ISABU (Institut de la Recherche Agronomique du Burundi)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerISABU is the National Agriculture Research Institute of Burundi partnering with SSG, IITA, and local seed companies for hybrid maize seed production launch.
• Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD)minorStrategic or Co-development PartnerSSG partnered with IGAD to improve policy for resilience-building of the seed sector in the Horn of Africa region through a regional seed policy dialogue forum.

Scale indicators9 records

Recent moves7 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Broad incumbents

• IITA (International Institute of Tropical Agriculture): IITA is a CGIAR center developing improved varieties of cassava, maize, yam, banana, and other tropical crops and an SSG breeding partner. It is a broader incumbent spanning crop genetic research across Africa rather than a focused seed systems organization.
• WorldVeg (World Vegetable Center): WorldVeg develops improved vegetable varieties for tropical smallholders and partners with SSG on the Djibouti seed initiative. It is a broader public-sector research center with vegetable seed systems as its main mandate.
• CIMMYT: CIMMYT is the CGIAR center responsible for maize and wheat germplasm and a core SSG upstream partner. It operates a much broader global mandate but plays the same enabling role in hybrid maize development that SSG scales through local seed companies.
• TechnoServe: TechnoServe is a large international nonprofit that builds competitive farms, businesses, and industries across Africa, including in seed and agro-input value chains. It is comparable in scale and donor footprint to SSG but operates across a much broader set of value chains.
• ILRI (International Livestock Research Institute): ILRI is the CGIAR center focused on livestock, including forage seed systems. It partners with SSG on forage grass and legume introductions in Somalia. ILRI has a much wider livestock mandate and is best classified as an adjacent enabling incumbent.

Direct peers

• FIPS-Africa (Farm Input Promotions Africa): FIPS-Africa is the originator of the Village-Based Advisor and small seed pack approach that SSG has scaled. The two organizations actively collaborate, and FIPS-Africa operates a near-identical model for delivering improved inputs to smallholders in East Africa.
• One Acre Fund: One Acre Fund provides smallholder farmers in Africa with improved inputs (including seed), financing, and training on a partial-pay model. It is one of the largest and most operationally comparable last-mile agricultural service organizations serving SSG's target customer base.
• Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA): AGRA is the largest Africa-focused seed systems development NGO and a core SSG funder. Both organizations pursue overlapping missions of building private seed companies and improving smallholder access to improved varieties across Africa, making AGRA SSG's closest direct comparable.

Emerging players

• IFDC (International Fertilizer Development Center): IFDC focuses primarily on fertilizer systems and soil health but increasingly engages in integrated input systems including seed. It targets overlapping smallholder markets in West Africa and provides a partial-overlap comparable for donor-funded agricultural input development.
• Clinton Development Initiative: Clinton Development Initiative operates anchor farm and smallholder programs across Africa, including in Malawi, Rwanda, and Tanzania. Its anchor-farm-plus-smallholder model for input distribution is conceptually adjacent to SSG's seed-company-plus-VBA approach.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• Xtwitter.com/SystemsSeed
• YouTubeyoutube.com/channel/UCwomJzuIkOeidykIWH9bZ1w
• Facebookfacebook.com/Seed-Systems-Group-644251772708410
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/seed-systems-group

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles4 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Seed Systems Group