The goal for the establishment of ECoSIB in Ghana was to increase availability and accessibility of superior quality seeds to smallholder farmers through scaling up volume of breeder and foundation seeds and develop a cadre of seed business entrepreneurs with the requisite skills to engage in commercial production and distribution of superior quality seeds in Ghana.
One of the many challenges of the seed sector in Ghana is the gap between research and business. Research findings have not been properly aligned to commercial interest to attract the kind of private investment that is needed to revamp the seed sector. Research on new technologies on seed, new varieties with better yields and drought resistance are most of the time, replete on the shelves of many agricultural research institutions. ECoSIB was to create a platform and facilitate the provision of requisite incentives that both stimulate private sector actors and researchers to proactively engage in commercialization of technologies and improved varieties. This would accelerate the responsiveness of researchers to private sector needs.
ECoSIB was funded through the Scaling Seed and Technologies Partnership (SSTP) of AGRA through FARA and it adopted the integrated value chain approach to addressing key issues identified as slowing the growth of the seed industry in Ghana such as low level of entrepreneurial skills and poor distribution systems.
The Initiative was modelled after FARA/UniBRAIN’s tripartite collaboration between Universities, Research and Business for agricultural innovation development and technology commercialization.Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST), Crop Research Institute (CRI), Grains and Legumes Board of the Crop Services Directorate and the Seed Inspection Unit under PPRSD Ministry of Food and Agriculture and Agri-Impact Consult (AIC) formed a consortium to establish the Seed Business Incubation-Ghana. Agri-Impact Consult led the implementation of the initiative
The project was implemented over a 19-month period beginning from 1st August 2015with the purpose of improving the technical and managerial competencies of seed business entrepreneurs. It sought to achieve five (5) outputs by the project end date of 31st March 2017:
- One central Seed Business Incubation Centre Established
- 10 Commercial Seed Business Entrepreneurs incubated
- 20 Certified Seed Growers Trained for business growth and profitability
- 3 Private Entrepreneurs Mentored for Production of Early Generation Seed (EGS)