Emergency seed aid is essential in times of crisis, but when delivered repeatedly without coordination, it can weaken local seed markets, limit farmer choice, and undermine long-term resilience. In Nigeria, well-intentioned interventions have created a vicious cycle of ad-hoc procurement and direct distribution that weakens commercial markets and perpetuates dependency.
In October 2025, Sahel Consulting, in partnership with Mercy Corps and SeedSystem under the Integrated Seed Sector Development in Africa (ISSD Africa) program, convened over 30 stakeholders from government, humanitarian agencies, research institutions, and the private seed sector in Abuja. Building on comprehensive research across 142 stakeholders and strategic pre-workshop engagement with seed champions, the workshop advanced the contextualization and adoption of the Ten Guiding Principles for Good Seed Aid (10P) within Nigeria’s seed system.
Developed by Mercy Corps and SeedSystem with input from the international seed system leaders, including UN FAO, and supported by the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC), the 10P provides a practical framework to ensure seed aid strengthens, rather than disrupts, national seed systems.
