Synopsis

The South Sudan Resilient Agricultural Livelihoods Project (RALP) is helping build a nationally owned seed system by strengthening local seed production, certification, and storage to improve agricultural productivity, incomes, and food and nutrition security. The project has established and trained 13 County Seed Quality Control Boards, addressing critical gaps in seed quality assurance and regulatory oversight. It is also successfully crowding in private sector investment, with companies supporting foundation seed production and purchasing seed from farmer groups for wider distribution. RALP is promoting inclusive growth, with women holding 45% of leadership positions in seed producer groups.

For decades, farmers in South Sudan have faced persistent challenges—limited access to quality seeds, subnational conflict, climatic shocks, a weak seed market, and inadequate storage and, certification systems. Together, these factors have severely undermined the country’s agricultural systems, damaging critical infrastructure and disrupting traditional seed networks. Each planting season began with anxiety as farmers waited for imported seed consignments that often arrived late after the rainy season had started, missing the narrow planting window. Worse still, due to poor handling and lack of a regulatory framework, many of the imported seeds failed to germinate in local soils, leaving fields bare, farmers without income, and communities vulnerable to food insecurity. The absence of a resilient, locally based seed system became both a symptom and a cause of wider agricultural fragility in the country.

Today that story is changing, and a new chapter in South Sudan’s agricultural journey has begun, one driven by community-led seed production and local resilience. Through the World Bank’s South Sudan Resilient Agricultural Livelihoods Project (RALP), implemented by the Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security (MAFS) with support from the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), farmers are being empowered to produce, certify, and market their own locally adapted seed varieties. RALP’s success lies in its support for the promotion of Community-led Quality Declared Seed (QDS) production systems and the Farmer-Led Seed Enterprise (FLSE) model and it’s work to strengthen quality assurance and build modern seed storage facilities—the first steps toward establishing a reliable, self-sustaining national seed system.

Building the foundation for South Sudan seed regulation

Seed security is food security and requires a robust regulatory system to ensure quality and safety, safeguard varietal purity, and ensure seed quality, certification, storage, distribution, and market confidence. In most countries, these functions are performed by dedicated seed regulatory institutions. However, because South Sudan's agriculture sector is still in its infancy, such systems have remained largely underdeveloped. RALP has supported building the institutions needed to govern the sector through the establishment of 13 Seed Quality Control Boards (SQCBs), support to seed production groups, production and certification of QDS, construction of seed stores to enhance post-harvest handling and ensure proper storage of seeds, provision of foundation seed, and training in seed multiplication and quality assurance. RALP is laying the institutional foundation for a nationally regulated seed system and building the systems that will enable South Sudan to regulate, certify, and sustain its seed sector long into the future.

Bridging supply-demand gap through trade fairs

The impact of RALP’s seed system reform has been strongly driven by the organization of Seeds Trade Fairs, which have become a critical coordination mechanism within the local seed ecosystem. These fairs serve as a structured marketplace, bringing together local seed producers and farmers at the beginning of the planting season. Supported seed producer groups deliver their QDS to a common venue, where farmers from surrounding communities can access, verify, and purchase seeds. This approach has addressed one of the most persistent challenges in South Sudan’s agriculture: delayed and unreliable seed distribution.

Through these trade fairs, farmers now have immediate access to affordable, locally produced, and climate-adapted seed varieties. The direct interaction between producers and buyers is improving trust in seed quality and strengthening local market systems by ensuring that seeds circulate within communities. As a result, planting is done on time, germination rates have improved, and overall crop performance has increased. At the same time, seed producer groups benefit from a ready and organized market, which incentivizes increased production and enhances income generation. Surplus seed can help more farmers, support emergency needs, and boost business growth. These fairs help create steady markets for the locally produced QDS and encourage private investment. The MAFS Directorate of Research has also produced 25 more metric tons of foundation seed to support ongoing seed growing.

Seed Trade Fairs: Growing the country’s seed market

1,740 metric tons (MT) of Quality Declared Seed produced by 286 certified seed producer groups (2023–2025).
This is nearly 3x the seasonal requirement of 618 MT and generated a surplus of 1,122 MT valued at $1.2 million.

Promoting women’s leadership

Through RALP, women have emerged as key leaders in South Sudan's evolving seed sector. The project has increased women's participation in farmer organizations and seed enterprises, with women holding 45% of leadership positions in seed producer groups and constituting more than half of organized farmer group members. By providing training, supporting community-led seed enterprises, and creating opportunities for women to participate in seed production and local seed governance, RALP has strengthened women's economic empowerment, leadership, and decision-making roles while contributing to a more resilient and inclusive national seed system.

Partnering with the private sector

Private sector engagement under RALP has gone beyond the initial support to seed production and has become a key pillar in strengthening the overall system. Five companies, including Afroganics, Seed Grow, Gumbo Glow, Pro Seed, and Masco, that were initially supported to produce 12 metric tons (MT) of foundation seed, including improved varieties of maize, sorghum, and groundnut, were leveraged on their early involvement to support the establishment of a reliable source of foundation seed, which enabled farmer groups to multiply and produce QDS. Building on this, these companies now play a more active role by working directly with farmer groups, purchasing seeds from them, and supporting the distribution of these seeds into the wider market. Their role has also expanded to include distributing seeds beyond RALP-supported areas, often in collaboration with other partners, spreading improved seed varieties across the country. This has made quality seeds more accessible while creating a steady market for local producers.

Reduced dependence on seed imports and foreign exchange savings

The emerging community-based seed system developed by the project is now capable of meeting and exceeding the project's seasonal seed demand. This has the potential to fully substitute annual project seed imports, strengthening national seed self-sufficiency, retaining investment within the domestic agricultural sector, and providing a basis for comfortable seed dependency and sustainability beyond project lifespan. RALP has also supported 528 producer groups, 173 of which were Emergency Food Production Support groups. These capacity-building efforts have also translated into improved seed quality and post-harvest management. Farmers are trained on proper harvesting, drying, sorting, and storage practices, leading to the production of higher-quality seeds with better germination rates and vigor. The establishment of seed stores further reinforces these gains by preserving seed viability through proper storage conditions.

Emerging success stories

Aweil East County in Northern Bahr el Ghazal has emerged as one of RALP's strongest seed production success stories, demonstrating how farmer-led seed systems, backed by extension services and quality seed support, can drive rural transformation. The Omdurman Farmers' Cooperative has grown from a low-capacity farmer group into a commercially viable seed enterprise, expanding cultivated land from 5 to 24 acres within three seasons and producing over 3.6 MT of sesame and groundnut seed. Supported by cooperative seed sales and Village Savings and Loan Association (VSLA) structures, the cooperative is strengthening farmer incomes, access to finance, and the sustainability of South Sudan's emerging seed sector.

Kiir Lual Kiir, Secretary of the Omdurman VSLA and Cooperatives, says:

"The training in quality seed production has enabled us to supply our own seed needs and stop depending on imported seeds that are often delayed and affect productivity due to late planting, closing. We no longer wait for seeds from outside Aweil. We even make money from selling our seeds locally, money that we have used to buy oxen and expand our farms. This season, we produced more, sold more, and earned more."

A similar story is unfolding in Magwi County, one of RALP's leading seed production hubs and home to the five private seed companies mentioned above. According to Apire Lapson Philip, leader of the Ma Lubanga Omiyo Crop and Seed Production Group, locally produced quality seed has replaced delayed, low-germination imports, ensuring timely planting, better yields, and a stronger local seed market.

"For years, we waited for seed to arrive and sometimes in vain or too late. Today, seed begins here. We are no longer waiting for seed distribution; we are producing our own quality seeds that are locally adaptable, to produce food that feeds our communities, powers our markets, and secures our future."

His reflection captures a wider shift across Magwi County, where structured extension support and training, access to foundation seeds, and strengthened farmer organizations have enabled groups such as his to transition into reliable seed producers and distributors, eliminating the monopolies that had hitherto controlled seed distribution and dictated the start of the planting season.

While challenges remain, South Sudan is taking important steps toward a more resilient and self-reliant agricultural future. By strengthening local seed production, building regulatory systems, expanding storage capacity, and encouraging private-sector participation, RALP is laying the foundation for a nationally owned seed sector. Farmers who once waited for imported seed are increasingly producing, selling, and distributing their own, helping improve food security, create income opportunities, and build resilience across rural communities.

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World Bank in South Sudan