Strengthening Sustainable Food Systems

Sustainable food systems are not only essential for providing nutrition to healthy populations, but also for ensuring that future generations will be able to utilise food resources efficiently. Given the increasing importance of provision of food sustainably and safely, this year’s World Environmental Health Day is centered around the theme “Global Food Safety and Sustainability”.

Numerous eco-inclusive enterprises across the globe aim to strengthen sustainable food systems by preserving their local ecosystems, managing land and resources sustainably, and minimising waste and environmental damage. They are also focused on increasing the productivity of their food systems, leading to better nutrition and stronger revenue streams for their communities.

Given the rising importance of creating and managing sustainable food systems, this year’s World Environmental Health Day sheds a spotlight on the importance of “Global Food Safety and Sustainability”. Celebrated on 26 September 2018, the event served as an opportunity to renew commitments to food sustainably across private and public sectors and to review the progress that has been made to secure sustainable, affordable nutrition globally.  

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SEED Awards

The underlying goal behind SEED Awards granted to enterprises working in and around sustainable agriculture is to achieve better nutrition and food security while working towards a greener economy.

Adequate nutrition and food security depend on the adoption of sustainable agriculture solutions with clear social and environmental targets. As enterprises who share these visions for the agriculture sector, SEED Award Winners deliver entrepreneurial solutions to improve the agricultural sector’s resource efficiency and crop yields while ensuring that communities are able to adapt to climate change.

SEED Award Winners Dedicated to Sustainable Food Production

SEED is showcasing 15 exemplary eco-inclusive enterprises and celebrating their solutions for sustainable agriculture on this year’s World Environmental Health Day

SEED-supported enterprises in the sustainable agriculture sector offer a variety of innovative solutions, ranging from the cultivation of indigenous and nutritious crops to the delivery of real-time market insights and training services to smallholder farmers. In doing so, they are also enabling their communities to adapt to changes in food production resulting from phenomena such as environmental changes, emerging pathogens, or antimicrobial resistance.

With an exciting array of value-added products and services, these eco-inclusive enterprises have all capitalised on the SEED network to create positive social, environmental, and economic impacts in their communities through innovative solutions for sustainable agriculture. To celebrate their efforts, SEED is using this year’s World Environmental Health Day to showcase 16 exemplary SEED-supported enterprises working for better nutrition and more secure food systems.

Tii Ki Komi Cassava Commercial Growers

2016 SAG-SEED Award Winner | Lamwo district, Uganda

Tii Ki Komi Cassava Commercial Growers (TCCG) sources fresh cassava from local farmers and processes them into chips, flour and peels of highly competitive price and quality. The company provides training on agronomic practices to enhance cassava post-harvest handling and production of organic manure.

Unique Quality Product Enterprise

2016 SAG-SEED Award Winner | Tamale, Ghana

Unique Quality Product Enterprise trains marginalised women suppliers in agronomic practices to farm Fonio, an indigenous grain that has low water requirements and can withstand adverse weather conditions. The enterprise dries, de-husks, packages, stores and markets Fonio cereal products for household consumption.

Peacock Seeds

2015 SEED Africa Award | Malawi

Peacock Seeds supports climate change adaptability and food security in Malawi by producing and supplying smallholder farms with drought-tolerant, disease-resistant and yield-improved legume and maize seeds. By supporting farms in crop improvement, they also help generate income security for farmers.

Hortinet

2015 SEED Africa Award Winner | Malawi

Hortinet cultivates horticultural produce and provides training in organic agronomic techniques and skills to smallholder farms in Malawi. The produce collected from the Hortinet farm and outsourced ones are then processed and packaged to be sold to urban markets through the enterprise’s network of distribution, substituting imported produce.

Botanic Treasures

2015 SEED Africa Award Winner |  Kenya

Botanic Treasures works with 500 local smallholder farmers to cultivate the highly nutritious, drought-resistant Moringa tree. Its leaves, fruits and bark are processed into nutritional supplements and fortified foods that are sold locally at franchise stores, nationally by large supermarket chains, and exported abroad.

Bwengu Tomato Production and Processing

2015 SEED Africa Award Winner | Malawi

Bwengu Tomato Production and Processing is a cooperative-led initiative with a resource-efficient structure to produce and process tomatoes. The drip irrigation system adopted saves water, and the processing plant reduces wasted produce to almost zero. Members of the cooperative benefit from higher income as well as access to fresh and locally produced tomatoes around the year, increasing nutritional intake in local communities.

East Africa Fruit Farm and Company

2015 SEED Africa Award Winner | Dar es Salaam, Tanzania

The enterprise buys fruits and vegetables from smallholder farmers at fair prices and processes them by cleaning, sorting, packing, and marketing. Farmers either work on their own land, or participate in a small-scale franchise model, cultivating the enterprise’s ready-prepared land.

Baobab Products Mozambique

2014 SEED Africa Award Winner | Chimoio, Mozambique

Baobab Products Mozambique is the first business in Mozambique to buy, process and trade the nutrient-rich Baobab fruit locally and market powder and oils as well as other planned products such as ingredients used to make ice creams and biscuits. The products are sold on national and international markets.

Growing the Future

2014 SEED South Africa Award Winner | Gansbaai, South Africa

Growing the Future promotes nutritious and organic food production and improves household food security by providing a three-step gardening programme for unemployed people. After receiving an innovative wicking-bed gardening starting kit, households complete a gardening training course and can acquire land for smallholder farms.

The Sustainable Mushroom Farming Initiative

2014 SEED Africa Award Winner |  Kampala, Uganda

The enterprise is focused on providing fresh produce that is available wholesale, and on demand, to consumers. The enterprise is turning a small-scale community garden initiative at CIBC into a sustainable business venture.

Growing a Sustainable Future: Sustain for Life Hospital Gardens

2013 SEED Africa Award Winner | Kisoro, Uganda

Sustain for Life’s hospital gardens at Bwindi Community and St Francis Mutolere Hospitals in Uganda provide patients and staff with food while offering a platform for training communities in sustainable agriculture, nutrition and sanitation. This helps them become self-sufficient, using low-cost solutions to combat hunger. Sustain for Life generates income by selling surplus food produced in its gardens. It also helps participants replicate the skills they have learnt in their own communities, increasing the impact of the enterprise.

Pumpkin Value Addition Enterprise

2013 SEED Africa Award Winner | Mityana, Uganda

Pumpkin Value Addition Enterprise mobilises women to form business working groups and trains them in pumpkin value addition skills. It runs a new demonstration centre for mentoring in sustainable agriculture. In order to empower communities, the enterprise links women to financial institutions, enabling them to start their own businesses and access markets. With the help of easy-to-use technology, the pumpkins are used to produce pumpkin juice, wine, bread, powder, cakes, bhajis, biscuits and seeds, while the residues are used as animal feeds and manure.

Project for Producing Edible Mushroom Spores

2011 SEED Award Winner | Kigali, Rwanda

The initiative aims to make the production of mushroom spores accessible to rural populations in Rwanda, particularly vulnerable people living in zones with a high risk of soil erosion. Mushrooms, as a short-cycle, high-yield crop, offer an alternative to traditional crops that is both more profitable and has a higher nutritional value.

Sustainable development through processing natural products

2011 SEED Award Winner | Masvingo, Zimbabwe

The women-led initiative Marula Zimbabwe trains local women to produce, process, quality control and market marula tree products. The fruit, bark, juice, skin and leaves of this native plant are used to produce a variety of products, such as jam, wine, dried kernels, oil, nuts, herbal powder and soap.

Ongoing Support for Sustainable Food Production by Eco-Inclusive Enterprises

At SEED, we believe in supporting entrepreneurial approaches to generate positive eco-inclusive impacts. The small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) that we work with are at the forefronts of strengthening regional, sustainable food systems.

Capitalising on the momentum that SEED has built up for sustainable agriculture, workbooks on “Agricultural Product Processing” will be featured at two upcoming SEED Replicator Workshops on 22 November 2018 in Lilongwe, Malawi and on 27 November 2018 in Mumbai, India. Entrepreneurs will be instructed on the processing of indigenous natural resources into value-added products to tackle social, environmental and ecological challenges within local context. Entrepreneurs – especially women and youth – are encouraged to apply before the deadlines on 11 November 2018 and 14 November 2018, respectively.