Alheri Seed Company is one of several seed companies in Niger that are supported in various ways by AGRA. It is located at Dongondoutchi in the Dosso District of the western part of country.

The company was a minor start-up back in 2005, and grown into one of the country’s most prominent seed suppliers. Apart from providing improved seed, the company also trains farmers and outgrowers on best agronomic practices, the application of farm inputs, and especially the use of improved varieties. This they do sometimes through workshops, radio programs, demonstrations, and field day activities.

The Chief Executive Officer of the company, Mr. Issoufou Maizama, is an agronomist by profession, and worked for a long time as a researcher with Institut National de la Recherche Agronomique du Niger (INRAN), the national research institution in Niger.

It was during his work as a researcher that Mr. Maizama developed a passion to help provide needed services to farmers, especially those who could not afford to take advantage of new technologies coming from agriculture research. “In fact, there is a big gap between research findings and agricultural practice, particularly among smallholder farmers in rural communities across the country,” he says.

In a bid to make these new technologies available to farmers, Maizama contacted AGRA for a grant to implement a special project aimed at increasing the availability of improved seed and supporting the training of farmers in the latest farming practices.

With the grant from AGRA, Alheri Seed Company produced 300 MT of improved seed of millet, cowpea, sorghum, groundnuts, and maize. This improved seed was dedicated to helping smallholder farmers in Dosso District to increase their production and incomes. With additional training from AGRA, Maizama has been able to help farmers in the area improve their farming practices, and as a result, transform their lives.

“These activities really help create more demand for my services across the country,” says Maizama. One advantage we have over other seed companies is that, according to the terms of the AGRA-supported project, we deliver our improved seeds at the doorsteps of farmers, and with a discount of 20% to make them more affordable for poorer farmers. The demand

for our seeds and services has grown accordingly, making it possible for us to increase seed production to 700 MT by the end of the two-year project,” he says. For quality assurance, the company works with INRAN, the International Institute of Tropical  Agriculture  (IITA), and the International Crop Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT) to secure foundation seed; the company also works closely with various government agencies for regulatory purposes.

Currently, nine individual outgrowers and 14 farmer groups work with the company, which also has ten permanent workers and 1,800 temporary workers across the region, including outgrowers and their workers.

“Our relationship and collaboration with AGRA did not end in 2010 when the grant ended. With AGRA’s help, we were able to access US$ 620,000 from INJARO, a private financial institution in Niger, to expand our operations in order to serve the growing needs of farmers. With that assistance, we have been able to build a seed production facility with a capacity of 3000 MT,” he added.