Harvest Farm Seeds Ltd was the first company in Uganda to embark on privately producing and marketing improved seed after the seed industry was liberalized in 1999. It started operations in January 2000, emerging from a seed unit of the parent company, Commodity Exchange International Ltd, which now deals in grain trading.

The company obtains breeders’ seed from the National Agricultural Research Organization (NARO), which has developed material for Ugandan conditions and climate. The major seed crops the company produces and markets are maize, bean, sorghum, cowpea, soybean, groundnut, upland rice, pasture grasses and pasture legumes. It also markets imported seeds of miscellaneous vegetable crops. Maize is the leading crop, then bean. Use of improved seed the company markets has greatly enhanced crop yields. Maize yields shot up to over 8 t ha–1 when farmers used company-supplied hybrids; previously they were able to get only about 4 t ha–1 from open-pollinated varieties (OPVs) or only 800 kg ha–1 with home-saved seed.

There is still great need for new and improved varieties, especially for other crops. This can be achieved only through strengthening links with national and international agricultural centres. For example, the groundnut variety Red Beauty was released in 1968 and is susceptible to many diseases, but still it does not have a clearly superior replacement. The varieties released in 1999 that are moderately tolerant to rosette do not satisfy local eating habits and therefore farmers have not widely adopted them.

Potential seed demand in Uganda is for over 30,000 tonnes per annum, yet present seed production and sales are less than 10,000 tonnes. Harvest Farm Seeds has a share of about 20% of this market. The company has built a reputation for quality and superior varieties. It has signed a memorandum of understanding with NARO to produce and market maize hybrid Longe 7H, thereby obtaining exclusive rights to this material. Longe 7H is suitable for mid-altitude areas, matures in less than 120 days, has high tolerance to maize diseases gray leaf spot, maize streak virus and northern leaf blight, and can yield up to 9 t ha–1 under good management. Other maize varieties the company handles are OPVs Longe 1, Longe 4 and Longe 5 (Nalongo). This last variety is a quality protein maize (QPM) and leads in popularity. The top bean varieties are K132 and Nabe 4, which are superior in yield and disease tolerance. All seeds Harvest Farm Seeds markets are certified by the National Seed Certification Service.