The Founder and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Legacy Crop Improvement Centre (LCIC), Dr Amos Rutherford Azinu, has called on Ghana to urgently adopt India’s seed cluster development model to achieve food security and modernize agriculture.
Dr Azinu made the call after participating in the India-Africa Seed Summit held in Hyderabad in September 2025, describing the experience as offering valuable lessons on how policy choices, innovation, and collaboration can transform agricultural systems in developing economies. The summit brought together policymakers, researchers, private sector players, and farmers to examine sustainable solutions for Africa’s food systems.
India’s seed industry is valued at over six billion United States dollars and is recognized as the fifth largest seed market worldwide, a remarkable transformation from the food shortages the country endured decades ago. Telangana State now supplies sixty percent of India’s seed requirements, supported by an ecosystem that brings together over four hundred seed companies and globally respected research institutions.
Dr Azinu explained that Hyderabad’s success as India’s Seed Capital results from a deliberate clustering strategy rather than chance. The concentration of research facilities, including the International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT) and the Indian Institute of Millets Research, along with capital, infrastructure, and skilled professionals, allows innovations to move quickly from laboratories to farmers’ fields.
For Ghana and other African countries, Dr Azinu argued that the key lesson lies in focus. Instead of dispersing limited resources across wide areas, governments should develop well-planned agricultural clusters in strategic locations to accelerate impact. He pointed to India’s structured seed multiplication system comprising Breeder, Foundation, and Certified Seeds as a critical pillar of success.
The integration of digital technologies has further strengthened India’s system. By 2025, India was deploying artificial intelligence in precision agriculture to boost yields, alongside blockchain based traceability and rapid seed testing methods. Dr Azinu described this as a major opportunity for Africa to leapfrog traditional development pathways.
India’s model is designed with smallholder farmers in mind, making it especially relevant to African contexts where farming is often conducted on marginal land. Hybrid crops such as maize and cotton have already proven successful in agro climatic conditions similar to those across the continent.
For Ghana, Dr Azinu outlined key priorities, including the development of agricultural clusters, rigorous quality assurance regimes, deeper public-private partnerships, investment in digital agriculture, and inclusive policies that place smallholder farmers at the heart of reform. He emphasized that the challenge of global food security is not just about producing more seeds but building smart systems that can transform agriculture from subsistence into a strategic economic engine.
