On the Cover The photo shows Ikinima Sagir, a farmer from Nigeria, with her bountiful tomato harvest. This was taken during a field day that she and her husband, Sagir Mohammed, organized, together with East-West Seed Knowledge Transfer. To grow forward, they continue to acquire new skills and knowledge in vegetable farming and share their learnings with their community.
Copyright © 2022 by East-West Seed All rights reserved. This report or any portion thereof may not be reproduced or used in any manner whatsoever without the express written permission of East-West Seed. 50/1 Moo 2, Sainoi-Bangbuathong Road, Sainoi, Nonthaburi, Thailand Printed in Thailand. Managing Editor: Leah Melita de Ocampo-de Guzman Design and Layout: Piyathida Pornpitchyapong
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CONTENTS
GROWING WITH OUR FARMERS • AN INVESTMENT IN THE SUCCESS OF SMALLHOLDER FARMERS CAN CHANGE THE LIVES OF MILLIONS • GROWING WITH OUR FARMERS AROUND THE WORLD
INTRODUCTION MESSAGE FROM THE SUPERVISORY BOARD
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MESSAGE FROM THE MANAGING BOARD
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GROWING FORWARD
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• EAST-WEST SEED KNOWLEDGE TRANSFER: SHARING VEGETABLE FARMING TECHNIQUES THAT GENERATE SUSTAINABLE YIELDS AND INCOMES
CORE VALUES 10
• IMPROVING SEED MOVEMENT TO FARMERS
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MISSION AND VISION 11
• INCREASING NIGERIAN ONION FARMERS’ INCOMES
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• FORGING SWEET SUCCESS FOR VIETNAMESE CORN FARMERS
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EAST-WEST SEED AROUND THE WORLD
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OUR COMPANY THROUGH THE YEARS
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EAST-WEST SEED AT A GLANCE • OUR IMPACT 16 • OUR PEOPLE 17 • OUR PRODUCTS 18
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2021 OUR YEAR IN REVIEW
GROWING HEALTHIER AND SUSTAINABLE COMMUNITIES
GROWING WITH OUR PASSIONATE TEAMS GROWING INNOVATION • EWS APPOINTS NEW CHIEF R&D OFFICER, STRENGTHENS CAPABILITIES FOR TODAY’S AGRICULTURAL CHALLENGES
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• PRODUCT SPOTLIGHT: PRAGATI F1 HALF-LONG BITTER GOURD
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• A MAJOR BREAKTHROUGH IN THE FIGHT AGAINST FALL ARMYWORM
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• SUPPORTING YOUTH IN AGRICULTURE: TWO AGRI-TECH START-UPS WIN IN INNOVATION OLYMPICS 2.0
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• CHAMPIONING EMPLOYEES’ WELLBEING
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• EVERYONE WORKS SAFELY • THE INVISIBLE ROOTS
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• EMPLOYEE RECOGNITIONS
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• HARNESSING SOLAR ENERGY FOR A BRIGHTER TOMORROW
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• PROMOTING INCREASED CONSUMPTION OF FRUITS AND VEGETABLES
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• PROVIDING ACCESS TO CLEAN WATER, HYGIENE AND AGRICULTURAL FACILITIES FOR FARMERS
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• BUILDING HEALTHIER COMMUNITIES IN THAILAND
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EAST-WEST SEED SUPERVISORY BOARD
Simon Groot Honorary Chairman & Founder
1. Ard Groot Chairman
2. Mary Sue Rogers Vice Chairman
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3. Ivan Chung Member
4. James Amatavivadhana Member
5. Joost Pekelharing Member
6. Maaike Groot Member
7. Rutger Groot Member
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2021 OUR YEAR IN REVIEW
MESSAGE FROM THE SUPERVISORY BOARD 2021 was another challenging year for the world as it
Led by our CEO Douwe Zijp, our Managing Board has kicked
continued to battle with the global COVID-19 pandemic. Like all
off work on our strategy for the coming years, a process that
companies, East-West Seed was not immune to those challenges.
has inspired new ideas and given direction to our future plans.
While we have taken all precautionary measures to help mitigate
The resulting PACE strategic plan was formally approved by
its impact, the pandemic has caused suffering and anxiety
our Supervisory Board in early 2022. As part of our plans,
among our workers and their loved ones, and we are sad to
we will make significant investments in R&D to accelerate
have lost valued colleagues to COVID-19, who will be remembered
the development of more innovative seed varieties, while
fondly by us all.
expanding our product range and our geographical reach throughout Asia, Africa and Latin America.
In February 2021, we witnessed political turmoil in Myanmar, resulting from a military coup launched against
In line with our mission, in addition to developing and marketing
the democratically-elected government. While our people
new seed varieties we are also working with farmers to train
and their families have managed to stay safe, the civil unrest
them in better agronomic practices. This includes focusing
and violence resulting from the coup have caused significant
on smarter and safer fertilizer and pesticide use, which allows
hardship and have disrupted normal operations throughout
them to save on agro-input costs while also reducing
much of the country.
environmental impacts. In an acknowledgment of the increasing importance of these focus areas, we have raised our investment
At the time of writing, the war in Ukraine is continuing to
in our Knowledge Transfer activities by 40%.
cause terrible human suffering. Although we are not active in Eastern Europe and our teams and operations are not
In terms of global recognition, last year we were again
directly affected by the conflict, the impact on the world’s
acknowledged for our efforts in helping farmers gain access
economy and food security is expected to be significant.
to vegetable seeds. We were pleased to win the top spot in
Disruption of global supplies of wheat and other staple
the World Benchmarking Alliance’s 2021 Access to Seed
crops, as well as spiking fertilizer and pesticide costs, is
Index for South and Southeast Asia, and receive the #2 and
expected to drive up food prices and lead to increased poverty
#3 ranking for West and Central Africa and East and South
and hunger throughout the developing world, particularly
Africa, respectively.
in Africa. In our markets, we are already seeing the impact of increasing field crop and fertilizer prices, which is resulting
East-West Seed was established in 1982 with the purpose
in farmers shifting from growing nutrient-rich vegetables to
of increasing smallholder farmers’ income by providing
staple crops. This will in turn lead to higher prices for fresh
them with better seeds and knowledge, long before the UN
vegetables, adverse dietary implications, and even malnutrition
Sustainable Development Goals had been drafted or
for the world’s poorest. We continue to hope for a peaceful
“sustainability” had become a buzzword. We will celebrate
resolution to the conflict.
our 40th anniversary this year, having grown from a small start-up into a world-leading tropical seed enterprise. However,
Throughout the year, all of our teams have worked diligently to
while we have become a much larger company over those
ensure a steady supply of vegetable seeds to our smallholder
40 years, our primary purpose has remained unchanged —
farmer customers, despite the logistical challenges and other
serving smallholder farmers is still paramount to everything
difficulties brought about by the pandemic. Thanks to their
we do. I am grateful to all of our people for the unwavering
relentless commitment and energy, we were able to achieve a
support and energy they are devoting every day to help us
6% growth in global seed sales, while our outreach and training
fulfill our mission.
for farmers increased as well. Our Knowledge Transfer initiatives were also aided by the development and adoption of new technical tools and innovations spurred by the necessity of devising alternatives to in-person trainings.
On behalf of the Supervisory Board, - Ard Groot Chairman
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EAST-WEST SEED MANAGING BOARD 1. Douwe Zijp CEO
2. Michel Devarrewaere Vice President for Production and Projects
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3. Cathlea Barote Chief People Officer
4. Joost van Elzakker Chief Commercial Officer
5. Dilip Rajan Chief Strategy Officer
6. Paul Chaytor Chief Supply Chain Officer
7. Katalin Pakozdi Chief R&D Officer
8. Ratiporn Ratcharoen Chief Finance Officer
2021 OUR YEAR IN REVIEW
MESSAGE FROM THE MANAGING BOARD While 2021 was a challenging year for the entire East-West
Despite the many limitations and challenging market landscape,
Seed organization, we were able to grow forward through the
2021 was a successful year from a financial perspective. We
efforts of our dedicated staff, launching programs targeted at
were able to grow our business by 6%, while also improving
lifting up and protecting workers and customers, and adjusting
our margins, due primarily to product mix. The cost levels
our business strategy to navigate the unique situation caused
did show a slight increase, although these levels were below
by the global pandemic.
expectations mainly due to limited travel expenses and open positions.
As was the case for many, the COVID-19 pandemic brought about stress and uncertainty for our employees and customers.
PACE strategy
To help alleviate this situation, we enacted necessary safety
We also launched a new strategic plan in 2021. Using the
measures at our facilities around the world, and provided our
acronym PACE – Pioneering, Accountable, Caring, Enduring
staff with personal protection equipment and vaccinations.
– the plan aims to strike a balance between “protecting”
We also launched special programs to support our customers,
and “growing” while focusing on five strategic initiatives:
because uplifting the livelihoods of smallholder farmers is at
serving farmers, geographical expansion, portfolio innovation,
the heart of everything we do.
value-added services and sustainability. The timeframe for the plan is for the period of 2022 to 2025, but the strategic
The dramatic developments in Myanmar resulting from a
direction will reach far beyond this phase. We believe that
military coup launched in February 2021 were an ongoing
the successful implementation and operation of the PACE
concern. The safety and health of our staff was a primary fo-
strategy will foster strong results for all parties and will set
cus, but we also took action to help ensure good quality seed
us up for a robust and sustainable path going forward.
would remain available for our customers. Despite the many hurdles and uncertainties, we have been able to continue our seed imports and supply them to our distributers throughout the beleaguered country. We are proud that we could support our staff as well as our customers at all possible levels. On behalf of the Managing Board, Various COVID-19 restrictions continued to cause disruptions
- Douwe Zijp -
to our business, including limiting our ability to hold live
CEO
trainings and in-farm visits, as well as market and economic impacts. We are proud that our teams continued to visit farmers and hold trainings as much as was feasible, as they made all possible efforts to work together in these difficult circumstances. We also continued to advance our diversity efforts, and we are pleased to report that the number of women in our Managing Board increased to three and a total of seven nationalities are now represented.
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Over 80% of the world’s farms are smallholdings. Supporting smallholder farmers is the key to growing healthier and more sustainable communities. We are committed to providing smallholder farmers with quality tropical vegetable seeds and innovative services. For 39 years, we have remained dedicated to this purpose. With operations in 12 countries, we serve more than 23 million farmers worldwide.
We are East-West Seed.
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CORE VALUES Serving Farmers We serve farmers. We are the farmers’ champion. We listen closely to them and we understand their needs. We offer our best solutions and deliver quality in everything we do to improve their yield and income.
Learning and Innovation We cultivate ideas and harvest innovation. Research excites us. We explore novel approaches, apply new technologies, and build an environment for creativity - whether in the laboratory, in the field or in the office.
Passionate Teams We aim for excellence in serving farmers by constantly challenging ourselves and the team to excel. As a team we can achieve more than what an individual can. We work together, trust each other, care for and respect each other’s unique and diverse talents.
2021 OUR YEAR IN REVIEW
MISSION Our mission is to provide innovative seeds and services that help improve the livelihoods of tropical vegetable farmers and promote sustainable farming and business practices
VISION Our vision is to be the leading and most trusted tropical vegetable seed company in the world
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Holding Location Head Office Knowledge Transfer active countries
2021 OUR YEAR IN REVIEW
Subsidiary Companies
Joint Venture
Areas of Distribution
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OUR COMPANY
THROUGH THE YEARS
2021 OUR YEAR IN REVIEW
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EAST-WEST SEED OUR IMPACT
AT A GLANCE
2021 OUR YEAR IN REVIEW
OUR PEOPLE
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OUR TOP 10 CROPS * Scan to download our catalog app Cropwiki
*Top 10 most popular crops for our farmers
GROWING WITH OUR FARMERS
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AN INVESTMENT IN THE SUCCESS OF SMALLHOLDER FARMERS CAN CHANGE THE LIVES OF MILLIONS East-West Seed has maintained its top position in the 2021 Access to Seeds Index for South and Southeast Asia Smallholder farmers’ access to high-quality seeds is crucial to ensuring that safe and nutritious food is available to communities. The seed industry plays an important role in ensuring this access. The Access to Seeds Index (ATSI), published by non-profit organization the World Benchmarking Alliance (WBA), measures the effectiveness of companies in enhancing the productivity of smallholders farmers by improving their ability to acquire seeds. In the ATSI for South and Southeast Asia (SSEA) released in November 2021, East-West Seed was once again ranked first, besting 30 other seed companies on the commitment and performance in providing access to quality seeds to the world’s smallholder farmers.
East-West Seed also maintained a strong and consistent performance in other regional indices in 2021: #2 among 32 companies in the ATSI for Western and Central Africa, and #3 among 32 companies surveyed in the ATSI for Eastern & Southern Africa. In the 2021 SSEA index measurement areas, East-West Seed ranked as the top company in the areas of governance and strategy, and research and development. The report said EastWest Seed’s score was driven by its capacity-building programs focusing on women, next-generation farmers, and digital innovations.
GROWING WITH OUR FARMERS
GROWING WITH OUR FARMERS AROUND THE WORLD Helen Cullo
Shivaji Shinde
Kannika Intarak
“The seeds I use are 100% from East-West Seed.”
“The bright yellow color of the flower has changed our lives over the past three years.”
“This variety provides a bountiful and quick harvest.”
Helen and her husband have seen their five children graduate, have invested in property and vehicles, and have expanded their business through farming.
Shivaji and his wife, Resham Shinde, were able to convert their rocky land into an arable farm to grow marigolds that are sold for use in festivals and celebrations.
Kannika is able to reduce her labor and other input costs by using our hybrid cucumber seed, resulting in greater profits for her farming.
Dennis Komakech
Untung Suprayitno
Ko Naung Naung Oo
“East-West Seed brought back the smiles of my family and made me a surprise millionaire.”
“I am proud to be a vegetable farmer. It has brought many benefits not just for me but also for those who are around us.”
“I am very happy growing vegetables. I will continue to plant more.” By being one of the first farmers in his region to plant butternut pumpkin, Ko Naung Naung Oo earned strong profits and was able to expand his vegetable production growing area.
Despite 20 years in agriculture, Dennis struggled to support his family’s needs. He finally found success in farming by attending EWS’s training sessions and planting tomato hybrid seeds.
Untung is a young vegetable farmer whose success inspired more than 30 people in his area to begin vegetable farming.
Ut in An Thanh
Poa Sophea
Samuel Canel
“I can harvest around three to four tonnes of bitter gourd per 1,000 square meters.”
“I learned better farm practices and increased my earnings.”
“This tomato variety provides very strong protection against viruses and diseases.”
Ut in An Thanh planted EWS’s short hybrid bitter gourd and saw a huge increase in his harvest. Aside from earning more, his abundant bitter gourd crops also attracted many visitors to his farm.
After attending trainings held by EWS-KT, Poa successfully shifted his livelihood to vegetable farming from his previous job clearing trees in the forest.
Samuel used EWS’s tomato hybrid and noticed a big improvement in his yield. He became confident in growing vegetables and now transplants over 10,000 tomato seedlings every two months.
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“Improving the livelihoods of 1 million farmers and enabling 50 million lower-income consumers to increase their consumption of vegetables by 2025”
GROWING WITH OUR FARMERS
EAST-WEST SEED KNOWLEDGE TRANSFER: SHARING VEGETABLE FARMING TECHNIQUES THAT GENERATE SUSTAINABLE YIELDS AND INCOMES 2021 presented both challenges and opportunities for the East-West Seed Knowledge Transfer Foundation (EWS-KT). Despite the impact of COVID-19 and, in some places, complex security issues, we managed to achieve 97.5% of our 120,000 farmer outreach goal, directly training 117,000 farmers, and reaching an additional 3 million farmers through crop guides, radio programs, and digital media. We are proud of these achievements, and we are particularly pleased that 43% of the farmers we trained in 2021 were women. Launching EWS-KT’s 2021–2025 Strategic Plan was a major milestone in 2021. The strategy sets an ambitious goal of improving the livelihoods of 1 million farmers and enabling 50 million lower-income consumers to increase their consumption of vegetables by 2025, with a special focus on women and young people. Moreover, EWS-KT’s new website and data dashboard are a giant step forward in providing transparent insight into the organization’s work and impact. An increased investment in new people has strengthened our local, international, and leadership capacity. Over the last year, our workforce has grown from 143 to 168 employees. In addition, we are delighted to welcome Brigit Van Dijk-Van De Reijt as the newest member of our board of trustees. Her appointment complements the current expertise of the governing
board, which spans business, technology, horticulture, finance, public policy, and international development. 2021 was also a special year in terms of learning opportunities, as we began providing online training certification on vegetable production via our General Vegetable Production program. This was in addition to developing new training courses and materials as part of a blended learning approach that includes a combination of online learning modules. With new key positions in place, we are well situated to reach an additional 160,000 farmers through field-based activities in 2022. To ensure that the knowledge we bring goes further into the communities in which we work, we will continue to leverage the dynamics that women and youth bring to the farming sector. Our increased targets for more women key farmers— and more women field staff—are already resulting in significant changes, particularly in local communities where this is not the norm. Scan to learn more about EWS-KT’s work:
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“I am so grateful to EWS-KT for the knowledge gained and to the trainer for her relentless efforts in seeing that the young girls of the quarters are not left out of the training on good agronomic practices.”
19-year-old Nusaibah Usman (right) and her 75-year-old grandmother on their farm
A Family that Grows Together Nineteen-year-old Nusaibah Usman is a high school graduate awaiting admission to study at Bayero University in the Nigerian state of Kano, where she lives with her parents and 75-year-old grandmother in the university’s staff quarters. One day she accompanied her mother to an EWS-KT training that changed her life by spurring her interest in farming. “Waking up each day, all I think of is my farm,” she told us, beaming. “I go there daily to see how my plants are doing.” The training session by an EWS-KT technical field staff member was targeted at teaching local women. “The Technical Field Officer began to train us in core groups before I decided to have my own farm to replicate all I had been taught,” Nusaibah said. Her consistency in attending trainings contributed to the speed with which she was able to adopt all the EWS-KT techniques, from seedling production to raised beds, mulching, and fertilization. Nusaibah has also been passing on to her grandmother the new techniques she learned from the trainings. Her parents are supportive of her agricultural endeavors and have provided funds for her to purchase different seed varieties, including okra, cucumber, cauliflower, tomato, carrot, sweet pepper, and cabbage. Upon our visit to her 500 sqm. farm located just behind her house, we saw Nusaibah teaching her grandmother trellising and how to apply organic mulching materials.
“I have come to love every technique on modern vegetable farming, and I’ll not just stop at teaching my grandma but also my fellow females to embrace farming as a way of life,” she said.
The Transforming Nigeria’s Vegetable Markets project contributes to more resilient and efficient vegetable production by introducing new varieties, adapted technologies, and evidence-based knowledge and skills. Making vegetables more widely available on the market at affordable prices also leads to improved nutrition among local, low-income households in Kaduna and Kano states. This project is co-funded by the SDG Partnership Facility, a grant program of the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs managed by the Netherlands Enterprise Agency (RVO). The project is led by EWS-KT in collaboration with partners Wageningen University and Research, Solidaridad Network West Africa, the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry Kaduna State in Nigeria, and Ahmadu Bello University.
GROWING WITH OUR FARMERS
IMPROVING SEED MOVEMENT TO FARMERS The disruption caused by the COVID-19 pandemic and conflicts such as the war in Ukraine and coup in Myanmar have highlighted just how important a well-functioning supply chain is for a global business that operates in a highly interconnected world. This is especially important for East-West Seed, because supply chain disruptions not only hurt our bottom line, but can also have a negative impact on smallholder farmers and the communities in which they sell their fresh vegetables. In light of this, East-West Seed recently set out to establish a new Supply Chain team with the goal of ensuring better product availability while increasing efficiency and lowering costs. Previously, a number of teams spread out around the world worked together to coordinate EWS’s supply chain efforts. While these teams always worked diligently and commendably in their roles, the lack of a consistent approach and centralized structure resulted in higher costs, decreased efficiency and lower service levels. With the establishment of a single company-wide Supply Chain team, all of the processes can be coordinated together with greater focus and expertise. The team works across all functions to get everyone operating in a single direction so that we can collaborate easily. This is especially important as we grow as a company and expand our geographical reach, as our operations are bound to become more complex. The team also strives to improve seed inventory health so the quality of our products improve and we reduce lead times to accelerate speed to market.
The Supply Chain team has made strong progress since its founding. Through a heightened focus on standardization, automation, and collaboration, service levels have increased 10% and the team has a clearer understanding of areas and processes that can be improved upon in the future. The team has also recorded cost savings of an impressive US$2 million, which helps us to improve profit and fund reinvestment in Sales or R&D efforts. Going forward, the Supply Chain team is aiming to increase inventory levels and improve reliability in working toward higher service levels. They are also looking to improve the Sales and Operations Planning process while leveraging technology to increase automation, and improve visibility and data analysis to help the company make better and faster decisions. These actions will coincide with the expansion of seed processing and logistics hubs to better serve African and Latin American markets. Importantly, because uplifting the lives and communities of smallholder farmers is the core value of our business, the Supply Chain team’s success will have a direct impact on our mission as well. Improving service levels means farmers can more easily buy our seed when they want it, more efficient logistics networks lowers lead times and makes it more likely that farmers can get products in time for their growing season, better seed inventory health helps to ensure only high-quality seed reaches our farmers, and lowering costs for the company means we can fund sales expansion to reach more customers, or fund R&D to develop better products.
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INCREASING NIGERIAN ONION FARMERS’ INCOMES Traditionally in West Africa, onions are sown during the dry season in October and November. This results in a sizeable increase in the volume of onion harvests during March and April, thereby causing lower prices for the vegetables during this period. Local onions can be stored under ambient conditions for a maximum of four to five months, but farmers often lack the financial capability to store their harvest because it postpones their income. Thus, only the big traders with access to financial resources can benefit from the higher onion prices that occur from May to September. From September to January, the market is supplied with imported onions and prices tend to quadruple compared to the prices in April. Unfortunately, very few Nigerian farmers can harvest during these months as producing during the off-season poses many challenges. To help increase Nigerian farmers’ income, in 2021, East-West Seed trained around 2,500 farmers on onion production and introduced the Prema onion variety. Prema was specifically developed to combat the challenges of foliar diseases that are typically present during the rainy season. Prema is changing the landscape of onion production in Nigeria and empowering local farmers to earn more.
FORGING SWEET SUCCESS FOR VIETNAMESE CORN FARMERS In 2021, the price of fresh corn in Vietnam’s Than Hoa province was volatile, creating uncertainty for local farmers. To help farmers obtain better prices for their harvests, East-West Seed Vietnam (Hai Mui Ten Do) connected farmers with the A Chau Agricultural Joint Stock processing company. Through this linkage, A Chau purchased around 40 hectares of Golden Cob sweet corn. This sale benefitted 170 farmers by providing an income of about $390 per 1,000 sqm., a vast improvement from the $200 per 1,000 sqm. farmers typically receive for other crops. In cooperation with the local government, EWS Vietnam also trained around 1,700 farmers on improved techniques for Golden Cob production.
GROWING INNOVATION
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EWS APPOINTS NEW CHIEF R&D OFFICER, STRENGTHENS CAPABILITIES FOR TODAY’S AGRICULTURAL CHALLENGES
KATALIN PAKOZDI CHIEF R&D OFFICER AND MEMBER OF EWS’ MANAGING BOARD East-West Seed announced Katalin Pákozdi as its new Chief R&D Officer and member of EWS’ Managing Board in August 2021. Katalin previously held a leadership role at US-based berry company Driscoll’s as the Plant Breeding Director for the Europe, the Middle East and Africa region. She brings with her extensive leadership experience and plant breeding knowledge, a strong background in the vegetable seed and fruit industry, and a deep understanding of market needs. “I am delighted to be joining the passionate and talented team of EWS and look forward to strengthening its R&D capabilities as it faces today’s agricultural challenges,” Katalin said. “The organization has done a truly inspiring job in the past 40 years to develop and promote high-quality vegetable seeds, and to support, educate, and gain the trust of smallholder farmers.”
GROWING INNOVATION
Could you tell us more about your background? I am a trained plant breeder, and I spent my whole career in plant breeding and in/around R&D. I started my career in the vegetable seed business with HM.Clause in the U.S. and after a few years I relocated back to Europe and continued with berries. Working for a branded berry company brought me different perspectives of the fresh produce business, but while the way of marketing and selling is different between vegetable seeds and berries, the principles of R&D are fundamentally the same. R&D is the heart and core of our business, and we are dedicated to developing the best varieties suitable for the farmers, customers, and consumers of the tropics.
What attracted you to work in East-West Seed? The vision of the company really inspired me. The opportunity to enrich the lives of millions of smallholder farmers and “making a difference” of their livelihood was really drawing to me.
What is your vision for East-West Seed’s R&D? EWS R&D has a very solid scientific foundation and our worldwide scientific network is second to none. I would like this to continue to be our strength 20-30-40 years from now and capitalize on it to be able to take a product leadership position along the entire tropical belt. This means that we need to grow beyond Asia and country boundaries, and we need to make significant investments in our R&D capabilities. The recent approval of the PACE and five-year growth of the R&D budgets are all in support of these ambitions. There are some exciting times ahead of us!
Could you share some 2021 Highlights of EWS R&D?
“ A total of 38 new varieties of 15 crops that were bred in-house were approved for market introduction, and we are looking forward to exciting innovative products in the pipeline. We have expanded and upgraded our facilities in India, the Philippines and Thailand to accelerate and intensify our innovation portfolio for future challenges. The success of EWS R&D relies on the people, so we have invested in people development while creating an environment where work is fun.”
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PRODUCT SPOTLIGHT: PRAGATI F1 HALF-LONG BITTER GOURD
East-West Seed India (EWIN) offers a wide variety of bitter gourds to suit the needs of local consumers. These include the Aliya, Prachi, Pragati lines of bitter gourds, all between 9 to 18 centimeters. The success of the Pragati variety in 2021 stands out in particular. Its spectacular growth over the year is attributed to a wellplanned awareness and promotional campaign across geographies to help farmers secure greater yields, as well as high product quality and its ability to meet the needs of multiple stakeholders. Addresses consumers’ needs. Families are looking for smaller-sized fruits and vegetables. Addresses farmers’ needs. Farmers are looking for a variety with strong tolerance to viruses. Pragati provides a best-in-class virus field tolerance and yields longevity. Addresses vendors’ needs. Pragati bitter gourds have exceptional firmness, which provides the necessary shelf-life for the fruit. This adds value for vendors as they typically seek out products suitable for long-distance transportation and an extensive shelf-life. Pragati has phenomenally grown at a pace of 220% over the last five years and achieved a dominating 40% market share in its segment. Pragati is already among the top three highest-grossing products in EWIN’s portfolio. Scan to download our catalog app Cropwiki:
A MAJOR BREAKTHROUGH IN THE FIGHT AGAINST FALL ARMYWORM
Fall Armyworms are a major scourge to farmers around the world, leading to ruined crops and economic damage. The larvae of the invasive pest are the main culprits of the damage, causing skeletonizing or “windowing” effect on corn plants that makes the ears unmarketable. The plant pathology and breeding teams at East-West Seed Thailand have made a huge step forward in their research to battle this pest. Using native and non-GMO traits, the teams have identified samples with reduced susceptibility to the pests. They are continuing to rigorously test the protocol they have developed, as it has the potential to prevent large-scale damage and reduce food waste and economic loss for farmers across the world. While our teams continue to improve the resistance to this pest, we recommend farmers make use of the materials regarding Integrated Pest Management in our Growhow website to reduce the incidence of pests and limit crop damage. Scan this code to access our IPM guide for Fall Armyworms:
SUPPORTING YOUTH IN AGRICULTURE: TWO AGRI-TECH START-UPS WIN IN INNOVATION OLYMPICS 2.0
Innovation Olympics 2.0 (IO 2.0) is a nationwide “agri-hackathon” in the Philippines that provides an avenue for Filipino students to develop and showcase innovative technology solutions that can help improve the income of smallholder vegetable farmers. Two student start-ups emerged as Grand Winners of IO 2.0 and won 125,000 Philippine pesos (US$2,390) each to help them further develop their technology solutions. The winning entries included: 1. A solar-powered machine with fullyautomated irrigation and fertigation systems that can monitor the status of farm data points and send updates to farmers via SMS. (Nueva Vizcaya State University). 2. A farming system comprised of three components: an automated solar-powered vertical farming system made from bamboo; a soluble capsule with formulated organic waste materials that stimulate plant growth and protect against diseases; and an online platform that connects farmers directly to consumers. (University of Mindanao) IO 2.0 was made possible by a collaboration among East-West Seed, inter-government treaty organisation the Southeast Asian Regional Center for Graduate Study and Research in Agriculture, US-based food coloring company Sensient Colors LLC, and the University of the Philippines Los Baños Scan to watch IO 2.0 Grand Finals:
GROWING WITH OUR PASSIONATE TEAMS
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CHAMPIONING EMPLOYEES’ WELL-BEING
‘EVERYONE WORKS SAFELY’ AT EAST-WEST SEED
At East-West Seed, we care about each other and our communities.
With the goal of ensuring safety across all our sites around the
In 2021, we launched a number of programs promoting safety
world, East-West Seed launched the “Everyone Works Safely”
and well-being among employees
initiative.
Ensuring access to COVID-19 vaccines
As part of the safety program, at each site safety managers
We organized vaccination programs to protect employees,
were appointed and safety committees were formed to
their families and their communities against COVID-19. By
operationalize local initiatives.
the end of 2021, more than 80% of all employees had received the COVID-19 vaccine. ‘Space to Grow’ An opinion survey among employees in 2021 showed that many who were working from home were struggling to balance their workload and experiencing burnout and fatigue from virtual meetings. To address this, we declared that no meetings were to be held on Wednesdays. We encouraged employees to use Wednesday as a “space to grow” whereby they could use their time to plan, reflect, and prioritize their work. Happy Lunch Hour To encourage employees to take a break away from their desks and enjoy a healthy lunch, we blocked a one-hour lunch break on all employees’ work calendars.
This included:
GROWING WITH OUR PASSIONATE TEAMS
THE INVISIBLE ROOTS
EMPLOYEE RECOGNITIONS
“It’s the roots, which are invisible, that makes one so invincible”
Dr. Conrado Balatero, Group Breeding Manager, was selected as the “Most Influential Plant Breeding Researcher for Horticulture
From February to May 2021, we released four episodes of a
Crops (Private Sector)” by the Asia and Pacific Seed Association.
special mini-series on YouTube showcasing members of our Knowledge Transfer team. Titled “The Invisible Roots”, the
Dr. Mary Ann Sayoc, Public Affairs Lead, was honored with a
videos focused on the lives of KT members from Myanmar,
knighthood in the Order of Orange-Nassau from the government
Uganda, Nigeria, and Thailand and how, in their own unique
of the Netherlands for her work in advancing Philippine-Dutch
ways, they are supporting farmers and strengthening communities.
bilateral relations.
Scan here to watch “The Invisible Roots”
Dilip Rajan, Chief Strategy Officer and former Managing Director of East-West Seed India, was named as one of India’s Best Leaders in Times of Crisis for 2021 by the Great Place to Work Institute. The 2021 study aimed to identify business leaders who had demonstrated exceptional ability in dealing with the COVID-19 crisis.
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EAST-WEST SEED
GROWING HEALTHIER AND SUSTAINABLE COMMUNITIES
HARNESSING SOLAR ENERGY FOR A BRIGHTER TOMORROW Carbon emissions from unsustainable electricity generations are a major contributor of environmental pollution and are accelerating the impact of climate change. With the goal to reduce its operations’ carbon footprint and energy costs, East-West Seed has installed solar power systems at facilities in the Philippines, India, Guatemala, and Indonesia. The total generating capacity of all new installations is 1,412 kwp, covering part of the sites’ electricity requirements. These add to the existing solar power systems in East-West Seed facilities in Thailand and Vietnam that were installed in 2019 and 2020. This shift to renewable energy is expected to reduce EWS’s carbon dioxide emissions per year by over 2,000 tonnes, which is the equivalent of planting 13,482 trees.
PROMOTING INCREASED CONSUMPTION OF FRUITS AND VEGETABLES Last year was designated as the International Year of Fruits and Vegetables (IYFV) by the UN General Assembly, stating that fruits and vegetables are dietary essentials. The global campaign seeks to raise awareness about the important role fruits and vegetables play in nutrition, food security and health, and in achieving UN Sustainable Development Goals. To support the campaign and drive the consumption of fruits and vegetables, EWS Philippines and EWS Thailand held contests to gather unique recipes from local residents. Five winners were selected to receive cash prizes across each market in the categories of New Traditions, Appetizers, Side Dishes, Main Courses, and Desserts. Panels of judges comprised of influencers, nutritionists, and EWS executives, reviewed and selected the submissions in each market. Combined, the two contests garnered more than 1,000 recipes from participants.
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EAST-WEST SEED
EWINDO PROVIDES ACCESS TO CLEAN WATER, HYGIENE AND AGRICULTURAL FACILITIES FOR FARMERS In 2021, East-West Seed Indonesia continued its corporate social responsibility program with initiatives to help restore the livelihoods of farmers affected by COVID-19. The company installed wells, public bathrooms, and hand washing facilities in Banten, Indonesia, bringing better access to clean water for around 30 farmers and residents to help mitigate drought and optimize the potential of their area. EWS Indonesia also inaugurated the operation of MCK facilities and pipelines for 600 meters of agricultural land in Jember, East Java. The pipeline can irrigate 45 hectares of productive agricultural land. This facility is currently accommodating 105 farmers who are growing rice, corn, chili, tomatoes and eggplants. The initiative is a joint effort between EWS Indonesia and the University of Jember. Also, to help reduce the spread of COVID-19, a training on healthy lifestyle to help avoid the virus was held and face masks were distributed to the participants. The training was presented in collaboration with local insurance company InHealth Mandiri.
GROWING HEALTHIER AND SUSTAINABLE COMMUNITIES
BUILDING HEALTHIER COMMUNITIES IN THAILAND In November 2021, the Chaipattana Foundation signed an MOU with East-West Seed Thailand to collaborate on the production and distribution of 16 seed varieties with an aim to increase access to affordable and quality seeds for farmers and the general public. The seeds available as part of the partnership are common to Thai households and suitable for kitchen gardens, including chili pepper, purple lettuce, and yard long bean. The seeds will be sold in special packaging called “Smart Chan Ka Pak” to preserve freshness and shelf life. The seed varieties were developed through a collaboration among the Chaipattana Foundation, leading agricultural universities in Thailand, and the East-West Seed Research and Development team. This collaboration is the first of its kind in which a commercial seed company has been allowed to produce and distribute the Royal breeding varieties in the country. The Chaipattana Foundation is an NGO linked with the Thai royal family, including Princess Maha Chakri Sirindhorn acting as executive chairperson, that was founded in 1988 with the aim of helping local people through a variety of development projects.
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