EAST WEST SEED INTERNATIONAL LIMITED

East-West Seed Company Ltd (East-West Seed) was founded in 1982 in the Philippines with a mission to improve the income of farmers through access to high-quality vegetable seeds. Smallholder farmers are its main clientele and the company’s portfolio contains a wide variety of hybrids and OPVs. In 2015, the company set up Knowledge Transfer, a foundation that seeks to increase the income of smallholder vegetable farmers by sharing the knowledge and skills needed to improve their productivity. The company’s supervisory board is responsible for overseeing the company’s access to seeds strategy implemented by its CEO and managing board. Key performance indicators related to its strategy are linked to the performance-based compensation received by the CEO and the managing board. The company uses stakeholder mapping workshops and matrices to identify and select the stakeholders it engages. Such stakeholders include the Africa Seed Trade Association (AFSTA), the Horticultural Society of Nigeria and the Seed Entrepreneurs Association of Nigeria. East-West Seed’s stakeholder engagement covers topics in multiple measurement areas. The company works with the World Vegetable Center and the local Laboratory of Genetics, Horticulture and Seed Science (GBioS) in Benin on germplasm exchange for research purposes and trial evaluation. The company runs an ‘Advanced Plant Breeding Program’ at the East-West Seed Academy, through which it aims to advance the education and training of its breeders and researchers through skills development. The company also develops improved varieties of local crops as part of its breeding activities in the region including yardlong bean, choisam, African eggplant and amaranth. The company has distribution channels in the majority of index countries in the region. In all of those countries, it services remote areas through local field staff of distributors and field officers that East-Weed Seed directly employs. For example, in Nigeria, the company works with two distributors to reach hundreds of stores and agro-dealers throughout the northern and southern regions of the country. The company adheres to ISTA and ISHI-Veg protocols for safeguarding the quality and safety of seeds. In monitoring its dealer network, East-West Seed advises its dealers on storage conditions. It also takes measures to prevent the distribution of counterfeit seeds, including the use of holograms and unique sealing on its packaging to prevent imitation. The company provides after-sales support by contacting farmers for feedback by phone. Through its corporate foundation, East-West Seed supports long-term extension activities in Nigeria, where local teams are dedicated full time to technical training. It also provides training on variety selection, crop planning and farm record-keeping. The company reached approximately 12 million smallholder farmers through its extension services in the period 2018-2020, of which 18,000 were reached physically and the remaining were reached digitally through online training programs. This would contribute to the transfer of advanced technologies and strengthen both local expertise and a sustainable business climate. They use this data to help farmers plan according to actual needs of their markets. However, they have the opportunity to collaborate with partners up the food value chain aimed at developing the market for smallholder farmers. For example, East-West Seed shares its own commercial varieties free of cost, evaluates these under different environments and shares the results to WorldVeg scientists. It also has internal field quality auditors under the quality management department of each country. In addition, it services remote areas in all of those countries through local field staff of distributors, who use transportation such as motorbikes in Uganda. Through its EWS-KT foundation, the company carries out technical demonstrations on all aspects of crop production, such as land preparation, seed production, mulching, transplanting, plant nutrition, pest and disease management, harvesting and post-harvest handling. The company uses social media discussion groups as the best means of scaling knowledge and connecting stakeholders. It has also invested in SMS messaging, regular radio broadcasts, podcasts, YouTube videos and mobile learning solutions. It has a centralised digital platform, called GrowHow, with full public access to a wide range of extension materials, such as crop production guides, technical guides, management guides and instructional videos in 33 languages. The company further runs its General Vegetable Production (GVP) programme, an online learning platform aimed at farmers, agro-input retailers and extension workers that provides them with learning materials and certified training programmes. East-West Seed is committed to prohibiting child labour and forced labour in its own operations and carries out regular internal and external audits to monitor this. However, it could disclose whether it verifies the age of farmers and farm workers and requests intermediaries to do the same. The company is also committed to health and safety but could improve its performance by disclosing more quantitative information on this topic. The company has worked with the national genebank The National Plant Genetic Resources Laboratory (NPGRL) of the Institute of Plant Breeding (IPB), over the last four years, with the aim to assist the NPGRL in reviving its old seed collection composed of local germplasm. For example, East-West Seed Philippines provided open-pollinated varieties of eggplant freely for use in a Crop Trust project involving the phenotyping of eggplant and its wild relatives. This includes Focus Group Discussions conducted during farmer visits, and the company also gives specific attention to feedback from women farmers. The company also focuses on incorporating resistance and tolerance to regionally important pests and diseases such as downy mildew, fall army worm, and chilli vein mottle virus (ChiVMV). In these countries, the majority of its production growers are smallholder farmers who have less than 0. 5 hectares of land. These include India, Indonesia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Thailand and Vietnam. In all index countries where it has sales, East-West Seed offers seed packages with local languages and pictograms displaying product information and instructions, and it uses track and trace systems, including barcodes, batch numbers and QR codes. The company offers seed packages in appropriate sizes for smallholder farmers in the region. East-Weed Seed has made efforts to increase women participation in training to 40% in the past few years. In 2020, it approached 65,000 women smallholders in the region to participate in training, and women made up around half of the participants across index countries. The company has initiatives for young farmers in Thailand, Myanmar and the Philippines. East-West Seed does not disclose any evidence of policies or commitments related to living wage. The privately-owned company has played an important role in the development and improvement of tropical vegetable varieties that are adapted to tropical markets and growing conditions. In 2019 it ranked number 1 on the Access to Seeds Index for Global Seed Companies and number 1 for South and Southeast Asia Index. In 2020, it ranked #28 in Fortune’s Change the World list of companies that are doing well by doing good. The company employs about 2,800 people and has 20 R&D establishments in 9 countries. * We work side by side with our farmers—every step of the way. Recently, our East-West Seed Cambodia team joined local farmers in harvesting our vibrant Loueng Reach Thmey Watermelon variety. This sweet, golden-fleshed fruit is not only a delight to the taste buds but also a testament to what we can achieve through collaboration and shared knowledge. Open to university students across Brazil, the program is ideal for those passionate about innovation, sustainable agriculture, and research. Interns will work alongside experienced researchers and contribute to real-world projects that support smallholder farmers. In Uganda, we’ve trained farmers across various vegetable-growing capacities—equipping them with the knowledge to boost yield, improve resilience, and raise their standard of living. Because when farmers grow, we all grow. * Introducing MAYA F1 — East-West Seed Tanzania’s newest hybrid cabbage! We kicked off the launch with two field events in Kilimanjaro and Shinyanga, where over 330 farmers saw MAYA F1’s performance firsthand and heard real feedback from fellow growers. This is just the start — the launch will roll out across all regions in Tanzania!

• East-West Seed proudly took part in the 10th edition of Nigeria AgroFood & PlastPrintPack in Lagos. Because better seeds mean better harvests — and a better future. * We’re proud to be part of this dynamic exchange of ideas, innovations, and opportunities at the Horticultural Trade Mission 2025— where Dutch horticultural expertise meets Senegalese agricultural potential. Grateful to the Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands in Senegal for bringing this important collaboration to life