Comptoir Agricole, a medium-sized agro-dealer was also involved in seed relief
activities along with APEK at the request of the FAO and WFP. In addition, CA
developed a seed business. It bought seed (local as well as improved varieties) mainly
from individual farmers during harvest, which it stored and then sold at the start of
the next season, but did little or no seed processing. By 2007, it had a market capacity
of 200 t of seed per year. But CA met only 50% of this capacity in 2007. In July 2007,
CA sold rice seed at about US$ 0.80 per kilogram.
Apart from learning from past interventions, to construct a more sustainable seed
sector one also needs to understand the roles, perceptions and linkages of the different
stakeholders involved. The next section explores this.