Where to buy the best seeds and seedlings in Kenya

Are you wondering where to buy good quality planting seeds in Kenya? Thanks to technological advancements, you can now easily source farm inputs like seeds, pesticides and tools online. Another chance is to make direct orders from a seed company from their websites.

Why buy your seeds or seedlings online? The advantages of sourcing planting materials include;

• Source seeds that are most suitable seeds for your region or agro-ecological zone.
• Check authenticity and quality of seeds to avoid planting counterfeit seeds
• Enjoy convenience by shopping seeds online and getting home deliveries

To understand how to buy quality seeds online, here are three examples of how Kenyan farmers are selecting, shopping or checking seeds quality online.

Seed selection- Mbeguchoice

In Kenya and Uganda, you can use various mobile apps or online seed selection websites to select the most suitable seeds for your farm. One of the best is the MbeguChoice, it is an online platform that assists users such as farmers, agrovets and extension workers to generate a list of the best planting seed varieties for your region.

You will need to choose your county, crop type, season and the desired crop attributes, such as drought tolerance, quick maturity, high yielding among others.

The site will give you a list of the best seeds and the seed companies that stock them. This way, you do not have to plant seeds that are unsuitable for your farm.

Online shopping for seeds & Seedlings in Kenya

Since the outbreak of Covid-19 pandemic, most shoppers in Kenya prefer doing their shopping online. As a business, you will save on cost of busines while farmers can sacve their time and travelling costs to towns.

In addition to buying seeds from a seed company directly or a local agrovet, you can also order them from leading local and international Ecommerce sites like the Amazon, Kilimall, Copia and Jumia. Online shops give you a chance to compare, shop and order quality seeds. You can request to get the shipped or posted to your home address.

Incase the seeds are or unacceptable quality, most of the online shops have a payback policy. You can can get back your money if the seeds fail to germinate

Where to buy Quality Seeds Online in Kenya

If you are near Nairobi, Nakuru, Edoret or other major towns in Kenya, The list below gives you the best ecommerce sites to order your seeds online in Kenya.

1. Jumia. the online ship stocks many vegetable seeds online, you can shop for some here.
2. Ubuy Kenya, you can get any vegetables seeds easily from the international market at very affordable prices.
3. Simlaw Seeds, The seed company stocks  is a leading vegetable seed marketing company with over 30 years of experience in production, processing and marketing of horticultural seeds
4. Jiji, The online shop stocks many seeds, fruit seedlings and vegetable seedlings
5. Horti centre kenya is the leading company supplying flower seeds online in Kenya
6. Kenya Seed company Ltd is the best company to order many seed varieties for maize, pasture, horticulture, sorghum, sunflower and vegetable seeds suitable for different agroecological zones in the region.
7. Agri Seed Co Limited, The company sells sells their maize, soya & sorghum on their online shop
8. Elgon Kenya It is one of the leading agri-input supply companies in Kenya which sell seeds online In Kenya
9. Others include Syngenta, Monstanto, Freshco, Royal seeds.

Where to buy Quality seedlings in Kenya

The emerging practice among vegetable and herbs farmers in Kenya is sourcing for certified seedlings for sale instead of seeds. If you want to know where you can buy quality vegetable seedlings, do an online search for best seedling propagators near you. The following are some of the most popular seedlings sellers where you can order online and pay via Mpesa.

1. Carol Herbs, propagates herbs, spices, vegetables ,fruits and flowers seedlings. Located in Kiambu and serving farmers across Kenya
2. Plantech Kenya Ltd. a seedling nursery located in Naivasha Kenya. We propagate seedlings of vegetables, herbs, cut flowers and trees, for growers of all sizes, and throughout all of Kenya.
3. Longonot Farm Ltd. It is the  longest-running independent propagation business in Kenya and the first in East Africa to achieve Global G.A.P. certification. It is located in Naivasha
4. Grow Pact. The propagator is located in Kitale. It sells freshly germinated and grafted fruit seedlings (mango, pawpaw, passion, avocado, strawberry, etc.), vegetable seedlings (sukumawiki, cabbage, tomatoes, onions, zucchini, capsicum, courgette, chillies etc.) as well as herbs, which include stevia, rosemary, mint, etc.
5. Plant Raisers. Plant Raisers supplies over a 100 different varieties of vegetable seedlings including Tomatoes, Cabbages, Cauliflower, Broccoli etc. The company makes upcountry order deliveries through a courier services.
6. Kimplanter Seedlings and Nurseries It is a seedling nursery located in Ruiru Kenya. We propagate seedlings of vegetables, herbs, fruits and trees

Quality Assurance- Seed Tokens

Use of anti-counterfeit labels by the Kenya Plant Health Inspectorate Service (KEPHIS), the government regulator responsible for the quality of agricultural inputs and production. Farmers can find scratch card labels in seed packages to assist in seed traceability and anti-counterfeiting. After scratching the card, the code revealed is sent to a given number from which the authenticity of seeds can be determined.

We hope this explainer on how to select quality seed varieties will be beneficial towards improving your farm profitability.