Advanta Seeds, part of the UPL Group, is committed to the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), focusing on poverty alleviation, improved livelihoods, food security, and climate change.

They provide high-quality, resilient seeds and innovative technology to support sustainable farming in Africa.

Globally recognised, Advanta ranks second in South and Southeast Asia and fourth in Africa on the 2021 Access to Seed Index (ASI) for enhancing smallholder farmers’ productivity.

With a presence in 84 countries, Advanta operates 24 production sites and research centres, offering around 900 hybrids from 40 crops. Their portfolio includes 85 products across 44 crops, tailored to Southern and East African farmers.

Under the brands Advanta, Alta, and Pacific Seeds, they maintain a strong presence in Africa with sites in South Africa, Kenya, Tanzania, Zambia, Egypt, and Nigeria.

Crop information:

Tomato varieties

Advanta Seeds offers some of the world’s best tomatoes, known for their high yield potential and excellent disease tolerance. Our breeding programmes focus on addressing challenges like tomato yellow leaf curl virus, bacterial wilt, and nematodes. We are also developing varieties with field tolerance to verticillium and fusarium, set to be released in South Africa.

Our tomatoes are ideal for processing markets due to their high brix percentage, excellent size, and fully developed internal cavity. They also have firm skins and thick fruit walls, allowing for extended storage and easy transport. Growers in Limpopo and Mpumalanga Provinces have reported a 10 to 20% yield increase with Advanta varieties compared to industry standards.

In South Africa, we currently sell three F1 hybrid varieties: Adv 1225, Adv 12131 (both determinate processing tomatoes), and Adv 1247 (a large determinate processing tomato). We are also trialling other hybrids with growers and seed partners.

Sweet peppers

Advanta Seeds has commercialised one of its best-performing determinate sweet peppers in South Africa, which has excelled in Africa and Middle East countries. The variety, named Adv 1532 (Reli Sweet 32), targets growers seeking to maximize their returns with an early and high-yielding potential sweet pepper.

Adv 1532 is set to compete among South Africa’s top sweet pepper varieties offered by competitors. This variety stands out in the agricultural value chain due to its numerous attributes, making it exceptional compared to commonly grown varieties. In terms of production, Adv 1532 offers very high yield and foliar disease tolerance.

Its marketability is enhanced by its excellent shiny fruits, which can be harvested green or red. The fruits have a thick wall, allowing for extended shelf life and better transportability.

The variety is suitable for the fresh market and is targeted for retail stores and export due to its unique fruit quality and size. These characteristics make it a standout variety that can meet various specifications required by different buyers. Adv 1532 is designed for large-scale production (commercial farming) and small-scale, emerging farmer production in both open fields or protected cultivation, with or without support.

Advanta’s hot pepper (Adv 509 /Reli Fire 509)

Advanta Seeds proudly presents Adv 509 (Reli Fire 509), our best high-pungent (hot) yielding hot pepper variety in South Africa within the Thai/Fury segment.

Adv 509 offers farmers an earlier chance of harvesting over a prolonged period. The outstanding qualities of this hybrid variety lie in its unmatched high-yielding potential and its attractive, marketable dark green shiny fruits when immature, and deep red shiny fruits at full maturity. These characteristics make it stand out with excellent storage quality and drying capability, making it suitable for the dryers processing market for chili sauce and spices, as well as for fresh markets (retail, wholesale, and hawkers) for fresh consumption.

Where and how to find our varieties

Our varieties can be found or requested at selected local nurseries across different provinces and selected agri-shops. As a global brand, we are also in the process of expanding our footprint to reach growers in other countries such as Zimbabwe, Botswana, Eswatini, Lesotho, and Mozambique through partnerships with nurseries, distributors, and governmental organisations.

The Advanta brand remains committed to sustainable agriculture and enhancing farmers’ productivity and access to good quality seeds, making us the fastest-growing brand across regions.

For more information on Advanta’s vegetables, please visit our website www.advantaseeds.com to download our product portfolio or contact our Vegetables Division at (+27)72-516-6465, Mulalo Muthaphuli.

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