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Seedballs as technology were developed by Masanobu Fukuoka, one of the mentors of the permaculture movement. Today they are used for extensive pasture improvement in semi-arid areas of Australia and in western civilizations for „guerilla gardening“ (inter alia supported by organizations like Greenpeace).
The ex-ante simple production using loam, seeds and water as basic ingredients and the possibility to incorporate a multitude of additives in smaller amounts make the technology potentially useful for subsistence farmers in developing societies.
Nevertheless, the technology needs improvements in several respects. Therefore, a dual approach was chosen, combining pure research activities with participatory development based on local resources in Niger and Senegal involving farmer organisations. Basic research on mechanical and chemical optimization is conducted at the University of Hohenheim. Major conductors of the on-station and on-farm trials are the national agricultural research institutions ISRA (Senegal) and INRAN (Niger). Approval and dissemination of the technology is based on cooperation with the regional farmer organizations Fuma Gaskiya (Niger) and FAPAL (Senegal).
