Innovative and beneficial informal sweetpotato seed private enterprise in northern Uganda

Abstract

Research conducted in the informal sweetpotato seed (vines) supply system in the Gulu region, northern Uganda (2013Uganda ( -2015 revealed a diverse set of actors using private enterprise in a range of selling and marketing channels. The different channels offer an efficient and effective marketing system, providing different services and conveniences for farmers at different prices. The actors include local vine multipliers, traders, dry season root farmers, transporters and town sellers. The local multipliers and dry season root farmers grow crops during the dry season in swampy areas and sell the vines in the following rainy season to the many farmers who lack access to such areas and therefore lack vines to plant. The presentation and discussion of this case study adds to an expanding argument in the literature for increased attention to support actors in informal food crop sectors who are providing sustainable production and marketing systems on a platform of beneficial and innovative private enterprise. Through their commercial operations, vine multipliers and other actors can effectively meet the demand of customers and at the right time and place. With suitable dissemination programmes installed, these actors could also offer access to new varieties otherwise unavailable to the majority of farmers.

Raising the Stakes: Cassava Seed Networks at Multiple Scales in Cambodia and Vietnam

“…Traders were important providers of seed to farmers in both countries, and buyers of seed in Vietnam (9% of national sales, 69% in Tay Ninh), mediating seed exchanges over distances up to several hundred kilometers, in large volumes requiring coordinated logistics. The inability of survey teams to reach all but a single trader listed by Cambodian farmers for follow-up interview is a reflection of the highly mobile and seasonal character of trading activities, similar difficulties to those documented in interviewing sweet potato vine traders in Uganda (Rachkara et al, 2017). Traders in Vietnam's Dak Lak and Tay Ninh provinces had different business models.…”

Modeling Epidemics in Seed Systems to Guide Management Strategies: The Case of Sweetpotato in Northern Uganda

“…A survey of vine multipliers and sellers was conducted in 2013-2014 in the Gulu Region of Northern Uganda, fully described by Rachkara et al (2017). A more complete cohort of multipliers and sellers was surveyed in 2014, the focus of our analysis.…”

“…Although several transactions were recorded on a weekly basis, transactions were aggregated for this analysis so that seller-to-village links represent the existence of at least one transaction over the course of the season. Seller-village links are based entirely on the data from Rachkara et al (2017).…”

Global Cropland Connectivity: A Risk Factor for Invasion and Saturation by Emerging Pathogens and Pests

“…Some strains of sweetpotato viruses, such as the severe EA strain of SPCSV, are geographically localized. Movement of planting material (sweetpotato vines) through trade can cover long distances (Rachkara et al 2017).…”