Seed supply system for vegetable production at smallholder farms
in SouthWestern Nigeria

Daniel, I. O.; Adetumbi, J. A.

doi:10.1007/s10681-004-3035-0

Cited by 30 publications

(7 citation statements)

References 5 publications

(6 reference statements)

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“…A survey of maize farmers in north-west Nigeria found that 71 to 100% of their land was in improved varieties, although most were using farm-saved seed (Daniel and Adetumbi, 2006). In south-west Nigeria improved vegetables are grown widely but '60% of vegetable farmers save their seed' (Daniel and Adetumbi, 2004). Farmers may well be attracted to new varieties but not buy the seed every season.…”

Section: The Supply Of Common Seedmentioning

confidence: 99%

How seed works.

Bentley¹,

Mele²,

Reece³

et al. 2011

African Seed Enterprises: Sowing the Seeds of Food Security

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The purpose of this chapter is to compare formal and farmer seed systems, to describe the role of quality seed and to present the context in which small and medium-sized enterprises work in Africa, with a particular emphasis on the challenges of farmer seed enterprises. The demand for seed varies widely with the type of crop planted, and this influences which types of seed farmers want to buy. One of the most important reasons to buy formal seed is to acquire a new variety. The formal sector often ignores these reasons, and complains of how little seed farmers buy, especially smallholders in Africa and elsewhere in the tropics. Yet farmers can often obtain quite good seed from markets, their neighbours or their own farms. The formal seed system is actually a marriage between the government and the private sector, a marriage where communication and collaboration happen some of the time, but not always. While some have proposed encouraging groups of smallholders to produce formal seed for others, this has not been a success. Smallholder seed producer groups find it even more difficult than private seed companies to collaborate with the public sector for source seed supply and certification services. In light of these problems, the cases of functional African seed enterprises described in Chapters 3 to 11 seem even more remarkable. 2.1 Formal and Informal Systems Farmers get seed from 'formal' or 'informal' systems (Sperling et al., 1996; Sperling and Cooper, 2003). Formal systems are purposively composed of separate activities to provide new varieties, maintain their purity, certify the seeds and distribute them to farmers, usually through officially recognized seed outlets. De Schutter (2009) labels the formal sector the 'commercial seed system', which is not quite accurate, since there is much public sector involvement in it as well. An 'informal', 'traditional' or 'farmer' seed system lacks public sector regulation (Thiele, 1999). Farmers frequently exchange seeds among themselves, often for sale

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Section: The Supply Of Common Seedmentioning

confidence: 99%

How seed works.

Bentley¹,

Mele²,

Reece³

et al. 2011

African Seed Enterprises: Sowing the Seeds of Food Security

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show abstract

“…The remaining percentage of certified seed was mostly composed of cowpeas. The lack of certified seed of most crops is because seed companies are profit-driven and hence concentrate on hybrid seed maize and vegetables seed targeted for high value markets (Zerbe, 2001;Jones et al, 2001;Daniel & Adetumbi, 2004). The thrust of private companies suggest that an alternative mechanism has to be developed to meet the farmers' needs with seeds considered of less commercial interest but desired by farmers.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Seed Security: Exploring the Potential for Smallholder Production of Certified Seed Crop at Household Level

Munyaka¹,

Mvumi²,

Mazarura³

2015

JSD

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Most smallholder farmers in sub-Saharan Africa face food and nutrition security challenges arising from small land size, unavailability of, and poor access to quality seed, inter alia. A survey was conducted in the Zaka district of Masvingo province in Zimbabwe, to investigate the factors that limit smallholder farmers' ability to produce, store or sell certified seed. The factors considered were the availability of certified seed, the appropriateness of storage facilities for seed storage at household level and stored seed pest management. A standard structured questionnaire was administered, between January and May 2013 to 301 farming households. The results showed that the majority of the farmers (66 %) could not procure locally all the seed they required. The only crop which farmers were assured of local availability as certified seed was maize. Farmers reported that the main reasons for the lack of seed for the other crops were: shortage of foundation seed (39.5 %), lack of knowledge on seed production (34.8 %), seed storage problems (16.2 %) and small land size (8.6 %). The majority of the farmers had their stored seed affected by pests with insects accounting for 82.7 % of the damage and loss. The storage facilities used by farmers were not appropriate for effective pest control. Farmers used bedrooms (57 %), granaries (19 %), metal drums (11.5 %), kitchens (10.4 %) and other places (2.5%) to store seed. Some of the facilities such as bedrooms create pest management challenges. The significant correlation between some seed storage factors indicate these factors should be monitored concurrently when dealing with smallholder farmers as they affect each other. Any seed intervention aimed at increasing availability of quality seed to farmers needs a holistic lens which considers the whole seed value chain from production, storage, pest management up to marketing, for it to have any meaningful impact. Not all other crop seeds were available, with sugar bean seed having the highest shortage. There is potential for business development if the seed crops in short supply are produced locally, especially after further verification of effective demand. Research institutions should explore mechanisms of increasing the uptake of their newer varieties by smallholder farmers through increased early interactions with the farmers. Smallholder farmers can be contracted by seed-houses to produce certified seed or to establish community seed enterprises that supply certified seed in their local communities. This would require adequate capacity building and availing desired foundation seed.

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“…Similarly, the observation that saved seed is the most important source once farmers have access to a variety is common in informal systems and has been reported for many crops, e.g. maize and cowpea in Ghana Tripp et al ., (1998) and vegetable production in Nigeria (Daniel and Adetumbi, 2004). In the case of improved varieties, which are formally introduced through extension agencies, personnel of these agencies are also important sources of spread, but in this area of Ghana farmers relied on saved seed.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

IDENTIFYING SEED UPTAKE PATHWAYS: THE SPREAD OFAGYA AMOAHRICE CULTIVAR IN SOUTHWESTERN GHANA

et al. 2008

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A study was carried out to identify the factors that contributed to the natural spread and uptake of a rainfed rice variety named Agya Amoah in the Western Region of Ghana after introduction of a small amount (0.5 kg) of seed in 1987 by a small-scale farmer. Fifteen years after its introduction over 73% of rice farmers had grown the variety in the Western Region. Initial awareness of the variety was created by information provided mainly by friends, seeing the variety grown in fields and from relatives. Seed for initial planting of the variety was purchased from other farmers by 67% of farmers, but in the most recent season 77% of farmers used their own saved seed. Annual incremental income per household from the replacement of the previously most widely grown variety with Agya Amoah was estimated to be US $282. The results show that informal systems can result in relatively fast spread and extensive uptake. Local seed systems need to be understood to design appropriate activities that are likely to lead to rapid spread and equitable distribution of introduced varieties, irrespective of characteristics such as wealth and kin.

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Seed supply system for vegetable production at smallholder farms in SouthWestern Nigeria

Cited by 30 publications

References 5 publications

How seed works.

How seed works.

Seed Security: Exploring the Potential for Smallholder Production of Certified Seed Crop at Household Level

IDENTIFYING SEED UPTAKE PATHWAYS: THE SPREAD OFAGYA AMOAHRICE CULTIVAR IN SOUTHWESTERN GHANA

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