IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jsusta/v12y2020i17p7074-d406237.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Informal Seed Traders: The Backbone of Seed Business and African Smallholder Seed Supply

Author

Listed:
  • Louise Sperling

    (Seed System, Sherman, CT 06784, USA)

  • Patrick Gallagher

    (Independent Researcher, Dalton, GA 30720, USA)

  • Shawn McGuire

    (Food and Agriculture Organization of the UN, 00153 Rome, Italy)

  • Julie March

    (United States Agency for International Development (USAID), Washington, DC 20523, USA)

  • Noel Templer

    (Alliance of Bioversity International and CIAT, Nairobi, Kenya)

Abstract

To work well and be sustainable, seed systems have to offer a range of crops and varieties of good quality seed and these products have to reach farmers, no matter how remote or poor they may be. Formal seed sector interventions alone are not delivering the crop portfolio or achieving the social and geographic breadth needed, and the paper argues for focus on informal seed channels and particularly on traders who move ‘potential seed’ (informal or local seed) even to high stress areas. This paper provides the first in-depth analysis on potential seed trader types and actions, drawing on data collected on 287 traders working in 10 African countries. The research delves into four themes: the types and hierarchies of traders; the technical ways traders manage seed using 11 core practices; the price differential of +50% of potential (local) seed over grain, and the pivotal roles which traders play in remote and crisis contexts. Traders are the backbone of smallholder seed security and need to be engaged, not ignored, in development and relief efforts. An action framework for leveraging seed trader skills is presented, with the paper addressing possible legal and donor constraints for engaging such market actors more fully.

Suggested Citation

  • Louise Sperling & Patrick Gallagher & Shawn McGuire & Julie March & Noel Templer, 2020. "Informal Seed Traders: The Backbone of Seed Business and African Smallholder Seed Supply," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(17), pages 1-18, August.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:12:y:2020:i:17:p:7074-:d:406237
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/12/17/7074/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/12/17/7074/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Otieno, Gloria Atieno & Reynolds, Travis W. & Karasapan, Altinay & Noriega, Isabel Lopez, 2017. "Implications of Seed Policies for On-Farm Agro-Biodiversity in Ethiopia and Uganda," Sustainable Agriculture Research, Canadian Center of Science and Education, vol. 6(4), November.
    2. Barriga, Alicia & Fiala, Nathan, 2020. "The supply chain for seed in Uganda: Where does it go wrong?," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 130(C).
    3. Shawn McGuire & Louise Sperling, 2016. "Seed systems smallholder farmers use," Food Security: The Science, Sociology and Economics of Food Production and Access to Food, Springer;The International Society for Plant Pathology, vol. 8(1), pages 179-195, February.
    4. Smale, Melinda & Diakité, Lamissa & Keita, Naman, 2012. "Millet transactions in market fairs, millet diversity and farmer welfare in Mali," Environment and Development Economics, Cambridge University Press, vol. 17(5), pages 523-546, October.
    5. Shawn McGuire & Louise Sperling, 2016. "Seed systems smallholder farmers use," Food Security: The Science, Sociology and Economics of Food Production and Access to Food, Springer;The International Society for Plant Pathology, vol. 8(1), pages 179-195, February.
    6. Soniia David & Louise Sperling, 1999. "Improving technology delivery mechanisms: Lessons from bean seed systems research in eastern and central Africa," Agriculture and Human Values, Springer;The Agriculture, Food, & Human Values Society (AFHVS), vol. 16(4), pages 381-388, December.
    7. Louise Sperling & H David Cooper & Tom Remington, 2008. "Moving Towards More Effective Seed Aid," Journal of Development Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 44(4), pages 586-612, April.
    8. Zerbe, Noah, 2005. "Biodiversity, ownership, and indigenous knowledge: Exploring legal frameworks for community, farmers, and intellectual property rights in Africa," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 53(4), pages 493-506, June.
    9. Paul Rachkara & David Paul Phillips & Stephen Wamala Kalule & Richard William Gibson, 2017. "Innovative and beneficial informal sweetpotato seed private enterprise in northern Uganda," Food Security: The Science, Sociology and Economics of Food Production and Access to Food, Springer;The International Society for Plant Pathology, vol. 9(3), pages 595-610, June.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Viviana Meixner Vásquez & Regine Andersen, 2023. "Community seed banks: Instruments for food security or unsustainable endeavour? A case study of Mkombezi Community Seed Bank in Malawi," Food Security: The Science, Sociology and Economics of Food Production and Access to Food, Springer;The International Society for Plant Pathology, vol. 15(4), pages 1087-1108, August.
    2. Louise Sperling & Eliud Birachi & Sylvia Kalemera & Mercy Mutua & Noel Templer & Clare Mukankusi & Kessy Radegunda & Magdalena William & Patrick Gallagher & Edith Kadege & Jean Claude Rubyogo, 2021. "The Informal Seed Business: Focus on Yellow Bean in Tanzania," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(16), pages 1-16, August.
    3. Sperling, Louise & Louwaars, Niels & de Ponti, Orlando & Smale, Melinda & Baributsa, Dieudonne & van Etten, Jacob, 2020. "Viewpoint: COVID-19 and seed security response now and beyond," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 97(C).

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Megan Mucioki & Bernard Pelletier & Timothy Johns & Lutta W. Muhammad & Gordon M. Hickey, 2018. "On developing a scale to measure chronic household seed insecurity in semi-arid Kenya and the implications for food security policy," Food Security: The Science, Sociology and Economics of Food Production and Access to Food, Springer;The International Society for Plant Pathology, vol. 10(3), pages 571-587, June.
    2. Louise Sperling & Conny J. M. Almekinders, 2023. "Informal Commercial Seed Systems: Leave, Suppress or Support Them?," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(18), pages 1-14, September.
    3. Ola Tveitereid Westengen & Kristine Skarbø & Teshome Hunduma Mulesa & Trygve Berg, 2018. "Access to genes: linkages between genebanks and farmers’ seed systems," Food Security: The Science, Sociology and Economics of Food Production and Access to Food, Springer;The International Society for Plant Pathology, vol. 10(1), pages 9-25, February.
    4. Clifton Makate & Arild Angelsen & Stein Terje Holden & Ola Tveitereid Westengen, 2024. "Smallholder access to purchased seeds in the presence of pervasive market imperfections and rainfall shocks: panel data evidence from Malawi and Ethiopia," Agricultural and Food Economics, Springer;Italian Society of Agricultural Economics (SIDEA), vol. 12(1), pages 1-28, December.
    5. Lucy Mulugo & Florence Birungi Kyazze & Paul Kibwika & Bonaventure Aman Omondi & Enoch Mutebi Kikulwe, 2020. "Seed Security Factors Driving Farmer Decisions on Uptake of Tissue Culture Banana Seed in Central Uganda," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(23), pages 1-17, December.
    6. Rahma I. Adam & Lone Badstue & Kirimi Sindi, 2018. "The dynamics of smallholder farmers’ acquisition and distribution of sweetpotato vines in the Lake Victoria Zone Region, Tanzania," Food Security: The Science, Sociology and Economics of Food Production and Access to Food, Springer;The International Society for Plant Pathology, vol. 10(2), pages 339-350, April.
    7. Fredrick Bagamba & Proscovia R. Ntakyo & Geoffrey Otim & David J. Spielman & Bjorn Van Campenhout, 2023. "Policy and performance in Uganda's seed sector: Opportunities and challenges," Development Policy Review, Overseas Development Institute, vol. 41(3), May.
    8. Thomas Pircher & Conny J. M. Almekinders, 2021. "Making sense of farmers’ demand for seed of root, tuber and banana crops: a systematic review of methods," Food Security: The Science, Sociology and Economics of Food Production and Access to Food, Springer;The International Society for Plant Pathology, vol. 13(5), pages 1285-1301, October.
    9. Mabaya, Edward & Kachule, Richard & Waithaka, Michael & Mugoya, Mainza & Kanyenji, George & Tihanyi, Krisztina, 2021. "Malawi Country Report 2020," TASAI: The African Seed Access Index-Reports 317014, TASAI: The African Seed Access Index.
    10. Paul Rachkara & David Paul Phillips & Stephen Wamala Kalule & Richard William Gibson, 2017. "Innovative and beneficial informal sweetpotato seed private enterprise in northern Uganda," Food Security: The Science, Sociology and Economics of Food Production and Access to Food, Springer;The International Society for Plant Pathology, vol. 9(3), pages 595-610, June.
    11. Paul Vincelli, 2016. "Genetic Engineering and Sustainable Crop Disease Management: Opportunities for Case-by-Case Decision-Making," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 8(5), pages 1-22, May.
    12. Myat Thida Win & Mywish K. Maredia & Duncan Boughton, 2023. "Farmer demand for certified legume seeds and the viability of farmer seed enterprises: Evidence from Myanmar," Food Security: The Science, Sociology and Economics of Food Production and Access to Food, Springer;The International Society for Plant Pathology, vol. 15(2), pages 555-569, April.
    13. Waithaka, Michael & Mugoya, Mainza & Mabaya, Edward & Tihanyi, Krisztina, 2021. "Decentralized Seed Services in Africa: An Assessment of Tanzania and Uganda," Working Papers 309806, University of Bonn, Center for Development Research (ZEF).
    14. Adu-Gyamfi Poku & Regina Birner & Saurabh Gupta, 2018. "Why do maize farmers in Ghana have a limited choice of improved seed varieties? An assessment of the governance challenges in seed supply," Food Security: The Science, Sociology and Economics of Food Production and Access to Food, Springer;The International Society for Plant Pathology, vol. 10(1), pages 27-46, February.
    15. repec:lic:licosd:40718 is not listed on IDEAS
    16. Michael Halewood & Ana Bedmar Villanueva & Jazzy Rasolojaona & Michelle Andriamahazo & Naritiana Rakotoniaina & Bienvenu Bossou & Toussaint Mikpon & Raymond Vodouhe & Lena Fey & Andreas Drews & P. Lav, 2021. "Enhancing farmers’ agency in the global crop commons through use of biocultural community protocols," Agriculture and Human Values, Springer;The Agriculture, Food, & Human Values Society (AFHVS), vol. 38(2), pages 579-594, June.
    17. Rijal, Sital & Bhattarai, Prakash C. & Dhungana, Ganesh & Shrestha, Richan & Shah, Kabita, 2024. "Seed Storage Practices and Cultivation Techniques: A Survey in Gajuri Rural Municipality, Nepal," Problems of World Agriculture / Problemy Rolnictwa Światowego, Warsaw University of Life Sciences, vol. 24(2), June.
    18. Yingjie Song & Qiong Fang & Devra Jarvis & Keyu Bai & Dongmei Liu & Jinchao Feng & Chunlin Long, 2019. "Network Analysis of Seed Flow, a Traditional Method for Conserving Tartary Buckwheat ( Fagopyrum tataricum ) Landraces in Liangshan, Southwest China," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(16), pages 1-14, August.
    19. Essegbemon Akpo & Gebrekidan Feleke & Asnake Fikre & Mekasha Chichaybelu & Chris O. Ojiewo & Rajeev K. Varshney, 2020. "Analyzing Pathways of Nurturing Informal Seed Production into Formal Private Ventures for Sustainable Seed Delivery and Crop Productivity: Experiences from Ethiopia," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(17), pages 1-18, August.
    20. Chrispin Sunganani Kaphaika & Samson Pilanazo Katengeza & Innocent Pangapanga-Phiri & Madalitso Happy Chambukira, 2023. "More Interventions, Low Adoption: To What Extent Are the Existing Seed Sources to Blame? The Case of Orange Fleshed Sweet Potato in Central and Northern Malawi," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(19), pages 1-20, September.
    21. S. Marimuthu & C. Vanitha & U. Surendran & Salah El-Hendawy & Mohamed A. Mattar, 2024. "Conception of Improved Blackgram ( Vigna mungo L.) Production Technology and its Propagation among Farmers for the Development of a Sustainable Seeds Production Strategy," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 16(11), pages 1-16, June.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:12:y:2020:i:17:p:7074-:d:406237. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.