Four Seasons of Learning and Engaging Smallholder Farmers - icrisat

declining soil fertility, increasing Striga infestation, drought and lack of access to new varieties as key
technical constraints contributing to low productivity and food insecurity. Consequently, the project
introduced new cowpea varieties that provide tolerance to drought and resistance to Striga. Farmers
were encouraged to test these for themselves through the use of PREA. At the same time, support for
local seed production, reinforced by improved production packages, ensured a steady demand by
farmers for new seed. The seed production program was designed to give priority to production of
farmer-preferred cowpea varieties for which there was a ready local market.
Seed Production and Delivery Systems
Cowpea seed production in SSA has faced a series of constraints which affect its productivity and
production, geographic scope and social reach of distribution. Public sector seed production has not
been able to multiply large quantities of Foundation Seed—as priority for such foundation stocks is
given to more commercial crops—such as hybrid maize. Further, when public sector does scale up,
stocks are often diverted to emergency seed distribution, as cowpea seed is a favorite ‘relief crop’ of
both governments and NGOs. The private seed industry also has not found the cowpea seed business
lucrative, as once farmers get new varieties they tend to re-sow from their own saved seed for many
seasons, instead of purchasing seed anew from certified sources.
The demand side has also faced a number of challenges - at the most fundamental level, many farmers
simply do not know about new varieties (i.e. their potential advantages, where to access them, among
others). Seed production often takes place in higher potential areas, with seed stores also being
concentrated in zones of higher population density or those with better infrastructure (that is, not the
stress areas). Further, when seed of promising varieties is made locally accessible, it tends to be too
costly (in relation to seed from local markets) and/or sold in package sizes of interest only to the largerscale
farmers.
For all these reasons, cowpea seed systems need to be specifically designed to serve the needs of
the smallholder and to reach those in remote and less favored areas. The TL II cowpea seed system
component particularly focused on 1) decentralizing seed production in rural zones and 2) verifying
dissemination and marketing strategies to reach all farmers, including women and those with limited
financial means.
Improving access to Foundation and Certified/Quality-Assured Seed
and strengthening the seed value chain
In the last three years, a total of 107.73 MT of Foundation Seed has been produced from various
cowpea varieties in the project countries and sold to seed growers (Table 5-14). The figure shows that
26.8 MT was produced in 2008 with Mali, Niger and Mozambique exceeding the annual target of 5
MT per year. Nigeria produced 6.1 MT of the expected target of 10 MT per year. Similarly, Tanzania
produced below the annual target of 5 MT per year. In subsequent years, all the countries produced in
excess of the annual target except Tanzania and Nigeria that produced below the target in 2009 and
2010, respectively (Table 5-14).
Table 5-14: Quantity (MT) of cowpea Foundation Seed produced in target countries
Country Year Total
2008 2009 2010
Nigeria 6.10 10.00 14.45 30.55
Niger 5.00 6.40 3.62 15.02
Mali 5.70 8.76 8.40 22.86
Tanzania 3.50 3.40 10.90 17.80
Mozambique 6.50 8.50 6.50 21.50
Total 26.80 37.06 43.87 107.73
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Engaging Smallholder Farmers | Tropical Legumes II Project