Four Seasons of Learning and Engaging Smallholder Farmers - icrisat

In terms of production and delivery approaches tested under Phase I included, four Certified Seed
production models, two models of decentralized seed production and five seed delivery models were
tested (Table 5-15).
Table 5-15: TL II cowpea seed systems, approaches tested under TL II
Certified seed production Decentralized seed production Delivery approaches
• Direct production- NARS • District/government officers • Small pack sales: open markets
• Direct production- NARS supporting individual farmers • Small pack sales: country stores
seed unit with contract • NGOs supporting individual • Small pack sales agro-dealers
farmers
farmers
• Exchanged through seed loans
• Private seed companies • Farmer Cooperatives/Unions • Direct farmer to farmer diffusion
• Farmer cooperatives • Community-based seed
production
Approaches tested
Seed production was monitored throughout the project cycle. NARS kept careful records of initial
Certified Seed produced and distributed to partners, while selected partners in decentralized zones kept
records of farmer multipliers, farmers receiving seed, and multiplication rates by region. Monitoring
with individual farmers also provided data on how the individual harvest was used (e.g. whether eaten,
stored, saved as seed, exchanged, and sold as seed or grain).
Certified Seed production figures
To ensure accessibility of seed of the improved crop varieties to farmers, the project introduced a
community-based seed production scheme across the participating countries. Over the period 2008-
2010, a total 496.58 MT of cowpea seed was produced. Table 5-13 shows the overall Certified Seed
produced over the first phase of the project. Among the countries, only Nigeria produced in excess of
the annual target for the three years. On the other hand, Tanzania and Mali produced below the annual
target in each of the three years period (Table 5-14). However, the TL II project has demonstrated that
community production of improved varieties can be successful, but its continued sustainability depends
on development of successful seed associations, with links to the formal seed sector.
Table 5-16: Quantity (MT) of cowpea Certified Seed produced in target countries
Country Year Total
2008 2009 2010
Nigeria 75.00 75.60 81.00 231.60
Niger 6.70 54.90 41.90 103.50
Mali 0.70 18.80 15.40 34.95
Tanzania - 2.70 16.80 19.50
Mozambique 15.30 41.50 50.25 107.03
Total 97.70 193.5 205.35 496.58
Testing small packs
The use of small packs is based on the field insights that farmers want access to new varieties, and that
some also are willing to pay for Certified Seed at affordable sizes. Seed simply has to be marketed in
affordable sizes, in places which are easily accessible to farmers, and from vendors that farmers trust
(or who may be held accountable to buyers). Available M+E data shows that 314 MT of seed was sold
in small packs across three countries (with this quantity representing the minimum quantity sold, as a
number of partners did not report back specific sales figures).
Progress of Phase 1
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