Four Seasons of Learning and Engaging Smallholder Farmers - icrisat

Figure 3-2: The Malawi model of the seed revolving fund
The bold black arrows indicate the flow of seed and the red arrows indicate the flow of cash in the system
Certified Seed
Using the power of collective action, farmer organizations like NASFAM in Malawi and Farmer
Cooperatives in Tanzania support their memberships to produce Certified Seed which they buy. For
NASFAM, making sure that Certified Seed reaches their membership is important to make sure they
are able to meet the quality standards of their groundnut export market. It is a well known fact that
if one goes to the market, one gets better quality by asking for a particular variety than just asking for
groundnut. A groundnut market dominated by specific varieties is therefore a more active market. This
naturally demands a more vibrant seed system.
Alternative seed production arrangements
Beyond Breeder and Foundation Seed to solve the bigger problem of seed availability to smallholder
farmers, the project embarked on certain arrangements to ensure availability of seed. In Tanzania
this involved more than 100 farmer groups actively involved in seed production and in Malawi the
system included farmer clubs, farmer field schools and farmer marketing groups linked to NASFAM. In
Tanzania this resulted in the production of a total of 376 MT of good quality seed since the inception of
the project whereas in Malawi these efforts resulted in the production of more than 2,808MT of good
quality seed (Table 3-8). In Malawi it involved more than 450 farmers linked to the NGO CARE, 233
farmers linked to NASFAM, and 73 farmers linked to the Millenium Villages project, all distributed
across different districts where TL II is intervening through groundnut.
For sustainability, it is also important that the private seed sector becomes involved. In Malawi, for
example, stimulated by the government input subsidy program, SEEDCo, which is one of the largest
seed companies in the region, is actively involved in groundnut seed production and marketing. In
Tanzania, ASA started active involvement in groundnut seed production two years ago when enough
volumes of Breeder Seed started becoming available. ASA injects approximately 100 MT groundnut
seed into the seed market annually. This is a relatively small amount given the seed rate of the crop but
it is a good beginning that the private sector is sowing interest.
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Engaging Smallholder Farmers | Tropical Legumes II Project