Proceedings of the Fifth Asian Regional Maize Workshop - Search ...

Wellhausen, E.J.
Walden (ed.)
1978. "Recent Developments in Maize Breeding in the Tropics." In D.B.
Maize Breeding and Genetics. Chichester, U.K.: .Iohn Wi lley & Sons.
Questions to the author:
FROM: E. R. Bautista
Q When you say "small-scale farmer", how do you translate such idea into some
definite area cultivated by farmers? Do you have some suggestion as to the minimum area
for a farmer to work on for which hybrid production would be profitable?
A In Asia, I think of small scale farmers as having less than 2 ha and who consume
much of the maize they produce. There is no minimum size for adoption of hybrid maize.
In China and India many farmers with less than 0.5 ha of cultivated area use hybrid seed.
FRQo1: F. Kasim
Q. 1) You mentioned about the success story of Malawi as an example of hybrid in
marginal environments, and then Dr. Pandey mentioned about the drought tolerant hybrids in
Peru. Related to the roles that public sectors should play in development of markets for
hybrid seed, I do not see your point. There is a situation where low prices of grain
often occur at harvest time. We're talking about price certainty. In most marginal
environments, farmers do not have bargaining powers dealing with buyers. Infrastructureare
often poor in these environments. So, the buyers come to the farmers because they
have money (cash) and can set up their own price to buy grain. These situations discourage
maize production in the environment besides other physical constraints.
2) COUld you elaborate more on the role of the public sector in the market development
stage?
A. 1) I agree that price uncertainty may be an additional risk in using hybrid seed.
2) In successful cases of adop,tion of hybrid seed use by small scale farmers,the
public sector has provided in the market development stage:
a) hybrids developed by public sector research
b) strong extension support to popularize hybrids.
In some cases, the public sector has provided credit and technical assistance for
establ ishment of local seed companies.
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