Demand-Driven Technologies for Sustainable Maize ... - IITA

414producing QPM seed at the community level in Nigeria. The specifi cobjectives were to (i) determine the costs and returns of QPMcommunity seed production, (ii) determine the level of profi tability orotherwise, and (iii) identify the constraints of the scheme.MethodologyTwo varieties of QPM varieties, Obatanpa GH and EV 99, obtained fromIITA in 2004 were planted in two community seed production villagesestablished in the two major maize producing States of Nigeria–atSaminaka in Kaduna State and Daudawa in Katsina State–since 2003.In Saminaka, three farmers cultivated 0.5 ha each of Obatanpa GH;in Daudawa, six farmers cultivated 0.5 ha each of Obatanpa GH andthree other farmers cultivated 0.25 each of EV 99. The recommendedagronomic practices for maize in the study area were applied asfollows. Two seeds were planted per hole at an intra-row spacing of40 cm and inter-row spacing of 75 cm, giving a population densityof 66,000 plants/ha. Fertilizer was applied at the rate of 120 kg N,60 kg P 2O 5and 60 kg K 2O (Falaki 1999). Although the immediatesurrounding farms were either cotton or sorghum fi elds, an isolationdistance of about 400 m was maintained between the seed fi elds andother maize fi elds in the neighborhood. Prior to planting the projectin the fi eld, seed production training was held for the participatingfarmers and fi eld days were organized at the community levels.When the maize was physiologically mature, the stalks were cutand stacked in the fi eld for proper drying as is done with maize in thearea. Thereafter, the cobs were removed, cleaned to remove damagedand small grains, and then sorted to seed and grain types. The earswere shelled, weighed and bagged.The profi tability of production was determined using the net farmincome analysis; that is:whereNFI = Gross margin – explicit fi xed costsNFI = Net farm income from the seed farmGross margin = Gross income (from seed and grains)-totalvariable cost (costs of inputs)Explicit costs = (land rent and family labor using shadowwages and machinery depreciation)The net farm income is thus equal to gross income minusthe total cost of production. Only the seven participating farmersfrom Daudawa in Katsina State were used for this analysis becauseonly two of the three farms from Saminaka in Kaduna State hadgood harvests.