Investigating what farmers think and how they interact with new seed systems in West Africa

Seeds and the systems that provide them to farmers are often the focus of international agricultural development projects. These projects focus on increasing food production and economic efficiency in agriculture by creating markets for seed sales that are standardized and reliable for farmers in low-income countries.

The systems that are necessary to support these seed markets are often new and unknown in places with less agricultural development. Historically, seed systems were informal — seeds were not produced at large scales for sale. Instead, many different local seed varieties were saved from year to year by farmers and were shared among family and friends by exchange or gift.

Contemporary seed systems that are now being encouraged by development projects (i.e., new seed markets and seed varieties) are more formalized, use cash as the main currency, and require different types of actors and organizations.

Read this open access paper on the FACETS website.

These include individual farmers who receive training in how to produce new seed varieties, private seed businesses that produce seeds in large quantities and contract with farmers, and agricultural input dealers (agrodealers) who sell seeds and other supplies like fertilizer, often by travelling to small rural markets.

This study discusses how farmers in West Africa think about the establishment of new seed markets and the institutions necessary to build these markets.

The research was conducted over the course of three years in the French-speaking countries of Mali, Burkina Faso, and Niger. These are dryland (non-irrigated) farming systems, and farmers there have long histories of growing local varieties of the cereals pearl millet and sorghum. Farmers in each country, who now have access to new varieties of these crops and new ways to acquire seeds, were interviewed. Interview responses were analyzed for common themes that farmers expressed about their experiences with these new seed markets and varieties.

The study found that farmers are interested in the new systems for accessing seeds, but do not leave their old, traditional systems behind. Instead, farmers are making decisions that allow them to connect the traditional and contemporary systems.

A farmer may use cash to buy a new seed variety from an agrodealer and then distribute some of those seeds within his village through non-cash transactions. At the end of the growing season the farmer may save seeds for the following year or, if the seeds meet certain standards, sell some back to an agrodealer.

The findings suggest that farmers and communities in West Africa have incorporated new, market-based seed systems into their existing seed systems in ways that reflect the diverse values and goals of agriculture in the region.

Read the full paper — Social institutions mediating seed access in West African seed system by Kristal Jones.