How do you foster a high-quality cassava seed value chain that is attractive to commercial seed producers?

Hemant Nitturkar (CGIAR-RTB) and Emmanuel Azaino (Catholic Relief Services Nigeria) discuss their experience working with village-level cassava seed entrepreneurs to foster sustainable, improved cassava seed businesses. See background on their BASICS project here.

Nigeria is the world’s top cassava producer, growing 50 million tons/year, but the seed system remains largely informal. Seed is transferred freely from farmer to farmer and the absence of major diseases has dissuaded farmers from purchasing their seed. These factors have made it difficult for commercial cassava seed production to succeed in Nigeria.

In a bid to change the situation, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation has funded 2 projects (SCSS and BASICS) in Nigeria. Under these projects, over 200 cassava seed entrepreneurs have been trained and supported to produce seed for the local market.

Lessons learned include:

  • Farmers in Nigeria buy cassava seed mainly to try new varieties. These farmers often recycle the materials in subsequent seasons. The few repeat buyers who patronize seed entrepreneurs usually buy other available varieties, except if they have lost the seed from the previous season or want to expand their planting area. This means that releasing new varieties can help motivate farmers to continue to purchase cassava seed.
  • For now, cassava seed certification is not a determinant of demand in Nigeria, and most buyers do not place any emphasis on certification. The absence of serious cassava diseases in Nigeria, such as cassava brown streak disease, means that there is little pressure on farmers to seek out only certified seed providers.
  • It is challenging for cassava seed producers to make profits selling seed alone. To make adequate profits, the seed farmers also sell the roots because even with good plant population and ratooning several times, the revenue from the roots is usually better than from seed alone. The profitability of cassava seed production also depends on the farmer’s entrepreneurial skills, their willingness to adopt best agronomic practices, early planting of the seed farm, and early gap filling.
  • Despite the large number of improved cassava varieties, farmers still demand seed of local varieties not because of high root yields, but for product taste, color, and ability of the crop to preserve roots for more than one season. According to many farmers, the roots of most improved varieties begin to rot if they are not harvested after one year. Farmers usually delay harvest of the roots until prices peak or when they need money.

Readers: in your experience, what motivations do farmers have to buy seed in low disease-pressure zones? Please share your insights in the comments section below.

Sustainable Cassava Seed System (SCSS) and Building an Economically Sustainable, Integrated Cassava Seed System in Nigeria (BASICS). Catholic Relief Services (CRS) led the SCSS project while CGIAR’s Research Center on Roots, Tubers and Banana is leading the BASICS project. CRS leads the VSE component of BASICS.

VSE and stems

A village seed entrepreneur with cassava planting material ready for sale (Credit: BASICS).

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