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Informal Seed Traders: The Backbone of Seed Business and African Smallholder Seed Supply

Author

Listed:
  • Louise Sperling

    (Seed System, Sherman, CT 06784, USA)

  • Patrick Gallagher

    (Independent Researcher, Dalton, GA 30720, USA)

  • Shawn McGuire

    (Food and Agriculture Organization of the UN, 00153 Rome, Italy)

  • Julie March

    (United States Agency for International Development (USAID), Washington, DC 20523, USA)

  • Noel Templer

    (Alliance of Bioversity International and CIAT, Nairobi, Kenya)

Abstract

To work well and be sustainable, seed systems have to offer a range of crops and varieties of good quality seed and these products have to reach farmers, no matter how remote or poor they may be. Formal seed sector interventions alone are not delivering the crop portfolio or achieving the social and geographic breadth needed, and the paper argues for focus on informal seed channels and particularly on traders who move ‘potential seed’ (informal or local seed) even to high stress areas. This paper provides the first in-depth analysis on potential seed trader types and actions, drawing on data collected on 287 traders working in 10 African countries. The research delves into four themes: the types and hierarchies of traders; the technical ways traders manage seed using 11 core practices; the price differential of +50% of potential (local) seed over grain, and the pivotal roles which traders play in remote and crisis contexts. Traders are the backbone of smallholder seed security and need to be engaged, not ignored, in development and relief efforts. An action framework for leveraging seed trader skills is presented, with the paper addressing possible legal and donor constraints for engaging such market actors more fully.

Suggested Citation

  • Louise Sperling & Patrick Gallagher & Shawn McGuire & Julie March & Noel Templer, 2020. "Informal Seed Traders: The Backbone of Seed Business and African Smallholder Seed Supply," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(17), pages 1-18, August.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:12:y:2020:i:17:p:7074-:d:406237
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    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Barriga, Alicia & Fiala, Nathan, 2020. "The supply chain for seed in Uganda: Where does it go wrong?," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 130(C).
    2. Shawn McGuire & Louise Sperling, 2016. "Seed systems smallholder farmers use," Food Security: The Science, Sociology and Economics of Food Production and Access to Food, Springer;The International Society for Plant Pathology, vol. 8(1), pages 179-195, February.
    3. Smale, Melinda & Diakité, Lamissa & Keita, Naman, 2012. "Millet transactions in market fairs, millet diversity and farmer welfare in Mali," Environment and Development Economics, Cambridge University Press, vol. 17(5), pages 523-546, October.
    4. Soniia David & Louise Sperling, 1999. "Improving technology delivery mechanisms: Lessons from bean seed systems research in eastern and central Africa," Agriculture and Human Values, Springer;The Agriculture, Food, & Human Values Society (AFHVS), vol. 16(4), pages 381-388, December.
    5. Zerbe, Noah, 2005. "Biodiversity, ownership, and indigenous knowledge: Exploring legal frameworks for community, farmers, and intellectual property rights in Africa," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 53(4), pages 493-506, June.
    6. Paul Rachkara & David Paul Phillips & Stephen Wamala Kalule & Richard William Gibson, 2017. "Innovative and beneficial informal sweetpotato seed private enterprise in northern Uganda," Food Security: The Science, Sociology and Economics of Food Production and Access to Food, Springer;The International Society for Plant Pathology, vol. 9(3), pages 595-610, June.
    7. Otieno, Gloria Atieno & Reynolds, Travis W. & Karasapan, Altinay & Noriega, Isabel Lopez, 2017. "Implications of Seed Policies for On-Farm Agro-Biodiversity in Ethiopia and Uganda," Sustainable Agriculture Research, Canadian Center of Science and Education, vol. 6(4), November.
    8. Shawn McGuire & Louise Sperling, 2016. "Seed systems smallholder farmers use," Food Security: The Science, Sociology and Economics of Food Production and Access to Food, Springer;The International Society for Plant Pathology, vol. 8(1), pages 179-195, February.
    9. Louise Sperling & H David Cooper & Tom Remington, 2008. "Moving Towards More Effective Seed Aid," Journal of Development Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 44(4), pages 586-612, April.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

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    Cited by:

    1. Louise Sperling & Eliud Birachi & Sylvia Kalemera & Mercy Mutua & Noel Templer & Clare Mukankusi & Kessy Radegunda & Magdalena William & Patrick Gallagher & Edith Kadege & Jean Claude Rubyogo, 2021. "The Informal Seed Business: Focus on Yellow Bean in Tanzania," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(16), pages 1-16, August.
    2. Viviana Meixner Vásquez & Regine Andersen, 2023. "Community seed banks: Instruments for food security or unsustainable endeavour? A case study of Mkombezi Community Seed Bank in Malawi," Food Security: The Science, Sociology and Economics of Food Production and Access to Food, Springer;The International Society for Plant Pathology, vol. 15(4), pages 1087-1108, August.
    3. Sperling, Louise & Louwaars, Niels & de Ponti, Orlando & Smale, Melinda & Baributsa, Dieudonne & van Etten, Jacob, 2020. "Viewpoint: COVID-19 and seed security response now and beyond," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 97(C).

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