Southern and Eastern Africa
Small is Beautiful
Ernest Sibanda grows sorghum and
groundnuts on a two-hectare plot in a remote village in Zimbabwe’s Gwanda district.
This year for the first time he planted seed of two new high-yielding varieties. He had
first learned of these varieties two or three seasons earlier, but had not been able to
find seed. “Until this year, I had to go all the way to Gwanda town to get sorghum
seed”, says Mr Sibanda. “The journey takes me the whole day, and I usually have
to make more than one trip, because either seed is not available at all, or not available
in the right quantities.” The “right” quantity is a small, affordable
packet of 5 kilograms each of one or two varieties.
According to ICRISAT economist David Rohrbach, improved grain seed is conventionally sold in 25 or 50 kg bags – ideal for large-scale commercial farmers, but too costly for smallholders who can barely make ends meet. A new initiative by ICRISAT and Seed Co, a private seed company in Zimbabwe, could completely change all this. The aim is to make sure farmers can get seed of the crops and varieties they want, in the quantities they want, without traveling long distances – and doing this on a commercial basis, without subsidies.
The success of this pilot program is also helping to disprove a popular myth – that smallholder farmers will not buy seed of open-pollinated (non-hybrid) crops. However, two conditions must be met. First, the seed has to be easily available, preferably in the village. Second, it must be sold in small packages that farmers can afford.
The program used a combination of small packs, broader marketing, and credit support to sell over 2 t of improved seed varieties. It was sold in packs ranging in size from 500 g to 5 kg. To encourage village retailers to keep stocks, they were offered revolving credit for up to 1 t of seed.
Most retailers were surprised sales were so high. Japhet Ndlovu of Gwanda is looking forward to the next season. He plans to expand the range of small pack seed in his village shop. “ I think the small packages are really important for two reasons,” he says. “They can help farmers get new varieties, and anyone can afford them. I used to lose many customers because they couldn’t afford to buy even 5 kg of sorghum, let alone the full 25-kg bag. Last year many farmers bought groundnut seed in packets as small as 500 g to plant in their gardens.” Nelson Moyo, a retailer in Tsholotsho was even more emphatic. “I will stock the small packs even if Seed Co does not give me credit.”
After one year of the program, over 90% of the farmers who bought the small packs say they
will buy more next season. Retailers like Ndlovu and Moyo are trying to push sales even
higher. “We need better advertising”, says Moyo. “Give us colorful posters
– we will put them up ourselves, and more farmers will buy the seed. Give the
varieties nice names – not just numbers – and people will be able to remember
the names.”
If the small-is-beautiful concept continues to succeed the way it has in its first season, agricultural development could accelerate for tens of thousands of farmers like Sibanda all over southern Africa.
