Social institutions mediating seed access in West African seed systems

Abstract

Contemporary approaches to market-oriented agricultural development focus on increasing production and economic efficiency to improve livelihoods and well-being. For seed system development, this has meant a focus on seed value chains predicated on standardized economic transactions and improved variety seeds. Building formal seed systems requires establishing and strengthening social institutions that reflect the market-oriented values of efficiency and standardization, institutions that often do not currently exist in many local and informal seed systems. This paper describes and analyzes efforts to develop formal seed systems in Sahelian West Africa over the past 10 years, and identifies the impacts for farmers of the social institutions that constitute formal seed systems. Using qualitative and spatial data and analysis, the paper characterizes farmers' and communities' experiences with seed access through the newly established formal seed system. The results demonstrate that the social and spatial extents of the formal and informal seed systems are extended and integrated through social institutions that reflect values inherent in both systems. The impacts of current market-oriented agricultural development projects are, therefore, more than in the past, in part because the social institutions associated with them are less singular in their vision for productive and economic efficiency.

Transforming a traditional commons-based seed system through collaborative networks of farmer seed-cooperatives and public breeding programs: the case of sorghum in Mali

“…There is a strong social obligation to share seed with anyone who asks, and being able to provide seed to others involves a gain of status. However, for an individual farmer, it is culturally unacceptable to expect any money in return for seed (Siart 2008;Jones 2017). At most, an equal quantity of grain can be accepted as compensation if the quantity of seed supplied was large.…”

“…Additionally, the cultural expectation that seed be given to someone in need, creates a disincentive for 'advertising' the advantages of new varieties. The communication of varietal information by farmer seed-cooperatives and their use of diverse, inclusive and novel communication strategies represent major transformations that facilitate large-scale and rapid spread of varietal information (Jones 2017). Knowledge sharing was also actively facilitated by, for example, forming groups of farmers within a village to conduct each type of trial and organizing exchange visits among cooperatives (Christinck et al 2014).…”

“…The seed cooperatives share or sell seed according to their own strategies, including providing seed on credit with repayment in kind as per traditional practices. Although the sale of seed by individuals is not traditionally acceptable, it is acceptable for cooperatives, through which benefits accrue to the group (Jones 2017;Sidibé 2018, unpublished work).…”

“…The seed cooperatives realized the importance of social trust for successful seed sales and used these local strengths by, for example, ensuring that seed sellers had first-hand experiences with the varieties they sell, transmitting radio messages with the experiences of locally well-respected farmers, and including the names of the cooperative and seed producer on seed packets. Packaging seed in clear bags and labelling it with descriptions in local language also contributed to building trust (Jones 2017;Sidibé 2018, unpublished work).…”

“…The seedcooperative's reliance on farmers who are recognized as seed experts and who volunteer based on their strong interest in seed, builds on this tradition. The conduct of variety trials and seed production by such local seed experts is expected to increase the credibility of these activities, facilitating acceptance and sharing of seed of these new varieties by farmers who did not participate directly in the variety evaluations (Lacy et al 2006;Jones 2017). The interaction among specialists from different villages and regions was new and powerful for joint learning.…”