Learning objective
After the end of the session the participants shall be able to: 1. Define a Local Seed Business
2. Explain the importance of each building block and how they come together
One of the LSBs in West Nile started in 2007 as a group of ex-poachers that were looking at opportunities to improve their livelihood, they were 15 members; 8 women and 7 man. When they started in 2013, they did not have any prior experience in seed production and marketing. During the first season, they were hesitant to invest, but in the second season they planted 20 acres of simsim seed. They were able to produce 8 tons at a time when the demand for the seed was high. They sold the seed at UGX 4,000 per kilo. The group is getting more and more experience and realise that if they plan their sales better they could even get higher prices per kg as the demand for simsim seed rises until planting time.
Content
A Local seed business is a group of farmers that are able to produce and market quality seed of varieties that are preferred by other farmers and is able to sustain the business through reinvesting capital and effort in the business.
For an LSB to be sustainable it needs to be commercially oriented and able to make the investment. This means that the ISSD programme does not provide free inputs to the groups and is entirely based on capacity building by a seed expert on production aspects of seed and by an agribusiness expert for the market aspects. Some groups that lack entrepreneurial spirit are not able to become sustainable local seed businesses and the programme that supports these groups needs to critically reflect on whether to continue with them.
An LSB is able to be commercially sustainable when they are technically equipped, market oriented, professionally organised and strategically linked to inputs, extension, credit and markets (see picture below). Looking at the LSB with regard to its product, it should be technically well-equipped to produce and add value to its seed. Looking outward, that product should have demand from the market. Looking again at the LSB with regard to its organisation, it should be professionally organised, well managed and with access to appropriate infrastructure. Looking outward from the LSB to its environment, it should be strategically linked to important, reliable and cost-effective inputs and service provision.
Looking ...
Inward Outward
With regards to ...
Product Technically well-
equipped Market oriented
Organisation Professionally
organized Strategically linked
Technically well-equipped
Being technically well equipped includes having the capacity for (1) the production of quality seed products; and (2) processing/adding value to those products.
Capacity to produce includes LSB members having the knowledge and skills for site selection, field clustering, land preparation, sowing, weeding, roughing, demarcating isolation distances, fertiliser application, crop protection and harvesting.
Market oriented
Market-orientation means that the LSB has the marketing capacity, including assessing markets and developing products which are in demand and satisfying customer needs. Marketing involves finding out what your customers want and supplying it to them at a profit. In order to do so the LSB needs the capacity to collect and evaluate market information, and develop a marketing strategy as part of a business plan.
Professionally organized
Describing how well the business is organised follows a basic distinction between both general organisational (including governance) and financial management, and infrastructure.
The principles of general organisation management include decision making, participation, communication, transparency, task division, coordination and specialisation in the form of truly cross-functional teams (e.g. quality control committee, marketing committee, block farm management, monitoring and self-assessment).
LSBs that are strategically well linked benefit from the availability, accessibility, efficiency, affordability and reliability of input and service provision. Therefore, being well linked to inputs and services is more strategic than it is essential. An analysis of the availability, accessibility, efficiency, affordability and reliability of the input or service should be critically reflected upon accordingly to the specific capacity needs and business plan of the LSB. Essential links include access to germ plasm, agronomic inputs (inc. fertiliser and pesticides), seed certification, finance, information, technologies, guidance/supervision, materials and machineries, administrative documentation, stationary and furniture, water and electricity, transport, licencing, legal rights, security, lobbying and other important institutional links.
Training methods
Start with the “Blue Bean Test” for Baseline and Evaluating Behavioural Change For a better understanding of a farmer group’s knowledge about marketing approaches, a simple test can be applied to find out how they approach the idea of a new product. Do they systematically work with the market or do they simply follow instructions from a service provider. The group is asked if it would be interested in producing “blue beans”. A typical response might be, “Yes, if you will buy them”, to which the facilitator may respond, “No problem, I’ll take all you can grow”. For farmers who do not have a systematic approach to marketing, their response is often a very positive yes, that they will start growing the beans tomorrow!
However, they make this response even though they have never seen a blue bean, nor do they know if it grows in their area, or which market they are targeting, or if alternative and better market options exist. Where the group shows no clear approach to marketing, the facilitator has to start from the beginning. In contrast, if the farmers do have a strategy in dealing with the market, the facilitator should listen carefully and see how well this fits in with the planned seed approach. He or she can then build on the group’s current skills. As a monitoring tool, the “blue bean”, or other invented product, the question should be asked again after the farmers have undergone some training on how to engage the market. If the farmers have taken on the new skills, their response to such a question would include questions such as Does the crop grow here? Can you give us a sample so we can test it to see if it grows under our conditions? What is the price of the blue bean in the market? Is this price higher than the best bean market varieties? Is the bean being sold for a local or international market? Who is buying the product? Can you give us names of some buyers so we can survey the market ourselves? Do you have any information about the product, its price trend, quality requirements, or market trends? If we go into production, will this be a contractual agreement? Will you provide any additional inputs to assist in production? If the market fails, can we eat this crop? (CIAT 2008 A Market Facilitator’s Guide to Participatory Agro enterprise Development p.49)
Power Point presentation on the building blocks
Q&A around the purpose of the building blocks and the content of each building block
Materials:
Advice:
All four building blocks play an equally important role in supporting LSBs to become commercially sustainable. Therefore make sure that each building block receives equal attention.
Resources: