Purdue Improved Crop Storage Workshop Accra GHANA April 10 – 12, 2012 Tom Remington Principal...
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Transcript of Purdue Improved Crop Storage Workshop Accra GHANA April 10 – 12, 2012 Tom Remington Principal...
Purdue Improved Crop Storage WorkshopAccra GHANA
April 10 – 12, 2012
Tom RemingtonPrincipal Agriculture AdvisorMireille BarbierWest Africa Agriculture Advisor
Improving Cowpea Seed Qualitythrough Hermetic Storage
Presentation Outline
1. CRS2. Background
1. Cowpea2. Vouchers3. Hermetic Storage4. Farmer Managed Seed
System
3. Results & Discussion4. Conclusions &
Recommendations
Catholic Relief Services
• Catholic– United States Catholic Conference of Bishops– Option for the Poor
• Relief– Responding to disaster – ‘saving lives’– US Food Aid Partner
• Services– From providing Goods & Services to supporting Sustainable
Service Provision – From Recovery to strengthening Resilience
CRS Scale & Scope
• 2012 Operating Budget of $750 million– Increase from $250 million in 1994
• Agriculture currently largest sector at $185 million
• Working in 100 countries– Headquarters in Baltimore, Maryland– Seven Regional Offices (4 in Africa)
• Reaching over 1 million farm households with seed vouchers the past ten years
Cowpea Exports (2010)
Burkina Niger Cameroon Senegal Mali0
200
400
600
800
1000
1200
1400
1600
Exports (1000 MT)
In 2010, Nigeria imported 1,871,000 MT
Creative Use of VouchersThe Basics
• Vouchers are a subsidy• Vouchers need to be understood as a flexible
marketing tool• Vouchers can connect farmers to input suppliers and
create customers for suppliers• Vouchers can be used to increase supply, increase
demand, increase quality, increase price• Vouchers can support or undermine markets – it
depends on how they are used!
What Farmer Customers Want from Input Providers
– Wide Choice– Low Risk– Trust– Social Event– Short Distance– Free Stuff
A. O’Conner Funk (2007) Observations & Recommendations from the Perspective of a Seed Company Manager
CRS Hermetic Storage Experience
• 1996 GrainPro – Reducing Food Aid Losses
• 1997-2007 Maize Metal Silos in Kenya with SDC
• 2007 - On farm Hermetic Grain & Seed Storage with a focus on the
pulses
Support from USAID/OFDA
Supporting and Empowering Farmer Seed Managers
Once farmers have the variety, the economic gains from using certified seed of the self pollinated crops usually does not justify the investment. Moreover, certified seed is not always better quality than the seed reproduced by a farmer (Almekinders & Louwaars, 1999)
Seed Voucher DataCountry Voucher
TypeSeed Quantity
BeneficiaryBeneficiaries Seed x Variety
Niger Cash 42 kg (2 kg cowpea)
15,000 Market Seed of Mixed Crops + Varieties
Burkina Faso Commodity 1-3 kg 20,000 Certified Seed of Improved Cowpea Varieties
Cash Voucher has greater fungibility – used at fairs to empower farmers to make own choices
Commodity Voucher is a Coupon restricted to a specific product – used to promote a specific new variety
Cowpea Varietal Performance in Burkina Faso
Variety Cycle Yield Observations
IT98K-205-8 65 days 926 kg/ha Extra EarlyCalled ‘Hunger Stopper’
KVX396-4-4 70 days 1012 kg/ha Drought resistant
KVX745-11P 70 days 637 kg/ha Dual purpose grain and fodderSemi-runner
Local - - - 321 kg/ha
• Average Seed Rate of 7-8 kg/ha• Average Multiplication Rate of 35• Interest in KVX745-11P for both grain and fodder• Expected and (2011) yield:• Grain 500 (266) kg/ha• Fodder 3000 (519) kg/ha
Hermetic Storage Containers in Burkina Faso in 2009
Type Number Weight Price Price/kg
PICS 179 100 $1.70 $0.02
VegOil 22 25 $3.00 $0.12
VegOil 446 20 $2.50 $0.13
Vegoil 2,115 5 $1.24 $0.25
Mineral Water 1,484 1.5 $0.25 $0.17
• Size of container based on amount of seed to be saved• PICS Sacks and 5 liter containers new from FasoPlast• Other containers reused• Farmer preference for PICS and 20/25 liter containers• Price also dependent on replacement rate
Hermetic Storage Containers in Niger
• Cash Voucher Value of $2.30 – 11,700 PICS Sacks– 4,200 20 liter containers
• 17 vendors with an average profit of $128 each
Adoption of Hermetic Cowpea Seed Storage
2009 20100
102030405060708090
100
MenWomen
Year
%
Change in Germination Rate from R1 to R2
KVX396-4-5-2D KVX61-1 KVX745-11P KVX396-4-40
102030405060708090
100
R1R2 LoR2 HiR2 Av
Cowpea Variety
%
Farmer Maintenance of R2 Varietal Purity
KVX396-4-5-2D
KVX61-1 KVX745-11P KVX396-4-4 KVX414-22-20
102030405060708090
100
Cowpea Variety
%
No verification of purity of certified seed of the five varietiesBased on Grow Outs by INERA
Farmer Managed Seed SecurityParameter Comment
Availability Supply of own saved seed not a problem due to low seed rate and high multiplication rate and in the local market
Access Good quality seed of a range of varieties is often accessible in the local marketsCertified seed, though available, remains accessible only through seed programs and not retail
Seed Quality Cleanliness is non an issue with hand sorting of seed.Farmers able to maintain viable seed with hermetic storage.No apparent ‘degradation’ of saved seed.
Varietal Quality New varieties outperform current varietiesFarmers able to maintain pure seed of new varietiesNo known premium product pricing of cowpea grain
Hermetic Seed Storage Conclusions
• Vouchers can support and strengthen existing supply chains
• All sizes of hermetic containers effective without insecticide
• Farmers adopt hermetic storage• Farmers storing relatively small quantities of seed• PICS sacks with larger volume attractive for primary
aggregators• Stored cowpea grain used for a range of end uses –
including seed (3 – 6%)
Allocation of Cowpea Production
36
57
5
1
ConsumptionSaleSeedGift
Hermetic Storage A Cowpea Value Chain Asset
• Cowpea is the lead export crop from the Sahel• Attractive new varieties are available• Cash & Commodity Vouchers are effective• Farmers are competent seed managers• Hermetic storage controls insect pests• Hermetic storage is an incentive to prevent
varietal mixing in seed management
Suggestions for the Future
• Exploit Vouchers and Fairs• Educate the farmer as both a manager and a customer• Give greater hermetic product choice• Promote combined grain & seed storage• Improve market cowpea seed vendor storage• Address drying with hermetic storage in the humid
tropics• Embrace storage along the value chain from producer
to consumer
Thank You!
CRS/NigerCRS/BurkinaPurdueINRANINERAUSAID/OFDA