Download Elkolta case study

Case study of seed commercialization by a women’s group in
Elkolta, Niger
Kristal Jones
Ph.D. Candidate
Department of Agricultural Economics, Sociology and Education
June 2012
Overview
This study presents the case of Mata Muso Dubara (“Women of Many Actions”), a
women’s group in Elkolta, Niger that is just beginning to sell improved variety pearl millet
seeds. The story of the Elkolta women’s group fits into broader trends in international
development and agricultural research for development, which in recent years have both been
moving toward more inclusive, place-based approaches to social and ecological change. In West
Africa, international and national research scientists have been working on new ways to breed
and diffuse varieties of local grain crops, partnering with farmers’ organizations and individual
farmers in all steps of the research process. The Elkolta women’s group was been a part of one
such participatory plant breeding project for several years, and in 2010 began selling the seeds
that have come out of the project. Expectations of the impacts of seeds sales need to be
articulated as part of ongoing monitoring and evaluation of the final step of the plant-breedingto-seed-diffusion process. This case study fits into a broader mixed methods research project
that describes and analyzes the effects of seed sales for individual farmers, farmers’ groups and
villages with access to the new seeds. By taking the case of the Elkolta women’s group and the
farmers who purchase seeds from them, we can unpack the different expected effects of seeds
sales and the theoretical assumptions that underlie them. The next step in the impact assessment
process is to then define what variables and measures are most appropriate given the ex-ante
project goals and expectations, as well as the site-specific needs and goals of individual farmers
and farmers’ groups that have evolved as the project has been ongoing. This case study exercise
therefore presents all of the history that has brought the group to its current point, and then seeks
to operationalize and design measures for the relevant impact variables that fit into the Elkolta
context.
Introduction
Food security and agricultural development have returned to the spotlight in the past five
years, as a combination of ecological and economic challenges (drought, pests, spiking oil prices,
commodity speculation) have reminded us all that agricultural systems are just that – systems
with natural and social dimensions that interact and change one another in ways that can lead to
tremendous gain or great loss (see IFPRI, 2012). For decades, however, the predominant goals
of agricultural development focused on increasing production through science and technology,
seeking to overcome rather than work with and within socio-ecological systems. This approach
fit into the broader modernization paradigm that dominated global development from the end of
WWII, which employed technology and objective science to solve discreet human problems
once and for all (Huntington, 1971). Rostow (1959) describes the stages of development toward
which all countries are moving, with the final stage of differentiated production and mass
consumption being encapsulated in the Green Revolution. In the 1960s, new understandings of
plant genetics and human creativity gave the world short-stemmed varieties of rice and wheat
that provided increased output and therefore food for millions of people (Evenson and Gollin,
2003). The system was standardized – the seeds, fertilizer and pesticides could be used, and
therefore produced and sold, anywhere. For a moment, it seemed, the problem was solved. We
were moving, as Rostow (1959) earlier declared, toward “the era when the problem and human
agenda imposed by the fact of scarcity is coming towards an end” (14).
Change one part of the system and you affect them all, however, and in subsequent
decades it has become clear that the fertilizers and pesticides that accompanied Green Revolution
seeds and high yields left behind many developing country farmers, and also pushed natural
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systems to respond with newly adapted pests and overworked soils (Evenson and Gollin, 2003).
Rather than having solved the problem of food scarcity, the United Nations Food and Agriculture
Organization (FAO) estimates that in 2008 (the last year for which statistics are available) there
were 850 million food insecure people in the world, a number which has remained steady
throughout the past 40 years (FAO, 2012b). Food security, defined as individuals having
“physical, social and economic access to sufficient, safe and nutritious food that meets their
dietary needs,” dominates current goals in agricultural development and begins to take a systems
view of agriculture (FAO, 2009, p. 8). Many international and national agricultural research
organizations are building on the notion that food security is multidimensional, and are moving
away from a singular focus on technological advances that will increase output, instead reembedding research goals and processes in diverse natural and social contexts. Systems thinking
in both agriculture and development have come together in participatory, farmer-first approaches
that start with the place-based needs of farmers and their ecosystems, combining expert
knowledge with local expertise and priorities (see Chambers, Pacy and Thrupp, 1989; Reijntjes,
Haverkort, and Waters-Bayer, 1992).
Participatory plant breeding is one example of an integrated approach to agricultural
research for development that seeks to identify and learn from the complex constraints and
capacities of agricultural systems in order to effect change. Starting with an acknowledgement
of “genotype by environment” interactions that affect any given variety’s performance in a given
place, participatory plant breeding moves beyond the modern goal of standardized technological
responses to food insecurity (such a single “super variety”), instead working to identify and
create varieties that are adapted and in turn contribute to specific natural and social environments
(for an overview of participatory plant breeding, see Ceccarelli, Guimaraes, and Weltzien, 2009).
Plant breeders at several member organizations of the Consultative Group for International
Agricultural Research (CGIAR) have over the past two decades led efforts to work with farmers
throughout the plant breeding process, from identification of superior local varieties and desired
characteristics, through processes of selection and testing of a range of plant material. Work is
done primarily in farmers’ fields, since it is there that these new varieties must in the end grow
and flourish. Conducting most of the process in farmers’ own environments also allows for
investigation of the multiple aspects of food security throughout the breeding process. The new
varieties must provide physical access to food – that is, their production must meet the food
needs of the population. They must also allow for social access, through acceptable taste (and
appropriate choice of crop), ease of processing. Finally, food security can only be met when
there is economic access to food and the inputs required to grow it. For participatory plant
breeding, that means that well-adapted improved variety seeds must be able to be reproduced and
made available in ways that are appropriate to the local social and economic contexts.
ICRISAT technicians, local farmertrainers and a demonstration
farmer, as well as local kids, plant a
participatory plant breeding field
trial in Bokki, Niger.
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As Badstue, Hellin, and Berthaud (2012) have recently pointed out, the feedback loops
inherent in the participatory plant breeding process allow for the creation of new varieties that
meet a range of site-specific, farmer identified needs. The final step in this process, then, is the
multiplication and diffusion of improved varieties in ways that continue to support long-term
goals of food security. The authors argue for participatory seed diffusion as the appropriate end
step of the participatory plant breeding process. Because of the long time span over which
breeding research for development takes place, the processes of seed diffusion are just now
getting underway, and there is currently little documentation of either the process or the
outcomes of the spread of improved variety seeds that have come from participatory plant
breeding efforts (Weltzien, vom Brocke, Touré, Rattunde, and Chantereau, 2008).
This case study is part of a larger sociological study of seed systems in West Africa and
the ways in which improved varieties of sorghum and pearl millet that have been selected
through participatory plant breeding projects coordinated by the International Crop Research
Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT), a member of the CGIAR system. The overall
goals is to understand how new seeds with unique characteristics (in particular, a limited number
of times that they can be replanted and retain the improved traits) are incorporated into and in
turn change local seed systems in ways that enhance or challenge different aspects of food
security for individual farmers and communities. Keeping with the participatory ethos and a
commitment to situated understandings of change, primarily qualitative research methods are
used to help all involved in the process of seed diffusion (researchers, seed sellers and farmers)
articulate the desired impacts of the project as well as ways to describe and learn from the
changes that are observed. Using a range of types of data, from interviews and group meetings
to participant observation and secondary sources, the project seeks to identify and implement
appropriate measures of impacts on food security that reflect contextual realities and priorities.
This case study of Elkolta will provide background and contextual information, as well as initial
data from two years of field work, and will then ask the reader to reflect on ways to measure the
effects of seed diffusion on local seed systems.
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Context
Based on map number 4045 revision 5, April 2009 (UN Cartographic Section, 2009).
Natural setting
Niger is a land-locked West African country located on the southern side of the Sahara
desert. Its agricultural regions in the south lie in the Sahelian zone, where annual rainfall
averages between 400 and 600 mm (SWAC/OECD, 2010). Most of the population lives along
the southern band of the country where there is adequate rainfall to grow rain-fed local grains of
pearl millet and sorghum, as well as cow peas, peanuts and other minor crops, which are often
intercropped with grains (FAO, 2012a). The village of Elkolta is located in this south-central
“bread belt” of Niger. The rainy season begins in mid-June and ends toward the end of
September, though many farmers have noted that in recent years, the rains have ended earlier and
have been more sporadic. The food shortages faced in 2012 are a result of irregular and earlyending rains in 2011, which mean that much of the pearl millet planted did not reach the end of
its cycle and so yields were low. Virtually all agriculture in Niger is rain fed (.5% of the arable
land is irrigated, and this is mostly right along the Niger River). Most farmers work the land by
hand, using a long-handled hoe, though some use simple metal plows and a team of two oxen.
The photograph below shows a newly planted pearl millet field in Elkolta, Niger.
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Pearl millet (Pennisetum glaucum) is by far the most important crop grown in the
country, in terms of both absolute production and economic value (FAOSTAT, 2012). The
cereal crop is native to West Africa and therefore well-adapted to the Sahelian climate; it needs
little rain (as little as 200 mm) and can mature in as few as 60 days. Pearl millet is allogamous,
meaning that in its natural state it cross-pollinates and will not remain pure when planted in or
among heterogeneous fields (National Research Council, 1996). Improved varieties of pearl
millet, selected for certain traits and then planted in fields near other millet varieties, can be
saved from year to year kind but the carry-over of desired traits will diminish each year due to
outcrossing. Local varieties are stable and have persisted over time – Bezançon et al. (2009)
found little change in varietal availability over the past 35 years, with improved varieties only
recently increasing in use and still accounting for only a very small portion of pearl millet
planted.
Social setting
Niger is a predominantly Muslim country of 15.9 million inhabitants, just under half of
whom live in rural areas (FAO, 2012a). Major language and ethnic groups include the
Songhai/Zarma in the west, Haussa in the east, Tuareg in the northwest, with Peulhs and other
group scattered throughout the country (Lewis, 2009). The country is divided into several
administrative regions, with the capital, Niamey, situated on the far west edge of the country.
The Maradi region is located in the south-central area of the country, and is considered the
economic capital of the country, given its close proximity to northern Nigeria, which allows for
substantial trade as well as short-term employment for many Nigeriens. The village of Elkolta is
located in the about 22 km west of this regional capital (see map below). Elkolta is located in
the department of Guidan Roundji, and with a population of 1,107 people, has one of the largest
weekly markets in the area (which is held on Saturdays). The village is Haussa speaking, as is
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the majority of the region, with some Peulhs herders passing through during certain times of
year.
= Elkolta
French colonialism was slow to come to inland Niger, as the present-day country lies far
from the Atlantic coast, and only includes a bit of the major river from which the country takes
its name. Pre-colonial history was defined by changes in political and social boundaries that
largely reflected place-based control of scare resources (mostly land and water), rather than
ethnic or linguistic divides (Ibrahim, 1994). The Songhai kingdom ruled large, ethnically diverse
areas throughout the 16th and 17th centuries, until waves of Islam moved south with Fulani
herders, who conquered much of inland West Africa in a series of holy wars throughout the 18th
and 19th centuries. Much of the Haussa population of central and eastern Niger was thus
dominated. The Tuaregs in the northwest traditionally occupied a vast area of the Sahara desert,
and remained independent throughout changes in black West African empires. Until the 1880s,
there was little French presence in the territory of Niger, and most political and social boundaries
continued to be small by nation-state standards, based on complex configurations of resource
use, religion, language and migration history (Oliver and Crowder, 1981).
Niger was largely untouched by the slave trade, being too far inland to be practically
accessible to European traders, and so the French had little colonial presence there prior to the
“scramble for Africa” that culminated in the Berlin conference of 1884 (Oliver and Crowder,
1981). Initially, Zinder, in the south-central part of the country (240 km east of Maradi), was the
colonial capital. The city was conveniently located near the Nigerian (British West African)
border, which provided both access to the major British ports as well as a means to guard against
British expansion. However, as colonial authorities became more adept at the divide-andconquer style of management, the capital was moved to the far west, Zarma portion of the
country in 1927, to ensure that the Haussa majorities in central Niger and northern Nigeria would
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not join forces to destabilize the colonial borders of the region (Ibrahim, 1994). French colonial
rule encouraged rice cultivation along the Niger River and groundnut cultivation in the areas of
the country suitable for rain-fed agriculture. Aside from these efforts, however, there was little
development of an export economy in Niger. French colonial rule was in general characterized
by a high degree of centralization and control by white French administrators, who allowed little
power to local leaders, leaving much of French West Africa ill-prepared for the transition to
independence (Oliver and Crowder, 1981).
With the post-WWII changes in French policy and ability to rule its overseas territories,
French West Africa moved toward autonomy and eventual independence. Colonial patterns of
elite rule were initially perpetuated by the French-educated Africans who led the early
independence parties, which lead to a slow and bureaucratic transition from the colonial
administration to eventual nation-state status. Following complete independence in 1960, Niger
assumed its current national boundaries, which largely followed French administrative
boundaries (Oliver and Crowder, 1981). National politics in post-independence Niger continue
to reflect the colonial history of dividing and prioritizing certain ethnic groups over others, as
well as the Cold War political and economic divisions that were reflected in the early
independence movements and political parties. Since 1960, Niger has seen 11 presidents and 4
coups, and has experienced several challenges from the Tuareg minority seeking increased
autonomy (a conflict which has endured throughout the region since independence and has
recently flared up again in northern Mali (Polgreen, 2012)) (for an overview of Nigerien politics
through the early 1990s, see Ibrahim, 1994).
Current situation
Niger remains a largely agricultural society, though with an increasingly urban
population. The country’s main natural resource is uranium, found in the northwest areas which
are historically home to the Tuareg, further complicating their political demands for autonomy
(Oliver and Crowder, 1981). Political instability related to resource use has been accompanied
by ecological instability during the past fifty years, with major droughts and subsequent famines
occurring from 1969-1974 and repeating almost every ten years, up to the present “crisis” cycles
of 2009-2012 (Baier, 1976; FAO, 2012c). Though drought and hunger cycles have long been
patterns in all agricultural systems, the Sahelian region was largely food self-sufficient until the
past forty years. Esseks (1975) highlights the interactive effect of several variables that shifted
the region toward its current chronic food insecure state. Key factor include the political
continued political challenges of transition to independence, increased integration into the global
economy, extreme drought, and increased population pressure. As was noted even during the
first post-colonial, development-era crisis, “provisions for recurring drought should be built into
a development plan” for Niger and the broader Sahelian region (Baier, 1976, p. 2). The fact that
this injunction is as relevant today as when first made 35 years ago suggests that agricultural
research for development efforts must make a renewed effort to take into account a wide range of
factors contributing to continual food insecurity.
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Seed systems project history
ICRISAT’s seed systems project
As previously mentioned, this case study is part of a larger research project that seeks to
document the effects of the sale of improved variety seeds on local seed systems in West Africa.
ICRISAT, in conjunction with its national partners, has had participatory plant breeding projects
for sorghum and pearl millet ongoing in the region for more than ten years. In Niger, ICRISAT
has partnered with the national agricultural research system, INRAN (Institut National de
Recherche Agronomique) throughout the research process. In 2009, ICRISAT, in conjunction
with its national country partners, was awarded a grant for a seed systems project from the
Collaborative Crops Research Program of the McKnight Foundation, a philanthropic
organization that supports international agricultural research for development (see
http://mcknight.ccrp.cornell.edu).
The seed systems project applies the arguments made by Badstue et al. (2012) and others,
that participatory plant breeding process in not complete without the final step of appropriate
social and economic access to seeds that can increase food security. Seed systems can be
analyzed and supported in two ways – as both a discrete process of producing, planting and
benefitting from seeds, as well as a part of agricultural systems thinking overall, which takes
seriously the connections between difference elements, natural and social, of the agricultural
system. Modern approaches to seed system development tend to focus on the formal seed sector,
generally defined by the commercial sale of certified seeds of improved varieties bred using
modern plant-breeding techniques (Lipper, Anderson, and Keleman, 2010). Additionally, formal
seed systems are those in which seed and grain is differentiated by both sellers and buyers
(Dalton, Anderson, Lipper, and Keleman, 2010). However, as Sperling and McGuire (2010)
argue, local and informal systems remain an important, and in fact predominant, means of
obtaining seeds and therefore the food security they provide. Informal seed access includes seed
saving, exchanging and purchasing on credit with local seed producers or farmers known for
growing certain varieties. Tripp (2001) begins to merge formal markets and other types of seed
diffusion into a single seed systems framework, arguing that analysis of seed provisioning paths
demonstrates the wide range of use and value of seeds for farmers, particularly in developing
country contexts.
There is currently a general trend in West Africa toward strengthening and developing
the formal seed sector, which builds in some ways on the modern development paradigm of
standardized, de-contextualized responses to what are seen as uniform needs. With the help of
international organizations like the FAO and development projects that include the West African
Seed Alliance, funded by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID),
regional seed production and sales laws have been in passed in the past three years (see INSAH,
2009). On the seed production side, these laws set standards for the certification of seed
production, in terms of minimum land area, cultivation practices and quality standards of the
final product. For pearl millet, a farmer must use at least five hectares (about eleven acres) of
land to produce pearl millet seed (in order to guard against cross-pollination), and for sorghum,
there is a minimum of three hectares (seven acres). In Burkina Faso, another country involved in
this larger study, one union of sorghum seed producers went from over 60 seed producers in
2009, before the new laws were in place, to five in 2010. Pearl millet seed production is less
developed in Niger than in other countries in the region, so the new laws will not eliminate seed
producers but rather provide a barrier to new producers. With certification laws in place, the
formal seed sector has effectively been legislated into existence. It is now illegal to sell non9
certified seeds, and given the cost of seed certification (farmers or unions must pay a government
agent to visit the fields as well as the laboratory costs for quality control), prices are quasistandardized (though still subject to variation in transportation costs and demand).
The seed systems project at ICRISAT, building as it does on participatory plant breeding
efforts, exists at the juncture of the formal and informal seed sectors. Participatory plant
breeding refers to the entire process of varietal and trait identification, varietal testing and
selection, and knowledge diffusion of improved varieties that meet complex local needs, rather
than singular targets. Ideally, then, the seed systems project should continue the participatory
process by working with farmers to identify the most appropriate and reliable means for
producing and disseminating seeds of the new varieties. However, given the legal frameworks
now in place, continued demands from donors for “silver bullets” and the lingering modern
desire to scale up, the seed systems project is focusing primarily on seed commercialization and
marketing (Brooks, Leach, Lucas, and Millstone, 2009). The varieties produced through the
participatory plant breeding process are improved, standardized and registered in the national
seed catalogues so that they can be legally sold. Individual farmers are being trained in seed
production practices that align with the new national and regional regulations. And farmers’
groups, like the women’s group in Elkolta, are being encouraged to sell improved variety seeds
in more standardized ways than are currently seen in the local and informal systems. This
includes packaging the seeds in sealed plastic sacks, treating them for germination, and
providing varietal information like planting date, spacing and time to maturity. In 2010,
improved varieties of pearl millet resulting from the participatory plant breeding project in began
to be sold in mini-packets of 100g. Sold for 50 CFA (approximately 10 cents), these minipackets allow farmers to try out small quantities of a new variety before committing to the cost
of purchasing a large amount. For comparison’s sake, a kilogram of pearl millet purchased in the
local market for food or planting purposes costs about 250 CFA, whereas a kilogram of
improved variety seeds costs 500 CFA.
Impact assessment methodology
This case study fits into dissertation research being undertaken in conjunction with the
ICRISAT seed systems project from 2011 to 2014. In keeping with the participatory nature of
the preceding projects, the research is largely qualitative in nature, which allows for a wide range
of techniques to be used in iterative fashion in order to understand the changes resulting from
improved seed sales. Research methodologies being used include: semi-structured individual
interviews with farmers who have begun purchasing improved variety seeds in the past two years
(with sampling occurring from lists kept by seed sellers at the time of sale); group meetings in
villages to discuss seed access decisions and to do participatory seed mapping exercises;
participant observation of the researcher in local weekly markets, at farmers’ union meetings and
offices, and annual seed fairs held by seed selling organizations.
Because the project is being done in conjunction with a research for development
institution, one aspect of data collection and analysis is to help provide an assessment of a range
of impacts of the seed systems project. The stated objectives of the seed systems project are to
improve women and men farmers’ access to seed of new sorghum and pearl millet varieties; and
to monitor and enhance variety adoption processes in the target zones, to assess effectiveness of
the different activities to enhance seed availability and knowledge about the new varieties.
Based on ongoing analysis over the first two years of dissertation research, the overall objective
is to predict how and why farmers choose to use improved variety seeds and newly-established
seed markets by characterizing farmer seed access decisions as based on multi-dimensional
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priorities that are demonstrated by the type of seed exchange network used, the type of seed
accessed and the value of the grain produced to the farmer. Analysis is ongoing, with annual
reports from each site and an iterative process of rethinking the interview guides each year
allowing for continual induction from empirical evidence to more abstract general and theoretical
understandings of change. A key component of the case study approach is moving from
empirical observation to some type of abstraction, and in this case, because of the immediate
needs of impact assessment, the first level of abstraction needs to be the identification and
operationalization of the impacts of seed sales on individuals and communities. Based on the
above theoretical framework for participatory development and seed systems, as well as the seed
systems project and dissertation research objectives, this case study of Elkolta, Niger and the
women’s group based there provides the range of information needed to undertake a placebased impact assessment of changes related to the introduction of new crop varieties and
seed sales.
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Elkolta women’s group past, present and future
Members of the Elkolta women’s group conduct a participatory seed
mapping exercise with the researcher.
History
Elkolta is a medium-sized village located in the south-central Maradi region of Niger.
With a population of 1,107, Elkolta is large enough to have a primary school, a health clinic, and
a weekly market. The vast majority of people in Elkolta are Muslim, and Islam affects most
aspects of daily life. Prayers are said five times a day, there is a strong emphasis on helping
those less fortunate, and men and women keep to well-defined roles that are largely autonomous
of one another. As in most Hausa villages in the region, the villages is organized by family, with
high walls surrounding each family’s compound and paths dividing the villages into “blocks”
and leading to the paved road (on the north side of the village) as well as the several water
spouts in the village. Family compounds are generally comprised of a man and his one or two
wives, and all of their children. Men will often live with their brothers and brothers’ families,
and will sometimes stay with their father until he dies, working large fields together to meet the
entire family’s needs. Women run the household, cooking, caring for children and providing
only limited and supplemental food or income from small personal fields of peanuts and pearl
millet. Men are farmers, with several hectares of land that they work with all of the male
members of the household, which provides grain and sometimes legumes for household
consumption. Family fields are located in every direction from Elkolta, with the village chief
making decisions about land allocation, which are then registered at the local government office.
Land is not owned in the sense of private individual entitlements: instead, the village has a set
amount of land designated by the national government. As many women commented when
discussing the possibility of seed production (and the necessary five hectares of land), there is
land available for use, but it is located too far from the village to be practically accessible
without access to a vehicle of some kind (car, motorcycle or donkey cart).
Despite the general injunction for women to remain close to home and focused on family
tasks, the women’s group in Elkolta is well-organized and very active. As an ICRISAT
researcher once remarked to me, this is a group of “empowered” women. In contrast, there is no
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organized men’s group in Elkolta. The women’s group began over 15 years ago with just a few
members (and the outside support of a project that no one seems to be able to recall, but likely a
foreign NGO), and quickly grew into the two sub-groups and over 100 members of today. Like
all formal groups in Niger, they are registered with the local government and pay for this
recognition, which in turn allows them to access credit through state and private banks, as well as
work with development projects that often require some prior organizational capacity before
partnering with a village. To become a member of the women’s group, a woman must pay a
small fee that goes into a communal chest to both make group investments as well as provide
individual credit to members who would like to take out short-term loans In addition to the
material advantages that come from group organization, members of the women’s group also
emphasize that being organized provides them with a reason and a way to get out of their homes
and connect with one another: “They saw that in the past, even to see each other amongst
themselves wasn’t easy. Because there wasn’t a reason that brought them together. But now
they have put this groupement in place, it lets them meet each other regularly, almost once a
week they see each other, exchange ideas.”
The women’s group has steadily grown, and currently partners with several international
organizations, including ICRISAT, the World Food Program, the FAO, and CARE International,
as well as with government agricultural and health officials. In addition, the group is a member
of Fuma Gaskiya, a federation of farmers’ groups based in Maradi. It is through Fuma that the
Elkolta women’s group began partnering with ICRISAT began several years ago, with
demonstration fields and field trials connected to the participatory plant breeding project.
ICRISAT has trained a member of the women’s group as an animatrice, or village-based trainer,
to act as both a resource and a coordinator for group activities and information related to the field
trials. As one woman remarked to me, “[the animatrice] really is like a counselor. She gives
good advice. It’s she who directs the group, but she really gives advice about how to work with
people, and how to coordinate people.” The animatrice is also a Hausa literacy teacher, which is
one of the projects that the Elkolta women’s group would like to expand – local language literacy
classes for all of its members. In addition the animatrice, there are several members of the
women’s group who have worked with ICRISAT field trials for several years, and so have a
deep knowledge of the new improved varieties of pearl millet that are now being offered for sale.
Though pearl millet seeds were not available for sale prior to 2010, the Elkolta women’s group
had for several years sold fertilizers and other inputs, as well as vegetable seeds, as a way to
make money to be used for other individual and group activities. These sales took place out of
the home of the animatrice and other group members.
Current seed selling activities of the Elkolta women’s group
In 2010, ICRISAT initiated its seed systems project and began sales of improved variety
pearl millet seeds in Niger. Elkolta is a partner in this project and for the past two years has sold
mini-packets of several pearl millet varieties that were selected as part of participatory plant
breeding projects. The same year, a FAO project underwrote the construction of an “input
boutique” in Elkolta, from which to sell fertilizer, pesticides and seeds. The shop was not ready
before the 2010 season, and so seed and other sales continued to be made from the homes of a
few key members of the women’s group. Seed sales were also conducted by women’s group
members from a stand in the local weekly market (situated on the edge of the village of Elkolta).
Seed sales in the local market were especially strong in 2010, as farmers from surrounding
villages come here each week to conduct business and purchase a wide range of goods. The
photo below, of a seed map drawn during a meeting of women’s group and the researcher, shows
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the surrounding villages that come to Elkolta for seed. Because the women’s group members
who conduct field trials often have fields on paths that leave Elkolta to go to other villages, many
farmers in the area had seen these varieties and their benefits. As one woman remarked, “last
year they did a demonstration with an improved variety. When they planted, everyone in the
village had already thinned...But amazingly, their millet matured before the local millet. And so
there it is. Everyone was convinced that what the women are producing in their field, it’s a
better millet. And that’s what motived them to come buy.”
Despite the fact that seed sales were a new phenomenon in Elkolta, there was a strong
demand during the first year of sales in 2010. Women’s group members attributed this to the
familiarity people had with seeing these varieties in the women’s test fields. In effect, this was
advance marketing, a point not lost on the women. People like the improved varieties because
they are drought tolerant and resistant to the specific pests of the area (mostly notably, the
parasitic weed Striga hermonthica). How much do people appreciate these seeds? “The day that
they brought the seeds here for sale, people came quickly, everyone wanted to have them. Even
people who didn’t have money, they went to town to get money with their relatives to buy seeds.
That really made an impression on them. There were people who sold their things to buy seeds.”
In 2010, the women’s group sold 900 mini-packets of improved variety peal millet seeds, all that
was brought to them by ICRISAT.
Seed sales in 2011 were not as strong, for several reasons. It was a particularly bad rainy
season, which started late and had a lot of irregularity, with long pauses between rains. Many
people planted their local varieties of pearl millet early, with the intention of buying the fastermaturing improved varieties to plant a bit later. However, the rains stopped for several weeks
after this initial planting, leaving many people to conclude that it was not a wise investment to
buy expensive seeds if the rains were uncertain. In addition, the mini-packets brought to Elkolta
by Fuma were treated with a product to enhance seed germination rates. This product gave the
seeds a green hue, which was unfamiliar to farmers in the area and dissuaded many people from
purchasing the seeds. However, during the group meeting and seed mapping exercise in 2012,
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several new villages were added to the list of those who come to Elkolta for seeds. Follow up
questions suggest that the women have noticed interest in the improved variety seeds coming
from further afield. In 2011, seed sales were conducted from the input boutique, in the local
market, and also by two local men. One sold from his home, and the other from his stand on the
paved road, which meant that people passing through or coming to Elkolta to catch a ride to
Maradi had the chance to see these seeds. These sellers were effectively sub-contracted by the
women’s group to increase exposure to improved variety seeds.
In group meetings, when discussing changes they have noticed as a result of seed sales,
the women’s group members focused on the ways that they facilitate connecting farmers from
surrounding villages to improved varieties of pearl millet. They talk about how in the past,
people only used local varieties. With the arrival of field trials, the women’s group began
providing a way to both educate themselves and others about the new varieties, and based on the
strong interest among both other women and men, they decided to undertake seed sales.
Purchasing grain seed is a new phenomenon for most farmers in the Elkolta area, as there simply
weren’t seeds available locally prior to the past two years. You had to go to Maradi or another
city to find improved variety seeds, which is beyond most people’s means. Many women’s
group members emphasized that they provide access to improved variety seeds through their sale
in mini-packet. The size and price of mini-packets meets local farmers’ needs for small
quantities for trial, and allows each person to purchase “according to his means.”
Individual interviews with seed purchasers in Elkolta echoed many of these sentiments.
The improved variety seeds are appreciated for the traits that have been viewed over the past
several years in the demonstration fields. Many women’s group members who have participated
in some aspect of field trials are now consistent buyers, in some ways guaranteeing at least a
small steady clientele. Interestingly, among both women’s group members and other buyers,
there is a strong sentiment against saving these seeds for replanting the next year. Many people
said that as they know that the seeds will be available each year with the women’s group, they
prefer to buy them. Reasons for this include the fact that what is grown is needed for
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consumption, and particularly after the difficult year in 2011, people had to eat all that they
grew. The demand for improved variety seeds will likely be particularly strong in 2012. In
addition to not saving, most seed buyers in Elkolta did not give or exchange seeds with other
farmers who expressed interest in the improved varieties. As was explained to the research
during group meetings, local varieties are shared in this way – if someone would like a small
amount to try, they can be given as a gift. If larger quantities are needed, due to a poor year or
some other calamity that kept someone from saving seed, exchanges in equal measure can be
made. Improved varieties, however, are seen as different. They are purchased for money and so
have a price that is measured not in grain equivalent but in cash. There is also an element of
obligation, that if I had to buy these seeds, you should too. And among women’s group
members, a strong feeling that seed sharing would dissuade seed purchasing, depriving them of
customers and revenue.
In addition to seed sales, one topic that has come up in group meetings with the Elkolta
women’s group over the past few years is the idea of seed production. As previously mentioned,
the women have expressed interest in seed production but with current seed production laws,
they do not have access to adequate land. “Women in general, they have one hectare, one and a
half hectares maximum. It’s rare that you find a woman with more than two hectares.” I have
asked about combining fields, but their fields are not contiguous. About asking to trade or
change field locations to create bigger blocks, but this seems not possible. They have mentioned
that there is land available, but again, it is too far for them to reliably reach it. After
conversations about how successful seed sales were in 2010 but how unlikely it is for the
women’s group to produce seeds themselves, I asked if perhaps they would consider working
with men in their village, who access to land and the means to produce seed, in a joint
production-marketing effort. The response was loud and unanimous:
Researcher: I have another question. Since you have already started to sell seeds, do you
think that maybe you could work with men who have land, to produce and sell seeds?
(no, no, laughter, much discussion)
Translator: They said no, the women, they can’t do that with the men. The men do their
work elsewhere, and they, they prefer to do it alone.
R: Ok.
T: Really, it’s their strength. It’s a union made up just of women. So they work alone.
They don’t – when you see a man in their fields, they will eliminate him. They want to
work alone, with the federation, as a women’s union.
Future plans
Based on their success of the past two years, the Elkolta women’s group plans to continue
and expand their seed sales, mostly in terms of the number of mini-packets sold. Fuma, the
farmer’s union federation that packages the seed, has been experimenting with packages of 500g
and one kilogram, which both the women’s group and individual seed buyers said they would
appreciate. Interest in seed production remains, but the practical limitations for the women
themselves, in terms of access to land and the means to use it make seed production unlikely in
the immediate future. If relationships with male farmers in Elkolta or surrounding areas could be
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established, it is possible that the Elkolta women’s group experience in demonstrating, marketing
and selling seeds could help develop a market for locally produced seeds. At this point,
however, there is no clear path to these types of activities. The women’s group is focused more
on non-agricultural projects for the foreseeable future, including the establishment of a women’s
literacy center and increased ability to process the grain and legume crops that they grow.
When I asked the group in 2012 what their plans for the immediate future were, in
addition to mentioning specific activities, they emphasized that now, they can do things alone.
“Even if we leave them, they can do it. Themselves. Because they have learned, so even if we
leave them, they can do it themselves.” What they have learned ranges from specific agricultural
techniques and characteristics of improved varieties, to more general organizational and
networking types of skills. The animatrice trained by ICRISAT has gone on exchange visits to
Mali, bringing back an awareness of different practices and ways to organizing group work.
Women’s group members who have participated in field trials provide explanation to others who
stop at their fields to ask about the new varieties. Strong seed sales have proven to the group that
there is commercial as well as material interest in these seeds, and the combination of minipackets and the construction of the input boutique have helped standardize the sales. For the
immediate future, continuing with these sales seems to be a significant priority for the group, in
addition to other, non-agricultural projects.
Summary
Conflicting underlying theories and understandings of international development have
over time influenced which aspects of food security are prioritized in development projects’ aims
and processes, leading to a range of intended and unintended consequences. The clearest
example of the connections among theory, process and product is the first Green Revolution.
Motivated by general development goals of modernization and improved technology, and a
specific understanding of world hunger being related to a physical lack of food, the Green
Revolution focused agricultural research for development on a few high payoff, high production
potential technologies that included improved variety seeds. The research process was expertcentric, given the faith in modern science to solve human problems, and the end results had a
wide range of effects in the wide range of heterogeneous natural and social environments in
which they were used. In both protest and response to the static view of development and food
security taken by the modernization approach to agricultural developments, participatory plant
breeding has taken seriously the systems view that process and product are inextricably linked,
making for more durable and appropriate change.
Given the dynamic view of food security taken in participatory agricultural research for
development today, seeds and seed sales can be created and supported to meet a range of sitespecific food security needs of smallholder farmers. Seeds are inputs into the agricultural system
that, depending on their characteristics, can increase physical access to food by embodying traits
the enhance production in a given natural environment. Economic and social access to food can
be supported or limited by the ways in which seeds can be and are produced, saved and
exchanged. Seed systems are both systems in and of themselves, and an important piece of the
overall agricultural system that can both affect and be affected by efforts to enhance food
security.
The Elkolta women’s group and the buyers to whom they sell provide a useful case study
to explore the desired and actual effects of new seed sales on seed systems as they relate to food
security. The ICRISAT seed systems project, initiated over the past two years and building upon
prior participatory plant breeding work, combines elements of both participatory and more
17
conventional theory and practice, by using improved varieties bred through the participatory
process with an end goal of seed commercialization and sale. As a result, the intended and
expected effects of this project have not been well defined, perhaps in part because of this
mixing of theory and practice. The research project into which this case study fits seeks to
unpack both the assumptions of the seed systems project, the actual actions being taken by seed
selling groups like the Elkolta women’s group, and the desired and noticed effects of seed sales
for individual farmers and seed-selling groups. Based on the theoretical background presented
here, and using the site-specific information on the Elkolta women’s group to provide a concrete
example, this case study can be used to foster discussion about various aspects of the impact
assessment process.
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Discussion questions/further exploration
1. Given the contrast between modernization and systems thinking in development, what
kinds of effects does each approach expect from plant breeding and seed sales?
2. How can we measure changes to seed systems in the case of Elkolta?
Elements of the system that might experience change
Effects on seed selling groups
Effects on individual farmers
3. Given the contemporary theoretical framing of food security, what are appropriate
measures of food security for farmers in Elkolta?
How can we operationalize these measures?
4. What are appropriate research methods to assess changes in food security in Elkolta?
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