The role of seed product performance information on farmers’ seed choice

Seed companies in Kenya release regularly new maize seed products, potentially giving farmers a wide range of options to choose from. Unfortunately, this is not coupled with objective information on the performance of such new products which farmers could rely on to make informed choices on what seed product to grow each season, including when to switch and to which product. This has led to an environment where farmers have considerable choice options but must rely on minimal (sometimes non-existent) informational support to guide their decision. As a result, despite the potential genetic gains from new products, farmers have been observed to stick to maize seed products based on decades old technologies that they are familiar with and have grown for years, even when newer and more adapted ones are available in the market. A few more continue to cultivate local noncertified maize seed, which have been shown to be of inferior performance in terms of yield and tolerance to biotic and abiotic stressors. Would access to reliable third-party information on product performance influence farmers’ seed choice? Such knowledge is a prerequisite before investments are made in setting up regional and/or national varietal testing and dissemination systems. As a proof of concept, we propose a study that tests the role of seed product performance in influencing smallholders seed choice at the point of sale. The proposed study does not evaluate data and information generation components (which are critically important and need urgent attention) but restricts itself to assessing the usefulness of performance information in driving seed choice by farmers.