Elsevier

Global Environmental Change

Volume 47, November 2017, Pages 51-63
Global Environmental Change

Perspective
Maize seed choice and perceptions of climate variability among smallholder farmers

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.gloenvcha.2017.09.007Get rights and content

Highlights

  • There is a discontinuity of information between farmers and seed companies in sub-Saharan Africa.

  • Classification of hybrid maize seed varieties is inaccurate due to the heterogeneity in growing conditions.

  • There is wide variation in perceptions related to climate variability that influence farmer seed choice.

Abstract

Despite decades of research and interventions, crop yields for smallholder farmers across sub-Saharan Africa are dramatically lower than in developed countries. Attempts to address low yields of staple crops in Africa since the Green Revolution through policies and investments in advanced seed cultivars have had mixed results. Numerous countries have heartily embraced and promoted hybrid cultivars through government subsidy programs and investments in research and seed multiplication. One possible explanation for why these programs have not resulted in more significant yield improvements is the challenge faced by farmers to select cultivars that are suited to their local environmental conditions. The question of what seeds farmers choose is exceptionally complex as it is often affected by local seed availability, the availability of information on seed performance, and the transfer of that information to farmers. At the foundation of this choice are farmers’ perceptions of different seed varieties coupled with their perceptions of climate variability. We examine seed choice in Zambia, a country with decades of hybrid maize seed development and supporting policies. We demonstrate how input subsidy programs and seed market liberalization have led to choice overload and a discontinuity in information exchange between farmers and seed companies. The decision making environment is further complicated by the heterogeneity in growing conditions and its variable impact on seed performance, which complicates characterization of seed duration at the farm level. Perceptions and biases related to climate variability effect seed choice, and potentially lead farmers to make risk averse decisions, which ultimately depress maize yields.

Section snippets

Introduction: hybrid maize, input subsidies, and climate variability in Africa

The Green Revolution in Asia during the 1960s was based on the development of high-yielding varieties of staple crops (Evenson and Golin, 2003). During this period, average yields of rice and wheat doubled as a result of the improved germplasm and widespread use of fertilizer, particularly in areas with high rainfall or irrigation access. In sub-Saharan Africa (SSA), where maize is grown by the vast majority of households on rainfed agricultural land, the story is somewhat different (McCann,

Introduction of hybrid maize seed in Zambia

The maize seed industry in Zambia was formalized with the establishment of the parastatal Zambian Seed Company (Zamseed) in 1981 (Morris, 1998, Smale et al., 2015). Zamseed was largely organized to replicate maize seed varieties, developed by the National Agricultural Research Service (NARS), which was responsible for the establishment of shorter-season hybrid varieties. The government of Zambia also provided farmers with subsidized fertilizer and seed on credit and purchased their harvest

Study area

Zambia is a dryland ecosystem and the majority of farming is rainfed agricultural production. There is a unimodal rainy season that runs roughly from November until April. This study took place in Choma and Pemba districts, two of the 13 districts that comprise Southern Province. Our study area is similar to other arid regions of SSA characterized by high frequency of dryspells and drought events (Fisher et al., 2015). There are three agroecological zones in Zambia and average annual rainfall

Results

The following section describes the seeds chosen by the sample of farmers in Southern district and their attributes as defined by farmers and seed companies. We then look at farmers’ planting dates and the impact of planting dates on maize yield by seed maturity class. The final portion of the results section examines the determinants of maize seed choice.

Seed choice and misinformation

The proliferation of hybrid maize adoption in Zambia is intertwined with the history of institutions and policies promoting hybrid maize. Liberalization of the seed market flooded Zambian farmers with choices and the use of e-vouchers now allows them to choose their preferred varieties. However, it is unclear whether farmers have access to the necessary information to navigate such a complex decision-making environment. With this backdrop we find heterogeneity in preferences and little

Conclusions

The choice of maize seed variety is a critical decision for farmers on the brink of food insecurity in Africa. Now that many African farmers are inundated with choices of hybrid maize seeds, it is important that they understand the tradeoffs involved. Presenting farmers with greater choice of maize seed varieties allows them to tailor their selections to their individual cropping systems, but there are significant constraints to translating more choice into improved maize yield. We identify

Acknowledgments

This research was supported by the National Science Foundation awards SES-1360463, BCS-1115009, BCS-1026776. We are grateful to the farmers in Choma district who participated in this research. Many thanks to Allan Chilenga and colleagues at the Zambia Agricultural Research Institute for their contributions to the research project. We are grateful to Kafula Chisanga for assistance in procuring precipitation data from the Mochipapa meteorological station.

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      As a result, the second generation tends to underperform in terms of those desired traits for which they were initially purchased, as well as provide lower yields (Morris et al., 1999). Today, the choice of an optimal seed can be cognitively challenging given the range of choices available to farmers and the difficulty in matching emerging technologies with changing climate conditions (Waldman et al., 2017). With an increasing number of seed varieties from which to choose, farmers may struggle to obtain information and advice to make decisions that enhance the resilience of their farming systems.

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