PerspectiveMaize seed choice and perceptions of climate variability among smallholder farmers
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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2023, Agricultural SystemsCitation Excerpt :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.