1 / 0

Purdue Improved Crop Storage Workshop Accra GHANA April 10 – 12, 2012

Purdue Improved Crop Storage Workshop Accra GHANA April 10 – 12, 2012. Improving Cowpea Seed Quality through Hermetic Storage. Tom Remington Principal Agriculture Advisor Mireille Barbier West Africa Agriculture Advisor. Presentation Outline. CRS Background Cowpea Vouchers

lynsey
Download Presentation

Purdue Improved Crop Storage Workshop Accra GHANA April 10 – 12, 2012

An Image/Link below is provided (as is) to download presentation Download Policy: Content on the Website is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use and may not be sold / licensed / shared on other websites without getting consent from its author. Content is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use only. Download presentation by click this link. While downloading, if for some reason you are not able to download a presentation, the publisher may have deleted the file from their server. During download, if you can't get a presentation, the file might be deleted by the publisher.

E N D

Presentation Transcript

  1. Purdue Improved Crop Storage WorkshopAccra GHANAApril 10 – 12, 2012

    Improving Cowpea Seed Quality through Hermetic Storage Tom Remington Principal Agriculture Advisor Mireille Barbier West Africa Agriculture Advisor
  2. Presentation Outline CRS Background Cowpea Vouchers Hermetic Storage Farmer Managed Seed System Results & Discussion Conclusions & Recommendations
  3. 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
  4. 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
  5. Cowpea Exports (2010) In 2010, Nigeria imported 1,871,000 MT
  6. 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!
  7. 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
  8. 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
  9. 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)
  10. Seed Voucher Data 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
  11. Cowpea Varietal Performance in Burkina Faso 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
  12. Hermetic Storage Containers in Burkina Faso in 2009 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
  13. 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
  14. Adoption of Hermetic Cowpea Seed Storage
  15. Change in Germination Rate from R1 to R2
  16. Farmer Maintenance of R2 Varietal Purity No verification of purity of certified seed of the five varieties Based on Grow Outs by INERA
  17. Farmer Managed Seed Security
  18. 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%)
  19. Allocation of Cowpea Production
  20. 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
  21. 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
  22. Thank You! CRS/Niger CRS/Burkina Purdue INRAN INERA USAID/OFDA
More Related