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
1. CRS
2. Background
1.
2.
3.
4.
Cowpea
Vouchers
Hermetic Storage
Farmer Managed Seed
System
3. Results & Discussion
4. Conclusions &
Recommendations
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
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
Cowpea Exports (2010)
Exports (1000 MT)
1600
1400
1200
1000
800
600
400
200
0
Burkina
Niger
Cameroon
In 2010, Nigeria imported 1,871,000 MT
Senegal
Mali
Creative Use of Vouchers
The 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!
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
CRS Hermetic Storage Experience
• 1996
• 1997-2007
• 2007 -
GrainPro – Reducing Food Aid
Losses
Maize Metal Silos in Kenya with
SDC
On farm Hermetic Grain & Seed
Storage with a focus on the
pulses
Support from USAID/OFDA
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)
Seed Voucher Data
Country
Niger
Voucher
Type
Cash
Burkina Faso Commodity
Seed Quantity
Beneficiary
Beneficiaries
Seed x Variety
42 kg
(2 kg cowpea)
15,000
Market Seed of Mixed
Crops + Varieties
1-3 kg
20,000
Certified Seed of
Improved Cowpea
Varieties
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
Cowpea Varietal Performance in
Burkina Faso
Variety
Cycle
IT98K-205-8
65 days 926 kg/ha
Extra Early
Called ‘Hunger Stopper’
KVX396-4-4
70 days 1012 kg/ha
Drought resistant
KVX745-11P
70 days 637 kg/ha
Dual purpose grain and fodder
Semi-runner
Local
•
•
•
•
---
Yield
Observations
321 kg/ha
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
Hermetic Storage Containers in
Burkina Faso in 2009
Type
Number
Weight
Price
Price/kg
PICS
179
100
$1.70
$0.02
VegOil
22
25
$3.00
$0.12
VegOil
446
20
$2.50
$0.13
Vegoil
2,115
5
$1.24
$0.25
Mineral Water
1,484
1.5
$0.25
$0.17
• 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
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
%
Adoption of Hermetic
Cowpea Seed Storage
100
90
80
70
60
50
40
30
20
10
0
Men
Women
2009
2010
Year
%
Change in Germination Rate
from R1 to R2
100
90
80
70
60
50
40
30
20
10
0
R1
R2 Lo
R2 Hi
R2 Av
KVX396-4-5-2D
KVX61-1
KVX745-11P
Cowpea Variety
KVX396-4-4
%
Farmer Maintenance of R2
Varietal Purity
100
90
80
70
60
50
40
30
20
10
0
Cowpea Variety
No verification of purity of certified seed of the five varieties
Based on Grow Outs by INERA
Farmer Managed Seed Security
Parameter
Comment
Availability
Supply of own saved seed not a problem due to low
seed rate and high multiplication rate and in the local
market
Access
Good quality seed of a range of varieties is often
accessible in the local markets
Certified seed, though available, remains accessible only
through seed programs and not retail
Seed Quality
Cleanliness is non an issue with hand sorting of seed.
Farmers able to maintain viable seed with hermetic
storage.
No apparent ‘degradation’ of saved seed.
Varietal Quality New varieties outperform current varieties
Farmers able to maintain pure seed of new varieties
No known premium product pricing of cowpea grain
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%)
Allocation of Cowpea Production
1
5
36
Consumption
Sale
Seed
Gift
57
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
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
Thank You!
CRS/Niger
CRS/Burkina
Purdue
INRAN
INERA
USAID/OFDA