Farmer decision making for hybrid maize seed purchases: Effects of brand loyalty, price discounts and product information.

CONTEXT: Each year public and private sector maize breeding programs in Kenya deliver high-yielding hybrids that are resistant to drought, pests, and diseases. Yet, most Kenyan maize farmers purchase older, well-known hybrids. While the 'varietal turnover' problem is well known, few solutions have emerged. OBJECTIVE: The potential for seed companies and retailers to influence farmers' product selection towards new products remains an open question. In-store marketing that induces farmers to experiment with new products may be a scalable and cost-effective way to advance seed systems development. METHODS: Our controlled field experiment with 600 farmers in Kenya comprised a mock agrodealer store stocked with locally available hybrids, where half the farmers who participated faced an out-of-stock situation for their preferred product. The influence of price promotions and product performance information on farmers' seed choice were assessed. RESULTS AND CONCLUSIONS: When a participant's preferred product was available, performance information and discounts had no effect on decisions. However, when the preferred product was unavailable, the treatments had limited effects on product selection. Prior experience and brand loyalty stood out as the strongest predictors of seed product selection. SIGNIFICANCE: Our work explored the potential for two interventions-information and price discounts-to influence farmers' product selection. While these interventions showed limited influence on selection, the study design provides a clear starting point for future related experiments. More public and private investments are required to generate timely, comparable, and reliable information on seed performance. The strong effect of brand loyalty favors larger-sized seed companies with sizable marketing budgets.

An Empirical Study of Regulatory Capture in Kenya's Maize Seed Sector.

In sub-Saharan Africa, public sector breeding programs depend on local seed companies to deliver new maize varieties to farmers. Such varieties are needed to adapt cropping systems to climate change. While dozens of small and medium seed companies have emerged in the last two decades, the maize seed market in Kenya remains dominated by the parastatal seed company Kenya Seed Company, with multinational seed companies making major inroads. We assess whether parastatal and multinational seed companies have captured Kenya's seed laws to the detriment of local small and medium seed companies ('regulatory capture'), negatively effecting competition and the capacity of local companies to introduce new varieties in the hybrid maize seed market. We conducted in-depth interviews based on legal clauses with maize seed companies active in Kenya, as well as interviews with regulators and stakeholders. Results show that local companies do not feel disadvantaged compared to their multinational counterparts or the parastatal. However, all of them are wary of the entry of new actors. Moreover, through excessive procedures, the Kenyan government keeps a sovereign grasp over the seed sector. Despite frustrations with some of these excessive procedures, seed companies felt comfortable in the protective environment of the Kenyan seed market and were generally happy with the technical aspects of Kenya's seed laws, which are based on international norms. We suggest some improvements to make Kenyan seed laws more conducive to varietal turnover, in line with seed companies' suggestions and taking into account the political sensitivities of the Kenyan government.

Demand-side challenges to increase sales of new maize hybrids in Kenya.

In Eastern and Southern Africa, as the public sector has retreated from maize seed production and the private sector has emerged to fill the resulting void, a key issue for researchers, governments and private donors has been the capacity of privately owned, typically small scale, seed businesses to effectively produce and distribute hybrid seed. Roughly two decades on, research and development programming continues to focus on supply side issues in supporting the maize seed industry to bring new varieties to farmers. Motivated by thinking on agri-food value chains, this article explores the potential for achieving a stronger demand orientation in programming to support the maize seed industry, a requirement for varietal turnover. In 2019 data were collected in Kenya from i) 80 agro-dealers on their relations with seed businesses and their marketing of maize seed, ii) 466 farmers on their seed choice and engagement with agro-dealers and iii) 8 seed companies on their distribution and sales strategies. Results confirmed the overarching supply-push orientation of the industry, characterized by limited innovation and risk taking, weak collaboration between actors, low margins for retailers, and limited investments in seed marketing. Farmers showed weak appetite for acquiring new seed products, preferring instead to purchase seeds that they knew from experience. Better strategies for building seed value chains will require deeper insights on stakeholders needs and strategies, to include the capacity of seed businesses and retailers to innovate in business management and marketing.

Gender inclusivity through maize breeding in Africa: A review of the issues and options for future engagement.

With the prioritization of social inclusion in agricultural development, donors and research centers have shown growing interest in gender-intentional varietal development and delivery. Breeding maize varieties that respond to gender-based differences in trait preferences now represents a central objective of maize R&D in the CGIAR and elsewhere. Drawing on literature on gender and maize seed adoption, variety preferences, and seed system constraints, we take stock of knowns and unknowns related to gender-responsive and gender-intentional maize breeding. While recent research on farmers' variety preferences across crops has yielded insights into gender-based differences, we find that evidence of gender-differentiated preferences for maize varieties remains inconclusive. Ultimately, we identify several research priorities to support gender-intentional maize breeding, including a more nuanced understanding of gender relations in maize production and maize seed decision-making, new and more gender-responsive approaches to measuring farmer preferences and seed demand more broadly, and research to address operational challenges in gender-intentional breeding. We close by identifying some institutional constraints to achieving impact through gender-intentional maize breeding.

The geography of agricultural input markets in rural Tanzania.

The expansion of agro-dealers into remote areas can be seen as conducive to more smallholders adopting new technologies and inputs, to include improved seed and fertilizer. However, lower travel costs may be offset by agro-dealer decisions on stocking and pricing, reflecting both travel time from wholesale markets as well as the level of competition in localized areas. This paper investigates the geographical distribution of agro-dealers and related patterns of local market competition on the availability and prices of maize seed and fertilizer. We use a unique census of agro-dealers in eight districts of Tanzania (n = 299) which maps distribution points for agricultural inputs in these areas. Results suggested that despite a high number of agro-dealers, almost 30% of farmers lived more than an hour travel time from at least one agro-dealer. Instead of wide geographical coverage, agro-dealers tended to be found in clusters, with strong variation in cluster sizes between different districts. Overall, more remote agro-dealers faced less competition, resulting in fewer stocked product choices and charging higher prices to customers, even after controlling for travel time from district headquarters. Remote farmers are disadvantaged in their uptake of new technologies and critical production inputs due to lack of competition among agro-dealers. Our results suggest that highly aggregated and/or simplified measures of market access fail to reflect important heterogeneity in the market access conditions faced by farmers; a better understanding of distribution networks and competition is needed.

Exploring the marketing environment for maize seed in Kenya: how competition and consumer preferences shape seed sector development.

During the past decade, sizable investments have been made to strengthen maize (Zea mays L.) seed production in Eastern and Southern Africa by private seed companies. However, efforts have generally overlooked downstream issues, such as how seed companies market their products and position their business in a competitive market. This paper assesses competition and customer preferences in Kenya at the retail level for varieties from the parastatal, private domestic and international companies. Data were collected from agro-dealer surveys (n = 80) and farmer intercept interviews (n = 377). Compared to the market leader, the parastatal Kenya Seed Company, private domestic and international companies provide greater value to farmers by selling varieties that are, on average, 10 years younger. However, these companies offer few late-maturing varieties, thus giving the parastatal a near monopoly in that market segment. Kenya Seed Company also excels at being present at all sales locations with their varieties. If private domestic companies focus more on smallholders with lower budgets (including travel budget), they should consider the most cost-effective ways to extend their networks to remote areas as well as compete with the lower prices of Kenya Seed Company. Modern breeding programs should explicitly consider these marketing challenges when designing strategies for seed production and engagement with seed companies.

Sticking with the old seed: Input value chains and the challenges to deliver genetic gains to smallholder maize farmers.

The Kenyan maize seed sector exhibits high hybrid adoption rates, a growing number of seed companies, and an extensive agro-dealer network. Nonetheless, maize yields remain low and uptake of new, stress-tolerant varieties has been disappointing. This article investigates interactions in maize seed value chains in Kenya, and decisions made by agro-dealers, farmers, and seed companies, to gain a better understanding of how to encourage the uptake of new, stress-tolerant varieties. Data were collected during the 2019 seed-purchasing season from Kenyan seed companies (n = 8), agro-dealers (n = 80), and farmers immediately following their seed purchase (n = 466). Most agro-dealers had a wide offer of seed products available, but seed companies' engagement with them was limited and marketing efforts were directly focused on farmers. Only a fraction of farmers used the agro-dealer environment to guide their decision-making. However, when agro-dealers engaged with farmers, they influenced varietal selection in 80% of the cases. Agro-dealers were one of the key information outlets about maize seed varieties. Seed company engagement with agro-dealers and in-store promotions (push marketing) should be further explored to improve returns on investments in seed systems.

'Would you eat cultured meat?': Consumers' reactions and attitude formation in Belgium, Portugal and the United Kingdom.

Cultured meat has evolved from an idea and concept into a reality with the August 2013 cultured hamburger tasting in London. Still, how consumers conceive cultured meat is largely an open question. This study addresses consumers' reactions and attitude formation towards cultured meat through analyzing focus group discussions and online deliberations with 179 meat consumers from Belgium, Portugal and the United Kingdom. Initial reactions when learning about cultured meat were underpinned by feelings of disgust and considerations of unnaturalness. Consumers saw few direct personal benefits but they were more open to perceiving global societal benefits relating to the environment and global food security. Both personal and societal risks were framed in terms of uncertainties about safety and health, and possible adverse societal consequences dealing with loss of farming and eating traditions and rural livelihoods. Further reflection pertained to skepticism about 'the inevitable' scientific progress, concern about risk governance and control, and need for regulation and proper labeling.

Analogies, metaphors, and wondering about the future: Lay sense-making around synthetic meat.

Drawing on social representations theory, we explore how the public make sense of the unfamiliar, taking as the example a novel technology: synthetic meat. Data from an online deliberation study and eighteen focus groups in Belgium, Portugal and the UK indicated that the various strategies of sense-making afforded different levels of critical thinking about synthetic meat. Anchoring to genetic modification, metaphors like 'Frankenfoods' and commonplaces like 'playing God' closed off debates around potential applications of synthetic meat, whereas asking factual and rhetorical questions about it, weighing up pragmatically its risks and benefits, and envisaging changing current mentalities or behaviours in order to adapt to scientific developments enabled a consideration of synthetic meat's possible implications for agriculture, environment, and society. We suggest that research on public understanding of technology should cultivate a climate of active thinking and should encourage questioning during the process of sense-making to try to reduce unhelpful anchoring.

Credence quality coordination and consumers' willingness-to-pay for certified halal labelled meat.

This paper reports on halal credence quality coordination and Muslim consumers' willingness to buy and pay for certified halal labelled meat at the supermarket and the Islamic butcher. Cross-sectional data were collected through a survey with 202 Muslim consumers in Belgium. Findings indicate that more acculturated and female consumers are more in favour of purchasing certified halal labelled meat in a supermarket. Important conditions are that supermarkets can provide a guarantee of separating halal from non-halal meat and of the organisation of adequate verification and control. Results further show that more Muslim consumers are willing to pay a price premium (of 13% on average) for halal labelled meat at the Islamic butcher shop than at the supermarket. The higher the importance attached to a certified halal label and the more distrust in the actual halal meat status, the higher the likelihood that a Muslim consumer is willing to pay a higher price for certified halal labelled meat at the Islamic butcher shop. Gender and generation determine the actual premium Muslim consumers are willing to pay.