Presentation at the RTB Annual Review and Planning Meeting (Entebbe, Uganda, 29 Sep-3 Oct 2014)

1. Gender Norms and marketing of seed
and ware potato in Ntcheu and
Dedza Districts in Malawi
Netsayi N Mudege, Kapalasa E,
Chevo T, Nyekanyeka T & Demo P
RTB Annual Meeting
Imperial Golf Course View Hotel
September 29-October 4 2014

2. Structure of the presentation
 Background
 Specific objectives
 Seed acquisition and accessibility of seed (through
informal market channels)
Source and delivery channels
Knowledge and capacity awareness ,
Affordability opportunity costs and profitability
 Conclusions

3. Background
Integrating gender in RTB thematic research to
enhance development outcomes
 Understanding gender dimensions of seed systems in
order to provide input into the development of
gender responsive interventions and a gender
responsive RTB seed systems framework
 How gender and other social factors and norms
affects access to quality seed and seed security for
men and women farmers
 Examine sources of new seed technology and access
to information on seed by both men and women
(Malawi and Bangladesh)

4. Specific Objectives
 Understand how gender influence seed
potato and ware potato marketing with what
implications on access to quality seed by men
and women farmers
 Examine the market as a source of new seed
technology and access to information on seed
by both men and women
 Provide recommendations for the Irish AID
potato project in Malawi to ensure the design
of a seed system that will be able to benefit
both men and women.

5. Methodology
RTB seed systems
framework
 Seed availability
 Seed acquisition and
accessibility of seed (Source
and delivery channels, Knowledge and
capacity awareness , Affordability opportunity
costs and profitability)
 Seed quality (health, physiological
stage and purity)
 Policies and Regulations
(Formal and Informal)
 Sustainability and
resilience
 Equity and gender
 Sex disaggregated
focus group discussions
with farmers (35 FGDs–
average of 10 per
farmers per group)
 Individual interviews
extension officers &
representatives of
private organisations (5)

6. Seed acquisition and
accessibility of seed

7. Sources and delivery channels
Local farmers and nearby local markets
Why farmers sell seed?
 Poor storage facilities which meant that farmers
lost most of their seed to rot (mentioned by
men)
 Inability by farmers to expand production due to
limited access to other inputs such as fertilizer
(mentioned by men – men’s duty to purchase
inputs)
 To generate cash income to buy fertiliser (men)
 Small sells to ‘lessen poverty in the home’
(mentioned by women)

8. Knowledge and capacity
awareness
 Farmers preferred to purchase
seed from the village,
(relations of trust between the
seller and buyer).
 Preference for men to buy
seed from the local market
because they have
knowledge that women don’t
have (‘bad seed’)
 Men had access to
knowledge networks that
women did not have (e.g.
markets, training etc).
P: We sell [seed] but we only
sell that one which we will
have left without sticks in the
field, the bad seed
P: my husband would rather
buy because I may buy seeds
with diseases …I have never
gone to buy seed potato
we are still tied in our own
houses
P: we women are always
home so we can plant the
same variety for 3 – 4 years
and it will lose its power

9. Knowledge and capacity
awareness
Type of
training
Awareness
(%)
Trained (%) Practicing
(%)
Men Women Men Women Men Women
Positive and
negative
selection
71 62 73 67 77 66
Diffused
Light Store
(DLS)
42 35 39 49 47 34
Marketing
and Profit
Calculation
30 21 68 33 35 23
 Women mostly less aware
of, less trained in
marketing and profit
calculation. Why?
 Knowledge related to
seed and ware potato
marketing may end up
being concentrated
among men & women
may miss out on income
related to selling of seed).

10. Ware potato marketing
Who participates where depends
on size of market (whether selling
in bulk or small quantities), cash
involved and plot ownership,
uxorilocal/virilocal, Large number
of independent traders/vendors,
group marketing – Changing
trends
‘When we sell the potato at
the market the buyers will ask
us to carry the potato seed
to where they are going so
the men don’t want that so
they say it is women’s job

11. Group marketing approaches
 Groups marketed both seed (to other
farmers) and ware potato (to private
companies)
 No group seed quality control mechanisms
for individually produced seed
 Group income from private companies was
usually paid to household head who are
usually men

12. Affordability
 Pricing of seed on local markets
depends on local perception of what
good seed and ‘bad seed’ are.
 Both men and women farmers
expressed the willingness to pay a
higher price for good quality but
women mentioned a lower affordable
price than men
 Some women mentioned that they
bought ‘bad seed’ knowingly because
they could not afford the good quality
seed.
 Compared to men women preferred
non-cash based payments for seed
P: We will be lying to
say this and that
family can afford to
buy, people don’t
have money to buy
the seed. It is difficult
to get money and
when you get
money you have to
buy food for the
children to eat.
(women producer
group members)

13. Conclusion
 As sellers of seed women were often not
participating from a position of power but often as
‘stress sellers’
 Perceived lack of knowledge related to potato
seed among women led men to ‘own’ and
control the crop and its income – access to
training is potentially empowering for women
 Women need to be targeted with training on on-farm
production of quality seed in order to
address bottlenecks in terms of access to seed –
commercialization of seed production alone may
not address their needs.
 Private sector companies may need to explore
the role of ICT systems (mobile money payments)
in order to make ware potato marketing more
gender responsive.

14. Framework: Seed acquisition and
accessibility of seed
Gender is an important
component of seed systems
framework
 Social Barriers vs
‘infrastructural
determinism’ in distribution
channels - Chamberlin
and Jayne, 2013
 The framework is
sufficiently flexible since it
takes account of context
and structural factors
(Policies and Regulations)
structural limitations at local
level are not well examined by
the framework (e.g. weak
farmer trading associations)
 Could also focus more on
the social factors that affect
seed quality, accessibility
and affordability
 Social factors that may
restrict men and women
from participating and
benefiting from seed and
ware potato markets
 Framework could take into
account how interventions
impact on social formations
(including gender).

15. Men and women’s voices
matter in designing gender
equitable and efficient seed
systems