Effect of changes in functional strategies to the horticultural seed value chain in Nepal | |
| Author | Timsina, Krishna Prasad |
| Call Number | AIT Diss. no.AB-15-01 |
| Subject(s) | Horticultural--Crops--Seeds Horticultural--Crops--Nepal |
| Note | A dissertation submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in AgriBusiness Manageme, School of Environment, Resources and Development |
| Publisher | Asian Institute of Technology |
| Series Statement | Dissertation ; no. AB-15-01 |
| Abstract | Agriculture is the main occupation f or about 65% of the Nepalese people. S eed is the most crucial input in agric ulture evidenced by several studies that the direct contribution of quality seed alone to the total agricultural production is about 15 - 20 % . Fruits and vegetables contribute about 17 % to the total value of agricultural produce, out of which vegetables alone contribute 7.2 % . High - yielding, high - quality seed is the prime technology input for the growth of the vegetable sub - sector. Vegetable seed is regarded as a high potential agricul tural sub - sector contributing to poverty reduction and enhancing food and nutritional security in remote areas , where other economic opportunities are very limited. In addition, fresh vegetable farmers in the market - accessible areas also benefit by having access to high quality seeds, increasing production and household incomes. Therefore, high quality vegetable seed helps improve livelihoods of farmers producing both the seeds and fresh commodities. Even though there is an increasing trend of seed supply f rom formal sectors in Nepal, farmers at the field level are facing problems regarding its quality aspects. Most of the vegetable seeds in Nepal lose their germination and vigor after harvesting due to the lack of proper post - harvest handling techniques. A critical limitation to seed quality in warm, humid tropical areas is the inability to dry seeds to safe storage moisture content ( S MC) and sealed it in a hermetic bag. Without effective drying and storage, improvements in seed production and distribution w ill be thwarted by the short storage lives of seeds. In this context, this dissertation research studied the effect of changes in functional strategies to the horticultural seed value chain in Nepal focusing mainly on seed drying and storage. In the rapid ly shifting preferences and demand of the consumers, the concept of value chain is important to identify potential enterprises and supply to consumers by creating perceived value of the product. This dissertation research using the value chain concept foc used the analysis from the perspective of supply as well as demand side. In supply side, the emphasis was given how the source seed is developed and reache s to the seed producers and they multiplied the source seed in to commercial seed. After the producti on of commercial seed, how they added value and channelize the distribution of the product. The analysis highlighted different areas such as loss and gain by different actors in the chain through the introduction of new seed drying and storage technology, policy environment, gender and social inclusion, quality issues, diverse preference of the farmers, and functional linkage between research and extension. Five major vegetable crops, namely Onion, Tomato, Cucumber, Okra and French Bean (FB) were selected for the study based on the recommendation from seed stakeholders and review of the literature. The study focused at three levels: first at field level; second at district level; and third at central level. Primary data was collected using structured questionnaire survey, key informant interview, focus group discussion, institutional level survey, field observation. Field survey was done with 175 seed producers, 270 seed users and 110 seed companies, agro-vets, service providers and experts. Informed consent was taken from the respondents before data collection. Government of Nepal (GoN) has formulated different policies for the promotion of vegetable seeds sector. In the recent year, Nepal recognizes the rapid marketing and spread of the seeds of high yielding competitive varieties and proposed the development and strengthening of seed networks, seed dealers and seed supply channels in public and private sectors. The private sector started entering in seed business in the early 1980s with enforcement of the Seed Act of 1989, which has boosted the critical role of private seed industry in Nepal. Since the early 1990s, the government of Nepal has been making efforts at privatization of the seed industry. The compound growth rate of fresh vegetable production, vegetable seeds production and seed requirements was 2.46%, 15.24% and 5.29% during 1974/75 to 2011/12. Even though the percentage increment in seed production was higher than seed requirements, average annual growth rate of production was found lower (33.05 mt/year) compared to seed requirements (46.46 mt/year) in Nepal. The result revealed that the average area per household was 0.44 hectare; out of which, 32% area was used for vegetable seed cultivation. Among different farm size categories, the gross margin of vegetable seeds was found significantly higher than cereals. In total household income, the contribution of vegetable seeds production was found 11%. Most of the seed growers in the study area reported varying in knowledge of different aspects of seed quality. None of the farmers in the study area tested SMC after harvest before selling. However, some of the seed companies or traders were performing this function if they felt it to be necessary. Cleaning/grading is the only processing activity done so far by seed growers before selling to traders. Almost all seed produced and sold by farmers to traders or seed companies are sun dried and packed in jute or polythene bags. Except FB, more than 95% of the farmers were using single variety for seed multiplication program. The cooperative was the major place for getting source seed followed by Government sources. The producers’ share on retailer’s price ranged from 34-71% depending upon the crops and its varieties. The main source of commercial seed for seed users was private sector. Farmers prefer hybrid seed mainly due to its quality and higher production potentiality, whereas local availability of seed and consumer preference were the major attributes for preferring open pollinated varieties. The finding indicates that women’s involvement in seed production, seed management and marketing is limited, but that they are most directly responsible for drying and storage. Seed production and post-harvest handling is constrained by many problems. Unfavorable environment immediately after harvesting was the major drying problem followed by direct sun drying that deteriorates the seed quality. In case of storage problems, need to dry several times was ranked first followed by fluctuation in seed moisture content due to unfavorable environment. Various actors are involved in the vegetable seeds supply chain of Nepal. Those actors are operating as a part of value chain and contributing in an entire spectrum of associated activities and inputs. A value chain approach was used to examine the potential economic benefit to the actors involved in the chain. In addition to the existing model of supply chain, four possible business models for alternative drying and storage (comparing zeolite bead drying and hermetic storage versus traditional sun drying and porous bag storage) were considered for analysis. The results indicated that poor seed quality imposes large logistical costs on seed users. Desiccant beads drying and hermetic storage techniques would reduce those losses. Onion seed could generate about US$28.86 to US$29.61 (from different business models) additional net income per kilogram of seed in total value chain. But Positive and negative net income vary for various actors in different business models. This technology exhibits promise to increase the quality of seed and improve the livelihoods of farmers. Moreover, result revealed that the market actors of supply chain are taking significant benefit of value-addition due to more investment in value creation. Vertical coordination is completely absent and the existence of horizontal coordination is in fragile form. The v functional strategies in the upstream as well as the market side are not properly matching with the preference of the downstream actors of supply chain. Policy level linkage between research and extension was found improving in the recent year. However, there is still mismatch between the source seed produced at research stations and commercial seed recommended by extension personnel. In case of foundation seed produced in research station, about 38% was used for their own multiplication, 53% given to the farmers, 3.47% to District Agricultural Development Offices (DADO), 3.24% to Non-Government Organizations (NGOs) and 1.56% to seed companies. Most of the source seed that directly goes to farmers has been used for fresh vegetables production without maintaining seed cycle. Normal multinomial logit model (MNL) and random parameters logit model (RPL) were used to analyze the preference and willingness to pay for tomato seed quality attributes such as germination, vigor, purity and price. The results indicated that all the coefficients are positive and found significant, which means farmers are willing to pay more for high quality seeds. The preference heterogeneity for germination and vigor were also found. Furthermore, it is noted that famers have high willingness to pay for vigor than other quality attributes. The national demand of vegetable seeds could be met by adopting dual strategies. It seems that the farmers and traders would easily accept promotion of new post-harvest technologies that provides higher return to the farmers. Looking at the WTP seed quality attributes and the price increment in new seeds through introduction of new post-harvest techniques, there is scope for suppliers to provide seed having high percentage of vigor, germination and purity, respectively. However, policies promoting an awareness about consistent supply of drying beads and hermetic packs at reasonable prices are required to enable maintenance of dry chain through different stages of seed supply system. It is recommended to promote beads drying and hermetic storage technologies in collective action rather than individual basis. At the same time, it is necessary to strengthen the capacity of CBOs. To make research and extension linkage more effective, the partnership and their effective operation among the different actors from policy coordination to technology dissemination are necessary in different tiers of vegetables system to meet the need of the farmers. |
| Keyword | Value chain; strategic fits; functional strategies; vegetable seeds; business models; willingness to pay; research and extension |
| Year | 2015 |
| Corresponding Series Added Entry | Asian Institute of Technology. Dissertation ; no. AB-15-01 |
| Type | Dissertation |
| School | School of Environment, Resources, and Development (SERD) |
| Department | Department of Food, Agriculture and Natural Resources (Former title: Department of Food Agriculture, and BioResources (DFAB)) |
| Academic Program/FoS | Agribusiness Management (AB) |
| Chairperson(s) | Shivakoti, Ganesh P.;Jourdain, Damien; |
| Examination Committee(s) | Soni, Peeyush;Anal, Anil Kumar;Bradford, Kent J.; |
| Scholarship Donor(s) | US AID/HortCRSP;Asian Institute of Technology Fellowship; |
| Degree | Thesis (Ph.D.) - Asian Institute of Technology, 2015 |