Seed demand and supply responses

David Spielman and Dawit Mekonnen

Chapter 4 in The economics of teff: Exploring Ethiopia’s biggest cash crop, 2018, pp 71-96 from International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI)

Abstract: For centuries, efforts to improve, multiply, and distribute teff seed have relied on informal mechanisms, primarily farmers’ own selection of varieties exhibiting desirable yield, taste, color, or stress-resistance characteristics, and farmer-to-farmer exchanges of seed embodying these traits. It was not until the mid-20th century that Ethiopia—like many other developing countries—developed a system based on modern science to breed improved teff cultivars, distribute improve teff seed, and accelerate the contribution of genetic gain to teff yield growth across the country’s smallholder farming systems. Today, these informal mechanisms still account for up to 90 percent of seed supply, with the modern infrastructure accounting for the remainder (Bishaw, Sahlu, and Simane 2008; Sahlu, Simane, and Bishaw 2008). This suggests that there are challenges still to be overcome in enhancing teff productivity—in increasing output per area, maintaining yield gains from prior investments in research, reducing yield variability within and across seasons, and increasing tolerance and resistance to biotic and abiotic stresses. Part of Ethiopia’s challenge relates to the fact that teff is a neglected species (more pejoratively referred to as an “orphan crop†). Teff is not cultivated extensively in any other country and is thus not a destination for public investment in breeding. Teff is not a food security crop of global importance and is thus not a priority crop in the international agricultural research system— unlike rice, wheat, and maize. Teff is, in effect, unable to benefit from research spillovers from public investment in national (until recently) and international plant breeding programs, international exchanges of germplasm, and modern seed supply systems.

Keywords: exports; seeds; teff; genetic variation; breeding; Ethiopia; Africa; Sub-Saharan Africa; Eastern Africa (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2018
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://hdl.handle.net/10568/145737

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:fpr:ifpric:9780896292833_04

Access Statistics for this chapter

More chapters in IFPRI book chapters from International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) Contact information at EDIRC.
Bibliographic data for series maintained by ().