Almekinders Conny Jm, Ronner Esther, van Heerwaarden Joost
Knowledge, Technology and Innovation Group, Wageningen University & Research, Wageningen, Netherlands.
Plant Production Systems, Wageningen University & Research, Wageningen, Netherlands.
Outlook Agric. 2020 Mar;49(1):29-38. doi: 10.1177/0030727020907646. Epub 2020 Mar 4.
Many interventions are assuming that introduced seeds diffuse. However, the details of this diffusion among farmers are poorly understood. This article presents data from eight sites in four on the diffusion of seed and associated information given to farmers involved in N2Africa's demonstration trials. The study showed that 2-3 years after the trials had been organised, more than 90% of the farmers who had participating in the trial activities and were given a seed-input package with 1-5 kg of legume seed had shared this seed, on average with four other farmers. The farmers who received this seed from these directly involved farmers shared their seed less frequently. Eighty per cent of all the seed sharings were of 1-2 kg of seed given as a gift. Only 5% of the sharings involved a cash transaction. More than half of the seed sharings were with family members and around a third were between friends. Men shared at least as often as women and both men and women shared most with persons of their own sex. Information about rhizobium as an associated input for soya was shared by more than one-third of farmers, almost exclusively by farmers who had participated in the demonstration trials themselves. Extrapolation of data suggest that in addition to the 250,000 farmers who participated directly in the N2Africa demonstration trials, another 1,400,000 farmers may have received seed of a new legume crop or variety. The results show that knowing about the character of the seed sharing mechanisms may offer opportunities to influence the diffusion of seeds. Providing farmers with somewhat larger amounts of seeds, emphasise the importance of sharing seeds and information with relatives and friends could be an important factor in achieving a high multiplier effect.
许多干预措施都假定引进的种子会扩散。然而，对于这种在农民之间扩散的具体情况却知之甚少。本文展示了来自四个地区八个地点的数据，内容涉及向参与N2Africa示范试验的农民发放种子及相关信息的扩散情况。研究表明，在试验组织开展两到三年后，参与试验活动并获得1 - 5千克豆类种子投入包的农民中，超过90%的人平均已将这些种子分享给了另外四位农民。从这些直接参与的农民那里获得种子的农民分享种子的频率较低。所有种子分享中，80%是赠送1 - 2千克种子。只有5%的分享涉及现金交易。超过一半的种子分享是与家庭成员进行的，约三分之一是在朋友之间。男性分享种子的频率至少与女性相同，而且男性和女性大多是与同性分享。超过三分之一的农民分享了关于根瘤菌作为大豆相关投入物的信息，几乎都是那些自己参与了示范试验的农民。数据推断表明，除了直接参与N2Africa示范试验的25万农民外，可能还有140万农民收到了新豆类作物或品种的种子。结果表明，了解种子分享机制的特点可能会为影响种子扩散提供机会。向农民提供数量稍多的种子，强调与亲戚朋友分享种子和信息的重要性，可能是实现高倍增效应的一个重要因素。
