Farmer-to-farmer seed supply: Case study of pigeonpea seed distribution in Kenya

In the semi-arid Makueni district in Kenya, smallholder farmers traditionally intercrop their staple cereal with long-duration pigeonpea. Short-duration pigeonpea varieties developed by ICRISAT and the Kenya Agricultural Research Institute can give high yields and escape drought, but require non-traditional management practices (e.g., sole-cropping, spraying against insect pests). Field day demonstrations generated considerable interest in these short-duration varieties, particularly among groups of women farmers. A woman farmer who had successfully grown the new varieties, and was a member of a women's group herself started to multiply and sell seed. She distributed some seed free, as a promotional effort, and provided free agronomic advice to all customers. Adoption of short-duration pigeonpea in the region has been encouraging. Demand for seed is increasing, as a result of these promotional efforts and efforts by ICRISAT to introduce and popularize improved pigeonpea processing and utilization techniques.