Knowledge Center Catalog

Women in the maize seed business in East and Southern Africa (Record no. 60525)

MARC details
000 -LEADER
fixed length control field 04968nam a22004217a 4500
001 - CONTROL NUMBER
control field 60525
003 - CONTROL NUMBER IDENTIFIER
control field MX-TxCIM
005 - DATE AND TIME OF LATEST TRANSACTION
control field 20231018155953.0
008 - FIXED-LENGTH DATA ELEMENTS--GENERAL INFORMATION
fixed length control field 190611s2019 mx ao||| |||| 00| 0 eng d
040 ## - CATALOGING SOURCE
Original cataloging agency MX-TxCIM
041 0# - LANGUAGE CODE
Language code of text/sound track or separate title eng
100 1# - MAIN ENTRY--PERSONAL NAME
Personal name Adam, R.I.
Field link and sequence number I1706908
Miscellaneous information Socioeconomics Program
9 (RLIN) 2710
245 10 - TITLE STATEMENT
Title Women in the maize seed business in East and Southern Africa
260 ## - PUBLICATION, DISTRIBUTION, ETC. (IMPRINT)
Place of publication, distribution, etc. Mexico :
Name of publisher, distributor, etc. CIMMYT,
Date of publication, distribution, etc. 2019.
300 ## - PHYSICAL DESCRIPTION
Extent ix, 37 pages
500 ## - GENERAL NOTE
General note Open Access
520 ## - SUMMARY, ETC.
Summary, etc. The maize seed sector in East and Southern Africa is male-dominated. Most seed companies operating in the region are owned and run by men. Often, access to land and financial capital is a constraint for women who are keen to invest in agriculture. However, there are women working in this sector who are breaking social barriers and helping to improve household food security, nutrition and livelihoods by providing jobs and improved seed varieties to farmers. The gender team within the CIMMYT Socioeconomics Program interviewed some of the women involved in the seed business in this region. Of the nine women we interviewed, only two own over 90% of the business. Most of the women profiled were playing an active leadership role in the business, spearheading key functions and overseeing the day to day operations. A report titled ‘Tanzania Early Generation Seed’ published by Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA) in 2016, indicates that women are poorly represented in ownership and upper level management of seed compa-nies. From the interviews, it emerged that more women are getting involved in their country’s seed trade associations, bringing a different perspective to seed policy conversations. This report foregrounds the contributions of women in the seed business. Even though the profiles are of women in leadership positions, the publication highlights the roles that both men and women play in the seed value chain. Women are involved in land preparation, manual planting, weeding, hand pollination, manual seed sorting and packaging. Men are also involved in the business, often doing more labor-intensive tasks like loading the seed processing machines and moving large volumes of seed. They also work alongside women in land preparation, weeding, cob selection and harvesting, but they are not involved in the detail-oriented and time-consuming task of seed sorting. The seed companies featured in the report shared the unique ways in which they market their stress-tolerant maize seed in a quest to reach smallholder farmers, especially women. These include using a mobile seed store, distributing branded marketing materials like maternity ward bed sheets and khangas (wraps), and working with female lead farmers who double as seed retailers in villages where there are no agro-dealers. The companies also promote their seed in places frequented by women such as markets. The businesswomen also shared the challenges that their companies face. Limited access to finance and seed processing machinery, societal bias towards women in business, inability to attract and retain skilled workers, and delayed payments are the key challenges highlighted by the interviewees. The report also highlights the support that the seed companies have received from CIMMYT. This includes germplasm, technical support and training in seed production from the seed systems and breeding teams, and training in gender and marketing from the socioeconomics team. Some of the companies have also received small grants for the promotion of seed products through demonstration plots and for the construction of a cold room for seed storage. This work was done under the auspices of the Stress Tolerant Maize for Africa (STMA) project, funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and USAID. The project is building on the success of previous initiatives, Drought Tolerant Maize in Africa (DTMA) and Improved Maize in African Soils (IMAS) that provided interventions to respond to challenges in the African maize seed systems.
546 ## - LANGUAGE NOTE
Language note Text in English
610 27 - SUBJECT ADDED ENTRY--CORPORATE NAME
9 (RLIN) 978
Corporate name or jurisdiction name as entry element Centro Internacional de Mejoramiento de Maiz y Trigo (CIMMYT)
650 #7 - SUBJECT ADDED ENTRY--TOPICAL TERM
Topical term or geographic name as entry element Maize
Miscellaneous information AGROVOC
Source of heading or term
9 (RLIN) 1173
650 #7 - SUBJECT ADDED ENTRY--TOPICAL TERM
Source of heading or term AGROVOC
9 (RLIN) 4570
Topical term or geographic name as entry element Women
650 #7 - SUBJECT ADDED ENTRY--TOPICAL TERM
Source of heading or term AGROVOC
9 (RLIN) 6899
Topical term or geographic name as entry element Seed industry
650 #7 - SUBJECT ADDED ENTRY--TOPICAL TERM
Topical term or geographic name as entry element Germplasm
Miscellaneous information AGROVOC
Source of heading or term
9 (RLIN) 1136
650 #7 - SUBJECT ADDED ENTRY--TOPICAL TERM
Source of heading or term AGROVOC
9 (RLIN) 1151
Topical term or geographic name as entry element Hybrids
650 #7 - SUBJECT ADDED ENTRY--TOPICAL TERM
Topical term or geographic name as entry element Breeding
Miscellaneous information AGROVOC
Source of heading or term
9 (RLIN) 1029
650 #7 - SUBJECT ADDED ENTRY--TOPICAL TERM
Source of heading or term AGROVOC
9 (RLIN) 1963
Topical term or geographic name as entry element Legumes
651 #7 - SUBJECT ADDED ENTRY--GEOGRAPHIC NAME
Source of heading or term AGROVOC
9 (RLIN) 4309
Geographic name Zambia
651 #7 - SUBJECT ADDED ENTRY--GEOGRAPHIC NAME
Source of heading or term AGROVOC
9 (RLIN) 9554
Geographic name Uganda
651 #7 - SUBJECT ADDED ENTRY--GEOGRAPHIC NAME
9 (RLIN) 4101
Geographic name United Republic of Tanzania
Miscellaneous information AGROVOC
651 #7 - SUBJECT ADDED ENTRY--GEOGRAPHIC NAME
Source of heading or term AGROVOC
9 (RLIN) 1319
Geographic name Malawi
651 #7 - SUBJECT ADDED ENTRY--GEOGRAPHIC NAME
Source of heading or term AGROVOC
9 (RLIN) 5297
Geographic name Mozambique
651 #7 - SUBJECT ADDED ENTRY--GEOGRAPHIC NAME
Source of heading or term AGROVOC
9 (RLIN) 3783
Geographic name Kenya
700 1# - ADDED ENTRY--PERSONAL NAME
9 (RLIN) 9553
Personal name Sipalla, F.
700 1# - ADDED ENTRY--PERSONAL NAME
9 (RLIN) 8425
Personal name Muindi, P.
700 0# - ADDED ENTRY--PERSONAL NAME
Personal name Kandiwa Vongai
Miscellaneous information Socioeconomics Program
-- Formerly Sustainable Agrifood Systems
Field link and sequence number INT3354
-- 001713773
9 (RLIN) 934
856 4# - ELECTRONIC LOCATION AND ACCESS
Link text Open Access through DSpace
Uniform Resource Identifier https://hdl.handle.net/10883/20141
942 ## - ADDED ENTRY ELEMENTS (KOHA)
Source of classification or shelving scheme Dewey Decimal Classification
Koha item type Report
Suppress in OPAC No
Holdings
Date last seen Total Checkouts Price effective from Koha item type Lost status Source of classification or shelving scheme Damaged status Not for loan Collection code Withdrawn status Home library Current library Date acquired
06/11/2019   06/11/2019 Report Not Lost Dewey Decimal Classification     CIMMYT Publications Collection   CIMMYT Knowledge Center: John Woolston Library CIMMYT Knowledge Center: John Woolston Library 06/11/2019

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