Project Briefs

Promoting Quality Seed Uptake In Uganda

Background

The ISSD project baseline conducted in 2014 indicated that 11% of farmers obtained seed from the formal seed systems, with most of this being seed of maize and exotic vegetables. The project identified four major underlying causes of marginal quality seed use, including i) lack of awareness on availability of quality seed; ii) real or perceived lack of quality seed available at convenient locations; iii) lack of knowledge on the economic benefits of investing in quality seed; and iv) lack of cash to purchase quality seed.

Alongside its efforts to increase the availability of quality seed in farming communities through the Quality Declared Seed (QDS) system, the ISSD Plus project also set out to stimulate increased uptake of both certified seed and QDS within rural farming communities. This brief gives an account of the project’s efforts in this regard.