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An assessment of the vitamin A maize seed delivery efforts to date: Agro-dealer sales and farmer production in Zambia
HarvestPlus leads a global effort to improve nutrition and public health by developing and deploying staple food crops that are rich in vitamins and minerals. We work with diverse partners in more than 40 countries. HarvestPlus is part of the CGIAR Research Program on Agriculture for Nutrition and Health (A4NH). CGIAR is a global agriculture research partnership for a food secure future. Its science is carried out by its 15 research centers in collaboration with hundreds of partner organizations. The HarvestPlus program is coordinated by two of these centers, the International Center for Tropical Agriculture (CIAT) and the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI).
Michael Tedla Diressie, Esther Zulu, Melinda Smale, Eliab Simpungwe and Ekin Birol
August 2016 Washington, DC
I
Acknowledgements
We are grateful to Scaling Up Nutrition (SUN) – Zambia for funding this study. We would like to thank
CARE International for facilitating SUN FUNDs to undertake this research. We are grateful to the
Programme Against Malnutrition (PAM), Ministry of Agriculture & Livestock of Zambia, and other
partners for their support and co-operation during the research process. We thank Dorene Asare-Marfo,
Jose Funes, Caitlin Herrington, Adewale Oparinde, Ina Schonberg and Manfred Zeller for their
comments, suggestions and fruitful discussions. We are grateful to the HarvestPlus-Zambia team for
their time and support and to the enumeration team and field supervisors for all their meticulous and
hard work. Last, but not least, we would like to thank the farmers and agro-dealers for taking their time
to participate in the study surveys. All errors are our own and do not reflect the institutional views of
SUN or HarvestPlus.
II
Contents
Acknowledgements ................................................................... I
List of Tables ......................................................................... III
List of Figures ........................................................................ III
List of Appendices ................................................................... IV
Executive Summary ................................................................... V
1. Introduction ......................................................................... 1
2. Data and Methodology ............................................................. 3
2.1 Agro-dealer Survey ......................................................................... 3
2.2 Farm Household Survey ................................................................... 5
3. Data Collection Problems ......................................................... 8
4. Results and Discussion ............................................................. 9
4.1 Agro-dealer Survey ......................................................................... 9
4.1.1 VAM Agro-dealers’ Characteristics ....................................................... 9
4.1.2 Marketing Statistics of VAM Seed ........................................................ 10
4.1.3 Packaging and Promotion of VAM Seed ................................................. 12
4.2 Farm Household Survey ................................................................. 14
4.2.1 Household Characteristics ................................................................ 14
4.2.2 Asset Possession and Wealth of Farmers ............................................... 16
4.2.3 Crop Production and Consumption ...................................................... 19
4.2.4 Maize Production and Consumption ..................................................... 19
4.2.5 VAM Production ............................................................................ 22
4.2.6 Evaluation of VAM Seed ................................................................... 26
4.2.7 Intention to Grow VAM in the Following Season ....................................... 27
4.2.8 Information and Knowledge of VAM ..................................................... 29
4.2.9 Marketing and Promotion of VAM ........................................................ 31
4.2.10 Diffusion of VAM ............................................................................ 33
5. Summary of Key Findings and Programmatic Implications ................. 33
6. Concluding Remarks ............................................................. 37
References ........................................................................... 39
Appendix ............................................................................. 40
III
List of Tables
Table 1. Distribution of the farmer survey respondents, by delivery channel and district .......... 8
Table 2. Household characteristics ........................................................................ 14
Table 3. Household level average income and land size ................................................ 17
Table 4. Land area share of the crops cultivated by district ........................................... 19
Table 5. Production and yield of maize in 2014/15 Rainy Season ..................................... 20
Table 6. Source and frequency of purchase of maize for consumption ............................... 21
Table 7. Percentage of farmers by the crops they replaced VAM with, by district ................. 24
Table 8. Production and yield of VAM in 2014/15 Rainy Season for VAM recipients ................ 25
Table 9. Intended customers and place of sale of VAM crop ........................................... 25
Table 10. Farmers’ seed acquisition and willingness to pay for VAM in the coming season ....... 28
Table 11. Comparison of the willingness to pay of farmers who received the VAM seed for free versus who bought from agro-dealers, in ZMW..................................... 29
Table 12. Satisfaction with VAM seed bags and promotional materials, by delivery channel ..... 32
List of Figures
Figure 1. Location of the agro-dealers interviewed ..................................................... 4
Figure 2. Map of the study area with the number of observations (Eastern Province, Zambia) .. 6
Figure 3. Planned sample size and actual sample size by channels and districts ................... 6
Figure 4. Distribution of the VAM seed recipients who participated in the farm household survey, by delivery channel ..................................................................... 8
Figure 5. Total amount received and sold in metric tons (sales rate in parentheses) ........... 10
Figure 6. Wholesale and retail prices in Zambian Kwacha (ZMW) (profit margin in parentheses) .................................................................................... 11
Figure 7. ZamSeed VAM seed packs ...................................................................... 13
Figure 8. Female decision makers on issues related to land and maize farming .................. 16
Figure 9. Possession of assets............................................................................. 16
Figure 10. Comparison of wealth between recipients and non-recipients of VAM ................ 18
Figure 11. Comparison of wealth by VAM delivery channel .......................................... 18
Figure 12. Average household land share allocated to maize ........................................ 20
Figure 13. Source of maize seed cultivated on the plots ............................................. 20
Figure 14. Percentage of seed bag recipients and average amount received for each bag ..... 22
Figure 15. Average household VAM area to total maize area share ................................. 23
Figure 16. Land source for VAM cultivation............................................................. 23
Figure 17. Time of acquisition and harvest of VAM .................................................... 24
Figure 18. Comparison of VAM traits to those of the white maize variety farmers are familiar with ................................................................................... 26
IV
Figure 19. Source of VAM seed planned to be planted in the 2015/16 Rainy Season ............. 27
Figure 20. Comparison of farmers’ willingness-to-pay with actual retail price, in ZMW ......... 28
Figure 21. Reasons for cultivation of VAM .............................................................. 29
Figure 22. Farmers’ knowledge on the benefits of vitamin A ........................................ 30
Figure 23. Sources of information about VAM, by VAM seed source ................................ 31
Figure 24. Satisfaction with VAM seed bags and promotional materials ........................... 31
Figure 25. Recommendation and diffusion of VAM seed .............................................. 33
List of Appendices
Appendix 1. List of agro-dealers interviewed ......................................................... 40
Appendix 2. Number of seed bags received and sold by province .................................. 41
Appendix 3. Average household total arable land, total maize land and total VAM land, in ha ......................................................................................... 42
Appendix 4. Land area share of the crops cultivated by district and VAM recipients ........... 42
Appendix 5. Average household land possession and allocation of the VAM recipients versus non-recipients ...................................................................... 42
Appendix 6. Differences in average household land size used to cultivate VAM vs. non-VAM varieties, in ha ............................................................................. 43
Appendix 7. Differences in average household yields of VAM vs. non-VAM varieties, in MT/ha .................................................................................... 43
Appendix 8. Cross-tabulation of intended customers and place of sale of VAM crop ........... 43
Appendix 9. Farmers’ knowledge on the benefits of vitamin A .................................... 44
Appendix 10. Agro-dealers’ Survey Instrument ....................................................... 44
Appendix 11. Farm Household Survey Instrument .................................................... 49
V
Executive Summary
Micronutrient malnutrition affects over two billion individuals, or one in three people, globally (Brian
and Amoroso 2011). The international nutrition community recognizes vitamin A, iron, and zinc to be
the micronutrients that are most limited in diets (Black, et al. 2013). According to the World Health
Organization (WHO), vitamin A deficiency (VAD) causes blindness in children and increases the risk of
disease and death from severe infections; in pregnant women, it causes night blindness and may
increase the risk of maternal mortality. In Zambia, more than half of children aged under 5 and 13 percent
of women of child-bearing age are affected by VAD (UNICEF n.d.). The Government of Zambia is
committed to reducing the prevalence of VAD through targeted supplementation and fortification.
Large-dosage supplements of vitamin A are administered to children under 5 during child health weeks,
and industrially processed sugar is fortified with vitamin A.
Since 2012, biofortification has come to complement fortification and supplementation in the effort to
alleviate VAD in the country. The development, release, and delivery of conventionally bred, hybrid,
vitamin A-enriched maize varieties—henceforth vitamin A maize (VAM)—is expected to improve
vitamin A intakes through the most commonly grown and consumed staple crop in the country. The
VAM development and delivery efforts are spearheaded by HarvestPlus, the global leader in
biofortification, in close collaboration with: CIMMYT; the Government of Zambia through the ministries
of Agriculture, Health, Education and Community Development; the private seed sector, and various
non-governmental organizations (NGOs) in the country. Since the official release of three hybrid VAM
varieties in 2012, HarvestPlus has been working with partners to scale up seed delivery, with operations
in 8 of the country’s 10 provinces as of May 2016.
To effectively promote VAM and to engender behavior change toward its production and consumption,
HarvestPlus and partners have been working to create a VAM value chain that runs from seed
companies, which produce high quality hybrid VAM seeds, to agro-dealers (retail outlets). In the
2014/2015 growing season, the first VAM variety (GV664A) was commercialized through ZamSeed in
Eastern, Central, Southern, Western and Lusaka provinces, with agro-dealers selling the seed to farmers.
In the same growing season, VAM seed was also distributed free of charge in a promotion targeting
women’s groups, lead farmers, schools and health centers in Eastern, Southern, Central and Lusaka
provinces.
This report presents the results of two surveys conducted during the 2014/2015 growing season. The
first of these surveys was conducted to determine the perceptions and coverage of agro-dealers. Thirty-
one agro-dealers who received VAM seed from ZamSeed took part in this survey. They were located in
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Eastern, Southern, Central, Luapula and Northern provinces. The second survey was conducted among
483 maize farmers, 243 of whom grew VAM seed acquired through various delivery channels (agro-
dealers, women’s groups, lead farmers, schools, and health centers). Implemented in the Eastern
Province, where all of the aforementioned delivery channels were used, the aim of this survey was to
understand the factors that affect adoption of VAM and farmers’ intentions to grow the variety in
subsequent seasons. In this report, we present the results of the descriptive statistical analysis
conducted with STATA.
The results of the agro-dealer survey reveal that in order to increase VAM seed sales, (1) both farmers
and the public in general should be better informed about the nutritional benefits of VAM (i.e., need for
raising awareness and behavior change communication), and (2) seed companies should ensure timely
delivery of VAM seed to agro-dealers, and consider making the seed available in smaller pack sizes (i.e.
0.5 kg, 1 kg, 2 kg and 5 kg). The results revealed that less than 50 percent of the VAM seed delivered to
agro-dealers was sold, implying a low sales rate. To improve sales, agro-dealers indicated the need for
sensitization and promotional activities, such as distributing free small trial packs, colorful flyers and
posters, and community radio programs, in addition to providing incentives (e.g. other agricultural
inputs) to farmers. Overall, the agro-dealers were strongly optimistic about VAM’s prospects for large
scale adoption in Zambia, provided that demand for grain is guaranteed higher up in the value chain.
The agro-dealers recommended investment in demand-pull mechanisms, such as the Food Reserve
Agency (FRA) and commercial millers, to ensure that they purchase VAM from farmers. Since 2015,
HarvestPlus and FRA have been working to get VAM included in the latter’s maize acquisition program.
Moreover, the AgResults initiative, of which HarvestPlus is a partner, is working with medium- and large-
scale industrial millers to process and supply VAM products in commercial markets (AgResults 2016).
The farmer survey revealed several interesting results: (1) within households interviewed, both men and
women are involved in decision making concerning maize production. Therefore, it is important to
ensure that information and behavior change communication efforts target both sexes; (2) co-operatives
and women’s groups are major sources of information for both recipients and non-recipients of VAM
seed; thus, these groups could function as important vehicles to spread information about VAM; (3)
among sampled farmers, the most common sources of maize seed were co-operatives and their own,
recycled seed. Since not all farmers can be reached through the private seed system and agro-dealers,
demo packs as well as larger quantities of VAM seed should continue to be distributed through co-
operatives and women’s groups; (4) sampled farmers stated that they considered the nutritional benefit
of VAM when deciding whether to grow the crop. They also expressed an inclination toward the
nutritional over the agronomic benefits such as yield, maturity, and disease resistance. Ninety-eight
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percent (98 percent) of the VAM seed recipients indicated that they planted all the received seed, with
more than 80 percent citing the nutritional benefit as their primary reason. Any behavior change
communication on VAM should, therefore, emphasize the nutritional benefit message in order to be
effective; (5) asked to compare VAM’s production and consumption traits against the white maize
familiar to them, respondents preferred VAM over the latter in regard to taste and resistance to drought,
and white maize in regard to market sales. This echoed the findings of the agro-dealer survey, which
highlighted the market imperative for VAM grain if farmers are to adopt the variety; (6) over half (55
percent) of the sampled farmers were not happy with the VAM seed bag sizes offered by agro-dealers.
Farmers stated that they were willing to pay more for smaller packages of VAM, re-emphasizing the need
for different-sized packages (especially small trial sizes) as also expressed by agro-dealers, and finally
(7) those who received VAM seed through channels other than agro-dealers had a significantly higher
wealth status than those who did not receive the seed. This indicates the need to re-evaluate targeting
criteria for the distribution of free promotional packs to ensure that poorer households—which are more
likely to suffer from vitamin A deficiency—are reached. HarvestPlus works with the Ministry of
Agriculture’s Extension Services, which is responsible for determining recipients of free promotional
packs. Generally, free promotional packs are distributed through farmers’ groups of some sort, e.g.
cooperatives, and poorer households rarely actively participate in such groups.
Overall, the results of the two surveys indicate that as a result of its nutritional value, VAM has the
potential to be cultivated at scale in Zambia. Once this is the case, a significant reduction in vitamin A
deficiency is expected. In fact, an ex-ante impact assessment study conducted by HarvestPlus revealed
that with the optimistic assumptions of 60 percent replacement of white maize by VAM containing 15
parts per million (ppm) of vitamin A, target populations’ intake of the micronutrient can increase by
47.1 percent by 2042. That would be enough to reduce the percentage of children under 5 suffering from
vitamin A deficiency from 54.1 percent in 2010 to 13 percent in 2042. Therefore, it is important that VAM
seed development and delivery, promotion and demand creation activities, are implemented throughout
the country (including in the urban areas which can function as demand-pull). This report provides some
insights on how best to maximize VAM adoption and consumption outcomes to alleviate VAD in
Zambia.
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1. Introduction
Micronutrient malnutrition affects over two billion individuals, or one in three people, globally (Brian
and Amoroso 2011). The international nutrition community recognizes vitamin A, iron, and zinc to be
the micronutrients that are most limiting in diets (Black, et al. 2013). According to the World Health
Organization (WHO), vitamin A deficiency (VAD) prevails in more than half of all countries globally,
especially those in Africa and South-East Asia. VAD affects vulnerable populations, particularly young
children and pregnant women. It causes preventable blindness in children, and increases the risk of
disease and death from severe infections; in pregnant women, VAD causes night blindness and may
increase the risk of maternal mortality (WHO 2016). WHO (2016) further estimates that globally 250
million preschool children are vitamin A deficient. Some 250,000 to 500,000 vitamin A deficient
children become blind every year, half of them dying within 12 months of losing their sight (WHO 2016).
According to the latest available nationally representative data related to Zambia, the prevalence of low
serum retinol concentration (<0.70 μmol/L) is 54 percent among preschool children aged 6 to 59
months and 13 percent among women of child bearing age (MOST, et al. 2003); (WHO 2009). The
prevalence of high VAD among children is significantly above the WHO threshold of 20 percent that
defines VAD as a severe public health problem (WHO 2009) . In order to tackle high VAD rates, targeted
interventions including large-dose vitamin A supplementation and fortification of sugar with vitamin A
(UNICEF n.d.) (World Bank n.d.) have been implemented. According to the World Bank (n.d) report,
Zambia has achieved high rates of vitamin A supplementation as part of the child health weeks, with 96
percent of children aged 6–59 months receiving the recommended two doses approximately six months
apart. The coverage of fortified sugar is also high, at 64 percent (Lividini and Fiedler 2015). Despite its
high coverage, however, supplementation requires annual investment and may not reach children
located in the most remote areas of the country. For its part, vitamin A fortified sugar is consumed
mainly in urban areas and/or by people who have regular access to market-purchased foods, such as
processed sugar.
A promising solution to alleviating VAD, especially among rural poor households not covered by other
interventions, is biofortification—the process of breeding staple food crops with higher micronutrient
content (Bouis, et al. 2013); (Saltzman, et al. 2013). Because food staples are consumed regularly in
large quantities, biofortification is an efficient and cost-effective way of bringing more micronutrients to
the diets of the poor (Birol, et al. 2014). Accounting for 57 percent of Zambians’ daily caloric
consumption and grown by over four out of five smallholders (Sitko, et al. 2011), maize is the main
staple crop in Zambia. The Biofortification Priority Index (BPI)—which ranks countries for
biofortification interventions based on their production and consumption of target crops and the rate
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of micronutrient deficiency among target populations—places Zambia at number three among country
suitable for the introduction of vitamin A-enriched orange maize (henceforth vitamin a maize or VAM)
(HarvestPlus/BPI 2015).
Nutrition and acceptance research on VAM has yielded promising results. White maize varieties
commonly consumed in Zambia do not contain any beta-carotene, a naturally occurring plant pigment
that the body converts to vitamin A. VAM varieties are bred to have higher levels of beta-carotene, and
hence are orange in color (VAM is often called orange maize). Studies have found that the beta-carotene
in VAM is an efficacious source of vitamin A when consumed as a staple food (Gannon, et al. 2014).
Studies conducted with maize consumers (Meenakshi, et al. 2012) and farmers (Chibwe, et al. 2013)
revealed positive acceptability for the various consumption (e.g., taste, color, aroma, appearance,
texture) and production (e.g., yield, cob size, and cob-filling) traits of VAM varieties, and that, overall,
consumers and farmers liked VAM varieties as much as, if not more than, white maize varieties.
Since 2007 HarvestPlus and its partners Zambia Agricultural Research Institute (ZARI), IITA, and
CIMMYT have been working to develop, test, and officially release conventionally bred (non-GMO),
hybrid varieties of VAM. In 2012, three VAM hybrids were officially released for production by farmers.
Since then, HarvestPlus and its various public, private and non-governmental organization (NGO)
partners have been working to scale up the delivery of VAM. Currently, HarvestPlus operates in eight
out of the ten key maize growing provinces in the country, collaborating closely with the Government of
Zambia (through the ministries of Agriculture, Health, Education, and Community Development), three
private seed companies (ZamSeed, Seed Co, Kamano Seed) and several local and international NGOs
(Development Aid from People to People, Land O’Lakes, World Vision, Programme Against
Malnutrition). To effectively promote VAM, HarvestPlus has been working toward the creation of a VAM
value chain beginning with seed companies, which produce high quality hybrid VAM seed and deliver it
to farmers through agro-dealers, all the way up to the millers that process grain. To demonstrate its
appreciation and acceptance of VAM as a potential intervention against VAD, the Zambian Government
has included the variety’s seed under the Farm Input Subsidy Programme (FISP) that provides inputs
to farmers at subsidized rates. HarvestPlus continues to play a coordinating role to lobby the
Government to include VAM grain under the Food Reserve Agency’s1 procurements. Moreover, through
the pilot AgResults Initiative, HarvestPlus is working with partners to create demand for VAM among
commercial millers.
1 The Food Reserve Agency (FRA) is a government initiative created to ensure national food security through provision of market access to rural based small holder farmers and to stabilize supply and price of food (FRA 2016). It is the largest buyer of maize grain produced by small holder farmers (CUTS 2016).
3
In the 2014/2015 growing season, commercial seed of the first variety of VAM (GV664A) was produced
by ZamSeed and sold to farmers through select agro-dealers in the Eastern, Central, Southern, Western
and Lusaka provinces. In the same season, VAM seed was also distributed through other channels,
including women’s groups, lead farmers, schools, and health centers. As part of the AgResults initiative,
millers have also joined the “Orange Revolution” by agreeing to process the harvested VAM grain into
different products such as mealie meal, samp, and maize grit. In the past four years, HarvestPlus and
partners have been developing and implementing a number of promotional strategies to raise
awareness and disseminate information about the benefits of producing and consuming VAM. Those
strategies have, among others, involved exhibiting VAM seed and products at various forums, including
the Zambia National Agriculture show, the Zambia International Trade Fair, and various other similar
fairs around the country. HarvestPlus has also been disseminating brochures, flyers, posters and t-shirts
containing information on VAM.
Following five years of adaptive breeding, four years of intensive promotion, and the large-scale delivery
undertaken in the 2014/2015 planting season, it is imperative to take stock of the effect and the
effectiveness of these various interventions. This report presents the results of two surveys conducted
for this purpose: (1) an agro-dealer survey which aims to elicit agro-dealers’ point of view with regards
to farmers’ interest in, and demand for, VAM, and how to maximize these with effective promotion
campaigns and incentive schemes, and (2) a farm household survey which aims to shed light on various
issues, including the factors that affect farmer adoption of VAM; farmers’ feedback on the various
production, consumption and marketing traits of VAM compared with white maize; farmers’ use of VAM
output, farmer diffusion of information about VAM, and farmer intention to grow VAM in subsequent
seasons.
The rest of the report is organized as follows: the next section presents the data sources, data collection
methodology, and data limitations, followed by a presentation of the surveys’ results. The concluding
section summarizes the key findings and draws out their implications for crop development (breeding),
delivery, and promotion strategies implemented by HarvestPlus and its partners.
2. Data and Methodology
2.1 Agro-dealer Survey
A survey of agro-dealers who received VAM seed from ZamSeed for the 2014-2015 planting season was
conducted2 from March 25 to May 8, 2015 in Eastern, Southern, Central, Luapula and Northern
2 See Appendix 10 for the survey instrument.
4
provinces. Since VAM is a new (and differentiated, due to its orange color) variety on the market,
ZamSeed selected the most prominent agro-dealers in each province through whom to distribute VAM
seed. Out of the 35 agro-dealers who sold VAM seed in that season, 31 were able to participate in the
study, with 15 from Eastern Province, four from Southern Province, eight from Central Province, three
from Northern Province, and one from Luapula Province. In Eastern Province, the interviewed agro-
dealers were located in Chipata, Katete, Nyimba, Petauke, Lundazi, and Sinda districts. In Southern
Province, the interviewed agro-dealers were from Kalomo, Choma and Monze districts. In Central
Province, the interviewed agro-dealers were in Kabwe, Kapiri, Serenje and Mkushi Districts. In Northern
Province, the interviewed agro-dealers were located in Isoka, Chinsali and Nakonde districts, and in
Luapula Province, the lone interviewed agro-dealer was from Mansa District (Figure 1 and Appendix 1).
Figure 1. Location of the agro-dealers interviewed
In order to be able to follow up with farmers who purchase VAM seed, it was planned that ZamSeed
train the agro-dealers to keep comprehensive bill books listing the names and addresses of their buyers.
According to the results of the agro-dealer survey, however, only the agro-dealers in Eastern Province
were trained to keep a bill book. But, even among the trained agro-dealers, not all kept bill books for the
reason that recording such information required close attention and time, which they found hard to
5
spare during a busy business day. This resulted in a less-than-complete list of VAM seed purchasers
from agro-dealers.
2.2 Farm Household Survey
The farmer survey was carried out to assess recipients’ evaluation of VAM seed, and VAM seed delivery,
marketing and promotion strategies, and to elicit their intention to grow VAM in subsequent seasons.
The survey was also designed to capture non-recipients’ of VAM characteristics. It was conducted in
Eastern Province only, since it is the only province where contact details of farmers who purchased VAM
seed were available from agro-dealers. Initially, the study team expected to draw a sample of farmers
who purchased VAM seed from bill books kept by all 15 agro-dealers in this province. However, the team
found that agro-dealers in only 3 of the 6 districts in Eastern Province (namely, Chipata, Katete and
Sinda) had kept bill books. The study, therefore, concentrated on these three districts, where VAM was
also delivered through other channels, such as lead farmers, women’s groups, schools/health centers.
Lead farmers are those who are usually considered to be model farmers in a community in terms of
adopting novel technologies and producing high performing crops. They are selected by camp extension
officers, and receive new technologies, such as improved seeds, to try when they are being introduced.
Their fields are then used during field days as demonstration plots to show the new technology to other
farmers in the community. These lead farmers received a 1 kg VAM seed bag each. Women’s groups
comprise women (and in some instances, a few men) who form a co-operative. Different women’s
groups have different practices: some farm together (i.e., share labor); others form a co-operative in
order to purchase seed and fertilizer as a group and thereby reduce input costs. Women’s group farmers
received a 5 kg VAM seed bag each. The farmers given seeds through schools and health centers were
either parents or guardians of orphaned or half-orphaned school children and those who had children
under five years of age. They received a VAM demo pack, which is 0.5 kg. All of these channels delivered
the VAM seed for free.
A total of 288 VAM seed recipients were randomly selected to be interviewed from the lists collected in
the three districts. The lists were compiled by the HarvestPlus Zambia Monitoring, Learning and Action
team and contained information on the farmers who received VAM seed through all different delivery
channels. The sample was stratified by delivery channel to ensure similar stratum sizes across each of
the four channels. All 38 of the farmers listed by agro-dealers in the three districts were sampled, as were
100 lead farmers, 100 women’s groups, and 50 farmers who received VAM seed through schools and
health centers. A lower quota was assigned to the farmers who received seed from schools and health
centers due to the lower amount (o.5 kg) in the demo packs. In addition to these 288 VAM seed
6
recipients and purchasers (henceforth referred to as recipients), 250 farmers who did not receive VAM
seed were also sampled. These farmers were selected through a snowball matching process. For each
farmer who was selected per the free delivery channels in each village, a farmer who did not
receive/purchase VAM seed was also selected. Figure 2 shows the distribution of the respondents
sampled, by district, and Figure 3 shows the distribution of sampled and interviewed farmers by district,
VAM recipient status, and delivery channel.
Figure 2. Map of the study area with the number of observations (Eastern Province, Zambia)
Figure 3. Planned sample size and actual sample size by channels and districts
Lundazi
Mambwe
Petauke
Nyimba
Chadiza
7
The enumeration team consisted of six enumerators and a supervisor. Training of enumerators took
place in Lusaka from August 4 to August 10. Data collection lasted about three weeks, from August 12
through September 2, 2015. A farm household-level survey instrument (see Appendix 11) was
administered to the sampled households. It had five different versions (one for each delivery channel
and one for non-recipients) and included questions on household demographics, assets and income,
and several questions on maize production, varietal choice, access to inputs (in particular maize seed)
and sources of information about new technologies. VAM recipients were also asked questions to
understand their evaluation of the VAM variety and their intention to grow it in the future.
Even though the total sample selected comprised 538 farmers, 483 participated in the survey (about 90
percent response rate). Since the non-VAM recipients were matched to the recipients, the decline in the
number of respondents should be attributed to the attrition of VAM recipients. Out of the sample that
was initially drawn, 8 percent of the farmers who received VAM seed through channels other than agro-
dealers, and 66 percent of the farmers who were listed by the agro-dealers, could not be traced. This is
mainly due to the incorrect recording of the names and/or addresses of the recipients/purchasers. Some
of the farmers could not be located because they had moved away, while some who had been recorded
as having received VAM seed stated that they had not received any. In fact, the attrition rate would have
been higher had it not been for the replacement farmers from a backup sample that was drawn from the
master list. The descriptive statistical analyses of the agro-dealer and farmer survey data were carried
out using STATA3.
3 STATA codes are available from authors upon request.
8
Table 1 shows the distribution of respondents by district while Figure 4 shows the ratio of respondents
from each delivery channel. It should be noted that these figures represent the sampled farmers and not
all maize growing farmers in these districts.
Table 1. Distribution of the farmer survey respondents, by delivery channel and district
Respondent category District
Total (n=483) Chipata
(n=121) Katete
(n=238) Sinda
(n=124)
Women groups 7% 27% 23% 21% Demo packs (Schools & Health Centers) 9% 7% 12% 9% A lead farmer 29% 13% 15% 18% Bought from agro-dealers 7% 2% 1% 3% Didn't get it at all 48% 51% 48% 50%
100% 100% 100% 100% n=number of households
Figure 4. Distribution of the VAM seed recipients who participated in the farm household survey, by delivery channel
3. Data Collection Problems
The study encountered a few challenges, including the following major ones:
• Not all agro-dealers collected the contact information of the farmers who bought VAM seed.
The names and/or locations of listed farmers were not always correctly/completely entered.
• Similarly, the lists for the other delivery channels (lead farmers, women’s groups, and
schools/health clinics) were also incomplete, and name and/or location information was not
always complete/correct.
Lead farmer29%
Women groups29%
School25%
Health center12%
From agro-dealers5%
9
• The rate of attrition was high, due to the fact that some selected VAM seed recipients had either
moved away from their recorded location or their listed location was incorrect. Farmers who
could not be located were replaced, however the overall sample is 56 observations fewer than
planned.
These sampling challenges could have introduced a selection bias into our results to the extent that
farmers who were included in the sample were systematically different from those who were excluded.
Without additional information, it is difficult to deduce whether errors are likely to be random or
systematic and, if systematic, which farmer characteristics are most likely to differentiate VAM recipients
included in the study from those who were excluded. The fact that only three districts of Eastern Province
are included in this study clearly limits representation geographically. Moreover, given the sampling
constraints arising from incomplete lists of VAM recipients, even within these districts the results
should be treated as illustrative but not necessarily statistically representative of all VAM seed recipient
or non-recipient households.
4. Results and Discussion
4.1 Agro-dealer Survey
4.1.1 VAM Agro-dealers’ Characteristics
The agro-dealer survey results showed that on average agro-dealers had 9 years of experience in running
an agro-dealer outlet, with a maximum of 30 and a minimum of 2 years of experience. Men owned about
74 percent of the agro-dealer shops, which indicates that the business is male dominated. Regarding
knowledge of VAM, 42 percent of the agro-dealers interviewed knew about VAM seed before they
received it from ZamSeed. In fact, for the majority of the agro-dealers, ZamSeed was their main source
of information regarding VAM, followed by radio programs and the Ministry of Agriculture. Most of the
agro-dealers knew the nutritional benefits of VAM: 55 percent stated that the variety contains vitamin A,
while 29 percent mentioned nutritional benefits in general without specifying vitamin A. Only 10 percent
did not have a clear understanding of the nutritional benefits of VAM.
ZamSeed distributes seeds of different maize varieties at the beginning of each farming season. Usually,
agro-dealers request specific varieties that are popular or demanded by their clientele, and this varies by
region. For the 2014/15 maize planting season (Rainy Season, which runs from October to April), about
71 percent of the agro-dealers interviewed had not requested VAM seed. ZamSeed distributed this variety
to the agro-dealers to be sold as a new variety. Twenty-six (26) percent of the surveyed agro-dealers had
received VAM seed upon request based on farmers’ demand. The remaining 3 percent of the
10
respondents could not remember whether they had requested the seed or whether ZamSeed had
delivered it to them without request.
4.1.2 Marketing Statistics of VAM Seed
Agro-dealers in each province received VAM seed in one or more of the following sized bags: 0.5, 1, 2, 5
or 10 kilograms. Agro-dealers in different provinces had different sales rates for each VAM seed bag size
(see Appendix 2). According to Appendix 2, Luapula Province had the highest sales rates for 2, 5 and 10
kilogram bags of VAM seed, recording a 100 percent sales rate. A contributing factor might have been
the small amount of seed the agro-dealers in the province received. Central Province, the only province
where 0.5 kilogram seed bags were distributed, sold all the bags of this size. The province also had the
second highest sales rate of both 2 kilogram and 10 kilogram seed bags. Southern Province recorded a
sales rate of 62 percent for 5 kilogram bags. Eastern and Northern provinces recorded sales rates of 29
percent and 32 percent, respectively for a 5 kilogram bag of VAM seed. However, it should be noted that
some provinces had higher sales rates for specific bag sizes because of the amount of seed bag they
received. Provinces that received more bags of seed might exhibit a lower sales rate albeit higher sales
in nominal terms. For instance, Eastern Province received the highest number of each of the bag sizes
distributed since more of its agro-dealers were selling VAM seed (see Appendix 2). Figure 5 compares
the overall sales rate, depicting the total amounts of VAM seed received and sold in.
Figure 5 shows that Eastern Province received the largest quantity of seed but had the second lowest
sales rates. Luapula on the other hand received the smallest quantity of seed but had the highest sales
rate. Out of the seed distributed to all of the interviewed agro-dealers in these provinces, less than half
(48 percent) was sold. The remaining seed was returned to ZamSeed as carryover seed. This seed will
undergo quality control tests just before the next maize planting season and, if it passes, will be returned
to the agro-dealers.
Figure 5. Total amount received and sold in metric tons (sales rate in parentheses)
0.7
1.5
2.7
2.1
0.20.2
0.9 1.01.2
0.2
Northern(25%)
Southern(62%)
Eastern(35%)
Central(56%)
Luapula(97%)
Received Sold
7.2
3.4
Received Sold
(48%)
11
Most of the agro-dealers purchased VAM seed at a wholesale price from ZamSeed and sold at a higher
retail price. The retail price varied depending on the bag size and location. The majority of the agro-
dealers paid the same wholesale price to ZamSeed but their retail prices differed even though ZamSeed
recommends a fixed retail rate. Figure 6 shows the different prices, both wholesale and retail, paid for
each VAM seed bag size, by province, with their respective profit margins. According to the graph, a 2
kilogram bag had a wholesale price of 37 ZMW4 in each province, and most of the provinces sold at the
recommended retail price of 43 ZMW; only Central and Luapula provinces sold slightly higher and lower,
respectively, than the recommended price. The wholesale price for the 5 kilogram bag in most of the
provinces in this sample was 88 ZMW, with the price falling slightly in Eastern and Luapula provinces.
For the retail price, most of the agro-dealers followed the recommended rate of 101 ZMW; the exceptions
were Eastern Province (102 ZMW) and Southern Province (100 ZMW).
The 10 kilogram bag of VAM seed was purchased at a wholesale price of 171 ZMW in each province and
sold at the recommended retail price of 200 ZMW. The 0.5 and 1 kilogram bags were only sold in Central
and Luapula provinces, respectively; 0.5 kilogram bags carried a wholesale price of 15 ZMW and were
sold at a retail price of 25 ZMW, whereas 1 kilogram bags were bought wholesale at 19 ZMW and retailed
for 25 ZMW.
As a result of the different mark ups in price, profits tended to differ across provinces and bag sizes. For
the 2 kilogram bag, for instance, Central Province recorded the highest profit at 21 percent, whereas for
5 kilogram bags Eastern Province recorded the highest profit at 19 percent. The highest returns on VAM
seed sales involved 0.5 kilogram bags in Central Province, with profit recorded at 67 percent. Higher
profit margins can attract agro-dealers to VAM seed, but at the same time retail prices have to be
competitive with other seed varieties.
Figure 6. Wholesale and retail prices in Zambian Kwacha (ZMW) (profit margin in parentheses)
4 US$ 1 ≈ 7.12 Zambian Kwacha (ZMW) at the time of the agro-dealer survey.
37 37 37 37
88 88 86 88 87 87
171 171 171
43 45 42 43
101 100 102 98 101 101
200 200 200Wholesale Price
Retail Price
12
Less than half (42 percent) of the agro-dealers surveyed had been giving feedback to ZamSeed
concerning VAM seed demand and sales. The majority of this feedback related to ZamSeed’s timing of
the VAM seed delivery to agro-dealers. In fact, 23 percent of the agro-dealers who gave feedback to
ZamSeed forwarded their opinion that the VAM seed was delivered too late for the 2014/2015 maize
planting season and, as such, didn’t realize its sale potential; even farmers who had initially wanted
VAM seed had to buy another variety that was available at the time of planting. Moreover, several (38
percent) of the agro-dealers emphasized the need for intensive promotion and sensitization/awareness
campaigns for VAM, given its newness on the market and the lack of adequate information among some
farmers on the variety and its nutritional benefits. Some agro-dealers (23 percent), especially those
located in Central and Eastern provinces, stated that the demand for VAM seed was high.
4.1.3 Packaging and Promotion of VAM Seed
To effectively promote VAM, it is important to find out what farmers look for when buying seed.
Packaging and its messaging could be a factor determining variety choice. Therefore, the agro-dealers
were asked how they would rate the packaging of the VAM seeds delivered by ZamSeed. While nearly
one-quarter of the agro-dealers indicated that packaging was not a factor in their decision to purchase a
variety, more than half (58 percent) stated that VAM seed packaging was attractive. The remaining 19
percent rated it as unattractive (Figure 7).
Despite the positive evaluation by the majority of agro-dealers, 55 percent of the respondents wanted
even more colorful packaging of VAM seed, and 20 percent recommended smaller-sized packages that
13
farmers can buy to first try out the varieties. Ten (10) percent of the respondents indicated that it was
important to include nutritional and agronomic information on the packaging.
Figure 7. ZamSeed VAM seed packs
Various promotional materials such as flyers, posters, and t-shirts were used to sensitize farmers and
the general public on the nutritional benefits of VAM. It is important to assess the adequacy and
attractiveness of these materials. When asked about them, nearly half (45 percent) of the respondents
supported the inclusion of information on nutritional benefits in the promotional materials, and 40
percent wanted the materials to be more colorful. There was also a suggestion to produce more of the
promotional materials and to translate them into local languages. Respondents also suggested other
promotional strategies, such as sensitization through community radio, demonstration plots, and field
days. All of these strategies are already employed by HarvestPlus and its partners.
Agro-dealers were asked their opinions on how to ensure wide adoption of VAM seed. Over one-third
(34 percent) of the respondents indicated creation of a sustainable market for VAM grain as high priority.
Since the Food Reserve Agency (FRA) is the main maize grain market for a majority of farmers, including
VAM in FRA purchases is of utmost priority for HarvestPlus and its partners. Some 35 percent of
respondents also identified timely delivery of VAM seed to agro-dealers and seed quality as crucial.
Sixteen (16) percent of the agro-dealers considered it important to partner with other organizations,
governmental and non-governmental, in promoting VAM and sensitizing farmers and the general public
on the variety’s nutritional benefits. To further increase availability and encourage sales, there was also
a suggestion to engage other seed companies to sell other VAM seed varieties, since some farmers are
loyal to specific brands.
Respondents were highly optimistic about the possibility of farmers adopting VAM, but noted that it
would take some time (2-4 years) for sales rates to reach those of other popular varieties. That optimism
10 kg
2 kg
0.5 kg 1 kg
14
was informed by their assessment that a potential market for VAM existed—the maize was found to be
sweet and early maturing, and some of the agro-dealers themselves had planted VAM for their own
consumption and liked it.
Even though the survey did not include any question on orange versus yellow maize, this issue was
brought up by over half of the respondents. These agro-dealers stated that Zambians did not like the
consumption characteristics of the yellow maize grain distributed by aid agencies following the drought
of 1992. They noted that to this day, yellow maize is associated with hunger and poverty. These agro-
dealers were concerned that some consumers might shun VAM (and hence farmers may not want to
grow it) because its orange color may be confused with yellow maize. These concerns are definitely
worth noting. It is also worth noting that previous research on consumers (Meenakshi, et al. 2012) and
farmers (Chibwe, et al. 2013), as well as results of the farmer survey presented below, reveal that once
farmers and consumers try or experience VAM, they do not confuse it with yellow maize. Moreover, the
consumption characteristics of VAM are far superior to yellow maize, and as good as, if not better than,
those of white maize.
4.2 Farm Household Survey
4.2.1 Household Characteristics
Among all households surveyed, the majority (more than 80 percent) were male-headed, with no
statistical difference in household headship between those that received/bought VAM seed and those
that did not. On average, the household head was about 43 years old, with 21 years of experience in
maize farming. The household head had been living in that same area for 15 years on average (Table 2).
Although the differences in the household head’s mean age and years of maize experience appear to be
statistically significant between VAM recipients vs non-recipients, they are not meaningful.
Educational levels differed statistically significantly between household heads who received VAM seed
and those who did not. Almost half (about 49 percent) of the household heads from both VAM growing
and non-growing households had attended only elementary school; however, more of the household
heads who grew VAM had higher levels of education than those that did not grow the variety. Among
the VAM recipients, almost a third (29 percent) of the household heads had completed secondary school
compared with 22 percent of those that did not receive VAM. Similarly, over one-tenth (12 percent) of
the household heads who received VAM had completed tertiary education compared with only 5 percent
of those who did not receive VAM seed.
Table 2. Household characteristics
15
Household category
Recipient (n=243)
Non-recipient (n=240)
Total (n=483)
Female-headed households 18% 20% 19%
Households that have pregnant women** 5% 9% 7%
Households that have lactating women 26% 30% 28%
Households that have children under 5
– One child under 5 33% 35% 34%
– At least two children under 5 18% 20% 19%
Education level of household head*** – No school 13% 20% 17%
– Elementary school 46% 53% 49%
– Secondary school 29% 22% 25%
– Tertiary school 12% 5% 9%
Marital status of household head** – Never married 3% 1% 2%
– Married - polygamous 7% 5% 6%
– Divorced 5% 10% 7%
– Widowed 5% 9% 7%
– Married-monogamy 79% 75% 77%
Mean(SD) Mean(SD) Mean(SD)
Household size*** 6 (3) 5 (2) 5 (3)
Age of household head** 44 (12) 42 (16) 43 (14)
Household head years of experience in maize farming* 22 (12) 20 (14) 21 (13)
Number of years the household lived in the area 15 (12) 14 (13) 15 (12) Significance level across the two categories (recipient Vs non-recipient), *p<0.10, **p<0.05, ***p<0.01
n=number of households; standard deviation in parentheses
About 77 percent of household heads who participated in this survey were monogamously married
(Table 2). Again, while differences between VAM seed recipients and non-recipients appear to be
statistically significant, they are not meaningful in magnitude.
Table 2 also reports household demographics. On average, each household had five members. Among
all the households surveyed, 7 percent had at least one female household member who was pregnant,
almost one-third (28 percent) had at least one lactating woman, and over half (53 percent) had at least
one child aged under 5. Disaggregating this latter figure further, the survey found that 34 percent had
one child under 5 while almost one-fifth (19 percent) had at least two. Although the percentage of non-
recipients with pregnant women was nearly twice that found among recipients (9 percent versus 5
percent, respectively), they are small overall.
Information on the main decision maker in the household with regards to land- and maize-related issues
is important for developing and implementing targeted and effective delivery and marketing strategies.
16
Figure 8 reveals that men were the main decision makers on issues concerning maize production,
purchase, sales and farm land. Women tended to make decisions about consumption of maize in only
half of the households. This finding is consistent with previous research in this region (Smale and
Mason 2012). The picture is consistent across the VAM seed recipients and non-recipients. In addition
to this, on average, women managed 25 percent of the farm land owned by a household. This was
consistent across all districts and across the VAM seed recipients and non-recipients (see Appendix 3).
Figure 8. Female decision makers on issues related to land and maize farming
4.2.2 Asset Possession and Wealth of Farmers
Asset ownership was similar between the VAM seed recipients and non-recipients for land, houses, and
livestock (Figure 9). More than 88 percent of all farmers owned some land and a house. About 55 percent
to 70 percent owned a traditional granary, bicycle, cellphone, and radio, and only about 48 percent
owned livestock structures. Livestock farming does not seem to be an important economic activity in
these three districts because less than 40 percent of the farmers owned livestock.
Figure 9. Possession of assets
27% 27% 27%28% 27% 28%
27% 26% 27%
50% 48% 49%
27%23% 25%
Recipient (n=243) Non-recipient (n=240) Total (n=483)
Maize production Maize purchase Maize sales Maize consumption Farm land
91% 89%
69%65% 62% 61% 59%
48%
34% 31% 30%27% 24%
20% 18%14%
10% 8% 5% 5% 4% 2% 1% 1% 1% 0%
Hou
se
Land
Trad
itio
nal
gran
ary
Bic
ycle
Cel
l pho
ne
Pou
ltry
Rad
io
Live
stoc
k st
ruct
ures
Oxe
n
Plo
ugh
Cow
Tele
visi
on Pig
Ox-
cart
Goa
t
Oth
er c
attle
Bul
l
gs in
info
rmal
gro
ups
Car
s th
at w
ork
Mot
orcy
cle
that
wor
k
ther
bui
ldin
gs o
wne
d
Stor
age
Shee
p
Bee
s/B
ee h
ives
Fish
pon
d
Don
key
17
The total value of these assets equaled an average of 33,000 ZMW5 for each household. The gross
income that each household earned from crop farming, livestock production, farm labor, non-farm
business and salary employment, remittances, and rent amounted to 1,500 ZMW, while the net farm
income was 1,300 ZMW on average (Table 3). Each farmer in the survey owned an average of almost 3
plots of arable land, amounting to a total of 1.87 hectares. If both the agricultural and non-agricultural
land were considered, total land owned would average 3.4 hectares. Comparing the means of these
variables across VAM seed recipients and non-recipients shows that the recipients had statistically
significantly higher incomes and larger land areas than the non-recipients. In fact, the total income of
VAM recipients was twice that of non-recipients (Table 3).
Table 3. Household level average income and land size
Recipients
Non-recipients
Overall
The total asset value that the households own (in '000 ZMW)***
45.44 20.12 32.86 (93.59) (36.58) (72.26)
Household gross income from all sources of the family’s livelihood (in '000 ZMW)***
2.15 0.80 1.48 (6.51) (1.42) (4.77)
Household's net farm income in the last 2014/15 Rainy Season? (Oct-Apr) (in '000 ZMW)***
1.79 0.89 1.35 (5.76) (2.48) (4.46)
Total farm land area (in Ha)*** 2.22 1.51 1.87
(1.64) (1.04) (1.42)
Total land area (agricultural and non-agricultural) currently owned (in Ha)***
4.37 2.43 3.41 (6.72) (2.31) (5.12)
Total number of plots*** 3.55 2.13 2.84
(1.32) (1.00) (1.37)
Significance level across the two categories (recipient Vs non-recipient), *p<0.10, **p<0.05, ***p<0.01 standard deviation in parentheses
5 US$ 1 ≈ 8.53 ZMW at the time of the farm household survey.
18
Using factor analysis, the socio-economic status of the farmers was calculated based on ownership of
certain assets. In particular, Principal Component Analysis (PCA) was conducted using the asset
ownership variables, which take on the value of 1 if the household owns the specific variable and 0 if
otherwise. The variables included in the principal component analysis are: membership in an
association; access to protected water stream; ownership of land; living in a house that has an iron roof,
concrete wall, cement floor, electricity and piped water; ownership of house, television, radio, bicycle,
cellphone, livestock, and various farming tools. Factor analysis suggests three groups of economic
status: lower economic status, average economic status and higher economic status (Houweling, Kunst
and Mackenbach 2003) and (McKenzie 2005).
Figure 10. Comparison of wealth between recipients and non-recipients of VAM
The results of this analysis showed that farmers who received VAM seed had higher socio-economic
status compared with those that did not; 44 percent of the VAM recipients were classified as having
higher economic status, compared with 44 percent of non-recipients who were classified as having lower
economic status (Figure 10).
Figure 11. Comparison of wealth by VAM delivery channel
23% 23% 24%18%
44%
36% 37%
25%
45%
34%
41% 40%
51%
36%
22%
Women groups Demo plots Lead farmers Bought from agrodealers Didn't receive at all
Lower economic status Average economic status Higher economic status
23%
44%
33% 34%
44%
22%
Received Didn't receive
Lower economic status
Average economic status
Higher economic status
19
A more disaggregated analysis, this time by channel of VAM seed delivery, is presented in Figure 11. The
farmers that purchased VAM seed from agro-dealers had higher socio-economic status. Compared with
non-recipients, the majority of the farmers who received VAM seed from the other categories also had
higher socio-economic status, with 41 percent of the farmers from the women’s groups, 40 percent of
the farmers who received from schools and health centers, and 51 percent of the lead farmers falling
under the higher economic status category. On the other hand, with 44 percent, the majority of the
farmers who did not receive VAM seed had lower socio-economic status.
4.2.3 Crop Production and Consumption
Maize was the major crop cultivated in the 2014/2015 farming season, covering 71 percent of the total
arable land planted by all survey respondents—896.6 hectares in 2014/15 Rainy Season (Table 4). The
share of land under maize production was highest in Sinda with 78 percent. Groundnuts was the second
most cultivated crop, which is in line with the findings of Sitko, et al. (2011). However, there were
significant variations in the second and third most commonly cultivated crops across the districts
studied (for detailed information by recipients of VAM, see Appendix 4).
Table 4. Land area share of the crops cultivated by district
Chipata Katete Sinda Total
Maize 63% 72% 78% 71%
Groundnuts 16% 7% 6% 9%
Cotton 9% 8% 5% 7%
Sunflower 5% 7% 9% 7%
Soybean 2% 3% 0% 2%
Tobacco 4% 0% 0% 1%
Beans 0% 1% 1% 1%
Total arable land area 199.7 ha 459.4 ha 237.2 ha 896.3 ha
4.2.4 Maize Production and Consumption
Maize is the major crop not only at the district level, but at the household level as well. According to
Figure 12, on average each household dedicated 75 percent of the total arable land area6 to maize (see
Appendix 3). Among the VAM seed recipient households, the average total arable land was 2.22 hectares,
i.e., 0.4 hectares higher than the whole sample. Households in Sinda allocated more of their land to
maize, compared with the other two districts (Figure 12).
6 This is calculated as mean of percentage of maize land area share.
20
Figure 12. Average household land share allocated to maize
Farmers accessed improved maize seeds primarily through the Farm Input Support Programme (FISP)
via their respective co-operatives and women’s groups. Other sources of improved seed included
purchase from agro-dealers, exchange with other farmers, and seed recycling. According to the survey
data, 43 percent of VAM recipients acquired their improved maize seeds annually from co-
operatives/women’s groups, followed by using own recycled seed (15 percent) and purchase from agro-
dealers (14 percent). Compared with VAM recipients, a smaller proportion of non-recipients acquired
improved seed through co-operatives/women’s groups (26 percent), though larger proportions recycled
own seed (36 percent) and purchased from agro-dealers (21 percent) (Figure 13).
Figure 13. Source of maize seed cultivated on the plots
Looking at the total maize production (all kinds of maize, including VAM), on average each farmer
cultivated 2 metric tons of any kind of maize in the 2014/15 Rainy Season (Table 5). This result was
consistent across districts.
Table 5. Production and yield of maize in 2014/15 Rainy Season
Average household maize production, in MT
Average household maize yield, in MT/ha
67% 76% 81% 75%
0%
50%
100%
Chipata Katete Sinda Total
Maize to total area
43%
26%
38%
15%
36%
22%
14%
21%16%
7%
15%10%11%
2%8%9%
6%
Recipient (n=518) Non-recipient (n=255) Total (n=773)
Cooperatives/women groups Farmer's own seed AgrodealerOther farmers Agricultural institutions Schools or health centers
21
Chipata
VAM recipients (n=63) 2.47 (2.76) ***
1.90 (1.17) Non-VAM recipients (n=58) 1.42 (1.59) 1.63 (1.09)
Total (121) 1.97 (2.33) 1.77 (1.14)
Katete VAM recipients (n=116) 2.53 (2.85)
*** 1.59 (1.71)
* Non-VAM recipients (n=122) 1.58 (2.14) 1.27 (1.04)
Total (238) 2.04 (2.55) 1.43 (1.41)
Sinda VAM recipients (n=64) 2.76 (4.59) 1.53 (1.48) Non-VAM recipients (n=60) 1.72 (3.88) 2.37 (9.35)
Total (124) 2.26 (4.27) 1.94 (6.58)
Total VAM recipients (n=243) 2.57 (3.36)
*** 1.66 (1.53)
Non-VAM recipients (n=240) 1.58 (2.58) 1.63 (4.79)
Total (483) 2.08 (1.65) 1.65 (3.53) Significance level across the two categories (recipient Vs non-recipient), *p<0.10, **p<0.05, ***p<0.01
n=number of households; standard deviation in parentheses
Average household production of any kind of maize was statistically significantly higher for the VAM
recipients compared with the non-VAM recipients. However, the average yields of VAM recipients and
non-recipients were not statistically significantly different (Table 5).
Regarding consumption of maize, as shown in Table 6, almost 89 percent of households’ maize
consumption in the last 12 months came from own production, while 9 percent was purchased. Over
half (52 percent) of the purchases were from another farmer at the farm gate, followed by the village
market (either in the same village or another village, 19 percent and 15 percent, respectively). Ten (10)
percent of the purchases were from village shops that are supplied by local farmers. These results reveal
that 88 percent of the purchased maize was from another farmer in the local area. Traders and
wholesales accounted for the remaining 8 percent and 4 percent, respectively.
Table 6. Source and frequency of purchase of maize for consumption
Chipata (n=119)
Katete (n=237)
Sinda (n=124)
Total (n=480)
Source of maize consumption – Own production 85% 88% 95% 89% – Market purchase 13% 10% 3% 9% – Gifts and in kind payments 2% 2% 2% 2%
Source if household purchased maize for consumption in the past 12 months
– Farm gate 50% 55% 38% 52% – Market in the village 19% 16% 38% 19% – Market in another village in the district 12% 17% 15% 15% – Village shop 19% 7% 0% 10% – Others 0% 4% 8% 3%
Seller, if household purchased maize for consumption in the past 12 months
– Another farmer 88% 87% 92% 88%
22
– Trader 10% 9% 0% 8% – Wholesaler 2% 4% 8% 4%
n=number of households
4.2.5 VAM Production
For the 2014/2015 farming season, the VAM seed bag sizes delivered and sold in the Eastern province
included the 0.5, 1, 2, 5 and 10 kilogram packs. Of these sizes, the most common pack size delivered
was the 0.5 kilogram pack, which was received by 42 percent of the interviewed VAM seed recipients.
Thirty-one (31) percent of the interviewed recipients got 1 kilogram packs, while 17 percent received 2
kilogram and 5 kilogram packs. Only 2 percent of VAM farmers interviewed received the 10 kilogram
bags. The 0.5 kilogram pack was delivered to a larger proportion of farmers, since such demonstration
packs are often preferred by farmers when they try/test a new variety for the first time. In terms of the
number of packs delivered to each farmer, on average recipients acquired 3 packs of 2 kilograms, 2 packs
of 1 kilogram, and one each of the other pack sizes (Figure 14).
Figure 14. Percentage of seed bag recipients and average amount received for each bag
42%
31%
17% 17%
2% 1%
0.5 kg bag 1 kg bag 2 kg bag 5 kg bag 10 kg bag Other seed bag
1 bag
2 bags
3 bags
1 bag
1 bag 1 bag
23
On average, each VAM recipient allocated 75 percent of their total land area to maize,7 21 percent of
which went to VAM (Figure 15). In terms of actual land size, out of the 1.59 hectares dedicated to maize,
0.21 hectares was allocated to VAM (see Appendix 3 and Appendix 5). Across districts, VAM seed
recipients in Sinda allocated larger areas (28 percent) while those in Katete allocated smaller areas (14
percent) to VAM (Figure 15). This is due to the quantity of seed acquired by an average farmer in each
district (Table 10).
Figure 15. Average household VAM area to total maize area share
Households that planted VAM were asked about the source of the land dedicated to the variety (Figure
16). The majority (71 percent) stated that they substituted VAM for another crop, including groundnuts
(47 percent of the farmers who substituted another crop), sunflower (24 percent), cotton (10 percent)
and other crops (19 percent). Nineteen (19) percent stated that they had substituted VAM with another
maize variety; 41 percent of these farmers stated that they had replaced a local maize variety, 27 percent
replaced another hybrid, and 8 percent replaced a recycled hybrid. There were some variations across
the three districts: In Chipata, the same proportion of the farmers replaced groundnuts and other maize
varieties (37 percent each) with VAM, while in Katete 44 percent of farmers replaced groundnuts with
VAM. In Sinda, the majority replaced sunflower (38 percent) and groundnuts (23 percent) (Table 7).
Figure 16. Land source for VAM cultivation
7 This is calculated as the mean of percentage of maize land area share.
25%14%
28% 21%
0%
50%
100%
Chipata Katete*** Sinda*** Total
VAM to maize area
24
Table 7. Percentage of farmers by the crops they replaced VAM with, by district
Chipata (n=43) Katete (n=96) Sinda (n=40) Total (n=179)
Groundnuts 37% 44% 23% 37%
Other maize variety 37% 19% 8% 21%
Sunflower 2% 19% 38% 19%
Cotton 5% 9% 8% 8%
Beans 2% 1% 10% 3%
Others 16% 8% 15% 12%
Total 100% 100% 100% 100% n=number of households
VAM seed was distributed from October to January and harvested from March to July (Figure 17). It is
important to note that a few farmers did not harvest their VAM during the time of the survey. Among
those households that received VAM seed, only five (2 percent) did not grow it, with three of these
farmers citing late receipt of seed and the remaining two indicating lack of interest to try the variety. Of
the farmers who planted VAM seed (i.e. 98 percent of the VAM seed recipients), almost all (94 percent)
planted all of the VAM seed in the 2014/2015 farming season; the remaining 6 planted only part of the
seed.
Figure 17. Time of acquisition and harvest of VAM
13
89 94
36
418
44
78
64
1523
Oct
ober
ovem
ber
ecem
ber
Janu
ary
Febr
uary
Mar
ch
Apr
il
May
June July
Not
yet
25
The average output of VAM by those who grew it was around 0.24 metric tons, with an average yield of
1.49 metric tons per hectare. District-wise, Katete had the highest yield with 1.54 metric tons per hectare
while Sinda had the lowest with 1.41 metric tons per hectare (Table 8).
Table 8. Production and yield of VAM in 2014/15 Rainy Season for VAM recipients
Chipata (n=61)
Katete (n=113)
Sinda (n=64)
Total (n=238)
Average household VAM production by VAM recipients only, in MT
0.32* (0.53)
0.18** (0.25)
0.26 (0.37)
0.24 (0.38)
Average household VAM yield by VAM recipients only, in MT/ha
1.49 (1.48)
1.54 (3.63)
1.41 (1.61)
1.49 (2.74)
Land area allocated for VAM in 2014/15 Rainy Season, in ha
0.24 (0.26)
0.18* (0.16)
0.25 (0.27)
0.21 (0.22)
Significance level of being in the district, *p<0.10, **p<0.05, ***p<0.01 n=number of households; standard deviation in parentheses
In addition, there was no statistically significant difference in yield between VAM and other maize
varieties grown by VAM recipients, even though those farmers had allocated a higher area of land to
other maize varieties (see Appendix 6 and Appendix 7).
Asked about their primary intended use of VAM grain, 72 percent of the farmers indicated household
consumption while 28 percent stated that it was for the market. The latter intended to sell their VAM
grain to various actors, including consumers (directly at the farm gate), cooperatives, traders,
wholesalers, HarvestPlus, and other institutions at different points of sale, such as nearby markets,
agricultural offices, and even at their homes (Table 9). The cross-tabulation statistics shows that most
of the consumers primarily bought from the farm gate (63 percent) followed by local markets, at 63
percent and 33 percent, respectively (see Appendix 8).
Table 9. Intended customers and place of sale of VAM crop
Intended customer for VAM Intended place of sale
Consumer 17% Market 27%
Cooperatives 17% Cooperatives 21%
26
Trader 12% Farm gate 12%
Wholesaler 8% HarvestPlus 6%
Other institutions 8% Agricultural offices 5%
HarvestPlus 7% Other institutions 3%
Agricultural offices 4% Don't know 26%
Other 10%
Don't know 18%
4.2.6 Evaluation of VAM Seed
Farmers choose a maize variety based on various production (agronomic), consumption, marketing and
other post-harvest traits (De Groote, Gitonga, et al. 2011). VAM growers were asked to compare various
traits of the VAM variety with those of a white variety they were familiar with (Figure 18). According to
the results, the VAM variety performed as well as (if not better than) the white variety in all traits, with
the exception of market demand (which was also cited by agro-dealers as a potential limitation to VAM
adoption). When asked about the price they thought VAM grains would fetch in the market, 31 percent
of the farmers indicated a higher price, 43 a lower price, and 26 percent could not estimate its value.
Figure 18. Comparison of VAM traits to those of the white maize variety farmers are familiar with
Emer
genc
e
Res
ista
nce
to d
roug
ht
Res
ista
nce
to fi
eld
pest
s
Res
ista
nce
to s
tora
ge p
ests
Res
ista
nce
to d
isea
ses
Earl
y m
atur
ity
Yiel
d
Cob
siz
e
Cob
num
ber
Goo
d co
ver
of t
he ti
p
Gra
in c
olor
(w
hite
ness
)
Gra
in w
eigh
t
Wat
er a
bsor
ptio
n
Goo
d po
undi
ng a
bilit
y
Tast
e fo
r ns
him
a
Tast
e as
roa
sted
Mar
ket d
eman
d
Less Equal More
27
The survey found that the most striking difference between the white maize variety and VAM was the
superior taste of VAM when roasted, followed by the superior taste of VAM when eaten as nshima. VAM
also significantly outperformed white maize in terms of cob number and early maturity.
4.2.7 Intention to Grow VAM in the Following Season
Ninety-seven (97) percent of the farmers who received and planted VAM seed in the 2014/15 season
stated that they intended to grow it in the next season. These households planned to expand their current
VAM plots, averaging 0.2 hectares, to 0.6 hectares in the following season. This result was consistent
across districts. When asked about the source of VAM seed for planting in the following season, 45
percent of the farmers planned to use their saved seed from the 2014/15 season, 25 percent planned to
buy from agro-dealers, 14 percent planned to obtain from other institutions, 8 percent from other people,
and the remaining 8 percent did not yet know where they would get their seed (Figure 19). Concerning
the main uses of next season’s harvest, more than 70 percent of the farmers stated that they planned to
grow it mainly for own consumption, while the remaining 30 percent planned to grow it mainly for sale.
Figure 19. Source of VAM seed planned to be planted in the 2015/16 Rainy Season
Farmers who received and planted VAM seed also answered hypothetical questions about future
purchases of VAM seed. When asked about the typical quantity of VAM seed they would purchase if it
Own seed from previous season
45%
Agrodealer 25%
Doesn't know 8%
Other people8%
Other institutions14%
28
were easily available and affordable, farmers stated an average of about 12 kilograms, which was similar
across districts, and was four times the amount they had planted in the study season (3.2 kilograms)
(Table 10).
Table 10. Farmers’ seed acquisition and willingness to pay for VAM in the coming season
Chipata (n=61) Katete (n=113) Sinda (n=64) Total (n=238)
Average amount of VAM seed quantity acquired in 2014/15 Rainy Season by a household, in kg
3.21 (6.76) 2.12 (2.68)** 5.24 (9.57)*** 3.24 (6.40)
Average amount of VAM seed quantity that would be typically purchased by a household if easily available and affordable, in kg
12.03 (15.68) 11.09 (17.25) 12.02 (28.99) 11.58 (20.66)
Average willingness to pay for 1 kg of VAM by a household, in ZMW
10.50 (5.38) 12.12 (12.72) 11.43 (8.58) 11.48 (10.04)
Assuming similar conditions as in 2014/15 Rainy Season, land area to be allocated for VAM, in ha
0.63 (0.49) 0.54 (0.32)* 0.66 (0.48) 0.59 (0.48)
Significance level of being in the district, *p<0.10, **p<0.05, ***p<0.01 n=number of households; standard deviations in parentheses
When asked about their maximum willingness to pay (WTP) for different sized bags of VAM seed if these
were sold at the agro-dealer they frequented, farmers stated 30-52 percent lower WTP than the current
retail prices (Figure 20). These results, however, do not imply that farmers do not value this variety. It
could be a reflection of the fact that 95 percent of the respondents had received VAM for free, and also
that almost half of them (45 percent) were planning to recycle their own VAM seed in the next season.
As seen in Figure 20, the WTP figures differ according to the VAM seed bag size. Farmers stated higher
WTP values for smaller bag sizes, signaling their willingness to try smaller packs (and hence take less
risks) at first. Farmers who bought VAM seed had a higher WTP compared with those who got it for
free. However, they still had a lower WTP than the actual retail price (Table 11).
Figure 20. Comparison of farmers’ willingness-to-pay with actual retail price, in ZMW
29
Table 11. Comparison of the willingness to pay of farmers who received the VAM seed for free versus who bought from agro-dealers, in ZMW
Seed bag size Farmers who received the seed
for free Farmers who bought the seed from
agro-dealers
0.5 kg seed bag 22.67 (13.86) -
1 kg seed bag 19.27 (3.37) -
2 kg seed bag 26.50 (6.50) 31.33 (10.67)
5 kg seed bag 60.89 (5.59) 77.50 (22.50)
10 kg seed bag*** 96.80 (6.53) 133.57 (17.48) Significance level of receiving the VAM seed for free versus buying from agro-dealers, *p<0.10, **p<0.05, ***p<0.01
standard deviations in parentheses
4.2.8 Information and Knowledge of VAM
The households that grew VAM seed gave various reasons for doing so in the 2014/15 Rainy Season. For
most of the growers, regardless of the source of seed, the primary reason was the nutritional benefit of
the VAM. Figure 21 illustrates the reasons for cultivating VAM, disaggregated by the delivery channels,
i.e., agro-dealers (purchased at a cost) versus all other channels (i.e., cooperative, women’s groups,
schools/health centers, where seed was given for free).
Figure 21. Reasons for cultivation of VAM
25 2543
100
200
17 1828
62
99
0.5 Kg bag 1 Kg bag 2 Kg bag 5 Kg bag 10 Kg bag
Retail Price Maximum WTP
▼28%▼32%
▼35%
▼38%
▼51%
30
The majority (84 percent) of farmers who received VAM seed from other channels and over half (54
percent) of those who bought it from agro-dealers stated that their primary reason for growing VAM was
its nutritional benefits. A higher proportion of farmers who acquired the seed through other channels
cited nutritional benefits probably because they were given information to that regard (VAM as a source
of vitamin A) when they were given the seed by cooperatives/women’s groups and schools/health
clinics. Almost one-third (31 percent) of VAM growers who bought the seed from agro-dealers cited
“wanting to try a new variety” as the primary reason for growing the variety. Early maturity was a highly
rated secondary reason cited by both categories of seed acquirers.
Figure 22 provides insights about farmers’ knowledge of the benefits of vitamin A. Overall, only 17
percent of farmers expressed no knowledge at all. Among the VAM seed recipients, the percentage of
farmers who did not know the benefits of vitamin A was as low as 5 percent (see Appendix 9). Figure 23
presents the results by delivery channel. There was also a misconception about the benefits of vitamin
A, with around 20 percent of the farmers stating that vitamin A was good for increasing sexual stamina.
Figure 22. Farmers’ knowledge on the benefits of vitamin A
10%
15%
5%
8%8%
1%
8%
1%
13%
23%
3%
11%
7%
31%
7%
84%
54%
Other channels (n=230)
Agro-dealers (n=13)
Other channels (n=230)
Agro-dealers (n=13)Se
cond
ary
reas
onPr
imar
y re
ason
Nutrition benefit
Wanted to try new variety
Early maturity
High yield of the
Was the cheapest
Others
60%
16%23% 26%
5%
41%
11%16% 18%
29%
51%
13%20% 22%
17%
Good for the eyes Good for childgrowth/development
Good for increasingsexual stamina
Good for health &nutrition
Does not know at all
Recipient (n=243) Non-recipient (n=240) Total (n=483)
31
4.2.9 Marketing and Promotion of VAM
For farmers who received VAM seed through co-operatives/women’s groups, lead farmer schemes, and
schools and health centers, the most common source of information was the farmers’ co-operatives
and women’s groups. For farmers who bought the VAM seed from agro-dealers, the main sources of
information were the media and agro-dealers themselves (Figure 23).
Figure 23. Sources of information about VAM, by VAM seed source
It is important to understand the VAM seed recipients’ evaluation of the variety’s seed bags as well other
promotion materials, such as flyers and posters. VAM recipients were asked to rate their satisfaction
levels on some of the attributes of seed bags and promotional materials (Figure 24). Over half (57
percent) were very dissatisfied or dissatisfied with the bag sizes available at the agro-dealers. However,
the majority were satisfied or very satisfied with the design of (86 percent) and the information on (88
percent) the bags. Less than half of the farmers (48 percent) were either satisfied or very satisfied with
the information provided by the agro-dealers, revealing that further training of the latter on the
nutritional benefits of VAM seed is needed.
Figure 24. Satisfaction with VAM seed bags and promotional materials
48%
33%39%
6%
15%11%
19%
6%
15% 13%8%
12%10% 11% 9%6%5% 4%
13%
29%
6%
17%
9%6%
1%
9%2%
6%1% 2%
29%
Women groups (n=151) Demo packs (Sch+HC) (n=46) A lead farmer (n=120) Bought from agrodealers(n=17)
Coop./women group Field demonstration Neighbor & Friend Farmer in common coop.
Media NGO Family member Agrodealer
32
Table 12 disaggregates satisfaction ratings with VAM seed bags and promotional materials, by farmers’
source of VAM seed (received for free from co-operatives, women’s groups, schools/health clinics, and
lead farmer scheme versus bought-at-a-price from the agro-dealers).
Table 12. Satisfaction with VAM seed bags and promotional materials, by delivery channel
Received from other categories Bought from agro-dealers
Ver
y d
issa
tisf
ied
Dis
sati
sfie
d
Neu
tral
Sat
isfi
ed
Ver
y sa
tisf
ied
Ver
y d
issa
tisf
ied
Dis
sati
sfie
d
Neu
tral
Sat
isfi
ed
Ver
y sa
tisf
ied
Bag sizes (n=105) 20% 40% 2% 29% 9% 0% 33% 0% 25% 42%
Bag design/logo (n=176) 2% 4% 8% 51% 35% 0% 0% 17% 58% 25%
Information on the bag (n=159)
1% 2% 8% 46% 44% 8% 17% 8% 33% 33%
Information on the posters (n=127)
1% 4% 9% 35% 51% 0% 11% 0% 22% 67%
Availability and visibility of posters (n=139)
11% 23% 5% 26% 35% 13% 38% 13% 13% 25%
Information by the agro-dealer (n=38)
4% 36% 14% 32% 14% 20% 20% 10% 30% 20%
Dissatisfied Satisfied Mixed
The disaggregated results reveal that regardless of seed source, the majority of the farmers were satisfied
with the bag design and logo, and the information on the bag. Regarding availability and visibility of
posters, most farmers who bought from agro-dealers were not satisfied, while nearly half of them were
dissatisfied with the information from agro-dealers. The majority of the farmers who received the seed
18%
2% 1% 1%
11%8%
39%
3% 3% 5%
24%
32%
2%
9% 8% 9%6%
13%
29%
52%
45%
34%
25%
32%
12%
34%
43%
52%
35%
16%
Bag sizes atagrodealer (n=105)
Bag design/logo(n=176)
Information on thebag (n=159)
Information on theposters (n=127)
Availability andvisibility of posters
(n=139)
Information by theagrodealer (n=38)
Very dissatisfied Dissatisfied Neutral Satisfied Very satisfied
33
free of charge (60 percent) were dissatisfied with the pack sizes, as were one-third of the farmers who
bought from agro-dealers.
4.2.10 Diffusion of VAM
Over 60 percent of VAM growers stated that they recommended the variety to an average of 10 other
farmers in their social networks, including their relatives, friends, and neighbors (Figure 25). Almost
two-thirds (59 percent) of these were located in the same village, though there was a significant diffusion
to other neighboring villages or the next village within the district.
Figure 25. Recommendation and diffusion of VAM seed
Forty (40) percent of VAM growers stated that they gave VAM seed or grain to an average of four other
farmers in their social networks (relatives (45 percent), neighbors and friends (26 percent)), the majority
of whom (62 percent) were located in the same village.
5. Summary of Key Findings and Programmatic Implications
This report summarized the results of two surveys, namely an agro-dealer survey and a farmer survey,
implemented in 2015 (March-May and August to September, respectively) to gather information on the
sales, demand, and evaluation of vitamin a maize (VAM) seed following the first season (2014/2015) it
was made available for planting at scale.
The key findings and programmatic implications of these surveys are the following:
34
• The agro-dealer survey revealed that over half (58 percent) of the agro-dealers did not know
anything about VAM. This is corroborated by the results of the farmer survey, which showed that
only half of the farmers were satisfied or very satisfied with the information provided by agro-
dealers. Given that the formal, private seed system is the most sustainable mechanism for
delivering VAM seed, agro-dealers should be trained on the nutritional benefits of VAM so
that they are able to pass on the message to farmers.
• According to the farmer survey, among the VAM seed recipients who planted the seed (i.e., 98
percent of the recipients), the majority (83 percent) stated that their primary reason for growing
VAM was its nutritional benefit. These farmers rated nutritional benefit higher than agronomic
properties, such as yield and maturity. The nutritional benefit of VAM should, therefore, be at
the center of any demand creation strategy for VAM. It is also important for HarvestPlus and
its partners to control the quality and content of the nutrition information disseminated; a
significant proportion (about 20 percent) of farmers were of the opinion that vitamin A increases
sexual stamina, which is incorrect.
• According to the results of the agro-dealer survey, less than half of the VAM seed distributed to
agro-dealers was sold. The reasons cited for the low sales rates included the late delivery of seed
to the agro-dealers, and farmers’ lack of awareness about VAM. Timely delivery of seeds and
training of agro-dealers about the nutritional benefits of VAM, as well as general demand
creation and awareness campaigns, are paramount. The farmer survey revealed that a significant
(almost one-third) number of farmers who acquired VAM seed from agro-dealers had heard about
it in the media, revealing that media could be an effective (and low cost) means for improving
farmers’ awareness of VAM.
• According to both agro-dealer and farmer surveys, the smallest (0.5 kilogram) packs were the most
popular among farmers. This shows farmers’ preference to try a new variety on a smaller scale,
before scaling it up in their fields. Therefore, seed companies and organizations that are/will
be delivering VAM seed are encouraged to avail such small packs, at least in the short-to-
medium run.
• The farmer survey revealed that VAM recipients usually acquire seed from co-operatives and
women’s groups, whereas non-VAM recipients mainly use their own seed (recycled from previous
seasons) followed by co-operatives and women’s groups. Only 14 percent of the VAM recipients
and 21 percent of the non-recipients purchased any improved maize seed from agro-dealers. These
35
results reveal that a two-pronged approach, including both sales through the formal and
private seed system and free delivery through the farmers’ groups, is needed to reach farmers
with VAM seed.
• Regarding the price to charge for the VAM seed, farmers were asked hypothetical willingness to pay
(WTP) questions for different VAM seed bag sizes. The average WTP results revealed two important
findings: (1) farmers stated higher WTP for smaller bags—signaling again their willingness to
try new varieties at a smaller scale at first, and (2) farmer WTP for VAM seed was lower than
the current VAM retail prices, implying that when sold at the agro-dealer, lower, subsidized
prices for VAM seed could engender higher demand. Lower WTP for VAM should not be taken
to mean that farmers value the VAM seed less than it is worth; the lower WTP could, in fact,
be an indication of the fact that the majority of the VAM seed recipients (95 percent) had
received the seed free of charge and, therefore, might not be willing to pay high prices for it
in subsequent seasons. Moreover, hypothetical bias associated with such hypothetical WTP
questions should also be noted.
• In order to grow VAM seed, the majority of the farmers (71 percent) substituted the land for another
crop (in most cases a cash crop such as groundnuts [47 percent] and sunflower [24 percent]) and19
percent substituted the land for another maize variety (white maize). This shows that farmers do
not have a prejudice against VAM due to its color; they are, in fact, curious about and interested
in trying out this variety as they are willing to replace other crops and varieties, including other cash
crops and white maize varieties, with VAM. Promoters of the variety should capitalize on this
willingness by intensifying efforts.
• According to the figures stated by the farmers, VAM yields were not statistically significantly
different from the yields of other maize varieties that farmers planted in the same season. This
result indicates that VAM adoption will not result in any yield losses. When asked to compare
VAM with a white variety they were familiar with, growers liked the various production and
consumption qualities of VAM as much as— if not more than—the white variety. Taste, cob
number, and early maturity were the VAM traits rated especially highly by VAM growers. Overall,
the varieties have performed very well on both agronomic and consumption traits and, therefore,
all the efforts and hard work of ZARI, HarvestPlus, and their partners should be commended.
• Almost all (97 percent) VAM growers stated that they would want to plant the variety in the
following season and on an average of thrice the current farm area allocated to it. They also
indicated that they would want four times more VAM seed, on average. Almost half (45 percent)
36
stated that they would be recycling their current VAM grain to use as seed. There is a need to
analyze if yield and vitamin A content remain stable when hybrid VAM seed is re-used rather
than replaced by new seed in subsequent seasons. Furthermore, a significant proportion (25
percent) stated that they would purchase seed from agro-dealers, although they are willing to pay
lower than current prices, as explained above.
• According to the farmer survey, the one trait for which VAM was rated lower than the white maize
varieties was the market demand for VAM grain. Farmers also stated that the price VAM grain
would fetch in the market was about 22 percent lower than the price white maize would attract.
Moreover, a significantly higher proportion of farmers (43 percent) agreed with the statement that
VAM grain would fetch a lower price on the market. The finding that the VAM grain market is thin
and not lucrative was also corroborated by the agro-dealer survey. Therefore, it is imperative that
demand exists for VAM grain farther along the value chain. This can be achieved through the
inclusion of VAM in the FRA, and the acquisition of VAM grain by medium and large scale
producers. It is also necessary to engender demand for VAM products among the consumers (in
particular urban consumers who can act as demand-pull mechanisms).
• According to the results of the farmer survey, both men and women play important roles in decision
making in various maize-related activities (from variety selection to market sales and home
consumption), therefore it is important that all promotional and sensitization activities and
materials target both men and women farmers.
• The farmer survey also revealed that the farmers who received VAM seed had higher levels of
education, socio-economic status, and wealth compared with those that did not receive VAM. This
finding might be explained by the following: (1) Those who bought VAM from agro-dealers (3
percent of the recipients interviewed) have access to the agro-dealers, often buy seed from them
(rather than get subsidized FISP seed through co-operative/women’s groups or recycled own grain)
and can afford to buy seed regularly. Such farmers often have higher levels of education, wealth
and socio-economic status; (2) the lead farmers (18 percent of the recipients interviewed) tend to
be prominent and better off members of the community who usually have more productive land
and other inputs than others, and whose fields are often used as demo plots to show new
technologies and inputs to other farmers; (3) the members of co-operatives/women’s groups (21
percent of the recipients interviewed) are usually required to pay membership fees. This means
that those that cannot afford the fee are automatically disqualified from being in these groups; (4)
farmers who received seed through schools and health centers (9 percent of the recipients
37
interviewed) may be better off due to their access to education and healthcare. All of these delivery
channels were voluntary. According to crop adoption literature, farmers who are wealthier, more
educated, and have higher socio-economic status are more likely to try new varieties, since they
can understand newer technologies better and can afford to take risks. Therefore, there could also
be a self-selection bias in becoming the first generation of VAM recipients. Overall, these non-
private and semi-formal modes of seed distribution were used to reach more farmers (in the case
of lead farmers and women’s groups) as well as families with children (in the case of schools and
health centers). It is expected that in the upcoming seasons, VAM seed will also spread to other
households in the social networks of these first-generation-of-VAM recipients: there seems to be a
significant network effect in the diffusion of VAM, with two thirds of recipients sharing information
about VAM with 10 others in their networks. More targeted seed delivery mechanisms should be
considered in order to reach farming households with lower education, wealth and socio-economic
status levels (and whose members would be more likely to suffer from higher rates of VAD) with
VAM seed sooner.
6. Concluding Remarks
In order to ensure that VAM seed reaches all parts of Zambia, it is important for HarvestPlus to work
with the seed companies on the quantities of bags to be distributed to each province, as well as on the
bag sizes. In areas such as Eastern Province where VAM is now widely known, all bag sizes can be
distributed; in other places like Luapula Province where VAM is only being introduced, it might be better
to distribute smaller-sized bags to encourage farmers to purchase the seed for trial. In addition, it will
be important to: ensure timely delivery of seed; use all promotion mechanisms as much as possible;
and, make farmers aware that the ultimate goal is to develop a VAM value chain, which can only work if
they purchase VAM from agro-dealers.
Agro-dealers are willing to continue selling VAM seed because even in the 2014/2015 farming season
when the variety was on the market for the first time, they recognized that there was high demand for
the seed. Moreover, all agro-dealers interviewed in the survey made a profit from VAM sales. However,
the agro-dealers expressed the need for faster delivery of seed to shops since farmers purchase seed
early in the farming season. They also stated the need for more sensitization, especially through demo
packs that can be distributed free of charge when farmers purchase something from the agro-dealer.
They also suggested improving the seed package to make it more colorful and attractive, and to also
include nutritional information. To increase awareness of VAM, particularly of its nutritional benefits,
the agro-dealers suggested that more promotional materials, such as posters and flyers, be printed and
delivered and in local languages. Other demand creation activities that can be undertaken include
38
community radio programs, continuing with demo plots and field days, and possibly offering some
subsidies to farmers or price incentives to agro-dealers. To track the numbers of farmers planting VAM,
it is important to train agro-dealers to keep buyer records (i.e., to maintain a bill book) and to create the
right incentives/mechanisms for agro-dealers to maintain such records. HarvestPlus and partners
should consider preparing and distributing a bill book that is convenient for agro-dealers to fill out even
during busy sales periods, as well as incentives for complete bill books.
Agro-dealers are convinced that there is a future for VAM in the country; however, one of their concerns
is the availability of a grain market to guarantee that farmers have a buyer for orange maize. One
potential solution is to engage the Food Reserve Agency (FRA) as a major buyer of VAM. Another is
continued and enhanced partnerships with medium- and large-scale millers for VAM. FRA is mandated
to ensure adequate food reserves to guarantee food security in the country. However, food security
should not only be about the availability of food; it should also be about the availability of nutritious
food. Since VAM is more nutritious than white maize, the FRA’s purchasing of VAM would not only
mean that the country has adequate food reserves but that it also has nutritious food for its people.
It is also important to consider farmers’ sources of seed and information. To create demand and raise
awareness, promoters should continue giving demo packs to lead farmers, co-operatives and women’s
groups as important seed sources that can reach many farmers. These mechanisms, however, exclude
or cannot reach several farmers with lower wealth and social status (and, hence, likely with higher VAD
status). Such farmers could be reached through other means, such as direct delivery. Several farmers
(more than 85 percent) in Zambia acquire hybrid seed either through agro-dealers or through the FISP
(De Groote, Gitonga, et al. 2014). It is, therefore, important to ensure that VAM seed is included in the
FISP, and that farmers who purchase from agro-dealers are informed about the availability and
advantages of VAM seed. This calls for demand-creation strategies at the agro-dealer level. Spreading
information about VAM will require continued utilization of farmers’ groups (co-operatives and
women’s groups), media, agro-dealers, field days and demo plots. These findings reveal that farmers’
groups, extension officers (as organizers of demo plots and field days) and agro-dealers should
continuously be trained and informed about VAM and its agronomic and health benefits.
The results of the two surveys indicate that VAM has the potential to be the main maize variety cultivated
in Zambia. If this potential is realized, a major decline is expected in the vitamin A deficiency rates of
vulnerable populations. Therefore, it is important that both the seed supply and demand creation efforts
for VAM are strengthened and intensified throughout the country.
39
References
AgResults. 2016. AgResults . AgResults initiative. http://agresults.org/en/307/ZambiaBiofortifiedMaizePilot.
Birol, Ekin, Dorene Asare-Marfo, Jack Fiedler, Barbara Ha, Keith Lividini, Mourad Moursi, Manfred Zeller, J.V. Meenakshi, and Alexander J. Stein. 2014. "Cost-effectiveness of Biofortification." In Biofortification Progress Briefs, by HarvestPlus, 47-48. HarvestPlus.
Black, RE, CG Victora, SP Walker, ZA Bhuta, P Christian, M de Onis, M Ezzati, et al. 2013. "Maternal and child undernutrition and overweight in low-income and middle-income countries." The Lancet 382 (9890): 427–451. doi:http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/S0140-6736(13)60937-X.
Bouis, Howarth, Jan Low, Margaret McEwan, and Sherry Tanumihardjo. 2013. "Biofortification: Evidence and lessons learned linking agriculture and nutrition." ( FAO and WHO).
Brian, Thompson, and Leslie Amoroso. 2011. Combating Micronutrient Deficiencies:Food-based Approaches. Rome, Italy: Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations and CAB International.
Chibwe, Edward, Hugo De Groote, Zachary Gitonga, and Ekin Birol. 2013. "Participatory Evaluation of Vitamin A Biofortified Maize in Zambia." Paper presented at the 4th African Association of Agricultural Economists Conference. Hammamet, Tunisia.
CUTS. 2016. Zambia Food Reserve Agency Pricing Mechanisms and the Impact on Maize Markets. Jaipur: CUTS International.
De Groote, Hugo, Zachary Gitonga, Melinda Smale, Dorene Asare-Marfo, Earnest Kasuta, Ekin Birol, and Kai Sonder. 2011. Adoption and Diversification of Modern Maize Varieties in Zambia in 2011: A Baseline Report Prepared for Harvest Plus. Nairobi, Kenya, and Washington, DC, USA: International Maize and Wheat Improvement Centre and HarvestPlus.
De Groote, Hugo, Zachary Gitonga, Melinda Smale, Dorene Asare-Marfo, Earnest Kasuta, Ekin Birol, and Kai Sonder. 2014. "Smallholder Farming and Crop Variety Choice: Maize Variety Choice in Zambia." HarvestPlus Research for Action 3.
FAO. 2009. Nutrition country profile: the Republic of Zambia. Rome: Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO). ftp://ftp.fao.org/ag/agn/nutrition/ncp/zmb.pdf .
FRA. 2016. Food Reserve Agency. Accessed 03 20, 2016. http://fra.org.zm/about-us/.
Gannon, Bryan, Chisela Kaliwile, Sara A Arscott, Samantha Schmaelzle, Justin Chileshe, Ngandwe Kalungwana, Mofu Mosonda, Kevin Pixley, Cassim Masi, and Sherry A Tanumihardjo. 2014. "Biofortified orange maize is as efficacious as a vitamin A supplement in Zambian children even in the presence of high liver reserves of vitamin A: a community-based, randomized placebo-controlled tria." Am J Clin Nutr (American Society for Nutrition) 100: 1541–50.
HarvestPlus/BPI. 2015. Biofortification priority index. International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI)-HarvestPlus. doi:http://public.tableau.com/profile/ifpri.td7290#!/vizhome/BPI/BPIMAPPINGTOOL.
Houweling, Tanja Aj, Anton E Kunst, and Johan P Mackenbach. 2003. "Measuring health inequality among children in developing countries: does the choice of the indicator of economic status matter?" International Journal for Equity in Health 2 (8).
Lividini, Keith, and John L. Fiedler. 2015. "Assessing the promise of biofortification: A case study of high provitamin A maize in Zambia." Food Policy (Elsevier Ltd) 54: 65-77. doi:http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.foodpol.2015.04.007.
McKenzie, David J. 2005. "Measuring Inequality with Asset Indicators." Journal of Population Economics 18 (2): 229-260.
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Meenakshi, J.V, V Barenji, K Manyong, K Tomlins, N Mittal, and P Hamukwala. 2012. "Using a Discrete Choice Experiment to Elicit the Demand for a Nutritious Food: Willingness-to-Pay for Orange Maize in Rural Zambia." Journal of Health Economics 31: 62-71.
MOST, UNICEF, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and Food and Nutrition Commission of Zambia. 2003. Report of the national survey to evaluate the impact of vitamin A interventions in Zambia, July and November 2003. Zambia, Micronutrient Operational Strategies and Technologies, United States Agency for International Development (USAID) Micronutrient Program.
Saltzman, Amy, Ekin Birol, Howarth E Bouis, Erick Boy, Fabiana F De Moura, Yassir Islam, and Wolfgang H Pfeiffer. 2013. "Biofortification: Progress toward a more nourishing future." Global Food Security 2 (1): 9-17. doi:10.1016/j.gfs.2012.12.003.
Sitko, Nicholas J., Antony Chapoto, Steven Kabwe, Solomon Tembo, Munguzwe Hichaambwa, Rebecca Lubinda, Harrison Chiwawa, Mebelo Mataa, Simon Heck, and Dorothy Nthani. 2011. Technical Compendium: Descriptive Agricultural Statistics and Analysis for Zambia in Support of the USAID Mission’s Feed the Future Strategic Review. Working Paper No. 52, Lusaka, Zambia: Food Security Research Project. http://www.aec.msu.edu/agecon/fs2/zambia/index.htm.
Smale, Melinda, and Nicole Mason. 2012. "Demand for Maize Hybrids, Seed Subsidies, and Seed Decisionmakers in Zambia." HarvestPlus Working Paper (HarvestPlus) (8).
UNICEF. n.d. "Zambia: Nutrition." UNICEF. Accessed 2 24, 2016. http://www.unicef.org/zambia/5109_8461.html.
WHO. 2009. "Global prevalence of vitamin A deficiency in populations at risk 1995–2005." WHO Global Database on Vitamin A Deficiency, Geneva. Switzerland. http://whqlibdoc.who.int/publications/2009/9789241598019_eng.pdf.
—. 2016. Micronutrient deficiencies: Vitamin A deficiency. WHO. Accessed 02 24, 2016. http://www.who.int/nutrition/topics/vad/en/#.
World Bank. n.d. "Nutrition at a Glance: Zambia." World Bank. Accessed 2 24, 2016. http://siteresources.worldbank.org/NUTRITION/Resources/281846-1271963823772/Zambia.pdf.
Appendix
Appendix 1. List of agro-dealers interviewed
Province District Agro-dealer
Central Kabwe Elementa Enterprise
Central Kabwe Nthombi Distributors
Central Kapiri Kapiri Agrovet
Central Kapiri Kapiri Bejack Agro
Central Kapiri Kashimu Agro
Central Kapiri Mukango Agro
Central Mkushi Faides Marketing
41
Central Serenje Little D Enterprises
Eastern Chipata Farmers Solution Agri Services
Eastern Chipata M.S.P Shop
Eastern Chipata Majere Agro Services
Eastern Chipata Sedia
Eastern Chipata Shen Agri Supplies
Eastern Chipata Zulu and Sons
Eastern Katete ISUSYA/ Little Mos
Eastern Katete Tsatilani Mwambo
Eastern Lundazi D.G.M Agro
Eastern Nyimba Be Strong
Eastern Petauke M.J Farmers Den
Eastern Petauke Rochis
Eastern Sinda Small
Eastern Chipata Green Veg Agro/J.N Farmers Shop
Eastern Nyimba Tilo Agro
Luapula Mansa Molestus Agro
Northern Chinsali Sisnade Laban
Northern Isoka Chandees Center
Northern Nakonde Lekango Agro
Southern Choma Arupee
Southern Kalomo Chipampe
Southern Kalomo Southern Commodities
Southern Monze Moomba Agro
Appendix 2. Number of seed bags received and sold by province
Bag size Province Received Sold Sales rate
0.5 kg Central 100 100 100%
1 kg Luapula 9 4 44%
2 kg
Eastern 608 236 39%
Central 170 156 92%
Luapula 3 3 100%
5 kg
Northern 140 40 29%
Southern 300 186 62%
Eastern 305 99 32%
Central 105 25 24%
Luapula 24 24 100%
42
10 kg Central 120 69 58%
Luapula 4 4 100%
Appendix 3. Average household total arable land, total maize land and total VAM land, in ha
All farm households VAM recipients only***
Chipata (n=119)
Katete (n=237)
Sinda (n=124)
Total (n=480)
Chipata (n=63)
Katete (n=116)
Sinda (n=64)
Total (n=243
)
Total farm land area
1.68 (1.17)*
1.94 (1.42)
1.91 (1.61)
1.87 (1.42)
1.92 (1.36)*
2.31 (1.55)
2.34 (1.99)
2.22 (1.64)
Total maize area
1.06 (0.89)***
1.39 (0.98)
1.49 (1.24)*
1.34 (1.04)
1.25 (1.08)***
1.62 (1.00)
1.86 (1.52)*
1.59 (1.20)
Total VAM area -- -- -- -- 0.24
(0.26) 0.18
(0.16)* 0.25
(0.27) 0.21
(0.22)
Land area managed by females
0.37 (0.63)
0.37 (0.77)
0.43 (1.03)
0.39 (0.81)
0.38 (0.57)
0.55 (0.95)
0.52 (1.30)
0.50 (0.98)
Significance level of being in the district, *p<0.10, **p<0.05, ***p<0.01 n=number of households; standard deviation in parentheses
Appendix 4. Land area share of the crops cultivated by district and VAM recipients
Recipient Non-recipient Total
Chipata Katete Sinda Total Chipata Katete Sinda Total Chipata Katete Sinda Tota
l
Maize 65% 70% 80% 72% 61% 74% 74% 71% 63% 72% 78% 71%
Groundnuts 16% 7% 5% 9% 17% 7% 8% 9% 16% 7% 6% 9%
Cotton 6% 6% 4% 5% 15% 10% 8% 11% 9% 8% 5% 7%
Sunflower 6% 9% 9% 8% 3% 5% 10% 6% 5% 7% 9% 7%
Soybean 2% 5% 0% 3% 1% 2% 0% 1% 2% 3% 0% 2%
Tobacco 4% 1% 0% 1% 3% 0% 0% 1% 4% 0% 0% 1%
Beans 1% 1% 1% 1% 0% 1% 0% 0% 0% 1% 1% 1%
Appendix 5. Average household land possession and allocation of the VAM recipients versus non-recipients
Total land area Total maize area Managed by females
Chipata VAM recipients (n=63) 1.92 (1.36)
** 1.25 (1.10)
** 0.38 (0.57)
Non-VAM recipients (n=58) 1.41 (0.85) 0.85 (0.55) 0.36 (0.69)
Katete VAM recipients (n=116) 2.31 (1.55)
*** 1.62 (1.00)
*** 0.55 (0.95)
*** Non-VAM recipients (n=122) 1.58 (1.19) 1.17 (0.90) 0.19 (0.48)
Sinda VAM recipients (n=64) 2.34 (1.99)
*** 1.86 (1.52)
*** 0.52 (1.30)
Non-VAM recipients (n=60) 1.46 (0.87) 1.09 (0.64) 0.34 (0.64)
Total VAM recipients (n=243) 2.22 (1.64) *** 1.59 (1.20) *** 0.50 (0.98) ***
43
Non-VAM recipients (n=240) 1.51 (1.04) 1.08 (0.78) 0.27 (0.58) Significance level across the two categories (recipient Vs non-recipient), *p<0.10, **p<0.05, ***p<0.01
n=number of households; standard deviation in parentheses
Appendix 6. Differences in average household land size used to cultivate VAM vs. non-VAM varieties, in ha
Land size allocated to Number of observation
s Mean
Standard error
Standard deviation
95% confidence interval
Non-vitamin A maize varieties 200 1.521952 0.0820559 1.160446 1.360141 1.683762
Vitamin A Maize 200 0.2238246 0.0168293 0.2380022 0.190638 0.2570113
diff 200 1.298127 0.0807025 1.141305 1.138985 1.457269
mean(diff) = mean (land area of non-VAM maize varieties – land area of VAM) t = 16.0853
Ho: diff = 0 degrees of freedom = 199
Ha: diff < 0 Ha: diff != 0 Ha: diff > 0
Pr(T < t) = 1.0000 Pr(T > t) = 0.0000 Pr(T > t) = 0.0000
Appendix 7. Differences in average household yields of VAM vs. non-VAM varieties, in MT/ha
Yield of Number of observation
s Mean
Standard error
Standard deviation
95% confidence interval
Non-vitamin A maize varieties 200 1.721969 0.0822148 1.162693 1.559845 1.884093
Vitamin A Maize 200 1.578299 0.1907819 2.698064 1.202085 1.954513
diff 200 0.1436694 0.1951793 2.760253 -0.2412158 0.5285546
mean(diff) = mean (yield of non-VAM maize varieties – yield of VAM) t = 0.7361
Ho: diff = 0 degrees of freedom = 199
Ha: diff < 0 Ha: diff != 0 Ha: diff > 0
Pr(T < t) = 0.7687 Pr(T > t) = 0.4625 Pr(T > t) = 0.2313
Appendix 8. Cross-tabulation of intended customers and place of sale of VAM crop
Per
son
(ex
pec
ted
)
Place of (expected) sale for majority of the output
Farm
gat
e
Mar
ket
Co
op
erat
ive
s
Agr
icu
ltu
ral
offi
ces
Har
vest
Plu
s
Oth
er
inst
itu
tion
s
Do
n't
kn
ow
Tot
al
Consumer 63% 33% 3% 0% 0% 3% 0% 100%
44
Trader 10% 86% 0% 3% 0% 0% 0% 100%
Wholesaler 0% 74% 16% 0% 0% 11% 0% 100%
Cooperatives 0% 10% 83% 5% 0% 2% 0% 100%
Other institutions 0% 0% 0% 0% 0% 0% 100% 100%
Agricultural offices 0% 67% 0% 33% 0% 0% 0% 100%
HarvestPlus 0% 0% 0% 13% 88% 0% 0% 100%
Other 0% 16% 53% 11% 0% 21% 0% 100%
Don't know 0% 0% 2% 2% 0% 0% 95% 100%
Total 12% 27% 21% 5% 6% 3% 26% 100%
Appendix 9. Farmers’ knowledge on the benefits of vitamin A
Wom
en g
rou
ps
Dem
o p
acks
(S
cho
ols
&
Hea
lth
Cen
ters
)
A le
ad f
arm
er
Bo
ugh
t fr
om
ag
ro-d
eale
rs
No
n-r
ecip
ien
t
Ove
rall
Good for the eyes 61% 60% 59% 69% 41% 51%
Good for child growth/development
16% 21% 14% 8% 11% 13%
Good for increasing sexual stamina
24% 26% 21% 23% 16% 20%
Good for health & nutrition
26% 21% 25% 38% 18% 22%
Good for skin 6% 0% 12% 15% 1% 4%
Good for intelligence 5% 2% 8% 8% 3% 4%
Does not know at all 6% 7% 5% 0% 29% 17%
Appendix 10. Agro-dealers’ Survey Instrument
HarvestPlus
Orange Maize Agro-dealers’ Interview: Zambia
45
March 2015
Province: _____________________ Interviewer name: _____________________
District: _____________________ Date: _____________________
Village: _____________________ Time began: _____________________
ID: _____________________ Time ended: _____________________
General Information
1. Name of the Agro-dealer:
2. Address of the Agro-dealer: Tel: _____________________
3. Name of the contact person:
4. Name of the respondent:
5. Gender of the respondent:
6. Years of agro-dealership experience:
Sales questions
7. Do you know what Orange Maize is?
8. How is Orange Maize different than other maize seed?
9. When and where/from whom did you first hear about Orange Maize seed?
10. Have you ever requested Orange Maize seed from ZamSeed? If yes, what was the main reason for requesting the Orange Maize seed?
11. Amount of Orange Maize seeds received from ZamSeed in 2014/2015 farming season
Bag size Number of bags Price charged
46
12. Amount of Orange Maize seeds sold to farmers in 2014/2015 farming season
Bag size Number of bags Price charged
13. Number of farmers you sold Orange Maize seed to (If not exact, ask the approximate number)
Male:
Female:
Total:
14. Have you ever given feedback to ZamSeed regarding Orange Maize? If yes, what was it?
15. How was the sale rate of Orange Maize compared to the white maize?
16. Were you trained to keep a bill book?
By whom?
When?
Where?
47
Purpose of the bill book?
17. Did you keep a bill book?
If ‘Yes’ did you capture all? If not all what proportion?
If ‘No’ why not?
Catchment
18. Which villages does your shop cover?
Villages covered:
From which villages did your Orange Maize purchasers hail from?
19. Do you have any other outlets? If yes, how many are they? Where are they located?
Location
Bill book kept
Bag size Number of
bags Price charged
Outlet 1
Outlet 2
Outlet 3
Outlet 4
48
Outlet 5
Branding
20. What is your thought on the current Orange Maize packaging?
21. Does the current Orange Maize packaging attract more farmers?
22. What do you suggest to make the current Orange Maize packaging better?
23. What is your thought on the posters, banners, flyers and other promotional materials used to attract the farmer?
24. What do you suggest to make these promotional materials effective?
25. What can be/should be done to promote farmer demand?
26. What do you think would the future of Orange Maize seed in Zambia be?
49
Appendix 11. Farm Household Survey Instrument
Effect of Promotion and Delivery Channels on Farmers’ Intention to Adopt and Consume Vitamin A Maize Delivered in the 2014/15 rainy Season in Zambia
Farm Household Survey Instrument, August - September 2015
We are a group of researchers working for HarvestPlus. HarvestPlus is a global project working on agriculture and health. In Zambia HarvestPlus is working with World Fish to develop and deliver improved maize varieties with high levels of vitamin A. We are currently conducting a study to elicit farmers’ intention to adopt the vitamin A maize variety which was delivered at the beginning of the Rainy Season in 2014/15through different channels. The results of this study will inform development and delivery of vitamin A maize in Zambia.
As a part of this study, we are carrying out this survey, in which we would like you to take part. In this survey you will be asked questions about your household characteristics; maize production in general, and vitamin A maize production in particular. By participating in this survey you are contributing immensely to the successful completion of this study. The survey is anonymous; your answers will be treated in the strictest confidence and there is no right or wrong answer. We would be most grateful if you could take about one hour to participate in this survey. Thank you in advance for your cooperation.
Participant’s Consent: I agree to participate in this survey. I have been fully informed of this study and I am aware that should I not wish to continue participating in this study I can do so at any time and without giving a reason. This authorization is only valid for this study. I hereby consent to participation.
___________________________________ ___________________________________
Signature or thumbprint of participant Name (in print)
___________________________________ ___________________________________
Signature of enumerator Name (in print)
50
MODULES
MODULE A. IDENTIFICATION ............................................................................................................................................................................................................................ 51
MODULE B. HOUSEHOLD DEMOGRAPHICS ................................................................................................................................................................................................... 51
MODULE C. MAIZE PRODUCTION .................................................................................................................................................................................................................... 51
MODULE D. VITAMIN A MAIZE VARIETY (GV 664 A) CULTIVATED IN 2014/15 RAINY SEASON ................................................................................................................ 53
MODULE E. GV 664 A – DIFFUSION, DELIVERY, WILLINGNESS TO PAY (WTP) AND INTENTION TO GROW ........................................................................................ 56
MODULE F. EVALUATION OF TRAITS ............................................................................................................................................................................................................... 58
MODULE G. MAIZE SALES, MAIZE INCOME AND MAIZE FOOD SECURITY ................................................................................................................................................ 59
MODULE H. HOUSEHOLD SOURCES OF INFORMATION, DISTANCE TO SEED SOURCES, ASSETS AND INCOME ............................................................................. 60
MODULE I. INFORMATION AND MARKETING ............................................................................................................................................................................................... 64
MODULE J. LONG CODES .................................................................................................................................................................................................................................. 65
51
MODULE A. IDENTIFICATION
Date of interview (Day/Month/Year): ____________________ Time started: ____________________ Time ended: ____________________ A0 Respondent category, according to the sampling table
(enumerator, please fill the code on the list of selected households)
[1] Women groups [2] Demo packs (Schools & Health Centers) [3] A lead farmer
[4] Bought from agro-dealers [5] Didn't get it at all
A1 Province A2 District [1] Chipata [2] Katete [3] Sinda A3 Village name A4 Interviewer's name A5 Language in which the interview was conducted [1] English [2] Bemba [3] Nyanja [4] Tonga
[5] Kaonde [6] Lunda [7] Lozi [8] Luvale A6 Household ID A7 Camp A8 Camp officer name A9 Number of people living in this household or who have been
sharing the same house for the past six months
A10 How long has your household lived in this village? (in years)
MODULE B. HOUSEHOLD DEMOGRAPHICS
1 2 3 4 5 B1 Household Member (name) (Enumerator: Start with respondent) B2 Relationship to the household head (B2 codes) B3 Sex [1] Male [2] Female B4 Age (complete years) B5 Literacy (B5 codes) B6 Level of formal education completed (B6 codes) B7 Marital status (B7 codes) B8 If B3=2 and B4>12, is this member pregnant? [1] Yes [2] No B9 If B3=2 and B4>12, is this member lactating? [1] Yes [2] No B10 Has this member ever received vitamin A maize seed? [1] Yes [2] No B11 If B10=1, from where? Programmer: Make this MULTIPLE RESPONSE (B11 codes) If B10=1 B12 If B4>=15, what is the number of years of experience in maize farming (complete
years)
B13 If B4>=15, main decision maker in maize production? [1] Yes [2] No B14 If B4>=15, main decision maker in maize seed purchase? [1] Yes [2] No B15 If B4>=15, main decision maker in maize grain sales? [1] Yes [2] No B16 If B4>=15, main decision maker in maize consumption? [1] Yes [2] No
MODULE C. MAIZE PRODUCTION
52
1 2 3 C1 Plot name (Plot is defined as a land that has one same crop)
Number of plots must not be limited
C2 Who is the manager of this plot?
B2 codes C3 What is the relationship of the plot manager to the head
C3 codes
C4 What type of land tenure do you have for this plot?
[1] Owned by the household [2] Borrowed [3] Rented [4] Other, (specify) [5] School plot
C5 What is the area of this plot?
In Hectares C6 What is the main crop cultivated on this plot?
C6 codes If C6=1, go to C7, otherwise go back to C1, if plots are finished go to D01
C7 How was the 2014/15 Rainy Season for maize production compared to those in the past 3 years, in terms of rainfall
[1] Higher [2] Same [3] Lower
C8 How was the 2014/15 Rainy Season for maize production compared to those in
the past 3 years, in terms of insects
[1] Higher [2] Same [3] Lower [4] Never happened
C9 How was the 2014/15 Rainy Season for maize production compared to those in the past 3 years, in terms of diseases
[1] Higher [2] Same [3] Lower [4] Never happened
C10 Did the household use pesticide in 2014/15 Rainy Season maize production?
[1] Yes [2] No C11 Did the household use herbicide in 2014/15 Rainy Season maize production?
[1] Yes [2] No
C12 Did the household use insecticide in 2014/15 Rainy Season maize production?
[1] Yes [2] No C13 Did the household use fungicide in 2014/15 Rainy Season maize production?
[1] Yes [2] No
C14 Did the household use fertilizer in 2014/15 Rainy Season maize production?
[1] Yes [2] No C15 Did the household use manure in 2014/15 Rainy Season maize production?
[1] Yes [2] No
C16 Did the household use hired labor in 2014/15 Rainy Season maize production?
[1] Yes [2] No C17 Amount of pesticide used?
In kg
C18 Amount of herbicide used?
In kg C19 Amount of insecticide used?
In kg
C20 Amount of fungicide used?
In kg C21 Amount of fertilizer used?
In kg
C22 Amount of manure used?
In kg C23 How many people were hired for your labor?
C24 What was the total cost of pesticide used? (in ZMW)
C25 What was the total cost of herbicide used? (in ZMW)
C26 What was the total cost of insecticide used? (in ZMW)
C27 What was the total cost of fungicide used? (in ZMW)
C28 What was the total cost of fertilizer used? (in ZMW)
C29 What was the total cost of manure used? (in ZMW)
C30 What was the total cost of hired labor used? (in ZMW)
1 2 3 C31 What is the type of soil where you did most of your maize cultivation in 2014/15
Rainy Season?
[1] Sandy Soil [2] Loamy Soil
[3] Clay soil [4] Other, specify
53
C32 What is the main source of irrigation for your maize cultivation in 2014/15 Rainy Season?
[1] Rainfed [2] Canal (Trench) [3] Well
[4] Pump [5] Lift irrigation [6] Other, Specify
C33 What is the maize variety you cultivated on this plot in 2014/15 Rainy Season?
C33 Codes C34 What is the source of this seed?
C34 Codes
C35 What is the quantity of maize grain harvested from this plot?
In kg C36 What is the quantity of maize grain output from this plot that was lost to
pests/diseases and postharvest?
In kg
C37 What is the quantity of maize grain output from this plot that was consumed at home?
In kg
C38 What is the quantity of maize grain output from this plot that was saved as seed?
In kg C39 What is the quantity of maize grain output from this plot that was sold?
In kg
C40 What is the quantity of maize grain output from this plot that was used for other purposes, specify?
In kg If plots are finished go to the next module
MODULE D. VITAMIN A MAIZE VARIETY (GV 664 A) CULTIVATED IN 2014/15 RAINY SEASON
D01 Did you grow the Vitamin A Maize variety [1] Yes >>D1 [2] No
D02 Why not? [1] Did not hear about it all [2] I heard but have not received it [3] I could have got it but did not want to try it [4] Others specify [5] The seed was delivered late [6] Did not want to grow [7] Didn't know where to find it and how to get it
D03 What do you know about Vitamin A Maize [1] Nutrition benefit of the variety [2] High yield of the variety [3] Double cobbing [4] Drought tolerant [5] Disease tolerant
[6] Wanted to try a new variety [7] I don’t know anything [8] Other, specify [9] Early maturity
D04 Quantity of Vitamin A Maize you would like to receive to try this variety (Enter 0 if they don't want any)
_______________ kg >>G1
D1 Did you ask the farmer to see their GV 664 A bag? [1] Yes [2] No D2 Did you see the farmer’s GV 664 A bag? [1] Yes [2] No if yes go to D4, if no go to D3 D3 Why didn’t you see farmers’ GV 664 A bag? D4 Does the GV 664 A have a local name? [1] Yes>>D5 [2] No >>D6 D5 What is the local name? D6 What was the primary reason for cultivation of GV 664 A? [1] Nutrition benefit of the variety
[2] High yield of the variety [3] Double cobbing [4] Drought tolerant [5] Disease tolerant
[9] Other, specify [10] To sell [11] Was the cheapest" [12] Good
taste [13] For school feeding program
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[6] Wanted to try a new variety [7] Early maturity
[14] Was just given to me [15] To have experience
D7 What was the secondary reason for cultivation of GV 664 A? [1] Nutrition benefit of the variety [2] High yield of the variety [3] Double cobbing [4] Drought tolerant [5] Disease tolerant [6] Wanted to try a new variety [7] Early maturity [8] No other reason
[9] Other, specify [10] To sell [11] Was the cheapest [12] Good taste [13] For school feeding program [14] Was just given to me [15] To have experience
D8 From whom/where did you get the information about GV 664 A? D8 codes [Multiple response]
D9 Where did you get the GV 664 A seed? B11 codes [Multiple response]
D10 When did you get the GV 664 A seed? (Month) _______________ D11 When did you get the GV 664 A seed? (Week) _______________ D12
A. Have you ever acquired a GV 664 A seed pack?
B. How many seed bags GV 664 A seed quantity acquired?
C. Price paid for one bag (Enter 0 if the seed was
received for free) 0.5 kg bag
1 kg bag 2 kg bag 5 kg bag 10 kg Other bag(specify)
D15 Did you plant all the seed quantity acquired (which is stated in D12 in Rainy Season 2014/15?
[1] Yes, all of it>>D25 [2] No, some of it>>D16
[3] Don’t know/don’t remember>>D25
D16 How much GV 664 A seed did you plant in Rainy Season 2014/15? Show only the seed packs that were selected in D12
_______________ kg
D17 What did you do with the remaining seed? (Please select all that apply)
[1] Saved for next Rainy season [2] Discarded/threw away [3] Exchanged it for something else
[4] Gave away/gifted [5] Sold [6] Other, specify______________
D18 If you selected [3] in D17, how much GV 664 A seed did you exchange? _______________ Weight units D19 If you selected [3] in D17, what did you exchange GV 664 A seed with?
(Select all that apply) [1] Other maize seed [2] Other crop seed [3] Fertilizer
[4] Labor [5] Other input, specify________ [6] Other, specify__________
D20 If you selected [3] in D17, with whom did you exchange, their numbers and location (Select all that apply)
[1] Relatives: Number_______
Location: [i] In the same village [ii] In the next village within the
district
[iii] Outside the district [iv] Outside the province [v] Other, specify___________
[2] Neighbors:
Location: [i] In the same village
[iii] Outside the district [iv] Outside the province
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Number_______ [ii] In the next village within the district
[v] Other, specify___________
[3] Friends: Number_______
Location: [i] In the same village [ii] In the next village within the
district
[iii] Outside the district [iv] Outside the province [v] Other, specify___________
[4] Farmers in common cooperative: Number_______
Location: [i] In the same village [ii] In the next village within the
district
[iii] Outside the district [iv] Outside the province [v] Other, specify___________
[5] Other farmers, specify ________: Number_______
Location: [i] In the same village [ii] In the next village within the
district
[iii] Outside the district [iv] Outside the province [v] Other, specify___________
D21 If you selected [4] in D17, how much GV 664 A seed did you give away? _______________ Weight units D22 If you selected [4] in D17, to whom did you
give away, their numbers and location (Select all that apply)
[1] Relatives: Number_______
Location: [i] In the same village [ii] In the next village within the
district
[iii] Outside the district [iv] Outside the province [v] Other, specify___________
[2] Neighbors: Number_______
Location: [i] In the same village [ii] In the next village within the
district
[iii] Outside the district [iv] Outside the province [v] Other, specify___________
[3] Friends: Number_______
Location: [i] In the same village [ii] In the next village within the
district
[iii] Outside the district [iv] Outside the province [v] Other, specify___________
[4] Farmers in common cooperative: Number_______
Location: [i] In the same village [ii] In the next village within the
district
[iii] Outside the district [iv] Outside the province [v] Other, specify___________
[5] Other farmers, specify ________: Number_______
Location: [i] In the same village [ii] In the next village within the
district
[iii] Outside the district [iv] Outside the province [v] Other, specify___________
D23 If you selected [5] in D17, how much GV 664 A seed did you sell and what was the unit price? _______________ Weight units
D24 If you selected [5] in D17, to whom did you sell, their numbers and location (Select all that apply)
[1] Relatives: Number_______
Location: [i] In the same village [ii] In the next village within the
district
[iii] Outside the district [iv] Outside the province [v] Other, specify___________
[2] Neighbors: Location: [iii] Outside the district
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Number_______
[i] In the same village [ii] In the next village within the
district
[iv] Outside the province [v] Other, specify___________
[3] Friends: Number_______
Location: [i] In the same village [ii] In the next village within the
district
[iii] Outside the district [iv] Outside the province [v] Other, specify___________
[4] Farmers in common cooperative: Number_______
Location: [i] In the same village [ii] In the next village within the
district
[iii] Outside the district [iv] Outside the province [v] Other, specify___________
[5] Other farmers, specify ________: Number_______
Location: [i] In the same village [ii] In the next village within the
district
[iii] Outside the district [iv] Outside the province [v] Other, specify___________
D25 When did you harvest GV 664 A? (Month) _______________ (Put 99 if did not harvest and then Skip to D30) D26 When did you harvest GV 664 A? (Week) _______________ D27 Where (Place) do you (expect to) sale for majority of the output [1] Farm gate
[2] Market [3] Cooperatives [4] Other
[5] Don't think of any at this point [6] Agricultural offices [7] HarvestPlus [8] Other institutions
D28 To whom do you (expect to) sell the majority of the output [1] Consumer [2] Trader [3] Wholesaler [4] Cooperatives [5] Other
[6] Don't think of any at this point [7] Agricultural offices [8] HarvestPlus [9] Other institutions
D29 Price per unit of output (expected to be) sold for majority of the output?
ZMW ___________ per kg
D30 Did/will GV 664 A grain fetch higher price than the grain of other varieties?
[1] Yes >>D31 [2] No >>E [3] I don’t know >>E
D31 What is the price per unit of other maize grain in the market? ZMW ___________ per kg
MODULE E. GV 664 A – DIFFUSION, DELIVERY, WILLINGNESS TO PAY (WTP) AND INTENTION TO GROW
E1 Did you recommend GV 664 A to anyone? [1] Yes>>E2 [2] No>>E4 E2 How many people did you recommend GV 664 A to? ______________ E3 Who are these people?
(Enumerator please select as many as applicable)
(1) Relatives: [1] Yes [2] No
Location: [a] In the same village [b] In the next village within the district [c] Outside the district [d] Outside the province [e] Other, specify________
(2) Neighbors: Location:
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[1] Yes [2] No [a] In the same village [b] In the next village within the district [c] Outside the district [d] Outside the province [e] Other, specify________
(3) Friends: [1] Yes [2] No
Location: [a] In the same village [b] In the next village within the district [c] Outside the district [d] Outside the province [e] Other, specify________
(4) Farmers in common cooperative:
[1] Yes [2] No
Location: [a] In the same village [b] In the next village within the district [c] Outside the district [d] Outside the province [e] Other, specify________
(5) Other, specify;_______:
[1] Yes [2] No
Location: [a] In the same village [b] In the next village within the district [c] Outside the district [d] Outside the province [e] Other, specify________
E4 Did you give the harvested grain of GV 664 A to anyone? [1] Yes>>E5 [2] No>>E7 E5 How many people did you give the grain of this variety to? ______________ E6 Who are these people?
(Enumerator please select as many as applicable)
(1) Relatives: [1] Yes [2] No
Location: [a] In the same village [b] In the next village within the district [c] Outside the district [d] Outside the province [e] Other, specify________
(2) Neighbors: [1] Yes [2] No
Location: [a] In the same village [b] In the next village within the district [c] Outside the district [d] Outside the province [e] Other, specify________
(3) Friends: [1] Yes [2] No
Location: [a] In the same village [b] In the next village within the district [c] Outside the district [d] Outside the province [e] Other, specify________
(4) Farmers in common cooperative:
[1] Yes [2] No
Location: [a] In the same village [b] In the next village within the district [c] Outside the district [d] Outside the province [e] Other, specify________
(5) Other, specify;_______ :
[1] Yes [2] No
Location: [a] In the same village [b] In the next village within the district [c] Outside the district [d] Outside the province [e] Other, specify________
E7 How satisfied are you with the following aspects of delivery on a satisfaction scale of 1 to 5 (Enumerator: -99=do not know enter -77=not applicable -77) E7.1: Bag sizes available at the agro-dealer or that is given to you 1.Very dissatisfied 2.Dissatisfied 3.Neutral 4.Satisfied 5.Very satisfied E7.2: Bag design/logo 1.Very dissatisfied 2.Dissatisfied 3.Neutral 4.Satisfied 5.Very satisfied E7.3: Information on the bag 1.Very dissatisfied 2.Dissatisfied 3.Neutral 4.Satisfied 5.Very satisfied E7.4: Information on the posters 1.Very dissatisfied 2.Dissatisfied 3.Neutral 4.Satisfied 5.Very satisfied E7.5: Availability/visibility of posters 1.Very dissatisfied 2.Dissatisfied 3.Neutral 4.Satisfied 5.Very satisfied E7.6: Information given by the agro-dealer 1.Very dissatisfied 2.Dissatisfied 3.Neutral 4.Satisfied 5.Very satisfied E8 If the GV 664 A seed was easily available and affordable, how frequently would you
purchase it? [1] Every Rainy Season [2] Twice a year [3] Once every 2 years [4] Once every 3 years
[5] Less frequently than every 3 years [6] Never again [7] Other, specify ______
E9 Seed quantity that would be typically purchased (Put 0 if they do not buy that one)
[1] No of 0.5 kg bag:________ [2] No of 1 kg bag:________ [3] No of 2 kg bag: __________ [4] No of 5 kg bag: __________
[5] No of 10 kg bag: _____ [6] No of other _________
specify ___________
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E10 What is your maximum willingness to pay in ZMW for GV 664 A seed if it is sold at
your usual agro-dealer? Show only the bags that have values >0 in E9.
[1] ZMW for a 0.5 kg bag :_________________ [2] ZMW for a 1 kg bag:_________________ [3] ZMW for a 2 kg bag:_________________ [4] ZMW for a 5 kg bag:_________________ [5] ZMW for a 10 kg bag:_________________ [6] ZMW for the other bag mentioned:_________________
E11 Will you cultivate GV 664 A again in 2015 Rainy Season?
[1] Yes>>E12-E15>>F [2] No >>E16 [3] Don’t know>>F
E12 Where will you get the GV 664 A seed for 2015 Rainy Season? Multiple response, Select all that apply
[1] Agro-dealer [2] Farmer’s own seed from
previous season [3] Neighbor [4] Family member [5] Farmer in common cooperative
/organization [6] Friend
[7] Landlord [8] Tenant [9] NGO [10] I don’t
know/remember [11] Other, specify
E13 Quantity of GV 664 A seed bags you will use in 2015 Rainy Season
____________________
E14 Assuming similar climatic and other input conditions as in 2014/15 rainy season, how much land will you use to plant GV 664 A in 2015/16 Rainy Season?
____________________
Land area units
E15 What will be the main use of this variety’s output? >> Go to Module F
[1] Mainly for household consumption [2] Mainly for market sale as grain [3] Mainly for market sales as seed [4] To save as seed for next season
[5] Don’t know [6] Other, specify;____
E16 Why not?
[1] I will not do maize in that season [2] I didn’t like the yield [3] I didn’t like the taste [4] I want to switch to hybrid
[5] Other, specify____ [6] No seed to grow
MODULE F. EVALUATION OF TRAITS
F1 Trait
F2 F3 F4 Trait ID
How important is this trait in your choice of
a maize variety?
a. Maize variety code (C33 Codes)
How well did the major maize variety which the farmers are familiar with
perform against this trait?
In 2014Rainy Season how well did GV 664 A perform
against this trait?
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F2 Codes: [1] Unimportant [2] Of Little Importance [3] Moderately Important [4] Important
[5] Very important [6] DK [7] NA
F3 Codes: [1] Very Poor [2] Poor [3] Fair [4] Good
[5] Very Good [6] DK [7] NA
MODULE G. MAIZE SALES, MAIZE INCOME AND MAIZE FOOD SECURITY
(F2 Codes) b. Performance in 2013
(F3 Codes)
c. Performance in 2014/15 (F3
Codes)
(F3 Codes)
F1.1 Agronomic F1.1.1 Emergence (germination) F1.1.2 Resistance to drought F1.1.3 Resistance to field pests F1.1.4 Resistance to storage pests F1.1.5 Resistance to diseases F1.1.6 Early maturity F1.1.7 Yield
F1.2 Cob and grain qualities F1.2.1 Cob size F1.2.2 Cob number F1.2.3 Good cover of the tip F1.2.4 Grain color (whiteness) F1.2.5 Grain weight
F1.3 Processing and cooking qualities F1.3.1 Water absorption capacity/ability
to swell
F1.3.2 Good pounding ability F1.3.3 Taste for nshima/porridge F1.3.4 Taste as roasted
F1.4 Other F1.4.1 Market demand
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G1 In the last 12 months what % of your household’s maize consumption came from each one of these sources? (Enumerator check that sum is 100%)
G1.1 _______% Own production G1.2_______ % Market purchase, if G1.2>0%>>G2; if G1.2=0 >> G4 G1.3_______ % Gifts G1.4_______ % Payment in kind G1.5_______ % Other, specify_____________________
G2 If your household purchased maize for consumption in the past 12 months, where did you buy the largest quantity?
[1] Farmgate [2] Village shop [3] Weekly market in the village [4] Market in the village
[5] Market in another village in the district [6] Other, specify:_____________ [7] From other country
G3 If your household purchased maize for consumption in the past 12 months, from whom did you buy the largest quantity?
[1] Another farmer [2] Trader
[3] Wholesaler [4] Other, specify ___________________
G4 Now think about your household’s maize grain sales in the past 3 years, on average what (%) of your total annual household income came from maize grain sales? ______________________
G5 Now think about the past 3 years’ Rainy Season, on average how many months did your maize grain reserves last after harvest?
[1] Number of months: __________ [2] Don’t know/remember
G6 Now think about the past 3 years’ Rainy Season when maize reserves were over, on average how often did you purchase grain for household consumption?
[1] Never [2] Every day [3] Few times per week [4] Once a week [5] 2-3 times per month
[6] Once a month [7] Don’t know [8] Other, specify:_______________ [9] Once a year
MODULE H. HOUSEHOLD SOURCES OF INFORMATION, DISTANCE TO SEED SOURCES, ASSETS AND INCOME
H1 Does any member of your household belong to a rural or farmers’ cooperative/organization?
[1] Yes [2] No
H2 What is your most important source for health and nutrition information?
[1] Camp officers [2] Cell Phone [3] Farmers’ Association/Cooperative [4] Friend [5] Health Worker [6] Internet [7] Magazine [8] Medicine Store [9] Neighbor [10] Newspaper
[11] NGOs [12] Posters/flyers/brochures [13] Hospital/Clinics/Health centers [14] Radio [15] Relatives [16] School [17] Self-help Group/Women’s
Association [18] TV [19] Village Leader [20] Other
H3 What is your most important source for new agricultural technology information?
[1] Radio [2] TV [3] Newspaper
[10] Agro-dealer [11] Agriculture show/trade fair [12] NGO
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[4] Magazine [5] Village Leader [6] Farmers’ Association/Cooperative [7] Demonstration Plot [8] Agricultural extension officers [9] Out grower companies
[13] Relatives [14] Neighbor [15] Friend [16] Cell Phone [17] Internet [18] Other, Specify ____________
H4 What is your most important source for new maize variety information?
[1] Radio [2] TV [3] Newspaper [4] Magazine [5] Village Leader [6] Farmers’ Association/Cooperative [7] Demonstration Plot [8] Agricultural extension officers [9] Out grower companies [10] Agro-dealer
[11] Agriculture show/trade fair [12] NGO [13] Relatives [14] Neighbor [15] Friend [16] Cell Phone [17] Internet [18] Other, Specify ___________ [19] Seed companies
H5 In the past five years, how frequently did you interact with village agricultural extension officers?
[1] Daily [2] Weekly [3] Monthly [4] Four times a year [5] Three times a year [6] Twice a year [7] Once a year
[8] Every two years [9] Every five years [10] Never [11] Other, specify_____________ [12] Twice a month [13] Seven times a year [14] Don't know
H6 In the past five years, how frequently did you interact with NGO agricultural extension officers?
[1] Daily [2] Weekly [3] Monthly [4] Four times a year [5] Three times a year [6] Twice a year [7] Once a year
[8] Every two years [9] Every five years [10] Never [11] Other, specify______________ [12] Twice a month [13] Seven times a year [14] Don't know
H7 In the past five years, how frequently did you interact with seed company extension officers?
[1] Daily [2] Weekly [3] Monthly [4] Four times a year [5] Three times a year [6] Twice a year
[7] Once a year [8] Every two years [9] Every five years [10] Never [11] Other, specify________________
H8 What is the main mode of transportation you usually use when you go to the nearest market?
[1] On foot [2] Bicycle [3] Bus [4] Motorbike [5] Train
[6] Private car/Vehicle [7] Never go there [8] Oxcart [9] Other, specify_______________
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H9 How long does it take you to go to the nearest market with the mode of transportation specified in H8? (in minutes) __________________
H10 What is the main mode of transportation you usually use when you go to the nearest agro-dealer?
[1] On foot [2] Bicycle [3] Bus [4] Motorbike [5] Train
[6] Private car/Vehicle [7] Never go there [8] Oxcart [9] Other, Specify__________________
H11 How long does it take you to go to the nearest agro-dealer with the mode of transportation specified in H10? (in minutes) __________________
H12 What is the main mode of transportation you usually use when you go to the temple/church/mosque?
[1] On foot [2] Bicycle [3] Bus [4] Motorbike [5] Train
[6] Private car/Vehicle [7] Never go there [8] Oxcart [9] Other, Specify_______________
H13 How long does it take you to go to the nearest temple/church/mosque with the mode of transportation specified in I12? (in minutes) __________________
H14 What is the total land area (agricultural and non-agricultural) currently owned by your household (specify units)? __________________
Land area codes
H15 What are the sources of your family’s livelihood? (Enumerator: Please circle all that apply)
[1] Crop farming [2] Livestock production [3] Farm labor [4] Non-farm business
[5] Non-farm salary employment (teacher, civil servant etc.) [6] Remittances [7] Rent [8] Other, specify____________
H16 What is your household’s gross income in the last 12 months from [H15 choices, Show the enumerator only the sources that were selected in H15]? (ZMW)
[1] Crop farming ____________ [5] Non-farm salary employment _________ [2] Livestock production ____________ [6] Remittances ____________ [3] Farm labor ____________ [7] Rent ____________ [4] Non-farm business ____________ [8] Other, specify____________
H17 What was your household’s net farm income in the last 2014/15 Rainy Season? (Oct-Apr)
H18 What is your household’s net farm income in 2015 dry season? (May-present)
H19 a b c Asset
ID Asset Does any household
member currently own [asset]?
How many [asset] does your entire household
currently own?
What is the current estimated value of total [asset] owned by your entire
household?
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1 = yes >> b 2 = no>> next item
ZMW
Household assets 1 Land 2 Houses (including the one you live in IF OWNED) 3 Other buildings owned including stores/shops 4 Livestock structures 5 Traditional granary 6 Wooden or concrete storage 7 Cars in working conditions 8 Bicycle 9 Motorcycle in working conditions 10 Cell/mobile phone(s) 11 Radio 12 Television 13 Savings in informal groups
Livestock assets 14 Poultry 15 Sheep 16 Goat 17 Cow 18 Pig 19 Donkey 20 Oxen 21 Bull 22 Other cattle 23 Plough 24 Ox-cart 25 Bees/Bee hives 26 Fish pond 27 Other (please specify)
Household general conditions H20 What is the roofing material of the main house? [1] Thatch
[2] Iron sheet [3] Tiles
[4] Other (please specify) [5] Asbestos [88] Don’t know
H21 What is the wall material of the main house? [1] Mud [2] Mud and cement
[6] Unburnt brick [7] Stones
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[3] Pole and mud [4] Concrete block [5] Burnt brick
[8] Grass [9] Other (please specify) [88] Don’t know
H22 What is the floor material of the main house? [1] Earth [2] Cement [3] Wood
[4] Tiles [5] Other (please specify) [88] Don’t know
H23 What is main source of drinking water? [1] Pond [2] Dam/sand dam [3] Lake [4] Stream/river [5] Unprotected stream [6] Protected stream [7] Unprotected well [8] Protected well [9] Borehole [10] Piped into compound
[11] Piped outside compound [12] Water tankers [13] Rainwater/roof catchments [14] Bottled water [15] Other (specify) [16] Don’t know
H24 What is the main source of water for domestic use? [1] Pond [2] Dam/sand dam [3] Lake [4] Stream/river [5] Unprotected stream [6] Protected stream [7] Unprotected well [8] Protected well [9] Borehole
[10] Piped into compound [11] Piped outside compound [12] Water tankers [13] Rainwater/roof catchments [14] Bottled water [15] Other (specify) [16] Don’t know
H25 What is the main source of lighting used in the main house? [1] Electricity [2] Pressure lamp [3] Tin lamp [4] Fuel wood [5] Lantern [6] Solar power [7] Candle
[8] Open fire [9] Generator [10] Car battery [11] Torch or battery lamp [12] Other (please specify) [13] Don't know [14] Use nothing at all
H26 Do you and/or any of the other members in your household use mosquito nets? 1 = Yes 2 = No
99 = don't know
MODULE I. INFORMATION AND MARKETING
I1 Did you see the posters for GV 664 A? [1] Yes>>I2 [2] No>>I8 I2 Where did you see it? I2 Codes I3 What was the message on the poster? [1] Vitamin A and orange maize [4] Farming orange maize
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(Enumerator: Please circle all that apply)
[2] Any benefit of orange maize [3] Picture of maize and other things
[5] Not clear
I4 Did you like the posters? [1] Yes>>I5 >>I7 [2] No>>I6 I5 Why?
(Enumerator: Please circle all that apply) [1] The message [2] Its appearance [3] The maize picture on it
I6 Why not? I7 Did the poster effect your decision to grow GV
664 A? [1] Yes, definitively [2] Yes, somehow [3] No
[4] I don’t know [5] Other, specify____________________
I8 Did you participate in field demonstrations to introduce GV 664 A?
[1] Yes>>I9[2] No>>I16
I9 Where was it held? [1] In the same village [2] In the next village within the district [3] Outside the district
[4] Outside the province [5] Other, specify____________________
I10 When was it held?(Month) ___________ I11 When was it held?(Week) ___________ I12 What was the message from it?
(Enumerator: Please circle all that apply) [1] Vitamin A Maize [2] The overall benefits of Orange Maize
[3] How to grow Orange Maize [4] Other issues & activities like cooking
I13 Did you like the field demo? [1] Yes>>I14>>I16 [2] No>>I15 I14 Why?
(Enumerator: Please circle all that apply) [1] Learned about vitamin A and Orange Maize [2] The overall benefits of Orange Maize [3] How to grow Orange Maize
[4] Other activities like cooking [5] I liked the crop
I15 Why not? I16 Did the field demo effect your decision to grow
GV 664 A? [1] Yes, definitively [2] Yes, somehow [3] No
[4] I don’t know [5] Other, specify____________________
I17 What do you think vitamin A is good for? (Enumerator: Please circle all that apply)
[1] The eyes [2] Child growth/development [3] Reproduction [4] Health & nutrition
[5] Skin [6] Intelligence [7] Does not know
MODULE J. LONG CODES
B2 Codes
[1] Head [2] Spouse [3] Own son/daughter
B5 Codes
[1] Cannot read or write [2] Can sign/write name only [3] Can read only
B6 Codes
[0] No formal education [1] Sub-standard/Grade 1 [2] Standard 1/Grade 2
B7 Codes
[1] Never married [2] Married - monogamy [3] Married - polygamous
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[4] Step son/daughter [5] Parent [6] Brother/sister [7] Nephew/niece [8] Son/daughter-in-law [9] Grandchild [10] Parent-in-law [11] Cousin [12] Other relative [13] Grand parent [14] Not related
[4] Can read and write [3] Standard 2/Grade 3 [4] Standard 3/Grade 4 [5] Standard 4/Grade 5 [6] Standard 5/Grade 6 [7] Standard 6/Grade 7 [8] Form 1/Grade 8 [9] Form 2/Grade 9 [10] Form 3/Grade 10 [11] Form 4/Grade 11 [12] Form 5/Grade 12/GCE (0) [13] Form 6/GCE (A) [14] College students [15] University undergraduate
students [16] Certificate [17] Diploma [18] Bachelor’s degree [19] Master’s degree and above
[4] Separated [5] Divorced [6] Widowed
B11 Codes
[1] Lead farmer [2] Women groups [3] Schools [4] Health centers [5] Bought from agro-dealers
C3 Codes
[1] Self [2] Husband/wife [3] Son/daughter/adopted child [4] Father/mother [5] Sister/brother
C6 Codes
[1] Maize [2] Avocado [3] Bananas [4] Beans [5] Cassava
C33 Codes
[1] GV 664 A (Orange maize) [2] DKC 8033 [3] DKC 8053 [4] DKC 9089 [5] GV 606
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[6] Didn't get it at all [6] Grandchild [7] Grandparent [8] Mother/father-in-law [9] Daughter/son-in-law [10] Other relative [11] Not related [12] Neighbor [13] Friend [14] Farmer in a common cooperatives [15] Land lord [16] Tenant [17] Others
[6] Citrus [7] Cotton [8] Cowpeas [9] Eggplant [10] Groundnuts [11] Irish potato [12] Leafy vegetables [13] Mangoes [14] Millet [15] Mustard [16] Okra [17] Onion [18] Peanuts [19] Pepper [20] Pigeon peas [21] Potatoes [22] Pumpkin [23] Rice [24] Sorghum [25] Soybean [26] Sugarcane [27] Sunflower [28] Sweet potatoes [29] Tea [30] Tobacco [31] Tomatoes [32] Vegetables [33] Wheat [34] Yam [35] Zucchini [36] Other (specify) [37] Popcorn
[6] KK 2501 [7] MRI 634 [8] Pan 53 [9] Pioneer 30G19 [10] SeedCo 403 [11] SeedCo 513 [12] SeedCo 627 [13] SeedCo 637 [14] ZMS 606 [15] ZMS 638 [16] ZMS720 [17] Local maize [18] Recycled hybrid [19] Others [20] From seed companies but
unspecified
C34 Codes
[1] Agro-dealer [2] Farmer’s own seed from previous
season [3] Neighbor [4] Family member
D3 Codes
[1] Farmer threw the bag away [2] Farmer couldn’t find/locate the bag [3] Farmer bought the seed without a
bag [4] Farmer was given the seed without a
bag
D8 Codes
[1] Agro-dealer [2] Neighbor [3] Family member [4] Farmer in common
cooperative/organization [5] Friend
I2 Codes
[1] Inside the Agro-dealer shop [2] Outside the Agro-dealer
shop [3] Agricultural offices [4] At a field day [5] At meetings and trainings
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[5] Farmer in common cooperative /organization
[6] Friend [7] Landlord [8] Tenant [9] NGO [10] Cooperatives/women group [11] I don’t know/remember [12] Other, specify [13] Camp officer [14] Health center [15] School [16] Out grower
[5] Others
[6] Landlord [7] Tenant [8] NGO [9] Field demonstration [10] Radio [11] Newspaper/magazine [12] TV [13] Cooperatives/ women group [14] I don’t know/remember [15] Others
[6] At schools [7] At the clinic [8] At the demo plot [9] In another town or village [10] In cooperatives or women
groups [11] In the village [12] On the road [13] Own home [14] Someone's house