Project description / objective
To develop a certified system for production, distribution and use of high-quality rice, wheat and vegetable seed in two districts of Punjab, Pakistan.
The focus is on 175 villages working with 4,000 women and men smallholder farmers to ultimately develop 300 registered seed suppliers and 60 Master Trainers and Community Champions who will sustain the system in the long term.
Market system focus
Seed market system
Developing a certified system for production and distribution of high-quality rice, wheat and vegetable seeds.
Programme interventions
Capacity building for better crop management
To build the capacity of 4,000 smallholder farmers (including 400 women) around quality certified seed use and seed multiplication. This includes:
- implementation of rice and wheat-related Best Crop Management Practices (BCMP) Package to improve their knowledge, skill set and expertise
- targeted results for improving their practices, adoption, conversion to certified seed use, yields, profitability, income, livelihood, empowerment and entrepreneurship
- increasing the likelihood of participation in seed programmes on a sustainable basis
Training for seed multiplication
To improve the readiness of 1,640 smallholders (including 170 women), from a total 4,000 beneficiaries, to participate in a seed multiplication process to a level that commercial companies find it technically viable to work with them.
Registration of seed suppliers
To convert 300 smallholder farmers (including 30 women), from a total 4,000 beneficiaries, to registered seed suppliers for Engro’s seed business.
Development of Master Trainers
To develop approximately 60 enterprising smallholder farmers (individually or in groups from a total 4,000 beneficiaries) as Master Trainers (including at least six women trainers) to produce their own quality farm-saved seed for further exchange, distribution and selling among fellow farmers in nearby villages.
Notable results (systemic change, poverty impact)
- To date, the project has helped improve the yields and profits of 4,418 (637 female) smallholder farmers through the use of quality seed and adoption of efficient farming practices.
136 have been switched to certified seed usage and 500 have been added to Engro’s seed multiplication network. - 6,700 acres of small farmers have been approved by the government for certified seed procurement.
- Engro has procured 687 MT of quality seed from these smallholders. Seeing Engro’s success, other commercial seed players in the region have also started signing supply agreements with these farmers. Smallholders are now seen as potential business partners by these commercial seed players which offer better prices than the market
Government and agricultural research institutes have also focused on partnerships with small farmers. - The University of Agriculture Faisalabad established 4 Community Centres equipped with modern ICT tools to connect farmers with agriculture experts and technical resources.
- The Agriculture Policy 2020 of the provincial Government of Punjab emphasises the need to include smallholders as partners and actors in the mainstream agricultural initiatives.
- Over the past two years, PAVE has established 80 R&D plots with small farmers. These R&D farms were used to multiply seed for seed companies. These also included R&D on new varieties of rice (Super Gold, Kissan Basmati) and wheat (Aujala, Akbar).
- There is a new trend whereby farmers diversify their traditional cropping schemes of wheat and rice by also planting vegetables, involving tunnel farming.
- Commercial rice shellers and wheat flour mills are signing procurement agreements with PAVE farmers for quality wheat and rice for their business e.g. with MATCO Rice, Galaxy Rice Mills.
- PAVE has helped 130 (38 women) entrepreneurs establish 24 (6 women-led) seed enterprises. These enterprises are selling seed at the community level and offering seed processing services to other farmers in the community.
- PAVE has fostered a community ecosystem approach by conducting all of its activities with farmer groups (205 farmer groups in total). Farmers learn together and then share their experiences with each other to promote peer-to-peer learning.
- PAVE has created awareness and promoted the adoption of environmentally friendly technology and practices such as Direct Seeded Rice, Happy Seeder, Rabbi Drill, Line Sowing, Rice Transplanter, Kabouta Harvester as well as abandoning the practice of burning the left-over paddy crop residue.
[updated Feb. 2022]