Cassava Seed System Toolkit: Marketing Strategies

Sell Smart, Grow Fast

Marketing Strategies is a targeted toolkit designed to enhance market access and visibility for cassava seed producers. It provides practical guidance and tools for understanding customer segments, improving product positioning, and developing demand-driven marketing approaches. By addressing key challenges such as low market awareness, weak customer relationships, and poor pricing strategies, Marketing Strategies empowers seed entrepreneurs to attract buyers, build trust, and grow profitable, resilient seed businesses; especially for vegetatively propagated crops like cassava.

This technology is pre-validated.

9•9

Scaling readiness: idea maturity 9/9; level of use 9/9

392 USD

Cost of deploying the marketing strategy

IP

Open source / open access

Problem

Low awareness of certified seeds: Farmers are unfamiliar with the benefits of certified cassava seeds and stick to traditional materials.
Weak market connections: Seed producers struggle to access reliable buyer networks and structured markets.
High transport and distribution costs: Moving bulky VPC seeds like cassava is expensive, limiting market reach.
Affordability and lack of financing: Certified seeds are seen as costly, with few options for credit or flexible payments.
Ineffective marketing channels: Traditional outreach (radio, extension) has limited reach, while digital tools are underused.
Lack of brand trust and certification: Farmers can't easily distinguish certified seeds from informal ones, reducing trust.
Limited marketing skills: Many seed producers lack training in customer targeting, relationship building, and scaling.
Poor market data and customer insights: Producers often don't know who their customers are or what they want.
Limited access points for farmers: Few local sales outlets or delivery networks reduce farmers’ ability to buy seeds easily.

Solution

Raise Awareness & Create Demand
Use targeted campaigns and demo plots to educate farmers on the benefits of certified VPC seeds.
Make Seeds Affordable & Accessible
Introduce flexible pricing and financing options through partnerships to ease seed purchase.
Build Marketing Capacity
Train seed producers on customer engagement, demand-driven marketing, and business growth.
Strengthen Distribution Networks
Improve delivery systems by working with dealers, agents, cooperatives, and direct-to-farmer channels.
Boost Visibility with Digital Tools
Use SMS, radio, and online platforms to reach more farmers and streamline seed ordering.
Enhance Trust Through Branding
Develop certification labels and traceability systems to differentiate certified seeds.
Empower Local Seed Entrepreneurs
Equip community-based producers with low-cost marketing strategies like peer referrals and local events.

Key points to design your business plan

The Marketing Strategies toolkit empowers cassava seed companies to grow stronger, more profitable businesses by enhancing seed quality, traceability, and customer trust. By promoting the authenticity of certified seeds, this toolkit creates market differentiation, builds customer loyalty, and adds significant value for both producers and buyers.

To seamlessly integrate the Marketing Strategies toolkit and enhance your business, consider the following steps:

Adopt Cutting-Edge Tracking Tools: Implement traceability tools like QR codes and mobile platforms, and ensure your team is well-trained to leverage these technologies for a modern, market-driven business model.
Ensure Transparency in Production: Use tracking tools to document every step, from production to distribution, ensuring product authenticity and boosting seed quality assurance. This establishes credibility and trust in your brand.
Build Strong Customer Relationships: Share information about the seed’s origin, quality, and production processes directly with farmers. This transparency increases customer confidence and satisfaction, making them more likely to choose your product.
Leverage Traceability as a Marketing Advantage: Promote the traceability of your seeds as a unique selling point in marketing campaigns. Show how the verified quality of your seeds adds value to farmers, making your brand stand out in the marketplace.
Expand Market Reach with Strategic Partnerships: Collaborate with agro-dealers, government bodies, and NGOs to increase market access and validate the quality of your seeds, broadening your customer base and enhancing brand credibility.
Use Data to Drive Smarter Marketing: Collect and analyze insights from the tracking data to understand customer preferences, refine your product offerings, and create more effective marketing campaigns that resonate with your audience.

By adopting the Marketing Strategies toolkit, seed companies can effectively communicate their value, expand market reach, and scale the adoption of traceable, high-quality cassava seeds, ultimately driving growth, profitability, and customer loyalty.

Adults 18 and over: Positive high

The poor: Positive high

Under 18: Positive medium

Women: Positive high

Climate adaptability: Moderately adaptable

Farmer climate change readiness: Significant improvement

Biodiversity: Positive impact on biodiversity

Carbon footprint: Same amount of carbon released

Environmental health: Does not improve environmental health

Soil quality: Improves soil health and fertility

Water use: A bit less water used

Countries with a green colour: Tested & adopted
Countries with a bright green colour: Adopted
Countries with a yellow colour: Tested
Countries with a blue colour: Testing ongoing

Countries where the technology is being tested or has been tested and adopted
Country	Testing ongoing	Tested	Adopted
Nigeria	–No ongoing testing	–Not tested	Adopted
Tanzania	–No ongoing testing	–Not tested	Adopted

This technology can be used in the colored agro-ecological zones. Any zones shown in white are not suitable for this technology.

Agro-ecological zones where this technology can be used
AEZ	Subtropic - warm	Subtropic - cool	Tropic - warm	Tropic - cool
Arid
Semiarid
Subhumid
Humid

Source: HarvestChoice/IFPRI 2009

The United Nations Sustainable Development Goals that are applicable to this technology.

Goal 1: no poverty

It helps farmers transition to high-quality, disease-free seeds, boosting productivity, harvest reliability, and income. This increased income supports improved access to food, healthcare, and education, contributing to poverty reduction.

Goal 2: zero hunger

By shifting from low-yield materials to certified seeds, farmers produce more food on the same land, improving household food availability and enhancing local food security, particularly in rural areas.

Goal 8: decent work and economic growth

It helps seed entrepreneurs understand market demands, reach customers, and competitively position their products, leading to business growth and creating employment opportunities across the value chain.

Understand the Market: Find out who the target customers are, what seed types they prefer, and how they view certified seeds.
Create a Marketing Plan: Share a clear, attractive message about the benefits of certified seeds using easy-to-reach channels like SMS and social media.
Set Up Sales Channels: Work with dealers and farmer groups to create local sales points and train them to explain seed benefits.
Use Digital Tools to Raise Awareness: Share useful and engaging content through radio, SMS, and online platforms to boost demand.
Build Trust with Branding: Label certified seeds clearly and work with regulators to ensure quality standards are followed.