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

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

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 program

The Marketing Strategies technology provides development institutions with a powerful tool to transform the cassava seed system. By focusing on promoting high-quality, certified cassava seeds, the technology enhances the effectiveness of seed production and distribution, driving economic growth and improving food security. This technology not only supports seed producers in boosting productivity but also empowers them with effective marketing strategies that improve market access, customer engagement, and business development.

Key activities to adopt the technology include:

Training Seed Entrepreneurs: Development institutions can organize training for seed producers, equipping them with the necessary skills to understand market demands, enhance seed quality, and communicate product value. This increases their competitiveness and profitability in the market.
Creating Strategic Partnerships: Collaborations with key players, including government bodies, agricultural organizations, NGOs, and seed regulators, enable better support, validation, and wider market access for certified seeds. Partnerships also provide opportunities for knowledge sharing and capacity building in the seed sector.
Promoting Traceability and Seed Quality: By leveraging technologies that allow for the traceability of seeds, institutions can ensure that only verified, high-quality seeds reach farmers. This builds trust, enhances transparency, and fosters sustainable agricultural practices, thereby improving productivity and food security.
Data-Driven Insights: Collecting and analyzing data on seed performance, customer preferences, and market trends allows for better decision-making and refinement of seed offerings. Development institutions can use this data to inform future interventions, improve quality control, and optimize seed supply chains.
Market Differentiation and Promotion: Development institutions can promote the technology as a tool for differentiating high-quality seeds in the market, positioning them as a premium product for farmers. This will help attract more customers willing to invest in quality-assured seeds, thus increasing revenue for seed producers and contributing to economic growth.

By adopting Marketing Strategies technology, development institutions can enhance seed systems, drive inclusive economic growth, and support sustainable agricultural practices. This approach not only boosts productivity but also strengthens the resilience of farming communities to climate change while improving food security and fostering equitable growth in rural areas.

392 USD

Cost of deploying the marketing strategy

IP

Open source / open access

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.