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The purpose of this paper is to analyze the potential returns to value chain actors from employing desiccant bead drying and hermetic storage technology.

Information was collected from 175 different onion (Allium cepa L.) seed value chain actors in Nepal. Four different business models for the introduction of new bead drying and hermetic storage technology were compared to current practices through use of partial budgeting.

The increase in net income throughout the chain was quite similar in all four models, ranging from US$28.86 to 29.61 per kg of onion seed, making it difficult to say that any single model is best for all situations. However, there are differences in sharing of positive net income and negative net income for different actors in different models. Moreover, about US$5.85 million incremental return could be earned per year in Nepal from improved preservation of onion seed alone.

This research assesses how to introduce a new technology, the dry chain concept to maintain seed quality, into the existing marketplace.

This paper focuses on the economics of a novel technology and compares different business models and scenarios.

The analysis focuses on the perspective of overall strategic fit in the supply chain of onion seed in Nepal. The purpose of this paper is to analyze current status of onion seed sector in Nepal from the perspective of selected functional strategies that fit in supply chain, and also identifies how various actors involved coordinate among each other.

The integrated approach has been used. It is an actor-oriented approach used to trace product flows. Supply chains generally include several actors for the onion seeds supply chain in Nepal, all those actors may or may not be applicable. However, initial approach would be to first look for these actors then subsequently identify existing supply and its actors. Some traditional methods of product and market analysis isolate operational costs along various stages of production. But, this paper used more comprehensive methodology that has taken into account an entire spectrum of associated activities and inputs.

Result revealed that the market actors of supply chain are taking significant benefit of value addition due to more investment in value creation. Vertical coordination is completely absent and the existence of horizontal coordination is in fragile form. The functional strategies in the upstream as well as the market side are not properly matching with the preference of the downstream actors of supply chain. It is suggested that the supply chain activities should work with different functional strategies such as proper drying and storage of seed and production of preferred varieties to satisfy the need of end consumers.

It covers a single crop.

The findings and methodological discussions aim at providing practical guidance for supply chain researchers on how to analyze the strategic fit in supply chain.

Higher productivity in the potato value chain in Rwanda requires good quality seed potatoes. The article analyzes how innovations were introduced in the framework of a development project resulting in a partnership between a firm and two educational institutions to produce better seed potatoes, using the Triple Helix approach.

In the Triple Helix model government, academia and the private sector work together to develop and introduce innovations. This led to producing and introducing improved seed potatoes at an affordable price through a public private partnership (PPP). Interviews with experts and a survey of local producers were carried out to identify factors influencing the success of the partnership.

A Service, Training and Innovation Center (STIC) has been created to produce the first clean potato seeds in Africa on a commercial scale, based on cultivation of in vitro potato plantlets and aeroponics to produce mini-tubers. It is called Seed Potato Advancement Centre, an education–enterprise partnership, using these plantlets to produce mini-tubers through aeroponics. Seed multipliers are responsible for the next three stages of seed multiplication. The final product is the certified potato, sold to ware potato farmers. The availability of disease-free seed potatoes in Rwanda gives a boost to the potato value chains and contributes to food security. The partnership was successful because of the support from the government and donors, with the private sector and the extension services helping to implement the innovations effectively.

The limitation is that the number of experts interviewed is limited and the survey did not only deal with potato-related activities. The focus is on one region only, but the most important potato growing area in Rwanda.

STICs function as a tool for cooperation between government, private sector and the knowledge sector to achieve commercial and development goals. They function as a channel for technology transfer. They allow applied research, including agronomic research; information collection; and dissemination, networking, training, organization of outreach activities. The model can be repeated in other sectors and countries.

The paper looks at a PPP in agriculture with educational institutions. Second, the Triple Helix and value chain literature is used to study the introduction and implementation of appropriate innovations, while factors determining the success of the partnership were identified. This concerns the first production of clean seed potatoes in Africa on a commercial scale.

Farmers in developing countries are used to recycling and purchasing seeds of old and low-yielding varieties, leading to low seed and varietal replacement rates. Seed companies in Nepal have started to conduct traders' meetings (TMs) to promote new rice varieties. This paper aims to assess the effectiveness of this approach in promoting new rice varieties.

The authors assess the effectiveness of TMs by surveying 238 agrodealers from 7 districts of Nepal. The authors used the binary logit model to study the determinants of participation in TM and an instrumental variable approach to estimate the impact of TMs on sales of the promoted rice varieties.

Results indicate that the TM significantly influences traders' knowledge and increases the probability of selling new rice varieties promoted. However, TMs did not significantly increase the overall sales of promoted rice varieties.

The study is based on cross-section data; thus, unobserved fixed effects could not be accounted for. The study finds only one relevant and valid instrumental variable and therefore could not conduct any exogeneity test.

Seed companies in Nepal started to conduct TMs to promote new rice varieties since 2019. However, to the best of the authors’ knowledge, the usefulness of TMs and the impact of these events in changing traders' attitudes toward domestic rice seed varieties or in business performance (annual sales of the promoted varieties) have not been assessed. Therefore, the study findings will help to promote the market-driven seed system and increase the seed replacement rate.

An increasing demand of agricultural intensification and value addition necessitates the use of improved inputs such as improved seed. Smallholder farmers contribute about 70% of agricultural production in Tanzania. Agriculture sector in Tanzania contributes about 24.1% of the GDP, 30% of exports and 65% of industrial raw materials. Thus, agriculture development, economic growth and industrialization are inseparable. Due to the nature of the product, smallholder farmers cannot judge the overall excellence of seed at the time of buying. This paper assessed quality uncertainty in maize and vegetable seed and its implication for market exchange between farmers and seed sellers in Kilolo district, Iringa Tanzania. The study used a random sample of 130 smallholder farmers and representatives from ten seed companies. Asymmetric information prevails between the two trading sides, i.e. sellers and buyers, leading into quality uncertainty. Moreover, product augmentation is profoundly overlooked whereby most of seed companies have not augmented their products. Because an improved seed is a quintessential example of an experience good, quality uncertainty of some crop varieties under field conditions favored some seed brands to be used more by farmers compared to others. This paper offers a thorough deduction on quality uncertainty under farmers' field condition and its implication on market exchange. It adds information in the body of knowledge on how an improved seed can contribute to sustainable production of food and industrial raw materials, which is a step towards desired industrialization agenda in Tanzania.

The purpose of this article is to demonstrate the importance of a strategic approach to collaborative innovation and the use of a value chain research methodology for identifying opportunities for co‐innovation.

Value chain analysis is used to map three flows in the Houston Farms value chain; material flow, information flow and relationships. Having diagnosed the current level of co‐innovation we then identify improvement projects and opportunities for co‐innovation to reduce cost and add value, for the benefit of the value chain as a whole.

The application of the value chain analysis methodology to the Houston Farms value chain revealed the importance of strategy and robust processes in key areas for co‐innovation – R&D and new product development. It also revealed that small businesses can enjoy a degree of success as a result of comparative advantage in certain areas but that sustainable competitive advantage cannot occur by chance – identifying the potential for co‐innovation is an important first step in the right direction.

The value chain innovation roadmap represents a useful framework for exploring the current state and future capability for co‐innovation in a value chain. The value chain analysis methodology is an effective diagnostic tool as it focuses on what happens at the interface between stakeholders and how this relates to what final consumers regard as value adding, rather than traditional financial and functional KPIs which make it difficult to explore the competitiveness of the value chain as a whole.

The explicit and objective measurement of what consumers value is an important addition to the value chain analysis methodology and the co‐innovation roadmap is an original attempt to illustrate the core drivers and capabilities for achieving co‐innovation in a value chain. The insights from the case demonstrate the value of this approach to companies who are open to innovation and recognise the need to focus the use of scarce value‐adding resources on specific value chains and the needs and wants of final consumers therein.

This impact assessment provides empirical evidence from household producer surveys to test the assumptions surrounding the contribution of participatory varietal selection (PVS) activities on seed sector development. The purpose of this paper is to focus on household access and adoption of common bean varieties from seed provision services and local markets to determine if, and under what social conditions, PVS activities stimulated seed uptake and market participation.

The propensity score matching technique and simple regression analysis were used to estimate the impact and compare household performance across three farmer groups located in Hoima, Uganda.

PVS increased access to and adoption of improved varieties and supported additional intermediate development outcomes when farmer group characteristics were aligned with PVS efforts. Specifically, PVS was more likely to stimulate market purchases of newly introduced varieties in the farmer group located closest to markets. The project did not however, improve all the development objectives that were evaluated. PVS most critically, did not increase the probability that households received the specific varieties they desired.

This study found that PVS can support the key pillars of seed sector development. In addition to increasing household access to new varieties, free seed dissemination promoted market participation and stimulated local seed market development.

This study addressed the need to consider intermediate development outcomes in impact assessments of development interventions. The findings clarified the contribution of PVS in the context of broader development goals and identified farmer group dynamics associated with enhanced impacts among rural producers in Uganda.

This study revisits the Great Canadian Grain Logistics Crisis of 2013-14 to explore the competitiveness of the country's grain exports. An approach to comprehending the dilemmas of the international grain supply chain and trade, and national logistics policy in an era of multinational corporations, draws upon the literature on global value chain analysis. This analysis identifies both the grain industry's global and local dimensions. An important literature on the 'politics’ of the supply chain is also called into play to discuss who controls what aspects. This task of interpreting the various steps in Canada's grain logistics chain recognizes the key economic actors - producers, grain companies, railway companies, port terminal operators and export buyers - and political struggles between them as they each seek to maximize their self-interest. Policy implications for streamlining logistics operations are drawn from identifying where changes in the supply chain arrangements have gained or lost opportunities in export markets, particularly in the Asia-Pacific region.

Since the 1980s agricultural biotech investments by the public sector have increased substantially in both China and India. In the last two decades there has also been a dramatic increase in private section investment in agricultural biotechnology particularly in India. The promise of major benefits of Bt cotton identified in early socioeconomic studies of Bt cotton has proven to be true. Bt cotton has spread to at least 66% and 85% of total cotton areas of China and India, respectively – wherever bollworm is a major problem. Bt cotton continues to control bollworm in both countries, and farmers continue as major beneficiaries rather than biotech or seed companies. The major impacts have been yield increases in India and reduced pesticides consumption in China. In China, evidence also suggests that Bt cotton has suppressed the bollworm population so that non-Bt cotton growers and producers of other crops that are susceptible to bollworm are also benefitting.

The chapter also provides evidence that in the near future Bt rice and Bt eggplant could have major positive impacts by reducing pesticide use and farmers’ exposure to chemical pesticides and increasing yields. Both crops were approved for commercial production by government biosafety regulators, but are not yet available for commercial cultivation.

This study aims to assess the possibility of implementing lean practices in the Halal food supply chain, and the barriers to their implementation.

A survey was used to identify the perceived issues and attitudes towards implementing lean practices in the supply chain. The questionnaire was distributed to 300 Halal food firms in Malaysia. A total of 61 usable replies were received.

More than 70 percent of the firms reported that lean supply chain (LSC) has not yet been implemented in their firm. Data analysis shows that 14 percent of non-lean firms urgently need to implement lean manufacturing. Market competition and uncertainty was highlighted as an important barrier in implementing LSC among lean firms. In contrast, lack of customer awareness of LSCM practices was recognised as a major barrier in non-lean firms.

There is little documentation regarding the status of LSC implementation in the Halal food industries, and therefore identifying the necessity of its implementation and the important impediments was identified as a gap in the existing literature. This paper provides insightful information on the necessity of implementing lean manufacturing practices in Halal food supply chains.