Maize Demand Creation

We partnered with Corteva agriscience on the Demand Creation project.
We created a demand for hybrid seeds whilst improving smallholder farmers’ knowledge on good agricultural practices thereby addressing the challenge of low productivity amongst farmers in Kaduna, Niger, Oyo, Katsina, Kano, Abuja, Ogun and Nassarawa states, Nigeria.

The deliverables included extension services that educated farmers on the benefits and importance of using improved seed varieties. The process involved creating awareness on Pioneer maize seeds for farmers through community engagements, radio jingles, success stories and farming procedure documentaries that showed the performance of improved seed varieties on demonstration plots.
Smallholder farmers were reluctant to adopt improved seed varieties before the project, however the narrative changed when our partnership with Corteva created a mindshift in the various farming communities. Farmers are now better informed on the benefits of adopting improved seed varieties thereby improving farmers’ demand for hybrid seeds by 30% in these states.

Muritala Galadima, a beneficiary of the project talked about his experience and the outcome after trying the hybrid seeds, in his words “The outcome is better than last year’s harvest and I am happy with what I have seen so far. My neighbors that bought and planted the seeds share testimonies about it in our private discussions”