Article abstract

Journal of Agricultural and Crop Research

Research Article | Published August 2019 | Volume 7, Issue 8, pp. 127-136.

doi: https://doi.org/10.33495/jacr_v7i8.19.126

 

Sweetpotato seed business model: the case of the South Agricultural Research Institute, Ethiopia

 



 

 

Fekadu Gurmu1*

Wogayehu Abele1

Genene Tsegaye1

Genene Gezahen2

 

Email Author

 

1. South Agricultural Research Institute, Hawassa Research Center, P.O.Box1226, Hawassa, Ethiopia.
2. South Agricultural Research Institute, Areka Research Center, P.O. Box, 76, Areka, Ethiopia.




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Citation: Gurmu F, Abele W, Tsegaye G, Gezahen G (2019). Sweetpotato seed business model: the case of the South Agricultural Research Institute, Ethiopia. J. Agric. Crop Res. 7(8): 127-136.

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 Abstract 


Sweetpotato is one of the important food security crops in Ethiopia. The production of this crop is mainly challenged by shortage of clean planting materials. Farmers use their own saved seeds for next planting season. However, due to sweetpotato viruses (SPVD) and recurrent drought, the farmers are unable to maintain their seeds and hence being forced to stop sweetpotato production. SPVD is one of the major challenges that affect the quality of the planting materials and seriously reduces the root yield. Therefore, the South Agricultural Research Institute (SARI) has been trying to clean the planting materials in tissue culture and supply virus free seeds of preferred varieties through pre-basic and basic seed production. There are some sweetpotato seed multipliers in the country that purchase initial seeds from SARI and produce clean vines of sweetpotato. However, these multipliers are running the seed business without any business plan and sometimes they fail to cover their production costs and hence are leaving the seed business. Therefore, the objective of this study was to develop the sweetpotato seed business model at SARI and support the seed multipliers to prepare their own business plans in order to sustain the sweetpotato seed business. According to the study, the breakeven cost for production of a 3 to 4 node basic sweetpotato vine cutting at SARI is 0.12 ETB or USD 0.006 with the exchange rate of USD 1 = 21 ETB at the time of the study (2016). SARI sells the same cutting for 0.30 ETB or USD 0.015. Using these figures and factoring in contingencies, it has been established that the net cash flow is positive and the business will remain profitable and able to sustain itself. This sweetpotato seed business model is the first of its kind in public institutions in Ethiopia and can be used as a reference for seed business of other crops.

Keywords  Business plan   cash flow   quality seeds   SPVD   sweetpotato   tissue culture    

 

 

Copyright © 2019 Author(s) retain the copyright of this article.

This article is published under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License 4.0

 

 

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