Model-based exploration of strategies for fostering adoption of improved seed in West Africa

Seed of improved varieties and other inputs are imperative to the transformation of the agricultural sector from subsistence farming to small-scale commercial agriculture in developing countries. This paper analyzes the adoption and diffusion process of im-proved seed by farmers in West Africa. The literature about farmers ’ adoption of new agricultural technology is abundant, yet it gives no integrated, process-oriented policy perspective that helps designing effective strategies for fostering the adoption of im-proved seed in West Africa. This paper develops a system dynamics model that inte-grates the findings from existing studies into a coherent framework. The model analyses the behavior patterns that are generated by such structure. With this approach we are able to identify parameter constellations that cause observed behavior patterns for dif-ferent crops in different countries or regions. On this basis we can derive policy impli-cations for supporting adoption for commercial and food crops in West Africa