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Blog about study former PhD candidate CSA
Former PhD candidate Erik Delaquis defended his thesis on cassava production in the South-East Asia in October 2024. He thoroughly analyzed the seed systems of this vegetatively propagated crop that has such a huge impact on the rural economies of countries like Thailand, Cambodia, Lao, and Vietnam as most of the produce is exported to China. Cassava is multiplied through stem cuttings and seed exchange is through bundles of stems. Most of the thesis chapters have been published including papers that analyzed the cross-border seed networks, the contrasting business models for early generation seed production that do exist in this region and the willingness of the farmers to pay for quality seed. A revised manuscript on the dynamics of seed laws and regulations in South-East Asia is still under review, but will no doubt attract attention of scholars, stakeholders, and actors in the area of food policy.
The paper on willingness to pay for quality seed attracted quite some attention. This paper reports on a large number of experimental auctions that were held in different regions of Lao and Cambodia. The Alliance of Bioversity and CIAT (part of the CGIAR community) published a blog on this paper which nicely illustrates the environment in which this research was conducted and highlights the main results. In contrast to the common belief that farmers are not willing to pay extra for high-quality seed of vegetatively propagated crops, the paper shows that cassava growers in these countries were willing to pay 30-100% more for disease-free propagules. The blog also comments on the use of experimental auctions as a research tool.
Under The Hammer: How Auctions Show Farmer Interest in Disease-Free Seed