Seeding a Sustainable Future: How Youth and Women Quality Centers are Transforming Uganda’s Seed Landscape

by Allan Bomuhangi (IRRI), Jummai O. Yila (IRRI), Eileen Nchanji (Alliance of Bioversity International and CIAT), and Ranjitha Puskur (IRRI)

Introduction

Ensuring equitable access to quality seeds of climate-resilient, high-yielding crop varieties is critical to enhancing agricultural productivity, contributing to food security, and improving the livelihoods of smallholder farmers. However, entrenched barriers such as limited mobility and lack of access to information and resources due to pervasive social norms have long hindered the widespread adoption of these varieties, particularly among marginalized groups like women. Work Package 6 of the CGIAR Seed Equal Initiative is pioneering a social behavior and communication change (SBCC) strategy in Butaleja district, Eastern Uganda, to influence farmers’ attitudes and practices towards using quality seeds. The strategy was co-created in a stakeholder workshop with private and public sector partners, including farmers, seed producers, market actors, agricultural service providers, and district government officials. This strategy was informed by the situation analysis comprising a review of secondary data and primary baseline data.

Empowering Marginalized Communities through YWQCs

A vital component of the Social and Behaviour Change Strategy is placing youth and women at the center of the seed business model. Women and young people of diverse social backgrounds and experiences are included in community-owned and led centers that facilitate and stimulate the adoption of new bean and rice varieties, the production and use of quality seeds, and the adoption of good agricultural practices. Grounded in a socio-ecological resilience framework, the Youth and Women Quality Centers (YWQC) model adeptly combines behavior change with technical interventions to simultaneously address critical barriers across the entire seed value chain.