Seed Dealer Survey 2022 in Bihar, India

In the eastern Indian state of Bihar, most wheat farmers access seeds from the private dealers. In spite of the high seed replacement rate (>85%), the farmers still use the age-old varieties (mean age >20 years). Since most farmers consider seed dealers as a valuable source of information, a study was designed to examine the willingness of private dealers to act as knowledge dissemination agents – by participating in workshops, demonstration trails, web-based training, etc. – and on different ways to incentivize them to ensure delivery of accurate information and quality seeds of recent varieties with desired traits.A trader survey was conducted in December 2021. The survey covered 40 villages, where household surveys are already completed as part of the AGG project in 2021. As part of another CIMMYT project (Climate Resilient Agriculture for Bihar, CRA), detailed village surveys with key informants were already conducted in the same villages. A telephone interview with key informants from these villages revealed that farmers get wheat seeds from about 210 private dealers (5-6 dealers per village). These dealers formed the respondents of the dealer survey. The interviews were conducted in December 2021, using a semi-structured questionnaire.