To mainstream marketing in the seed industry and achieve successful results in developing countries is not easy. The marketing of seeds is unique, a living product is involved, a product that must still be viable when it reaches farmers for planting. For effective marketing – especially in small-scale enterprises – the seed producer must possess good technical knowledge and expertise in a series of interconnected activities from production planning, crop cultivation and seed harvest, to maintenance of field and seed quality standards, seed cleaning and packaging, transport and storage, through to distribution, promotion and sale.
This module outlines the general principles of product marketing and explains how to apply them in the seed industry.