The seed store opens at seven. By eight there is a queue of farmers with cloth bags, and the committee secretary is reading out last season's loans from a school exercise book.
Choosing what to keep
Every year the committee tests new varieties on two demonstration plots. Only seed that does well in a dry year makes it into the store.
- Short-season sorghum that ripens before the rains stop
- Cowpeas that fix nitrogen and feed families
- A local maize that tastes right, which matters more than any yield table
The store now lends seed to 1,700 households. Template figures.
