Business model brief MOBILE SEED CLEANING AND TREATMENT UNIT improves forage seed quality and quantity and presents a successful business model for farmer cooperatives KEY MESSAGES SUMMARY · T he International Centre for Agricultu- Manufactured in Tunisia, a motorized mobile ral Research in the Dry Areas (ICARDA), in partnership with national partners in seed cleaning and treatment unit has been Tunisia, have developed a mobile seed designed to improve the seed quality of cleaning and treatment unit for the fo- various forage crops, including barley, rage seed sector that will improve the faba beans and vetch. Improved seed quality of seeds and increase forage seed quality directly impacts forage crop production. production as only the healthy, whole · T he unit removes small or damaged seeds seeds are selected and then treated with and treats the quality seeds with pesti- fungicides to protect them from diseases. cides and fungicides to protect them from diseases. A prototype of the seed cleaning and treatment unit was developed with a local · Four farmer cooperatives in Tunisia have manufacturer, and four units were provided to used the mobile unit, which adds a va- luable service and is a means to generate medium-sized farmers’ cooperatives in North-West additional income. Tunisia, whose members pay for the service. · The unit significantly improves the effi- Due to its mobility, many farmers have benefited from the units on ciency of seed cleaning and drastically their own farms’ premises. The motorized unit saves time and reduces reduces the workload for women and workload, particularly for rural women and children who are typically children who are typically tasked with in charge of cleaning seeds. cleaning the seeds manually. Photos: Seeds cleaned by the mobile seed cleaning unit are exceptionally clean. This work was developed by the feeds and forages flagship of the CGIAR Research Program on Livestock, which is supported by contributors to the CGIAR Trust Fund. https://www.cgiar.org/funders/ 1 - Business model brief / Mobile seed cleaning and treatment unit improves forage seed quality and quantity Photo ICARDA/Udo Rudiger INTRODUCTION Agricultural systems in low and middle-income countries, such as those in north Africa, are often characterized by low levels of mechanization. This hampers productivity and sustainability and prevents the full potential of both the crop and livestock sectors from being realized. Machinery available in local markets is often unaffordable and is typically imported from industrial countries where larger farm systems are common. As a result, small and medium-sized farmers remain unable to upgrade and modernize their operations. Traditionally in Tunisia, women clean the seeds manually. Photo: Zied Idoudi, ICARDA Through its work on crop-livestock integration, feeds and are typically cleaned manually. The final product, which results forages researchers from ICARDA under the CGIAR Research Program on Livestock, together with national partners in Tunisia, from time-consuming and cumbersome labour, may still contain have developed machinery, such as the mobile seed cleaning some unproductive seed material, such as broken or small seeds unit, which are suited to small farming systems and aimed at and plant waste. Moreover, seeds that have not been treated boosting efficiency. with fungicides are at risk of being attacked and destroyed by pests and diseases. Using poor-quality, untreated farm seeds Forage seed production, like barley, faba beans, vetch or alfalfa, is result in low and poor-quality forage yields, ultimately affecting predominantly undertaken by large seed-producing cooperatives the performance of livestock and farmers’ income. that subcontract individual farmers. However, this supply does not meet the demand for quality forage seeds in the country. By introducing the mobile, motorized seed cleaning unit, As a result, and to save costs, many farmers prefer using their thousands of small-scale farmers will benefit as their seed own farm produced seeds but the quality is generally low as they quality will improve. BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT FOR FORAGE SEED PRODUCTION WHAT MAKES THE MOBILE SEED CLEANING MACHINE INNOVATIVE The research team adapted The mobile seed cleaning The unit is managed by the seed cleaning machine unit has different sized a farmer cooperative to to the needs of farmers, sieves, so it can clean a provide services to their SEED CLEANING adding wheels so it can variety of seed sizes (i.e. members and generate MACHINE be transported directly to barley, wheat, faba beans, income for the cooperative. farmers. vetch). To tackle the poor quality and insufficient quantity of forage and had to contribute 10% toward the total cost of a machine seeds in Tunisia and to develop businesses for farmers around (TND 1,250 or USD 435) to foster a sense of ownership and forage seed production, CGIAR researchers piloted investment. The project assisted these cooperatives by the use of the innovative, locally produced seed monitoring and coaching them on using the unit in cleaning and treatment unit. the most economically sustainable way. The business idea was well suited and had The first training on the machine was held a far-reaching impact for small or medium in October 2019 and then the manufacturer sized farmer cooperatives. In collaboration visited the four cooperatives during July with ICARDA and national partners, a local and August 2020 to make any necessary manufacturer in Tunisia designed and adjustments and carry out maintenance developed a prototype of the mobile seed to ensure the proper functioning of the cleaning unit, which costs 12,500 Tunisian machine. dinars (TND) (USD 4,350) and has the capacity In December 2020, a workshop was arranged with to clean about 800 kg/hour depending on the type representatives of all four cooperatives to exchange of seeds. information, experiences, and ideas about opportunities, Four farmer cooperatives each received a unit, directly constraints, and business development around this machinery. benefitting over 1,000 small-scale farmers. The cooperatives were selected based on their interest and need for the machine, Seeds before cleaning (left) and cleaned seeds (right). Photo ICARDA/Udo Rudiger 2 - Business model brief / Mobile seed cleaning and treatment unit improves forage seed quality and quantity CHALLENGES Conveyor screw for seed transportation to the entering funnel of the seed cleaning unit. Photo: Udo Rudiger, ICARDA The initial version of the unit didn’t provide The manufacturer of the mobile units specific sieves for different seeds. This developed a prototype of such a conveyor meant that smaller sized seeds, such as screw. Three of the four cooperatives vetch seeds, were not properly cleaned. were interested in this addition to the However, sieves with different-sized holes units. The price per conveyor screw is were eventually provided. TND4,300 (USD 1,600), of which the three A total of 11 sieves (2-3 per cooperative) were interested cooperatives each contributed co-financed. As cooperatives are increasingly 50%. It is anticipated that effectiveness and satisfied with the technology, ownership has efficiency will be significantly improved in the increased, and the project subsidy was reduced to next cleaning season (July to December 2021). 50% of the sieve prices. One additional sieve costs a total of TND800 (US$300). The farmers also identified another challenge, the continuous lifting of uncleaned seeds – weighing between 30 and 50 kg – to the entering funnel at the top of the machine, which is about two meters high. It is not possible for one person to repetitively do this on their own, so additional labour is required, making the operation more costly. The solution was the development of a ‘conveyor screw’, which was designed to transport uncleaned seeds from the ground level to the entering funnel. The conveyor screw reduces the heavy workload for the employee, saves time and increases production per hour. It is expected that the conveyor screw will double the capacity of how much seed can be cleaned daily. Different sized sieves for various sizes of forage seeds. Photo: Udo Rudiger ICARDA ALMOST 700 TONS OF SEEDS CLEANED The cooperatives each used the seed cleaning and treatment free of charge, leading to a loss in 2019. In 2020, however, they unit between October 2019 and November 2020. The table below changed the strategy and obtained the highest benefit per ton shows how use of the units grew in terms of seeds cleaned, of cleaned/treated seeds of TND 25/ton, followed by Ettaouen money earned and number of users. with TND 24/ton. The difference between the level of benefit per cooperative Cooperative Ettaouen, which used the machine to improve almost depends, amongst other things, on the cooperative’s marketing 150 tons of seeds in 2019 and 480 tons in 2020, is considering strategy. Some maximized the benefit to invest in other purchasing a second machine to meet growing demand. One unit technologies and offer more services, like Ettaouan. Others, like will be placed permanently at the cooperative’s site, while the Melyen, aimed to satisfy the needs of their members at low costs other will be used as a mobile machine to move from farmer and attract more members. El Felah did a combined strategy. In to farmer. Hence, a second person will be employed temporarily 2019 they offered many services (like transport of the machine) during the seed treatment period (July to December). OCTOBER 2019 NOVEMBER 2020 Number Seeds Seeds Cleaning/ Seeds Cooperative of users cleaned cleaned Treatment Total benefit Number (TND, after of users cleaned Total benefit Number (farmers) (tons) and treated price and treated (TND) of users (tons) (TND/ton) costs) (farmers) (tons) El Amen 320 24.2 0 35 315 12 38.4 575 21 El Felah 200 4.7 42.6 10 / 80 -13 20 60.8 1,520 33 Ettaouen 350 14.6 131.1 20 / 70 1,467 95 480 11,520 220 Melyen 150 22.5 0 20 / 50 225 11 111.7 3,594 25 Total 1,020 66 173.7 NA 1,994 138 690.9 17,209 299 Business model brief / Mobile seed cleaning and treatment unit improves forage seed quality and quantity - 3 Learn more CONCLUSION: IMPLICATIONS Aymen, F., Idoudi, Z., Rudiger, U. and Rekik, M. 2020. AND RECOMMENDATIONS Collaboration between ICARDA projects and linkages to IFAD investment portfolio for enhancing seeds quality and forage After only two seasons, the seed cleaning and treatment production through entrepreneurship and farmers associations. unit showed that it improves forage seeds for many Some examples from ICARDA activities in Tunisia. Lebanon: farmers and serves as an additional revenue stream International Center for Agricultural Research in the Dry Areas for farmer cooperatives. From the onset, the project (ICARDA) https://repo.mel.cgiar.org/handle/20.500.11766/11134 partnered with Tunisia’s livestock agency, the Office de International Center for Agricultural Research in the Dry Areas l’élevage et des paturages (OEP), a public institution in (ICARDA). 2020. ICARDA develops mobile seed treatment unit charge of promoting forage crops in Tunisia. The results prototype with Tunisian partners. Tunisa: ICARDA. (Available of this initiative impressed the OEP to such an extent from https://reliefweb.int/report/tunisia/icarda-develops- that it has included this technology in a project proposal mobile-seed-treatment-unit-prototype-tunisian-partners) submitted to the World Bank. Rudiger, U. 2020. Report on small mobile seed treatment The technology has the potential to be scaled to other units for cooperatives in Tunisia - https://hdl.handle. countries in the region, but a scaling strategy will need net/20.500.11766/12323 to be developed to make this machinery and its benefits available, affordable and accessible to the right users. Rudiger, U. 2020. Feeds and forages workshop with beneficiaries. https://dx.doi.org/20.500.11766/12556 Partners CONTACTS This research was implemented and coordinated by the Udo Rudiger, ICARDA: Agricultural Innovation International Center for Agricultural Research in the Dry Specialist (u.rudiger@cgiar.org) Areas (ICARDA). The project partnered with the private metal manufacturing enterprise, Société Arfaoui Taher, Atelier de Anis Zaiem, OEP: Seed Specialist construction Métalique, in Beja, Tunisia, which constructed and (anis.zaiem@gmail.com) adapted the machine and undertook repairs and maintenance. Zied Idoudi, ICARDA: Scaling Specialist National partners included the OEP (Office de l’elevage et (zied.aidoudi@yahoo.com) des pâturages) for the training of the cooperatives, as well Aymen Frija, ICARDA: Country Representative, as Tunisia’s National Agricultural Research Institute (Institut Tunisia (a.frija@cgiar.org) National de la Recherche Agronomique en Tunisi, INRAT) and the National Institute of Field Crops (Institut National Mourad Rekik, ICARDA: Scientist and Livestock des Grands Cultures, INGC) which selected the cooperatives, Researcher (m.rekik@cgiar.org) and the Regional Department for Agricultural Development Aymen Taher, Société Arfaoui Taher: General (Commissariat Regional de Développement Agricole, CRDA) Manager, Tunisia (+216 53149460) which scaled the technology. This document is licensed for use under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International Licence. December 2021 The business model described in this brief is part of a basket of solutions that can help support livestock producers to raise efficiencies and productivity. While there is opportunity for more research, the mobile seed cleaning and treatment machine can be considered a candidate model for scaling and be adapted into an integrated model for sustainable intensification of livestock production for smallholder farmers. 4 - Business model brief / Mobile seed cleaning and treatment unit improves forage seed quality and quantity