Many interventions are assuming that introduced seeds diffuse. However, the details of this diffusion among farmers are poorly understood. This article presents data from eight sites in four on the diffusion of seed and associated information given to farmers involved in N2Africa’s demonstration trials. The study showed that 2–3 years after the trials had been organised, more than 90% of the farmers who had participating in the trial activities and were given a seed-input package with 1–5 kg of legume seed had shared this seed, on average with four other farmers. The farmers who received this seed from these directly involved farmers shared their seed less frequently. Eighty per cent of all the seed sharings were of 1–2 kg of seed given as a gift. Only 5% of the sharings involved a cash transaction. More than half of the seed sharings were with family members and around a third were between friends. Men shared at least as often as women and both men and women shared most with persons of their own sex. Information about rhizobium as an associated input for soya was shared by more than one-third of farmers, almost exclusively by farmers who had participated in the demonstration trials themselves. Extrapolation of data suggest that in addition to the 250,000 farmers who participated directly in the N2Africa demonstration trials, another 1,400,000 farmers may have received seed of a new legume crop or variety. The results show that knowing about the character of the seed sharing mechanisms may offer opportunities to influence the diffusion of seeds. Providing farmers with somewhat larger amounts of seeds, emphasise the importance of sharing seeds and information with relatives and friends could be an important factor in achieving a high multiplier effect.

中文翻译：

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追踪示范试验之外的豆科植物种子传播：对共享机制的探索

许多干预措施都假设引入的种子会扩散。然而，人们对这种在农民中传播的细节知之甚少。本文提供了来自四分之八的八个地点的数据，这些数据涉及种子传播以及向参与 N2Africa 示范试验的农民提供的相关信息。研究表明，在组织试验后 2-3 年，参与试验活动并获得 1-5 公斤豆类种子的种子输入包的农民中有 90% 以上分享了该种子，平均与其他四个农民。从这些直接参与的农民那里获得这种种子的农民较少分享他们的种子。80% 的种子分享是作为礼物赠送的 1-2 公斤种子。只有 5% 的股份涉及现金交易。超过一半的种子分享是与家人分享的，大约三分之一是在朋友之间分享的。男性与女性的分享频率至少与女性相同，并且男性和女性与同性的人分享最多。超过三分之一的农民分享了有关根瘤菌作为大豆相关投入物的信息，几乎完全由自己参与示范试验的农民分享。数据推断表明，除了直接参与 N2Africa 示范试验的 250,000 名农民外，另外 1,400,000 名农民可能已经收到了一种新的豆类作物或品种的种子。结果表明，了解种子共享机制的特征可能会提供影响种子传播的机会。为农民提供更多的种子，