Mariana Garcia-Medina

1. The project of multispecies justice emerged as a response to conceptions of justice that focus exclusively on human beings (Celermajer et al., 2025). There are various approaches that extend the...

Crop improvement plays an important role in enhancing yield potential and strengthening climate resilience in agricultural systems. Although adoption rates of hybrid maize varieties in Kenya are relatively high, the replacement of older varieties with newer ones remains below expectations. Varietal turnover is commonly used to assess the diffusion and impact of new generations of hybrid varieties at the national or regional level; however, little is known about variety replacement at the household level. This study explores maize variety use and replacement among 82 smallholder households in two Kenyan counties. Farmers were interviewed to document changes in their maize variety portfolios over three consecutive growing seasons, including both long and short rainy seasons, and to explore the reasons underlying these decisions. The results show that farmers in our study managed diverse and dynamic portfolios of local and hybrid maize varieties. Most farmers changed their maize portfolio between seasons, with many sowing a variety more or a variety less, and switching both from older to newer hybrid varieties and from newer to older ones. These findings indicate that farmers were not reluctant to switch varieties. Farmers’ decisions were driven primarily by trait preferences such as yield potential, early maturity, and drought tolerance, alongside experimentation and economic constraints related to fertiliser use. Overall, this study shows how a household-level perspective helps to understand variety use and replacement dynamics that are not captured by conventional varietal turnover studies.

Maize breeding programmes have developed a new generation of hybrid varieties to improve smallholders’ productivity and enhance climate resilience. However, varietal turnover in Kenya remains low, suggesting that new hybrid maize varieties may not fully address smallholders’ needs or that knowledge about them remains limited. In this exploratory study, we applied a method referred to as means-end chains to understand the attributes smallholders consider when differentiating maize seed products, and the importance and value of these attributes. We interviewed 82 smallholders in two counties in Kenya and analysed the data by county and gender. Smallholders used a range of attributes to differentiate maize seed products, indicating familiarity with most maize varieties included in the study. However, the attributes that farmers used to distinguish between maize seed products were not always those of highest value when choosing seeds for planting. Preferences for attributes differed between counties and were shaped by climate and the importance of maize in livelihoods. Women and men used and preferred similar attributes, yet their choices were informed by different underlying motivations and values. Overall, participants highly valued ‘higher yield’, ‘harvest assurance’ and ‘earliness’, reflecting diverse household uses of maize to support food security, income generation and well-being. The findings suggest that farmers use a portfolio of maize varieties to meet different household needs. These results have implications for efforts to promote varietal turnover and complement previous studies by offering guidance for demand-led breeding programmes and other seed systems actors working to strengthen food security for smallholder farmers.

Gender and social inclusion efforts in agricultural development are focused on making uptake of agricultural technologies more equitable. Yet research looking at how gender relations influence technology uptake often assumes that men and women within a household make farm management decisions as individuals. Relatively little is understood about the dynamics of agricultural decision-making within dual-adult households where individuals’ management choices are likely influenced by others in the household. This study used vignettes to examine decision-making related to maize plot management in 698 dual-adult households in rural Kenya. The results indicated a high degree of joint management of maize plots (55%), although some management decisions—notably those related to purchased inputs—were slightly more likely to be controlled by men, while other decisions—including those related to hiring of labor and maize end uses—were more likely to be made by women. The prevalence of joint decision-making underscores the importance of ensuring that both men’s and women’s priorities and needs are reflected in design and marketing of interventions to support maize production, including those related to seed systems, farmer capacity building, and input delivery.