Maize yields in South Sudan are the lowest in East Africa—a gap that has persisted despite 15 years of seed aid, largely because humanitarian agencies have distributed low-yielding imported varieties, creating a seed monopoly in practice. Developing a domestic seed market could introduce better-adapted, higher-yielding varieties, but little is known about what constrains such a market in a fragile and conflict-affected setting.

To investigate, the authors organised a seed fair where local SMEs sold directly to farmers who received randomised transportation subsidies and technical information about available seeds. Participating farmers saw significant productivity gains, yet uptake was low: South Sudanese farmers showed a strong reluctance to pay for seeds.

Based on these findings, the authors convened a multi-stakeholder process and argued for reforming—not cutting—seed aid, by requiring humanitarian agencies to source more, and better, seeds from within South Sudan.