Agribusiness leaders in emerging economies require effective business model innovation strategies to succeed in closing innovation gaps and increasing market share in the growing smallholder farmers' market. Small agribusiness seed companies in Malawi, Zambia, and Zimbabwe in southern Africa often face the challenge of closing the innovation gap in the smallholders' market, resulting in small-scale seed companies missing 90% of the smallholder farmers' seed market segment. The purpose of this multiple case study was to explore strategies that small agribusiness seed company leaders used to close innovation gaps in smallholders' markets. The conceptual framework was based on the business model innovation(BMI). Ten agribusiness seed company executives selected for their innovations in smallholder markets shared their experiences with and insights into strategies that they successfully designed and implemented in closing innovation gaps in the smallholders' market. Data were collected using semistructured interviews. The data analysis process followed De Massis and Kotlar 5-phase analysis cycle: from interview responses analysis to member checking and a review of documents on seed businesses and BMI. Three themes emerged from the data analysis: seed production model, product and market differentiation, and value chain partnerships. The implications of this study for social change are that the results could improve food and nutrition security for more than 51 million impoverished smallholder farmers throughout Sub-Saharan Africa.

Seeds are essential elements within agricultural production and food systems. However, seed systems face multiple issues, including processes of commercialisation, privatisation, and crop diversity loss, that require reconsidering current approaches to seeds and varieties. Seed initiatives hold a potential to contribute to alternative and desirable seed system configurations and outcomes. In this thesis, I analyse how existing seed initiatives increase their impact, drawing on the typology of amplification processes by Lam et al. (2020). Furthermore, due to the long-term occurrence of variety losses and the complexity of the processes involved, this thesis uses system dynamics concepts and diagramming tools to map the use of local varieties from the initiatives’ perceptions. Thereby, I attempt to operationalise amplification, depict local variety use, and combine the two approaches within the context of seed initiatives. I employ a case-study approach in Italy and conducted semi-structured interviews with members of six seed initiatives. Concrete actions for almost all the frameworks’ processes were found. Building stability, influencing values and mindsets, and strategically impacting higher institutional levels emerged as suitable ways to amplify and might indicate that initiatives prepare and potentially navigate change. Enhancing the initiatives’ impact range and speed benefitted from more nuance due to diverging notions on these processes. A qualitative systems diagram with social and ecological components maps causal structures that influence the use of local varieties, showing a potential for desirable dynamics. By indicating how amplifying actions relate to the system structure, I illustrate how the seed initiatives are influencing multiple system parts. Thus, the system maps revealed perceived system structure, which by itself might run the risk of portraying path dependency, while amplification relates to agency on how initiatives might influence the system.

Farmer-led seed systems (FSS) provide the backbone for small-scale farmers and many rural communities that use traditional methods of farming to produce seeds that grow and adapt to local conditions. FSS differ from one community and farmer to the next, depending on the methods and practices used to maintain seed varieties. Seed diversity can enhance FSS by improving livelihoods and strengthening farmers' networks, thus contributing to resilient communities. Although nuanced, the dualistic agricultural system in South Africa consists largely of subsistence (small-scale) and commercial (large-scale) farming and includes different crop management systems and post-harvest practices. In South Africa, maize (Zea mays) is a major staple grain crop with a significant role as animal and poultry feed. The North West region is one of the highest white-maize-producing provinces in South Africa. Maize seed systems include both traditional, openpollinated varieties (OPVs) and cultivars such as modern hybrids and genetically modified (GM) seed varieties, including those engineered for specific purposes. The dominant GM maize is that designated for pest resistance using Bacillus thuringienesis (Bt), a soil bacterium which produces a toxin that is fatal to a wide variety of insects such as moths and flies. Many small-scale farmers prefer their own traditional seeds for breeding, planting, selection, selling and consuming. However, FSS based on traditional varieties are threatened by modern cultivars which may be introduced in different ways including through seed exchange, purchasing at shops or by pollination from nearby commercial farms. This study was conducted in the Sespond community of the North West Province. The aim of the study was to understand how small-scale farmers in Sespond maintain traditional maize varieties through selection and storage in a complex agricultural landscape that incorporates both formal and informal seed systems. The formal system represents industrialised farms and companies that work with commercial seed. The informal system represents small-scale farmers who rely on their own seed. Qualitative methods included mapping software which was used to obtain visual agricultural data in and around Sespond. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 30 small-scale farmers to collect information about their farming practices, including the maize varieties planted. Quantitative methods included collecting 20 maize samples from different farmers for genetic analysis. Agdia® immunostrip tests were used to detect for the presence of Crystal protein (Cry protein) produced by the Bt bacterium, engineered to improve the resistance of maize against insects. The results showed that 13 samples were negative for the protein and seven samples were positive for the protein. A key finding is that small-scale farmers are not able to detect the different maize varieties in their seed systems. This represents a threat for traditional seed varieties in the community as without this knowledge, farmers are not able to adequately manage their production and storage systems. Farmers made use of alternative storage methods such as the mill to reduce seed damage they experienced at home. However, the findings of this research showed that there was an increasing risk of farmers' traditional maize being mixed with GM maize at the mill. Farmers' rights to plant and consume traditional maize were therefore undermined. This study recommends that (a) efforts are made to increase awareness among farmers that help to distinguish transgenes from hybrids and traditional maize varieties; (b) measures are implemented at mills to both improve the transparency about the storage and processing of traditional maize and to separate traditional maize from hybrid and GM maize.