Women’s participation in the forage and dual-purpose maize seed market in Laos

Pazos Cardenas, M.; Bravo, A.M.; Triana Ángel, N.; Burkart, S.; Snyder, K.; Atieno, M.O.; Philp, J. (2025) Women’s participation in the forage and dual-purpose maize seed market in Laos. 12 p.

In rural Laos, women have historically played crucial roles in agricultural activities, including rice cultivation, forest harvesting, and more recently, livestock and maize production. However, ongoing modernization and commercialization processes are reshaping their roles, leading to diversification into new crops and agricultural practices. This adaptation is driven by the necessity to respond to evolving economic and technological conditions. Yet, women continue to encounter significant challenges in agricultural markets, particularly in trade, underscoring the critical need for gender-sensitive approaches to support their agricultural roles (Ireson, 1996; Millar & Connell, 2010; Moglia et al., 2020). The analysis adopted Porter’s Five Forces Framework for Industry Analysis (Ghemawat & Collis, 2010), adapted to accommodate various actor types within the seed system. These forces include competition, the threat of new entrants, supplier bargaining power, customer bargaining power, and the availability of substitutes for sector products. Given the diverse nature and multilocation of the forage seed landscape, involving various industries such as logistics and distribution, our study focused on companies assuming roles in seed selection, innovation, harvesting, and production. This approach assumes a high degree of vertical integration within the forage supply chain. Furthermore, we explored how other actors in the system integrate into the value network and contribute to the functioning of the forage seed value chain.