It is important to take into account the market demand for a product and its links to seed varieties. Understandably, farmers tend not to want to adopt new varieties if there is no market for the output. There are two main potential markets, industrial and local. Industrial markets (agro-processing and food manufacture) require standardised and uniform produce in high and consistent volumes. In most cases, an external agent is responsible for facilitating and/or coordinating access to industrial markets. Conversely, local markets communicate the need for more diverse produce at different times of the year. This requires diverse varieties and localised experimentation to develop context-specific adaptations to meet changing local demands. Research and development (R&D) will be shaped by these different needs, depending on the focus of the intervention. Industrial markets will focus on standardised products with high yields. Local markets will focus on local adaptation and diversity, which is more amenable to direct producer control. While the promise of lucrative markets for introduced varieties often convinces farmers to try new varieties, widespread experience indicates that these markets often do not materialise and farmers are left with excess product which they cannot use or sell. The pigeon pea project distributed certified varieties only, as did agro-dealers, due to seed laws that prohibit the sale of non-certified varieties. The project did not allow for farmer seed production and farmers became the passive recipients of crops and varieties which were decided without their involvement. An alternative approach could be to include farmers in the R&D and production processes, as well as in discussions about the crops and varieties they would prefer to use. These might be certified varieties from the public sector or locally enhanced varieties with farmer-based quality controls. The latter option makes more sense because it is cheaper and the seed adapts more easily to local conditions. Farmer 
varieties will also have a longer history of local consumption. Pigeon pea has added value in that it improves soil fertility, adds nutritional diversity and has a potential economic benefit for producers if markets can be secured. However, the pigeon pea project emphasised formal, commercial markets for products that are not consumed locally. From a soil improvement point of view, the project set unrealistic goals of complete self-sustainability after three years. Since soil fertility enhancement takes time, farmers were not able to incorporate this potential benefit into their assessment of whether or not it would be useful to continue planting pigeon pea after the end of the project. The introduction of pigeon pea without first discussing with farmers and consumers about which legumes they favoured—and in at least some of these areas pigeon pea had not been consumed historically—resulted in an inappropriate intervention. A better starting point would have been to assess the diversity of legumes in a given area, and to orient support towards re-establishing or strengthening the presence of these legumes, based on farmer priorities. But because pigeon pea had been identified and developed at a national level, this was the only choice farmers were given. Legume use also needs to be integrated with other agro-ecological practices for soil fertility; it cannot succeed on its own.