Some also play a wholesale role, working through agents who take seed on credit. Seed dealers buy from a number of growers and obtain information on seed supply from sources including Ministry of Food and Agriculture seed inspectors acting unofficially. Growers and dealers must find ways to acquire the latest price information as prices can change at short notice when demand is high. Half of the dealers buy some of their seed on credit. Growers give credit to dealers especially if there is a reciprocal agreement involving the dealers financing the grower, but needs to be built up before credit is offered.
Dealers known to growers sometimes act as guarantors for other dealers.
The case of seed enterprises in Ghana throws light on how entrepreneurs obtain information and how they build up trust based on working relations, existing links and intermediaries. Public policy needs to consider the social and economic factors underpinning the seed industry. Enterprises can reduce the transaction costs of obtaining information by building links with other enterprises. The strategies and the social capital they draw on is shaped by pre-existing knowledge, networks and social contacts. Transaction costs can be reduced by making information available to seed enterprises.