During the last decade, the seed sector has been included in economic reform programmes in a number of countries in sub-Saharan Africa but it is not clear whether these initiatives have helped or hindered the process of improving small farmers' access to improved seed. This study explores this issue using the contrasting experiences of the seed sector in Malawi, Zambia and Zimbabwe. Against a broadly common economic heritage and farming system, the pace of reform and the way it has been implemented in the seed sector have varied considerably between the three countries. Nonetheless the available data on seed production, costs of seed production and seed sales suggest that, at least in the short- to medium-term, reform-type policies adversely affect the ability of seed companies to produce improved seed cheaply and the ability of small farmers to make effective use of it. This is largely because general macro-economic and agricultural sector reforms fail to tackle the more ...