Rendón, et al., 2021. Seed Plan 2013- (original) (raw)
Related papers
The Roles of the Private and Public Sectors in Enhancing the Performance of Seed Systems
The World Bank Research Observer, 1994
Seeds are crop-based agriculture's most important input, yet few developing countries have succeeded in establishing efficient seed production and supply systems. In many developing countries the large-scale, centralized state farms and public seed corporations established to multiply and disseminate improved seeds of selected crops have proved ineffectual, failing to meet the diverse crop and varietal requirements of farmers. Governments and assisting agencies are currently reassessing their strategies, paying greater attention to the potential contributions of private firms, cooperatives, other nongovernmental organizations (NGOs), and farmers themselves. This article contributes to that reassessment. It defines the scope for involving the private sector in an array of seed-related activities, identifies critical and complementary roles for the public sector, and reviews seed system development in industrial and developing countries, with a primary focus on institutional dimensions. The article advocates a phased withdrawal of the public sector from the commercial side of seed production and marketing, while recognizing a continued important role for the public sector in plant breeding research, germplasm and varietal maintenance, training, quality control, and consumer protection. N othing is more fundamental to agriculture than the seed. Seeds, which em body the genetic potential of plants, determine the upper limits on plant yield and therefore the productivity of other agricultural inputs as well. Seeds whose genetic makeup or physical and physiological properties have been improved can substantially boost agricultural productivity and sustainability at relatively little cost (Cromwell, Esbern, and Turner 1992).
Agroecology and Sustainable Food Systems, 2019
By evaluating two grassroots organizations that belong to the Red de Semillas Libres de Colombia (RSLC; Free Seed Network of Colombia), we show how the recovery, conservation, and defense of native and creole seeds have two types of effects on agroecological scaling. The first is a horizontal or scaling out effect, given that these activities involve the adoption of agroecological practices which allow for spreading knowledge, principles, and practices among seed custodians, their local communities and organizations, and the networks of these organizations. The second is a deepening effect, given that: 1) seed custodianship reaffirms and/or generates new peasant and indigenous identities and ways of life; 2) seed recovery, conservation, and defense conform a multi-dimensional process that is material, political, and symbolic, which provides cultural and territorial rootedness, and 3) strengthening of the social-organizational fabric through collective actions and strategies by seed custodians in their territories in defense of native and creole seeds. These processes propitiate fertile conditions for scaling peasant agroecology and contribute to the construction of seed sovereignty, which is an essential aspect of struggles to preserve and reproduce and native and creole seeds.
Seed System Development: The Appropriate Roles of the Private and Public Sectors
1992
This paper analyzes the economic and institutional factors affecting the appropriate roles for the public and private sectors in seed supply systems, it also examines the current mix of public and private sector seed activities world-wide, and traces changes in the structure and operation of national seed systems in selected industrialized and developed countries. By defining the scope for private sector involvement in seed development and supply activities as well as critical and complementary roles for the public sector in development of efficient seed systems, this paper seeks to contribute to the design of improved strategies for seed system development in developing countries and in formerly centrally planned countries.
Pluralistic Seed System Development: A Path to Seed Security?
Agronomy, 2021
Seed security is central to crop production for smallholder farmers in developing countries, but it remains understudied in relation to long-term seed sector development. Here, we compare seed systems in two districts of Central Ethiopia characterized by subsistence-oriented teff cultivation and commercially oriented wheat production and relate this to the country’s pluralistic seed system development strategy (PSSDS). Our analysis is based on quantitative and qualitative information from a household survey and focus group discussions with farmers, as well as document review and key informant interviews with actors that make up the seed sector in the study sites. Farmers in both districts used a range of seed sources but primarily obtained their seeds from informal sources. Evidence of seed insecurity was found in both districts, as apparent from discrepancies between what the seed farmers say they prefer and those they actually use, limited availability of improved varieties and es...
Seed sovereignty and agroecological scaling
Seed sovereignty and agroecological scaling: two cases of seed recovery, conservation, and defense in Colombia, 2019
By evaluating two grassroots organizations that belong to the Red de Semillas Libres de Colombia (RSLC; Free Seed Network of Colombia), we show how the recovery, conservation, and defense of native and creole seeds have two types of effects on agroecological scaling. The first is a horizontal or scaling out effect, given that these activities involve the adoption of agroecological practices which allow for spreading knowledge, principles, and practices among seed custodians, their local communities and organizations, and the networks of these organizations. The second is a deepening effect, given that: 1) seed custodianship reaffirms and/or generates new peasant and indigenous identities and ways of life; 2) seed recovery, conservation, and defense conform a multi-dimensional process that is material, political, and symbolic, which provides cultural and territorial rootedness, and 3) strengthening of the social-organizational fabric through collective actions and strategies by seed custodians in their territories in defense of native and creole seeds. These processes propitiate fertile conditions for scaling peasant agroecology and contribute to the construction of seed sovereignty, which is an essential aspect of struggles to preserve and reproduce and native and creole seeds.
Why Institutional Environments for Agroforestry Seed Systems Matter
Development Policy Review, 2017
Rethinking the logic of institutional environments aiming to facilitate agroforestry smallholders in economic development, this paper compares smallholder input supply systems for crop and tree seeds in Sub-Saharan Africa and reflects on two basic challenges: (i) how to develop a large number of relevant tree crops for different agroecologies; (ii) how to reach smallholders in rural areas. Policy options for improving agroforestry input supply systems are discussed, whereby our article concludes with suggestions how sectoral approaches for crop seed systems can be modified to agroforestry seed-seedling systems. Biophysical differences have practical implications for how the logic of the 'African green revolution' would be translated into a corresponding revolution for agroforestry.
CTA/ASARECA Policy Brief: Seed systems, science and policy
Africa needs to develop and integrate its various seed systems if it is to increase its present contri- bution to more than 2% of the global seed trade. Quality improvements in the informal seed systems and enhanced linkages with the formal seed systems are critical. A strategic partnership of research, enterprise and government is necessary to achieve this goal. The importance of improved varieties and high quality seed to the growth and development of African agriculture cannot be underestimated. However, differing standards, regulations and procedures; low investment in science; and poor infrastructure act as barriers to enhancing quality seed production, intra-regional trade within the continent and global competitiveness.
Global Environmental Politics, 2012
By containing within itself the means for its own reproduction, the seed is a key input for agricultural production and a carrier of valuable genetic resources. Many developing countries are harmonizing national seed policies to restructure their seed sectors, actions that alter farmers' access to seeds. Seed regulation is a product of the twentieth century, which witnessed agricultural intensiªcation and the separation of farming from seed production. 1 One concern justifying seed regulation has been that farmers have adequate information about the seed they purchase. Another, however, is protecting the interests of seed businesses involved in commercial seed production. 2 More recently, rapid change in the ªeld of agricultural biotechnology and private sector growth in the seed industry have been accompanied by pressure for regulatory harmonization at both national and international scales. Over the past ªfteen years, international and regional organizations such as the World Trade Organization (WTO) and European Union (EU) have also elaborated rules facilitating the commodiªcation of seeds and privatization of seed sectors. 3 Although scholars have agreed that national seed regulatory systems should reºect the economic, political, and technological situation within individual countries, global governance narrowly directs seed regulatory reform towards the establishment of plant variety protection (PVP) and intellectual property rights (IPRs) for genetic resources worldwide. 4 This narrow focus has generated controversy about the relationship be-
Seed Systems Support in Kenya: Consideration for an Integrated Seed Sector Development Approach
Journal of Sustainable Development, 2015
The threats of climate change and rising food prices have stirred renewed attention for seed and food security in Africa, inviting new thinking on the role of seed sector development in coping with these concerns. One conceptual framework that has gained attention is the Integrated Seed Sector Development (ISSD) approach. The ISSD approach has evolved as a response to the almost exclusive focus on formal seed systems in seed sector development programs. Instead, ISSD aims to recognize and support all the diverse seed systems that exist in a particular country. An analysis of the evolution of seed policies and regulatory frameworks in Kenya since independence indeed exposes a continuous support for the formal seed sector while support given to the informal sector has merely been intended to transform it into formal. In reality, however, the formal and informal sectors appear to be made up of a plurality of seed systems, with the informal seed systems being the main source of seed for most crops. The article continues with analysing some of Kenya's recent policy shifts in order to explore how its new seed policy and legislative framework may fit within ISSD principles, and concludes with some recommendations on how the variety of seeds systems that exists on the ground and in particular local seed systems can be supported.
How policies constrain native seed supply for restoration in Brazil
Restoration Ecology, 2019
Large‐scale ecological restoration programs across the world involve a voluminous demand for native seeds of diverse native plant species. In this article, we explore how institutional systems have operated and impacted native seed supply in Brazil. Native seed supply for restoration is essentially a community‐based activity which faces broad barriers to operating within regulations because of requirements for excessive and costly technical documentation, scarcity of seed laboratories, and lack of instructions for native seed quality testing. Although decentralized seed networks have stimulated arrangements for local organizations to promote seed supply, policies constrain the development of local capacities and the ongoing sustainability of these organizations. These conditions have resulted in a vast network of informal collectors and producers who are largely “invisible” and unknown to the regulatory authorities. Policies have decentralized responsibilities from the state without devolving decision‐making power to the multiple stakeholders engaged in policy elaboration. The policies maintain the centralized regulation of native seed supply. After examining Brazilian seed networks' experiences and conducting discussions with stakeholders and experts, we suggest adapting the current regulations to more local level contexts, encompassing the following strategies: (1) ensuring native seed origin and identity; (2) relaxation of the laboratory accreditation process for native seed quality assurance; (3) fostering seed markets for restoration; (4) research to provide technological innovation; (5) supporting local, diverse, and small seed‐based businesses.