Category: Sharing knowledge on Seeds

Week 135 – Podcast: Farmer Seeds: A Barrier Against Climate Change?

Author: Sur la Terre, Camille Kauffmann
Keywords: farmer seeds, biodiversity

“In this new episode of Sur la Terre, a podcast by AFP in partnership with The Conversation, we take a deep dive into the evolution of our food, where it all begins: the seed. Since the beginning of agriculture 10,000 years ago, seed selection has been essential to ensure our food security. In the 19th century, hybridization revolutionized this mission by creating more productive plants, and in the 20th century, molecular genetics gave birth to the famous GMOs.
But before the 1950s, only one type prevailed: “farmer seeds,” heterogeneous and traditional varieties cultivated by farmers themselves. Faced with climate change, some advocate for a return to these seeds, arguing that they are more respectful of biodiversity and better adapted to difficult environmental conditions.
What are the challenges that hinder the widespread use of these seeds, and is it a realistic solution on a global scale? To answer these questions, we take you to Africa, a continent on the front line of climate change, where traditional seeds play a crucial role.”

Click on the following link to access the content: https://shows.acast.com/64c3b1758e16bd0011b77c44/episodes/15-semences-paysannes-un-rempart-au-dereglement-climatique

© Sur la Terre

Week 134 – Technical Guidelines: Seed Testing Methods: A comprehensive overview

Author: Arnab Gupta, South Soudan Seed Hub
Keywords: seed testing, quality assurance

“Quality assurance in the seed sector is the cornerstone for guaranteeing that seeds sold to farmers and other stakeholders meet stipulated quality parameters. This process encompasses a range of activities, from seed production and processing to labeling and storage, all geared towards ensuring optimal germination, vigor, and genetic integrity. Check these detailed guidelines to understand the intricacies of seed quality assurance.”

Click on the following link to access the content: https://www.southsudanseedhub.com/_files/ugd/af0354_141dceec3e1449c8b13d314d53baf224.pdf

© South Soudan Seed Hub

Week 133 – Seed Sovereignty, a Viable Option for Food and Nutritional Security in Africa

Authors: AFSA
Keywords: traditional seeds; farmers seed systems

“This publication is a significant contribution to agroecological transition. It is the result of a documentation process of good and lesser-known stories related to traditional seeds, local seeds, and peasant seed systems. The initial stories are provided by seed practitioners. A multidisciplinary review committee then accompanied the finalization of the stories in order to provide readers and policymakers with the necessary arguments to better support peasant seed systems, but also to strengthen the confidence of farming communities in their knowledge, know-how, and practices in genetic diversity management.”

Click on the following link to access the content: https://afsafrica.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/etudes-de-cas-continentales-fr.pdf

© AFSA

Week 132 – Software: Track & manage seeds with Seed Tracker™

Authors: IITA
Keywords: traceability; seed quality assurance

“Seed Tracker™ is a fully featured program for real-time tracking of seed production, including pre-planting planning, registration of seed fields, crop management, harvesting, quality assessment and quality assertion.”

Click on the following link to access the content: https://seedtracker.org/

© IITA

Week 131 – Summary Note: Seed Rights: A Fundamental Human Right for Sustainable and Equitable Food Systems

Authors: Coordination Sud, Action Against Hunger, AVSF, AFD, SOL
Keywords: seed access; farmers’ rights

“As the first link in agricultural activity, seeds represent a crucial issue for farmers. Since the birth of agriculture, farming communities have freely developed and used species and varieties that meet their needs through selection and exchange. Faced with the excessive use of pesticides, the development of biotechnologies and associated risks, and the privatization and standardization of seeds, the C2A emphasizes in this decoding note the urgent need to guarantee farmers the right to choose economically, ecologically, and culturally viable seeds and to protect them from contamination by other genetically modified plants.”

Click on the following link to access the content: https://www.coordinationsud.org/wp-content/uploads/notes_38_droit.semences_web_12.03.24.pdf

© Coordination Sud

Week 130 – Article – The role of community seed banks in achieving farmers’ rights

Authors: Ronnie Vernooy,Teshome Hunduma Mulesa,Arnab Gupta, Jahangir Alam Jony, Kouablan Edmond Koffi, Hilton Mbozi, P.B. Singh, Pitambar Shrestha, Thabo T. Tjikana & C.L.K. Wakkumbure
Keywords: community seed banks; farmers’ rights

“The core objectives of the Convention on Biological Diversity and the International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture (ITPGRFA) are the conservation and sustainable use of plant genetic resources. The ITPGRFA links these goals explicitly to farmers’ rights. Although farmers’ rights have been debated intensely at international level, their effective implementation at national level remains a major challenge. Community seed banks are good examples of effective implementation of those rights, but have received little attention in scientific literature and policy circles. Case studies in this article from Bangladesh, Côte d’Ivoire, India and Zimbabwe illustrate how this knowledge gap can be filled.”

Click on the following link to access the content: https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/09614524.2020.1727415

© 2024Informa UK Limited

Week 129 – Book – Seed Science and Technology Biology, Production, Quality

Authors: Malavika Dadlani, Devendra K. Yadava (Eds.)
Keywords: seed technologies; production; seed quality

“Open access narrative of fundamentals and latest research on seed technology
Includes basic and applied aspects of quality seed production, post-harvest handling & quality control
Contributions from India, Europe, and USA providing a global perspective on seed technology[…]”

Click on the following link to access the content: https://link.springer.com/book/10.1007/978-981-19-5888-5

Week 128 – Research paper: Farmer participatory seed production: extending the Indian experience to Africa

Authors: Singh, Dheeraj; Choudhary, M.K.; Meena, M.L.; Kumar, Chandan
Keywords: seed production, participation, Africa, India, adoption

“Quality seed is the key input for realizing potential productivity. In most of the crops, the small and marginal farmers depend on their own farm saved seeds for crop production. Moreover the crops are raised for market and a small portion of the grains are separated, stored and used as seeds in the next season which may not meet the quality aspects as expected for a seed which results in poor field stand, and ultimately low yield. Despite implementation of the organized seed programme, there exists an alarming gap between the demand and supply of quality seeds. The immediate increase in the productivity and production of these crops can be
achieved by a higher distribution of quality seeds of new and high yielding varieties. In this context, the concept of seed village which advocates village self-sufficiency in multiplication and distribution of quality seeds is getting momentum. The paper deals with the concept of participatory seed production at farmer’s level under the guidance of scientist/agriculture department. Case study of seed village programme for different crops and spices in selected villages have been discussed in this paper. Under this, quality seeds of improved varieties of prominent crops of the area were distributed by the Krishi Vigyan Kendra (KVK), CAZRI, Pali to the identified farmers in the area as per annual programme. The farmers used these quality seeds and took their own seed multiplication in operational area which showed a considerable spread of improved variety in nearby villages. Thus there is vast scope to produce and distribute quality seed in most crops for which seed village concept is a novel and highly practical approach and needs to be promoted to facilitate production and timely distribution of quality seeds of desired varieties at village level” […]

Click on the following link to access the content: https://ageconsearch.umn.edu/record/295948?ln=en&v=pdf
© AgEcon

Week 127 – Conference paper: Are seed distributions effective? Evidence from a randomly controlled experiment with improved bean seeds in rural Madagascar.

Authors: Bosch, Christine; Zeller, Manfred; Deffner, Domenica
Keywords: seed distribution, Madagascar

“This paper studies access to and adoption of improved seeds and the diffusion of this information in a remote area in central Madagascar. The analysis is based on panel data gathered from 2009 to 2014 for 390 households in three villages. In 2013 a randomized treatment control design was applied in which 50% randomly selected households from the panel received 1.5 kapoaka (0.6 kg) of improved bean seeds (Pois du Cap/Morombe/Phaseolus lunatus). The beans were especially bred for dry regions and purchased at Fofifa (National Center of Applied Research and Rural Development). Of those households receiving, 50% randomly selected households were given information on how to store, plant and cultivate the seeds, as the distributed variety was unknown in the region and not available in the villages. These three groups are compared with respect to baseline characteristics, bean adoption, cultivation, information exchange with other farmers and diet diversity. 55% of the households that received seeds cultivated them, with an average yield of 3 kg. As non-compliance and spillovers exist, next to the average treatment effect on the treated (ATT), intention-to-treat (ITT) and local average treatment effect (LATE) is estimated. Additionally, willingness to pay (WTP) for improved bean seeds is estimated via the contingent valuation method (CVM). In order to ask the WTP, households were explained the benefits of improved bean seeds, which resulted in a WTP of 171% of the price of beans purchased on the local market.” […]

Click on the following link to access the content: https://ageconsearch.umn.edu/record/249286?v=pdf
© AgEcon

Week 126 – Discussion Paper: The impact of Ethiopia’s direct seed marketing approach on smallholders’ access to seeds, productivity, and commercialization

Authors: Mekonnen, Dawit Kelemework; Abate, Gashaw Tadesse; Yimam, Seid; Benfica, Rui; Spielman, David J.; Place, Frank
Keywords: maize, wheat, teff, smallholders, Ethiopia, DSM
“Several factors contribute to the low level of improved variety use in Ethiopia. Among those, on the supply side, is the limited availability of seed in the volumes, quality, and timeliness required by farmers, which is partly a result of limited public and private investment in the sector. Beginning in 2011, the Government of Ethiopia introduced a novel experiment-the Direct Seed Marketing (DSM) approach-to reduce some of the centralized, state-run attributes of the country’s seed market and rationalize the use of public resources. DSM was designed to incentivize private and public seed producers to sell seed directly to farmers rather than through the state apparatus. This study is the first quantitative evaluation of DSM’s impact on indicators of a healthy seed system: access to quality seeds, on-farm productivity, and market participation of smallholders. Using a quasi-experimental difference-in-differences approach, the study finds that DSM led to a 26 percent increase in maize yields and a 5 percent increase in the share of maize harvest sold. DSM also led to improvements in seed availability for all three of Ethiopia’s major cereals: maize, wheat, and teff. However, DSM’s effects on yields and share of harvest sold are not statistically significant for wheat and teff. These crop-specific differences in performance are likely explainable by biological differences between hybrid maize and openly pollinated varieties of wheat and teff that incentivize private sector participation in maize seed markets over wheat and teff seed markets. These differences demand different policies and perhaps even institutional approaches to accelerating adoption between hybrids and OPVs.” […]

Click on the following link to access the content: https://ebrary.ifpri.org/digital/collection/p15738coll2/id/134247
© CGIAR