The harvest is in the seed

Author: Admin

AfricaSeedsArticles by: Admin
15 Jun 2021
©Elsevier
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Week 33 – Research paper: Rapid breeding and varietal replacement are critical to adaptation of cropping systems in the developing world to climate change

Author: Gary N.Atlin, Jill E.Cairns, Biswanath Das, 2017
Topics: Marketing, breeding, research

Plant breeding is a key mechanism for adaptation of cropping systems to climate change. Much discussion of breeding for climate change focuses on genes with large effects on heat and drought tolerance, but phenology and stress tolerance are highly polygenic.

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08 Jun 2021
©AGRA, Syngenta, CGIAR
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Week 32 – Policy Paper: Accelerating the delivery of quality seed from breeding investments made by the Crops to End Hunger Initiative through economically sustainable seed systems

Author: AGRA, Syngenta and CGIAR, 2021
Topics: Marketing, breeding, commercial seed varieties

Commercial seed delivery for smallholder farmers in many parts of sub-Saharan Africa has been limited to few crops and varietal turnover has been slow. Publicly funded breeding needs to engage with seed systems in order to deliver greater genetic gain in farmers’ fields via varietal replacement.

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04 Jun 2021
©MDPI
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Week 31 – Informal Seed Traders: The Backbone of Seed Business and African Smallholder Seed Supply

Author: Louise Sperling, Patrick Gallagher, Shawn McGuire, Julie March and Noel Templer, 2020
Topics: informal seed system, traders, smallholder farmers

To work well and be sustainable, seed systems have to offer a range of crops and varieties of good quality seed and these products have to reach farmers, no matter how remote or poor they may be. Formal seed sector interventions alone are not delivering the crop portfolio or achieving the social and geographic breadth needed, and the paper argues for focus on informal seed channels and particularly on traders who move ‘potential seed’ (informal or local seed) even to high stress areas.

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20 May 2021
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Week 30 – Meeting Report: Multi-actor consultation workshop on the recognition of traditional / farmers’ seeds and farmers’ rights in seed legislation in Mali

Author: Semences, Normes et Paysans (SNP), 2017
Topics: Dialogue, informal seed system, traditional varieties, farmers’ rights, International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Agriculture and Food (ITPGRFA)

From 11 to 13 September, 2017, a multi-stakeholder consultation was held on traditional and farmer seeds at the Practical Forest Training Center of Tabakoro. Under the chairmanship of the Ministry of Agriculture of Mali, the workshop recorded the participation of representatives of the Ministry of higher education and scientific research (MESRS); the Ministry of environment, sanitation and sustainable development (MEADD), as well as the Ministry livestock and fisheries. In addition to participants from Mali, the sub-region, others came from South Africa and France to share their experiences on the topic discussed.

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13 May 2021
©Afsafrica
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Week 29 – Case study: Sustaining the Traditional Dynamics of Production and Conservation of Traditional Rice varieties in Guinea-Bissau

Author: Afsafrica, 2021
Topics: Multipliers, informal seed system, traditional varieties

In order to preserve their tradition, the Manjaco communities have embarked on a process of preserving local varieties of rice essential for the organization of some traditional ceremonies.READ MORE

06 May 2021
©CABI
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Week 28 – Case Study: Improving access to quality seeds in Africa

Author: L. Kimenye; CABI 2014
Subjects: Indigenous Vegetables, Quality Declared Seed, QDS, neglected crops, informal seed system, access to seeds

AIVs (African indigenous vegetables) have traditionally been a significant contributor to food security and nutrition for smallholder farmers in East Africa and are also important in providing incomes, particularly for women. However, farmers’ capacity to meet a growing demand for these vegetables has been limited by lack of good quality seed.

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30 Apr 2021
©CABI
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Week 27 – Case Study: Perspectives on sustainability of smallholder seed enterprises: African indigenous vegetables in Tanzania

Author: Monica Kansiime, Mary Bundi, Jacqueline Nicodemus, Justus Ochieng, Damus Marandu, Silvesta S.Njau, Radegunda F. Kessy, Justice Tambo, Frances Williams, Daniel Karanja; CABI 2021
Subjects: Indigenous Vegetables, Quality Declared Seed, QDS, neglected crops, informal seed system

Between 2013 and 2016, CABI’s Good Seed Initiative (GSI) worked with partners in Tanzania to strengthen the seed system for Africa Indigenous Vegetables (AIVs) through promotion of farmer seed enterprises using two models – contract farming (Arusha) and Quality Declared Seed (QDS) (Dodoma).

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22 Apr 2021
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Week 26 – Guidelines: Emergency Seed Interventions during the COVID-19 pandemic

Author: Food Security Cluster, 2020
Subjects: emergency, seed systems, Covid-19

Emergency seed interventions may already be planned or ongoing in many areas (e.g. to respond to drought, pest infestation, displacement, or other stresses). COVID-19 and its associated restrictions on travel, trade and markets may also constrain farmers’ seed security, as well as the ways in which aid agencies are able to operate.

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06 Apr 2021
© IFAD
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Week 24 – Toolkit: Supporting smallholder seed systems

Author: International Fund for Agriculture Development (IFAD), Wafaa El Khoury, Robert Delve, 2018
Topics: farmers seed systems, seed sector development, capacity building

In most smallholder farming systems farmers save seed from the previous harvest to plant in the next season. They select seed from the best plants and then dry, clean and store the seed in a safe place. These traditional seed-saving practices and farmers’ sharing of seed are called the informal seed system, or the farmer/community-based seed system. They also add to their crop diversity with seed they obtain from social networks or purchase in local markets, from agro-dealers or seed companies.

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