The harvest is in the seed

Events

AfricaSeedsEvents
24 Jan, 2022 No Comments
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Week 38 – Research Paper: Moving beyond reaching women in seed systems development

Author: Ranjitha Puskur, Netsayi Noris Mudege, Esther Njuguna-Mungai, Eileen Nchanji, Ronnie Vernooy, Alessandra Galiè, and Dina Najjar, University of Life Sciences & International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI), 2019
Topics: gender; seed systems; women

Seed systems interventions often reach women, & some benefit them, but more can be done. Boosting women’s involvement & leadership in seed systems = next step for empowerment.READ MORE

©NULS & ILRI
16 Dec, 2021 No Comments
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Week 37 – Research Paper: Governing Seeds in East Africa in the Face of Climate Change: Assessing Political and Social Outcomes

Author: Ola Tveitereid Westengen, Ruth Haug, Paul Guthiga and Eric Macharia; Norwegian University of Life Sciences & International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI), 2019
Topics: seed policies; climate change

Climate change is already negatively affecting sub-Saharan Africa agriculture. One of the most effective ways to adapt on farm is to switch crop varieties. This technological change depends onREAD MORE

©Agrilinks & USAID
10 Dec, 2021 No Comments
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Week 36 – High-Quality Seed Production by Smallholder Farmer Groups: A Global Case Study

Author: Bhramar Dey, Catholic Relief Services & Bert Visser, Oxfam’s SD=HS., 2020
Topics: quality seeds; case study; farmers’ seed systems; conservation

Farmers have always played a key role in seed production, varietal maintenance and serving local and regional communities with agroecologically adapted varieties that are demanded by smallholder farmers. Increasingly, smallholder farmers have organized themselves in various ways to produce seed for local markets. However, the operational efficiencies,READ MORE

©Agrilinks
29 Jun, 2021 No Comments
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Week 35 – Webinar: The Informal Seed Sector: A Behind the Seeds Look

Author: Agrilinks, 2015
Topics: Informal seed sector, access to seeds, quality seeds

Many smallholder farmers rely on local seed varieties to produce staple food crops. Distributed through informal systems, farmers select varieties based on a number of factors including environmental considerations, socioeconomic factors, access and taste preferences. These systems may contribute to the food security of a region, but farmers may also encounter barriers to accessing good quality seed including quality controls and storage issues.

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©Elsevier
15 Jun, 2021 No Comments
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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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©AGRA, Syngenta, CGIAR
08 Jun, 2021 No Comments
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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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©MDPI
04 Jun, 2021 No Comments
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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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©SNP
20 May, 2021 No Comments
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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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