Role of Smallholder Farmers in Seed Production Systems
Author: Technical Centre for Agricultural & Rural Cooperation
Publisher:
Published: 2000-12-01
Total Pages: 34
ISBN-13: 9789290812227
DOWNLOAD EBOOK →Lanterna Rally
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Farmers' Seed Production
Author: Conny Almekinders
Publisher: Intermediate Technology Publications
Published: 1999
Total Pages: 318
ISBN-13:
DOWNLOAD EBOOK →This handbook covers a whole range of issues relating to local seed supply systems, including participatory plant breeding, and both technical and practical information on seed production and variety maintenance. It suggests new approaches and methods to support on-farm seed production by small-scale farmers in developing countries. The first part of the book describes the functioning of local seed systems and discusses their strengths, limitations and possibilities for improvement. The authors discuss in detail issues of genetic diversity and in-situ conservation, farmers' rights and legislation. The cases presented here illustrate the functioning of local seed systems and experiences with improving them. The second part contains technical information on seed production, selection, storage and distribution, and varietal maintenance and improvement of different groups of important food crops, which can be applied and implemented at the level of small-scale farming. The third part contains practical guidelines about how on researchers and agriculturalists might carry out surveys to investigate local seed systems and their limitations, and how they can involve interested farmers in practical experimentation to improve their crop seed. This book will be of great value and interest to people who work directly with farmers, including extension agents, national and international NGOs, and farmers' cooperative workers.
Enhancing Smallholder Farmers' Access to Seed of Improved Legume Varieties Through Multi-stakeholder Platforms
Author: Essegbemon Akpo
Publisher: Springer
Published: 2021-12-19
Total Pages: 240
ISBN-13: 9789811580161
DOWNLOAD EBOOK →This open access book shares the experiences of Tropical Legumes III (TLIII) project in facilitating access to seed of improved legume varieties to smallholder farmers through innovation platforms. It highlights practices and guiding principles implemented in eight developing countries of sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia. This book details key processes that respective teams employed to create an innovation space that delivers seed, other inputs, knowledge and financial services to agricultural communities and most importantly, the underserved farmers in remote areas of the drylands. It offers valuable insights into the pathway to establishing, promoting and operating innovation platforms to enhance the performance and competitiveness of legume crops' value chains, and addresses critical issues that must be considered to make innovation platforms more sustainable and attractive to beneficiaries. The book offers a wealth of practical insights for development workers, technical staff, and project managers. This publication is all about TLIII community of practice. It will definitely inspire other development workers and scientists to share their own experiences for others to learn from.
Seed Production by Smallholder Farmers
Author: J. Hanson
Publisher: ILRI (aka ILCA and ILRAD)
Published: 1994-01-01
Total Pages: 64
ISBN-13: 9789290532880
DOWNLOAD EBOOK →Gender dynamics in seed systems development
Author: Kramer, Berber
Publisher: Intl Food Policy Res Inst
Published: 2020-11-20
Total Pages: 6
ISBN-13:
DOWNLOAD EBOOK →All agricultural production—whether of crops, trees, forages, livestock, or fish—starts with seeds,* mak-ing seed security vital to food security. Seed secu-rity means that producers—smallholder farmers es-pecially—have permanent and unrestricted access to adequate quantities of quality seed that is suita-ble to their agroecological conditions and socio-economic needs. Efforts to enhance seed security should be inclusive, without disparities related to in-come, social class, age, or gender. Yet, gender gaps reveal themselves across the seed system, in-cluding in the breeding, production, selection, and distribution stages, as well as in how the seeds are used and who reaps the benefits from this use.
Community Seed Banks
Author: Ronnie Vernooy
Publisher: Routledge
Published: 2015-05-15
Total Pages: 323
ISBN-13: 1134608608
DOWNLOAD EBOOK →Community seed banks first appeared towards the end of the 1980s, established with the support of international and national non-governmental organizations. This book is the first to provide a global review of their development and includes a wide range of case studies. Countries that pioneered various types of community seed banks include Bangladesh, Brazil, Ethiopia, India, Nepal, Nicaragua, the Philippines and Zimbabwe. In the North, a particular type of community seed bank emerged known as a seed-savers network. Such networks were first established in Australia, Canada, the UK and the USA before spreading to other countries. Over time, the number and diversity of seed banks has grown. In Nepal, for example, there are now more than 100 self-described community seed banks whose functions range from pure conservation to commercial seed production. In Brazil, community seed banks operate in various regions of the country. Surprisingly, despite 25 years of history and the rapid growth in number, organizational diversity and geographical coverage of community seed banks, recognition of their roles and contributions has remained scanty. The book reviews their history, evolution, experiences, successes and failures (and reasons why), challenges and prospects. It fills a significant gap in the literature on agricultural biodiversity and conservation, and their contribution to food sovereignty and security.
Farming Systems and Poverty
Author: John A. Dixon
Publisher: Food & Agriculture Org.
Published: 2001
Total Pages: 424
ISBN-13: 9789251046272
DOWNLOAD EBOOK →A joint FAO and World Bank study which shows how the farming systems approach can be used to identify priorities for the reduction of hunger and poverty in the main farming systems of the six major developing regions of the world.
Regulatory options to improve seed systems for vegetatively propagated crops in developing countries
Author: Spielman, David J.
Publisher: Intl Food Policy Res Inst
Published: 2021-06-17
Total Pages: 55
ISBN-13:
DOWNLOAD EBOOK →In many developing countries, smallholder farmers cultivating vegetatively propagated crops (VPCs) have limited access to quality planting material. This constraint can limit both the yield of and returns on VPC cultivation. Yet policy and regulatory initiatives designed to strengthen access to quality VPC planting materials have been relatively unsuccessful to date. Part of the problem is the unique biological and economic characteristics of vegetative propagation and its distinctness from cereal crops, which dominate narratives on seed system reforms. Drawing on qualitative analysis of policy and practice, this study examines reform options related to quality assurance regulations in four crop-country combinations: cassava in Nigeria and Vietnam, and potato in Kenya and Vietnam. The study highlights theory and evidence on existing models of regulation; alternative models that may better incentivize cost-effective multiplication and distribution; and recommendations for policy, regulation, and investment in VPC seed markets. Findings indicate that regulations designed around strict and centralized quality control systems tend to limit market size, while more localized production systems are limited by both capacity and reach. These findings suggest the need for alternatives that balance a permissive regulatory regime with decentralized production systems, grassroots capacity development, market surveillance, and systems that integrate internal (producer-level) quality assurance with external (regulatory) quality assurance.
Innovation systems
Author: Francis, J. (ed)
Publisher: CTA
Published: 2016-12-31
Total Pages: 255
ISBN-13: 9290815612
DOWNLOAD EBOOK →The result of an expert consultation, this publication examines ‘innovations systems’ – a concept suggested as underpinning industrial development – as a strategy for agricultural development. Innovation systems approaches conceptualise change as a long-term, socially-embedded process, and recognise the important role policy plays in shaping the parameters within which decisions are made. Providing a collection of papers and commentaries from the world’s top scholars and practitioners, this book looks at the strengths – but also the weaknesses and challenges –
African Seed Enterprises
Author: Paul van Mele
Publisher: CABI
Published: 2011
Total Pages: 236
ISBN-13: 9781845938444
DOWNLOAD EBOOK →In most developing countries, good quality seed is hard to obtain and farmers struggle to save seed from one year to the next. This title takes a people-centred look at the companies, public agencies and family farms that are taking on this role and making a difference to food security across Africa.
