Download or read book Promoting the Growth and Development of Smallholder Seed Enterprises for Food Security Crops written by Paul J. H. Neate and published by Food & Agriculture Organization of the UN (FAO). This book was released on 2010 with total page 38 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "Agriculture is the mainstay of the economies of developing countries and the source of livelihood for the majority of their populations. In view of this, it is considered crucial that the performance of agriculture should ensure food security and provide a strong economic base. Towards this aim, improved seeds have been widely recognized as a key ingredient for enhancing farm productivity and overall crop production and thereby attaining the goal of food security. However, medium to large private companies, so far, do not effectively produce and distribute seeds of most major non-hybrid food security crops in developing countries. Case studies undertaken in Africa, Asia and Latin America indicate that smallholder seed enterprises could provide a valid alternative if supported. This publication aims at raising the awareness of decision makers and provides guidelines of best practices and policy options for promoting and supporting the growth and development of smallholder seed enterprises."--P. [4] of cover.

Download or read book Seeds Toolkit Module 1 written by Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations and published by Food & Agriculture Org.. This book was released on 2018-10-18 with total page 124 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This toolkit – made available in English, French and Spanish – will be promoted as practical guidance to assist in the implementation of the national seed strategies. It will provide a number of practical capacity building tools for essential stages of the seed value chain and targeted primarily at seed sector practitioners who will participate in special training workshops to acquire pertinent technical knowledge and will be expected in return to create a multiplier effect through further follow-up FFS trainings down to the level of seed traders and farmers. In doing so, the toolkit will be used as guidance for conducting country-led workshops and other training activities aimed at strengthening quality seed delivery systems and seed regulatory mechanisms in selected countries. The development of capacity in the production of high quality seeds, the seed replacement rates, true seed cost and realistic seed pricing mechanisms as well as the role of different stakeholders are of critical importance in the process of the formulation of national seed policies, which is one of the core areas of FAO’s delivery at the national level.

Download or read book Regulatory options to improve seed systems for vegetatively propagated crops in developing countries written by Spielman, David J. and published by Intl Food Policy Res Inst. This book was released on 2021-06-17 with total page 55 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: 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.

Download or read book African Seed Enterprises written by Paul van Mele and published by CABI. This book was released on 2011 with total page 254 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: 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.

Download or read book Seeds Toolkit Module 5 written by Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations and published by Food & Agriculture Org.. This book was released on 2018-10-18 with total page 114 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Seeds are the vehicle for delivering the improvements in a crop to the farmer’s field. They are therefore a critical input in agricultural production. Seeds are also unique in that they must remain alive and healthy when they are used and that they are also the input that farmers can produce by themselves. Module 5 Seed Marketing, this module presents the underlying principles for valuing and exchanging seeds. This module describes all the activities which are undertaken in getting seeds from the producers to the end-users or farmers. The reader is provided guidance on how to conduct relevant research of the market for seeds, develop effective marketing strategies, articulate a marketing plan and manage the associated risks.

Download or read book Gender dynamics in seed systems development written by Kramer, Berber and published by Intl Food Policy Res Inst. This book was released on 2020-11-20 with total page 6 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: 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.

Download or read book Seed Business Management in Africa written by and published by CIMMYT. This book was released on with total page 256 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book Advances in Seed Production and Management written by Ajay Kumar Tiwari and published by Springer Nature. This book was released on 2021-02-26 with total page 623 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: High-quality seed is essential for healthy crops and greater agricultural productivity. At the same time, advances in breeding technology require equivalent advances in seed technology. In order to ensure food security, it is crucial to develop seeds that are high yielding, and resistant to drought, heat, cold, and insects. Gathering the latest research in seed sciences, the book includes contributions on seed production in crops such as legumes, sugar, rice, wheat and other cereals. It discusses a range of topics, like the effect of climate change on seed quality, production and storage; seed rouging; seed certification for different crop species; seed biology; and seed pathologies and their effective management. Integrating basic and applied research, this compendium provides valuable insights for researchers and students in agricultural and life sciences; professionals involved in seed certification and those working in quarantine laboratories; as well as plant pathologists.

Download or read book Redesigning the Global Seed Commons written by Christine Frison and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2018-11-08 with total page 252 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: There is much current controversy over whether the rights to seeds or plant genetic resources should be owned by the private sector or be common property. This book addresses the legal and policy aspects of the multilateral seed management regime. First, it studies in detail the International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture (the Treaty) in order to understand and identify its dysfunctions. Second, it proposes solutions - using recent developments of the "theory of the commons" - to improve the collective seed management system of the Treaty, a necessary condition for its member states to reach the overall food security and sustainable agriculture goals. Redesigning the Global Seed Commons provides a significant contribution to the current political and academic debates on agrobiodiversity law and governance, and on food security and food sovereignty, by analyzing key issues under the Treaty that affect the design and implementation of regulatory instruments managing seeds as a commons. It also examines the practical, legal, political and economic problems encountered in the attempt to implement these obligations in contemporary settings. In particular, it considers how to improve the Treaty implementation by proposing ways for Contracting Parties to better reach the Treaty’s objectives taking a holistic view of the human-seed ecosystem. Following the tenth anniversary of the functioning the Treaty’s multilateral system of access and benefit-sharing, which is currently under review by its Contracting Parties, this book is well-timed to examine recent developments in the field and guide the current review process to design a truly Global Seed Commons.

Download or read book Community Seed Production Sustainability in Rice Wheat Farming written by Narayan Prasad Khanal and published by Springer. This book was released on 2015-05-07 with total page 194 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book analyzes the sustainability of community seed production under a rice–wheat farming system from microeconomic perspectives, considering how seed producers benefit from community seed production and how those benefits continue into the future. Seed producers’ performance in resource management, governance and marketing strategies indicates current benefits, whereas soil conservation and risk-management practices provide the basis for future benefits. Community seed production is a local-level seed management system owned by farmers. This system provides the institutional mechanism to supply diversified seed demands of open-pollinated varieties of food crops in a cost-effective way in rural regions. Being able to address the concerns of food insecurity, poverty, climate stress and biodiversity loss in programs and policies of development agencies, community seed production is gaining popularity among the farmers and the policy makers in developing countries. This book discusses the issues of organizational governance of the community seed producers’ groups and links them with household-level benefits to understand the organizational dynamism and the probable development paths of such organizations in the future. It also highlights the necessity to institutionalize lessons learned in community seed production in the stakeholders’ programs and policies. These understandings provide a basis for formulating policies for strengthening the system in developing countries. Students, researchers, policy makers and donor agencies working with CSP in the developing world will find this book useful in broadening their understanding of CSP in general and its sustainability in particular.

Download or read book Seed Development OMICS Technologies toward Improvement of Seed Quality and Crop Yield written by Ganesh K. Agrawal and published by Springer Science & Business Media. This book was released on 2012-12-09 with total page 592 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The book is about the seed development in the model and crop plants. Seed development is a key step of the plant life cycle that determines the nutrient value of seeds – the life for human civilization, growth, and development. The nutrient value of seeds is mainly due to storage reserve products such as carbohydrates, lipids (triacylglycerols), and proteins. The book primarily focuses on application of the 21st century high-throughput technologies transcriptomics, proteomics, metabolomics, and systems biology in near complete understanding of the various processes involved in seed development in different crop plants. The book reveals how such technologies have revolutionized our understanding of the multilayer processes and regulations involved therein by generating large-scale datasets. Accumulated datasets provide basic knowledge to develop integrated strategies to eventually improve the nutritional value of plant seed and crop yield, a critical goal in food security issues around the globe.

Download or read book Agricultural Commercialization Economic Development and Nutrition written by Joachim Von Braun and published by International Food Policy Research Insitute. This book was released on 1994 with total page 444 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Subsistence production: a sign of market failure. Commercialization cannot be left to the market. Household effects of commercialization. Nutrition effects of commercialization. Policy action needed.

Download or read book Seeds Toolkit Module 4 written by Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations and published by Food & Agriculture Org.. This book was released on 2018-10-18 with total page 78 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Seeds are the vehicle for delivering the improvements in a crop to the farmer’s field. They are therefore a critical input in agricultural production. Seeds are also unique in that they must remain alive and healthy when they are used and that they are also the input that farmers can produce by themselves. Module 4 Seed Sector Regulatory Framework provides information on the elements of the regulations that govern the seed value chain – from variety registration through quality seed production to distribution and marketing. The materials covered include information about national seed policy, seed law and regulations, their definitions, purpose and interactions.

Download or read book Successful Community based Seed Production Strategies written by Peter S. Setimela and published by CIMMYT. This book was released on 2004 with total page 89 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book Seeds Toolkit Module 6 written by Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations and published by Food & Agriculture Org.. This book was released on 2018-10-18 with total page 118 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Seeds are the vehicle for delivering the improvements in a crop to the farmer’s field. They are therefore a critical input in agricultural production. Seeds are also unique in that they must remain alive and healthy when they are used and that they are also the input that farmers can produce by themselves. It is estimated that 25–33% of the world grain crop, including seeds, is lost each year during storage. To avert this obvious drawback to food security and nutrition, this module provides the underlying principles for effective seed storage and the associated practices. The module provides guidance on the preservation of seeds under controlled environmental conditions so as to maximize seed viability for the long periods that may be required from harvesting through processing to planting.

Download or read book Save and Grow written by Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations and published by Food & Agriculture Org.. This book was released on 2018-06-22 with total page 116 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The book offers a rich toolkit of relevant, adoptable ecosystem-based practices that can help the world's 500 million smallholder farm families achieve higher productivity, profitability and resource-use efficiency while enhancing natural capital.

Download or read book Food Crop Production by Smallholder Farmers in Southern Africa written by Ambayeba Muimba-Kankolongo and published by Academic Press. This book was released on 2018-02-07 with total page 382 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Food Crop Production by Smallholder Farmers in Southern Africa: Challenges and Opportunities for Improvement evaluates traditional cultivation practices used by smallholder farmers, providing a synthesis of the latest information on increasing crop yield through adoption of research innovations. The book catalogs smallholder cultivation practices and recommends innovative strategies for improving the agriculture sector including: management practices that reduce net carbon emissions; technologies that improve soil structures and conserve the natural resources base; means of empowering female resources along value chains; and government commitment to adopt policies that enhance agriculture productivity by encouraging farmers to use environmentally sound cultivation technologies. Traditional farming techniques often produce negative impacts on the environment and ecosystem resulting in outbreaks of diseases and pests. In addition to the region’s recurrent droughts, these outbreaks of numerous diseases and pests, weeds and other invasive plants put thousands at risk of poverty and hunger, as well as malnutrition. This book presents enhanced agricultural production technologies for ensuring adequate food production, safety and nutritional quality for the population of Southern Africa and forms the basis for an increased SADC regional effort in food production through which financial and trade institutions can improve stakeholder capacities, encourage micro-enterprise development and enhance employment and regional trade. Provides a critical synthesis of data and information for increasing crop yield through adoption of research innovations Evaluates traditional and scientific interventions that address food security issues of the poor farmers in the region Presents agro-ecologies of countries in the region and how they relate to various cultivation practices Catalogs smallholder cultivation practices and recommends innovative strategies for improving the agriculture sector