Study on the seed technologies policy

Abstract

Seed performs various functions in agriculture and as such plays a strategic role in a range of debates, in particular those concerned with rural development and food security, biodiversity, business development, knowledge and technology, and culture. The term ‘seed’ has several meanings, but it is used here only in the biological sense and restricted to crop plants and is used here to include any type of planting material that is intended for use in producing a new plant, i.e. either generative or vegetative, such as roots, tubers, bulbs, cuttings, rhizomes and apomictic seed. The use of the word ‘intended’ implies that human intervention in handling seed is explicitly considered. Only when biodiversity issues are being considered also are other types of seeds are included, i.e. seeds of wild relatives of crop plants. There is a need to bridge the different sciences, not so much as part of a search for a holistic view or ‘cosmovision’ on seeds and their contribution to human wellbeing, but rather to contribute to building a good foundation for policy making that can steer the flow and use of seed. Such policy making is influenced by various international agreements that do not necessarily focus primarily on seed systems themselves. Often, they are concerned with other issues like biodiversity, trade and culture, and these may have a marked impact on seed systems when implemented through national law. Seed is an important vehicle for improving agricultural output, and major development goals such as food security, sustainable rural development and poverty reduction as well as the effective management of agro-biodiversity can only be achieved if the right types of seed are used. The sustainable availability of good quality seed for farmers is thus an important development issue. Conventional approaches to seed system development are based on a linear approach in which policies should be directed at developing seed systems by guiding them through a number of fixed stages from traditional to commercial. Seed policies in developing countries have long concentrated on this approach which aims at transforming farmers’ seed systems into commercial, formal seed systems. This research stems from a concern that such influences may affect access to good seed by farmers and smallholders in particular.