Getting Best Quality Seeds Into Local Networks

Experts met at a conference this week to address the urgent need to make quality seeds more accessible and affordable for poor farmers across the developing world.

The conference, hosted by Catholic Relief Services (CRS) in Washington, D.C., was the first to bring together donors, USAID, major private sector seed companies, agriculture experts, NGOs, university and other actors to directly address the problem.

“The focus is really on legumes, specifically,” said Louise Sperling, senior technical adviser at CRS, in an interview with Humanosphere. “They play such a vital role in good nutrition, soil fertility and food security. … So improving access to these quality seeds really means better food security for families.”

The formal seed sector has invested billions in identifying and developing high quality varieties of seeds that enhance nutrition and can better withstand climate change.

According to a 2016 survey from CRS, however, the sector only supplies 2 percent of the seeds used by smallholder farmers in Africa. Instead, farmers buy the vast majority of their seeds from local markets, family and neighbors.

http://www.humanosphere.org/environment/2017/03/quality-seeds-are-available-but-not-for-worlds-poorest-farmers/

BRJ INC

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