African Seed Enterprises Sowing the Seeds of Food Security
The subject of seed provision commands an exceptional amount of attention in most discussions of agricultural development. The reasons are not difficult to understand, as the security and quality of seed supply are among the principal determinants of any farmer’s success. But, despite this una...
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| Những tác giả chính: | , , |
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| Định dạng: | Sách |
| Ngôn ngữ: | English |
| Được phát hành: |
CABI
2014
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| Những chủ đề: | |
| Truy cập trực tuyến: | https://scholar.dlu.edu.vn/thuvienso/handle/DLU123456789/37045 |
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| Thư viện lưu trữ: | Thư viện Trường Đại học Đà Lạt |
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| Tóm tắt: | The subject of seed provision commands an exceptional amount of attention in most
discussions of agricultural development. The reasons are not difficult to understand,
as the security and quality of seed supply are among the principal determinants of any
farmer’s success. But, despite this unanimity of interest, there is relatively little agree-
ment on what needs to be done to support the growth of effective and equitable seed
provision in developing countries.
Part of the controversy over seed provision is the product of legitimate concerns
about the nature and impact of the commercial seed sector. There is, for instance, the
danger that an overemphasis on commercial seed supply will disregard the role that
farmers continue to play in the identification and preservation of productive germ-
plasm, the maintenance of local systems of seed sale and exchange, and innovations in
crop management. In addition, there are understandable worries about the growing
reach of the multinational ‘life sciences’ industry, its increasing control of the seed sec-
tor and the concentration of access to technology in too few hands.
But commercial seed supply can take many different forms, and it is a larger part
of many ‘traditional’ farming systems than people may realize. It is difficult to imagine
a productive agricultural system in the 21st century without access to some type of
formal seed provision through various types of seed enterprise. As agricultural econo-
mies develop there is a natural shift towards specialization in the supply of products
and services that were previously part of self-sufficient farms or communities. The
access to commercial seed supply offers wider access to the products of modern plant
breeding and helps ensure that a farmer’s seed supply is not completely dependent on
the vagaries of local climate or other uncertainties in local production systems. In addi-
tion, the expansion of agricultural markets often provides farmers with an opportunity
to earn a premium for the specific qualities of their produce, which may require more
attention to high quality and uniform seed than can be provided on-farm. The avail-
ability of commercial seed also allows the farmer to invest time in other activities,
on- or off-farm, without having to worry about next year’s seed supply. |
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