7962: Seed to seed - strenghtening the agricultural production in rural communities

Deleuran, L.C. and Boelt, B. (2005) Seed to seed - strenghtening the agricultural production in rural communities. Paper presented at 15th IFOAM Organic World Congress, Adelaide, South Australia, 20-23 September 2005; Published in Congress Handbook of 15th IFOAM Organic World Congress, IFOAM Abstracts, page 39.

Summary

A common assumption is that the quality of the seeds used in many developing countries is poor. Yet, the factors supporting this assumption are not specifically known. Many small farmers in developing countries keep a portion of own produced seed and are very much aware of its importance. However, due to often limited resources the seeds are not given the attention it needs in terms of production, preservation and utilisation. These factors sum up to an unsatisfactory seed quality leading to low agricultural production.
In times of disaster, farmers end up selling or consuming all their seeds and for their next harvest they need to be able to purchase seeds. In many rural areas quality seeds are not available. When buying seeds, the farmers are in most cases unable to determine the quality and origin of the seeds, and the farmer’s free choice to grow the crop (GM, conventional or organic) he/she chooses is non-existing.
For some rural communities organic seed production is already partly performed and with adjustments it can be looked upon as a niche supporting their livelihoods.

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