Perfil de los miembros
Sra. Vicki Morrone
Organización:
Michigan State University
País:
Estados Unidos de América
Campo(s) de especialización:
I am working on:
Farmer Field Schools for legume seed production. Training farmers to prepare for seed certification but focusing on increasing variety diversity available to small holder farmers across Malawi. Also have developed and tested class modules for school gardens in Tanzania.
Sra. Vicki Morrone
From my experience, in Malawi the availability of quality and acceptible legume varieties is a challenge. Specific varieties are often available only through the International Centers and are not very accessible to small holder farmers. The legumes available at local markets are for consumption and often mixed, making production difficult or not suitable in the given environment. Research and extension efforts should focus on farmer selection of appropiate varieties and then follow a course of action that promotes and supports farmers increasing varieties for themselves and local markets. Current regulations in Malawi do not support the Quality Declared Seed Law that has been on the "books" since 2007. The lack of access to farmer friendly laws for seed production makes it very difficult if not impossible for Small holder famers to legally engage in seed production. Collective efforts are slowly being made on regional levels but approaches by other countries that have led success need to be promoted for others to be guided to a reasonable course of action. Perhaps with facilitation by FAO seed specialists success can be increased for small holder farmers to be empowered to produce seed for local community use and not squelched due to lack of access to a feasible seed certification process.