The International Livestock Centre for Africa (ILCA) and the International Center for Agricultural Research in the Dry Areas (ICARDA) are part of the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR), working on increasing food production in the developing world. Lack of seeds has been identified as an important limitation to increased food production and both ILCA and ICARDA have established Seed Units to address this constraint and promote the supply of seeds of their mandate crops.
Much of the seed used for sowing crops in developing countries is produced in the informal sector by farmers. This is especially important for minor crops where there is no organised commercial activity. The major producer at this level is the smallholder farmer, who is considered to be resource poor, working relatively small land holdings and with most of the labour being supplied by the household.
Recognising the importance of this informal seed production by farmers, ILCA and ICARDA agreed to convene a workshop with the objectives:
- to assess the knowledge base on seed production by smallholders
- to identify constraints to increasing seed production
- to identify areas where further research is required to support smallholder seed production
- to make recommendations to assist ILCA and ICARDA develop their programmes in this area.
The workshop was structured in three parts to assist discussion:
- Assessment of the current state of seed production by the smallholder farming sector and the knowledge base available- Identification of constraints and areas where research is needed, possible interventions and the role of IARCs in developing smallholder farmer seed production
- Recommendations on the role of IARCs and the research areas needed to support seed production by smallholder farmers.
