Farmer’s Self-Seed Production Protect Their Rights and Enhance Their Sovereignty

By

Abstract

To enhance farmers’ right and their sovereignty, the farmers’ self-seed production concept is proposed, where a farmer chooses a high-performing self-pollinated crop variety, and they use conventional breeding methods to select the seed for next year. Though farmers have been producing seeds traditionally for several years, this phenomenon is not a common practice, so they can produce a sufficient amount of seeds for their own use. This concept suggests that farmers' self-seeding production is better than community and private seed production.

Keywords: Farmers’ rights, food sovereignty, seed production system, conventional breeding, community seed production

Introduction 

A farmer works as both a seed breeder and a custodian. They do a dual job of seed purchasing and selling. Mostly small and middle farmers face huge losses due to the high cost of cultivation, thus farming is a business of loss or less profit.

 Farmers need huge input materials for their fields so that they can harvest a profit. The major inputs include seeds, fertilizers, irrigation, and pesticides. Among them, seed plays a major role. Seed is the prime component of the farming system and is the most important input to harvest a good crop. The potential yield of the crop depends on the quality of the seed used for cultivation. Use of quality seeds can alone increase the crop productivity by 15-25% (Roy 2014). One of the main reasons for the low productivity of crops is the unavailability of reliable quality seeds in the local markets. High-quality seed enhances productivity that expresses the full potential yield of the variety in favorable environments (Roy 2014).

 Only 3,510,163 metric tons of about 11,947 USD million seed were exported, 31 35,789 metric tons of about 11,154 USD million seed were imported worldwide in 2014. (International Seed Federation, 2014). If farmers start to produce their own seed, the trend of seed marketing will decrease by at least 25 to 35%.

Different models of seed production systems have been proposed, and among them, community-based seed production is popular. Community-based informal seed production has recently gained popularity as an alternative to the formal seed sector of disseminating new crop varieties. This is because community-produced seed is readily available and is more affordable to most farmers than certified seed (Katungi et al, 2011). The community-based seed production is a profitable enterprise and is less sensitive to price fluctuations (Katungi et al, 2011).

Since ancient times, farmers have been involved in producing seeds by themselves, but the methodologies they apply are traditional, old, and outdated. The seeds produced are of lower quality than we cannot compare with the seeds of private seed companies. Thus, farmers need updated and conventional breeding methods of seed production. To enhance and protect farmers’ right and their sovereignty, I propose a model of farmers’ self-seed production, which is as follows.

Farmer’s Self-Seed Production (FSSP) Concept

In this concept, the farmer chooses either a new or existing high-performing desirable variety, and they use conventional breeding methods to select the seed for next year.



 

Figure 1. Cost-benefit relationship among different seed-producing groups. Here, cost refers to the input materials supplied for seed production, and benefit is the total net profit.

With the same cost, the benefit obtained from farmers’ self-seed production is higher than community, institutional, and private seed production, respectively. Alternatively, with minimum cost, farmers ' self-seeding production gives maximum benefit.

Farmers self-seed production> community-based seed production>Institutional seed production>Private seed production 

Though farmers have been producing seeds traditionally for several years, this phenomenon is not a common practice among farmers, so that they can produce a sufficient amount of seeds for their own. The farmer’s self-seed production concept suggests that farmers' self-seed production is better than community and private seed production. The  Farmer’s Self Seed Production (FSSP) concept is a sustainable way of producing seeds for farmers in their own way. Here, farmers get training on conventional breeding methods of seed selection before they start selection in their field. For example, farmers select desirable panicles of a rice variety and store them for the next generation. The selected panicles should be true to type, high-yielding, and the plant should be free from disease and pests. We can perform such selection in other self-pollinated (SP) crops such as lentil, oat, beans, rice, soybean, tomato, and wheat. Since self-pollinated crops maintain their breeding value, there is little or no chance of heterosis and inbreeding depression, like in cross-pollinated crops.  

Also read: Principles of Plant Breeding               Mutation                      Gregor Mendel

Merits

v  Consider any self-pollinated variety to produce seed

v  Variety may be new or traditional, or taken from a research trial (Famer’s Field Trial/FFT)

v  Farmers need training before self-seeding production

v  Use conventional breeding methods to produce seed 

v A farmer uses his own method of farming with improved technologies, and the seed is stored in a local or scientific way  

v A farmer uses his own land to produce seed

v  No extra cost and labor needed

v  Saves money for next year's seed purchasing

v  Reduce the cost of cultivation effectively

v   Local and traditional varieties can also be saved and promoted

v  Farming becomes profitable

v   Reduce the risk of failure of the variety

v  Restore agricultural biodiversity

v  No need for seed certification

v  Seed readily available

v  Not government-controlled

v  In an informal or local seed system, farmers use their own local methods of producing seeds. However, in FSSP, farmers produce seeds using conventional breeding approaches, which results in a higher quality of seed compared to the local seed system.

v  The procedure used to produce seed in FSSP is similar to research institutes

v  Generally, farmers use selection and introduction methods of conventional breeding for selecting elite genotypes. In selection, he selects a variety with desirable traits, whereas introduction introduces a new variety to a new environment

Demerits

v  Decrease seed replacement rate

v  This concept does not apply to cross-pollinated crops. Since cross-pollinated crops have high inbreeding depression, the seed production requires highly skilled manpower

v  This concept does not apply to self-pollinated hybrid crops

v Promotes traditional varieties.

v  This concept does not apply to GMO crops.

v  We cannot sell farmers' produced seed in the market since the seed is not certified.

v Land may be unavailable for individual farmers.

Seed systems are of two types: Formal seed systems and Informal (Local) seed systems. The same general steps (variety choice, variety testing, introduction, seed multiplication, selection, dissemination, and storage) take place in the local system as in the formal sector. In the local seed system, farmers treat "seed" as special, or not always necessarily a distinction between "seed" and "grain."  The steps do not flow in a linear sequence, and they are not monitored or controlled by government policies and regulations. Rather, they are guided by local technical knowledge and standards and by local social structures and norms (FAO).


Figure 2. Interrelationship among community-based seed production system, private seed production system, and farmers’ self-seed production concept through Venn Diagram

Differences between Farmer’s Self-Seed Production Concept (FSSP) and Community-Based Seed Production (CBSP)

v  A single farmer or their family is involved in FSSP, whereas a group of farmers is involved in CBSP

v  All managerial decisions are based on a single farmer in FSSP, whereas managerial decisions are based on a group of farmers in CBSP.

v  A farmer can choose their desirable variety to produce seed for next year in FSSP, but a farmer may or may not choose the desirable variety to produce seed in CBSP.

v  A common trial in a specific location is conducted for a group of farmers in CBSP, whereas  individual farmers have their own land in FSSP

v  A group of farmers is involved in selection in CBSP, but only a single farmer and their family are involved in FSSP.

v  The variety may be new or traditional in FSSP, but variety is always new in CBSP.

v  There is a common objective in community-based seed production, whereas a farmer has a personal objective in a farmer’s self-seed production.

v  No seed tagging, seed certification needed in FSSP, but seed tagging, seed certification, and variety testing needed in CBSP

Differences between Farmer’s Self-Seed Production Concept (FSSP) and Participatory Varietal Selection (PVS). 

v A  new genotype or FFT variety is needed to conduct the trial in Participatory varietal selection, but in FSSP, either new or traditional varieties work.

v   A common trial in a specific location is conducted for a group of farmers in PVS, whereas  individual farmers have their own land in FSSP

v  A group of farmers is involved in selection in PVS, but only a single farmer and their family are involved in FSSP.

v  Each farmer selects seed of a desirable variety for next year in FSSP, and a common variety is selected by a group of farmers for the varietal release process in PVS.

v   FSSP focuses on the next year, whereas PVS focuses on the variety release process.

v  All managerial decisions are based on single farmers in FSSP, whereas managerial decisions are based on a group of farmers in PVS.

v  The variety may be new or traditional in FSSP, but variety is always new in CBSP.

Keywords: seed production, farmers' rights, sovereignty, seed protection, breeder's right

 References

FAO (2014) http://www.fao.org/agriculture/crops/thematic-sitemap/theme/compendium/tools-guidelines/what-are-seed-systems/en/

International Seed Federation (2014) International Seed Federation www.worldseed.org

Katungi ED, Karajna D, Wozemba T, Mutuoki and JC Rubyogo (2011) A Cost-benefit analysis of farmers based seed production for common bean in Kenya. African Crop Science Journal, Vol. 19, No. 4, pp. 409 - 415

Roy B (2014) Farmers’ participatory quality seed production of field crops-A case study. Journal of Crop and Weed, 10(2):89-93

Preprint link of this article:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Understanding transgenics application

By
Image
Introduction The crops that are developed through genetic engineering techniques are called transgenic crops. Transgenic crops are popularly known as transgenics or genetically modified (GM) crops. In transgenics, the target gene of one organism is inserted into a crop to obtain a desirable change in its physiology. The first transgenic crop was developed in cotton and commercialized as Bt cotton. The transgenic era started with the insertion of a soil bacterium,  Bacillus thuringenesis gene into a cotton genotype, which showed resistance to the devastating cotton insect Helicoverpa armigera. The use of genetic engineering techniques in plant science has revolutionized agriculture, and it has shifted to a new era. Earlier, about three decades ago, it was not possible to sequence genes and understand the biochemical and genetic mechanisms of action of genes, but now everybody is familiar with genetic tools and techniques. It is now possible to sequence genes and understand the pr...
Read more

EVALUATION OF LENTIL GERMPLASM FOR RESISTANCE TO WILT, RUST AND STRMPHYLIUM BLIGHT

By
Introduction Lentils are considered to be one of the oldest food crops of mankind that   researchers have traced back to 7000-8000 BC (Hawtin, et al. , 1980; Cubero, 1981; Lev- Yadun et al., 2000). Worldwide, lentil is grown on a total area of 1.8 million hectares, of which 60% is in the South Asian region which includes the lentil producing countries of Bangladesh, Burma, India, Nepal and Pakistan (Nazir et al., 1994). High protein content, starch, low level of antinutrients and ability to grow in water stress conditions are main attributes that make lentil an important crop (Anonymous, 2003). Morphological characterization is the first step in the classification and description of any crop germplasm (Ghafoor et al., 2001; Upadhyaya et al., 2001). Use of botanical descriptors for genotyping has advantages and disadvantages (Ramanatha & Riley, 1994; Watanabe et al., 1995). Among biochemical techniques, seed proteins and isozymes are pr...
Read more

MOLECULAR CHARACTERIZATION OF LENTIL GERMPLASM

By
INTRODUCTION Lentil ( Lens culinaris Medik.) is an important cool-season crop in North Africa, West Asia, the Middle East, the Indian Subcontinent and North America (Erskine 1996). Lentils are an old world legume and were probably one of the first plant species to be domesticated (Bahl et al ., 1993).   Cultivated lentil ( Lens culinaris Medik) is thought to have originated in the Fertile Crescent of the Mediterranean region in Western Asia, dating back to the beginnings of agriculture, from where it spread to the rest of world (Ladizinsky, 1979; Duke, 1981). Lentil is unique because it can be grown in marginal environments in which other crops cannot be cultivated (Cubero, 1981). It is one of the oldest food crops of mankind that researchers have traced back to 7000 - 8000 BC and probably originated from fertile crescent from where it spread to adjacent regions of west Asia and Africa and later to Europe and north America (Hawtin et ...
Read more

ORIGIN OF WHEAT AND ITS INTRODUCTION IN NEPAL

By
INTRODUCTION Scientific Classification Kingdom: Plantae (unranked): Angiosperms (unranked): Monocots (unranked): Commelinids Order: Poales Family: Poaceae Subfamily: Pooideae Tribe: Triticeae Genus: Triticum Botanical Name: Triticum sp. Common Name: Wheat, gehun Wheat is etymologically the ‘ white ’ grain . The word comes from prehis to ric Germanic khva it jaz (German weizen , Dutch weit , Swedish hvete , and Danish hvede ), which was derived from a variant of the base khwīt , source of English white . It alludes to the ‘white’ flour produced by grinding the grain . Wheat     ( Triticum spp. ) is a grass , originally from the Fertile Crescent region of the Near East , but now cultivated worldwide (Belderok et al., 2000). There are many kinds of wheat in the world today. The two most common are common wheat, Triticum aestivum , also known as bread wheat and accounting for some ...
Read more

DNA is a Packet of Memory

By
Image
 It is a profound and perceptive metaphor to describe DNA as "a packet of memory," encapsulating its fundamental role as the "biological information storage system of life." The entire set of instructions required to create, function, care for, and procreate an organism is stored in its DNA. This comprises regulatory instructions for when and where to build proteins, the blueprints for all proteins (the cell's workhorses), and crucial structural components. A four-letter chemical alphabet (A, T, C, and G, which stand for nucleotides) is used to store the data digitally. Certain combinations of these letters create "words" (codons) that serve as regulatory signals, indicating which amino acid should be used in the construction of a protein. Hereditary traits are transferred from parents to children via DNA. It contains the collective or generational "memory" of traits and evolutionary adaptations that a species has developed over millions...
Read more