96
research support and dissemination (BMGF and USAID 2015). The commercial
sector, however, should not be overlooked. The company featured in these two
case studies originally became interested in producing and selling common bean
seed after the production manager realized that Kenyan farmers purchase seed at
higher rates than is often assumed. They may be purchasing farmer-saved seed
through the informal market, but there is also demand for higher-quality seed
through the formal market (pers. comm.).
Easing the availability of EGS is now recognized as crucial to the crop-seed
systems of ESA. Urgent action is required to remove the hurdles faced by privatesector companies who are ready and willing to begin commercializing new varieties and to build trust between the actors involved in breeding and
commercialization. The experiences from the two cases presented here can be
summarized into eight lessons:
1. Public subsidies to promote and market new varieties can encourage commercial
interest.
2. Publicly funded agricultural input subsidies can kick-start the market and encourage commercial interest.
3. Access to breeder seed and multiplication rights must be at a cost low enough to
attract commercial interest, and annual licensing fees should not be
cost-prohibitive.
4. Universities and public breeders must invest in maintaining minimum supplies
of breeder seed of promising varieties.
5. Non-exclusive rights are helpful in getting new varieties to market because they
allow several small companies to sell the same variety.
6. Mandates for minimum seed production discourage commercial interest, especially for varieties that have not yet been marketed.
7. Public and private sectors ought to share the risks of initial seed multiplication
and commercialization; commercial companies should not bear all of that risk.
8. Seed-sector actors should make use of focusing events (such as the MLN crisis)
for public pressure to encourage successful collaboration.
Giving farmers more choices of crops and varieties through the availability of
quality seeds will help enable them to better adapt to an altering environment.
Because climate change will increase the spread of pests and diseases, alternative
crops and resistant varieties are needed (Beebe et al. 2011). This is a critical component of climate-smart agriculture (CSA) because it allows farmers to increase
their resilience through selection of appropriate varieties and boost their production
by using higher-quality seeds and better-adapted varieties. If intensified production
can be achieved, the third pillar of CSA—mitigation—may also be realized through
reduced rates of expansion for agricultural land.
L. K. Cramer
research support and dissemination (BMGF and USAID 2015). The commercial
sector, however, should not be overlooked. The company featured in these two
case studies originally became interested in producing and selling common bean
seed after the production manager realized that Kenyan farmers purchase seed at
higher rates than is often assumed. They may be purchasing farmer-saved seed
through the informal market, but there is also demand for higher-quality seed
through the formal market (pers. comm.).
Easing the availability of EGS is now recognized as crucial to the crop-seed
systems of ESA. Urgent action is required to remove the hurdles faced by privatesector companies who are ready and willing to begin commercializing new varieties and to build trust between the actors involved in breeding and
commercialization. The experiences from the two cases presented here can be
summarized into eight lessons:
1. Public subsidies to promote and market new varieties can encourage commercial
interest.
2. Publicly funded agricultural input subsidies can kick-start the market and encourage commercial interest.
3. Access to breeder seed and multiplication rights must be at a cost low enough to
attract commercial interest, and annual licensing fees should not be
cost-prohibitive.
4. Universities and public breeders must invest in maintaining minimum supplies
of breeder seed of promising varieties.
5. Non-exclusive rights are helpful in getting new varieties to market because they
allow several small companies to sell the same variety.
6. Mandates for minimum seed production discourage commercial interest, especially for varieties that have not yet been marketed.
7. Public and private sectors ought to share the risks of initial seed multiplication
and commercialization; commercial companies should not bear all of that risk.
8. Seed-sector actors should make use of focusing events (such as the MLN crisis)
for public pressure to encourage successful collaboration.
Giving farmers more choices of crops and varieties through the availability of
quality seeds will help enable them to better adapt to an altering environment.
Because climate change will increase the spread of pests and diseases, alternative
crops and resistant varieties are needed (Beebe et al. 2011). This is a critical component of climate-smart agriculture (CSA) because it allows farmers to increase
their resilience through selection of appropriate varieties and boost their production
by using higher-quality seeds and better-adapted varieties. If intensified production
can be achieved, the third pillar of CSA—mitigation—may also be realized through
reduced rates of expansion for agricultural land.
L. K. Cramer