Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-gvvz8 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-27T07:20:30.012Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Seed supply in local markets: supporting sustainable use of crop genetic resources

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  25 September 2012

Leslie Lipper ,
Romina Cavatassi  and
Paul Winters
Leslie Lipper
Affiliation:
Agricultural Sector in Economic Development Service, Agricultural and Development Economics Division, Food and Agriculture Organization, Italy. Email: [email protected]
Romina Cavatassi
Affiliation:
Agricultural Sector in Economic Development Service, Agricultural and Development Economics Division, Food and Agriculture Organization, Italy. Email: [email protected]; [email protected]
Paul Winters
Affiliation:
Department of Economics, American University, 4400 Massachusetts Avenue, Washington, DC 20016-8029, USA. Tel: 202-885-3792. Fax: 202-885-3790. Email: [email protected]
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

This introductory paper summarizes the policy context, methodological approach, and key results from the set of papers contained in this special edition derived from a FAO-led project on seed sourcing in local markets and its farm-level impacts. The introduction provides the conceptual framework used in the papers for considering the relationship between sourcing seed from market and rural household decision-making as well as the effects this has on two key farm outcomes: on-farm diversity and household welfare. Approaches for data collection and study site selection are described, with a focus on how methodological issues were addressed in the different studies. Lastly, the paper summarizes the results of the individual papers and draws broad conclusions and policy implications for promoting the sustainable utilization of crop genetic resources through increasing market access and in a manner that supports agricultural production.

Type
Introduction to the Special Issue
Information
Environment and Development Economics , Volume 17 , Issue 5: Seed supply in local markets: supporting sustainable use of crop genetic resources , October 2012 , pp. 507 - 521
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2012

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

REFERENCES

Almekinders, C.J.M., Louwaars, N.P., and de Bruijn, G.H. (1994), ‘Local seed systems and their importance for an improved seed supply in developing countries’, Euphytica 78: 207–216.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Audi, P., Nagarajan, L., Jones, R., and Ibrahim, M. (2010), ‘Pigeonpea seed supply and diversity: a case study of local seed markets in Makueni District, Eastern Kenya’, in Lipper, L., Anderson, C.L. and Dalton, T.J. (eds), Seed Trade in Rural Markets: Implications for Crop Diversity and Agricultural Development, FAO and London: Earthscan, pp. 95–123.Google Scholar
Badstue, L.B. (2004), ‘Identifying the factors that influence small-scale farmers. Transaction costs in relation to seed acquisition, an ethnographic case study of maize growing smallholders in the Central Valleys of Oaxaca, Mexico’, ESA Working Paper No. 04–16, FAO, Rome.Google Scholar
Barkley, A.P. and Porter, L. (1996), ‘The determinants of wheat variety selection in Kansas, 1974 to 1993’, American Journal of Agricultural Economics 78(1): 202–211.Google Scholar
Baumgärtner, S. (2002), ‘Measuring the diversity of what? And for what purpose? A conceptual comparison of ecological and economic measures of biodiversity’, Paper presented at Healthy Ecosystems, Healthy People – Linkages between Biodiversity, Ecosystem Health and Human Health, 6–11 June, Washington, DC.Google Scholar
Bellemare, M. and Barrett, C. (2006), ‘An ordered Tobit model of market participation: evidence from Kenya and Ethiopia’, American Journal of Agricultural Economics 88(2): 324–337.Google Scholar
Bellon, M.R. (2006), ‘Crop research to benefit poor farmers in marginal areas of the developing world: a review of technical challenges and tools’, CAB Reviews: Perspectives in Agriculture, Veterinary Science, Nutrition and Natural Resources 1(070), [Available at] http://www.cababstractsplus.org/cabreviews.Google Scholar
Bellon, M.R. and Taylor, J.E. (1993), ‘Folk soil taxonomy and the partial adoption of new seed varieties’, Economic Development and Cultural Change 41: 763–786.Google Scholar
Brush, S.B. (1995), ‘In situ conservation of landraces in centers of crop diversity’ Crop Science 35(2): 346–354.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cavatassi, R., Lipper, L., and Winters, P. (2012), ‘Seed access and crop diversity in Hararghe Ethiopia’, Environment and Development Economics, this issue.Google Scholar
Dorward, A., Kydd, J., Morrison, J., and Poulton, C. (2005), ‘Institutions, markets and economic co-ordination: linking development policy to theory and praxis’, Development and Change 36(1): 1–25.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fafchamps, M. and Vargas, R. (2005), ‘Selling at the farmgate or travelling to market’, American Journal of Agricultural Economics 87(3): 717–734.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
FAO (1998), The State of the World's Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture, Rome: FAO.Google Scholar
FAO (2010a), The Second State of the World of Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture, Rome: FAO.Google Scholar
FAO (2010b), ‘Promoting the growth and development of smallholder seed enterprises for food security crops’, FAO Plant Production and Protection Paper No. 201, FAO, Rome, [Available at] http://www.fao.org/docrep/013/i1841e/i1841 e00.pdf.Google Scholar
Gepts, P. (2006), ‘Plant genetic resources conservation and utilization: the accomplishments and future of a societal insurance policy’, Crop Science 46: 2278–2292.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Heisey, P. and Brennan, J. (1991), ‘An analytical model of farmers' demand for replacement seed’, American Journal of Agricultural Economics 73(4): 1044–1052.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
ITPGRFA (2009), International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture, Rome: FAO, [Available at] ftp://ftp.fao.org/docrep/fao/011/i0510e/i0510e.pdf.Google Scholar
Jayne, T.S., Govereh, J., Mwanaumo, A., Nyoro, J.K., and Chapoto, A. (2002), ‘False promise or false premise? The experience of food and input market reform in eastern and southern Africa’, World Development 30: 1967–1985.Google Scholar
Key, N., Sadoulet, E., and de Janvry, A. (2000), ‘Transaction costs and agricultural household supply response’, American Journal of Agricultural Economics 82(2): 245–259.Google Scholar
Lambert, D. and Wilson, W. (2003), ‘Valuing varieties with imperfect output quality measurement’, American Journal of Agricultural Economics 85(1): 95–107.Google Scholar
Lipper, L. and Cooper, D. (2009), ‘Managing plant genetic resources for sustainable use in food and agriculture: balancing the benefits in the field’, in Kontoleon, A., Pascual, U. and Smale, M. (eds), Agrobiodiversity, Conservation and Economic Development, New York: Routledge, pp. 27–39.Google Scholar
Lipper, L., Anderson, L., Smale, M., Hellin, J., Hodgkin, T., Dalton, T., et al. (2009), Using Markets to Promote the Sustainable Utilization of Crop Genetic Resources: Project Methodology, Rome: FAO.Google Scholar
Lipper, L., Anderson, C.L., and Dalton, T.J. (eds) (2010), Seed Trade in Rural Markets: Implications for Crop Diversity and Agricultural Development, Rome: FAO and London: Earthscan.Google Scholar
Sadoulet, E. and de Janvry, A. (1995), Quantitative Development Policy Analysis, Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press.Google Scholar
Smale, M. (2006), Valuing Crop Biodiversity: On-farm Genetic Resources and Economic Change, Wallingford: CABI Publishing.Google Scholar
Smale, M., Diakité, L., and Keita, N. (2012), ‘Millet transactions in market fairs, millet diversity and farmer welfare in Mali’, Environment and Development Economics, this issue.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sperling, L. and Cooper, D. (2004), ‘Understanding seed systems and strengthening seed security: a background paper’, in Sperling, L., Cooper, D., and Osborne, T. (eds), Report of the Workshop on Effective and Sustainable Seed Relief Activities, Rome, 26–28 May 2003, Rome: FAO, pp. 7–33.Google Scholar
Bank, World (2002), World Development Report, Building Institutions for Markets, Washington, DC: World Bank, Oxford University Press.Google Scholar