Need of Improved Seeds Production

Need of Improved seeds Production

Khilendra Basnyat

Agriculture is still the major occupation of the people of many countries, especially of developing ones. However, there is an insufficient agricultural production in these countries mainly due to the retention of age-old practices.

Increasing agricultural production relies largely on improved seeds and their availability. The use of improved seeds has boosted the production of some crops in some countries. For example, according to a previous data, in Egypt, the use of quality seeds has augmented the production of some crops by 30 to 40 percent.

Since its inception in 1945, the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) has emphasized on the use of improved seeds for farming. Today, it has been proved that the key to rapid increase in crop production and productivity is through the production and use of improved sees.

While some countries have good investment programs, others have been assisted by the international agricultural research centers. Still others have developed programs for evaluating different varieties of crops.

In the early fifties, FAO introduced the Hybrid Maize project in European and Mediterranean countries. At the same time, it implemented the maize certification scheme for Europe and the Mediterranean region. This scheme helped in increasing average maize yield by 80 percent in less than a decade.

In response to requests from its member nations, FAO implemented the Seed Improvement and Development Program (SIDP) in the mid-seventies. Several countries and international organizations have assisted the project.

The main objectives of SIDP are to assist developing countries and to establish and operate improved seed programs apart from mobilizing multilateral and bilateral resources for this purpose.

After the inception of SIDP, several seed projects with millions of US dollars were operated in several countries. Many persons were trained in various seed technology activities. Several textbooks, technical guidelines, information materials and video films were issued in Arabic, Chinese, English, French and Spanish languages.

SIDP also introduced a Computerized Seed Information System (SIS) with subsystem on the national seed activities of selected countries, the crop varieties of different species in some countries and institutions involved in seed exchange. Other systems contained thousands of addresses of seed institutions in some countries and the production of seed equipment by some major producers worldwide. Also, a subsystem on plant genetic resource was planned.

In 1957, the FAO started the world seed campaign in which 79 countries and territories participated. This campaign, which culminated in 1961, made farming communities and the general public more aware of the contribution that improved seeds can make to agricultural development. The establishment of the International Agricultural Research Centers can be considered as an outcome of this campaign.

Constraints in many seed programs stem directly from the lack of trained technology personnel. Training of seed technologies and analysis is, therefore, important.

Despite some efforts, improved seeds production and distribution are not well developed in North Africa and West Asia. This is especially for food legume, pasture and forage crops.

The status of seed programs is not uniform in all countries .Lack of seed of improved varieties at the farmers level is still one of the constraints to increased productivity. In many countries, subsistence farmers lack access to improved seeds. Some North American and West Asian countries are unable to utilize the results of crop improvement work carried out at the national and international level. It is because of weak seed production and distribution systems.

Still in many countries, quality controls systems are inadequate or even do not exist. For this reason, complication has arisen to distribute improved seeds. Due to technical and financial resources, many developing countries are unable to set up comprehensive government controlled seed certification programs. Recognizing this and wishing to promote the interstate movement of seed by farmers, FAO in the past planned to develop a model of an alternative system for quality control. Such a program would see the production of what FAO calls quality declared seed less expensive than certified seed but still of a good quality. Also, the technical guidelines for standards and procedures for the production of quality declared seed was prepared.

In recent times, only a few developing countries implement realistic national programs for improved seeds despite efforts from the government and donors Actually, FAO has organized a series of technical meeting in Asia and Africa on the plan and implementation of seed programs. Such meetings have been organized to promote the technical cooperation on a sub-regional basis to promote the technical cooperation on a sub-regional basis and to define, within the context of development plans, seed policies for the preparation of national and regional seed programs. Also, FAO has promoted joint actions on variety development and seed production by both the public and private sectors with the hope that each country will have in operation viable seed enterprises and secured supplies of seeds.

Improved seeds are of paramount importance for boosting agricultural production. However, most farmers, especially of developing countries, are unable to use such seeds due to their unavailability and ignorance as well. Therefore, efforts are need from both the national and international organizations to strengthen national capabilities to produce improved seeds in order to increase the agricultural yield