Improving Farm-based Seed Selection and Storage

Smallholder farmers in rural African villages rely on their home-grown seeds for more than 85% of their needs. Due to various reasons, small holder farmers are enticed or forced to use seeds from commercial companies which create dependency. Seed saving has challenges. For farmers to produce their own quality seed, they need to be conversant with various aspects of seed production. Seeds must be healthy and possess all desirable properties that farmers need such as high yield potential and resistance to diseases. This presentation elaborates how small holder farmers can avoid the dependency syndrome, and manage to produce and save their own seeds for better production.

Presenter : Dr. Tsvetelina Stoilova is a Genetic Resources scientist at World Vegetable Center, Eastern and Southern Africa, Arusha, Tanzania. Her major area is conservation and utilization of vegetable genetic resources with particular attention to traditional (=indigenous) African vegetables. Her research activities are focused on regeneration, characterization and preservation of seeds in the gene bank.