Traditional Varietal Seeds Offering Centers: A Model for Strengthening Informal Seed System and Increase Competitiveness of Family Agriculture

In Latin America, 80-90 % of producers belong to the Family Agriculture (FA) sector. This group occupies between 14 to 70% of the agricultural area of Latin American countries and contributes 27-67 % of agricultural GDP. For some species of economic importance, between 50 to 90% of crop production is carried out using traditional seeds through self-production or through transactions in local markets, exchanges between farmers and markets.

There is a growing demand for sustainably produced local food. Such characteristics are valued by consumers and demand has created niche markets that give good returns to farmers. This supports the interest of governments to strengthen family agricultural production systems that have maintained traditional varieties (TV). Various initiatives developed by national organizations and centers show that important agrobiodiversity still remains in situ. Despite this, access to TV seeds is limited, mainly because TVs are cultivated for self-consumption and/or maintained only by some farmers, meaning their cultivation is restricted to certain localities or they are produced in small volumes. Another problem of the current traditional seed supply system (informal or traditional system) is the quality of the seeds. Generally, these seeds can show sanitary problems, low vigor, varietal blends, and a high population unevenness. The scarce information on agronomic behavior in various growing environments, nutritional and organoleptic values prevents an adequate choice for farmers. All these factors hinder the possibilities of transforming TVs into a true profitable productive alternative in the region. This project aims to implement an integrated model of conservation / production and supply of quality TV seeds with associated value information, based on the linkage of national genebanks with in situ systems (farmer-community), which will allow a better and sustainable supply of quality seeds, the basis for promoting their cultivation and promoting the development of competitive local products, with heritage identity.