World Bank Discussion Paper No. 266. Seed production and distribution are important factors in determining the pace of agricultural development. For a seed system to be effective, it must satisfy the different requirements of each crop. Presently

One of the major challenges facing most countries in sub-Saharan Africa is the need to invest significant resources into strengthening their capacity to increase the availability of good-quality seeds of a wider range of plant varieties. This publication presents the proceedings of the Regional Technical Meeting on Seed Policy and Programmes for sub-Saharan Africa.

Over the past two decades, seed systems and markets in many sub-Saharan African countries have become a central topic in the public discourse around agricultural development. The issues are complex, and often shaped by the specific nature of the crop itself, the agroecology it is cultivated in, and the channels through which farmers obtain seed. What attracts less attention are the political economy factors that shape seed systems development. Not since an array of scholars working with the Institute of Development Studies published a deep and thoughtful volume on the Politics of Seed in Africa’s Green Revolution has the topic of political economy received such attention.

Improved food security, led by increased productivity among Africa's many small-scale farmers, has been the aim of significant national and international effort in recent decades. It has proved to be one of the most critical challenges facing humankind. This book grew out of a two-year exploration conducted by the food security theme of The Rockefeller Foundation focusing on the potential for crop genetic improvement to contribute to food security among rural populations in Africa. It provides a critical assessment of the ways in which recent breakthroughs in biotechnology, participatory plant breeding, and seed systems can be broadly employed in developing and delivering more productive crop varieties in Africa's diverse agricultural environments. It also presents an analysis of current plant breeding and biotechnology strategies for the key crops in Africa including: maize, sorghum, cowpea, rice, and cassava. The book will appeal to plant breeders, biotechnologists, and seed distributors as well as policy-makers in the area of agricultural development.

This open access book shares impact stories – testimonies from various value chain actors who have been part of the Tropical Legumes (TL) projects, over the past twelve years. The Tropical Legumes projects led by ICRISAT in three parts (TLI, TLII and TLIII), constitute a major international initiative supported by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation (BMGF) and jointly implemented by the International Center for Tropical Agriculture (CIAT), International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA) and National Agricultural Research Systems (NARS) partners from Sub-Saharan Africa and India. The project developed improved cultivars of common bean, cowpea, chickpea and groundnut (but also soya bean and pigeon pea cultivars in its initial phases) and delivers their seed to smallholders in BMGF-focus areas. It also strengthens the NARS and CGIAR's breeding programs and seed platforms to enhance their ability to deliver high and sustained outputs to smallholder farmers. The book compiles the experiences of a diversity of actors within the grain legume value chains, with a focus on groundnut and common beans in Tanzania and Uganda, groundnut and cowpea in Nigeria, and groundnut in Ghana. All stakeholders involved share their thoughts on being part of a decade-long development project family. National agricultural research institutes, knowledge brokering organizations, NGOs, public and private seed companies, agro-dealers, individual seed entrepreneurs, farm-implement makers, farmer cooperatives, farmer groups, individual men and women farmers, middlemen, processors, traders and consumers were all involved in this project, and as such this book provides valuable insights for development workers, technical staff, and project managers.

"It is my expectation that respect for the critical importance of seed sovereignty will in due course be recognised by member states of the United Nations to be as critical to global peace and security as the UN Charter demands in respect of State sovereign equality, justice, human rights and economic and social wellbeing for all peoples."—Denis J. Halliday, UN Assistant Secretary-General 1994-98 "A constructive contribution to our understanding of what is going wrong and what can go right in the complex area of seed sovereignty."—Dervla Murphy, renowned travel writer and adventurer "Keeping seed diversity alive is the secret ingredient, not just for the good, nutrient-dense food that every cook, gardener and farmer/producer needs, but for strengthening our resilience in the face of multiple environmental threats. This compelling and timely book helps us to understand what we are up against and how we can overcome it."— Darina Allen, internationally renowned cook, founder of Ballymaloe Cookery school and President of the East Cork Convivium of Slow Food This book studies the relationship between globalisation and seed sovereignty in Sub-Saharan Africa. It provides comparative case studies of the most recent Kenyan and Ethiopian seed laws, as well as a study of seed sovereignty 'on the ground' in a locality within Ethiopia. Based on extensive fieldwork, it identifies the interests and motivations of transnational seed corporations, global philanthropic organisations, state actors, and local farmers. It finds significant differences in the wording of seed laws and the exercise of seed sovereignty, applying theories of globalisation to help us better understand these varied outcomes. It shows that seed sovereignty has the potential to be shared between local, national, regional, and global authorities, but in different ways in different countries and localities. In the face of what might sometimes appear to be unstoppable global forces, these findings suggest that the exercise of seed sovereignty can be transformed even in a highly globalised world.