Importance of informal seed systems and their effect on cultivated diversity in the tropics

Eliška Čechová

Bachelor's thesis

Abstract:

Agricultural biodiversity is a result of careful selection processes that farmers have been creating for over millennia combined with the pressure of natural selection (FAO 1999; Gruber 2017). It bears a crucial role in the capability to feed the world, as it carries the genetic resources essential for agriculture (Lohr et al. 2014). However, agrobiodiversity is threatened by widespread erosion. The levels of interspecific and intraspecific diversity are declining together with the vanishing of traditional knowledge (Padulosi et al. 2019). Today, agriculture is dependent on a limited number of key species, which leads to the vulnerability of food systems (Khoury et al. 2014; Henry 2017). The objectives of this thesis were to summarize the effects of informal seed systems on agricultural biodiversity and to describe the benefits that informal seed systems bring to farmers by reviewing the available literature on the topic, including several case studies from tropical areas. Well-functioning seed systems ensure food security for farmers as they provide them with seeds (Westengen et al. 2023). Informal seed systems are based on farmers' traditional practices and involve seed circulation (Louwaars 2017). It was concluded, that mainly small-scale and Indigenous farmers are creating, maintaining and conserving agricultural biodiversity through traditional practices of informal seed systems (Almekinders 2000; Lohr et al. 2014; Abizaid et al. 2016). Informal seed systems further ensure food security, and seed access, and support the resilience of agricultural systems and maintenance of local cultural and social values (Almekinders 2000; Gill et al. 2013; Coomes et al. 2015; Consignado et al. 2022; Zimmerer et al. 2023). Nevertheless, the importance and roles of informal seed systems still demand recognition and overall greater attention in seed laws and legislative frameworks primarily on the national level of developing countries in the tropical and subtropical areas.

Keywords

seed systems, agrobiodiversity, plant genetic resources

Language used: English

Date on which the thesis was submitted / produced: 21. 4. 2024

Thesis defence

• Date of defence: 30. 5. 2024
• Supervisor: doc. Ing. Zbyněk Polesný, Ph.D.
• Reader: Naji Sulaiman, externi

Czech University of Life Sciences Prague

Faculty of Tropical AgriSciences

Bachelor programme:
Tropical Agriculture