Seed Business Management in Africa

Seed Business Management in Africa PDF Author:
Publisher: CIMMYT
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 256

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Book Description

Seed Business Management in Africa

Seed Business Management in Africa PDF Author:
Publisher: CIMMYT
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 256

Get Book Here

Book Description


Seed Systems in Sub-Saharan Africa

Seed Systems in Sub-Saharan Africa PDF Author: Venkatachalam Venkatesan
Publisher: World Bank Publications
ISBN: 9780821330869
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 130

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Book Description
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

The Right to Seeds in Africa

The Right to Seeds in Africa PDF Author: Karine Peschard
Publisher:
ISBN: 9782970145837
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 0

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Book Description


Community Seed Banks

Community Seed Banks PDF Author: Ronnie Vernooy
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1134608608
Category : Nature
Languages : en
Pages : 323

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Book Description
Community seed banks first appeared towards the end of the 1980s, established with the support of international and national non-governmental organizations. This book is the first to provide a global review of their development and includes a wide range of case studies. Countries that pioneered various types of community seed banks include Bangladesh, Brazil, Ethiopia, India, Nepal, Nicaragua, the Philippines and Zimbabwe. In the North, a particular type of community seed bank emerged known as a seed-savers network. Such networks were first established in Australia, Canada, the UK and the USA before spreading to other countries. Over time, the number and diversity of seed banks has grown. In Nepal, for example, there are now more than 100 self-described community seed banks whose functions range from pure conservation to commercial seed production. In Brazil, community seed banks operate in various regions of the country. Surprisingly, despite 25 years of history and the rapid growth in number, organizational diversity and geographical coverage of community seed banks, recognition of their roles and contributions has remained scanty. The book reviews their history, evolution, experiences, successes and failures (and reasons why), challenges and prospects. It fills a significant gap in the literature on agricultural biodiversity and conservation, and their contribution to food sovereignty and security.

Lost Crops of Africa

Lost Crops of Africa PDF Author: National Research Council
Publisher: National Academies Press
ISBN: 0309176891
Category : Technology & Engineering
Languages : en
Pages : 405

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Book Description
Scenes of starvation have drawn the world's attention to Africa's agricultural and environmental crisis. Some observers question whether this continent can ever hope to feed its growing population. Yet there is an overlooked food resource in sub-Saharan Africa that has vast potential: native food plants. When experts were asked to nominate African food plants for inclusion in a new book, a list of 30 species grew quickly to hundreds. All in all, Africa has more than 2,000 native grains and fruitsâ€""lost" species due for rediscovery and exploitation. This volume focuses on native cereals, including: African rice, reserved until recently as a luxury food for religious rituals. Finger millet, neglected internationally although it is a staple for millions. Fonio (acha), probably the oldest African cereal and sometimes called "hungry rice." Pearl millet, a widely used grain that still holds great untapped potential. Sorghum, with prospects for making the twenty-first century the "century of sorghum." Tef, in many ways ideal but only now enjoying budding commercial production. Other cultivated and wild grains. This readable and engaging book dispels myths, often based on Western bias, about the nutritional value, flavor, and yield of these African grains. Designed as a tool for economic development, the volume is organized with increasing levels of detail to meet the needs of both lay and professional readers. The authors present the available information on where and how each grain is grown, harvested, and processed, and they list its benefits and limitations as a food source. The authors describe "next steps" for increasing the use of each grain, outline research needs, and address issues in building commercial production. Sidebars cover such interesting points as the potential use of gene mapping and other "high-tech" agricultural techniques on these grains. This fact-filled volume will be of great interest to agricultural experts, entrepreneurs, researchers, and individuals concerned about restoring food production, environmental health, and economic opportunity in sub-Saharan Africa. Selection, Newbridge Garden Book Club

Seeds for African Peasants

Seeds for African Peasants PDF Author: Esbern Friis-Hansen
Publisher: Nordic Africa Institute
ISBN: 9789171063656
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 232

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Book Description


Seed Wars

Seed Wars PDF Author: Keith Aoki
Publisher:
ISBN: 9781594600500
Category : Germplasm resources, Plant
Languages : en
Pages : 0

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Book Description
Seed Wars is a comprehensive overview of the current domestic and international legal controversies regarding intellectual property protections for plant genetic resources (PGRs) over the past three decades. This book examines these controversies on three fronts: (1) the rise of intellectual property protections for plant varieties and the enclosure of the "genetic" commons; (2) the subsequent move of the agro-chemical industry from manufacturing fertilizers, pesticides, and herbicides to "manufacturing" seeds in the context of industrial agriculture; and (3) the emergence of overlapping regimes of domestic and multilateral treaties such as the Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property (TRIPS, 1994), the Convention on Biodiversity (CBD, 1992) and the International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources (ITPGR, 2004) from the 1990s on. Finally, this book speculates on possible directions that intellectual property protection for PGRs may take in the 21st century. While intellectual property protection for plants has been available in the United States since 1930, the decade of the 1960s saw the rise of Plant Variety Protections in Europe and by 1980, the U.S. Supreme Court embraced the idea that living organisms could be patented, paving the way for new plant varieties to receive utility patent protection in the U.S. "Seed Wars provides an excellent overview of the issues and suggests a range of options to overcome the ill effects of expanding intellectual property rights on access to plant genetic resources, seeds and plant varieties. Aoki does a nice job of drawing the linkage between IPRs and PGRs, without suggesting a return to the old Common Heritage system or arguing for a revision in the current IP regime." -- Law & Politics Book Review

Lost Crops of Africa

Lost Crops of Africa PDF Author: National Research Council
Publisher: National Academies Press
ISBN: 0309164540
Category : Technology & Engineering
Languages : en
Pages : 378

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Book Description
This report is the second in a series of three evaluating underexploited African plant resources that could help broaden and secure Africa's food supply. The volume describes the characteristics of 18 little-known indigenous African vegetables (including tubers and legumes) that have potential as food- and cash-crops but are typically overlooked by scientists and policymakers and in the world at large. The book assesses the potential of each vegetable to help overcome malnutrition, boost food security, foster rural development, and create sustainable landcare in Africa. Each species is described in a separate chapter, based on information gathered from and verified by a pool of experts throughout the world. Volume I describes African grains and Volume III African fruits.

Africa's Gene Revolution

Africa's Gene Revolution PDF Author: Matthew A. Schnurr
Publisher: McGill-Queen's Press - MQUP
ISBN: 0228000459
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 277

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Book Description
As development donors invest hundreds of millions of dollars into improved crops designed to alleviate poverty and hunger, Africa has emerged as the final frontier in the global debate over agricultural biotechnology. The first data-driven assessment of the ecological, social, and political factors that shape our understanding of genetic modification, Africa's Gene Revolution surveys twenty years of efforts to use genomics-based breeding to enhance yields and livelihoods for African farmers. Matthew Schnurr considers the full range of biotechnologies currently in commercial use and those in development - including hybrids, marker-assisted breeding, tissue culture, and genetic engineering. Drawing on interviews with biotechnology experts alongside research conducted with more than two hundred farmers across eastern, western, and southern Africa, Schnurr reveals a profound incongruity between the optimistic rhetoric that accompanies genetic modification technology and the realities of the smallholder farmers who are its intended beneficiaries. Through the lens of political ecology, this book demonstrates that the current emphasis on improved seeds discounts the geographic, social, ecological, and economic contexts in which the producers of these crops operate. Bringing the voices of farmers to the foreground of this polarizing debate, Africa's Gene Revolution contends that meaningful change will come from a reconfiguration not only of the plant's genome, but of the entire agricultural system.

African Seed Enterprises

African Seed Enterprises PDF Author: Paul van Mele
Publisher: CABI
ISBN: 9781845938444
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 236

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Book Description
In most developing countries, good quality seed is hard to obtain and farmers struggle to save seed from one year to the next. This title takes a people-centred look at the companies, public agencies and family farms that are taking on this role and making a difference to food security across Africa.