Technical Report: Training course on Seed Production and Quality Assurance - May 23-27, 2016

Abstract

There is a lack of access to quality seed, which is attributed to seed shortages, substandard quality, affordability, willingness to pay or any combination of the four is widely considered a major constraint for adoption and impact from investments on agriculture research for development. Better access to quality seed may require change in policies and regulations or introduction of new methodologies and techniques. Successful seed delivery depends on the capacity of national seed programs to produce sufficient quantities of quality seed from appropriate varieties. The seed must be available at the right time in accessible locations at prices farmers can afford and are willing to pay. To achieve this, many technical, economic and managerial issues need to be considered and addressed. ICARDA’s training course on seed production and post-harvest seed operations is designed to improve the capabilities of scientists and technicians in NARS partner countries to foster the transfer of technology and address the issues of seed policies and regulations hindering effective and efficient seed production and delivery. The course covers a wide range of seed science and technology issues related to seed policies and regulations, variety evaluation, release and registration, variety maintenance, seed quality management in large scale seed multiplication systems, processing, storage, marketing and distribution, field and laboratory techniques in seed quality assurance, monitoring and control and seed business management. The participants were provided with training manuals on seed science and technology and soft copies for all classroom lectures and practical sessions given during the course. The course also helped establish professional relationships among the participants and facilitated professional interaction and exchange of expertise among themselves and with the ICARDA scientists which will hopefully continue beyond the end of the course.