How to: Seed systems

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  • How to: Seed systems

    A guide to supporting seed sector development for food system outcomes.

    PDF9.95 MB5 May 2026

  An abridged version will be available soon

To guide action, the How-To adopts a structured framework based on eight core seed system functions: production, distribution, services, utilisation, stakeholder organisation, regulation, coordination, and financing. Within this structure, it promotes a pluralistic approach that integrates formal, intermediary, and farmer-managed seed systems, valuing the complementary role of local seeds alongside existing systems.

Why and when to work on seed systems to strengthen food systems?

Seeds sit at the very beginning of the food supply chain, and strongly shape what is produced, how much is produced, and how resilient, sustainable and nutritious food systems can be. This makes seed systems a strategic lever across contexts, and in many cases a key entry point for operational and strategic programming:

• Seeds are critical for productivity and food security : high-quality or improved seeds can account for up to 50% of yield and crop production, making seed interventions particularly relevant where food insecurity is driven by low agricultural productivity or by the need for rapid post-crisis recovery.
• Seeds underpin climate resilience : diversified systems and adapted varieties can improve yield stability under environmental stress by 15% - 90% depending on system design, making seed systems determinant when climate adaptation and resilience are priorities
• Seeds support nutrition security : nutrient-rich crops, including biofortified varieties, can increase e.g. vitamin A intake by up to 50%, making seed-based approaches particularly relevant when diet quality and nutrition outcomes are central objectives.
• Seeds influence farmer livelihood, by i.a. reducing vulnerability to climatic, pest, and market shocks, making seed systems key in contexts where livelihood stability is critical, and where formal seed systems are weak or inaccessible.

Because these effects are systemic and interlinked, seed systems are also at the interface of the humanitarian-development-peace nexus, linking immediate response (restoring production after shocks), development (productivity and resilience), and longer-term stability (risk reduction and stronger local agency).

What are the key challenges of the seed sector?

Beyond the global pressures such as climate change, fragility and economic shocks, the seed sector faces persistent structural constraints, not the least related to a misalignment between the seed sector actors – whether intended or not. Weak demand articulation, chronic underinvestment in public goods, escalating seed prices, regulatory frameworks not responding to farmers’ realities, continue to limit performance. A reform of the seed sector engages a wider politically sensitive sphere, touching upon farmers’ rights, public-private power balances, national food sovereignty. Taken together, these dynamics make seed sector strengthening a long‑term, systemic challenge rather than a purely technical one.

• 💡Key terms and concepts

  Seed system
  A seed system is the full set of actors, institutions, processes, and relationships involved in developing, producing, distributing, and using seed.

  Formal seed system
  A formal seed system is governed by official seed laws, regulations, and quality standards. It involves the development, testing, release, and commercial supply of plant varieties through recognized channels such as seed companies, cooperatives, and government agencies. It typically includes plant breeding institutions (public or private), variety release and registration systems, seed multiplication, certification and quality control agencies, and licensed seed companies , agro-dealers, and private commercial farmers.

  Farmer-managed seed system
  Farmer-managed seed systems (also called informal or local seed systems) are primarily governed by farmers’ knowledge, practices, and social norms rather than formal laws and regulations. They involve farmers selecting, saving, exchanging, and sometimes selling seeds, often using locally adapted varieties, landraces, and sometimes recycled improved varieties, outside formal certification and regulatory structures. These systems typically include on-farm seed selection and storage, local exchange networks and markets, community seed banks, and traditional knowledge related to crop diversity and seed management. They are usually highly flexible and responsive to farmer needs, and a critical source of seed for many crops and regions, particularly where access to formal seeds is limited. In this category, norms, culture and trust are more highly valued and play a stronger role in production and distribution.

  Intermediary seed system
  An intermediary seed system refers to seed production and distribution arrangements that sit between formal and farmer-managed seed systems, responding to the local demand while operating with some elements of formality. It typically includes semi-formal actors such as community-based seed producers, local seed enterprises, NGOs, local traders, and farmer groups that produce and distribute seed with more structure and quality control than informal exchange, but without fully adhering to the strict regulatory and certification frameworks of the formal system. These systems often rely on simplified quality assurance mechanisms, participatory variety selection, and local markets, and play a key role in bridging gaps in access, especially in remote or underserved areas, by multiplying locally adapted varieties and strengthening last-mile seed availability.

  Seed quality
  Seed quality refers to the overall ability of seed to perform well in the field and produce a healthy, productive crop. It is typically understood as a combination of four key dimensions: genetic quality, physical quality, physiological quality, and health quality.

  Seed security
  Seed security refers to farmers having reliable access, at the right time, to sufficient quantities of appropriate, good-quality and affordable seed to meet their agricultural needs. It is commonly understood through four key dimensions: availability (seed exists in the system), access (farmers can physically and financially obtain it), quality (seed meets required genetic, physical, physiological, and health standards), and suitability (varieties are adapted to local agroecological conditions and farmer preferences).

  Seed value chain
  A seed value chain comprises the actors and processes involved in the creation, multiplication, quality assurance, distribution, and use of seed, from plant breeding and variety development to delivery to farmers and final adoption. It can include both formal and farmer-managed actors, and emphasizes how value is added, regulated, and exchanged at each stage for seed availability, quality, and suitability.

  Seed Governance
  Seed governance refers to the set of policies, laws, regulations, institutions, coordination mechanisms and power relations that shape how seed systems operate. It defines the rules governing variety development and release, quality assurance and certification, intellectual property, market participation, and the roles and responsibilities of public and private actors. It also covers how accountability, transparency, and standards are ensured across the seed value chain, as well as how different interests and actors influence policy and market outcomes.

• ❌  5 most common mistakes

  Treating seed supply as the main bottleneck
  Don’t: assume that increasing production of improved seeds automatically leads to increased farmer adoption, overlooking other factors.
  Do: Strengthen the entire seed value chain, including demand creation, reliable distribution systems, affordability for farmers, and trust in new varieties through testing and demonstration.

  Overemphasis on supply without understanding demand
  Don’t: prioritize increasing seed production without analysing farmer preferences and market demand, at the risk of overproducing “what can be produced” rather than “what is needed”.
  Do: Ground variety development and dissemination in farmer-preferred traits (taste, food culture, cooking quality, maturity time, resilience, storage), taking into consideration gender; Strengthen structured demand aggregation and signalling mechanisms across the seed system, treating demand forecasting as a system-level function, not just a private-sector activity.

  Weak attention to enabling regulation and enforcement capacity
  Don’t: focus only on drafting or reforming seed laws, frameworks, and regulatory standards, at the risk of creating gaps between legal requirements and actual market functioning.
  Do: Invest in the full regulatory ecosystem required for effective and resilient implementation and enforcement.

  Underestimating the economics and power dynamics of the private actors
  Don’t: reduce your framing to working with a few selected seed companies or SMEs, at the risk of overlooking structural power dynamics.
  Do: Adopt a system-wide political economy lens that explicitly maps and engages all key actors and incentives across the seed sector, to understand how they interact, and how market powers are distributed and shapes outcomes.

  Ignoring the nutrition linkage
  Don’t: treat seed systems and nutrition outcomes as separate agendas, at the risk of focusing on productivity alone, while neglecting whether crops are actually improving dietary diversity, micronutrient intake, or health.
  Do: Intentionally integrate nutrition objectives into seed system design and prioritisation, ensuring that nutritional value is considered alongside agronomic performance (e.g. diversified cropping systems, aligning seed choices with dietary gaps identified, biofortified crops).

• ✅  Recommended fields of action

  Base interventions on system diagnosis

  • Conduct seed system and market diagnostics before intervention design
  • Identify and prioritise constraints and feedback loops across the full value chain
  • Support national and subnational seed sector strategies by aligning donor programmes

  Adopt a pluralistic seed system approach

  • Support complementary roles of formal, intermediary, and farmer-managed systems
  • Invest in community-based seed production and local seed enterprises, and ensure seed sovereignty
  • Recognise and integrate farmer seed practices into policies and programmes
  • Establish community-managed seed banks

  Strengthen demand-driven systems

  • Support participatory varietal selection and testing
  • Align breeding and dissemination with farmer preferences and market demand.
  • Develop demand articulation and aggregation mechanisms (farmer organisations, digital tools)

  Invest in market functioning and services

  • Strengthen last-mile distribution networks (agro-dealers, rural retailers)
  • Support extension and advisory services linked to seed use
  • Leverage digital tools for information, traceability, and market linkages
  • Facilitate access to finance for seed producers, distributors, and farmers

  Support inclusive private sector development

  • Build capacity of domestic seed companies, SMEs, and other private actors
  • Address market entry barriers for smaller actors
  • Facilitate public–private partnerships in breeding, seed multiplication, transportation, distribution and seed regulatory framework
  • Avoid distortive subsidies or parallel delivery systems

  Strengthen governance and regulatory capacity

  • Invest in implementation capacity (inspectors, labs, logistics, digital systems)
  • Promote fit-for-purpose regulatory approaches (e.g. simplified quality systems)
  • Strengthen multi-stakeholder coordination platforms

  Design for sustainability, resilience, and food system outcomes

  • Integrate climate resilience and agro-biodiversity into variety portfolios
  • Promote nutrition-sensitive crops and varieties
  • Plan for gradual exit and handover from the outset
  • Adapt interventions to fragile contexts using seed security principles

Questions?

If you have any question, or wish to call upon resources or expertise, don’t hesitate to reach out to us – or contact members through the MS Teams channel !