Lead authors: David J Spielman; Zewdie Bishaw; Isabel Lopez Noriega; Gloria Otieno; Ronnie Vernooy; Alice Muchugi; Tadesse Wuletaw Degu; Yigezu A. Yigezu; Catherine Ragasa; Hiroyuki Takeshima; Jean Balié; Graham Thiele; Jens-Peter Barnekow Lillesø; Bekele Kotu; Abdoul Aziz Niane; Tom van Mourik; Michael Halewood; Hakeem Ajeigbe; Norbert G. Maroya; Silver Tumwegamire; John Recha; Dawit Alemu

1. L E A D A U T H O R S :
David J Spielman
Zewdie Bishaw
Isabel Lopez Noriega
Gloria Otieno
Ronnie Vernooy
Alice Muchugi
Tadesse Wuletaw Degu
Yigezu A. Yigezu
Catherine Ragasa
Hiroyuki Takeshima
Jean Balié
Graham Thiele
Jens-Peter Barnekow Lillesø
Bekele Kotu
Abdoul Aziz Niane
Tom van Mourik
Michael Halewood
Hakeem Ajeigbe
Norbert G. Maroya
Silver Tumwegamire
John Recha
Dawit Alemu
Expanding
policy options
for seed sector
development
December 2021

2. I N T R O D U C T I O N
2

3. Terms and terminology used in describing “seed policy”
Public policy: The principled guides to action established by the state through a political process, selected from among
alternatives, and chosen in light of given conditions and values, that are meant to determine and guide present and future
decisions.
Seed sector policy: The set of laws, regulations, guidelines, programs, schemes, conventions, and investment choices
that together shape the acquisition, production, conservation, and use of propagation materials for crops, forages, trees,
livestock, and fish in relation to the conservation, development, multiplication, distribution and use of genetic resources.
National seed strategy: A statement of national principles that guide government action and explain the roles of relevant
stakeholders in the coordination, structure, functioning and development of the seed sector. It also serves as the overall
framework for policy and regulatory instruments, such as the seed laws and related regulations.
Seed sector: A term that refers to the combination of systems in which propagation materials for crops, trees, forages,
livestock, and fish are produced, conserved, exchanged, and used.
Seed system: A generic phrase that describes any system in which propagation materials for crops, trees, forages,
livestock, and fish are developed, produced, conserved, exchanged, and/or used, e.g., formal, informal, or integrated seed
systems.
Variety: A term used in the current context to denote crop varieties, tree and forage species, livestock breeds, and fish
strains, along with the genotypic or phenotypic characteristics that distinguish them.
Farmers: A catch-all phrase that includes farmer-cultivators, agricultural laborers, livestock keepers, fisher-people, and
people who derive livelihoods from forestry and agroforestry.
3

4. Terms and terminology used in describing “seed policy”
Agro-biodiversity conservation: The conservation, exchange, and use of landraces and farmer-selected varieties,
breeds, strains, and species that ensure the availability of genetic diversity for current and future generations.
Varietal turnover rate: The rate at which farmers replace one variety with another to obtain different or improved genetic
traits.
Seed replacement rate: The rate at which farmers replace or refresh seed stocks due to deterioration in genetic, physical,
physiological and health.
Use of quality seed: A change in the quality of material used for propagation and the seed management practices of
farmers resulting in the use of propagation material with greater physical and/or genetic purity, higher germination rates,
lower pest/disease rates, or other desirable attributes.
Productivity gains/efficiency gains: Increased yields, lower costs, higher profits, fewer losses, higher micronutrient
content, or other desirable outcomes per unit of production.
Welfare improvements: Increases in incomes, consumption, nutrition, health, educational attainment, gender equality, or
other measures of well-being at the individual, household, community, and/or national levels.
Bio-innovation: Innovations occurring in the biological sciences, typically highlighted by complex interactions between
scientific and technical advances, on the one hand, and social and economic institutions, on the other hand.
4

5. P R O B L E M
I D E N T I F I C A T I O N
5

6. The policy problem
Public policies for seed sector development seek to
strike a balance between multiple approaches,
objectives, and outcomes across diverse contexts
• Past experience highlights the challenge in
• Identifying appropriate roles for public, private, and civil
society sectors
• Advancing market liberalization vs. market deregulation
• Integrating formal and informal seed systems
• Promoting improved varieties vs. conserving agro-biodiversity
• Balancing supply-driven vs. demand-driven seed systems
• Seed system policy must ultimately address
• Vast diversity inherent in seed systems
• Governance and management systems
• Regulation and conservation
• Development of seed markets and seed trade
• Property rights, access, and benefit sharing
• Capacities of seed sector actors
• Sustained financing and investment
• Regional policy and regulatory integration/harmonization
• In the context of
• Intertwined systems, integrated sector
• Trade-offs that result in winners and losers
• Unintended consequences and negative externalities
• Transition stages and processes
• Diversity among countries, their policy regimes, and their
policy processes
• Heterogeneity in species and their reproductive biology;
agroecological conditions, especially in a climate crisis; and
among farmers, consumers, and other actors
6
A stylized history of public policy’s evolution in
seed sector development in lower-/middle-income countries
1960s–70s: Early Green
Revolution: Public policy
and investment as the
key driver of seed sector
development
1970s–80s: Late Green
Revolution: Continued
public policy and state-
led investment as a
driver of seed sector
development
1980s–90s: Market
liberalization: Policy
reforms to encourage
private investment in
seed market growth
2000s–present: Public
policy shifts between
measures to intensify
private investment,
conserve agro-
biodiversity in the face of
a climate crisis, and
integrate formal and
informal seed systems
1980s–1990s: Public
policy in support of
community-based
initiatives in
environmental and agro-
biodiversity conservation
Creation of CGIAR
International Union for
the Protection of New
Varieties of Plants
International Treaty for Plant
Genetic Resources for Food and
Agriculture
Convention on
Biological Diversity
Nagoya Protocol
for Access and
Benefit Sharing

7. What role for CGIAR in future policy change processes
for seed sector development?
• Analysis: Policy-relevant research to analyze challenges and
opportunities, and to develop an evidence-based recommendations
to guide policy, regulation, investment prioritization, program design,
governance, and policy implementation
• Partnership: Engagement and consultation on national policy
formulation and implementation with national research
organizations, private industry associations, farmer and civil society
organizations
• Capacity development: Innovative organizational learning
approaches to strengthen policy design and implementation
processes
• Engagement: Proactive participation in national, regional, and
global policy processes to represent multiple and diverse
perspectives on seed sector development
7

8. Examples of seed sector policies, programs,
regulations, and institutions (1)
• Policies to promote the adoption of improved cultivars and quality seed: Policies designed and implemented to
promote adoption of seeds and traits, transfer risk from adopters, or promote greater social inclusiveness in adoption
through input subsidy programs, varietal registration rules, seed quality assurance regulations, social protection
programs, strategic public investments, or financial instruments
• Measures to make seed systems more agile and effective: Government actions designed to combine public and
private roles for more effective delivery of goods and services along the seed value chain, from research and breeding
to delivery of new germplasm to farmers
• Programs to promote agro-biodiversity conservation: Programs focused on agro-biodiversity conservation and the
provision of resources, incentives, and information for agro-biodiversity conservation at the household, community, and
landscape levels
• Genetic resources policy: Policies on agro-biodiversity conservation, genetic resource exchange and use, farmers’
rights, and breeders’ rights
• Public breeding strategies: Prioritization of public research and breeding programs in a manner that accounts for their
growth, development, inclusion, and sustainability outcomes
• Policies that create greater demand-orientation in seed systems: Interventions designed to leverage public
resources to better serve farmers and other seed sector actors to generate effective demand for seeds and traits
• Biosafety policy and regulation: Biosafety policy and regulatory systems and regimes designed and implemented to
ensure the responsible development and use of biotechnology
8

9. Examples of seed sector policies, programs,
regulations, and institutions (2)
• Programs to improve nutrition: Programs that seek to improve dietary, nutritional and health through interventions
that specifically promote production and consumption of nutrient-dense crops and animal-sourced foods for
malnourished or vulnerable households and individuals
• Trade policy: Policies that govern and regulate the cross-border movement of genetic resources and bio-innovations in
light of the economic gains from trade and the economic risks and costs of trade-induced outbreaks of invasive pests
and diseases
• Competition policy: Policies that account for the efficiency and equity effects of industry structure, market power, and
corporate strategic behavior in markets for bio-innovation, crop sciences, and seed
• Agricultural R&D prioritization: Setting priorities for public investment in alternative R&D areas based on productivity,
employment, income, nutritional, gender, and other outcomes
• Land-use policy: Policies governing the ownership, use, exchange, and protection of land resources, including land
used for seed production and agro-biodiversity conservation
• Political economy and governance: Policy processes and governance institutions that affect domestic resource
allocation to seed sector development, as well as the influence that such processes and institutions have on the
distribution of gains resulting from innovation
• Landraces policy: Policies designed for the registration and release of landraces
9

10. Policy entry points in seed sector development
10
Genetic improvement
Seed marketing & distribution
Genetic resource conservation
Variety release
Seed production & quality assurance
Seed uptake & sustained use
• Research spending and prioritization
• Agro-ecological, market prioritization
• Farmer/client engagement strategies
• Nutrition policy
• Agricultural input policies
• Agricultural extension services
• Market and trade policies and regulations
• Healthy diets and nutrition
• Demand creation mechanisms
• Genetic resources policy
• Biodiversity conservation policy
• Access and benefits sharing arrangement
• Agriculture, nutrition strategies
• Testing, registration and release rules
• Access and benefit sharing guidelines
• Intellectual property rights and licensing
• Trade policy
• Investment and trade policy
• Production subsidies, taxes
• Phytosanitary requirements
• Quality assurance regulations
• Market intelligence strategies
• Strategic integration of formal, informal systems
Policy options
Value chain for seeds and traits
Cross-cutting
issues:
Seed
sector
governance,
management
International,
regional,
and
bilateral
agreement
Policy
design
and
implementation
capacity

11. Standard interventions in seed sector development
Agro-biodiversity conservation: Introduce agro-biodiversity regulations, farmers’
rights/privilege, and other mechanisms to encourage agro-biodiversity conservation; sign on to
global and regional agro-biodiversity conservation agreements and initiatives
Innovation incentives: Invest in public research; Introduce plant breeders’ rights, plant variety
protection laws, farmers’ rights, and other IP mechanisms to incentivize selection and breeding
Varietal improvement: Strengthen varietal testing, registration, and release requirements to
ensure quality of genetics; reduce or customize these same requirements to increase
participation in markets for seeds and traits
Seed quality assurance: Strengthen seed certification standards, inspection capacity, and
regulatory enforcement to discourage entry of low-quality seed producers; reduce these same
standards to increase participation in markets for seeds and traits; decentralize seed quality
assessment and monitoring to local-level entities
Seed production: Invest public resources in seed production through state-owned enterprises,
private producers, small/medium seed enterprises, or farmer organizations; strengthen the
technical and managerial capacity of these seed producers
Seed marketing and distribution: Invest in public research and extension programs to
popularize new varieties, distribute seed, and educate farmers on their use; reduce the cost of
seed through credit and subsidy schemes for farmers; create demand for seeds and traits;
strengthen value chain management to create demand for specific seeds and traits
Trade: Limit seed trade through tariffs and non-tariff barriers such as quotas and overly restrictive
phytosanitary standards; encourage seed trade through mutual recognition of registered varieties
or harmonization of seed trade rules, guidelines and standards
11
• These policy
intervention have
played an historically
important role in seed
sector development
• But they are not
enough to accelerate
the pace of
development in the face
of climate change and
agri-food system
transformation
• More innovative policy
options are needed in
the future

12. P O L I C Y R E S E A R C H
P R I O R I T I E S
12

13. Strengthen market policies to make seed markets
work better
13
Market policies require more than just strong enforcement of
regulatory standards to make them work more efficiently
Seed markets rarely exemplify the kind
of perfect competition that leads to
efficient and equitable outcomes
• Information asymmetries: Farmers cannot
easily observe the traits embodied in a seed or
the quality of that seed at the time of purchase
• Weak regulation: Weak regulation allows for
the entry of low-quality producers and rent
seekers who exploit markets for short-term gains
• Risk and uncertainty: Variable and unknown
probabilities discourage farmers from
participating in markets for seeds and traits
• Insufficient demand: Depending on context,
farmers’ expected expenditures on seed or their
expected returns to seeds and traits may be low,
constraining uptake and resulting in thin markets
• Market distortions: State-owned enterprises,
input subsidy schemes, and emergency seed
relief regularly disrupt seed market development
by distorting incentives
• Monopolistic competition: Breeders’ rights and
plant variety protections afford seed companies
with temporary monopoly power, forcing firms to
compete on attributes other than genetics
• Quality assurance regulations: Develop QA
systems that reduce information asymmetries for
farmers and encourage the entry of bone fide,
high-quality producers and discourage the entry
of low-quality producers
• Breeders’ rights and farmers’ rights: Explore
ways in which IPR regimes can balance
breeders’ rights and rewards to innovators with
similar incentives to farmers as stewards of
genetic diversity
• Governance and stakeholders’ participation:
Strengthen stakeholder participation, consumer
protection, and private governance mechanisms
to make seed markets more client-oriented
• Contract enforcement: invest in legal
mechanisms and business services to
strengthen contract enforcement, product
certification systems, and other regulatory
frameworks that enable private sector
participation in seed markets
• Financial mediation: Innovate on the credit,
insurance, and other financial services and
products to increase liquidity and reduce risks to
farmer participation in markets for seeds and
traits
• Demand creation: Experiment and scale
popularization, promotion, and extension
strategies create effective demand for seeds and
traits
• Market distortions: Minimize market distortions
created by input subsidy schemes and
emergency seed relief while still encouraging
market development for seeds and traits
• Market competition: Pursue more pro-active
approaches to lowering entry barriers and
regulating anti-competitive behavior in markets
for seeds and traits

14. Reform “smart” input subsidy programs to increase
access to improved varieties
14
The design of input subsidy programs require greater attention than
they currently receive with respect to seeds and traits
Input subsidy programs may be an
ineffective use of scarce public
resources, but they may also be a
long-term fixture in many
developing economies
• Many input subsidy programs are not
actually “smart”: they rarely incorporate
effective targeting mechanisms, time-
limited durations/sunset provisions, a
market orientation, equity-oriented
inclusion criteria, or progressively lower
costs to government
• There may be scope is many countries to
withdraw, reduce, reform, refine, or
finance input subsidy programs without
significantly affecting both efficiency and
equity outcomes
Leverage input subsidy programs to increase
effective demand for seeds and traits
• Target seed subsidies for specific goals to e.g.,
reduce price of costly but high-yielding
varieties/hybrids or promote nutrient-
dense/biofortified crops
• Target seed subsidies for crops grown
specifically by resource-poor farmers or other
vulnerable groups, depending on national and
local priorities
• Subsidize seeds without reference to specific
varieties to prevent governments from “picking
winners” that may conflict with farmer, market, or
consumer preferences
• Subsidize seed for farmers qualified by land
size, poverty level, commercial potential, or
multiple targeting criteria
• Subsidize more expensive complementary
inputs (e.g., inorganic fertilizer or animal feed)
while providing seed at market rates
• Integrate seed packages into social protection
programs for vulnerable farm households
• Revitalize moribund public extension systems;
engage with private providers of advisory
services; subsidize rural information networks
for private distributors of propagation material
Leverage input subsidy programs to encourage
private seed production, distribution, and
marketing
• Provide time-limited concessionary access to
land, credit, and tax breaks for seed producers
• Provide public guarantees to private financial
service providers with products to manage
adoption risk
• Use subsidy programs to encourage private
providers of advisory services to farmers

15. Accelerate the release and distribution of new varieties
15
Improvements in the rules and procedures for varietal release
and EGS distribution could rapidly increase the availability of seeds
and traits
The rate at which new varieties are
released and distributed may to be
too slow for the rapidly changing
agro-climatic and market
conditions and nutritional needs
facing farmers, consumers, and
other seed sector actors
• Registration and release procedures.
Many countries maintain long,
cumbersome and expensive procedures
for variety registration and release
involving multiple tests, testing locations,
and other highly detailed requirements
• Mechanisms for dissemination of
results from public breeding tend to be
slow, inefficient, and limiting. In many
countries, public research organizations
limit or restrict access to early generation
seed for private seed companies and
farmers’ organizations, while state-owned
companies control over EGS production
and distribution, effectively crowding out
competitors
Introduce mechanisms that increase the
supply of public germplasm to seed
sector actors
• Make EGS resulting from public research openly
available to private seed companies and
farmers’ organizations on non-exclusive basis
• Shift state-owned seed companies into
foundation seed production and encourage
private sector entry into certified seed
production
• Support documentation of seed sources and
publish in web-based information portals
Reform rules, guidelines, and
procedures to reduce the lag times
between breeding, registration, and
release
• Eliminate Value for Cultivation and Use (VCU)
testing; focus only on Distinctness, Uniformity,
and Stability (DUS) testing
• Revise VCU testing to prioritize non-yield traits
such as nutritional content
• Make varietal registration voluntary, automatic;
uncouple varietal registration from notification
lists/subsidy programs
• Mandate removal of obsolete or stress-
susceptible varieties from circulation
• Assign new varieties to private seed providers
on an exclusive basis in specific situations, if
warranted
• Open new channels to make landraces and
genebank materials readily available to seed
producers and farmers
• Establish impartial and independent regulatory
agencies; decentralize testing and registration to
local levels of government
• Negotiate mutual recognition of varieties and/or
harmonize varietal registration systems between
countries
• Develop ICT-based seed and variety traceability
systems to track dissemination over space and
time, or to enable the use of end-point-royalty
systems

16. Strengthen genetic resources policy to increase access
to seeds and traits
16
Genetic resource policies can be designed to align with international
and national objectives of food security and sustainable agriculture
Political and practical challenges
hinder the access to and use of
genetic resources by different actors
• Ownership over genetic resources: The
combination of sovereignty-based rights and
intellectual property-based rights over
genetic resources reduces the amount of
genetic diversity freely available for research
and breeding
• Poor implementation of access and
benefit-sharing regimes: National rules on
access and benefit-sharing are not always
clear or implemented efficiently, or do not
reflect key features and special needs
• Lack of awareness and commitment:
Public and private researchers and breeders
do not always follow access and benefit-
sharing rules
• Limited information systems: Information
about germplasm available for research,
breeding, multiplication, commercialization,
and cultivation is not available or complete
Facilitate the exchange of genetic
resources with farmers
• Give farmers access to genebank materials for
variety testing and selection (Seeds for Needs
program)
• Support community seed banks, diversity
management, and access and benefit-sharing
protocols
• Build collaborations between national
genebanks and community seedbanks
• Support farmer seed production and marketing
• Include recognition and support to farmer seed
systems in national policies and laws
• Recognize and reward farmers’ role in
agrobiodiversity generation and conservation
Promote collaboration among
international and national research
organizations
• Facilitate flow of germplasm, knowledge and
technologies among national and international
organizations
• Establish partnerships and networks involving
public and private organizations for the wide
dissemination of pre-breeding and breeding
results
• Agree on benefit-sharing rules reflecting
international principles and commitments
Facilitate the exchange of genetic
resources globally
• Harmonize the implementation of the
International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources
for Food and Agriculture and the Nagoya
Protocol
• Tailor ABS rules to characteristics of the crops,
forages, trees, livestock, and fish
• Raise research organizations’ awareness on
access and benefit-sharing issues
• Promote and reward good ABS practice by the
private sector
• Enable connections between in situ
conservation on and ex situ conservation

17. Integrate seed policy with health and nutrition strategies
17
More strategic approaches to building linkages between seed policy and health
and nutrition strategies could enhance the contribution that seeds and traits
make to health and nutrition outcomes
The seed sector is a
potentially valuable
entry point to address
malnutrition, although
examples of success are
few and far between
• Policy alignment: Few
seed sector policies (or
agricultural policies) are
closely aligned with national
health and nutrition
strategies and policies
• Seed systems for
biofortified crops: The
release and distribution of
biofortified crops provides
evidence on how the seed
sector can contribute to
nutrition outcomes, but
more needs to be done to
leverage this pathway
Strengthen multisectoral approaches that
integrate seed and agricultural policy with
health and nutrition policy
• Leverage high-level initiatives, inter-ministerial
committees, and other policy forums to advance
multisectoral approaches
• Participate in and support joint planning for
multisectoral initiatives centered on food systems
transformation
Introduce varietal release rules and
procedures that integrate nutritional attributes
into release criteria
• Revise VCU testing to prioritize non-yield traits such as
nutritional content
• Establish standards for mandatory inclusion of nutrition
traits in new varietal releases for selected food staple
crops
• Support documentation of nutritional attributes in new
varieties in web-based information portals
Leverage demand-creation efforts to increase
awareness and understanding of nutritional
attributes in new or existing varieties
• Invest in outreach efforts to convey information about
the benefits of (non-observable) nutritional attributes
• Coordinate agricultural extension services with health
and nutrition counseling services for integrated
messaging on consumption and nutrition
• Use input subsidy programs to supply farmers with
propagation materials for biofortified and nutrient-dense
crops and animal-source foods
• Develop institutional procurement systems to purchase
biofortified and nutrient-dense crops and animal-source
foods from farmers for supply to school feeding
schemes, maternal and child health programs, and
social protection program vouchers to reach targeted
groups
• Leverage formal, informal, and integrated seed
systems to make available propagation material
biofortified and nutrient-dense crops and animal-source
foods

18. Reform regulations for seed quality assurance
18
Optimal regulations for seed quality assurance
require a willingness to pursue greater regulatory
innovation and experimentation
Seed is an experience good: only
through use does a farmer learn about
its quality and other attributes. As
such, farmers can rarely assess seed
quality in an objective manner at the
point of sale or exchange.
• Asymmetric information: Effective quality assurance
systems are meant to provide critical information to
farmers that only the breeder or seller has about the
genetic and physical quality of seed that cannot be
obtained through visual inspection.
• Optimal regulation: But what level of regulation is
optimal, i.e., where is the balance between too little
regulation to prevent low-quality seed providers from
entering the market to take advantage of information
asymmetries over farmers, versus while regulating , and
too much regulation that creates barriers to entry for
potential seed providers?
Shift seed certification and quality control systems to
more fit-for-purpose quality assurance systems
• Establish impartial and independent regulatory agencies
• Support the introduction of quality-declared/assured or truthfully-
labeled systems
• Support point-of-sale inspection systems rather than field/plant
inspections
• Promote transboundary harmonization of quality standards,
systems
• Develop internal QA capabilities in farmer/small seed enterprises
• Introduce ICT-based seed tracking/traceability systems to
provide accurate information to users on seed provenance and
other quality-related attributes
• Develop options for accreditation systems, e.g., private
accredited seed inspectors
• Develop seed tracking and traceability systems
• Harmonize seed certification schemes between countries

19. Reform trade and competition policy
19
Pro-active approaches to promoting policies for trade and competition
may be desirable for seed sector development in many contexts
Trade barriers and imperfect
competition in seed markets continue
to limit the movement and exchange
of seeds and traits
• Tariff and non-tariff barriers limit the
international and regional trade in
seed: Tariffs and a range of non-tariff
barriers are often used by countries to
protect domestic seed producers from
foreign competition, potentially at the
expense of farmers
• Anti-competitive behavior affect seed
market performance: Monopolies and
monopolistic competition in domestic
seed markets tend to limit competition
among seed providers, potentially
reducing seed supply, raising seed prices,
or limiting seed sector innovation
• Policy reforms embody difficult
tradeoffs: Efforts to reform trade and
competition policy may generate both
winners and losers, thus creating difficult
decisions for policymakers
Engage directly with international and
regional initiatives
• Support commodity market data
collection and market forecasting efforts
• Sponsor multilateral agreements for
mutual recognition of registered varieties
• Support regional seed trade
harmonization efforts
• Encourage reductions in tariffs and non-
tariff barriers to seed trade
Strengthen seed market competition
by enforcing anti-trust laws for
monopolist seed providers
• Engage with national competition
agencies and market regulators to
encourage competition and level the
playing field in seed markets
• Advance efforts to reduce the multiple
entry barriers that prevent small/medium-
sized enterprises from entering seed
markets
• Strengthen contract enforcement
mechanisms, product certification
systems, and other regulatory
frameworks that enable private sector
participation in seed markets
Find appropriates role for state-
owned seed enterprises and seed
parastatals, and subsidies for seed
industry development private seed
companies.
• Shift state-owned seed enterprises into a
(non-exclusive) role in EGS production
• Encourage entry of private enterprises
into downstream seed production,
distribution, and marketing
• Channel public investment financing
(rather than subsidies) to the
development of commercially viable
small-/medium-scale domestic seed
enterprises, where appropriate

20. A “ O N E C G I A R ”
S T R AT E G Y for
P O L I C Y R E S E A R C H
and A C T I O N
20

21. A CGIAR strategy for evidence-based policy change
1. Understand and analyze key policy
challenges at different levels
2. Design and pilot solutions in collaboration
with governments and other stakeholders
3. Evaluate pilots to generation actionable
evidence on their impacts on multiple
outcomes
4. Engage with policymakers, institutional
leaders and other stakeholders to identify
barriers to policy change and advance
change processes
5. Support, facilitate implementation of the
policy change process
6. Assist in the development of national
capacity to ensure sustainability of the
policy changes
21
Identify
problem
Research
solutions
Implement
solutions
Monitor and
evaluate
solutions
Revise and
adapt
solutions

22. Summary recommendations
22
There are many policy
options for seed sector
development that can
improve access to quality
seeds and traits in an
inclusive manner
The question becomes one
of optimal policy choices
that balance multiple
outcomes and the inherent
diversity in species,
agroecologies, populations,
and markets
Achieving this balance and
specificity requires
movement away from a
single defining narrative as
the “model” for all situations
CGIAR has a role to play in providing evidence-based recommendations to the design of these policies,
and capacity development for their implementation, in close partnership with governments
and other seed sector stakeholders

23. References
• Bishaw, Z., Yigezu, Y.A., Niane, A., Telleria, R., and Najjar, D. (eds). 2019. Political Economy of the Wheat Sector in Morocco: Seed
Systems, Varietal Adoption, and Impacts. Beirut: International Center for Agricultural Research in the Dry Areas.
http://dx.doi.org/20.500.11766/8505
• Lillesø, J.P.B., Harwood, C., Derero, A., Graudal, L., Roshetko, J.M., Kindt, R., Moestrup, S., Omondi, W. O., Holtne, N., Mbora, A., van
Breugel, P., Dawson, I. K., Jamnadass, R. and Egelyng, H. 2018. Why Institutional Environments for Agroforestry Seed Systems Matter.
Development Policy Review 36: O89–O112.
• Spielman, D.J., and Kennedy, A. 2016. Towards better metrics and policymaking for seed system development: Insights from Asia’s seed
industry. Agricultural Systems 147: 111–122.
• Spielman, D.J., and Smale, M. 2017. Policy Options to Accelerate Varietal Change among Smallholder Farmers in South Asia and Africa
South of the Sahara. IFPRI Discussion Paper no. 01666. Washington, DC: IFPRI.
• Thiele, G., Dufour, D., Vernier, P., Mwanga, R.O., Parker, M.L., Schulte Geldermann, E., Teeken, B., Wossen, T., Gotor, E., Kikulwe, E.,
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