SUSTAINABILITY OF COMMUNITY-BASED RICE SEED PRODUCTION: A CASE STUDY IN THE TARAI REGION OF NEPAL NARAYAN PRASAD

Abstract

Community-based seed production system is considered to supply diversified rice varieties in rural areas in a cost effective way. Development agencies have been promoting this concept to address poverty, food security and climate change adaptation issues. However, how this system could continue is a contested issue among the researchers and policy makers due to handling of seed production and marketing activities by resource poor farmers without business skills. Very limited studies have been published in this area. This study analyzed the sustainability of this system putting seed producers and seed consumers in the context, and considering three pillars of sustainable development i.e. economy, environmental and social in the analytical framework. How seed producers realize economic benefit and how that benefit continues is the major research question addressed in this study. Here, efficiency of farmers in production and marketing captures the economic issue, and the efficiency is analyzed at two levels: production and marketing. Since seed producers are small farmers, the environmental and social issues are analyzed linking them with economic issue because environmental and social benefits are not easily visible for this category of farmers. Characteristics of seed consumers play important role in seed demand and thereby economic benefits of seed producers. The seed demand characteristics were analyzed from the perspective of types of rice varieties grown by consumers and their behavior in adopting different rice varieties. Result shows that consumers (farmers) grow both modern and farmers’ varieties; however, majority of these varieties have not been registered in the government system.