Seed system impact on farmers’ income and crop biodiversity in the drylands of southern Tigray

This study was conducted in rural Ethiopia, and its objective was to describe the existing seed system in selected areas, and determine the impact of improved seed on farmers&rsquo; income and crop biodiversity. The year 1984, a year of severe drought and famine in the region, was chosen to mark two periods, as &ldquo;before and after&rdquo; for comparison purpose. Questionnaire survey (120 farmers) and focus group discussion was employed in data collection.<br /><br />The paper indicates the importance of using improved and quality seed in terms of helping farmers to increase their income and attain food security. In this respect, improving the supply of seed through the informal or formal seed system will lead farmers to increase their agricultural production and subsequently increase their annual income.<br /><br />The main conclusions and recommendations of the paper are as follows:<br /> there is a need for taking strict measures for the conservation of crop diversity there is a need to devise a mechanism by which farmers that are involved in conservation of crops can be compensated for the missed benefits measures that could minimise the impact of moisture stress and poor soil fertility might be appropriate to make the traditional cultivars as productive as they used to be crop materials to be developed for moisture stress areas need to focus on earliness and drought tolerance new varieties should consider variations in soil, moisture and other climatic factors, even in limited areas the formal seed system should limit the number of years a variety should stay under production a form of community based seed production can be promoted with little help and capacity building. Such community can provides farmers with seed and conserve crop diversity a basket of technologies or crop varieties should be available from which farmers can select what is suitable for them gender sensitive technological package should be strengthened.