Towards effective and sustainable seed relief activities

This report is the outcome of a FAO workshop on "Effective and Sustainable Seed Relief Activities", convened 26–28 May 2003. The aim of the workshop was to improve the effectiveness of seed relief interventions and the contribution they can make to sustainable improvements in seed, food and livelihood security. The report underlines the importance of farmer choice about crops and varieties for improving the effectiveness of seed relief efforts by the UN and other agencies.The report includes:a background paper on seed distribution and seed securitya model on shocks and responses as they relate to emergency situationsa summary of different seed relief interventions with accompanying tools and guidancecase studies on various seed relief interventions in Kenya, Ethiopia, Burundi and Mozambique.The report outlines a number of recommendations specific to FAO arising from the workshop. These include:broadening the scope of the Global Information and Early Warning System (GIEWS) and the Food Insecurity and Vulnerability Information and Mapping Systems (FIVIMS) to include needs assessments relevant to seed security and other aspects of agricultural productivityincreasing attention to the management of information relevant to emergency relief operations in FAO to facilitate learning by doingpromoting among its partners greater attention to preparedness, including the development of seed system profiles or baseline seed security assessments for disaster-prone countriesstrengthening relations with non-governmental organisations (NGOs) and local institutions in project implementation, and promoting a two-way learning process between the organisation and NGOs.