Panel discussion on seed-producing cooperatives at FAO

The Rise of the Seed-producing Cooperative in Western and Central Africa: A viable path towards improving access to quality seeds in the region.

The Access to Seeds Index was invited by the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations to host a side-event in parallel with the Committee on Agriculture’s (COAG) 26th session. The side-event took the form of a panel discussion focused on seed-producing cooperatives based in Western and Central Africa, the theme central to the Access to Seeds Index’s recent publication, The Rise of the Seed-producing Cooperative in Western and Central Africa. The panel representatives encompassed a range of perspectives: including representatives from FAO to representatives of the seed-producing cooperatives mentioned within the Access to Seeds publication itself.

A full summary report of the side-event can be found here

A photo report of the side-event can be found here

The webcast of the side-event can be found here

The Access to Seeds Index presentation can be downloaded here

The video submission by Jirkur Seed can be found here

List of panel members:

Ernest Asiedu: Former Chief of Party WASP and consultant for CORAF, Senegal

Kees Blokland: Managing Director at AgriTerra

Yacouba Diallo: Research Consultant for Access to Seeds, Mali

Hans Dreyer: Director, Plant Production and Protection Division at FAO

Hans Hoogeveen: Ambassador/Permanent Representative of the Netherlands to FAO and chair of the meeting

Nancy Wakawa Mohammed: Managing Director of Jirkur Seed, Nigeria. Although, not present she was also able to contribute via webcast

Yacouba Tanda: Seed Production Technician, Union Madda Ben de Falwel, Niger

Ann Tutwiler: Director General of Bioversity International