Community Based Seed Systems for Agrobiodiversity and Resilient Farming of Smallholder Agriculture in South Asia

Community Based Seed System (CBSS) is emerging as a complementary approach to formal and informal seed systems for making seed system inclusive and dynamic to meet the diverse needs of smallholder farmers in marginal farming systems. The aims of this paper are to: i) briefly outline the context, concept and features of CBSS; ii) identify gaps and issues in CBSS; and iii) provide options for improvement for agrobiodiversity and resilient farming of smallholder agriculture. Recommendations are made to improve CBSS to make it more inclusive, pluralistic and dynamic through the use and promotion of rich agrobiodiversity, participatory crop improvement, community biodiversity management, community seed banks, and strategic partnership development with public and private sectors including policy support for their recognition and harmonization.