Global companies offer for 70% of the crops in their portfolio only hybrid varieties. For regional companies this is 60%. Through the combined portfolios of regional seed companies, open-pollinated varieties (OPVs) are available for all crops in the index scope. Of the global companies, only East-West Seed, Limagrain and Advanta sell OPVs. Of the regional companies, National Seeds Corporation and Acsen HyVeg stand out for making OPVs available for almost all or all crops in their portfolio respectively. Given this emphasis on hybrids, it is surprising that only a few companies are involved in providing access to other inputs that are needed to achieve the best results from hybrids. The price and package size of fertilizers, in particular, can hamper the suitability of these kinds of seeds for smallholder farmers.
Integration with the World Benchmarking Alliance
The Access to Seeds Index is now part of the World Benchmarking Alliance. All indexes up to 2020 can be found here. New indexes and methodologies are published on the website of the WBA.
Stay here worldbenchmarkingalliance.org
