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.orgAcsen HyVeg was established in 2009 as Rasi HyVeg Pvt Ltd, the vegetable seed division of Rasi Seeds Group. It was renamed in 2017. The company sells vegetable seed and recently added field crops to its portfolio. It aims to develop new products that are suitable for the needs of different commercial regions like India, the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC), Southeast Asia, the Middle East and Africa. Acsen HyVeg’s three main crops are okra, hot pepper and tomato. Smallholder farmers constitute the company’s main clientele.
DownloadCompany
Access to Seeds Index
South and Southeast Asia
Ranking sixth out of 24 index companies, Acsen HyVeg outperforms its regional peers. It performs particularly well in Intellectual Property and Seed Production. The company’s accountability regarding its policies and targets related to access to seeds for smallholder farmers and its robust distribution channels in various countries are among its most notable practices. It also outperforms its regional peers in incorporating smallholder farmers’ needs in intellectual property protection. However, it could leverage its strategies to provide training and development with a specific focus on women and young farmers and collaborate with various gene banks to improve access to genetic resources. While the company’s performance is solid, it could improve its public disclosure on access to seed-related strategies and activities.
View here to see how the company ranking works.
| Sales | Seed type | Source | |||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| bgd | ind | idn | pak | lka | tha | vnm | Hybrid | OPV | GM | Own breeding program |
Public research institute |
Licensed from other company |
|||||||||||
| Vegetables | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| Cabbage | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| Carrot | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| Cauliflower | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| Cucumber | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| Eggplant | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| Gourd | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| Green bean | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| Green pea | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| Melon | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| Okra | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| Onion | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| Pepper (hot) | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| Pepper (sweet) | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| Pumpkin | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| Tomato | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| Watermelon | |||||||||||||||||||||||
The company assigns responsibility at the CEO/board level for the implementation of policies and targets related to access to seeds for smallholder farmers and allocates both financial and non-financial resources to meet these targets.
The company has a diverse portfolio of vegetable crops from its own breeding program and has a policy to provideboth hybrids and open-pollinated varieties for its crops. While the diverse portfolio suited to the needs of smallholder farmers is leading, the company only makes a wide portfolio available in India. It could consider expanding its sales in other index countries.
Although it contributes a certain amount to the gene fund through the Indian Protection of Varieties and Farmers’ Rights Authority, the company is encouraged to collaborate with gene banks for the benefit of smallholder farmers.
The company does not specifically involve women smallholder farmers in its activities. It could consider special approaches to reach women smallholder farmers in the index countries where it is active.
The company’s capacity building activities lack technology (ICT) and efforts to improve smallholder farmer access to output markets. The company also lacks commitment and transparency in this area, which could be improved by developing a comprehensive policy.
In India, the company is an active member of the Federation of Seed Industry of India, one of the two national seed trade associations. Beyond India, the company works with government authorities to play a key role in supporting the enabling environment in index countries.
Product development takes into consideration various preferences of smallholder farmers from different states in India. The dedicated product development team is informed by feedback from local consumers, traders and farmers in index countries.
The company is involved in a large number of collaborative research programs with various international/national agricultural research institutes. The company also trains plant breeders either by providing financial support to improve their qualifications or by entering into training agreements with other organizations. One such example is a breeder training agreement with the World Vegetable Center.
The company maintains labor standards in seed production and monitors compliance on issues such as health and safety, child labor and minimum wages on seed farms. As evidenced by its grower agreement, the company has an explicit clause to prohibit the use of child labor in its seed production activities.
The company offers a diverse range of package sizes, from 5gr to 50gr depending on the crop, which cater to the needs of smallholder farmers.
The company expanded its portfolio in 2017 to include field crops such as millets, maize and rice, but these are not yet on the market.
Access to Seeds Index
South and Southeast Asia