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.orgLal Teer Seed Ltd (Lal Teer Seed) was established in 1995 as a joint venture between Multimode Group and East-West Seed. Previously known as East-West Seed Bangladesh Ltd, the company was renamed Lal Teer Seed in 2007. The company is still part of the agriculture business of Multimode Group alongside North South Seed, Chens Crop-Science and Tinpata Quality Seeds. The company develops, produces and sells vegetable varieties to farmers. It started producing rice seed in 2010. The company has also been active in the pesticide business since 2008 and, more recently, in the livestock sector. The company focuses on developing various vegetables crop varieties and rice, apart from selling cotton. Smallholder farmers are the company’s main clientele in some markets.
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Access to Seeds Index
South and Southeast Asia
Lal Teer Seed ranks 13th out of 24 index companies. Its relative strength lies in Research & Development followed by Seed Production and Marketing & Sales. Developing varieties suitable for smallholder farmer needs, breeding for specific traits that are beneficial for smallholder farmers and strong collaborative research explain its performance in Research & Development. The provision of geospatial data to smallholders is a unique Capacity Building initiative. However, the company’s positions with respect to Intellectual Property often run counter to the interests of smallholder farmers. The company is encouraged to adopt smallholder-supportive policies and increase its overall transparency.
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| Sales | Seed type | Source | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| afg | bgd | ind | npl | pak | PHL | lka | tha | vnm | Hybrid | OPV | GM | Own breeding program |
Public research institute |
Licensed from other company |
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| Field crops | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Maize | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Potato | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Rice, paddy | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Vegetables | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Cabbage | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Carrot | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Cauliflower | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Cucumber | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Eggplant | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Gourd | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Green bean | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Lettuce | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Melon | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Okra | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Onion | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Pepper (hot) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Pumpkin | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Tomato | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Watermelon | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Lal Teer Seed assigns responsibility for the implementation of its policies and targets related to access to seeds for smallholder farmers in the region to its CEO and executives. As a member of seed associations in Bangladesh and Nepal, the company collaborates with government organizations, input suppliers and farming associations, supporting the enabling environment in these countries.
The company’s collaboration with Geodata for Agriculture and Water (G4AW) specifically targets smallholders with less than 0.5 acres of land in northern Bangladesh. Along with Lal Teer Seed field staff, Geodata Based Information Services for smallholder farmers (GEOBIS), part of G4AW, provides smallholder farmers with agronomic information through their mobile phones, a call center, a website and app-based services.
Lal Teer Seed is the only index company to provide extension services in Nepal, with 40 technical staff dedicated to these activities. It is also one of only two companies carrying out seed production in Nepal.
The company states that it uses contractual clauses or other mechanisms to limit the breeders’ exemption and farm-saved seeds. The company is encouraged to reconsider its position on this issue for the benefit of smallholder farmers.
The company lacks commitment on various policies related to access to seeds for smallholder farmers. It can improve its commitment by formulating and publicly disclosing access to seeds-related policies to improve overall accountability.
Lal Teer Seed contributes to the conservation of genetic material through the gene bank at its own facility and by collaborating with national and international organizations such as the Bangladesh Agricultural Research Institute, Bangladesh Rice Research Institute and World Vegetable Center respectively.
The company collaborates with national and international research partners with the aim of developing improved varieties for the benefit of smallholder farmers in South and Southeast Asia. It also trains local breeders by providing formal education, on-the-job-training and internships.
The company’s breeding program focuses on various traits useful for smallholder farmers, and particularly on regionally important pests and diseases such as blast fungus in rice and stem and/or stalk borers.
The company has 19 regional marketing offices in Bangladesh that serve 12 million farmers. Some 800 registered dealers, 8,600 sub dealers, 12,000 retailers and many mobile seed sellers enable the company’s seed to reach remote areas of the country.
With the assistance of an independent training wing, the company has trained half a million farmers, 5,500 contract growers, 22,000 mobile seed vendors and 15,000 dealers and retailers.
Access to Seeds Index
South and Southeast Asia