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
