“An ‘informal’, ‘traditional’ or ‘farmer’ seed system lacks public sector regulation (Thiele, 1999). Farmers frequently exchange seeds among themselves, often for sale (Almekinders et al., 1994; Almekinders and Louwaars, 1999; De Schutter, 2009). Farmer seed systems also develop new varieties and maintain crop genetic diversity, but they do it as an integrated part of crop production (Almekinders and Louwaars, 2002; Brush, 2004).”

References

Bentley, J., Van Mele, P., and Reece, D. J. (2011). “How Seed Works,” in African Seed Enterprises: Sowing the Seeds of Food Security (Wallingford, UK: CAB International), 8–24.