ABSTRACT
SUMMARY. The farmers’ systems of seed supply and crop develop ment form by far the most important source of seed in most farming sys tems of the world. Despite the efforts of large seed programmes to replace the farmers’ seed systems for a system in which farmers use seed as an external input, the major part of agricultural land in the world is still sown with seed that is informally produced by farmers. Aiming for a for mal seed sector that supplies 100% of the seed for planting is only realis-
Conny J. M. Almekinders is affiliated with the Department of Technology & Agrar ian Development, Wageningen University, Wageningen, The Netherlands.
