Village Seed Production Groups Supported by Network and Capacity Building in Disseminating Modern Varieties in Indonesia

Abstract

Strategic food crops production such as rice, maize and soybean are determined by harvested areas multiplied by productivity, while productivity is affected by availability of highquality seed of modern varieties which is adaptive to both biotic and abiotic stress. This study aims to construct a nationwide network and capacity building in supporting village seed production groups (VSPGs) for disseminating modern varieties to increase productivity. VSPGs constructed based on community seed system in corresponding to the national seed system and supported by breeder seed management unit network between national research institutes and assessment institute of agricultural technology. The seed production was implemented by a VSPGs on farmer field school with field laboratory 3-4 ha to introduce new modern varieties and quality seed production at once. The seeds of the available varieties in-situ 44 adopted 19 of the 133 varieties for rice, while the maize seeds available 8 were adopted 5 out of 86 varieties, and for soybean seeds there were 14 and adopted 7 of the 17 varieties released in the last 12 years. Acceleration in-situ seed provision can be pursued through integrated seed supply network, capacity building and market access to speed up and adoption of modern varieties.