Seed Systems for Rainfed Agriculture: Village Based Seed Enterprise for Seed Production and Dissemination of Improved Varieties of Chickpea and Pigeonpea in India; Information Bulletin No. 96

The crops grown under rainfed agriculture are described as farming practices that rely on rainfall for crop production and their seed systems describe, how farmers in these regions are sourcing seeds for cultivating these crops. The objective of this publication is to share information and experiences of some success stories of seed value chain models developed for production and supply of improved varieties of seed of rainfed crops to resource poor farmers in the semi-arid tropical regions to enhance productivity. Majority of legume crop varieties grown under rainfed agriculture system are open pollinated varieties or self-pollinated crops especially, cereals and legumes grown in semi-arid tropics of the globe. The importance of rainfed agriculture varies regionally but produces high percentage of food for poor communities in the developing countries. In sub-Saharan Africa more than 95% of the farmed land is rainfed, while the corresponding figure for Latin America is almost 90%, for South Asia it is about 60%, 65% for East Asia and 75% for the Near East and North Africa...