CGIAR Initiative: Seed Equal <p class="ql-align-justify">Smallholder&nbsp;farmers, especially women and disadvantaged groups, are&nbsp;particularly&nbsp;vulnerable to climate-related and other challenges,&nbsp;compromising&nbsp;their ability to meet their own food, nutrition, and income needs, much less contribute to local and national food security.&nbsp;More frequent and&nbsp;severe droughts&nbsp;and erratic rainfall&nbsp;due to climate change&nbsp;threaten agricultural production. Due to&nbsp;inadequate&nbsp;seed supply and&nbsp;delivery&nbsp;systems misaligned with user and market demand, smallholders use ‘old’ varieties or recycle seed, leaving them&nbsp;more&nbsp;vulnerable to pests and diseases<span style="background-color: inherit;">i</span>.&nbsp;Productivity varies by gender,&nbsp;with&nbsp;these&nbsp;challenges disproportionately affecting&nbsp;women<span style="background-color: inherit;">ii</span>.&nbsp;Until gender disparities in access to information, technologies, markets and other opportunities are addressed, efforts to realize agriculture’s potential to sustainably achieve food, nutrition&nbsp;and income security will have limited impact.&nbsp;</p><p class="ql-align-justify">&nbsp;&nbsp;</p><p class="ql-align-justify">With increasing population&nbsp;and climate&nbsp;pressure, inclusive and climate-smart intensification of food production is urgently needed&nbsp;for&nbsp;One CGIAR and partners to deliver&nbsp;in&nbsp;key&nbsp;impact areas—nutrition, poverty, gender, climate, and environment—and the second Sustainable Development Goal: Zero Hunger by 2030.&nbsp;Improved varieties,&nbsp;innovations,&nbsp;and approaches&nbsp;developed&nbsp;and promoted&nbsp;by&nbsp;CGIAR&nbsp;and partners have potential,&nbsp;when contextualized&nbsp;considering&nbsp;social, economic and political factors,&nbsp;to transform agri-food systems and reduce yield gaps,&nbsp;‘hunger&nbsp;months,’&nbsp;and other disparities.&nbsp;However,&nbsp;limited access&nbsp;to&nbsp;and use&nbsp;of&nbsp;affordable,&nbsp;quality seed of well adapted varieties&nbsp;with&nbsp;desired&nbsp;traits&nbsp;remains a bottleneck.&nbsp;</p><p class="ql-align-justify">&nbsp;</p><p class="ql-align-justify">Achieving&nbsp;One CGIAR’s&nbsp;goals&nbsp;requires&nbsp;a long-term, end-to-end&nbsp;investment in CGIAR breeding driven by market intelligence, supported by partnerships&nbsp;that deliver&nbsp;genetic gains&nbsp;equitably&nbsp;in&nbsp;farmers’ fields.&nbsp;This&nbsp;requires&nbsp;enabling policy environments&nbsp;incentivizing&nbsp;varietal turnover and quality seed use<span style="background-color: inherit;">iii</span>&nbsp;and&nbsp;integrating and leveraging&nbsp;formal and informal seed systems to the benefit of all.&nbsp;&nbsp;</p><p class="ql-align-justify">&nbsp;</p><p class="ql-align-justify">To this end,&nbsp;SeEdQUAL will build on decades of work on seed systems by CGIAR and partners,&nbsp;and&nbsp;leverage&nbsp;synergies&nbsp;as governments<span style="background-color: inherit;">iv</span>, breeders, funders<span style="background-color: inherit;">v</span>,&nbsp;and communities recognize the need to accelerate&nbsp;demand-driven&nbsp;seed system development and reach farmers at the last mile.&nbsp;Success hinges on&nbsp;better&nbsp;understanding and&nbsp;responding&nbsp;to seed user&nbsp;demands,&nbsp;including women and young&nbsp;farmers,&nbsp;and&nbsp;value chain actors&nbsp;specializing&nbsp;in niche markets with high potential.&nbsp;Seed systems that respond dynamically to such opportunities&nbsp;and deploy&nbsp;innovative methods (e.g.&nbsp;ICT tools) and aligned approaches (EGS production and policies)&nbsp;will&nbsp;increase&nbsp;and expand&nbsp;the benefits of seed access and use, especially for disadvantaged groups.&nbsp;SeEdQUAL,&nbsp;together with key innovation, delivery and scaling partners, will&nbsp;develop and promote&nbsp;new&nbsp;technology solutions, more effective business models, and policy reforms to create sustainable and inclusive seed systems.&nbsp;</p><p><br></p>