Conclusion

Due to formal rules, there is often a neglect of the significance and contribution of informality to development. Despite this neglect,

informality, however, remains visible and a major sector for development including seed sector development. Globally, regulation of the formality of the seed system is largely rooted in the emergence of the public sector-led breeding sector that separated the profession of farming from seed

production, mainly after the early 20th _century.

Over the past few decades, formality of the seed system is being regulated and promoted largely by private sector-supportive seed and intellectual property laws that focus on a linear model of seed sector development. Such a linear model involves a deliberately constructed regulatory system that promotes the release, registration and marketing of certified seeds of verified varieties.

37 _{http://www.npc.gov.np/images/download/TYP_2012.pdf (last accessed 15 March 2015).}

55

In developing countries, the transfer of technologies through CGIAR centres and movements such as the Green Revolution in the 1960s played a major role in creating public institutions to promote the formal seed system. Later on, under the influence of neoliberal policies of the 1980s and 1990s, these countries have witnessed a greater involvement of the private sector to expand the use of high-yielding varieties of the formal seed system.

On the other hand, the so-called informality of the seed system has its roots in the origin of agriculture, that is, long before the formality of the seed system appeared on the global agriculture scene. The rules that have emerged in accordance with social customs, values and norms of many generations of practices of domestication, selection, use and exchange of seeds are important dynamics of the traditional seed system.

Thus, the traditional seed system, though termed in modern times as being informal, holds significance for a majority of farmers in developing countries. Through the saving and exchange of seeds of local varieties, a majority of farmers have not only been contributing to conservation of local genetic diversity but also building a seed system that is supportive of local needs and preferences, and resilient to dynamic climatic and local

conditions.

Nepal’s case of the emergence and growth of the formal seed system is not distinct from the global trends of the formality of the seed system.

Irrespective of the change in governments, since the start of development planning in the 1950s, Nepal has focussed more on the import and use of technologies from other countries or international agriculture research centres. As we have seen from our presentation of the various plans,

successive governments of all the political regimes, be they under monarchy or a democratic system, have strengthened the formal seed system, initially through the public sector, and later on together with the participation of the private sector.

In our historical analysis of development plans, we found that CGIAR centres like IRRI and CIMMYT partnered with the government to introduce a number of improved varieties of rice, wheat and maize since the 1960s. Nepal also introduced several other improved varieties from other countries,

but hardly paid any attention towards promoting the use of native varieties of farmers’ seed system. We also saw that mainly since the 1980s, external organisations like USAID and GTZ, as major global actors, were key to support seed production programmes and develop related infrastructure for formal seed sector. In 1983, the USAID also supported the organisation of the first National Seed Seminar, which recommended the enactment of a Seed Act and the expansion of the use of improved seeds of the formal seed system through private sector participation. The Seed Act finally came into being in 1988 with major technical support from the GTZ.

Moreover, as I highlighted, as part of the externally-guided structural reforms of the agriculture sector, the introduction of the National Fertiliser Policy, National Seed Policy and Seed Regulation in the 1990s further enabled the formal seed actors to emerge as major players in Nepal’s seed system. These trends do not merely coincide with the global trends of the formality of seed system, but also relate to the outcomes of the regulatory process of globalisation where international trends and influences have played a major role in shaping the national seed sector development strategies across many developing countries.

Against the backdrop of such a historical context and the growth of the formal seed system in Nepal, the next chapter provides an analysis of the regulatory features and impacts of the formal seed system. The chapter also provides an analysis of Nepal’s local, customary dynamics of farmers’ seed system.

Chapter 4

Regulatory features and impacts of

formal and informal seed systems

4.1 Introduction

The previous chapter showed that Nepal has been following the general global trend to promote the formality of the seed system for seed sector development. While external agencies have supported Nepal to move

towards a linear regulatory system for seed sector development, a number of domestic actors from public and private sectors too have contributed to the growth of the formal seed system in the country.

This chapter presents an analysis of how public and private actors, together with non-government organisations and farmers’ groups, operate within the formal seed system in Nepal. As farmers in Nepal mostly rely on local exchanges and outlets for the use of native and local varieties, the focus of the formal seed system has often been on making farmers consumers (buyers) of the new, improved varieties.

The chapter discusses the features and impacts of the formal seed system in relation to regulatory institutions and formal actors; variety release and registration trends; and measures of quality control, multiplication and marketing of improved seeds. After an analysis of the features and impacts of the formal seed system, the chapter presents an analysis of the dynamics of the local seed system in Nepal, also discussing how formal and informal seed systems interact.