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EUROPEAN-SEED.COM I EUROPEAN SEED I 11 seed. Seed is however only part of the solution to increasing agricultural output and increasing output is only part of the solution to food security worldwide says Keller. ISF members and companies are working directly with farmers on a global level to find sustainable solutions to the problem of world hunger. Stability Needed However Keller says the Access to Seeds Index doesnt address some important factors that are prerequisites for allowing plant breeding innovations to reach smallholders farmers a stable political legal and intellectual property framework. Carl-Stephan Schfer secretar y general of the German Plant Breeders Association BDP says that feeding the world is a major issue for plant breeders already but emphasises that it cannot be made the responsibility of breeders alone. Solving the food security problem is more complex than making new varieties. Its about reducing food waste plant protection plant nutrition and so on. Plant breeders consider seed a very important contribution to sustainable intensification. However this is only possible in an appropriate agricultural setting. New varieties need the respective agricultural practices to realise their genetic potential in the form of higher and more reliable yields better quality and reduced inputs. And this requires the size and scale of investment and commitment that is only possible if political and legal frameworks favour such investments says Schfer. Ve r h a ge n a g r e e s . E v e r y b o d y understands that for the market to flourish an enabling environment is essential. Therefore the World Bank and Cornell University are evaluating the work that is being done by governments in this respect. The focus of the Access to Seeds Index on the role of the private sector is complementary to that. Together they can inform the discussion on how the public and the private sector reinforce each others impact. Inspiration The Access to Seeds Index draws its inspiration from the Access to Medicine Index which ranks the worlds largest pharmaceutical companies according to their efforts to make their products more available affordable and accessible in developing countries. Niels Louwaars director of Netherlands seed association Plantum notes there are differences between the seed industry and the pharmaceutical industry where product development can be done anywhere. What might work in one industry is not guaranteed to work in another. It is clear from the evidence that a one size fits all approach doesnt work for a number of reasons. Medicines can be transported from one country to another and will work. But if you take a European seed variety and plant it in Africa it might not flourish in the same way he says. Comparison w ith the Access to Medicine Index is tempting but ultimately not very useful due to the huge variety in the size of seed companies. In our industry only a few companies have a global impact. Most are locally or regionally active and often do not have any relationship with the target areas of the index but they still influence the global food production system since the genetic improvement they produce is available for local breeders and farmers in the countries where smallholder farmers dominate. It is therefore essential that the Access to Seed Index has developed a separate methodology for this index. According to Verhagen the Access to Medicine Index shows that an index can be a powerful tool in better understanding how an Carl-Stephan Schafer In many developing countries farmers do not yet benefit from the advantages of using quality seed due to a combination of factors including inefficient seed production distribution and quality assurance systems as well as the lack of good seed policies and other regulatory instruments. Michael Keller Niels Louwaars