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Bhutanese maize farmers grow different open-pollinated traditional varieties and improved high yielding varieties recommended by the national maize program. All most every maize farmer uses the recycled seeds from their farms for planting in the next season. Farmers traditional or informal seed system was found to be poorly organized and unscientific that has resulted in the deterioration and contamination of seed quality. Bhutanese maize farmers living in remote areas are highly constrained by the inconsistent supply and poor access to good quality maize seed. The formal public seed sectors lack adequate resources to produce and supply good quality seeds. This called for an urgency to identify and adapt an innovative and a sustainable seed production approach to service the subsistence needs of Bhutanese farmers in a cross-pollinated crop, like maize. The community based seed production (CBSP) approach was introduced and evaluated under the Bhutanese maize production system as an alternative farmer based seed production model. A total of seven farmers CBSP groups were formed and promoted as a smallholder seed enterprise. The technical skills of these CBSP group members on maize seed production were improved through practical demonstrations and trainings. The CBSP groups were supplied with high quality source seed of new maize varieties by the national maize program. For long term, the sustainability of CBSP groups were linked to the formal seed sector in the country for marketing the seeds. The CBSP approach has proven to be a successful small scale maize seed production model under highland maize production ecosystem that has improved the production and supply of good quality maize seeds. The Bhutanese experiences with CBSP in maize, its merits for small holder Bhutanese maize farmers and lessons learnt from the CBSP model are discussed in this paper.

Community Based Seed Production—A Sustainable Seed Production Model for Subsistence of Bhutanese Maize Farmers