Picture by Rob Bekker

In conversation with Dr. Monika Brasser on the NL-CGIAR Research Programme

Picture by Floor van Koer Fotografie

Dr Fofana Bidjokazo is the director of the Integrated Seed Sector Development (ISSD) Sahel programme at IFDC in Bamako/Mali. On February 22-24, he visited the Netherlands to meet several stakeholders part of the Dutch potato and vegetable seed sector.

On 18 May 2021 an Independent Dialogue was convened. An event that particularly focussed on the potential of multi-stakeholder collaboration as one of the key ‘game-changing solutions’ in achieving sustainable food systems. The event served as a means to provide input for the UN 2021 Food Systems Summit. Presented here are a few of the main challenges and opportunities identified during the discussion.

Coming 26-28 July the UN Food Systems Pre-Summit will take place in Rome, Italy. As seed is a critical part of food systems we would like to suggest a few sessions during the main event and side sessions, as well as other events organised during the Pre-Summit that might be of interest.

SeedNL is pleased to announce that the potato sector will start supporting coalition building in transforming potato sectors to contribute to food security, employment, and entrepreneurship under the umbrella of SeedNL.

At SeedNL, we focus on making quality fruit and vegetable seeds available for all farmers and therefore, consider the role of fruits and vegetables for healthy diets to be of utmost importance. In a recent Food Systems Summit brief authors present evidence on food system issues for fruits and vegetables in healthy diets.

Some transforming solutions needed for achieving SDG2 seem rather “small” while its impact can be massive. This is the case with seed.