OP-8.1: Quantity of seed/planting material of improved varieties accessed by farm households

Definition: Improved varieties constitute of genetic material that has been tested and found to be of higher-yield, higher in nutritional content, and/or more resilient to climate impacts. This indicator excludes recycled seed of hybrids crops, but includes recycled seed of open-pollinated crops up to the n^th generation to be defined by crop (and variety). An addendum will be developed for the later.

Unit of Measure: Kilograms (conversion factors to be established in case of vegetatively propagated crops)

Disaggregated by: Crop, Planting material/seed category, Gender of household head or farm/plot (Male, Female), Geographic location (sub-national, national)
Crop: Chickpea, Lentil, Faba beans, grass pea, Spring Barley, Winter barley, Durum wheat, Spring Bread wheat)
Planting material/seed category: Certified, Truthfully labelled, Quality guaranteed

Certified Seed/planting material: Certified seed/planting material (the progeny of basic seed) is a category of seed/planting material produced by seed companies (public or private) under contract with selected farmers. The production and distribution of certified seed is designed to maintain sufficient varietal identity and purity. It is grown under prescribed conditions of culture and isolation and is subjected to field and seed inspections prior to approval by the certifying agency.
Truthfully Labelled Seed/planting material: It is the category of seed produced by cultivators and/or private seed companies and sold under truthful labels. This type of seeds does not come under the purview of the certifying agency. The minimum standards (purity, germination rate etc.) for truthfully labelled seed may be determined by the state regulatory agency or left to the discretion of the seed producer. Consumers/farmers monitor adherence to standards and report failure to meet standards, while regulatory agencies oversee the situation and carry out spot checks.
Quality Guaranteed or Declared Seed/planting material: This class of seed is produced from certified seed, usually with minimal inspections and testing. Seed-producing farmers and seed companies are responsible for seed quality, while the government has a monitoring role (e.g. using extension staff for field inspection).
Recycled seed/planting material: This constitutes of farm produce saved for use as seed in subsequent planting cycles. Albeit selection of phenotypically superior produce for use as seed/planting material, recycled seed/planting materials is often of a lower quality compared to the classes of seed listed above, and creates avenues for recurrent disease and pest infestation and reduced potential for continued benefits from genetic traits- especially so for hybrid seed.
Crop variety type: Hybrid, Open-pollinated
Hybrid varieties: Hybrid seed is seed/planting material produced by the controlled crosspollination of unlike parents of the same plant species. Because the parents are genetically different, hybrids have 'hybrid vigour' resulting in increased growth, size, yield or other characteristics over those of the parents. However, when a hybrid is pollinated with another hybrid, the offspring will not have hybrid vigour and often have inferior performance.
Open-pollinated varieties: Open-pollinated varieties are seeds that result from pollination by insects, wind, self-pollination (when both male and female flowers occur on the same plant) or other natural forms of pollination. When open-pollinated varieties are grown in subsequent years (recycled), they result in plants with characteristics or "traits" like the parent plant from which the seeds were harvested.

Method of Calculation: Summation of quantities including all provided to the same household through multiple reach of the household.

Data sources:
Direct delivery system: Records of distribution events
Indirect delivery system: Farm household, Next-user organizations (NARS, private sector companies e.t.c)

Data collection method:
Direct delivery system: Recording of quantities received by recipients of crop technology packages
Indirect delivery system: Farm household surveys, Input market surveys; Interviews with next-user organization staff; Review of next-user organization records.

Data collection and reporting responsibility: Program leaders, project leaders, country managers, project M&E focal points

Data collection and reporting frequency:
Direct delivery system: Every agricultural season
Indirect delivery system: 2 to 4 agricultural seasons. Preferably every two agricultural seasons for crops with one cultivation cycle in a year, and 4 agricultural seasons for crops with more than one cropping season in a year.

Evidence required:
Direct delivery system: Planting material/seed distribution records
Indirect delivery system: Next-user records, Key informant interview transcripts; study protocol, data collection tools, request for proposals (RFP) document/ToR, inception report, dataset, data analysis notes/summary/do-files, final report

Rationale: This indicator measures the magnitude/intensity of access to/receipt of crop-based technology dessimanted through improved crop varieties.

Comments and limitations: This indicator is prone to distortions resulting from multiple reach of some households, and hence potential under-estimation of the quantity of planting materials/seed accepted by each unique household. Data collection and analysis approaches ought to to establish the incideces/prevalence of multiple reach and incremental planting materials/seed received by repeat reach households.
In addition, improved crop varieties tend to be input-intensive and require the adoption of improved management practices compared to local varieities. So tracking this indicator alone may not provide a broader understanding on the farm households' capability to maintain the improved crop varieties. Such an indicator is therefore better complemented by indicator OC-4.1.