1. Slide 1 (RYY, 6-7 June 2013)
Agriculture for Nutrition and Health (A4NH) Workshop:
Enhancing Nutrition in Value Chains
IFPRI, Washington, D.C., 6-7 June 2013
Leveraging Vegetable Seed Suppliers
The Seed Grant Case Study:
Enhanced nutritional outcomes of populations through nutrition-sensitive
agricultural promotion by a vegetable seed company in Bangladesh
and Possible Expansion
Ray-Yu Yang, Nutritionist, Peter Hanson, Vegetable Breeder, AVRDC, Taiwan
S.M. Abdul Mukit, Marketing Manager, Lal Teer Seed, Bangladesh
Shahabuddin Ahmad, Vegetable Sector Leader, Horticulture Project, Bangladesh

2. Slide 2 (RYY, 6-7 June 2013)
Vegetable availability vs. health/nutrition status
Health status indicator:
Children under 5 mortality rate
Nutrition status indicator:
Children under 5 underweight
50
100
150
200
250
300
0 100 200 300 400 500 600 700 800
Children<5mortalityrate(1/1000)
Vegetable availability (g/person/day)
Niger
Mali
Tanzania
Philippines
r = - 0.52
p < 0.001
n = 171
Bangladesh
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
0 100 200 300 400 500 600 700 800
Children<5underweight(%)
Vegetable availability (g/person/day)
Niger
Mali
Tanzania
Philippines
r = - 0.53
p < 0.001
n = 148
Bangladesh
Source: Keatinge et al., 2012

3. Slide 3 (RYY, 6-7 June 2013)
Share of vegetable consumption (availability) in Asia
(min. 200 g/day/person)
5%
59%56% 88%71%
8%
4%
87%
7%
14%29%36%
8% 12% 15%
715 g/day 423 g/day 422 g/day 171
g/day
144
g/day
Onion
Tomatoes
Other
veg
Eastern Asia
38
Western Asia
23
Central Asia
23
S
Asia
9
SE
Asia
8
Source: RYY 2011, Data: FAOSTAT 2010

4. Slide 4 (RYY, 6-7 June 2013)
Share of vegetable consumption (availability) in SS Africa
(min. 200 g/day/person)
Source: RYY, 2013; Data source: FAOSTAT 2012

5. Improving incomes, nutrition and health in
Bangladesh through potato, sweetpotato, and
vegetables
USAID Horticulture Project-CIP/AVRDC

6. Slide 6 (RYY, 6-7 June 2013)
The value chain flow can be restricted by poor food habits and
unawareness of nutritional significance of healthy diets including
vegetable consumption
Seeds
(genebank/breeding)
Field Plate HumanMarket
Home-based production

7. Slide 7 (RYY, 6-7 June 2013)
Promotion of healthy eating and vegetable consumption in
Bangladesh (USAID-CIP/AVRDC-Horticulture Project)
• Promotion mechanisms
– Nutrition and health extension channels
• BRAC health program (an NGO in Bangladesh)
• Target: low income consumers
– Projects: WorldFish, SPRING, Government Nutrition/Health
– Agricultural extension channels
• Project field days and agricultural training/promotion
• Target: farmers (consumers, buyers) and their families
• Vegetable seed companies
• Target: farmers (consumers, buyers) and their families

8. Slide 8 (RYY, 6-7 June 2013)
Advantage of nutrition outreach to farmers and farm families
via seed companies
• Many seed companies have strong
farmer extension activities to
promote sound crop management
practices to maximize productivity
• Seed companies routinely conduct
farmer field days for promotion of
vegetable seed sales and reach
thousands of farmers throughout the
country.
• Promoting increased production and consumption of vegetables is in
the interest of vegetable seed companies
• Seed companies would gain financially by increased production and
consumption of vegetables

9. Slide 9 (RYY, 6-7 June 2013)
Lal Teer Seed Company
• Based in Bangladesh
• Part of Multimode group of
companies
• Strong vegetable R&D
• Seed and input distribution
network throughout Bangladesh
• Strong sense of corporate social
responsibility
Covering 493 Upazillas

10. Slide 10 (RYY, 6-7 June 2013)
Program name
Districts
covered
No of Program
conducted
No of
beneficiaries
Community Meeting 15 240 9,600
Field day 64 1200 12,000,000
Demo plot 64 1500 2,000,000
Farmers' information
Booth
05 Continuous Many
Lal Teer Seed technology dissemination
10
Demo plot
Community Meeting
Service Booth

11. Slide 11 (RYY, 6-7 June 2013)
Nutrition promotion and home garden training
Farmers buy benefits not products (seeds)

12. Slide 12 (RYY, 6-7 June 2013)
Case Study -
• Enhanced nutritional outcomes of populations through nutrition-
sensitive agricultural promotion by a vegetable seed company in
Bangladesh

13. Slide 13 (RYY, 6-7 June 2013)
Goal and objectives
Long term goal
• Increase supplies of nutritious food and increase consumption of
healthy diets in developing countries.
Medium term objectives
• Enhanced public awareness, demand for and access to nutrient-
rich vegetables for rural and urban poor with emphasis on
nutritious diets for women and children
Specific objectives in year one
• Strengthen the nutritional impact pathway of vegetable
production in Bangladesh through collaboration with a vegetable
seed company.

14. Slide 14 (RYY, 6-7 June 2013)
Nutritional impact pathway of vegetable seed companies
with agricultural oriented extension and marketing

15. Slide 15 (RYY, 6-7 June 2013)
Enhanced nutritional impact pathway of vegetable seed
companies with nutrition integrated agricultural
extension and marketing, and the A4NH project
interventions

16. Slide 16 (RYY, 6-7 June 2013)
Main activities in year one
Jointly with Lal Teer Seed Limited and partners to
1. Discussions to understand seed company marketing and extension.
(months 1-2)
2. Design, fine-tune, and develop nutritional promotion materials for use in
training, promotion and field demonstration (months 2-5)
3. Training of Trainers program in nutrition and nutrition awareness. (months
3-10)
4. Select target sites, target populations, extension and/or promotion events
for a case study (months 2-3)
5. Conduct the case study (quasi-experiment with control and pre-/post
evaluation) to investigate effectiveness of the proposed project
interventions and test the proposed project hypothesis. Indicators for
measurement in year one focus on nutritional knowledge and attitudes,
and consumption when feasible. (months 4 -10)
6. Present and publish the results in international agricultural and nutritional
events, and develop strategy for scale out. (months 11-12)

17. Slide 17 (RYY, 6-7 June 2013)
Potential expansion of the case study
approach to other regions

18. Slide 18 (RYY, 6-7 June 2013)
Increasing supplies and consumption at national and
regional level-
Increasing consumers’ demand and incentives for
consumption of nutritious food including vegetables
Seeds
(genebank/breeding)
Field Plate HumanMarket
Home-based production

19. Slide 19 (RYY, 6-7 June 2013)
AVRDC’s relationship with private seed sector
• Long history of service and collaboration with seed companies in
S/SE Asia and East Africa
• Seed company benefited from access and use of AVRDC
vegetable breeding lines
• AVRDC-APSA (Asia and Pacific Seed Association) Consortium
(2003-2013)

20. Slide 20 (RYY, 6-7 June 2013)
Selecting seed company collaborators
• Seed companies differ in interest in AVRDC’s mission to alleviate malnutrition
and poverty, long-term vision, corporate social responsibility
• Selective AVRDC partnerships with progressive seed companies
– AVRDC provides technical support (improved lines, breeding protocols,
training) to improve plant breeding capacity
– Encourage and equip seed companies to promote nutrition messages
– View farm families as vegetable consumers and nutrition promotion as a
means to increase demand and consumption of vegetables by farmers
– Encourage seed companies to produce and distribute mini-pack vegetable
seeds to home gardeners some of whom become commercial producers
– More vegetable demand and consumption means increased seed sales!

21. Slide 21 (RYY, 6-7 June 2013)
Company Location Company Location
Advanta India Known-You Taiwan/Global
Allied Botanical Philippines Mikado Kyowa Japan
Ankur Seeds India Namdhari India
Ajeet Seeds India Nuziveedu India
BHN USA Nunhems Holland/Global
Chia Tai Thailand Rasi Seeds India
Clause Thailand Thailand Syngenta Swiss/Global
Clover Seed Hong Kong Rijk Zwaan Holland/Global
East-West SE/S Asia Sakata Japan/Global
Enza-Zaden Holland Seedworks India
Indo-American India Seminis US/Global
JK Agri Genetics India Takii Japan/Global
Kaneko Japan Tokita Japan/Global
VNR India Vibha India
Potential seed companies for scale out in South and Southeast Asia

22. Slide 22 (RYY, 6-7 June 2013)
Potential seed companies for scale out in Africa
East and Central Africa:
• Simlaw (Kenya Seed Company) and East
Africa Seed Company (Kenya)
– Directly market seeds in Kenya, Tanzania
and Uganda, and indirectly in Rwanda,
Burundi, Congo and South Sudan
– Simlaw is promoting nutrition and East
Africa wants to.
– Both understand that increased demand
for vegetables means more seed sales.
West Africa
• Technisem Seed (based in Senegal)
Meeting with Simlaw, 27/05/13
Meeting with East Africa Seed, 27/05/13

23. Slide 23 (RYY, 6-7 June 2013)
Perspectives
• Seed companies can strengthen both agricultural production
(vegetable supply) and nutrition awareness (vegetable demand)
of farmers and their families
• Wide and sustained reach to customers (farmers)
• Complements and reinforces nutrition extension
• AVRDC – The World Vegetable Center is in a good position to lead
the proposed approach and collaborate with partners under the
Nutrition Sensitive Value Chain Component of the A4NH Program