2021 Access to Seeds Index: Regional landscaping report for South and South-east Asia

The first South and South-east Asia (SSEA) Access to Seeds Index was published in 2019 and evaluated the efforts of 24 leading seed companies in the region. The second SSEA Access to Seeds Index is due to be launched in 2021 at the United Nations Food Systems Summit, alongside the World Benchmarking Alliance’s (WBA) Food and Agriculture Benchmark.

The regional index will evaluate the efforts of 31 leading seed companies in 14 countries: Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Cambodia, India, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Nepal, Pakistan, the Philippines, Sri Lanka, Thailand and Vietnam.

This landscaping report provides an overview of the seed sector in the region. The report summarises the region’s main crops, the enabling environment, observations on the results of the 2019 SSEA Access to Seeds Index and recent events affecting seed sector development, notably the COVID-19 pandemic.