In developing countries, 80-90% of the farmers access their seed from the informal system, with intermediate and formal seed systems accounting for the remainder. International actors increasingly recognize the importance of bridging gaps between various seed systems to ensure that high quality, culturally appropriate, and resilient seed is available and accessible to farmers. S34D is increasingly working in the forage EGS production, forage seed production and densification of forages to improve livestock nutrition outcomes and further enhance food security. S34D is therefore works across formal and informal seed systems to: 

• Characterize and profile formal and informal seed systems actors and customers 
• Provide market and demand forecasting and cost estimation
• Support seed production logistics to broaden crop portfolio 
• Develop new market strategies with firms and informal actors to push out market frontiers 
• Link seed producer organizations to agro-dealer networks
• Develops online digital seed inspectors training with the regulator
• DNA fingerprinting to assess genetic purity of seeds and planting materials
• Conduct research on farmer adoption of new varieties and constraints to adoption
• Facilitate regional seed harmonization protocols
• Cultivate new business/financing models to support seed inventory and farmer buying options 

Seed interventions have long served as a primary means of addressing agricultural challenges during emergency and resilience response programs. Such interventions tend to include either direct (e.g., direct seed distribution) or market-based (e.g., vouchers, cash, fairs) approaches. Despite their long history, there has historically been limited available evidence to suggest the ideal modality in specific emergency situations and the extent to which seed aid should be utilized as part of emergency and resilience programs. S34D is therefore examining this thematic area in the following ways: 

• Conducting Emergency Seed System Security Assessments (SSSA) to identify seed constraints and best response interventions 
• Developing tools to determine the effect of market-based humanitarian seed interventions to create linkages between buyers and sellers. 
• Finding effective ways to enable vulnerable farmers to test improved varieties, and track quantities and movement of seeds, such as micro-packs 
• Developing sustainable last mile seed business models and distribution networks to support highly vulnerable communities 
• Analyzing cash versus voucher modalities and generate evidence regarding the impact or lack thereof of (cash, vouchers, fairs) seed interventions.
• Gather evidence and develop best practices to limit free seed distribution to critical needs

Seed policy and regulation is critical to ensuring the availability, access, and utilization of quality seed, impacting private sector participation, efficient and effective regulatory systems, and quality control. Given the unique policy and regulatory environments and needs of the countries S34D works within, S34D, with support from key stakeholders, takes a tailored approach to generate evidence and provide actionable, gender-sensitive policy recommendations that create enabling environments at both the national and regional levels. The following are amongst the many services S34D provides to support seed policy:

• Providing support to government in developing their seed road maps
• Generating evidence to influence national decision making 
• Focusing on seed policies and standards that allow for greater liberalization in seed markets 
• Conducting barrier analysis to adoption of seed for new varieties
• Supporting measures to stop counterfeit seeds by implementing farmers’ feedback mechanism a.k.a. Stop Bad Seed
• Providing coordination of seed indices to benchmark and improve its seed system
• Explore options for new seed classes (Standard Seed) with regulators and accelerate production and delivery of higher quality QDS

Cost-effective and sustainable financing of national and regional seed sectors within formal and informal seed systems is necessary to enable more farmers – particularly in remote and fragile contexts – to access quality and improved seed varieties. Scaling new business models is vital to effectively expand seed inventories for a broader range of crops while improving delivery of quality seed across formal, informal, and chronic/emergency seed systems. S34D supports these endeavors in the following ways: 

• Conducts financial scan for seed companies and financial institutions
• Identifies financing needs and opportunities for Banks/MFIs (FSPs) to support value chains
• Support new financial options for seed actors in both formal and informal seed systems
• Develops new financial arrangements with seed production and delivery and distribution companies

An increase in improved forages to serve as high-quality animal feed around the year is a necessity in countries with large livestock populations. However, for increased production of improved forages, a viable and sustainable forage seed system needs to be functional. In many developing countries, an inadequate supply of forage seed has been identified as one of the major constraints to increased forage production. Towards addressing this and other forage seed challenges, S34D works to:

• develop frameworks to provide assessments of the current state of forage seed systems and monitor forage seed system growth
• conduct forage seed system assessments and monitoring
• undergo economic and environmental analyses of novel approaches to forage feed solutions 
•  identify contextually-appropriate forage seed interventions