Access to horticultural seeds and food sovereignty in Ecuador

Abstract

Despite the importance of horticultural production in Ecuador for the economic recovery of campesino communities, for the tomato industry and brocoli exports, the national horticultural production depends almost entirely on imports of seeds. The main supplier of horticultural seeds is the United States. For some crops, the imports of seeds represent more than 90 % of the total. This great dependence on the imports of seeds is detrimental to the country’s food sovereignty.