Key words: science, seeds, eloquence, beginnings, role of science

Many years ago in Grade II, we learned a poem titled "The Plant" by Kate Louise Brown (1924). The poem, whose meaning is timeless, universal and very descriptive, even if simple and a bit romantic, goes this way:

In the heart of a seed
buried deep, so deep,
a dear little plant
lay fast asleep.
"Wake!" said the sunshine
"and creep to the light."
"Wake!" said the voice
of the raindrops bright.
The little plant heard
and it rose to see
what the wonderful
outside world might be.

The poet and the scientist share a common sense a wonder in one of nature's littlest and yet most fascinating creation: the seed. Simpson (1998), in his book Seminal Thoughts written at the later part of his career as a seed scientist, has this to say: "I have now reached the age of wonderment when I look at the seeds. as whole beings, marvelously complex and each in its own way, unique and not represented by such nomenclature as 'average', 'normal' or 'typical'. I have grown less interested in searching for the explanations of the mechanisms and more interested in the visual contemplation of the way small, even microscopic seeds can develop into such large and magnificent adult plants from such tiny beginnings."

In my pedestrian mind, the value of science, even if elegant in international journals, lies in the difference it makes in how we perceive the "eloquence of everyday life" (Canlini 1998). This paper is an attempt to show how science enables us to see this eloquence through the seed, as well as the seed's relevance beyond science.

Science in a Seed

I have chosen seeds to illustrate the role of science because seeds have a variety of stories to tell as products of science - as enduring cultural objects, which science has given value to, and as endangered public goods that the science is nudging us to do something about. Seeds are metaphor; seeds are symbols; seeds are parables; but most of all, seeds are real things in our everyday life. Seeds are a tangible evidence of life's continuity. In a manner of speaking, nature goes from seed to seed, albeit in different forms of planting materials, but all of which performs seed-like functions. Finally, seeds have always been of central importance in any culture, even in folklore. For example, "Almost all cereal-growing societies believe in the existence of a female goddess, the mother of the grain. The myths and folklore often involve stories that celebrate women and rice as source of nourishment and life. In some cases, the stories portray the worship of certain goddesses as personifications and embodiments of rice itself' (IRRI 1999). Clearly, seeds cannot be anything but female because they give life. Where rice means food, seeds are part of the cultural core of exchange, sharing, and social security.

Let us now look at some ways we can view seeds using the eyes of science.

1. Seeds exhibit nature in countless ways.

Their genetic features are enhanced by science in planned and unplanned specificities. Seeds have physiology, morphology, life cycle (from natural dispersal to germination), maturity, photosensitivity, dormancy, resistance to pest and diseases; and seeds can sometimes be recalcitrant. There are seeds as banks whether persistent or transient, often unseen, but waiting underground for the opportunity to assert themselves as weeds or other plants (Baskin and Baskin 1998). There are clean and healthy seeds as well as contaminated ones (Diaz et al 1998).

The cultural management of seeds as they grow into plants is very much determined wittingly by these seeds characteristics. Time and timing are crucial in the process in order to produce the best results, but the optimum is not always obtained due to labor constraints, delayed rains, lack of knowledge, or even misperception about the nature of the seeds and what is required in terms of nurture for effective performance.

All that science knows. But science has a great deal to learn from indigenous practices in seed selection and seed management in the cordilleras in Northern Philippines and other less-favorable growing environments. The people of the cordilleras do not always articulate reasons for doing what they do, but their ways have been tried and tested since ancient times (Mendoza 1999).

Almost always, there are scientific explanations why these practices work, but they have to be understood within the cultural context of the people's genius. As one Southeast Asian leader remarked: "The trouble with researchers is they tend to substitute research for wisdom!" The challenge is to find ways of interpreting and communicating science so it becomes part of the wisdom called upon in everyday life.

As the parable of the seeds and the sower says, the "seeds sown on rich soil bear fruit and yield a hundred or sixty or thirty fold" (Matthew 13:8). This parable itself alludes to the nature-nurture interaction. And yes, scientist estimate that the range of yields from seeds is almost as wide as the parable says.

In the case of bananas and plantains, they are "difficulties crops to breed because most of the important and popular varieties are highly sterile and do not produces seeds". Research has developed new varieties with built-in resistance to pest and diseases by working with DNA. New plants can be regenerated from somatic embryos produced in the laboratory (INIBAP 1998).

In other instances, a delicate surgery procedure called embryo rescue is done for precious seeds that otherwise would have been aborted (Brar 1998). Secure has also made it possible for wild species of trees and plant to be domesticated, made more fruitful and to multiply, so that communities where they grow could have continuous access to more and better products not only for their own use but for the market (IPGRI 1996).

2. Seeds have their own identities.

They are not anonymous and, unlike Shakespeare's equivocation in "a rose by any other name would smell as sweet", there is a level of precision in the names and associate characteristics of seeds. While DNA test help establish the paternity of a child claiming a father, or vice versa.

Molecular markers permit genetic characteristics for breeding purposes (EMBRAPA1998). To determine what combination of these important characteristics should be bred for, the scientist takes in account biophysical conditions, socio-economic circumstances, people needs and preference. In other words, contrary to what some of us think, scientists do not deliberately ignore the human purpose of what they do, although they do not always succeed.

A genealogy Management System (GMS) that provides pedigree and selection histories of rice, corn, and cassava has been developed. Unique germplasm identifiers are assigned by the GMS to overcome the problem of local naming practices (CGIAR 1999).

An excellent example of seed pedigree is IR-64, a rice variety that carries 17 immediate parental lines and 15 landraces from 8 countries (India, Indonesia, China, Korea, Thailand, the Philippines, the U.S. and Vietnam). Although it sounds like the ultimate mongrel, IR-64 is popular because of its eating quality resistance to certain rest and diseases, high yield potential, and wide adaptability.

3. Seeds embody both our past and our future.

Seeds are bearers of special qualities known not only to scientist but first of all to indigenous peoples. The latter's knowledge has now appreciated in value as we search for traditional and natural sources of healing, of preferred quality, and beauty, and longevity, of vitality and even of virility. There must be indigenous potions of the potency of Viagra. Never before had ethno botany's expertise been called for as it has now. The more indigenous, the more remote, the more virgin the territory, the more sought-after is the knowledge that indigenous people possess about what has enable them to survive without the trappings of modern technology.

Quite interesting, for example, are medicinal weeds in the rice fields of Chhattisgarh, India (Oudhia 1999). Farmers, folk doctors and ayurvedic doctors are consulted on the medicinal values of those unwanted plants. Many weed species that infest rice fields have been reported in ancient Indian literature as medicinal plants and today's farmers use them to solve their health problems. When weeds are no longer weeds and have become medicine, they are worth more than the rice they have infested.

Traditional varieties are now being revived and reintroduced because consumers have become nostalgic about the old rice and are willing to pay a premium price for them. This nostalgia cannot be satisfied if science has not done its job of conservation and regeneration in the form of the seedbank, so that "a handful of seeds can do it" (Morin 1999; CIAP 1999).

Farmers and consumers must always have a "basket of choices", from the traditional, the modern or both, for their own specific purposes. Quite fashionable nowadays is a new role for farmers as shown in the partnership between farmers and scientist in varietal selection, which is now used to identify farmer-acceptable cultivars of rice and chickpea. Findings have shown that adoption of technology (cultivars) is improved by increase farmer participation, systematic testing of locally popular cultivars to define their domains properly, and a more open system of providing seeds of new cultivars to farmers (Joshi and Witcombe 1996).

Where seed security means food security, if we lose our seeds, we lose both our past and our future. This is what a can of seeds in a gene bank, an untouched piece of nature's reserve, a household garden of varied plants, or an upland farmers diversified plots, provide.

Farmers, particularly in traditional areas, know a great deal about seeds and their characteristics. Their expertise in partnership with scientists help save seeds and even their wild relatives before they disappear forever. Although molecular biology is used to reveal diversity at the gene level, farmers' knowledge is priceless for managing diversity (IRRI 1999).

In the voyage of reverse discovery, i.e., scientists learning from indigenous peoples and farmers, two action words have emerged in our seed-associated vocabulary: bioprospecting and biopiracy. The first can be positively viewed as adventures in scientific discovery; as to the second, it is not always clear as to when it occurs because the search is for active compounds, not for latent ethics. It is a long, expensive, science-intensive process before any of those active compounds becomes a tradeable good from which we can imagine the benefits we could have shared if we had known better.

There are those who believe that it is pure romanticism to think that ethics will save the day in a globally competitive market economy. But the world has not really tried to organize for global ethics, only for global competition in an uneven playing field.

Still, ethics is only one of the issues implicated here. The crafting a regulatory framework to prevent "poaching", so to speak, is a necessary but not sufficient response to the problem. We need a positive, pro-active effort that will add value to our plant genetic resources at the community level and promote conservation through use of these genetic resources.

Science, cultural traditions, the humanities, legal instruments, etc. must come together in defining what our national interests are in this collective heritage called plant genetic resources (PGR). No one special interest group, no matter how well intentioned, can speak for the national interest, because PGR issues are intergenerational cultural heritage issues. Let us not pre-empt the range of choices of future generations, whether cultural majority or indigenous minority. You must either lock them in the past nor render them in you to the innovative promises of tomorrow. That we much owe them.

4. Seeds of life are also seeds of hope and seeds of change.

For most farmers in the developing world, particularly where "the seed is synonymous with the produce", as in cereals (Ramachandrappa et al. 1999), seeds are selected from their previous harvest. In every farm household there is a seed saver, often the woman. Analysis of seed system has become almost a standard way to start diagnosing and defining problems for R&D in agriculture. It has been said that non-availability of seed is the single biggest constraint to smallholder agriculture in many developing countries (Rohrbach et al. 1997).

Formal seed systems range from the farmer-cum-seed grower, the private industry supplier; the public sector R&D production and distribution system; to precision-scheduled nurseries in seedling centers such as the 600 centers in Taiwan (Chru et al. 1999). The informal seed system includes farmer-to-farmer exchange or borrowing and other traditional practices of seed and information sharing during weddings, festivals and village fairs.

The bride, for example, brings the local seed to the bridegroom's house after marriage, for planting in the couple's field. Tribals exchange seeds during festivals. Seeds are also exchanged as gifts. Along with the local seeds are also local practices for seed selection, preservation and even management of genetic diversity (Ramachandrappa et al. 1999). Unknowingly, such traditions sometimes contribute to the spread of pest and diseases to one community to another.

But whatever the seed system happens to be, any disruption creates a crisis because seeds represents continuity of life. In India last year, there were near riots because of acute scarcity of onions. The country's total seed requirement is 4000 tonnes annually. Bad weather adversely affected the production of seeds for the next year, hence the crisis (ICAR 1999 unpublished). This was true not just for onion seeds but also for many other kinds of seeds.

At present, there are seeds, which promises to be rich in iron, in zinc, in protein, or even in Vitamin A. Glenn Gregorio says "there is even a bonus; if the rice smells good while it's cooking, chances are it's packed with iron and zinc too". Scientist believes that the traits of high iron and zinc are linked to the gene for aroma, making identification easy for the seeds desired (IRRI 1999).

There are hybrid seeds that give higher yields but do not lend themselves to seed selections for the next crop. There are also suicide seeds, sometimes called terminator genes, because farmers who buy such seeds will be able to produce and harvest crop but will not be able to save seeds from their harvest and sow them in the next year. Instead, they will have to buy seeds from seed companies each year, because the suicide seed technology, which has been planted, produces sterile seeds as built-in biological protection against seed-saving (IPGRI 1999).

More intriguing are rice seeds in Guinea, West Africa, which combine the best characteristics of high yielding varieties from Asia with those of the hardy varieties from Asia with those of the hardy varieties indigenous to West Africa. These "new rice types reduce women's labor for weed control, have higher protein content, and can reduce the intensity of slash-and-burn farming" (CGIAR 1999). These are truly international seeds that are gender-sensitive. "Improve seeds" nowadays often means an opportunistic mix of the indigenous, the modern and even the wild.

The new seeds of the type just described sometimes require different ways of managing them (usually with less or no agro-chemicals), new institutional arrangements for access, production and new knowledge. Quite fascinating, in this regard, is the introduction of true potato seeds (TPS), instead of potato seed tubers, in parts of Mindanao. This botanical seeds looks so fragile but it only take 10 grams to plant 1 hectare while it takes only 2,000 kg. of seed potato tubers to plant 1 hectare. These tiny seeds, which are capable of producing regular-size tubers, require new knowledge, skills, and techniques for handling, but farmers and tribal communities have learned how to grow them (Vogel 1999 unpublished).

In times oh peace and good weather, Mother Nature enables seeds to perform their inherent functions. But since our world is hardly a paradise, ethnic conflicts, civil wars and refugee situations that occur, plus drought and floods, have their own seed costs. Fortunately, science has developed such that when seeds of life are lost, seeds of hope can be mobilized.

One of the most dramatic stories about the resurrection of rice is the return of the "lost" indigenous rice varieties in Cambodia. Many traditional Cambodian rice varieties disappeared during the civil strife because seeds reserves served as food and farmers were discouraged from growing deepwater rice. Fortunately, 765 duplicate samples had previously been sent to the International Rice Genebank in the Philippines. At the Cambodian Government's request, IRRI returned the safety-conserved seeds. These restored seeds are growing once again in Cambodian farmers' field (IRRI 1999).

Richard and Ruivenkamp (1997) have presented 3 case studies showing "..why damage to the social fabric of a seed system can be as significant as direct physical loss of seeds. In Liberia, prolonged welfare not only deprives them of their basic raw materials but also left them with severely limited possibilities through local action. Combat in Sierra Leone destroyed the trust and tacit understanding among neighbors, on which farmer seed system are based. By disrupting the older generation's control of the labor of the young generation, conflict in Guinea Bissau also disrupted the labor supply for cultivating rice."

Seed security, as evident in these stories, is a socio-cultural matter, not just biophysical storage activity.

In Rwanda, a seeds of hope project was lunched to restore seeds to farmers when the fighting ended (IPGRI 1999). Similar efforts were carried out in Somalia.

Closer to home, farmers in Cagayan Valley in Northern Philippines shared their rice seeds and knowledge with researchers in 1996. In 1998, the same researchers turned packets of well-cleaned high quality seeds of the sample they had to collect in 1996. the El Niño-triggered drought of 1997 and the 2 typhoons in 1998 had destroyed crops of many farmers. The seeds the farmers saved in 1996 were no longer viable. The return of their "old seeds" was therefore very timely. The scientist argue that "Farmers should be able to grow the varieties they want, whether modern or traditional, so we need to improve access to the seeds they like" (IRRI 1999).

A slightly different view of seeds is presented in Hobhouse's (1999) book seed of change. The author takes six commercial plants - sugar, tea, cotton, potato, quinine and the coca plant - and shows how man's need, or greed, for these products has changed the face of history and shaped destinies. The book argues that these commodities have had more profound impact on the world than most wars, battles and revolutions.

5. Seeds and the culture of reciprocity.

In traditional societies and subsistence in household, food security is not just a matter of food production but also of investing in and maintaining good social relations. At the village level, exchange/sharing of seeds and planting materials takes place on a reciprocal basis, with financial payments being secondary. Here, the basis of exchange is not money but trust, mutuality of benefit and social equivalence in the value of the item or service being exchanged. Reciprocal acts may not occur simultaneously in time. In sharing what they have today, they ensure that their needs for seeds will be met tomorrow.

In the past, plant genetic resources were regarded as the common heritage of humankind, and therefore should be preserved for future generations. Then they became a common concern. Now plant genetic resources are a matter of national sovereignty. Against the background of the World Trade Organization (WTO), Intellectual Property rights (IPR), national sovereignty over genetic resources, contractual relationships embodied in legal frameworks, and global competitiveness, it must be asked: Will the culture of reciprocity survive? Protection of farmers' rights, which is regarded as desirable, has yet to be implemented. There is even a possibility that plant breeders and seed companies will consider centuries-old systems of seed exchange among farmers and local communities illegal under certain circumstances because of IPR claims. When this happens, it will be the ultimate failure in ethics and equity (Castillo 1998_

While the culture of reciprocity is threatened by legalities of globalization such as the WTO, "The history of agriculture shows that no country is self-sufficient in the plant genetic resources. Even though many countries now harbor significant diversity in gene banks and on farm fields, they will still need access to the diversity available from other countries. This interdependence suggest that plant genetic diversity is a resource of international significance and hence should be considered not only as a national but international responsibility" (IPGRI 1999).

In the meantime, there are evidences that the ideal of sharing our common heritage has not yet become passé in this era of market economy, provided the international community continues to support it. We find in the 25-year-old International Network for Genetic Evaluation of Rice (INGER) an ideal type of network. INGER is composed of rice scientist, about a thousand from the national agricultural research systems of 95 rice-growing countries and from four international agricultural research centers. Their genetic-and-germplasm-centered activities have yielded cultural dividends.

From 1975 to 1997, more than 42,000 breeding lines and varieties have been exchanged and evaluated globally. Germplasm (through seeds) has moved from one continent to another and among countries within a continent. Sometimes, countries had no diplomatic relations, but INGER's political neutrality help them to overcome this.

INGER provides an opportunity for every country, large or small, rich or poor, to be a donor of valuable genetic materials that could help another country - even one that is "not a friend" or one that is richer. It is as if an unspoken norm exist, the biblical dictate that those who have more will have to give more.

Varieties directly released in different countries through INGER and those varieties with parents donated by other countries are the epitome of international public goods in both spirit and substance. They actually benefit real people.

Genetic diversity is helping to ensure that cultural diversity will endure. Grain quality, for example, must match consumer preferences, which are truly cultural preferences. Rice seeds share a common food value and "speak" a common language that transcends politics, geography and culture.

INGER is a shinning example of how seemingly "romantic" notions of interdependence issues are in fact realistic. There is so much knowledge generated and still to be generated in order to improve the use and benefits we derive from seeds in everyday life. Incidentally, the illustration cited earlier show how science in seeds enables those who have less in life to benefit from its product. In the meantime, science and indigenous knowledge meet in unimaginable ways.

Seeds of all kinds contribute to biodiversity, and biodiversity underlies cultural diversity. Let us celebrate seeds with all their multiple glories in poetry, in songs, in dance, in children's books, in cartoons, in drama, in essays, in paintings, in drawings, in photography and so on, so that biodiversity will be internalized in our hearts and not just in our heads. Biodiversity is itself a seed we must take care of.

REFERENCES CITED

BASKIN CC, BASKIN JM. 1998. Seeds: Ecology, biography and evolution of dormancy and germination. San Diego, California: Academic Press.

BRAR D. 1998. Beyond rice: Wide crosses broaden the gene pool, IRRI 1997-1998. Biodiversity: Maintaining the Balance. Los Baños, Laguna, Philippines: IRRI

BROWN KL, "The Plant". In: Mary R. Polley and Josefa Jara Martinez (1924). Correct English: A language series for the Philippines, Grade III, D. C. Health & Co. Copyright 1924 and 1932 by the Lawyers of Cooperative Publishing Company in the Philippines Islands.

CANCLINI NG. 1998. Carlos Monsivais: A representative for citizen-in-progress, (The phrase eloquence in everyday life was borrowed from the above article) in the 1998 Prince Claus Wards, The Prince Claus Foundation for Culture and Development, the Hague, the Netherlands.

CASTILLO GT. 1998. Cultural diversity through genetic diversity, In: Biodiversity: Maintaining the Balance, IRRI 1997-1998. Los Baños, Laguna, Philippines: IRRI

CHIU YC, FON DS, CHEN LH. 1999. Predicting the production schedule of paddy-rice nursery. Trans Soc Agr Eng 42(2, March/April 1999). P. 505-511.

CGIAR. 1999. WARDA earns World Bank acclaim, CGIAR news. Washington D.C.: Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research. March 1999.

CIAP Bulletin. 1999. CAR 11: A premium rice with exporting qualities, Cambodia-IRRI Australia Project, Phnom Penh, Vol. 4, Issue 6, June 1999.

DIAZ C, HOSSAIN M, MERCA S, MEW T. 1998. Farmers' seed management practices, seed quality and effect on rice yield; Findings from farmer participatory experiments in Central Luzon. Los Baños, Laguna, Philippines: Social Sciences Division, International Rice Research Institute.

EMBRAPA. 1998. Science for life. Brasilia DF: Brazilian Agricultural Research Corporation, p. 39.

HOBHOUSE H. 1999. Seeds of change: Six plants that transformed mankind. London: Papermac, an imprint of MacMillan Publishers Ltd.

INIBAP. 1998. Improving production through the development and evaluation of new varieties, Annual Report 1998. Networking Banana and Plantain. Montpelier, France: International Network for the Improvement of Banana and Plantain.

IPGRI. 1996. Domestication provides tress tailored to farmers' needs. In Gene Flow. Rome: International Plant Genetic Resources Institute.

IRRI. 1999. Conserving and promoting genetic diversity, Rice: hunger or hope. IRRI 1998-1999. Los Baños, Laguna, Philippines. International Rice Research Institute.

JOSHI A, WITCOMBE JR. 1996. Farmer participatory crop improvement II. Participatory varietal selection, a case study in India. Expt Agr 32:461-477.

MENDOZA P. 1999. Seed selection methods in rice production in the highlands Cordillera, Philippine. Information Kit produced by the Central Cordillera Agricultural Programme, the International Institute of Rural Reconstruction and the Philippine Rice Research Institute, 6-13 July 1999.

MORIN SR. 1999. Adverse weather severely depletes seed supply of traditional varieties. Intl Rice Res Notes 24(1, April 1999). p. 43.

OUDHIA P. 1999. Medicinal weeds in rice fields of Chhattisgarh, India, Intl Rice Res Notes 24(1) April 1999, p. 40.

RAMACHANDRAPPA, DONI, NEELKANTH. 1999. Resource management in the rainfed drylands. Information Kit produced by the MYRADA and the International Institute of Rural Reconstruction.

RICHARDS P, RUIVENKAMP G. 1997. Seeds and Survival: Crop Genetic Resources in War and Reconstruction in Africa. Rome: International Plant Genetic Resources Institute.

ROHRBACH DD, BESHAW ZZ VAN GASTEL AJG. 1997. Alternative strategies for smallholder seed supply. Andhra Pradesh, India: International Crop Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics.

SIMPSON G. 1998. Seminal thoughts: Personal view. Seed Sci Res 8(4): 407-414.