New index ranks Monsanto, Dupont and Syngenta on efforts to help smallholders

The word's leading seed companies traditionally have a poor record of reaching farmers in food insecure regions

The world's leading seed companies must do more to increase smallholder farmers' access to seeds. This is the conclusion of the recently launched Access to Seeds Index, which ranks leading seed companies on their efforts to improve the productivity of smallholder farmers.

While the US-based multinational DuPont Pioneer ranks highest in a list of global seed companies for field crops, the much smaller East-West Seed leads two separate lists, one for vegetable crops and another ranking regional companies in east Africa.