**2.1 Potato seed production in Central Africa**

There are three recognized potato seed systems in Central Africa: formal, informal, and semi-formal, as elaborated below [6, 7]:

#### *2.1.1 Formal seed system*

The formal seed system involves a chain of activities leading to certified seeds of officially released varieties. This is guided by scientific methodologies for plant breeding. Multiplication is controlled and operated by public or private sector specialists, with significant investments having been made throughout the process. In the formal system, production of basic seeds is mainly a responsibility of public research institutions [8, 9]. The basic seed is then passed on to public and private sector seed multipliers for bulking and distribution as certified seed. The regulator is responsible for the inspection and certification function.

#### *2.1.2 Informal seed system*

The informal seed system in CA context is defined as seed production and distribution practices where there is no legal seed certification. The system constitutes many individual small-scale farmers, who save or exchange seeds at the local level (**Figure 2**).



*Potato data in Central African countries (2016–2020).*

*Production of Potato Quality Seeds in Mountainous Region of Central Africa DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.107126*

It also includes development agencies and projects supporting community seed production with no regulatory oversight. It is considered the most flexible system and it involves the use of both local and improved varieties. The seed production and distribution processes are not monitored or controlled by government policies and regulations but rather by local standards, social structures and norms.
