Sharing diversity: establishing and supporting community seedbanks in South Africa (pilot phase 2013-2015)

A promising start has been made: the two new community seedbanks of Gumbu and Sterkspruit and complementary technical support provided by the government will allow farmers to improve seed conservation technologies, increase access to crop diversity, apply crop improvement practices and explore seed production and marketing opportunities. The Gumbu community seedbank in particular illustrates the key role of women farmers in local conservation efforts and how these efforts in turn have the potential to change the local agro-ecological and socio-economic landscape. Future work will continue to pay attention to the successes and challenges of such farmers’ efforts and continue to draw more attention and support to: encourage the safeguarding and improvement of local plant species and varieties maintained by smallholder farmers and their communities recognizing the central role of women; value and reward farmers’ collective efforts to safeguard and improve agricultural biodiversity and associated cultural values and knowledge; and support farmers technically and financially to organize themselves, and strengthen their organizational capacity taking into consideration the leadership role of women

Embracing diversity: inputs for a strategy to support community seedbanks in South Africa’s smallholder farming areas: Report of field visits to Limpopo and Eastern Cape

This report presents the findings of a field mission to Limpopo and Eastern Cape provinces of the Republic of South Africa. The mission aimed to assess the viability of establishing and supporting community seed banks in the country’s smallholder farming areas. Tools used included four cell analysis, seed network mapping, seed survey and historical trend analysis. The report recommends establishing pilot community seed banks in each province backed up by sound management and monitoring plans

Mobilizing diversity: establishment of the first two community seedbanks in South Africa’s smallholder farming areas

This report presents the findings of the 2015 field missions to Limpopo and Eastern Cape provinces of the Republic of South Africa. The missions aimed to build the technical and organizational capacity of the farmers to be able to manage the community seedbanks independently, with minimum support from Bioversity International and the NPGRC. Physical buildings were built or prepared and farmers in the two project sites contributed seeds for the very first collections of their community seedbanks. Contributing farmers have agreed on the functions and governance and management structures of the community seedbanks, and have learned about seed registration, and seed selection, treatment, storage and maintenance

Sharing diversity: exchanging seeds and experiences of community seedbanks in South Africa

This report describes the main activities carried out in 2017. The community seed banks of Gumbu and Sterkspruit increased the number of accessions, reproduced seeds of a number of priority crop varieties and strengthened their technical and organizational capacities. They also participated in the first community seed bank exchange and learning workshop that brought together farmers and officials from various provinces. A new community seed bank was set up in Northwest province. Farmers and staff of the Department of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries and Bioversity International shared their experiences in a number of (inter) national events. The accumulated experiences of establishing and supporting community seed banks in South Africa were used as input for the development of two community seed bank manuals, one for facilitators and one for farmers. The three community seed banks established so far will support the Department of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries’ strategy on conservation and sustainable use of Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture both in situ and ex situ

Green shoots. Community seedbanking in South Africa: endeavours and outcomes 2016-2019

This brief summarizes the progress made in establishing and supporting a national network of community seedbanks in South Africa in the period 2016-2019. Three community seedbanks are up and running. Some exchanges of seeds and knowledge have taken place within the country and with neighboring Zimbabwe. Recurring drought is a major challenge to maintain collections viable, but plans are made to bring more diversity to the community seedbanks

“COMING TOGETHER” (Batanai): Learning from Zimbabwe’s experiences with community biodiversity conservation, participatory crop improvement and climate change adaptation

This brief presents the findings and lessons learned of a study tour by a team from the Department of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries of South Africa to neighbouring Zimbabwe, to learn about the roles of Farmer Field Schools, functions and operations of community seedbanks and various forms of participatory crop improvement, promoted by the Community Technology Development Organisation of Zimbabwe

The role of community seed banks in achieving farmers’ rights

The core objectives of the Convention on Biological Diversity and the International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture (ITPGRFA) are the conservation and sustainable use of plant genetic resources. The ITPGRFA links these goals explicitly to farmers’ rights. Although farmers’ rights have been debated intensely at international level, their effective implementation at national level remains a major challenge. Community seed banks are good examples of effective implementation of those rights, but have received little attention in scientific literature and policy circles. Case studies in this article from Bangladesh, Côte d’Ivoire, India and Zimbabwe illustrate how this knowledge gap can be filled

Community seed banks: farmers' platform for crop conservation and improvement

In South Africa, as elsewhere, the community systems that have maintained agrobiodiversity are increasingly coming under pressure from factors such as drought, crop failure and difficult storage conditions. As a result, the quantity of seed and number of plant varieties available to farmers for planting becomes negatively affected. With agricultural modernization, farmers are increasingly purchasing more of their seed requirements rendering local seed conservation less important. As commercial varieties replace older local varieties, the older varieties become increasingly unavailable in many communities. The Directorate Genetic Resources of the Department of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries, Bioversity International, and the Departments of Agriculture in Limpopo and Eastern Cape Provinces are working together to set up pilot community seed banks in Mutale and Joe Gcabi Municipalities respectively to guide the development of a national plan aimed to reverse the trend of biodiversity loss