Ensuring Seed Security through Community Seed Banks

On-going project evaluation was provided by Ntengwe’s Monitoring and Evaluation officer who visited the three project sites on a monthly basis.  This was done to ensure that the project is aligned with its objectives  and is on track to meet its predefined goals.  The on-going review process indicated that there is enhanced stakeholder communication between line ministries (Agritex and Women’s Affairs), the lead farmers, the community seed bank committee members and the project is being delivered as expected. 

The project has thus far encouraged a culture of learning and fostered valuable insights on indigenous seeds to be used for adaption to climate change. There was a recommendation made by the line ministries not to hold a 4th seed fair in another ward, which is not benefiting from the community seed bank, as this would cause fraction within that community.  The seed collection missions, however, had been put on hold during the Presidential election in the month of August. The presidents’ office informed all NGO’s not to conduct any field visits during that time as this could be associated to political interference.  Now that the ban has been lifted, Ntengwe will proceed with accelerated progress to hold two more seed collection missions and 2 Training of Trainers (TOT) sessions.  

One issue that stood out was sustainability which is still a challenge faced by the community seed banks in three wards, hence a model for sustainability measures is to be developed. The existence of strong farmer committees was an essential component that emerged as a by-product, and is seen as an essentiality for sustaining community seed banks, indeed, it is now seen as a foundation for the community seed banks. 

As has been noted on the international stage, "Seed systems supported by biodiversity are critical to improving the resilience of agriculture production systems through enhancing ecosystem services and ensuring human health. Forgotten or underutilized crops and local varieties play a key role in proving livelihoods to low-income farmers, lowering famine risks and providing more complete and balanced diets than typical monocultures. However, in order for traditional varieties to contribute to improving wellbeing of small-scale farmers, their conservation and accessibility needs to be improved and secured. Therefore, seed systems need to be healthy and dynamic, but often low access to innovation and limited availability of diversity leads to agricultural specialization in places where it is suboptimal or unwanted." (De Falcis E et al, 2022, 'Strengthening the economic sustainability of community seed banks' 10.3389/fsufs.2022.803195)  

The community seed bank project has thus far been part of the solution and is becoming more popular than was anticipated.  This project has seen unexpected results of community institutions of small-scale farmers who are managing and conserving seeds, mostly local varieties. These women dream of increasing seed diversity in order to better respond to farmers' needs; control the quality of materials provided; provide insurance in the form of increased seed supply options available to communities and improve social cohesion among members. These functions make this model an important one in the seed systems and particularly relevant to the context of the low-income areas in Matabeleland North.