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Emerging Theory and Practice: Community Seed Banks, Seed System Resilience and Food Security

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Community Seed BankS in nepal
Past, Present, future
Proceedings of a National Workshop, 14-15 June 2012, Pokhara, Nepal
Pitambar Shrestha, Ronnie Vernooy and Pashupati Chaudhary, Editors
Community Seed Banks in Nepal: Past, Present, Future
16
Photos: Sajal Sthapit (left), Mahesh Shrestha (top right) and Bhuwon Sthapit (bottom right)
Emerging Theory and Practice: Community Seed Banks,
Seed System Resilience and Food Security
BHUWON STHAPIT
Bioversity International, Oce for South Asia, National Agricultural Science Centre, DPS Marg, Pusa Campus, New Delhi 110012, India,
Corresponding email: b.sthapit@cgiar.org
Introduction
Agricultural biodiversity is the foundation of agriculture. Crop genetic diversity, a part of
agricultural biodiversity, is one of the most important resources that smallholder farmers
have to improve their livelihoods. In addition, it also serves as a means to aain food
and nutrition security and income generation, and to build critical and fragile ecosystems
services. In the rush to tackle global food shortages, over the last century or so, agriculture,
especially modern agriculture, has earned a bad name due to its large contribution to the
destruction of forests, use of already scarce water and increased carbon emissions and soil
degradation. The large scale use of hybrids and modern varieties, and a concentration on
only a few species, has contributed to large losses in crop genetic diversity worldwide.
For agriculture to return to sustainability, it will have to increasingly make use of a much
wider range of genes, species and ecosystems than it does today; preferably including
more perennial crops. Most formal conservation of crop genetic diversity has historically
focused on ex situ methods, i.e. establishing seed or eld gene banks. However, the value of
on farm management of local crop diversity by farming communities is being increasingly
recognized as an indispensable complementary approach to conservation not only of the
germplasm, but also of the traditional knowledge associated with it (Bioversity 2012a,
2012b).
17
Community Seed Banks in Nepal: Past, Present, Future
On farm management of local crop diversity is a highly dynamic form of crop genetic
resources (CGR) management, which allows the processes of both natural and human
selection to continue to act in the production system (Frankel et al. 1975; Brush 2000).
Farmer’s ability to search for new diversity, select new traits, and cultivate and exchange
selected materials with friends, relatives and community members are the processes that
allow genetic materials to evolve (Doring et al. 2011). Such practices are increasingly valued
as they enhance farmers’ capacity to cope with adversity resulting from the consequences
of socio-economic transformation, market forces and climate change. In order to maintain
this capacity, a farmers’ seed system should have a rich and diverse germplasm base –a
genetically diverse portfolio of crops and their varieties- that is suited to a range of agro-
ecosystems and farming practices, and resilient to climate change (Bioversity 2012; FAO
2011). This diversity provides exibility to farmers to select cultivars with adaptive traits
or market traits, as the situation may warrant.
Overall, some 80-90 % of seed used by smallholder farmers in developing countries is sourced
from informal farmersseed systems on farm (Almekinders and Louee 2000; Tripp 2001;
Baniya et al. 2003; Louwaars 2007). At present, however, many farming communities are
losing production options due to shrinking diversity on farm.
9
Many farmers (due to poor
storage facilities and capacity to keep seed for one or two seasons) have diculty in accessing
the genetic diversity that they once might have had. Reasons include that the new materials
available to them either need more inputs than they can aord or are not suitable for the kind
of land they hold. Nevertheless, research carried out in 27 crop species in 8 countries where
traditional seed systems are working illustrated that farmersseed systems still harbour rich
genetic diversity (Jarvis et al. 2008) as they are open, integrated and dynamic which allows
for seed ows and seed transactions from diverse sources. It include: domestication, natural
introgression, natural selection, germplasm introduction, exchange, human selection,
germplasm enhancement and breeding, and market outlets. Traditionally, provision of
farmer’s seed requirement constitutes self-saved seed, farmer-to-farmer exchanges and local
market purchase, with the formal sector playing a minor role. In a cycle of sowing and re-
sowing seed lot from plant population year after year, plants favoured under prevailing
conditions are expected to contribute more seed to next generation than plants with lower
tness (Harlan 1992; Doring et al. 2011). When these plants are further selected for specic
colour, types, qualities and post-harvest characteristics, they further migrate to a special area
and colonize the area by increasing population size (Hasting and Harrison 1994).
A farmers’ seed system is an informal and open genetic system, comprised of a number
of nodes of smaller populations inhabiting agro-ecological niches connected by migration
(seed ow) and colonization (multiplication=increased area by household or increased
number of farmers in a village). A farmer seed system is, therefore, composed of a series of
farmers–some of them being custodian farmers
10
-and the dierent ways in which genetic
material is exchanged and moves between farmers, as well as the ways that genetic material
9 Over the past century, about 75% of plant genetic resources have been lost and a third of today’s
diversity could disappear by 2050 (FAO, 2011).
10 Custodian farmers are those farmers (men and women) who actively maintain, adapt and disseminate
agricultural biodiversity and related knowledge, over time and space, at farm and community levels and
are recognized by community members for it (Sthapit et al. 2013).
Community Seed Banks in Nepal: Past, Present, Future
18
is selected and shaped by each farmer’s behaviour. The informal seed system, which is also
known as local or farmers’ seed system
11
, follows the principles of meta-population theory
of conservation biology (van Dusen 2003; Levin 1976).
Farmers’ seed system
Seed security is vital for food and nutrition security. Farmers’ seed systems are those in
which farmers produce, select, save, re-use and acquire seed outside ocial or large scale
commercial channels. Reliability and availability of seeds at the right time and in the right
price, as well as easy access, are crucial for poor smallholder farmers but such hallmarks
might not be universal in all systems. Farmer seed systems are often considered good
traditional practices for seed security and therefore, for ensuring food sovereignty. Studies
have indicated that depending upon crops and countries over 60 to 85% of the seed of the
main staple crops come through informal sectors in developing countries (Cromwell 1997;
Tripp 2001; Baniya et al. 2003; Hodgkin et al. 2007; Louwaars 2007); this approaches 99% in the
case of neglected and underutilized crop species (Sthapit and Padulosi 2011; Almekinders
and Louwaars 2002; Louwaars 2007)
12
. Such informal seed systems play a central role in the
provision of planting materials in developing countries and are important for maintenance,
adaptation and exchange of crop genetic resources in the landscape. The systems are very
dynamic and integrated, with the resilience to cope with all kinds of external pressures
(Bellon 2010). Our interest is mainly in systems that keep landraces in circulation.
Farmer seed systems have many functions but they are often not well recognized by the
formal system. Four basic functions are dierent from the formal seed system: i) it maintains
a germplasm base that provides diversity, exibility and a basis for selection (Hodgkin et al.
2007; Louwaars 2007; Sthapit and Padulosi 2011), ii) it produces relatively good quality seed
for household crop production (often free from diseases/pests/weeds if farmers are trained)
with high germination and vigour (Biemonda et al. 2013; Singh et al. 2013), iii) it ensures access
and availability of seed through various sources such as social networks, local markets and
own selection (Tripp 2001; Lipper et al. 2010; Jarvis et al. 2011) and iv) most importantly, it
involves sharing information and knowledge about the local seed such as knowledge of
varietal performance, matching environment, growing methods, utilization, trade-obetween
traits, varietal plasticity, etc., based upon farmer’s own experiences (Hodgkin et al. 2007).
A basic awareness of theories around on farm conservation, farmer seed systems and meta-
population theory is necessary to move forward in the area of community seed banks.
11 Includes small-scale, unregistered seed producers, who sell the latest recommended varieties.
12 A criticism can be raised that the rate of informal exchange is high because the formal sector is not
working in these crops. So does the informal system have value only because there is no alternative, or
is it valuable for other reasons too? Practically, the informal system will persist for a while, but should
it be replaced once the formal sector lls the role? Or will the formal sector never be able to play certain
valuable roles of the informal sector? In reality, the formal seed sector has diculty in meeting such high
levels of diversity and there will never be enough resources to invest in NUS crop improvement and
private/public sector seed enterprises.
19
Community Seed Banks in Nepal: Past, Present, Future
This chapter presents key concepts, methods, drivers and challenges to beer understand
community seed banks so as to improve the chances that local crop varieties will be
preserved and used sustainably around the world. We also assess how community seed
banks are emerging as the platform of local community-based institutions to address issues
of seed insecurity and as a means to reduce over-reliance on a handful of crops that puts
local and global food security at great risk, especially in the context of climate change.
Denition
Community seed banks range from a single farm family seed bank to a community seed
bank. They could deal with local landraces, introduced landraces or improved cultivars
(Lewis and Mulvany 1997; Lipper et al. 2010; the Development Fund 2011).
I dene community seed bank as a community driven and community-owned eort to
conserve and use both local and improved varieties for food security and to improve
the livelihoods of farmers. Three types of community seed banks can be identied: i)
community gene bank (solely conservation of local varieties as PGR in small quantities),
ii) community seed bank (solely concerned with access and availability of cultivars) and
iii) community gene cum seed bank (carries out functions of both (i) and (ii)). The term
‘community seed bank’ should not be used if conservation and sustainable use of plant
genetic resources for food and agriculture are not the major objectives.
It is not easy to pinpoint the genesis of community gene/seed banks, but there is no doubt
that non-governmental organizations (NGOs) played a key role in the development of
this concept and continue to do so in many countries around the world. The Development
Fund (2011) and Vernooy (2013; chapter 1 of this publication) reviewed how the concept
of the community seed bank evolved over time.
The global literature review reveals that a wide range of terms are used to describe
community seed banks (Soetomo 1992; Satheesh 1996; Lewis and Mulvany 1997; Feyissa
2000; Mujaju et al. 2003; Rengalakshmi et al. 2003; Shrestha et al. 2006; 2007; 2008; Ramprasad
2007; Berg and Abay 2008; Zinanga et al. 2009; Development Fund 2011; Green 2012;
Shrestha et al. 2012). These include “community gene bank” (Khedkar 1996; Rani 2000;
Bertuso et al. 2000; Engels et al. 2008), “community gene and seed bank” (Rangalakshmi
et al. 2003), “village seed bank” (Senapati 2011), “seed wealth centre” (Mazhar 2000),
“diversity eld fora” (Jarvis et al. 2011), “community-based seed systems” (CBSS)
13
. One of
the main components of CBSS is to train farmers on the procedures and requirements of
breeding. Those farmers are then licensed/given the authority to certify the quality of the
seeds produced in the community. In Canada, USA and Australia, community seed banks
function like a network of local seed growers that save and exchange heirloom seeds. These
include Seeds of Diversity, Canada
14
; Seed Savers Exchange
15
; Decorah, USA; Seed Savers;
13 hp://www.dafrique.net/IMG/pdf/0_Systeme_CBSS_AMB.pdf
14 hp://www.seeds.ca/
15 hp://www.seedsavers.org/
Community Seed Banks in Nepal: Past, Present, Future
20
Seed Exchange Societies
16
; and Seed Savers Network
17
in Australia. Such networks (e.g.
Navdanya
18
) also exist in India and Bangladesh (Nayakrishi Andolan) (Mazhar 2000), but the
sharing of information and materials appears to be limited only to network members.
In the context of such diversity of terminology, the term community gene bank is often
interchangeably used with community seed bank. However, for simplicity, at the
community level, community seed bank (CSB) is preferred in this paper. The Community
Biodiversity Development and Conservation (CBDC) program, MS Swaminathan
Research Foundation (MSSRF), Bioversity International and LI-BIRD tried to implement
community gene banks (focusing on maintaining germplasm of landraces) and community
seed banks (providing access to quality seeds) having distinct roles and functions. Over
time, farming communities decided to combine the elements of both community gene and
seed banks in order to integrate the farmer seed system into local markets (Oxfam-Novib
2012; Lipper et al. 2010) and to address community needs and sustainability (Zinanga et
al. 2009; Rani et al. 2000; Friis-Hansen and Sthapit 2000; Shrestha et al. 2012; 2013). Lipper
et al. (2012) suggests that social capital will be an important tool in addressing some of
the shortcomings of local markets as a seed supply source. Experience indicates that
community seeds banks can facilitate information ows and exchanges of crop genetic
resources, strengthen capacity of variety maintenance and improve the governance of
local markets for supplying varieties and seeds. Key functions of these networks are
saving and exchanging local seeds and keeping them under the control of the farming
community, allowing easy access and use at an aordable price and in the right time.
Purpose
Community seed banks draw much aention as they can be used as a platform for
community institutions to strengthen the roles of the farmer seed systems described above.
Purposes of such community seed banks are not only saving and exchanging local seeds
and keeping them under the control of the farming community for easy access and use for
seed security at the community level but also consolidating community roles in promoting
conservation, sustainable use and improvement of important local genetic resources /
traditional knowledge.
Worldwide, community seed banks have been established with a diversity of specic
objectives and goals (Table 1). Objectives include conservation of plant genetic resources,
community/women empowerment, seed security, Farmers’ Rights (recognition, access,
participation in decision making and benet sharing), food sovereignty, and community
resilience. The key features of all community seed banks emerged from the workshop in
Nepal (Chaudhary 2013; Shrestha et al. 2012). It is a community mechanism/institution or
seed repository with specialized functions (to collect, store, multiply and distribute seeds);
like a nancial bank: depositing and lending (transaction) of seed similar to money.
16 hp://www.halcyon.com/tmend/exchanges.htm
17 hp://www.seedsavers.net/
18 hp://www.navdanya.org/
21
Community Seed Banks in Nepal: Past, Present, Future
In Nepal, CSBs are supported by a community-led seed management approach that
includes production, collection, processing, storage, distribution (exchange, loan, grant,
selling) and marketing of local as well as improved varieties. Sthapit et al. (2008b) dened
a community seed bank as a community managed ex situ collection designed to enhance
access to local varieties and associated knowledge for the benets of the community.
In other words, a community-operated seed bank that provides farmers access to seeds
of local crop varieties and performs the function of community level backup of genetic
resources, a repository of associated knowledge, and an institution to organize, mobilize
and represent farmers’ interests.
Table 1: Diversity of goals and objectives of community seed bank from selected
published literatures
Promoted by Objective of the seed bank Overall goal Citation
Bioversity International Locate, collect, characterize, document and preserve
local seed
Multiply rare seed in situ
Multiply seed of PPB products
Platform for CBM to realize on farm conservation
Conserve local varieties
Improve farmers' access to local crop diversity
Deposit and share rare and threatened local varieties
Platform to share knowledge and materials (social
learning)
Provide strategic seed reserve for adversity
Entry point for community based on farm
management
Create a link between the communities and the
national genebank
Strengthen
on farm
conservation
by in situ-ex
situ linkage,
evolutionary
breeding,
community
resilience and
food security
Shrestha et al.
2006;
Shrestha et
al., 2008.
Sthapit et al.
2008a,b
Jarvis et al.
2011
Shrestha and
Chaudhary,
2012
Sthapit et al.
2012
Vernooy, 2013
Community Technology
Development Trust
(CTDT), CBDC-Africa
Enable the conservation of diverse farmers’ plant
genetic resources within local communities as a
safeguard against genetic erosion and minimize
threats
Strategic seed reserves at the community level in
case of natural disasters
Serve as a platform for knowledge exchange and
trade of seed
Venue for training and networking of farmers and
service providers
Create link between the communities and national
gene banks for easy access to genetic resources
A strategy
for the
enhancement
and regeneration
of plant genetic
resources
and ensures
Farmers’ rights
Zinanga et al.
2009
Oxfam, Nepal Easy access to quality seeds and associated
technologies
Conservation of landraces
As a resource centre for materials and knowledge
Empower community and increase social
cohesiveness
Conservation,
food security
and livelihoods
Shrestha et al.
2012
Community Seed Banks in Nepal: Past, Present, Future
22
Promoted by Objective of the seed bank Overall goal Citation
Parivartan/USC, Canada Conserve local seeds (emphasis on threatened)
Provide quality seeds (mainly of vegetables) for all
seasons
Increase income
Promote organic agriculture
Conservation,
food security
and livelihoods
Shrestha et al.
2012
Department of
Agriculture, Nepal
Easy access to quality seeds and associated
technologies
Conservation and utilization of local landraces
As resource centre for information
Empower community and increase social
cohesiveness
Seed and food
security
Shrestha et al.
2012
The Development Fund,
Norway, Bangladesh,
Costa Rica, Ethiopia,
Honduras, India, Nepal,
Thailand, Zambia and
Zimbabwe
Conserve local and modern varieties
Increase local seed security and contribute to
possible continued utilization of locally important
genetic diversity
Empower local institutions for managing local crop
diversity and knowledge
Community
resilience to
climate change
using diversity
Farmers’ rights
The
Development
Fund 2011
SAARC countries/
SAWTEE
Provide regional support to national seed security
efforts; address regional seed shortages through
collective actions and foster inter-country
partnerships
Increase seed replacement rate with appropriate
varieties at a faster rate
Act as a regional seed security reserve for member
states of SAARC countries
1
Regional seed
and food
security
FAO and
SAARC, 2008
Adhikari, 2012
LI-BIRD, Nepal Conserve access to local crop varieties, which are
hard to find outside farmers initiative;
provide access to quality seeds of varieties in
demand (can be local or modern);
Increase seed replacement rate;
Provide strategic seed reserve for adversity
Platform for social learning
Create a link between the communities and National
Gene Bank
Empowerment
Use for food
security
Conservation
through in situ
and ex situ
interface
Shrestha et al.
2012; 2013
Seed transactions in CSBs can happen in dierent forms such as seed loan, cash transaction
and/or social responsibility of maintaining rare or unique varieties or multiplication/
rejuvenation of local varieties for the community seed bank. Experience has demonstrated
that community seed banks are very eective for safeguarding portfolio of local varieties,
provisioning farmer’s access to seeds of local crop varieties and strengthening multi-
functionality of the informal seed system (Shrestha et al. 2006; Shrestha et al. 2008; 2010 and
2012). It has also served as a backup for crop genetic resources (Zinanga et al. 2009; Shrestha
et al. 2012). In Nepal, this is also considered to be a strategy for on farm management of
genetic resources as it empowers community-based local institutions to hold the collections
of local crop diversity and take self-directed responsibility for maintenance, adaptation and
dissemination of traditional crop varieties (Table 2). It is important to note that community
23
Community Seed Banks in Nepal: Past, Present, Future
seed banks with the objective of on farm conservation are not designed to supply
communities with their total seed requirement. Their key objective is to ensure access to local
crop diversity by serving as a source of germplasm for multiplication and allowing farming
communities to exchange (migration) and bulk up (colonization) in a decentralized fashion
for evolutionary adaptation and seed ow through social seed networks and interventions
like diversity fairs. This working modality in Nepal (Shrestha et al. 2006; 2008) is unique and
stands out from community seed banks in other countries. It is also important that the scale
of operation should be manageable at the community level. Diversity fairs are usually the
entry point for establishment of a community seed bank. The working modality is simple,
locally maintained, using traditional storage practices, and managed and controlled by the
local community for sharing access to and benets of crop genetic resources.
Table 2: Roles, responsibilities and rights of community seed banks in the context of
community-based management of crop genetic resources.
Functions Responsibility Tools/methods
12
Rights
13
Maintenance Deposition of local
varieties/collection
Characterization
Documentation
Diversity fairs
Diversity block
CBR
Rights to gather/collect
Right to save, use, sow, re-sow, exchange,
share or sell farm produced seed
Rights to register farmers’ varieties
Adaptation
4
Multiplication
Selection
Diversity block
GB/PVS/COB/PPB
Rights to fair and equitable benefit sharing
when a PGR conserved by farmers is used to
breed new commercial variety
Rights to access farmers’ and other varieties
from genebank
Rights to release and register farmer bred
varieties
Dissemination Distribution Social networks
Diversity fairs
PVS
Diversity kits
Rights of farmers to exchange, barter, gift,
share and sell seeds
Rights to register community based seed
producer groups and sell truthfully labelled
seed
Continuity Rejuvenation
Seed health
Diversity block Rights to recognition and reward from the
government
Recognition of community seed bank by the
government
Note:- CBR: Community Biodiversity Register, GB: Grassroots Breeding, PVS: participatory Variety
Selection, COB: Clint oriented Breeding, PPB: Participatory Plant Breeding, PGR: Plant Genetic Resources
Functions
Functions of CSB are wide ranging and they include: conservation of plant genetic resources;
improving ease of access to local germplasm by the farming community, production
distribution of quality seed, maintaining community ownership/control on plant genetic
Community Seed Banks in Nepal: Past, Present, Future
24
resources, etc. Community seed banks aim to promote the management and sustainable
use of both local and farmer-preferred modern varieties for food security and to improve
the livelihoods of farmers. Many community seed banks refer only to community-based
seed production and marketing (Manzanilla and Johnson 2012), but this term should not
be used if there is no function of plant genetic resource conservation activity (Shrestha et
al. 2012, LI-BIRD workshop synthesis).
Community seed banks tend to be small-scale local institutions that store seed on a short-
term basis, serving individual communities or several communities in surrounding
villages. This is a contrast with the functionality of a national genebank that usually is
broader (see Table 3 for a comparison). Community seed banks usually are inexpensive,
employing relatively simple low cost storage and documentation technologies. They carry
out collection and reception (of materials), replication, storage, distribution, germination
quality testing, and, in a number of cases, variety selection. During diversity fairs, surveys
or four cell analysis, rare and unique crops and varieties can be identied and collected by/
deposited in the community seed bank. The collection of seed of diverse local varieties in
community seed banks is usually maintained and administered by the local communities
themselves to ensure the availability of relatively large samples of planting materials or to
ensure the access of a small quantity of genetic resources in situations in which varieties
are lost or threatened (Almekinders et al. 1994). Empowered households will deposit rare
and unique local varieties that they maintain in the CSB as a form of social responsibility
(e.g., CSB in Bara, Nepal), although such donations are not common.
Table 3: Comparative potential functions, complementarities and gaps of community
seed banks and national genebanks
Functions Community seed bank National seed bank Gaps
Collection Safety duplicates stored in
National Gene Bank (NGB)
Passport data standardized
Prior Informed Consent (PIC)
in place
NGB serve as repository of
CSB
Targeted collection through
CSB
Mechanism needs to be
developed and formally put in
place
Multiplication Diversity block used to
multiply small quantity seed
and use farmers’ plots for
large scale production for
supporting evolutionary
selection
NGB use CSB network
to multiply targeted seed
multiplication in production
environment to avoid genetic
drift of the accession
Formation of policy and
support needed for such
linkage
Technical capacity building
benefits to CSB
Characterization Not all CSBs do this function.
Farmer descriptors used to
characterize the materials in
the diversity block to check
for variants.
Essential activity of national
gene bank and information
shared with CSB as incentive
for their contribution of seed
to the bank
Farmer friendly information
management and sharing
should be devised; the current
procedure and format of CBR
is too cumbersome for farmers
25
Community Seed Banks in Nepal: Past, Present, Future
Functions Community seed bank National seed bank Gaps
Storage Depending upon crop species,
small quantity of seed stored
in ambient temperature using
local storage techniques and
knowledge
Preserved at medium and
long term cold storage with
controlled temperature and
humidity facility
Capacity building of CSB
curators to combine local
knowledge with scientific
principles of seed longevity,
germination and seed health
Action research to develop a
technical guide for CSB seed
handling and management
Participatory
Plant breeding
Knowledge and skill
enhancement of farmers
in participatory crop
improvement ensures
sustainability of CSB
Sharing gene bank materials
for repatriation, landraces
used as PVS and parents to
improve and strengthen local
seed system
Special training and
collaborative programmes are
needed to add value
Policy support for release
and registration of farmers’
varieties
Documentation Simple inventory from
diversity fair, and CBR used
A standard germplasm
documentation system is
available
Minimum passport data
complementation between CSB
and NGB
Minimum set of database
management need to be
developed and piloted
for effective information
management
Distribution Context specific mechanism
developed (seed transactions
in kind and cash or social
responsibility)
Freely accessible to all
users – farmers, community
and plant breeders and
researchers
Safety duplicates
Although there are limitations
to farmers’ to access NGB,
awareness needs to be built up.
Mainstreaming CSB into
national PGR system
Policy support as way to
implement Farmers’ Rights
Marketing Provisioning of farmers’ rights
(benefit sharing)
Prior Informed Consent
Link to community based
seed production groups and
local trade
Supportive seed regulatory
framework
Note:- CSB: Community Seed Bank, CBR: Community Biodiversity Register, NGB: National Gene Bank,
PGR: Plant Genetic Resources
Principles of a community seed bank
Easy access of portfolio of local crop varieties and availability of seed with associated
information are important principles behind its establishment. Although the community
seed bank is seen as a means of seed and food security, it is increasingly also seen as an open
source of knowledge and genetic materials to ensure farmers’ rights, community autonomy
and ultimately, seed sovereignty of PGRFA (Shrestha et al. 2013; Kloppenburg 2010).
Vulnerability is a key characteristic of rainfed and dry lands systems and seed diversity
provides a key option to households for coping with vulnerability and building household
resilience, by giving farmers options or mechanisms for recovering from adversity. As
shown in Table 1, there is not a single identical type of community seed bank. But a number
of core principles common to all CSBs can be identied by synthesizing purpose, functions,
Community Seed Banks in Nepal: Past, Present, Future
26
roles and responsibilities, working modality, technical competencies, governance and
information management. Drawing from the various Nepal case studies and learning,
the following common principles of community seed bank emerged in the context of
strengthening community based on farm management of agricultural biodiversity:
Conservation and revival of traditional crop varieties and documenting traditional y
knowledge
Access to quality and quantity of locally adapted crop/varieties seeds y
19
Strengthening the multiple functions of the informal seed system and crop y
improvement
Scale of operation should be locally managed and under the control of the farming y
community
Empowering farmer organizations and supporting local governance y
Provides a platform for social learning and collective action y
One key principle is to strengthen the multiple functions of the informal seed system that
promote farmer-saved seed and exchange and access to crop genetic resource in a small
quantity from the community seed bank. Integrating community seed banks with markets
for sustainability might pose challenging principles of evolutionary maintenance of local
crop diversity and need to be handled with caution. These principles might need reviewing
if the purpose of community seed banks mainly focuses on commercial seed production
and marketing of modern varieties, and their functions are more closed to small scale
community seed producer groups (Devkota et al. 2008; Witcombe et al. 2010).
Typology
Lewis and Mulvany (1997) aempted to categorize ve types of community seed banks
destined for crop production without emphasis on genetic diversity conservation. They
include: 1) de facto seed banks
20
, 2) community seed exchange
21
, 3) organized seed banks
22
,
4) seed savers’ networks
23
, and 5) ceremonial seed banks
24
. Within the changing global
policy context and challenges, a wide range of community seed banks have evolved. No
comprehensive literature reviews have been carried out so far but this chapter is based
upon review and implementation of CSB in Nepal and elsewhere.
19 For instance, the ones that are now being supported by the Government of Nepal for the dissemination
of registered seeds under the Seed Act 1988.
20 The sum of individual seed storage at household level or home gardens within a community.
21 Organized exchange of seed at household level in a community, for example, seed fair or diversity fair.
22 New local level institutions of organized collection, storage and exchange of seed of both local and
modern varieties.
23 New networks of seed savers groups organized for sharing seeds and information of heirloom and
heritage varieties in developed nations
24 Sacred groves and religious forest with focus on vegetative propagated perennial trees collectively
managed to local customs and tradition.
27
Community Seed Banks in Nepal: Past, Present, Future
Three types of community seed banks are emerging from the current analysis of reported
case studies and grey literature reviews: i) community gene bank, ii) community seed
bank, and iii) community gene and seed bank. Desk research and the rst workshop of
community seed bank practitioners in Nepal reveal that there is a wide range of variation
depending upon various parameters. They include: i) goal and purpose of the seed bank
(in situ, ex situ, complementary conservation, seed security, food security, seed and
food sovereignty, community empowerment, community resilience, etc.), ii) rights and
governance, iii) kinds of seed (traditional variety, modern variety, hybrid, GMO), iv)
reproductive biology (self-pollinated, open and clonal, annual or perennial), v) agency
(CBO, NGO, donor, university, government) and v) impact groups (custodian farmers,
geographically selected area, marginal farmers, women farmers). So far no eorts have
been made to compare and contrast these types. Based on these factors, a new typology
framework is presented in Table 4.
Table 4: Typology of community seed banks
Parameters Community gene bank Community seed bank
Goal & purpose In situ/on farm conservation
Seed and food security
Community custodianship and support
access and control over PGRFA
Farmers’ rights
Community level seed and food security
Seed sovereignty
Community empowerment
Community resilience
Function Access to crop genetic resources Availability of seed
Type of seed Traditional varieties
Source of GMO free CGR
5
Traditional varieties, modern varieties, PPB
products, hybrids
Source of GMO free CGR
Scale of operation Community level Community level with networks
Governance Local organization Local organization
Sustainability CBM fund CBM fund, CBSP, revolving fund
Collective actions Yes with social responsibility of
conserving rare and unique CGR
Yes
Promoted by NGO NGO, Government
6
and donors
Note:- PGRFA: Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture, CGR: Crop Genetic Resources,
GMO: Genetically Modied Organism, CBSP: Community Based Seed Production, CBM: Community
Biodiversity Management, NGO: Non-governmental Organization
CSBs are often donor or institution driven approaches at the outset; however, over time,
many of them have redened overall goals, objectives and functions as per the pressing
needs of the community, the level of community awareness and empowerment of local
institutions. The working modality and governance of community seed banks may dier
according to the core purpose of the bank, key functions and principles. They often play
diverse roles in local socio-political and socio-economic contexts.
Drawing lessons from Bara CSB in Nepal plant breeding, seed production and maintenance,
breeding knowledge and skills are key capacity building interventions. Participatory plant
breeding (PPB) processes bring farmers into contact with professional breeders and provide
Community Seed Banks in Nepal: Past, Present, Future
28
a platform for sharing knowledge and skills related to plant breeding. By doing so, PPB can
strengthen farmer seed systems and maintain their landraces in a beer way as breeders do in
their research plots. Besides oering varieties of farmers’ own choice, PPB also contributes to
farmers’ rights to save, select and exchange the materials generated from their own local varieties
and also to enhance their resilience to manage adversity (Halewood et al. 2007). Drawing from
the diverse experiences and lessons of the community seed bank, it is conceptualized as the
institutional platform for ensuring farmers rights, recognition, and access to and benets
sharing of crop genetic resources (Figure 1). The framework of CSBs contributes to four key
results: i) conservation and restoration of locally important crops and varieties, ii) empowerment
of farming communities, iii) improvement of accessibility and availability of Plant Genetic
Resources for Food and Agriculture (PGRFA), and iv) enhancement of community resilience
to cope with adversity and to develop livelihood strategies.
Governance
A community seed bank, by terminology itself, is a community-managed approach that
expands local practices from the household seed store to the community level through
collective actions
25
. The value of the community seed bank is that the system is governed by
local people and locally developed rules and regulations. It facilitates to build social assets
through mobilization of the local community, leading to community empowerment, and
creates a platform of community based management of agricultural biodiversity through
use and conservation. In the absence of local organizations, external projects or NGOs can
use community seed banks to mobilize existing social capitals (trusts, networks and social
25 Action taken by a group (either directly or on its behalf through an organization) in pursuit of members’
perceived shared interest (Marshall 1998).
Community seed bank as open source
seed network (institutional
dimension fo recognition, access and
benet sharing)
Conservation and revival
of traditional varieties
Strengthening multi
functionality of farmers
seed system
Generating data for value
for cultivation and use
(VCU)
Strengthing farmer
capacity in selection and
grassroot breeding (PPB)
Four cell analysis
Diversity fair
CBR
Seed fairs
Diversity block
Diversity kits
Crowd sourcing
data
Seed fairs
Community seed
bank
Community seed
production
enterprises and
marketing
Training to farmer
groups for
maintenance breeding
Participatory
variety selection
What diversity you have?
How exesting diversity
manage and used?
Who maintains diveristy and how?
What are factors inuencing farmers
decisions on choosing varieties?
Germplasm base
Seed production and quality
Seed availability and distribution
Knowledge and information
Diversity, exibility, selection
Resilience, stability
Genetic purity
Germination, vigor, diesease/pest
Genetic purity
Germination, vigor, diesease/pest
Growing methods, knowledge on new materials
Uses and trade-o of traits
Selection of traits from
existing variability (GB)
Participation plant breeding (PPB)
Participatory variety selection (PVS)
Diversity kits
Participatory seed
exchange meeting
Figure 1. Conceptual framework of community seed bank as an institutional dimension of recognition, access and benet sharing of crop genetic
resources through strengthening farmers’ seed systems and knowledge in selection and maintenance of varieties and seed (Sthapit, 2013).
29
Community Seed Banks in Nepal: Past, Present, Future
obligations) and organizational systems. Such a governance system is developed through
the process of community-driven participation that integrates knowledge and practices
into the social system, including local rules and norms (Sthapit et al. 2008ab). In order to
build such social capital, the following steps were carried out by the Global In situ Project
implemented by LI-BIRD, NARC and Bioversity International in Nepal: i) community
sensitization, ii) strengthening local institutions, iii) development of rules and regulations,
iv) construction of seed storage facilities, v) receiving seed deposits or collection of local
seeds, vi) documentation of community biodiversity register/inventory/passport data, vii)
mobilizing CBM funds for community development and conservation, viii) multiplication
and ix) monitoring of seed transactions and impacts (Sthapit et al. 2006). There are great
variations in governance systems, from an institutional framework similar to that of the
national gene bank (Zinanga 2009) to very informal household seed stores (Ramprasad
2007; Senapati 2011). The success and sustainability of community seed banks depend
upon how technical knowledge and management capacity of change agents are enhanced
and how local institutions are empowered to make self-directed decision making. Over
the years, a community seed bank operated by ADCS, Bara and supported by LI-BIRD has
developed a local method (established since 2003) for ensuring that all their varieties are
preserved every year at community level:
The organization prepares packets of 250 gm of seeds for each of the 86 rice varieties y
and distributes them to farmers.
Rice has to be grown by every farmer in the group. If someone does not have a rice y
eld, he/she can grow nger millet or sponge gourd instead.
They started this system because everyone wanted to grow only a few aromatic y
varieties.
All rice varieties are also grown in a diversity block. y
This system is eective in ensuring the preservation of local crop varieties through farmers’
involvement, and can easily be replicated in other sites (e.g., Western Terai Landscape
Complex Project (WTLCP)) area.
Are there examples to learn from?
In the past, many community seed banks were established worldwide with signicant
investments of resources in construction of physical assets such as buildings, machineries
and equipment (Feyissa 2000; Mujaju et al. 2003; Zinanga et al. 2009). However, most of
these are now non-functional. It would be good to learn from such failures so that similar
mistakes can be avoided in the future. Shrestha et al. (2013) observed that community
seed banks are most common in community biodiversity management programmes in
Bangladesh, Ethiopia, France, India and Nepal.
It has been observed that most of the donor funded initiatives started with improving
physical assets before consulting with the community. Consequently, the community of
farmers never had a proper understanding about the functions of the community seed
Community Seed Banks in Nepal: Past, Present, Future
30
bank and its roles and responsibilities. Most of what was done appears to be top down
approaches without full understanding of the local needs and not valuing collective
action by locals. Although there are no ocial statistics of community seed banks in the
world, many countries reported from few (<10) to a large number (50-100) of community
seed bank (Shrestha et al. 2012; 2013; Vernooy 2013). There are not many published case
studies, or any successful examples, that mobilized social capital before collecting local
varieties, characterizing, documenting and storing seed in locally constructed structures.
Often, the purposes of establishing community seed bank were not clear. A technical
guide for maintenance of genetic purity, germination, viability and seed health is yet not
available that could be used to build the capacity of curators. A common standard format
of passport data collection is not used to facilitate sharing of information and materials
among networks of community seed banks and also national gene banks.
It was also observed that, as some community seed banks started to function, the people
who established them soon changed their basic roles and changed priorities when they
started to link to markets, and invested resources and energy in expanding scales of
operation without developing local human resource capacity. Seed transaction records of
15 community seed banks in Nepal by LI-BIRD ranged over 2 tons of local and over 43 tons
of modern varieties. Beneciaries of accessing local seed are over 1800 whereas for modern
seed just over 900 (Shrestha et al. 2013). In African countries, the volume of seed transaction
per single community seed bank ranged between 40 to 300 tons (Engels, Polreich and Dullo
2008; Nakaponda 2010). When community seed banks try to function in such large scale
seed production, there is potential risk of mismanagement in production and delivery of
the quality of seed and maintenance of basic seed of local varieties, and also reduction
in the dynamic and evolutionary on farm management of local crop diversity. In case a
community wishes to convert its community seed bank to a small-scale community-based
seed producer group (CBSP) or to a seed company in order to improve use and availability
of high quality seed and improve farmer income (Devkota et al. 2008; Witcombe et al. 2010),
they should be allowed to do so under the banner of community-based seed production
group (CBSP) and not per se as a community seed bank. The advantage of such a decision
is guided by the nature of technical capacity required in seed production and seed trade
in rural markets. This can be addressed in policy guidelines at the country level. In Bara,
Nepal, the number of total transactions of local crop diversity was small (39 kg of local
and over 9000 kg of modern varieties). The purposes of this are to increase income of
farmers by producing quality seed bred by PPB or a national programme, support on
farm multiplication of small quality local varieties as crop genetic resources, spread seed
through farmer to farmer networks and maintain the evolvement of varieties in the local
environment. Those community seed banks that strike the right balance between local
capacity, facility and human resources are usually successful.
Shrestha et al. (2012) documented a few challenges in implementation of community seed
banks from the rst national workshop on community seed banks held in Pokhara, Nepal (14-
15 June 2012). One of the challenges is to use the community seed bank as a local institutional
platform for on farm management of local crop diversity and also to institutionalize good
practices that address sustainability, and environmental as well as economic benets. In
31
Community Seed Banks in Nepal: Past, Present, Future
many studies, systematic steps for establishing and implementing community seed banks
that support farmer seed systems, when perceived as an open source system
26
(diversity,
exibility, selection) with quality seed production and distribution are not followed (Lewis
and Mulvany 1997; Friis-Hansen and Sthapit 2000; CIP-UPWARD 2003; Zinanga et al. 2009;
Development Fund 2011; Shrestha et al. 2012). In addition, like in the case of any bank, only
depositing and drawing funds is of limited value as it would not contribute to productive
actions. Activities need to expand to providing loans. Similarly, in the case of CSBs, additional
interventions, such as promoting PPB, can add value to the venture.
Drivers of successful community seed banks
Broadly, there were two types of drivers (motivating factors) for implementing community
seed banks: internal and external. Internal drivers include building social capital such as
trust, cooperation, collective action, local governance, community ownership, customary
rights, state of genetic resources, traditional knowledge, community resilience, benet
sharing, etc. External drivers include international and national governance, climate
change, support, recognition, etc.
Access to local varieties
Farmers have imperfect access to information
27
about varieties. Access to unique and
locally adapted traditional local varieties is often poor within the community, even when
a sucient quantity of seed is available (Badstue 2006), simply because of poor access
to information (Tripp 2001), weak social networks (Subedi et al. 2003), social exclusion
(Sthapit and Joshi 1996), and weak institutional mechanisms (Shrestha et al. 2012). Farmers
often assume that traditional local varieties are usually maintained by someone within
the community and that they can obtain seeds from fellow farmers should they need
them (Bellon 2004). Such assumptions are often wrong because of weak social connections
(Poudel et al. 2007), farmers’ decisions on land allocation to local varieties (Meng 1997) and
farmers’ aspiration of increased income through commercialization (Smale et al. 1994). As
local institutions community seed banks monitor genetic erosion at the community level
by roughly categorizing i) the number of households growing a particular variety in a
large area, ii) the number of households growing in small areas and iii) the few households
growing in the variety in small areas. This information is validated by inter-village diversity
fairs to check the real availability of seed locally (Sthapit et al. 2006). Situations that relate
to (ii) and (iii) are critical indicators of genetic erosion of the community landscape
(Chaudhary et al. 2004). Having deeper understanding on how to maintain, monitor,
and propagate seed exchange structures will help to use and reintroduce varieties where
26 The Open Source Seed Initiative (OSSI) from the USA suggests an alternative IPR system. It explores
ways in which analogous ‘biological open source’ arrangements can be developed for plant germplasm.
This approach could facilitate access to parent materials and pre-breeding materials, from which farmers
could develop new varieties. OSSI was set up to facilitate innovation in plant breeding by creating a
licensing framework for exchanging germplasm, thus preserving the right to the unhindered use of
shared seeds and their progeny in subsequent breeding programs.
27 Access to diversity refers to people having adequate land (natural capital), income (nancial capital) or
connections (social capital) to purchase or barter for a variety (Sperling et al. 2006).
Community Seed Banks in Nepal: Past, Present, Future
32
population size is declining as well as to conserve local crop diversity at local and national
level. The community seed bank is one of the powerful locally driven institutions with
a clear objective of local landrace conservation and also serves to link the theories of in
situ and ex situ in practice. Sometimes a multitude of objectives might distract from the
main purpose of the community seed bank and therefore, a distinct purpose needs to be
identied from the outset.
Shrestha et al. (2006) in fact demonstrated the theory of the community seed bank
in practice in Kachorwa, Bara site in Nepal. It is still functional with a careful balance
between three key activities i) conservation of local crop diversity on a small scale, ii)
enhancing plant breeding knowledge and skill of the community by participating in
PPB and seed production, and iii) supporting community development and enhancing
household income through CBM funds to ensure conservation of native crops in situ. Other
communities have not taken the same level of ownership and collective actions in other
projects or NGO driven community seed bank initiatives in Nepal (Shrestha et al. 2012).
The historical development of community seed banks in Nepal is highlighted by Shrestha
et al. (2013, in this proceeding) with multiple functions: conservation of landraces/local
varieties; exchange and distribution mechanism; governance and operation of CSB and
empowerment of local communities. Learning from Nepal case examples of other CSBs, it
is possible to analyse sources of motivation for improving conceptual frameworks of the
community seed bank in the context of farmers’ livelihoods and food security as well as
conservation of local crop diversity.
One of the key drivers of the success in Bara, Nepal might be related to diculty accessing
seed of local varieties through social connections and exchange. Of the 33 local rice varieties
documented in 1998, only 14 could be found on farm in 2003. The number of growers of local
varieties decreased from 68% to 32% and the total area occupied by local landraces decreased
from 17% to 3% (Shrestha et al. 2008). This alarming situation became one of the motivating
factors for establishing a community seed bank. Upon investigation of social networks in
this village, Subedi et al. (2003) and Poudel et al. (2007) found that social seed networks were
often weak, closed and linked only with smaller nodes of farmers. So access to local seed was
practically dicult as traditional sources of local varieties were drying up.
Within few years (2003-2005) of establishment of the community seed bank in Bara, 38 to
43% of poor small holder farmers had access to seed of 11 to 23 local varieties (Shrestha et
al. 2008) and this service has been well appreciated as there are no other sources of local
crop varieties in the community. Similarly, the CSB in Talium, Jumla was established by
farmers after they recognized that the crops and varieties that they depend on are not the
ones that are easily available from external sources. So they are on their own to ensure
access to their seeds.
Awareness
Diversity fair was conducted followed by documentation of Community Biodiversity
Register in Kachorwa and Begnas villages of Nepal. These activities raised a signicant
33
Community Seed Banks in Nepal: Past, Present, Future
level of public awareness on the importance of local crop diversity. In spite of this, the loss
of traditional crop varieties continues to be alarming even in this village (Chaudhary et al.
2004). Resource poor smallholder farmers who tend to have low production potential areas
(i.e. rain-fed and low fertility lands) still need local seeds that match their specic edaphic
and climatic conditions. This is one source of motivation when a seasoned community
organiser introduces the idea of a community seed bank.
Participatory plant breeding
Communities tend to realize the value of conservation when farmers are directly involved
in seing breeding goals of participatory plant breeding and developing their own variety
by crossing a local variety with a modern variety. In central Terai Nepal, Dhudhisaro, a rice
landrace was identied as a rare and unique variety grown by one household and 8.5% of the
total area of farmland (0.05 Katha land) and was disappearing from the community (Rana et
al. 1998; Chaudhary et al. 2004). Dhudhisaro landrace has no chance to survive in the present
context unless productivity of Dhudhisaro is improved by improving lodging resistance and
keeping the same level of grain quality. With the facilitation of the project sta, farmers
decided to develop a new variety with the positive traits of Dudhisaro (good eating quality
and adapted to rain fed conditions) and eliminate negative traits of Dudhisaro by incorporating
lodging, disease resistance from the improved variety BG 1442. Within the span of 7 years they
were able to develop a variety called Kachorwa-4 and started to do seed multiplication and
selling quality seed to other farming communities and raising income to support a community
seed bank and conservation of local varieties. In this process, the farming community not only
have realized the importance of maintaining landraces but also gained knowledge in plant
breeding, seed selection and marketing, thus motivating them to mobilize social capital for
collective actions on community-based management of local diversity (Figure 1).
Legitimizing and strengthening local institutions
Another important driver is to mobilize social capital to generate a community based
biodiversity management fund that can support a community seed bank and allow for seed
transactions (Shrestha et al. 2012; 2013). This process helps to develop rules and regulations
of local institution, governance, and establish legitimacy within the community as well as
with local government. Seed production and marketing of PPB products and local varieties
are being carried out to meet demand of local farmers and to generate income. Nevertheless,
community seed bank is locally recognized for providing access of traditional local varieties
whereas the extension, private and agrovet outlets are seen as the sources for modern and
hybrid varieties. If in the future, if the CSB are integrated functionally into national gene
banks
28
, then the national genetic resource management system and other public sector need
to be convinced how community seed bank can link in situ and ex situ conservation and
provide backup service for on-farm seed security in the country.
28 There is another school of thought that the beauty of a community seed bank is that it is decentralised,
community based and controlled and addresses local needs of the community, although supporting and
linking the network of a community seed bank functionally allows for the ow of genetic materials both
ways and strengthens community resilience in seed security.
Community Seed Banks in Nepal: Past, Present, Future
34
Recognition
The community seed bank established by ADCS, Bara, has received recognition in various
ways. It is registered in the local government which is a kind of recognition and provides
local level legitimacy. The government nominated chair of ADCS to the National Agricultural
Biodiversity Coordination Commiee is invited to participate in various national policy
meetings in policy decision-making. GEF/SGP/UNDP provided small grants to strengthen the
community seed bank system. LI-BIRD has continued to highlight its contribution in Nepal
and globally. Such recognition from donors, government and civil society has also been a
source of internal motivation and pride for the community. A regular visit to the community
seed bank by donors, government ocials and farmersgroups has a positive impact in the
local community. Similarly, some of ADCS members also got the opportunity to visit abroad.
Agent of change
At the outset, it is critical that one fully experienced community organizer should be based
in the community as a change agent to present new ideas and techniques to adequately
address community problems and break down barriers. Experience of social mobilization
and technical competencies of such a community organiser
29
was a key external factor for
the success of the community seed bank in Bara and later in other communities. Such change
agents should work locally for developing teams of local leaders internally to mobilize social
capital and bring about behavioural change. Such agents play a key role in establishing a
legitimate governing structure and mechanism for seed production, distribution, sharing
seeds and benets and empowering Agriculture Development and Conservation Society
(ADCS) and women’s groups to take self-directed decision-making. Establishment of
ADCS in the community helped to break the cultural barrier to work with women groups.
Exchange visits of women’s groups to successful CBOs sparked collective action.
Climate change
In the context of climate change, over-reliance on a handful of crops and crop varieties puts
global food security at greater risk. Diversity fairs and community biodiversity registers
have been eye-openers for communities that local crop genetic diversity is in danger of
disappearing. During the last decade, farmers have experienced a number of stochastic
events and unfavourable seasons that sparked the self-realization that farmers will be
beer o with a diverse portfolio of crops and varieties that match a wide range of agro-
ecosystems and external factors. As a result, interventions that support and strengthen
informal seed system are also newly acquired sources of external motivations (Sthapit et
al. 2010). Climate Change, Agriculture and Food Security of CGIAR Research Programme
7 (CCAFS)
30
and other rural development donors have seen community seed banks as the
platform of rural institutions that facilitate uses and availability of diverse portfolios of
crops and varieties at the local level to improve community resilience in the face of climate
change (de Boef et al. 2013; Gonsalves 2013).
29 We acknowledge the contribution of Pitambar Shrestha (LI-BIRD) and local level resource persons for
spearheading the idea of ADCS and community seed bank in Bara, Nepal.
30 hp://library.cgiar.org/bitstream/handle/10947/2565/crp_7_Proposal_Final.pdf?sequence=1
35
Community Seed Banks in Nepal: Past, Present, Future
Policy
In many countries, the sudden interest in community seed banks has been triggered not
only by climate change resilience, but also because CSBs might be an important tool to
institutionalize farmers’ rights over agriculture genetic resources in the context of growing
pressure on these countries for securing breeders’ rights. Since South Asian countries are
a signatory to the Agreement of the SAARC Seed Bank and a party to other international
agreements such as the International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and
Agriculture (ITPGRFA) and the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), practitioners
and experts are discussing the required functional linkages between the SAARC Seed
Bank and community seed banks to ensure seed security and farmers’ rights in the
region. Countries still have a long way to go to strengthen their farmers’ rights acts and
rules that ensure rights to save, use, exchange and sell seed; protect traditional knowledge;
and participate in decision-making and benet sharing (Adhikari 2012; Bala Ravi 2009;
Ruiz and Vernooy 2012).
Concluding remarks
It is important to develop agreement on the denition and typology of community seed
bank and associated features. Unless that happens, there will be fragmentation and limited
synergy. The concept of the community seed bank stimulates gene bank scientists, breeders
and development workers to nd new ways of collaborating with farmers and vice versa in
the dierent functions of farmer seed systems. Farmers’ seed systems can be substantially
improved through the introduction of scientic knowledge and practices developed by
the formal seed system. Participatory crop improvement using local crop diversity can
enhance knowledge and technical competencies of community seed banks and address
community needs for a diverse set of crops and varieties. There is renewed interest in the
theory and practices of community seed banks for strengthening farmers’ seed and food
security. In the wake of climate change, community seed banks can provide immediate
access to locally adapted diverse portfolios of crops and genetic diversity. This will in
turn develop community resilience to cope with vulnerability caused by climate change
and market forces. Furthermore, community seed banks as a platform of community-
based management of agricultural biodiversity can ensure the eective implementation of
Farmers’ Rights (in terms of recognition, participation in decision-making, benet sharing
and developing supportive policy and seed regulatory frameworks). This also provides an
opportunity to i) interact and integrate informal and formal seed systems for addressing
local problems, ii) promote in situ and ex situ linkages to back up genetic resources locally
as building block of crop improvement and food security, and iii) ensure community
development in a sustainable way. There are many challenges and opportunities to use
the platform of the community seed bank as an open source seed network in order to i)
strengthen multi-functionality of farmer seed systems, ii) conserve and revive traditional
crop varieties, iii) strengthen farmer capacity in selection of traits, plant breeding and
seed production, iv) generate data for value for cultivation, and v) improve access to and
availability of local crop diversity.
Community Seed Banks in Nepal: Past, Present, Future
36
Acknowledgements
Reviewers of the paper are gratefully acknowledged for providing critical and useful
comments and suggestions. They include: V. Ramanatha Rao, Ram Rana, Kamlesh
Adhikari, Sajal Sthapit, Pashupati Chaudhary and Ronnie Vernooy.
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... In answer to the loss of biodiversity/agrobiodiversity, many NUS seed banks, seed sharing organisations and communities have sprouted around the globe [12]. These often work on a nonprofit basis where seeds are donated to farmers in exchange for fresh and vital seeds the following season [12,13]. This process helps to maintain the vigorous seeds libraries and also gives the growers an opportunity to experiment with forgotten varieties and improve their own food and nutrition security [12,13]. ...
... These often work on a nonprofit basis where seeds are donated to farmers in exchange for fresh and vital seeds the following season [12,13]. This process helps to maintain the vigorous seeds libraries and also gives the growers an opportunity to experiment with forgotten varieties and improve their own food and nutrition security [12,13]. One of the challenges encountered by these micro scale gardeners (MSGs) is the aspect of genetic seed purity, especially when trying to save seeds of specific varieties that have the potential to cross-pollinate with other specimens from the same species [11][12][13][14]. ...
... This process helps to maintain the vigorous seeds libraries and also gives the growers an opportunity to experiment with forgotten varieties and improve their own food and nutrition security [12,13]. One of the challenges encountered by these micro scale gardeners (MSGs) is the aspect of genetic seed purity, especially when trying to save seeds of specific varieties that have the potential to cross-pollinate with other specimens from the same species [11][12][13][14]. Collection and utilisation of breed true crops is crucial in maintaining varietal stability, especially when working with old cultivars like the previously mentioned landraces and other orphan crops that are homozygous [15,16]. ...
... Thus the land races Primitive or antique variety usually associated with traditional agriculture are known by highly adapted to local conditions. 1 Community level seed saving initiatives have been around for about 30 years in conserving the existing land race varieties. These efforts have taken various forms and labels, including community gene bank, farmer seed house, seed hut, seed wealth center, seed-savers group, association or network, community seed reserve, seed library and community seed bank. ...
... Broadly speaking, community seed banks are local, mostly informal institutions whose core function is that of collectively maintaining seeds for local use. [1][2][3] Usually they serve as part of farmers' informal seed systems, in which the various stages of seed management viz: selection, conservation, exchange and improvement take place without involvement of or control by research, development or government agencies. ...
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... The Community Seed Bank (CSB) is a contact point for accessing local seed and associated knowledge by mobilizing social, financial, and human capital for community sensitization and conservation of agrobiodiversity (Maharjan et al 2011). Community seed banks allow natural and human selection to continue as part of the agricultural production system (Sthapit 2012). CSB has also explored participatory germplasm exchange in addition to establishing diversity blocks of those landraces in western terai landscapes for improved access and regeneration of landraces. ...
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In Nepal, most farming households rely on informal seed systems for their seed needs. They predominantly use seeds adapted to their local conditions, sourced either from their own harvests or acquired from neighbors and relatives. To increase farmers' access to a diverse range of crop genetic resources and support local food security among impoverished communities, the concept of the community seed bank (CSB) has been introduced. CSBs play a crucial role at the community level, not only in enhancing the availability of various seeds, but also in conserving agricultural biodiversity on farms. This approach ensures that farmers have access to seeds that are suited to their specific agroecological conditions and promotes the conservation of on-farm agrobiodiversity. In Nepal, more than 140 CSBs were set up at various times with the assistance of both governmental and nongovernmental organizations. However, currently, only 46 of these CSBs are operational, safeguarding a total of 1490 accessions of 53 distinct crop varieties. In addition to their conservation efforts, CSBs are actively involved in the formal recognition of native varieties. So far, 19 native varieties of 8 different crops have been officially registered through the annex D provision of the seed regulation by the national seed board. Most CSBs in Nepal currently focus only on orthodox seeds. To enhance their effectiveness, it is essential to establish and strengthen community gene banks capable of handling all six components of agrobiodiversity. Furthermore, CSBs should expand their activities beyond the conservation of native genetic resources to include the documentation and integration of indigenous technical knowledge. There is an urgent need to introduce legal and institutional frameworks for the registration and regulation of community seed banks.
... In the period from 2018 to 2022, apple orchards ranged from 1.3768 ha to 1.5795 ha and produced an annual yield of about 6829 t in 2018 to 9469 t in 2022, with a significant decrease in 2020 (6.792 t) [6]. However, there are forecasts that apple production will increase in the coming years, as with most other types of crop production in Norway, and this is mainly based on the planting of new orchards at higher altitudes due to climate change and temperature increase [7] and high market demand. Organic fruit production in Norway in total took up 292 ha in 2023. ...
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... However, the most challenging aspect of community seed banks is its sustainability with its legal identification, financial viability, effective operational mechanisms and community empowerment (Vernooy et al. 2015). 5 Community seed bank (CSB) is defined as a community-based effort to conserve and use both local and improved varieties for ensuring food security and improving the livelihoods of farmers (Sthapit 2013;Vernooy et al. 2015). These community seed banks are owned, controlled and governed by local community and are relatively inexpensive as they operate employing simple low-cost storage technologies at the local level. ...
... So far, we have discussed CSBs play multiple roles in seed systems, food security, and innovation. Despite all the beneficial roles played by community seedbanks, their economic sustainability remains a challenge (Richardson, 2010;Sthapit, 2012;Frison, 2018;Isbell et al., 2021). Their economic sustainability is often overlooked in program design stages but is key to deliver sustainable impact (Vernooy et al., 2014). ...
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... In debates on reclaiming seeds, the possibility of sharing seeds is given a high priority . Scholars like Sthapit (2013) and have claimed that seed sharing is fundamental to the development of seed sovereignty. Wittman et al. (2010: 11) emphasized the importance of having access to and control over seeds 'as essential building block of food sovereignty'. ...
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