Community seed bank enhances local seed security among farmers in Western Terai

Landscapes

Shree Kumar Maharjan

Farmers need quality seeds for their sustainable livelihoods. We can’t imagine farmers’ life
without viable seeds. That’s the reason; they are conserving and maintaining those seeds in their
farm and households. In fact, this practice of conserving seeds by farming households is as old as
agriculture. Most of the small-scale farmers in developing countries like Nepal routinely save
their own seeds from their harvest for next growing season. Nowadays, some 60-70 per cent of
seed used by these farmers is still saved on-farm from local sources. Nevertheless, these
community systems of seed saving and supply are increasingly coming under pressure due to
many factors like agricultural modernization, replacing local landraces with hybrids,
environmental stresses, difficult storage conditions etc. with increased dependency of farmers
towards outer seed sources in modern agriculture. As a consequence, interventions to strengthen
informal seed storage and supply systems such as seed banks gaining popularity among NGOs
and public sector institutions engaged in agriculture and food security.

Local Initiatives for Biodiversity, Research and Development (LI-BIRD), being a NGO
contributing major role in research and conservation since its establishment, has initiated to set
up community seed banks (CSBs) in different parts of the country to enhance seed saving,
accessibility and supply among farmers through conservation and sustainable use of local crop
genetic resources for food and agriculture. CSB, in this sense, has been developed as a farmer-
led on-farm conservation approach of agricultural biodiversity, which leads to community based
management for the sustainable use of agricultural biodiversity. Farmers’ seed requirements are
fulfilled with their own mechanism of seed collection, characterization, evaluation,
multiplication and distribution as a collective and community-based approach to support the
livelihood strategy of local people.

Western Terai Landscape Complex Project (WTLCP), one of LI-BIRD’s projects in western part
of Nepal, has established 6 community seed banks in Belwa, Patharaiya, Masuriya, Gadariya,
Shankarpur and Beldandi VDCs of Bardia, Kailali and Kanchanpur districts. The main aim of the
project is to ensure conservation and sustainable use of globally significant biodiversity in the
western terai landscapes. It’s a multi-partnership project, in which LI-BIRD’s major
interventions are to implement agro-biodiversity management activities and scale out good
practices in the area. Community seed bank is one of those good practices developed by LI-
BIRD in collaboration with Biodiversity International and NARC from in-situ project. In order to
establish seed banks; informal group meetings, series of orientations and village level workshops
were organized to create awareness on seed banks, importance of landraces conserving and
cultivating them.

Community seed banks in western terai collected seeds from farmers’ fields and diversity fairs
(competitive exhibitions of genetic materials, food products and their usages by communities),
which later conserved in banks and distributed to the farmers in the community. In first year,
farmers collected 52 varieties of crops in Belwa, 31 in Beldandi, 49 in Gadariya, 52 in Masuriya,
36 in Patharaiya, and 50 in Shankarpur. Now the collections increased up to 88 in Belwa, 77 in
Beldandi, 99 in Gadariya, 78 in Masuriya, 76 in Patharaiya and 82 in Shankarpur. The collection
and conservation of varieties are increased over the years through community based mechanisms
and initiatives and also farmers are getting seeds from banks as a reliable source for cultivation
in different growing seasons. Rare landraces are becoming common ensuring seed security in
local context. For example: Seto Siltung (Ricebean), Guiti simi and Tilki rice are becoming
common the Gadariya, Belwa and Shankarpur VDCs respectively through intervention of
community seed bank. Recently, some rice landraces Gopal dhan, Gorra dhan, Krishnavog were
identified by farmers and they have collected and conserved those seeds in community seed
bank.

Not only traditional landraces, CSB also ensures conservation of improved crop seeds, potential
to particular domain and location, distributed through participatory varietal selections and
mother-trials in which farmers cultivated improved varieties with local ones in farmers research
plots with their own practices in order to compare and also to identified best varieties based on
their preferences. Based on focus group discussion with farmers, best varieties identified was
cultivated for large scale production, distribution and selling through community based seed
production (CBSP) and those farmer getting seeds for CBSP and loans for income generating
activities from community based biodiversity management fund (CBM fund) should have to
conserve at least one traditional landraces in his farm by rules developed by community.

While comparing the year-wise records in seed bank register, number of seeds conserved and
accessed in community
seed banks has been Tilki Rice became common in Shankarpur VDC
increasing over the year
which is good indication Ram Prasad Rana, a farmer in Shankarpur, who planted Tilki
of success in western rice in his field in the VDC. Nobody was caring, even observing
terai landscapes and that landraces in his field before occurrence of flood in 2008. In
more farmers are getting September flood 2008, entire rice fields in Shankarpur were in
benefits from CSB, even submerged condition for 2-3 days, which damaged standing rice
farmers from field in the area, but Tilki landrace was found with no damages
surrounding VDCs. For
even in the flood and submerged condition. With the event,
example total number of
seeds conserved in farmers came to know about Tilki rice landrace and its flood
Belawa was 52 in resistant trait, which was conserved in community seed bank.
starting year, which Later, neighboring farmers cultivated Tilki in their fields too, as
increased to 88 in 2009 Shankarpur area is flood prone area. Nowadays, most of the
including both local farmers in the area cultivated at least small quantity of Tilki
landraces (61) and landraces in other to secure their livelihood even at worst
improved seeds. In the
context of changing condition due to flood. It can be expected that after few years, this
climate, more farmers crop will be available everywhere in Shankarpur VDC and
accessed to CSB for surrounding VDCs too. In such a way, landrace became common
landraces, as they with a small initiative of community seed bank and farmers are
understood landraces are more interested to ensure conservation on farm through
more tolerant to drought community seed bank.
and flood in comparison
with improved and hybrids, said by Maya Chaudhary, Motivator, Gadariya VDC. In this context,
community seed banks established in western terai landscapes enhanced seed security among
farmers with diverse options, reducing dependency of farmers to outer sources. In addition,
farmers are getting benefits by seed exchange and sell, ensuring seed security. Maintenance of
quality seeds is the challenges farmers are facing in the landscapes.