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The Role of

Community Seed Banks

Seed saving is a traditional practice of smallholder farmers that allows them to cultivate a large number of local varieties, which have adapted to different environmental conditions and changes, including water shortages, strong winds and limited soil nutrients. Although seeds can be saved at the global level, such as in the Svalbard Global Seed Vault, this may not be enough to ensure diversity at local level.

In this regard, Community Seed Banks (CSBs) are important for conserving crop diversity in the field, for ensuring access to seeds for food security and climate adaptation, and for enabling recovery after extreme events. Establishing CSBs helps farmers to acquire varieties that are adapted to local conditions, varieties that may not be accessible through formal seed systems, may be costly or may suffer from erratic supplies after natural and man-made disasters.

CSBs help to preserve seeds of adapted varieties either local varieties or new ones coming from breeding programs. Seed diversity can be enhanced and additional income generated when seeds are exchanged and sold to neighboring communities. Diversification of crops and varieties is also highly important in terms of people’s food security, because it reduces the risk of total production failures and contributes to strengthening community resilience.

Community seed registers are an important addition to community seed banks in that they can help prevent exploitation through intellectual property rights such as patents.