How community seed banks contribute to climate-resilient seed systems: evidence from Ethiopia, Malawi, and Nepal

Abstract

Farmer-managed seed systems (FMSS) deliver the bulk of seeds used by smallholder farmers in many countries of the Global South. Community-based agrobiodiversity management is a participatory approach to strengthening FMSS from within, often undertaken in collaboration with scientists and breeders. Community seed banks (CSBs) are central to this approach. While well-managed CSBs are widely recognised for their potential to enhance seed and food security and support climate-change adaptation, research-based evidence remains limited. This study fills in this gap by analysing the functions of CSBs in FMSS, their contributions to climate-resilient seed systems and how this affects local seed security. The findings are based on a comparative, qualitative in-depth case study of 17 CSBs, covering five CSBs each in Ethiopia and Malawi, and seven CSBs in Nepal. Our study highlights how CSBs contribute to conserving crop diversity and making it available locally. We also show how some CSBs contribute to variety enhancement and/or development, providing collaborative platforms for plant breeders and farmers. Another important function is capacity building in seed management and farming methods. The CSBs have helped farmers adapt their agricultural production to climate change by providing quality seeds of climate-resilient crop varieties in time for planting, and through capacity building in suitable farming methods. The study demonstrates how these CSBs have contributed to local seed security. However, not all varieties are always available, amounts may vary, and there have been instances of genetic erosion. In most cases, seeds are widely distributed through farmer-to-farmer-exchange and trade. Nevertheless, challenges of scale are evident, as the number of CSBs are limited, the numbers of members and farmers served by the CSBs vary, and CSB growth strategies have had only limited success. We conclude that CSBs perform multiple functions and that their contributions to developing climate-resilient seed systems are significant but have thus far been confined to relatively small segments of farmers.