Restoring the past for a brighter future: Recovering and improving traditional seeds in Safo, Mali

Five years ago in Mali, the NGO CAB Dèmèso, with support from USC Canada, launched a participatory research process that helps farmers select new varieties after testing growing them with their production methods on their own plots. The new varieties include both local seeds and seeds produced through national research selection programs. Farmers tested 35 endangered varieties of millet, sorghum, and cowpea in three different agroclimatic areas of the country. This is the script in which Amadou Diarra, farmer and the chairperson of Dun kafa co-operative, presents the Programme Agro Biodiversité Dun ka Fa in the Farm Radio International.