Supporting farmer seed systems and promoting farmers’ rights and the sustainability of seed in emergency situations

Eighty per cent of the seed requirements of the smallholder farmers in Zimbabwe, Malawi and Mozambique are sourced from the farmer seed systems. The local seeds or farmers varieties, adapted to local conditions play a significant role in meeting their food and nutrition, cultural and livelihood needs. With Cyclones Idai and Kenneth impacting Southern Africa in March and April of 2019, affected over 3.8 million people and destroyed nearly 800 000 ha of standing crops in these countries. Farmers lost their local seed reserves and crops that were ready for harvest. In response, with funding support from the government of Germany, FAO-ITPGRFA is working with governments, national genebanks and farmers to rebuild seed systems through a project called "Foundations for rebuilding seed systems post Cyclone Idai: Zimbabwe, Mozambique and Malawi". The project started in September 2019 and will end in May 2021, aims at supporting national genebanks to undertake studies to understand what has been lost in cyclone-affected communities in the way of seed reserves and seed diversity, as well as identify what types of crops (including endangered species) small-scale farmers would like to continue to grow, eat and sell. The project also aims to increase knowledge and skills in the restoration of local community-based farmer seed systems and build the capacity of national partners for policy engagement at the national and regional level.