Strengthening local farmers’ seed systems through Community Seed Banks in Malawi

Biodiversity Conservation Initiative (BCI), a civil society organization in Malawi, partnered with the Development Fund of Norway (DF) to implement a Community-Based Agrobiodiversity Management project (2013-2016), which was extended for the period 2017-2020. DF provides the funding, while BCI directly implements the project targeting 2500 smallholder farmers. The major objective is to increase adaptive capacity to climate change among smallholder farmers in Malawi through strengthening local seed systems with community seed banks as a major focus. Core components of the work include: (1) multiplication of locally adapted seed varieties such as finger millet, groundnuts, beans, green gram, sesame, sorghum, pearl millet and bambara nut; (2) maize varieties participatory variety selection; (3) community seed banking on a loan basis for enhanced farmer access of the materials and loan schemes for sustainability; (4) capacity development programs on quality seed production and enhanced crop production practices; and (5) seed policies, including Farmers’ Rights. Notable achievements of the work include the sustainable management of four Community Seed Banks in Rumphi district. Lessons learned include that capacity development of farmers in key areas, such as seed multiplication, collection and storage, appropriate storage facilities and economic incentives are important to effectively conserve crop genetic resources on-farm.