Establishing and promoting Community Seed Banks and exchange networks

In 2007 the institute for fundamental research in tropical agriculture Instituto de Investigaciones Fundamentales en Agricultura Tropical ‘Alejandro de Humboldt' (INIFAT), together with several other public and non-governmental organizations, established Community Seed Banks (CSBs) as part of broader strategies for agrobiodiversity conservation in Cuba’s Biosphere Reserves. It aims to facilitate farmers' access to seed of a diversity of crops or to function as an emergency seed supply in the case that crops are damaged or destroyed. CSBs allow farmers to access healthy seeds adapted to their local conditions and do not require additional inputs they cannot afford; in addition, CSBs can support farmers who are interested in conserving seeds of traditional varieties or ‘Creole crops’ because of their origin and their cultural importance. The experience made with CSBs also allowed to define ‘duties’ of farmers for the CSBs to function. All this required training in issues related to seed conservation, data recording and cooperation with the central Genebank to create synergies, post-harvest, pest management, and management of agricultural biodiversity in the community.