Roles of National Genebanks and Community

Seed Banks for responding food insecurity

and safeguarding genetic resourcesBhuwon Sthapit26-27 August 2015, Kathmandu, Nepal

Global challenges and Bioversity

Initiatives

Theory and misconceptions

– seed systems,

– farmer seed networks and sources,

– evolutionary breeding,

– resilience

Case studies and gaps

Roles and links

Take home message

Outline

Historical Hotspots of Diversity of Major

Crops

Quelle: http://www.grida.no/climate/ipcc_tar/slides/ppt/05.19.ppt (courtesy Axel Drescher)

Climate change is already happening

Diseases of concern to the US major crops

• Bacteria causing fire blight in apples

• Ug99 + related strains of stem rust in wheat

• New strains of rice blast disease

• Potato blight is re-emergingQualset and Shands, 2005

We cannot predict which new pest or pathogen will

develop or how the rain will fall next year -- but we can

use agricultural biodiversity to have a diverse set of crop

varieties in agricultural systems to increase the options

to buffer against an unpredictable change. This explains

why on-farm conservation can play key role in future!

Loss of options to meet public and private needs:

Diet diversity and nutrition

Market and cultural demands

Ecosystem health and stability

Biotic and abiotic stress

Consequences

Threats

Consolidation of seed supply into few,

large companies

Reduced funds to public sector agricultural

research, education and breeding

Continued push towards

monocultures; shrinking diversity

Geographic distribution of national, international and SGSV genebanks

About 7.4 million ex-situ germplasm accessions exist and conserved in about 1750

genebanks worldwide; 11% held in trust by the CGIAR genebanks

7

Svalbard, Norway

78° North, 15°East

http://croptrust.org

The Crop Trust is an international

organization working to safeguard crop

diversity, forever-safety duplicates from

all genebanks!Number of varieties conserved in the

Seed Vault at the end of 2014

839,801

National Genebank

(NAGRC)

Collection,

Characterization,

Evaluation.

Conservation,

Rejuvenation

Pre-breeding

Use –through exchange (One door

policy)-link to SGSV, IGB and CSB

Bigger roles to play!

Integrated Conservation Methods

In situ Community-based conservation Ex situ

National parks

Protected areas

Biosphere reserves

World Heritage sites

Complementary Conservation

Strategies

Botanical

gardens

Zoological

gardens

Genebanks

In situ

on farm

Ex situ

on farm

Landraces

Folk

varieties

Sacred

groves

Community

seed bank

(Tribal and rural families, CBOs)

(Government

agencies and

universities)

(Forest,

Environment and

Wildlife departments)

Seed Savers Exchange Network

http://www.seedsavers.net

• Improve yields and

quality

• Improve biotic and

abiotic stress tolerance

• Raw materials for plant

breeders

• Seed sovereignty and

food security

• Farmer’s rights and

equity

Why important?

• Evolutionary services and

on-farm conservation

• Base broadening for yield

stability

• Managing diseases and

pests

• Multi-functionality

• Community resilience

• Future market

Theory: Dynamics of farmer

germplasm system

Cultivar

Genetic

Diversity

Natural

introgression

Enhancement

Studies

Seed

flow/exchange

SelectionCrossing

Natural

selection

Germplasm

Introduction

Database

Gene Bank

(ex situ)

Breeding

FORMAL

SYSTEM

Seed production

Seed quality

control

Distribution

Seed

Planting

Cultivation

Harvest

Storage

LOCAL

SYSTEM

90%

Exchange

Consumption

Market

Farmers

Seed system: On-farm management -

adapt, evolve and buffer (evolutionary

breeding)

Forest / wild

1. Saved own

2. Barter/gift3. Sale/purchase

10%

Contribution of informal seed sources to livelihood of mountain farmers, Nepal

Crops Humla

(2000m)

Jumla

(2000m)

Lamjung

(1500)

Dolkha

(1700)

Amaranth 100 100 100 100

Barley 100 100 100 97

Beans 100 85 83 72

Buckwheat 100 100 100 95

Finger millet 100 100 100 97

Foxtail millet 100 100 100 97

Perso millet 100 100 100 NA

Rice 96 76 98 95

Total GEF LLI-BIRD Baseline survey, 2014

Global context: Access for farmers a secure source of locally adapted seed

Country Crop Contribution of

farmer seed system

(source) %

Reference

Burkina Faso Sorghum 95 Kabore, 2000

Mexico Maize 75 Ortega-Packka

et al., 2000

Morocco Durum

wheat

87 Mellas, 2000

Nepal Rice 97 Baniya et al.,

2003

In India alone-100 million farms-15-20% of them use seed from the regular

seed trade; the remaining 80 m farms depend on self saved seed or seed

supply from farmers! (Swaminathan, 1998)

53

26OS

182

181

81115

48

OSOS

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he

gurd

i

Purc

has

e

173

172

Madhese

Exchange

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23

152

67

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urd

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78

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Radha 9Exchange

Fig 1. Farmers’ network on rice seed flow in Begnas eco-site (Subedi et al 2003. Culture and Agriculture 25(2);41-50)

Who maintains diversity and how? Social seed network

What is informal system?

own saved seed

exchange

gifts

purchase

Who is nodal farmer?

high frequency of

exchange seed and

information to other

farmers

Diversity

Flexibility

Selection

Who is innovator?

search

select

maintain

exchange

Meta-population Theory

migration

colonization

What is healthy seed system?Why farmer seed system important?

Germplasm base

– diversity, flexibility, selection

Seed production and quality

– purity, germination, vigor, disease free, quantity

Seed availability and distribution

– seed sources, networks, markets

Knowledge and information

– growing methods, utilization, knowledge of new materials, traits trade off

The system has multiple functions !

http://www.routledge.com/books/details/9780415708067/

Conceptual framework: Classification of global community seed banks by functions

Functions Case study examples (book

chapter)

Conservation Bhutan, Malaysia, Mexico and Rwanda

Access and availability Burundi, Canada, Costa Rica and Uganda

Conservation and

Access & Availability

Bolivia, Brazil, China, Guatemala,

Honduras, India, Mali, Nepal, Nicaragua,

South Africa, Sri Lanka, USA, Trinidad,

Zimbabwe

Conservation;

Access & Availability &

Seed and food sovereignty

Bangladesh, Brazil , Nepal and Spain

Result: Multiple functions; Diverse actors/Diverse objectives

Multiple functions and services of community seed banks

Functions Services

Conservation Short term conservation of locally adapted

varieties,

Rejuvenation of heirloom and rare/unique varieties

in situ

Restoration of lost varieties

Monitoring of status of local crop diversity

Access and availability Easy access of seed to local farmers

Maintenance of minimum stock of local seeds

Fostering seed exchange

Respond to local crises/disasters

Seed and food

sovereignty

Local control over seed conservation

Income generation through sale of seed

In situ-ex situ links; platform of learning

Nepal Community seed bank:

A local solution to improve access to quality seed,

safeguard of diverse crop varieties, and secure food

security

1

1

1

1

CSBs in Nepal supported by LI-BIRD

Mid to high hill (2)

Low to Mid hill (2)

Low land terai (10)

Bara,

2003

Jhapa,

2009

Nawalpar

asi, 2009

Sankhuwasa

bha, 2009

Kailali,

2007, 08

Dhading,

2009

Tanahun,

2009

Legend

N

No. of CSBs established

2003 1

2007 3

2008 3

2009 7

Parivartan/USC 1

Oxfam-N 90

LI-BIRD/Bioversity/ DF

15

DoA 5

Typologies

PGR-

focused

Seed-

focused

Integrated

approach

Local varieties only (regeneration, conservation

focus)

MVs only (seed for food, food security enhanced

at the cost of agrobiodiversity loss)

Both LRs and MVs (conservation and food security

goal addressed)+

[Source: PC Chaudhary, 2012 LI-BIRD]

Year of study and

type

No. of LRs/MVs No. of growers % of area occupied

by

LRs MVs LRs MVs LRs MVs

Baseline 1998

(n=202 HHs)

33 20 137 - 16.7 83.3

CBR 2003

(n=349 HHs)

14 26 111 - 3.4 96.6

[Source: Adapted and modified from Rana et al., 2000]

Note: LRs=Landrace, MVs=Modern varieties, HHs=Households, CBR=Community biodiversity Register

Community Driver: Rapid erosion of

rice landraces in Kochorwa, Bara (Shrinking local crop diversity and options)

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[Paudel D, Sthapit BR and P Shrestha 2015. An Analysis of Social Seed Network and Its

Contribution to On-Farm Conservation of Crop Genetic Diversity in Nepal," International Journal

of Biodiversity, vol. 2015, Article ID 312621, 13 pages, 2015. doi:10.1155/2015/312621]

Community Driver: Weakening social seed networks

Commercial area: Vulnerable

to climate change and

adversity

Non-commercial: Resilient to

climate change

Evidence: Improve access of local varieties for poor smallholder farmers and social equity

Year Number of farmers of different socio-

economic

No. of

landrace

Seed

(Kg)

Rich Medium Poor Total

2007 23 (23) 34 (33) 45 (44) 102 28 103

2006 7 (11) 25 (39) 32 (50) 64 21 80

2005 17 (20) 37 (42) 33 (38) 87 23 197

2004 6 (17) 14 (40) 15 (43) 35 13 69

2003 5 (12) 19 (48) 16 (40) 40 11 87

Improve access to landraces: Pro-poor women farmers

[Source: Pitambar Shrestha and BR Sthapit, 2008]

Transferring 900 accessions of Community seed banks to National Gene bank, Nepal

28

Emerging roles of Community seed bank in seed relief and reiving local seed system

9750 kg truthfully labelled rice seeds supplied to

suitable earthquake affected areas (>3800$);

pride feeling

Community seed

bank

National

Genebank

Options• VA• PPB

Diversity fair/ block*

Household

seed store

Formal Breeding

Farmer’s seedsupply system

Community-based PGR management

Take home message: Strengthening local capacity for

management of local crop diversity for rural livelihoods

and income

(Source: Sthapit and Jarvis, 1999)

CSB overarching Method: Community-based biodiversity

management (CBM) for livelihood and conservation

“Let’s local lead

to drive the CBM

process”

1Site & community selection

Understanding the local context

3 Raising awareness

Social learning

Institutional modalities

Capacities & skills

Develop & implement action plan

Mobilize CBM fund

4: Let local lead

Principles

1: Build upon local innovations, practices & resources

2: Diversifying and safeguarding biodiversity-based livelihood options

3: A platform social learning and collective action

CBM

Knowledge

Practice Institution

Sustainability, innovation & resilience

• New roles of community seed banks and national gene banks are emerging and new scope and opportunities

• Cultivate partnership for creating space for country specific innovation in this field

• Misconception-let’s science drive the process of understanding and appreciating

• Strengthen technical capacity of community seed banks (introduce * system by NGB)

• Link to PPB/PVS and crowdsourcing approach

• Policy space for CSB (Seed regulatory framework, Farmer’s Rights, ABS/Nagoya protocol)

• Potential platform of community biodiversity management and social learning and change (institutional issue)

Take home message

Thank you very much for your kind attention