{"id":25212,"date":"2020-07-10T10:41:00","date_gmt":"2020-07-10T08:41:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.biovision.ch\/story\/zugang-zu-saatgut-ist-fuer-kleinbauernfamilien-entscheidend\/"},"modified":"2022-10-18T10:16:25","modified_gmt":"2022-10-18T08:16:25","slug":"access-to-seed-is-crucial-for-small-farmers","status":"publish","type":"story","link":"https:\/\/www.biovision.ch\/en\/story\/access-to-seed-is-crucial-for-small-farmers\/","title":{"rendered":"Access to seed is crucial for small farmers"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t
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Robust and diverse seeds are key to sustainable food production \u2013 especially in small-scale farming structures like those found in East African countries, where many farmers grow food to ensure their own food security. Extreme weather conditions plus the use of only a few varieties and excessive pesticides are changing the conditions under which crops are grown, causing a critical drop in yields.\u00a0
The decline in seed diversity means that indigenous knowledge, cultural assets and, above all, security for the future are being lost. Yet local varieties and wild plants form the basis of modern crop breeding for new characteristics such as pest resistance, drought tolerance or substances.\u00a0Biovision works with partner organisations to revive traditional knowledge<\/a>\u00a0in rural areas and to develop, adapt and disseminate alternative cultivation methods.<\/p>

Helping to increase field diversity with seed banks<\/h2>

Since seeds adapted to local conditions and indigenous tree seedlings are not easy to find, farmers have set up their own seed banks and tree nurseries with support from Biovision. In Vihiga County, Kenya, for example,\u00a0our partner Bioversity International is supporting ten farmer groups in setting up local seed banks<\/a>.\u00a0
Correctly handling seeds is crucial for the success of small farmers\u2019 harvests, so the farmer groups in Vihiga are also being trained in seed management. Future cultivation trials using the national seed collection are planned for increasing\u00a0agrobiodiversity<\/a>\u00a0in the region with well suited food crops.
Namely through\u00a0Biovision\u2019s Vihiga project<\/a>\u00a0have researchers been able to show that higher agrobiodiversity in the fields also leads to a more balanced diet among farming families. A large variety of readily available seeds therefore not only improves long-term food security and the ability to respond to changing environmental conditions. It also has a direct positive influence on the health of farmers \u2013 and especially their children.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t

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Video about the seed bank in Vihiga County, Kenya, which Biovision was able to realise through Bioversity Ciat. \u00a9 Georgina Smith.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t

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Access to seed is of great importance<\/h2>

In our partner countries, local seeds and the informal seed sector are of great importance for food security, as 80\u201390% of farmers obtain their seeds from the informal sector. This means that they rely on their own seed propagation, bartering, gifts and sales among neighbours, and seed offered at the local market \u2013 all non-certified seed. Social control, including the reputation of seeds in local markets and among neighbours, substitutes for formal certification. The more destitute the producers are, the more they depend on the local seed market.<\/p>

Bartering and seed propagation under pressure<\/h2>

Increasingly strong national and interregional plant variety protection laws, as well as patented bred varieties, make it more difficult for farmers to sell, exchange or reuse their seeds. While seeds used in small quantities are excluded from plant variety protection in Switzerland, legislation is increasingly changing in favour of multinational seed companies in our project countries in East Africa.\u00a0
Cooperation with the private sector can be helpful, however, for example in the\u00a0Biovision Push-Pull project in Zimbabwe<\/a>: farmers need specific seeds for the maize cultivation method at a certain point in time. Previously these had to be imported, so they were often not available when needed. By recruiting Mukushi Seeds as a partner company, it is now possible to produce the seeds locally. (Find out more\u00a0here\u00a0<\/a>and in the video.)<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t

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The push-pull example in Zimbabwe indicates, how critical it is to have access to the right seeds at the right time.<\/p>

\u00a0<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Changing weather conditions, degraded soils and resistance require adapted seed. But recently, legislation for seed breeding and trade in East Africa has become more restrictive. Why free access to seed is crucial.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":5373,"template":"","exclude-from-search":[],"newsletter":[],"region":[228],"projektthema":[471],"themen":[248],"class_list":["post-25212","story","type-story","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","region-sub-saharan-africa","projektthema-saatgut-en","themen-agriculture-en"],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-08-18 12:48:55","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"newsletter","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biovision.ch\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/story\/25212","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biovision.ch\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/story"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biovision.ch\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/story"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.biovision.ch\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/story\/25212\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biovision.ch\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5373"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biovision.ch\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=25212"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"exclude-from-search","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biovision.ch\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/exclude-from-search?post=25212"},{"taxonomy":"newsletter","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biovision.ch\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/newsletter?post=25212"},{"taxonomy":"region","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biovision.ch\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/region?post=25212"},{"taxonomy":"projektthema","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biovision.ch\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/projektthema?post=25212"},{"taxonomy":"themen","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biovision.ch\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/themen?post=25212"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}