Community Managed Seed Banks
17+
Villages
12000+
Farmers
8300+
Quintal Seeds
“Seed is not just the source of life. It is the foundation of our existence.”
Why do farmers need
Community Managed Seed Banks?
There are numerous challenges that smallholder farmers face in the Rayalaseema region, which include poor soils, multiple pests and diseases, droughts, and other climate change-related issues. Farmers often state that poor-quality seeds are one of their biggest problems.
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As we know, crops will not grow well without a wide selection of seeds. Most dryland farmers struggle to get sufficient, high-quality seeds to meet their requirements.
The crisis was very high, especially during sowing seasons. A solution to mitigate the challenge is to organize community seed banks to conserve indigenous/improved seeds. A community seed bank helps farmers grow local/improved varieties and exchange them among themselves, ensuring that good quality seed is always available.
Seed bank protects rare and resilient local crops. It is also an emergency seed source if crops fail due to disease, pests, or bad weather. Exchanging and sharing seeds among groups of farmers and across large areas often ensures that the seed is strong and diverse.
In these circumstances, a carefully organized seed bank always provides that seed reserve is available locally.
So, we are promoting farmers’ cooperatives and empowering them to participate in the govt seed subsidy program for groundnut and Navadhanya.
The cooperatives support the seed producer farmers in getting a breeder/foundation seed to cultivate in Rabi with a buy-back agreement. It has been processed by Mana Vithana Kendras (MVKs) and made available to the government for distribution in the Kharif season.
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Identify, collect, select and create mechanisms for the availability of indigenous/improved seed varieties to the farmers and community.
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Engage in seed varietal improvement through farmer selection, multiplication, maintenance and propagation of seeds.
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Identify and build proper infrastructure (e.g., seed storage facilities) and mechanisms for the community seed bank.
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Establish community-managed seed banks at the village /Watershed/Panchayath level.
The Framework