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Seed Banks

Community seed banks are important for safeguarding traditional seeds. We believe that seed banks are not just storage facilities where seeds are kept for distribution or marketing. They also are a vital strategy for maintaining genetic diversity in crop and plant species.

A seed bank works very much like a traditional bank, except the currency involved is seed, not money.

Any villager can become a community seed bank member by paying a nominal annual fee. Seeds are given free of cost to members, who then sow the seed, harvest the crop, and later return to the bank double the amount of seeds borrowed.

In conjunction with like-minded NGOs, we have established 45 seed banks in nine ecoregions of Karnataka. The seed banks expand the supply of organically grown traditional seed varieties available to the farming community through seed exchanges, which increases crop diversity across the state.

 
Functions of seed bank

All of the seed banks we facilitate are managed by women who are members of self-help groups (SHG). "After learning about the work involved in setting up and maintaining a seed bank, a discussion follows where the community decides which group would be most suitable for running it," says Shivamma, a farmer from Hunsur.

Once seeds are collected through seed yatras and seed fairs, members of the chosen SHG start indigenous varieties of seeds in a place identified as suitable for the seed bank. SHG members are responsible for:

• Storing seeds in the proper manner
• Lending seeds to those who require them
• Maintaining a record of seeds given out and returned
• Selecting quality seeds from those returned
• Maintaining records of seeds that are in demand
• Promoting the use of local seed varieties

The seed bank works at seed treatment, seed selection, monitoring seed distribution, maintaining a monitoring card to track who is growing what, maintaining a record of needs, and planning for the next season.

To maintain the purity of seeds, seed bank members set down some rules, such as no use of chemical fertilizers and pesticides. "We go to farms now and then to see whether the farmers are following our rules," says Kalamma a farmer. "When it is time to return the seeds, we often go to the fields, select the best seeds and ask that they be given to the seed bank."

Members of the SHG already in existence in the area maintain seed banks. "We used to meet to run a microfinance credit unit. Now running this seed bank has made it more interesting for us," says Yellamma, a senior farmer.

To make sure every member puts in work in the seed bank, most sanghas have a per-hour payment worked out. "If we work, we get paid."
  © GREEN Foundation 2009