Seeds of hope

A region and its people devastated by war or natural disaster need more than time to recover. Not only are people killed and homes destroyed but the inevitable destructive effect on agriculture can have significant long-term implications. After a time of conflict or large-scale disaster, people crave a return to their normal lives and farmers want to re-cultivate the land. But often the seed of traditional crops that flourished in the region are lost as crops are destroyed or starving families resort to eating, rather than planting, their precious reserves of stored seed. In these situations, sometimes the only link with the past is the ex-situ collections of crop seeds which have arisen from seed collection missions that may have been made, sometimes many years before, and the storage of that material in genebanks around the world. These collections, although often used for developing new varieties, are invaluable in re-establishing traditional crop varieties in regions ravaged by natural or civil disaster.

The immediate nutritional needs of regions affected by disaster are often met with the introduction of food aid, but this is only a short-term solution. Seed imported from abroad is often poorly adapted to local conditions and resulting yields are low. So, when a country's agricultural base has been devastated, recovery has to begin with identifying sources of local seed and locally adapted varieties, which are often held in genebanks outside the country, and returning them to farmers' fields. In recent years, CGIAR centres working with national genebanks and partner NGOs, have helped to restore agricultural production in war-torn areas, such as Cambodia, Rwanda, Somalia, and Angola, and regions struck by disaster, such as Nicaragua and Honduras after Hurricane Mitch and the floods in Mozambique. With these initiatives, the need for external aid is reduced and greater efforts are made to rebuild sustainable agricultural systems.

To date, perhaps the largest and most dramatic international effort to repatriate local seed to an area wracked by conflict has taken place in Rwanda following the civil war in 1994. Co-ordinated by CIAT, the International recovery programme, "Seeds of Hope" started before fighting had even ceased. By February 1996, more than 250 varieties of beans housed in CG centres and national genebanks had been multiplied and replanted in Rwanda. In addition, potato, sorghum and maize seed, which originated from Rwanda or neighbouring countries, was distributed to Rwandan farmers to help restore food security. Lessons learned from this successful programme were then transferred to Seeds of Hope for Central America, which worked to replace maize, bean, plantain and potato varieties lost in the aftermath of Hurricane Mitch. Sweet potatoes, which originated in Nicaragua but were no longer grown, were also re-introduced by the project. And, in Honduras, CIP were able to use an innovative seed technology to replace lost sweet potato varieties. Through the development of a 'true potato seed', farmers were able to receive and plant potatoes without the problems of transporting bulky and perishable planting material.

In the genebanks of the CGIAR, germplasm material may originate from over 100 countries. Samples at IRRI, for instance, which may be of no more than one thousand to two thousand rice seeds, are kept in 10g containers. This small quantity of seed represents the lifeline that can help re-establish security for farmers in regions where these varieties have been lost. They cannot, of course, be used immediately but have to undergo a multiplication programme. But once the materials are available, the farmers are able to continue growing their traditional varieties.

Collections that were started many decades ago are still expanding particularly as more systematic efforts are being made to collect and document varieties and farmers' indigenous knowledge about landraces. Knowledge regarding the particular characteristics, for instance, of a variety is invaluable and can easily be lost as traditional varieties are replaced by commercial hybrids. In Laos, for example, seed collection of varieties is invariably carried out by women, who know not only the agronomic characteristics of a crop but also it's nutritional and culinary properties. And, with the need to maintain germplasm for re-distribution in affected areas, collection programmes are specifically acquiring material with characteristics suited to re-stocking in emergency situations. Regional and international networks are also being established to ensure that back-up collections of material are available and that information on appropriate varieties can be quickly located and accessed.

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