Community seedbanking to improve the resilience of farmers: the case of Kiziba seedbank in Uganda
This factsheet (PDF) by Bioversity International discusses the Kiziba seedbank in Uganda, which was established in June 2010. The seedbank was part of a project to improve the productivity and resilience of seeds for farmers through enhanced use of crop varietal diversity, focusing on common bean and banana. The project aimed to fill the gap in seed diversity and good seed quality. The project built on the intraspecific diversity that was available on farm to reduce the pressure of pests and diseases, and on farmers’ knowledge to develop new low-cost and sustainable methods and management practices to increase diversity. Common bean has been primarily managed by women. Therefore this project not only benefitted local farmers but it also benefitted women in terms of availaing them with the much needed diversity, and equipping them with the capacities to grow better seeds for better yields, food and seed security. The seedbank is providing seed security for farmers, conserving the diversity of common bean in situ thereby enabling its continued evolution and adaption, as well as providing diversity choices. These aspects are very important to enable farmers to adapt to climate change.