30/06/2015

Farmers and scientists explore seed diversity as a resource for the future.

Agriculture in North India sustains hundreds of millions of people. Due to expected climate change, including more extreme heat and droughts, new crop varieties will be needed in this region to ensure food security for coming generations. This is why the Benefit-sharing Fund of the International Treaty has supported a project across several Indian states to screen varieties of rice and other crops for climate resilience and then safely store this material – including climate-resilient crop varieties – in newly established seed banks.

25.000 farmers took directly part in these activities, and at the village level roughly 200.000 people will now benefit from a greater variety of seeds to choose from in the coming years. Knowledge and data collected through this project, as well as methodologies developed, could have relevance far beyond these project areas.

Gene Campaign, who implemented this project in collaboration with Bioversity International, worked in four different states of northern India; Uttarakhand, Bihar, Uttar Pradesh and Himachal Pradesh. The project areas stretch from the Indo-Gangetic plains into the Himalayas, and reflect a wide variety of climatic, agroecological and cultural conditions as well different levels of modernization of agricultural production.

Surveys were carried out in farming communities on experiences and preferences for different crops and crop varieties, as well as changes in crop choices over the years, creating a solid baseline for project activities.

Looking towards 2060

Modern technologies - including Geographic Information Systems, GIS - were used for mapping crop diversity in gene banks with potential for climate adaptation. These data were then analyzed in the context of climate change predictions at the regional level for the years 2020, 2040 and 2060. Genetic material looking relevant in this climate change context, from seed banks of Gene Campaign as well as from national collections, was then evaluated by farmers through programs for participatory plant variety selection. Through seed fairs and exchange visits, farmers were also able to access material directly from other farmers. Methods for obtaining increased yields in environmentally sustainable ways were also tried out with promising results (see the PDF).

Almost 30 climate-resilient crop varieties were identified, mostly rice but also finger millet. Community seed banks were established in all four project areas, and a large number of people from farming communities were trained in seed management including operations and maintenance of  local seed banks.

Interviews with participants show a high degree of satisfaction that a wider diversity of seeds is now available, providing a better choice for farmers today, but also more options for coping with future challenges like climate change.

See some examples of responses. 

Both farmers and researchers have learned a lot through efforts under this project to “bridge the gap” between modern research and farming communities. New knowledge acquired through the use of technologies like GIS mapping, combined with climate modeling data, can hopefully be used to scale up efforts to increase the resilience of North Indian agriculture for the coming decades.

For more details on activities, methodology and outcomes related to this project, see the final report on.