South Africa’s Department of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries, with technical assistance from Bioversity International provided under the CGIAR Research Program on Policies, Institutions, and Markets, has begun to support community seed banks. The objective is to help local smallholder communities revive and improve their traditional seed-saving practices for the sake of food security, sustainable agriculture, and conservation of the country’s agricultural biodiversity.

This factsheet presents two pilot community seed banks established in South Africa (in Gumbu village and in the town of Sterkspruit).