Seeds for Sustainable Development

Even without climate change, Seed Banks are a critical issue for sustainable development. They give farmers a chance to try new seeds (or get 'normal' ones if they've run out), and provide an opportunity to maintain biodiversity, and keep seeds that may not be in use at the moment but might be useful in the future. They are also useful places for scientists to gain access to seeds - or to store their own, new hybrids. With climate change, diverse seeds becomes even more important. But climate change also brings in the question, how to maintain high quality, useful seed banks without the enormous carbon costs of refrigerating the seed banks at the specific temperatures necessary to preserve the seeds.

Today, I had the opportunity to hear Dr. Suman Sahai, founder and convener of Gene Campaign, speak of one of a clever, low cost solution: the Zero Energy Gene Seed Banks in India. They solved the high-carbon costs by figuring out that if one reduces the moisture in the air to below 10%, then seeds can live (without sprouting) for a long time in ambient temperatures requiring no extra refrigeration. There are different (no-carbon) methods for maintaining the appropriate moisture in the air.

In these Zero Energy Seed banks, farmers come and take seeds on a 'loan' - since farmers usually come to these banks when they are broke. They then 'repay' the banks by replacing the seeds - with an 'interest' of three times as many seeds as the original 'loan' at the next harvest.

The banks are maintained and run by local youth, not by scientists, thus generating employment, learning and a sense of responsibility for their community amidst the local youth population. Scientists use the seed banks to study agrobiodiversity, genetic traits in different seeds and create locally useful seed innovations (such as plants that animals don't eat). In keeping with Gene Campaign's overall philosophy, the goal of the seed banks is to find local solutions - and keep knowledge and power of seeds and their genetic makeup in the hands of the local farmers and peoples whose lives depend upon them - and away from private patents which can endanger food and livelihood security. I'm impressed by Sahai's good work for sustainable development and hope that organizations around the world can learn from her example.