Starting a community seed bank

    | September 7, 2009

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    This week’s news story from Burundi illustrates just how important a community seed bank can be. The seed banks in Kirundo province ensure that farmers can safely store beans and sorghum for the next planting season. This has effectively alleviated chronic seed shortages. Seed banks can serve other important functions, such as protecting rare or especially well-adapted local crops.

    Perhaps community members in your broadcast area would like to start a seed bank. How would they get started? This week’s script provides some practical tips. It’s part of a series on community seed banks, first distributed by Farm Radio International in 2000. You can view this week’s script online, here: http://farmradio.org/english/radio-scripts/56-6script_en.asp.

    To find other scripts from the series online, follow these links:
    Does your community need a seed bank? (Package 56, Script 5, July 2000)
    Collecting seeds for a community seed bank (Package 56, Script 7, July 2000)
    Storing seeds in a community seed bank (Package 56, Script 8, July 2000)