NASC Complex, New Delhi, 8th to 9th April 2025.

Community seed banks are significant platforms for seed and food security among small-scale farmers in India. After 2020, the number of community seed banks has rapidly increased and new trends are visible. To shed light on these new developments and enable exchange between and among central actors, the seminar ‘Community seed banks in India in times of change’ is taking place in New Delhi 8–9 April 2025.

The seminar is carried out as part of the project Unfolding the Potentials of Community Seed Banks for Food and Nutrition Security among Smallholder Farmers in India through the Realization of Farmers’ Rights (DIVERSIFARM-India), implemented by the Fridtjof Nansen Institute, Norway, and the MS Swaminathan Research Foundation, Chennai, with the support of the Royal Norwegian Embassy in New Delhi. The seminar is co-organized with the Protection of Plant Varieties and Farmers’ Rights Authority (PPVFRA), The Watershed Support Services and Activities Network (WASSAN) and the Alliance of Bioversity International and CIAT, India Office.

At the seminar:  

  • The DIVERSIFARM-India team will share preliminary findings from a comprehensive mapping of community seed banks in India, documenting the situation of 300 out of the presently identified 800 community seed banks in the country. Work in progress!
  • The DIVERSIFARM-India team will also present a new typology of community seed banks in India derived from the mapping, a first interactive online Atlas of community seed banks in India (work in progress) - and an analysis of their situation/trends for discussion.
  • Representatives of community seed banks will present their experiences and reflections and there will be presentations of experiences from other countries in the Global South.
  • Supporting organisations and networks will explain how they promote community seed banks and reflect on how to improve such support.
  • The seminar will provide ample space for interactive discussions on challenges, opportunities and ways forward.

 

For more information:

  • The seminar programme is available here (PDF, 3MB).
  • More information about the DIVERSIFARM-India project is available here.
  • A presentation of selected community seed banks from the mapping can be found here.