Exchange and experimentation: community seed banks strengthen farmers’ seed systems in Northern Malawi

ABSTRACT

In Sub-Saharan Africa, the cultivation of local crop varieties persists despite a political environment that favours commercial seed system development to address seed and food insecurity. Community seed banks (CSBs) are emergent alternative/complementary development initiatives, yet there remains limited empirical research on their role in farmers’ seed systems. In Malawi, where maize is a sociopolitical currency, we use maize seeds as a means to examine how CSBs may support farmers’ seed systems. Through 60 semi-structured interviews with both CSB members and non-members, we collected quantitative and qualitative data on maize seed access opportunities, farmer preferences, and patterns of seed adoption/discontinuation. Interviews show that while CSBs play a negligible role in farmers’ maize seed supply, they can strengthen seed sharing networks through auxiliary social and economic services. CSB members report higher levels of satisfaction with local maize over commercial maize, suggesting CSBs can expand farmers’ frame of reference through events that encourage exchange and experimentation. Local power dynamics can affect CSB accessibility; initiatives to expand CSB operations must therefore address the inherent exclusivity of CSBs as membership-based institutions. These findings invite future research on CSB viability and the potential of decentralized development interventions to improve farmers’ seed security in Sub-Saharan Africa.

KEYWORDS:

• Community seed bank
• seed systems
• sustainable development
• seed security
• variety characteristics
• Malawi

Acknowledgements

We recognize Laifolo Dakishoni, Esther Lupafya, and Lizzie Shumba at the Soils, Food, and Healthy Communities organization for their logistical support in Ekwendeni. We also gratefully acknowledge Temwa Luhanga for her interpretation during interviews. Finally, we thank Geir Lieblein from the Norwegian University of Life Sciences for comments on earlier drafts of the manuscript.

Author contributions

ECV and OW had the conception of the study within the guidelines of the grant agreement to contribute to the ACCESS Project, (PI: OW). ECV designed the study (with guidance from RBK and OW) and conducted the data collection in Malawi. HS led the data analysis and modelling, with inputs from co-authors on the interpretation of the results. All co-authors (ECV, OW, RBK, HS, IP) contributed to the writing of the manuscript and approved its publication.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1 Seed security is defined by the FAO as when ‘men and women within the household have sufficient access to quantities of available good quality seed and planting materials of preferred crop varieties at all times in both good and bad cropping seasons’ (FAO, 2015). The original conceptual framework for seed security, established in 1998, was based on three pillars: seed access, seed availability, and seed quality. In recent years this framework has been expanded to include two additional key elements to seed security: varietal suitability (adapted crop varieties farmers prefer and need) and resilience in the context of shocks and stresses (FAO, 2015). These additions more directly address the individual preferences of farmers and the cultural value of different seed varieties.

2 No personal information was recorded that could link response to the personal identity of the respondent. The project was therefore exempt from the ethics approval process as stipulated by the Norwegian Centre for Research Data (NSD).

3 Maxwell and Bart (1995) characterize this method as ‘open scoring,’ a more flexible alternative to the common PRA method of ‘restricted scoring,’ which requires a fixed number of points to be assigned across a set of criteria.

4 BCI representative (man), Rumphi district, Informal Interview, 22/03/2019

5 Farmer (woman), Mzimba district, Interview 33, 1/04/2019

6 Farmer (woman), Mzimba district, Interview 48, 15/04/2019

7 Village elder (woman), Mzimba district, Key Informant Interview 2, 17/04/2019

8 Farmer (woman), Mzimba district, Interview 54, 16/04/2019

9 Farmer (man), Interview 31, 11/04/2019

10 Farmer (man), Rumphi district, Interview 15, 4/04/2019

11 Farmer (woman), Rumphi district, Interview 13, 3/04/2019

12 Farmer (man), Rumphi district, Interview 10, 2/04/2019

13 Farmer (woman), Rumphi district, Interview 21, 5/04/2019

14 Farmer (woman), Mzimba district, Interview 42, 12/04/2019; Farmer (man), Mzimba district, Interview 51, 16/04/2019

15 Farmer (woman), Rumphi district, Interview 13, 3/04/2019

16 Mkombezi CSB Chairperson (man), Rumphi district, Key Informant Interview 1, 9/04/2019

Additional information

Funding

This research was supported by the Research Council of Norway funded ACCESS project (RCN-288493). ECV was also funded by the European Research Council (ERC) under the European Union’s Horizon 2020 Research and Innovation Programme (grant agreement no. 853222 FORESTDIET).