This archive report was first published on 14 September 2019.
September 14, 2019
On the Kisumu-Sondu highway, a drive through the undulating landscape is a refreshing experience. Our destination is Jimo East village in Nyando, where a group of farmers have established a unique initiative - a seed bank.
The Nyando Community Seed Bank, a brick-walled structure, hosts neatly woven traditional bowls filled with mainly millet and sorghum seeds. Some are labelled 'GBK', which stands for Gene Bank of Kenya, while others bear Tanzanian and Ugandan names.
There are approximately 100 sorghum, 100 finger millet, and 80 bean seed varieties collected from Kenya, Uganda, and Tanzania inside the bank. The seeds belong to the 400 members of Friends of Katuku Odeyo Farmers Group.
According to Eddy Ouko, the group's chairperson, the idea of a seed bank was conceived last year after some of their members went for an exchange visit in Uganda. The visit was facilitated by Kenya Agriculture and Livestock Research Organisation (Kalro) and Bioversity International, an NGO.
During the tour, farmers learnt how their Ugandan counterparts had successfully conserved indigenous seeds. Back home, they established the bank and Kalro released the indigenous seeds to the farmers for banking and further multiplication.
With the seed bank, the farmers expect not only to conserve the indigenous seeds but also to save costs. 'We have already given the first group of 100 farmers a seed 'loan' of 500 grammes of various seed varieties from which they are expected to return not less than 4kg to the seed bank,' says Ouko.
The seeds are treated with a mixture of wood ash and moringa powder for longer storage. The store is also well ventilated to allow air circulation. Besides, they keep the area that surrounds the store clean by cutting off shrubs, which can be breeding places for rodents such as rats and other pests.
Peris Anyango, a small-scale farmer and a member of Friends of Katuku Odeyo, says she looks forward to her next loan. She is confident that she will get the seed loan as she has harvested slightly more than 4kg of the sorghum seeds that were loaned to her.
According to Hivos East Africa regional director Mendi Njonjo, reliance on hybrid seeds is costing farmers the seed-saving culture and the country its seeds sovereignty. 'Traditional seeds would be a great solution to boosting food security, not necessarily because they produce well, but because they are sustainable,' she says.
