Community Seed Banks in India: Guardians of Agro-Biodiversity

The Community Seed Banks (CSBs) in India play a central role in preserving agro-biodiversity, climate resilience, and the sovereignty of smallholder farmers over their seeds. Such locally run institutions fill the gap between the formal seed systems and local community practices with a guarantee that traditional and indigenous crop varieties will be preserved. India is a leader in community-based seed conservation, as is befitting this nation of varied agro-climatic zones and a very old agricultural heritage. As opposed to research and development institutions, CSBs also preserve heirloom and climate friendly varieties as well as empower farmers by giving them seed sovereignty, minimise reliance on commercial seeds and bring in socio-economic advantages. Irrespective of its great input, CSBs experience a number of problems, including poor integration of policies, financial inadequacy and technical aid, and erosion of indigenous knowledge. To reinforce CSBs, policy integration, capacity building, use of digital seed catalogues, incentivising conservation and research partnership are required. Such initiatives will guarantee the sustained success of CSBs in ensuring genetic diversity, empowerment of farmers and sustainable production of agricultural produce in India.