The Prospects and Challenges of Community Seed/Field Banking of Bananas, Roots and Tubers: Insights from the Literature and a Pilot Initiative in Ghana

Neglected and underutilized species, also known as minor or orphan crops, are a core component of local food systems in Africa. Roots, tubers, and bananas (RTB) are a particular group of these crops characterized by vegetative propagation. This reproductive system poses challenges for their conservation. Community seed banks commonly conserve seeds of grains, oil crops, pulses, and vegetables. However, little is known about whether and how community seed banks around the world include roots, tubers, and bananas, which cannot be easily stored in conventional seed-bank facilities. The objective of this review was to contribute to the design of a method that can be effectively used by community seed banks to conserve RTB while complementing the conservation method already used for other crops. We conducted a systematic literature review and assessed the initial results of a pilot study involving a new community-based conservation mechanism introduced in Ghana: the community field bank. The strengths and challenges of the two methods were compared. Field bank and seed bank can become complementary components, both conceptually and practically, of a dynamic conservation system that farmers can master through learning by doing. Initial observations from the field in Ghana suggest that farmers have grasped the concept and are now monitoring the practicalities of RTB field-bank plots, with the distribution of the first vegetatively propagated planting materials taking place toward the end of 2026. Further research, both within and beyond the pilot study sites, is warranted to refine the field-bank method.