It is in Pala that the CROPS4HD team in Chad demonstrated our project as an initiative to show case the importance of peasant seeds in food security and biodiversity preservation. This was done through a two-day fair, on the 20 and 21 December 2022, with the theme “Seed systems, biodiversity and resilience of rural households in Chad to the multiple socio-climatic crises”.
Category Archives: Supply
Links between gender and varietal selection: the case study in Orissa
In September 2022, Bhittibhumi carried out a participatory Variety Selection (PVS) exercise in Orissa with the support and guidance of FiBL. The exercise involved farmers as key stakeholders to seek and determine the most preferred lines of green gram and sesame for further advancement. Discussions with the farmers (both genders) showed differences and some similarities in trait preferences and varietal choices.
Visit in Colombia : knowledge exchange
Community seed banks are a central pillar of the project CROPS4HD to increase accessibility of neglected and underutilised crops as well as farmers’ varieties. In Latin America, SWISSAID has been working with community seed banks for 15 years. Therefore, the project decided to capitalise this experience in a South-South exchange
Nane Nane Day : Farmer’s exhibition week in Tanzania
A one-week fair, the Agricultural Exhibition, took place in various locations in Tanzania, where farmers and other agricultural stakeholders were put in the spotlight, providing them an opportunity to share their concrete activities and inputs on the agricultural sector with the general public. More broadly, it enabled awareness-raising to the policy makers, community, and other stakeholders on the contribution of Farmer Managed Seed Systems (FMSS) and availability of seeds in the country.
Participatory Varietal Selection in India: research and process in the state of Karnataka
Promoting change through participatory activities is one of the key goals of CROPS4HD. For this, we conduct a concrete approach for the PUSH implementing aspect of the project: the Participatory Varietal Selection (PVS). In India, the first training supervised by expert from FiBL, and jointly organized by FiBL, SWISSAID and Sahaja Samrudha, took place in Mysore, Karnataka on amaranth crop in June 2022.
FiBL’s technical and scientific support in Niger
In May 2022, the Nigerien team welcomed the visit of an expert from FiBL, who provided valuable technical and scientific support. During the week of visit, three main aspects regarding CROPS4HD project were covered: to strengthen the training of stakeholders on the participatory varietal selection approach, to support the monitoring of the implementation of PUSH components, and finally to supervise the collection process of Neglected and Underutilized Species (NUS) ecotypes.
Strengthen the awareness, availability and practices of NUS in West Bengal, India
During the month of May 2022, several activities to promote NUS took place in India among the farmers as well as the general public. Experimental trials were launched, and various events took place that allowed to raise awareness among the indigenous NUS crops as well as events like the Participatory Market Chain Approach (PMCA) which support the connections among participants involved in the process of NUS development.
Kickoff visit in India
Partner’s orientation and planning workshop for the CROPS4HD project was held in the first week of August this year. This meeting brought all the project coordination and implementation together to build a shared understanding of the roles, functions, and responsibilities for the inception and main phase.
Kickoff visit in Niger
CROPS4HD Niger started its activities in July 2021 with a workshop on 22 September in the presence of the project supervision team. The launch took place in the Dogondoutchi prefecture in the presence of the prefect and the coordination body of technical services.
Kickoff visit in Chad
In Chad, the introduction phase of the project took place from 2021 September 11 – 17. All CROP4HD consortium members met in Ndjamena, the capital of the country during this period.