A while ago I was snitty about the pitch for a zero-emission fridge to help farmers in Mozambique to store seeds, because it seemed to be saying that subsistence farmers didn’t know how to save or store their seeds. In the event the proposal did not win one of the World Bank’s Development Marketplace awards. Today’s Development Marketplace blog has good news. The European Commission Food Facility has granted Helvetas US$ 2 million “to establish 90 seed banks benefitting 38,000 families in 300 communities”.
I’m still not sure I fully understand the basis of the proposal, but if the EU gets it, then that’s probably just me. I think than the “fridge” is designed to store next season’s seeds in better condition that whatever techniques the farmers were using before, but there’s also something about helping the farmers “get through the ‘hunger period’,” which is being extended by changing climate. And that’s the bit I don’t get. Were farmers eating their seed stocks before? And how will better storage prevent them eating their seed stocks? Judging from the picture at the DM blog, 90 of those are not going to provide food for 38,000 families, but they might help to provide seed for planting.