Category: Funding

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Their enemies are time and money…

The (London) Times Life & Style (Women) section had a feature on the Millennium Seed Bank a few days ago and somehow or other we missed it. Slap wrist.

The jars of dried seed go into the cold store, an underground library full of sliding stacks of shelves, every one full of glass jars holding even tinier glass jars. The temperature is -20C but the air-conditioning system creates a further wind-chill.

In that room, the size of a corner shop, are seeds of 10 per cent of the world’s plants. Beyond is another, larger room that one day, Smith hopes, will hold the rest. Empty shelves stretch away into the gloom.

One quibble. The article makes the Svalbard Global Seed Vault sound like a purely Norwegian affair, which of course it isn’t.

Regarding the funding of the Seed Vault, the Norwegian government funded the construction of the Vault in its entirety (this cost $9 million), and will continue to fund the maintenance of the facility, for an annual cost of circa $150,000. The Global Crop Diversity Trust funds the operation and management of the Seed Vault, as well as the transport of the seeds from developing countries to the Arctic. This second component – the transport – is possible through our work with the United Nations Foundation, a partnership which is funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.

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Nibbles: Early diet, Rice, Veggies, Barley, Research, Taiwan, Coffee trade

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Input fairs: the view from the ground

One of the FAO’s preferred responses to food emergencies is the Input Trade Fair. Farmers receive a voucher, which they can exchange for seeds and other inputs that they need for a better harvest. In 2007, for example, 20,000 government-selected families in central and eastern Swaziland received vouchers that they could spend at one of 25 Input Trade Fairs. Earlier this year, FAO described these fairs as “winners”. But as the 2008 planting season gets under way, the news from Mbabane is not good.

Activities_at_the_Matsanjeni_Input_Trade_Fair.jpg A report carried by IPS says that Swazi Input Fairs [are] Falling Short. Far fewer farmers have received vouchers this season. In the wake of rising prices the vouchers are not enough to purchase all the inputs needed. More vendors have entered the market, cutting down on sales for existing vendors. But most worrying of all, according to the report most of the subsistence farmers who have benefited from the scheme are no nearer being able to stand on their own feet than they were before the scheme started. Some, it is said, have no real interest in farming. They are just hungry, and wash the pesticidal dressings off the seeds before cooking and eating them. Many farmers refuse to switch away from maize, which needs far more water than crops such as sorghum.

While an on-the-spot report such as this one offers some insights, it does not indicate how Swaziland’s drought-stricken farmers could best tackle their problems. Maybe they need more extension help, to show them how to make better use of their inputs. Maybe they need radical changes in their methods. I was at a meeting in London on Wednesday where I saw a very short video called Greening the Desert. Geoff Lawton, of the Permaculture Research Institute of Australia, explained in tantalizing snippets how he had transformed a barren patch of Jordan into a flourishing orchard. No, I have not seen peer-reviewed results. But it seems worth trying elsewhere, and Swaziland could be a good place to do so.