Field Guide of Discovery-based Exercises for - Aseanipm ...

Exercise No. 7.08
VILLAGE GENEBANk FOR SUSTAINED AVAILABILITY
OF ORGANICALLY-GROWN VEGETABLE VARIETIES AND
BREEDING LINES
BaCKGroUND aND raTIoNalE 257
A key problem for farmers in their participatory plant
breeding (PPB) program is ensuring safe storage of their
generated and introduced key varieties and breeding lines.
Local storage techniques by small farmers in humid tropical
384
Field Guide of Discovery-based Exercises for Organic Vegetable Production
when is this exercise most
appropriate?
ɶ In FFS, TOT, and VST
sessions, just before
harvesting and before
start of discussions on
‘Harvesting and Postharvest
Management in
Vegetables’.
areas are often inadequate to safeguard against seed loss because of insect damage and loss of
viability. Difficulties also occur because of low quality packaging and inadequate identification
and labeling, resulting in seed admixtures and accidental loss of seed lots. A village genebank
facilitates access to local varieties and breeding materials generated by farmers’ PPB programs, and
increases ownership by farming communities.
Village genebanks supports farmers’ PPB programs in different way. They support local breeding
programs; farmers need to access genebanks more frequently and, therefore, they need to be
established close to farmers who will use breeding materials. In addition to local and exotic varieties,
village genebanks may store seeds of multiple breeding lines. In practice, a village genebank can
have 100 or more different entries.
Conditions for seed storage at community level depend on purpose and length of storage needed.
Three types of storage can be distinguished: (a) Inter-seasonal storage spans period between two
seasons, which can be 1-4 months; (b) Over-seasonal storage secure availability of sufficient seed
over a longer span of time, usually more than one season as mid-term backup; and (c) Backup
storage allows storage of collected local varieties, especially the more exotic materials, as backup
for future use in local breeding programs.
Village genebanks for farmers’ PPB programs are by definition small, accessible, and low-tech.
Examples of low-tech storage used by farmers are: (a) closed rat-proof aluminum cupboards are
suitable for inter-seasonal seed storage; (b) small air-tight plastic or tin containers, applied with
ash or silica gel for dehydration and grinded neem [Azadirachta indica] or dried marigold flowers
257 Smolders, H. and Caballeda, E. 2006. Field Guide for Participatory Plant Breeding in Farmer Field Schools: With Emphasis on Rice and Vegetables.
Participatory Enhancement of Diversity of Genetic Resources in Asia (PEDIGREA) Publication. Center for Genetic Resources, the Netherlands. pp117-
118.