It has been recognized that community seed banks can be an effective platform for realizing farmers’ rights as defined by the International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture (ITPGRFA).
The multiple functions that community seed banks already fulfil (or could fulfil with additional support and growth) — seed production, conservation, exchange and marketing, crop improvement, and a platform for farmer empowerment — suggest that they are instrumental in safeguarding agricultural biodiversity and sharing the benefits derived from its use.
Despite growing interest in and the presence of community seed banks globally, they largely continue to exist and function in a policy, legal and, to a lesser degree, institutional void. Only in a few countries, notably Brazil, Kenya, Nepal, South Africa, South Sudan, and Uganda, community seed bank functions and operations have been incorporated into (draft) national or sub-national policy and legal documents.
This brief offers elements of a proposed strategy to support national and sub-national authorities in creating policy, legal, and institutional space for community seed banks to provide long-term legal protection, a social security network, financial, technical and organizational support, and opportunities for collaboration, based on four core dimensions: recognition, respect, support, and collaboration.