Sunarma Seedbank Project

Introduction and Background:

PHASE ONE:

Little or no rainfall in parts of east Africa during February and March 2008 meant that the harvest in May was very poor, and millions found themselves facing famine. In Ethiopia official estimates put those on the brink of starvation at 4.5 million, aid agencies believe the figure maybe closer to 10 million.

Government intervention concentrated on the worst affected areas where large numbers of people were at risk. However there were many isolated areas of suffering that were being missed by the national response. SUNARMA works in two project areas where the local population are considered food insecure (even before the current crisis), i.e. food shortages could be expected at certain times of the year. The normal ‘safety net' programme of food aid provision during high risk periods did not arrive as usual. Local people began to use up their stocks of seed that was needed for sowing in June and July as food ran out.

 As SUNARMA was sometimes the only development agency working in some areas people turned to them for help. SUNARMA concentrates on long term development it does not provide ‘aid'. However it felt it could not seriously consider the long term development of a people who were suffering an immediate crisis. A survey was undertaken to confirm what local people had been reporting.Lack of seed in households in the project areas would mean that the areas sown in June and July before the rainy season would be drastically reduced. This would mean further food shortages later in the year at normal harvest in November and December.

Local government seed stores were empty, the price of food and seed was spiralling where it could be found. SUNARMA identified that it would be possible to source seed outside the government system in local pockets of supply. However the time for sowing seed before the land became water logged was running out.

 

 

Sunarma's Plan:

SUNARMA worked on a plan where if it could purchase seed it would ‘lend' seed to farmers who would agree to return an equivalent amount of seed at harvest. (just as a bank might loan money for repayment later) This returned seed would be paid back into a seed bank (a physical structure) that would be available for re-lending later. In this way ‘aid', in the form of emergency seed, could be turned into a long term development strategy that would help local farmers mitigate against environmental disasters such as this. As SUNARMA has very good relations with the local administration and works with community groups it was in a good position to facilitate this activity.

SUNARMA presented the proposal to donors in early July. SUNARMA and the people it works with are indebted for the speed of support provided by the Methodist Relief and Development Fund (MRDF) and a corporate donor.

Implementation:

• The local community was organised and those households most in need were identified
• Sources of appropriate seed and varieties were located and purchased. Transport was arranged from various markets to local stores/distribution points.
• Seed was distributed to recipient households, having gained their agreement to return an equivalent quantity of seed at harvest time in November/December

What was achieved?

A total of 2894 households received seed (13870 people).
48.9 Tonnes of Seed was purchased which planted 958 hectares of land. (A further 74 hectares of land to be planted in early October making a total of 1032 hectares planted. Total Cost for the first phase: £25000.

This was a significant achievement set against very short supplies of seed, spiralling costs and a very short time frame available to plant crops before the land became too wet. The onset of rain was later than usual which helped the programme (it has since rained for longer in most project areas). It became too late to plant wheat in some areas therefore other crops, Teff, vetches and chickpeas, were planted. Local farmers were only willing to plant varieties proven in their area. This was a prudent request but required an extensive search for the appropriate strains.

SUNARMA has received widespread thanks and recognition from local people and government officials for listening to their problems and providing effective relief in very difficult circumstances. As the organisation has stood by people in need it has proved its commitment which is likely to improve the effectiveness of its work in the future.

But there is much to do. The work of its existing projects must continue and the second phase of this emergency seed project must build on the relief provided, to ensure a lasting and sustainable community run seed bank system.

 

PHASE TWO:

There has been consultation with local farmers and community groups as well as government officials regarding the second phase. Local government has agreed to allocate land for building the seed banks (all land is state owned).

Objectives:

1. Stage one: To provide three central grain stores in woreda towns (Ankober, Mukaturi and Sirti) ; 
2. Stage two: To provide  6 satellite stores based in the kebeles - Sites now located.
3. To train community groups up to administer the seed bank system. 
4. To develop the seed bank initiative, to not only store and lend seed, but also buy and sell surplus grain in the future, generating improved income for seed bank members. 
5. To provide a model that can be replicated elsewhere.

FEBUARY 2009:  Of 148 farmers who received the emergency seed last June, 132 of them have harvested and returned the amount they took to the group named Gudina Misoma (development) in Gordoma district of Wuchale Woreda.

Habtamu Legesse, the group secretary said: "We collected 15 sacks (1sack=100KGs) of teff (a type of grain used to make ‘injera'-type of local diet), and expect the remaining three sacks in the coming few weeks."

The straw of threshed teff (called chid) is used for animal food.

Ayele Sime is a neighbour of Habtamu. He received 18Kgs of teff last June and sowed this on half hectare. He threshed some of his teff and harvested 66KGs and expects two sacks after full harvest. Ayele intends to extend his teff farm to a hectare next year. As the seedbank construction is not completed, the farmers are using a private home as a temporary store.

 

Conclusion

This emergency seed programme has met an immediate need for local farmers by providing them with seed for crops to feed the local population come harvest in November. The scale of the challenge is immense and this intervention is not large enough to feed the thousands of people in the three woreda who face continuing food shortages. However it has had a significant psychological effect. People have organised themselves and have started to plan for the future. With a little organisation provided by SUNARMA and the backing of donors, farmers face a more certain future. Aid has been used and turned into a self financing sustainable system that will improve peoples lives in the future. The seed bank system will dove tail into the project work already undertaken by SUNARMA. Mentoring and monitoring of the progress will be on hand after the end of the ‘seed bank' initiative in September 2009. The model, that will have been developed by communities themselves, can be copied and passed on to neighbouring kebele and woreda.