Deep Roots

[

] 97

Community biodiversity management:

strengthening resilience of family farmers

E.D. Israel Oliver King, Saujanendra Swain and Ajay Parida, M. S. Swaminathan Research Foundation, Chennai

ocioeconomic and climate change poses severe risks

to the food security of subsistence farmers located

in marginal production conditions. The green revo-

lution has boosted global food production; at local level

however, small-scale farmers who live in marginal condi-

tions have benefited only to a limited extent. Those farmers

unreached by the green revolution are targeted with the

conservation strategy referred to as on-farm manage-

ment in agricultural production systems. The successful

pathways for working with those marginal farmers facing

crisis due to change are worth learning.

Community biodiversity management (CBM) emerged as

a methodology to realize the on-farm management of plant

genetic resources for agriculture. CBM integrates knowledge

and practices with social systems; it is driven by the local rules

of institutions and strengthens the capacity of rural communities

to take decisions on conservation and use of biodiversity in order

to secure community access to and control over their resources.

Various CBM practices nurtured by the MS Swaminathan

Research Foundation (MSSRF) in India in partnership with tribal

communities have been successful. These include:

• diversity fairs for awareness raising, documentation,

exchange and monitoring

• community biodiversity register for documentation,

information exchange and monitoring

• diversity blocks, diversity kits and participatory varietal

selection in millets, rice and pulses supporting access

and exchange

• farmer and participatory plant breeding promoting use

• community seed banks

• value addition of local crops and varieties, and associated

product chain development for sustaining use

• legal literacy for awareness on conservation of

agrobiodiversity

• building grass-roots institutions to manage natural resources.

Scarascia Mugnozza Community Gene Bank

Resource Center

The Scarascia Mugnozza Community Gene Bank Resource Center

(SMCGRC) was established with a munificent grant from the

Government of Italy at MSSRF. The community gene bank is a

medium-term storage facility where farmers are encouraged to

deposit their varieties of crops such as rice, small millets and grain

legumes with MSSRF serving as the trustee of deposited materials.

The accessions, depending on their stored viability, are periodically

regenerated. The seed samples may also go back to villages

when farmers need them or when specific seeds are not available

in villages. The data set is constituted as the Farmers’ Rights

Information System, with a view to facilitating access and benefit

sharing of farmers’ varieties in accordance with two important

national laws on agrobiodiversity, namely the Protection of Plant

Varieties and Farmers’ Rights Act (PPVFR) 2001 and the Biological

Diversity Act 2002.

In addition, SMCGRC facilitates the registration of farmers’

varieties under PPVFR and undertakes legal literacy among farmers

and grass-roots institutions. A total of 38 applications from Jeypore,

Odisha were submitted to the PPVFR Authority. SMCGRC has been

creating awareness and capacity building on legislation of PPVFRA.

The programme covered parts of legislation concerning on-farm

conservation, long-term off-site seed storage, development and

maintenance of farmers’ varieties, farmers’ rights, registration of

farmers’ varieties, benefit sharing, reward and recognition including

the Genome Saviour Award of the PPVFR Authority, the role of the

Panchayat institution in conservation of local biodiversity, and

access to local biodiversity and benefit sharing.

Self-help groups in 15 Kolli Hills villages have their own community seed

banks for regular seed production, distribution and exchange

Image: MSSRF

eep

oots