Access to seed through a network of community seed banks in la Sierra de los Cuchumatanes, Guatemala

This good practice started in 1999 in Sierra de los Cuchumatanes, Huehuetenango, Guatemala, with active participation of the Asociación de Organizaciones de los Cuchumatanes (ASOCUCH), technical support by Fundación para la Innovación Tecnológica (FUNDIT) and Instituto de Ciencia y Tecnología Agrícola (ICTA) and financial support by the Norwegian Development Fund (Utviklingsfondet). The main objective was to improve the livelihoods of small-scale farmer families and indigenous communities through the sustainable use of native agrobiodiversity, including for adaptation to climate change. Core components include: (1) Community Seed Banks under local governance; (2) seed and agrobiodiversity fairs; (3) participatory evaluation of maize accessions from the CIMMYT genebank; and (4) production of good quality seeds of local varieties. Key results include the successful establishment of a network of community seed banks; the identification of local and rare varieties of maize and beans with traits relevant to climate-change adaptation; the production of high-quality seeds of preferred varieties; as well as ongoing training of local actors on issues related to seed and agrobiodiversity.