Enhancing Food Diversity in the Midst of a Climate Crisis
2. Conserving plant genetic resources to improve food and nutrition in Zimbabwe, Malawi and Zambia
Being heavily reliant on the success of the maize crop, communities in Zimbabwe, Malawi and Zambia have in recent years faced a severe food shortage because maize crops have been unable to withstand the effects of climate change, such as higher temperatures and torrential rains.
“Because of the changing climate, our farm was producing less food, and most crops have not been doing so well apart from millet and sorghum,” explained Lovemore Tachokere, a smallholder farmer from Malawi.
Through the Benefit-sharing fund and the introduction of 159 Farmer Field Schools across the three countries, farmers were given support and a voice. They started introducinglost varieties of different crops, creating diversity in their fields that also ensured more varied and nutritious diets.
As part of the project a total of 300 lost or forgotten small grain crop varieties were retrieved from national, regional and international gene banks as part of the Treaty’s Multilateral System. These seeds are now available to farmers and scientists for further study and the development of new climate-smart varieties.
3. Ensuring a resilient cassava crop in Tanzania and Kenya
Cassava is the third largest source of carbohydrates in the world, playing a particularly important role in agriculture in sub-Saharan Africa because it does well in poor soils and with low rainfall. Additionally, because it is a perennial, cassava acts as a famine reserve. In recent years, however, extreme temperatures, drought, flooding and a new virus, provoking ‘brown streak disease’, have affected cassava cultivation in the region.
In Tanzania and Kenya, a project implemented through the Benefit-sharing Fund has led to new, more resistant and tolerant cassava breeding lines, including 30 that are heat and disease tolerant. While the farmers are now experimenting with planting new cassava varieties and using improved agricultural practices, breeders and scientists have access to improved plant material from which to select essential genetic material for future use.
Community seed banks have been established through the Benefit-sharing Fund in conjunction with Farmer Field Schools and are an important initiative to collect and conserve local crop varieties. They function as a platform for farmers to control and make informed decisions on the conservation of agrobiodiversity and the cultivation of a variety of crops with nutritional value.
In the 15 years since it came into force, the International Treaty hosted by FAO has created the largest global gene pool for sharing plant material for food and agriculture, the Multilateral System of Access and Benefit-sharing (MLS). The Benefit-sharing Fund has supported over one million people through 80 agricultural development projects in 67 developing countries.
These projects are clear examples of how effective the sharing of skills and knowledge across continents can be and they are crucial in the race to meet the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), in particular SDG 15 (Life on Land) and SDG2 (Zero Hunger).
Projects under the Benefit sharing Fund are an indication that FAO’s Strategy on mainstreaming biodiversity across agricultural sectors is already taking shape and showing positive results, demonstrating that the greater the diversification of crops, the more food secure a community can become and the more resilient they find themselves in the face of current threats like climate change, pests and disease.
Learn more
- Video message: FAO DG QU Dongyu’s video message for the International Biological Diversity Day 2020
- Website: International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture
- News: Global treaty critical for saving disappearing plants amid climate change
- Video: Farmers diversify food production in Malawi with new crops
- Publication: FAO Strategy on mainstreaming biodiversity across agricultural sectors
