16 January 2014
Bioversity Releases Seeds for Needs Policy Briefs
story highlights

Bioversity International has released policy briefs from its Seeds for Needs project, which seeks to combine climate change scenarios with information on crop diversity to better understand autonomous and planned adaptation strategies in the face of climate change.

seedsforneedJanuary 2014: Bioversity International has released policy briefs from its Seeds for Needs project, which seeks to combine climate change scenarios with information on crop diversity to better understand autonomous and planned adaptation strategies in the face of climate change.

The project has focused on Ethiopia and has relied both on scientific research and information from farmers’ experiences and indigenous knowledge. The first policy brief gives an overview of the project and highlights the policy recommendations regarding the development of an adaptation strategy for crops based on local genetic diversity, as well as the need to provide farmers with accessions to manage the existing risks posed by climate change.

The second policy brief from the project provides an overview of the crop atlas, which attempts to better understand the viability of different germplasm from individual crop species. Such an approach presents a more nuanced view of suitability by better understanding how some seed varieties may be better adapted to future climates. This brief also describes new tools for matching seeds to the needs of women farmers in Ethiopia, which include using seedbanks and participatory interviews with female farmers to better understand seed suitability. The third policy brief describes the process and outcomes from testing the performance of local varieties available in national genebanks by planting them in different climatic conditions.

Bioversity International is a member of the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR). [Seeds for Needs Publications Description] [Publication: Policy brief no.1 Adaptation to Climate Change] [Publication: Policy brief no.2 Atlas of Crop Suitability] [Publication: Policy brief no.3 Participatory Variety Selection]

related posts