Towards a SAARC seed bank

Agriculture ministers of the member countries of South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) are scheduled to meet on Wednesday to get the modalities of a Seed Bank readied for final approval at the regional body's upcoming summit in the Maldives. The Bangladesh Prime Minister is credited with giving the proposal at Thimpu, to stock quality seeds in all SAARC countries, as protection against natural calamities. The proposed bank would of course require the necessary framework and agreement for exchange or transfer of plant genetic materials among the countries, including testing and certifying seeds and sharing of technologies and techniques that could be applied to strengthen food security in the region. It may be mentioned here that a related idea -- to set up a SAARC Food Bank -- was mooted in New Delhi in 2007 but it is yet to start functioning. It is hoped the Seed Bank would fare better, keeping in mind the importance of conserving biodiversity, and protecting the interests of the overwhelming number of small farmers in the region. People's control over their own genetic wealth, their seeds on which food security and human survival depend, has been eroding progressively with the advent of biotechnology, with big agribusinesses rushing in with huge investments, not only to rake up windfall profits but also to claim exclusive rights over whatever genetic resource they wish to exploit. This had started fierce debates, beginning with the intense battles at the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) in the 1980s. The most powerful players have been in the fray, with no end to all kinds of complex intergovernmental negotiations, huge industrial mergers, investments in advanced research and development -- and of course, profits -- all of which tended to keep the actual farmers and their livelihoods under perpetual threat. The debate also gave rise to several positive movements, spearheaded by ecologically conscientious individuals and organisations worldwide -- particularly in Europe, as well as in India and Bangladesh too. These citizens' groups have been struggling relentlessly to get governments to conserve the earth's biodiversity for the common good instead of giving blank cheques to corporate greed. Their struggle brought the whole issue of genetic wealth out of the specialist domain, into the public forum, helping people understand the esoteric science enough to generate informed discussion and help democratic decision-making. The predominant goal of these 'alternative agriculture movements' is first, the protection of people's traditional knowledge and rights over the earth's genetic wealth, and second, to produce food crops with ecological principles in mind -- in harmony with nature. It is reassuring to note that in Bangladesh the movement has led to one of the biggest community seed banks in the world, set up by a non-government research organisation looking for the right policy alternatives for development in this part of the world. The SAARC effort can surely learn from the above organisation's focus on local seed varieties and how it has managed to salvage from the region's forgotten genetic pool over a thousand varieties of rice and dozens of other genetic treasures. This bank believes in nurturing seeds through diverse cropping that encourage partner plants and other flora and fauna, helping reactivate the whole 'web of life'. The core idea is to get farmers to 'unlearn' using excessive loads of toxic agro-chemicals and returning to judicious farmer-friendly management of seed, soil, pests and water. The SAARC initiative could certainly bank on the tested guidelines -- if its purpose is really to protect the food security of the people at large and the biodiversity of the region as a whole.