Seed bank project off the ground

TO support biodiversity conservation and climate change intervention in Namibia, a community seed bank was launched in the capital on Tuesday.

An amount of N$400 000 has been sponsored toward the seed bank project.

The environment ministry, with the support of the Environment Investment Fund of Namibia (EIF) and MTC will undertake the first project in the Kavango West region at the Ncuncuni constituency through the National Gene Bank.

The Ministry of Environment, Forestry and Tourism’s environmental commissioner, Timo Mufeti, says there is a need to develop formal community seed banks within the rural areas.

“This project entails erecting a simple structure for community members to save their seed for current and future use. These are locally governed institutions to conserve, share and facilitate direct access to gene bank material,” Mufeti said.

The government is committed to conserving genetic resources for current and future use, said Mufeti, which led to the establishment of the National Plants Genetic Resources Centre (NPGC).

At the launch, the CEO of EIF, Benedict Libanda, said the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change’s sixth assessment report on climate change and several other models suggests a reduction in ground cover and reduced net primary productivity by 2080 for Namibia.

“The EFI of Namibia is at the forefront of supporting biodiversity conservation and climate change intervention, I would therefore not underestimate the significance of seed banks towards securing indigenous genetic pools of our plant species.

What is more appealing to us is that this is a community-based seed bank. We can clearly see the National Botanical Research Institute’s intention to build community resilience and capacity,” Libanda said.

MTC’s chief human capital and corporate affairs officer, Tim Ekandjo, said Namibians must make an effort to preserve the environment.

“You might ask why we are involved, issues of environmental sustainability are prominent at MTC, and we also have a philosophy of preserving our environment. There will be a lot of initiatives from us when it comes to the environment. We would like to see this project succeed, and from Kavango it must move to the south and throughout the country,” said Ekandjo.

One of the beneficiaries of the seed bank from the Ncuncuni constituency in the Sarukwe community, Sitanzni Asser, told The Namibian that he feels lucky to be one of the first to benefit from the project.

“Already we are losing our most important plant species such as daureni (pearl millet), nohupa, kakunya and tundimbe. These are lost due to droughts or floods, deforestation,” Asser said.

He further added that the seed bank will help the community conserve and exchange seeds among themselves and promote food security.

He also said they will regain, maintain and increase the control of the seeds while protecting the seeds for future generation.