oha winding road in the densely forested Kikuyu highlands of south-central Kenya lies a nondescript government building: the Genetic Resources Research Institute. Opened in 1988during the country’s “green revolution”, this little-known national gene bank was set up to hold and preserve seeds of the traditional crops that were in danger of disappearing as farmers and agricultural industry shifted to higher-yielding varieties.
It has worked for decades with researchers studying crop genetics and others working to develop improved varieties. But as the climate crisis worsens food insecurity, the repository of around 50,000 seed and crop collections could become a lifeline for farmers.
“We were established as a conservation unit, but these are unusual times with climate change, so we had to diversify our work to respond to needs,” says Desterio Nyamongo, who runs the institute. “Given the erratic weather these days, small farmers need a diverse mix of crops.”
Through a project with the Crop Trust organization the gene bank is now playing a role in the return of native crops that are resistant to drought and pests, but have fallen out of favor and been neglected for decades.
It stores backups of its most unique seeds at the Svalbard global seed vault in Norway, where it has been sending collections since 2008. The international repository contains more than a million seed samples from all over the world.
Matthew Heaton, the project manager of the Crop Trust’s Seeds for Resilience programme, says: “National genebanks can be overshadowed by the larger international ones, but they are best positioned to rapidly improve local resilience and nutrition because their collections are tailored to local needs and growing conditions.”
The national gene bank is a small operation, with few staff and limited funding, and its cold rooms, which plant scientists say contain only a third of the country’s plant diversity, are almost full. The Seeds of Resilience project, launched in 2019, supported national genebanks in Ethiopia, Ghana, Kenya, Nigeria and Zambia with financial and technical support to maintain resilient, healthy and nutritious crop collections, and to increase their support to farmers.
At least 28 African countries have national gene banks, according to data from the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO). More than 1,300 farmers across Africa who participated in the Seeds of Resilience project, now in its final year, have adopted almost 300 varieties introduced by genebanks into their farms, according to Crop Trust.
Farmers from Obucuun village in rural Busia district, on the border of Kenya and Uganda, say that before the acquisition of new sorghum varieties from the gene bank, growing the grain became challenging. Attacks by flocks of weaver birds, which can devastate entire grain fields, have increased in frequency after the wild grasses preferred by the birds became scarcer as a result of the climate crisis.
Ruth Akoropot, a 50-year-old farmer from the area, spends hours every day watching over her crops during peak periods of attack, after years of studying the birds’ behavior patterns.
“If you don’t, your crop will be wiped out,” says Akoropot, who runs the Women’s Sorghum Farmers Association, which sells bales of grain to Kenya’s national beer brewery. “We usually try to plant and harvest at the same time, so that the damage is spread over the farms and not just ruining one person’s yield.”
Most of Busia’s population rely on farming for food and to make a living, but like many small farmers in Kenya, who are the primary producers of the country’s food, a number remain vulnerable to food insecurity. Flooding in April and May this year, farmers’ seeds and produce were wiped away, worsened poor agricultural productivity.
Old improved crop varieties from the gene bank, such as Kenya’s red-headed sorghum okotowhich farmers say is less prone to bird attacks, have become community favorites in Busia after decades of disuse.
“My grandfather cultivated this red variety many years ago. He would pound the sorghum until it was fine and mix it with sweet banana juice and then let it ferment overnight. It was such a refreshing drink,” says Akoropot. She says the variety has gotten rave reviews as a filling addition to the cornmeal staple ugaliincluding some of her grandchildren, who say it makes for flavorful sorghum porridge.
Tobias Okando Recha, an impact researcher for the Seeds of Resilience programme, says: “These are crops on which farmers do not need to pump a lot of fertiliser. With just a little fertilizer the yield is good and they are more [resilient] as hybrid varieties.
“Many farmers didn’t know about the gene bank until recently, so it’s time farmers did [made] aware that the government has a repository of all the varieties they need.”
Plant scientists say that while the divide between farmers and seed savers is narrowing, more needs to be done.
“Some collections are still sitting [in the cold room]so we have to promote them so that they can reach farmers,” says Nyamongo, who insists on more funding from the government. From this year, the gene bank will cooperate the FAO to scale up its work with farmers, and although the Seeds of Resilience program is ending, the Crop Trust will continue to support the seed libraries.
“The genebanks are not museums, but a resource for the future,” says Heaton. “By connecting them with farmers, we can quickly build local resilience and food security.”
