Nelson Mudzingwa (51) is a smallholder farmer from Shashe in Masvingo province in Zimbabwe. Nelson has constructed a seed heritage archive at his homestead. He says the seed heritage archive is not just a seed bank but also serves many functions which are key to his survival as a farmer.
“It is more than just a mere seed bank. The seed heritage archive is about our lives. Our lives, culture, health and nutrition depend on the diversity that is contained in the archive. Even the future generation will learn from what is being stored and documented in the archive and they will go on to pass the knowledge to future generations,” says Nelson.
Nelson says the seed heritage archive has been carefully thought out and designed to achieve this goal.
“The seed heritage archive has three rooms. The first room is our information centre and it is where we are displaying all the politics about food systems so that the local people can understand why we are keeping the seed. The second room is the gene bank where we are stocking different food crops that we grow in our household and those we collect from friends, neighbours as well as during seed and food fairs. The third room is the seed store where we keep larger quantities of seed. It is this seed that we use for exchange, selling, sharing and production,” explains Nelson.
The seed heritage archive at Nelson’s homestead was not constructed like other normal buildings. Nelson says the building needed to maintain ideal temperatures for storing seed.
“The building is 7metres in length and 5metres in width. At the front it is 2.5metres high and at the back it is 2.3metres high to enable drainage of roof water. The roof is made of concrete. We are conserving life and so for security reasons we have to keep it very tight. We have controlled the temperature and moisture of the building by using mesh wire and black polythene at the base of the concrete on the roof. We have also put a thermometer and a regulator in the building so that we always monitor the temperature. Some climate conditions like high humidity can cause some seeds to rot, get damaged or even geminate so it is very important to always check temperature and humidity,” says Nelson.
Nelson says construction of the archive was no easy task and required sacrifice, hard work, commitment and patience.
“The seed heritage archive was actually funded by our own sources of income. We contracted local builders and it took us four months to complete the construction. We estimated the total cost to about USD 2,500 and the most expensive thing was cement,” says Nelson.
“This is the model we use for construction within Shashe Agroecology School. None of our constructions were financed by donors. Each household developing a centre of excellence finances the development,” he says adding that the seed heritage archive was built to be a permanent structure with minimum maintenance.
Nelson says his seed heritage archive is only one of many that he envisions. His hope is for other farmers to develop similar structures in their homesteads.
“In the Shashe block of farms we have more than 200 farmers and our target is that each family constructs its own seed bank. This seed heritage archive is pioneering that journey, giving direction on how to structure and maintain seed heritage archives at local level, ” says Nelson.
Nelson also says building his seed heritage archive gave him the experience and knowledge that will be very useful in managing a community seed bank.
“It was very important to construct such a structure at household level so that we gain experience on how to manage it and protect our seed. The archive also connects us to other farmers with a similar mindset and allows us to start thinking of developing a community seed bank,” says Nelson.
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