Category: Uncategorized
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Times are changing: Can we adapt and do Farmer Field School training remotely?
by Resilient Food Systems Remote learning is more than just the future; it’s now been widely adopted and is connecting learners with facilitators across the World. Can Farmer Field School trainings, which are traditionally field-based, adapt to this new environment? And how can we keep them successful? This blog takes us back to 23rd of June, […]
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Farewell interview with Harrie Oostingh
After four years as project lead, Harrie Oostingh is leaving the Sowing Diversity = Harvesting Security team. Below is a farewell interview, where he shares his reflections and wishes for the SD=HS community. “What makes this programme special is the people: men, women, youth fighting on a daily basis to improve their conditions and fighting […]
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Strengthening action in supporting climate resilient communities through peer-to-peer knowledge exchange
By Connie Formson, SD=HS Lead, Farmer Seed Enterprises “Never underestimate the power of a small group of committed people to change the world. In fact, it is the only thing that ever has.” ~ Margaret Mead Perhaps one of the most profound experiences is the sharing of knowledge, ideas, and information among peers. During the week of 12-16 September 2022, […]
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Farmers Call for More Inclusive Local Seed System and Farmers’ Rights at FAO International Treaty Meeting
On 20th and 21st of September 2022, Oxfam Novib and partners will host two side events during this year’s meeting of the FAO International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture in New Delhi, India. Community Technology and Development Trust Zambia (CTDT) and LI=BIRD from Nepal will represent the Sowing Diversity = Harvesting […]
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SD=HS participates in the International Treaty’s annual session
The 9th session of the Governing Body (GB 9) of the International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture (ITPGRFA) will be held in New Delhi, India from 19th to 24th September 2022. Funded by Sida, the SD=HS (Sowing Diversity = Harvesting Security) program executed by Oxfam Novib and country partners contributes to […]
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Farmer-Led Seed Production: Community Seed Banks Enter the National Seed Market
Ronnie Vernooy, Jai Rana, Gloria Otieno, Hilton Mbozi and Pitambar Shrestha Abstract: Smallholder farmers around the world obtain their seed from various sources, which can vary over time. In some countries, smallholder farmers are gaining ground as local seed producers and sellers. This study focuses on the seed production and marketing operations, achievements, and challenges of […]
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Three SD=HS partner organisations awarded funding from the Global Alliance for the Future of Food
Early this February, the working group on participatory plant breeding established under the Global Alliance for the Future of Food (GAFF) recommended five projects for a first round of funding. We are excited to hear that three of the awardees are partner organisations in the SD=HS programme: Farmers’ Seed Network in China, Community Technology and […]
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SD=HS mid-term review summary
SD=HS has reached an important milestone: we are halfway through the programme’s current phase. This demands a moment of reflection looking back on the last two years, to plan intentionally for 2022 and 2023. Our mid-term review (MTR) is the result of a participatory process. It is based on 342 stories straight from the field […]
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Innovating plant breeding & agrobiodiversity management: The urgent need for better partnerships between farmers and researchers
On the 2nd of December, Oxfam Novib held the concluding workshop in a series of three on ‘Innovating plant breeding: Bringing farmers to the table’. Researchers, policy makers, farmers and funders discussed how increasing the involvement of farmers in crop development and seed diffusion can contribute to sustained global food and nutrition security. Participants presented […]
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Bringing Farmers to the Table: Innovating Plant Breeding. Workshop #3, 2 December 2021
We began this series of workshops seeking to identify coalitions to strengthen farmers’ engagement in crop variety and seed system development and innovation (see summaries of workshop 1 and workshop 2). The development of either a new proposal or creating explicit and strong links between complementary programs were the intended final outputs. “Let’s get on […]
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Seed Value Chains and Seed Markets Training
Building the capacity of smallholder farmers to produce quality seeds for the market takes long term investment and support. This support starts with a strong core team of technical experts to support seed producing farmer groups. From 26 to 28 October SD=HS organized two hour online trainings on seed value chains and seed markets for […]
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SD=HS program retracts from FAO’s Global Conference on Green Development of Seed Industries
Oxfam Novib – the SD=HS program has decided to retract as a speaker to the Global Conference on Green Development of Seed Industries, organized by FAO on November 4-5. Only in a late stage it has become known to us that the process that led up to the creation of the agenda of this conference […]
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Oxfam Novib’s comments on the Crops to End Hunger White Paper on Economically Sustainable Seed Systems
Recently the CGIAR’s Crops to End Hunger initiative released a White Paper on Economically Sustainable Seed Systems. Several participants who joined the Global Crop Workshop asked Oxfam Novib to share its views. The paper, commissioned by AGRA and the Syngenta Foundation is intended to guide future CGIAR investments in seed delivery, but fails consistently to […]
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African farmers discuss food and seed sovereignty and farmers’ rights
On Tuesday, July 27, the SD=HS program co-organized the digital session ‘Seed is Power, reclaiming African seed and food sovereignty’, which was part of the People’s Mobilization to Transform Corporate Food Systems, a CSO-organized event that took place in parallel to the UN Food Systems Pre-Summit (FSS). Oxfam Novib and ZAAB were amongst the organizing […]
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Books 4 Life supporting community seed banks in Uganda
We are happy to share that a new Seeds project has started in Uganda, funded by Books 4 Life. Books 4 Life is a Dutch non-profit organization that manages a chain of second-hand bookshops in different cities in The Netherlands. The organization donates almost all of their sales proceeds to charities, including Oxfam Novib. In […]
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Bringing farmers to the table:
Day 2“You ask if we have enough time for plant breeding training? When you look at the crop and the farmer, this is the work we do. Anything related to learning about the crop, about the garden… farmers always have the time for it. It’s like when you work in an office, and you always have […]
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Mid Term Review 2021
Our 2021 Mid Term Review aims to determine the extent to which the different activities have contributed towards the overall objectives and outcomes, and the lessons we can draw. This is to help all stakeholders have the necessary information to take timely and informed decisions in the near future. The Terms of Reference for this […]
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Oxfam and No Patents on Seeds! demand a stop to the patenting of plants: 180.000 signatures handed over to the European Patent Office
Plants and animals derived from conventional breeding are no longer patentable. This was the verdict published by the Enlarged Board of Appeal of the European Patent Office (EPO) in May 2020. A new report of Oxfam’s partner No Patents on Seeds! shows, however, that such patents are still being applied for due to the legal […]
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Bringing farmers to the table:
Innovating Plant BreedingFaced with the dual threat of climate change and biodiversity loss, crop improvement programs are straining to contribute to sustained global food and nutrition security. Innovation is needed to increase their efficiency, reducing the time required to develop crop varieties and improve their adoption and dissemination by farmers. Participatory plant breeding (PPB), the active participation […]
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Líderes y lideresas campesinas fortalecen sus capacidades para la incidencia política
Sesenta líderes y lideresas campesinas fortalecen sus capacidades de incidencia política en la Escuela “Promoviendo el Sistema Tradicional de Producción de Semillas en el Perú”, iniciativa organizada por FOVIDA con el apoyo de Oxfam, que se realiza desde el 01 al 29 de diciembre, con la finalidad de promover el sistema tradicional de producción de semillas […]