24 September is Heritage Day in South Africa. A vital heritage that is often overlooked is the indigenous, /traditional and local seed inherited from elders who carefully selected, saved and shared seed for food crops and traditional medicines over centuries. These robust seeds are well-adapted to local environments and are able to survive under extreme weather conditions, where hybrid and GMO seeds frequently fail and leave many farmers without food
The growing worldwide agroecology movement is strongly challenging the current unsustainable food system, pushed by many governments and big agribusiness interests that are only interested in making as much profit as possible, at the expense of many thousands of small scale farmers who are the main ones feeding the world.
EarthLore’s Seed and Food Fairs provide opportunities to celebrate this heritage and affirm the importance of traditional seeds in our lives.
The 2022 fairs started in Bikita, Zimbabwe, from 5 to 9 September. Next month, on 6 October, there will be the annual Elukwatini Seed and Food Fair, in Mpumalanga, near eManzana.
Our Seed and Food Fairs this year are part of a Farmers’ Rights campaign, driven by our Seed and Knowledge Initiative (SKI) partners. A virtual caravan links seed fairs taking place in South Africa, Zimbabwe, Malawi and Zambia that culminates in a multi-stakeholder Farmers’ Rights seminar on 25th and 26th October in Lusaka, Zambia. The event is coordinated by the Geography Department at the University of Cape Town and the other fourteen SKI partners, including EarthLore.
Here the Mamutse farmers in Bikita sing in Shona during their recent successful community seed fair, saying:”Once you start attending and taking part in agricultural shows and seed fairs, don’t stop.. No going back. It should be a lifelong journey. Farming is our life”.
