Preserving the harvest to eat or sell is important. But farmers also will need seeds to plant the next year. And many MCC partners are promoting saving local seeds that are often better adapted to local conditions and more likely to thrive.
For Jean-Remy Azor, executive director of MCC partner Konbit Peyizan in Haiti, saving seeds is an important foundation to food security – ensuring that farmers can rely on their own planning rather than fluctuating supplies and prices in local markets.
“Farmers have always made an effort to conserve some of their harvest, but it’s not always easy,” he says. “The conditions aren’t always easy, and people don’t always have the means. If you don’t have food to eat, then it can be hard to put some aside to save.”
Konbit Peyizan works with farmers on every aspect of seed storage from how to prepare seeds to how farmers can tell if a seed is dry enough to store. They help farmers figure out how to protect their seeds from rats and other dangers and how to work together to store seeds as a small group or a community.