Development of Local Seed Varieties in the Central and Southern West Bank, Palestine.
 Nancy Odeh, Stockholm Environment Institute, Boston USA.

Background: In the late 1980s a PARC extension worker, Ismail Daiq, observed that the productivity of local crops had decreased; the productivity of watermelons was shrinking dramatically and local tomatoes had nearly lost their entire market share. In 1989, PARC and the British charity UNAIS launched a program for reversing the alarming decline through the use and productivity of local seed varieties.

Local (or traditional) seeds are those produced in a particular place or climate and that have been selected and maintained by local people in their local growing environment. Over time as farmers saved the seeds from their best-performing plants, these local seeds have developed through farmer selection. This traditional system has functioned well and is the basis of today’s field breeding programs. From the synergy of farmer selection, knowledge and the natural selection process local varieties (landraces) have emerged that are highly suited to prevailing climatic and edaphic conditions. These local vegetable seed varieties play an essential social, economic and environmental preservation role in dry land agriculture, which predominates throughout 90% of Palestine.

Problem:
The problem noted by Ismail Daiq at PARC was that, despite these benefits, local farmers were increasingly turning to ‘introduced’ varieties in order to take advantage of a wider marketing season and/or other opportunities. Modern methods of agricultural development, promoted by the seed industry and by agrochemical and agro-business interests heightened disregard for local seeds. Most vegetable-producing areas have experienced an accelerated deterioration of variety since the 1980s because cross-pollination occurs between the local and introduced varieties when cultivated alongside one another. This leads to a ‘dilution’ or loss of the desirable characteristics of local seeds. The traditional seed-saving knowledge was no longer able to preserve the stability and quality of local varieties. As a result, farmers planted deteriorated local varieties or less suitable ‘standard’ varieties and their incomes declined. They often had to abandon their land as it ceased to support their livelihoods.

Solution:
The PARC-UNAIS project began by asking the farmers in the area to identify the problems and suggest solutions to them. The project was implemented with the active participation of local farmers, extension workers, and a seed development expert – in fact, participation was a key concern and top priority. These groups were all involved in the baseline survey as well as the implementation of the seed improvement activities, based on natural selection and the monitoring of the plants. Local farmers were chosen based on the criteria of being interested in the project and having isolated plots of land, which was necessary to ensure a successful process of natural selection. After the first round of breeding work was completed, the improved seeds went through field trials by local farmers. Evaluation data was obtained through extension visits and evaluation workshops.

Achievements:
Since 1993, the project has been successfully implemented in the Central and Southern West Bank and recently activities were extended to Northern areas. Twenty-nine local varieties of vegetables have been under development. The project has resulted in improved local seed varieties with more attractive shapes of fruits, higher productivity, and increased resistance to pests. More than three-hundred farmers tried and evaluated the improved varieties, and were satisfied with the results. There is a high demand for improved seeds, especially because cultivating these varieties has led to significant increases in income due to improved crop quality and yield. On-farm seed production models were also developed for eighteen improved varieties in their original areas of cultivation. Farmers produce seed under a voluntary field inspection and seed growing control system provided by the Project, which allows the seed quality to be guaranteed. Annually, the seed distribution directly benefits two- to three-hundred farming families. Because of tiny amounts available for distribution, farmers are highly motivated to save their own seeds from the project’s improved local crops and to use them for planting. They also share these seeds with their neighbors.

The strategy for scaling out was based not on perfecting a product and then disbursing it widely, but by involving local farmers in the very design phase of the project. This allowed for demonstration learning as well as well as opportunities to adapt the process to local realities, including seed varieties.

This case study is featured in Volume 1 Global Synthesis and Volume VI West Asia and North Africa of the series Civic Entrepreneurship – A Civil Society Perspective on Sustainable Development (Eds. Tariq Banuri, Adil Najam, and Nancy Odeh, 2002). The series are also available electronically on the website of the Stockholm Environment Institute – Boston Center http://www.seib.org/

Maryam Rahmanian from CENESTA in Iran conducted research for this case study through interviews with Palestinian Agricultural Relief Committee employees.

Palestinian Agricultural Relief Committees (http://www.pal-arc.org/first.html)