Resources
SD=HS works according to a participatory and empowering methodology that starts with what people know and need and that is driven by peoples deepest interests. The Program recognizes that communities are socially differentiated. The participatory approaches and experiential learning allows indigenous people and smallholder farmers to identify and strengthen their coping strategies regarding climate change.
SD=HS resources are based on the strength and knowledge of indigenous peoples and smallholder farmers, bolstered by and assessed through scientifically robust frameworks. The tools are evaluated, improved and enriched by the use of communities. According to the objectives of the program, the resources are publicly available.
SD=HS resources are based on the strength and knowledge of indigenous peoples and smallholder farmers, bolstered by and assessed through scientifically robust frameworks. The tools are evaluated, improved and enriched by the use of communities. According to the objectives of the program, the resources are publicly available.
Article list
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The CMSS model is a participatory farmer-led approach for systematically planning and executing interventions towards promoting farmers’ seed security and seed sovereignty. The model consolidates the existing good seed security practices scattered across the PELUM Uganda network into a comprehensive approach for promoting community led seed security among smallholder farmers.... -
A virtual reality (VR) tour through farmers' fields and seed banks in Nepal, Uganda, Zambia, Zimbabwe and the Netherlands. The movie presents different perspectives on the joys and importance of farmer seed systems and the dire need for recognition and support for these systems. Note: the experience works best with... -
This page contains the project reports and all meeting reports of the project 'Options to interpret the notion of private and non-commercial use as included in Article 15.1.i of the UPOV 1991 Convention'. This project was undertaken by Szonja Csörgõ and Catherine Langat from Euroseeds, Judith de Roos from Plantum... -
A compilation of video diaries recorded by women smallholder farmers in Zimbabwe. The videos are a tool to share insights and knowledge about seeds with other communities over larger distances. This project was coordinated by Community Technology Development Trust, Zimbabwe. Sowing Diversity in Zimbabwe from Oxfam Novib on Vimeo. Editing... -
This discussion paper presents the lessons learned in establishing a Farmer Seed Enterprise, the Champion Farmer Seeds Cooperative in Zimbabwe. The involved practitioners reflect on the assumptions made at the start of the program, and how the experience can guide further development of different models of Farmer Seed Enterprises. This... -
The registration of farmers’ varieties in national and regional seed catalogues – as objects of seed regulation – has been the subject of considerable debate in recent years, at local, national and international levels. Farmers have contributed immensely to the development, management and conservation of a wide range of crop... -
Download the poster to get quick and illustrated insight into the work, achievements and strategies of the Sowing Diversity=Harvesting Security program. Download poster -
NB: A summary of this case study report was included in the UN report on ‘The State of the World’s Biodiversity for Food and Agriculture’. Read more Indigenous peoples and smallholder farmers, a large percentage of whom are women, provide about eighty percent of the food consumed in almost all... -
This study highlights that neglected and underutilized species (NUS) play an important role in diversifying the diets of indigenous peoples and smallholder farmers, in particular as part of their coping strategies during the hunger season. However, many of the wild plants and minor crops cited by participants in the study... -
This progress report provides a review of program activities, progress towards outcomes, risks encountered, and lessons learned in the period of 1 April 2017 to 31 March 2018. All activities contribute to the overarching SeedsGROW mission of “Harvesting greater food security and food justice by supporting the gender-just transformation of... -
This Facilitators’ Field Guide for Farmer Field Schools on Participatory Plant Breeding aims to assist facilitators in conducting Farmer Field School (FFS) sessions on participatory plant breeding (PPB) in their respective communities. In this context, participatory plant breeding should be understood in a broad sense: it includes participatory variety enhancement... -
Over the last few decades, the number of patents on plants and plant parts has greatly increased in various parts of the world. This has triggered social debate about possible negative consequences for the breeding sector, farmers and society. Despite the urgency of these questions, most research and literature has... -
This document outlines the roll out and scale up strategy of the digital 'Diversity Wheel' application. The Digital Diversity Wheel app reduces the geographical and financial barriers that smallholder farmers face in accessing locally adapted varieties grown in communities living in similar agro-ecological conditions elsewhere. The tool will also help... -
In the Valley of Lares, located in the Peruvian Andes, peasant women and men live together with a diversity of cultivated, semi-cultivated and wild foods present in the different altitudes of the territory. This agrobiodiversity is closely linked with knowledge and the traditional practices of its inhabitants, allowing them to... -
This poster helps Farmer Field School facilitators and participants to select the breeding or selection method that will best help the groups reach their objectives. This poster is succeeds the module on the Diagnostic Stage. This poster is open for educational use. The adviced printing format is A3 or A2.... -
An illustrated and step-by-step manual for facilitator's to guide a Farmer Field School group through the Diagnostic Stage of the breeding season. This module includes the exercises of the Timeline Analysis, the Diversity Wheel on crop and crop variety level and the setting of breeding objectives and methods. Download the... -
This report, developed by GRAIN, unpacks and explores farmer-managed seed systems and their contribution to food and seed sovereignty, including the benefits they provide to farming communities as a part of their sociocultural, economic, spiritual and ecological livelihoods. The report highlights, exposes and explores how these systems work. It builds... -
An illustrated and step-by-step manual for facilitator's to guide a Farmer Field School group through the process of plot design for Participatory Variety Selection. Download the manual here. -
The SD=HS program aims for widespread impact in such a way that social, environmental and economic conditions can be enhanced beyond the context of the program. In this video, we explain the six integrated pathways that are crucial to the SD=HS methodology. The pathways mentioned are: Participatory toolkit for plant... -
This speech was given by Mrs. Majory Jeke at the opening ceremony of the Seventh Governing Body Meeting of the International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture. Marjory Jeke is lead farmer in one of the SD=HS Farmer Field Schools. Your Excellency the Minister of Agriculture of... -
Community Seed Banks are places designed to protect seeds using a number of in situ (on-site) conservation processes and equipment as preferred by farmers. This strategy for strengthening local seed populations is empowered at the community level by workers who greatly appreciate their natural resources and want to get involved... -
In this document, the strategy and step-by-step application of “Stratified Mass Selection” (SMS) is outlined under the field conditions of farmers, as a product of various field experiences. These experiences were obtained under the framework of participatory plant breeding with the objective of allowing farmers dedicated to maize cultivation to... -
The SD=HS program aims to realize Farmers’ Rights by empowering indigenous peoples and smallholder farmers to uphold their role in contributing to food security and strengthening their adaptive capacities. This report describes the main tools and achievements so far. Farmer field schools are one key tool. They facilitate farmers in... -
This document presents the results of the Mid Term Review (MTR) of the Sowing Diversity=Harvesting Security (SD=HS) program. The report is preceded by a management response of the Oxfam Novib SeedsGROW Steering Committee (Arnold Galavazi, Corporate Director, and Gerard Steehouwer, Manager Thematic Units of Oxfam Novib). View publication -
In this interview, Gigi Manicad explains the principles of Farmer Field Schools, the role of women as managers of biodiversity, and the way the program strengthens smallholder farmers to articulate their needs to influence policies. -
Sonia Quispe Ttito, an indigenous woman and smallholder farmer from the community of Choquecancha made this statement at the 23rd Conference of Parties in Bonn (2017). The statement was originally in Quechua, but is translated to English. 'My name is Sonia Quispe Ttito, I come from the community of Choquecancha,... -
The third progress report presents results, achievements, challenges and financial updates from the period 1 April 2016 until 31 March 2017. The document reports both on the SD=HS program and the GROW campaign. View publication -
This study is one of the stock-taking activities undertaken under the SD=HS program, focusing on policies relevant to the functioning of small-scale farming systems. It aims to guide further work of the SD=HS program by assessing national seed laws in the eight countries covered by the program, to inform recommendations... -
This Briefing note by Asociación ANDES and Oxfam Novib shows in detail the evidence for the use of Neglected and Underutilized Species (NUS) as a coping strategy in times of food scarcity because of climate change in the Peruvian Andes. The publication elaborates on challenges of climate change in the... -
'UYWAY' (the seed) tells the story of a spiritual journey made by Quechua farmers bringing their cherished potato seeds from the Potato Park in Peru to the Svalbard in Norway. It is a voyage from potato fields high in the Andean mountains of Peru to the Svalbard Global Seed Vault:... -
This joint agency briefing note from CTDT and Oxfam describes how farmer seed systems can provide seed security. Zimbabwean smallholder farmers consider seed security to be an issue of national security. For them, access to the right seeds, at the right time, and for the right price, is critical to be able to... -
The second progress report presents results, achievements, challenges and financial updates from the period 1 April 2015 until 31 March 2016. The document reports both on the SD=HS program and the GROW campaign. View publication -
This Oxfam position paper contains Oxfam's statement towards the protection of farmers' and plant breeders' rights. Farmers’ Rights to save, reuse, exchange and sell farm-saved seed/propagating material, to maintain and create agro-biodiversity, and to manage plant genetic resources for food and agriculture (PGRFA), need to be protected and promoted. This applies particularly... -
Share a Seed (ENG) from Oxfam Novib on Vimeo. Based on footage of Dutch photographer Sasha de Boer, Oxfam Novib and CTDT together with the Dutch Postcode Lottery (NPL) created a video showing the Farmer Field Schools in Zimbabwe. The video is part of the 'Share a Seed' campaign (for... -
This outline of the SD=HS Global Policy Agenda presents a multiple, evidence-based and bottom-up approach to global policy engagement, which is based on concrete experiences from a number of countries, in combination with multi-stakeholder perspectives and the integration of indigenous and scientific knowledge. The local to global policy engagement is... -
The IFAD-Oxfam program “Putting Lessons into Practice: Scaling up Peoples’ Biodiversity Management for Food Security” was implemented from 2012 until 2015. The goal of the program was to uphold, strengthen, and mainstream the rights and technical capacities of indigenous peoples and smallholder farmers, and to influence local to global policies... -
This report of an expert meeting explains the need to scale up the program by integrating farmers’ seeds into the market. It describes the possibilities, advantages and risks of farmer seed enterprise. Seeds are fundamental for food security and are instrumental in generating wealth for rural economies. World-wide, most of... -
This report is the first presentation of the consolidated findings of the baseline studies in Vietnam and Zimbabwe for Pillar 3 of the SD=HS program. Pillar 3 has a special focus on neglected and underutilized species, as they have a potential to improve dietary diversity, may contribute to income generation, and may... -
This technical report elaborates the conceptual and methodological development of the three year IFAD and Oxfam funded project: “Putting Lessons into Practice: Scaling up People’s Biodiversity Management for Food Security". View publication -
Despite a number of studies on farmers’ perceptions of climate change, the gap between indigenous peoples and smallholder farmer’s use of complex adaptation processes and technical recommendations provided by agricultural research institutions continues to exist. Lessons learned from decades of experiences in participatory research worldwide regard the role of peoples’... -
Message of Ms. Gigi Manicad, Senior program officer SD=HS for Oxfam Novib, recorded at the European side event titled “I Have a Seed" -
The Facilitators’ Field Guide for Farmer Field Schools on Participatory Plant Breeding in Maize, Pearl Millet, Sorghum and Groundnut aims to assist facilitators in conducting farmer field school sessions on participatory plant breeding in their respective communities. This field guide was produced under the leadership of CTDT with technical support... -
This report contains the results of the baseline study for SD=HS. It provides useful information to size the characteristics of the project’s beneficiary population and constitutes the first step of the monitoring process with the project’s partners and donors. The monitored indicators will provide evidence to adapt and redefine the project’s strategy... -
The rights and technical capacities of indigenous peoples and smallholder farmers were the focus of the three-year global program ‘Putting lessons into practice: Scaling up People’s Biodiversity Management for Food Security’. The program aimed to support farmers to influence policies and institutions on the sustainable use of plant genetic resources for... -
This external evaluation of the IFAD-Oxfam Novib program “Putting Lessons into Practice: Scaling up Peoples’ Biodiversity Management for Food Security” was agreed upon by IFAD and Oxfam Novib in order to “take stock of lessons learnt and transferability criteria and provide further guidance for an envisaged follow up phase”. This... -
National seed laws are important for the functioning of farmers’ seeds systems. This study was conducted under the IFAD-Oxfam program: “Putting Lessons into Practice: Scaling up Peoples Biodiversity Management for Food Security. View publication -
This paper has been submitted to the 6th Session of the Governing Body of the International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture (PGRFA), as a joint submission by Oxfam, the Netherlands; Asociación ANDES, Peru; CTDT, Zimbabwe; SEARICE, Vietnam and CGN-WUR, the Netherlands. It has been published on the... -
This progress report provides a comprehensive review of program activities, progress towards outcomes, risks encountered and lessons learned in the first 18 months – from the 1st of October 2013 to March 31, 2015. It also discusses adjustments required for Year 2 implementation based on these findings. The SD=HS team is proud of... -
This study presents viable options for farmer-bred varieties to have the opportunity to be integrated in Vietnam's seed supply system. It aims to: - Document Vietnam's policy environment on variety and seed certification system. - Trace the processes which the HD1 variety went through, to become the first farmer-bred variety...