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Edition 01 : 25 September, 2007
SOME RECOMMENDED DEVELOPMENT TECHNOLOGIES
How to collect and conserve seeds.
The following material is
supplied by courtesy
of Developing Countries Farm
Radio Network (Réseau de
radios rurales des pays en développement)
1404
Package 42, Script 1
October 1996
Save your Own Seeds, Part One: Seed Selection
Saving seeds
from your own crops saves money. And it also helps to preserve the traditional
crop varieties which grow in your region.
Farmers always used to save seed from their crops to
plant the next season. But many farmers now buy seeds from stores in town or
directly from seed companies instead. The problem is that seed companies often
do not sell the traditional varieties of crops which are well adapted to your
local climate, pests and diseases. These traditional varieties may only grow in
your region. So even if you buy some new seeds to try out, it is also a good
idea to save and plant seeds from traditional crops. The best way to make sure
the traditional varieties survive is for farmers to collect and save seeds
themselves.
Buying seeds is expensive, but saving your own costs
little or no money. If you depend on buying seeds you are at risk of not being
able to plant your crop if there is a seed shortage and the company does not
have the seeds you need. And saving seeds yourself means you have them ready to
plant when conditions are right, like right after a good rain, and you do not
have to first make a trip to town first.
Traditional varieties of seed can easily be saved from
year to year. But many of the seeds you can buy are hybrids. You cannot save
the seeds from hybrids to use the following season because they will not grow
as well as the original plant.
Selecting and
collecting seeds
When you want to save seeds from your own crops, the
first step is to collect them. You can start when the seeds are drying on their
stalks in the field and the seeds are mature.
Decide which seeds to save while they are still in the
fields. That way, you can look at the seed head and also the plant it comes
from.
You want healthy seeds, so don't pick seeds that are
abnormally shaped, very small, or damaged.
You also need diversity and special qualities. The
more diversity you have in your field -- that is, the more different qualities
the plants have -- the safer your crop is. Diversity makes crops less
vulnerable to disease, pests, and unusual weather conditions. You are more
likely to have a crop failure if all the plants in one crop are too much alike.
The seeds you can buy from companies usually do not contain as much diversity
as seeds you collect yourself. Instead they produce plants that are very
similar. As a result, they are more vulnerable to disease, pests, or bad
weather. That is another good reason to save your own seeds instead of buying
them.
To make sure that you get both diversity and special
qualities in the seeds you collect, you
should choose seeds three different ways.
First, you should look for seed from plants that have
particular characteristics that you like. For example, you might collect seeds
from plants that stayed small, because they will need less water to grow. Or
you might choose plants with multiple seed heads, or plants whose pods or grain
heads are large. You might also look for plants that suffered less pest damage
than others. Seeds from these plants are likely to produce more plants the next
season that have these same special qualities.
Second, choose seeds from plants that are different
from each other. Pick seeds from plants of different colours, sizes, or with
differently-shaped leaves.
Finally, you should select some seed from each area of
the field, from a many different plants. Just pick whatever seeds you come
across, at random.
Picking seeds from plants with special qualities that
you like helps improve your crops from year to year. And choosing some seeds
that are slightly different from others in the field provides the diversity the
crop needs to do well.
Differences between plants are not always apparent
when you look at them. For example, you might not know from looking at a plant
that it is drought-resistant. You would not find out until a dry year, when the
plant survived and others did not. Some of the diversity which helps plants to
resist pests and diseases or adapt to changes in climate is contained in the
seed itself. That is why you should collect some seed at random. The random
sample makes sure that you get a good mix of different qualities, including
ones you cannot see.
Selecting and collecting good seeds from your crops is
the first step in saving seeds -- but it is only half the job. Once you have
the seeds, you need to store them properly so that they will last until next
season.
Note
Script
2 of this package (#42) gives information about how to store seeds properly.
Information
Sources
The community seedbank kit, 1986, 15 pages. The Rural Advancement Fund International,
Food from dryland gardens, by David Cleveland and Daniela Soleri, 1991, 387
pages. Centre for People, Food and Environment, U.S.A.
Acknowledgements
This script was written by Harvey Harman who was a
community development worker in
This script was originally published as script
Package 42, Script 2
October 1996
Save your Own Seeds, Part Two: Seed Storage
Saving
your own seeds saves money. It is also the best way to make sure that
traditional crop varieties do not disappear. The traditional crops that have
grown in your region since before your grandparents' time are well adapted to
the local climate and soil. And they are good at resisting common local pests.
But if you and other local farmers stop growing them, they will disappear. In
fact, many traditional varieties have already been lost forever.
The first step is to collect a variety of seeds from
the field. Once you have done that, you must dry and store them so they will
last until the next planting season. Here is how to dry and store them.
Dry, cool, airtight storage
There
are three rules for storing seeds so that they will grow well in the following
season.
1. Make sure the seeds are well dried before you store them.
2. Store them in the coolest place possible.
3. Protect the seeds from moisture.
Dry the seeds by spreading them out on a mat or screen
in a warm, shady place. The shade is important because direct sun may hurt the
seeds. Turn the seeds every day or so. Turning them lets the whole seed dry
evenly.
After two to three days of warm, dry weather most
seeds are ready for storage. Some might take a little longer. Listen to the
sound the seeds make when you break them to decide if they are dry enough. When
they are dry, large, flat seeds, like pumpkin, they make a "snapping"
sound when twisted. Large, thick seeds, like maize or beans, make a
"cracking" sound when bitten. And small seeds make a
"cracking" sound when squeezed between fingernails.
The cooler the place you store the seeds the better.
The place should also be dry. Moisture and heat are the two biggest enemies of
stored seeds.
Store the seeds in jars or cans with tight fitting
lids to keep out moisture. The more humid the climate you live in, the more
careful you should be about making your storage containers airtight. To make
sure the containers are airtight, you can fill up the edges around the lids
with wax or grease. You can also melt paraffin or candle wax and turn the jars
upside down and dip them in it to make an airtight seal around the lid. Or dip
a piece of cloth in hot wax and drape it over the opening of the container to
seal it.
Another way to keep seeds from absorbing moisture from
the air is to put something in the container with the seeds that will absorb
the moisture instead. You can use freshly toasted grains of rice, wheat or
maize, or toasted dried peas. Toast the rice, wheat or maize grains or dried
peas by heating them slowly and moving them around continuously in a shallow
pan over your stove. They should be completely dried out, but not burnt.
You can make a cloth bag for the toasted grains so
that they will not mix with the seed. Fill the cloth bag with toasted grain,
and then put it in the container with the seed. Put about twice as much toasted
grain in the container as seed.
If you open the container and take out some of the
seeds, but you want to store the rest of the seeds longer, take out the old
toasted grain and replace it with fresh toasted grain before you seal the
container again.
You could place the airtight seed containers in a pit
in the dirt floor of a shed or storage hut safe from rain or flooding. That way
they will be both cool and dry.
Keep insects out
Making the containers airtight also protects the seeds
from insects. If you dry the seeds well, put them in an airtight container, and
store them in a cool place, they will keep well until the next growing season.
Usually, by following the three rules of dryness, coolness, and airtight
storage, you will also help to keep insects out of the seeds until the next
growing season. Some farmers do a few other things to help their seeds stay
free from insects. Here are three more ways to keep your seeds free from insect
damage while you are storing them.
Add five millilitres (one tablespoon) of vegetable
oil, such as African palm oil, crude cottonseed oil, coconut palm oil, or
peanut oil, to one kilogram of well-dried vegetable or grain seeds. Shake the
seed and oil together in a jar for five minutes until the oil lightly covers
all the seeds. Then store the seed in airtight containers in a cool place.
Another way to protect seeds from insects is to mix
ashes with the seeds. First remove all the pieces of burnt wood from the ash so
that only dust remains. Mix the ash dust with the seeds so that the seeds are
well coated. Add 1/5 kilogram (
The third method involves adding dried leaves or
plants to the seed. In different places different leaves work for this purpose.
Try various plants that grow naturally in your area and are known for
discouraging insects. Neem leaves (Azadirachta indica), for example, are
available in many parts of the world. They are known to be good for keeping
away insects. Other plants can be used in a similar way.
To use neem leaves, start by drying them in the shade.
Direct sun will destroy some of the helpful elements in the leaves. When the
leaves are dry, crush them to a powder in a bowl or between two grinding
stones. Mix the neem powder with the dry seeds, and store them in airtight
containers in a cool place.
Choose seeds to save for next season by taking three
trips through your field to pick seeds. First, take a random sample. Then go
back and choose seed from plants with special qualities. Then choose plants
that are different in some way from others in your field or garden.
When you store the seeds, follow the three rules of
seed storage: dry the seeds well; put them in airtight containers; and store
them in a cool place. Protect seeds from insect damage by mixing them with oil,
ashes, or insect-repelling plants such as neem.
Follow
the steps given here to store seed from your own crops. It saves money. And it
saves precious traditional crop varieties.
Note
Script
#1 of this package (#42) gives details about how to select and collect seeds
for storage.
Information
Sources
The community seedbank kit, 1986, 15 pages. The Rural
Advancement Fund International, P.O. box 655, Pittsboro, NC 27312, U.S.A.
Echo Development Notes, Issues 35, 14, 15, and 16. ECHO (Educational Concerns
for Hunger Organization), 17430 Durrance Rd., North Fort Myers, Florida 33917,
U.S.A.
Food from dryland gardens, David Cleveland and Daniela Soleri, 1991. Center for People, Food and Environment,
ILEIA Newsletter, Volume 3, No. 2, July 1987, and Volume 5, No. 4, December
1989. Information Centre for Low-External-Input and Sustainable Agriculture,
Kastanjelaan 5, P.O. Box 64, 3830 AB, Leusden, The Netherlands.
Acknowledgements
This script was written by Harvey Harman who was a
community development worker in
This script was first published as script
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Some recommended technologies.
“Poverty is created scarcity”
Wahu Kaara, point 8 of the Global Call to
Action Against Poverty, 58th annual NGO
Conference, United Nations,
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