Southern Africa after the Year 2000 Floods: Seed-Initiative

During the first months of the year 2000 the Southern African region was suffering from the impact of cyclone Eline and Gloria. Uncounted communities in the flood stricken areas of Botswana, Mozambique, South Africa and Zimbabwe lost most of their food, shelter, seed material and livestock.

The "Seed Initiative" was launched in March 2000 by SADC Plant Genetic Resources Centre (SPGRC) and Community Technology Development Trust (CTDT), calling for a short, medium, and long term approach, and a co-ordinated effort in order to restore a sustainable agriculture after the flood disaster in the Southern African Region.

--> Open Letter from the Southern African region
addressed to regional and international bodies in disaster relief and developmental assistance, March 2000

--> Assessment Of The Seed Requirements After The Floods In The 1999/2000 Season
Immediate review study on local seed stocks, June 2000

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The Seed Initiative was motivated by the practicial experiences gained by CTDT, realizing that it is much better to tackle acute situations of drought or food emergency by providing regionally adapted seed and planting material than material purchased from the world market or in-kind from programms of food aid. The initiative has been jointly proposed by Andrew Mushita and Ute Sprenger; this site is maintained by Ute Sprenger