#SEEDGUARD project partners on a specialized visit to Turkish producers and farmers
On October 31 and November 1, representatives of the 4 partner organizations in the project “SEEDGUARD: Seed Guardians for Biodiversity, Agrobiodiversity, Ecosystem Services and Climate Adaptation” held their first meeting in Trabzon, Turkey. Farms in the region were visited, with representatives of vegetable growers, gardeners and farmers sharing ways of collecting, growing and storing local varieties of seeds.
The participants also met with representatives of the Women’s Social Cooperative, who demonstrated women’s skills in preserving traditions in picking and drying herbs, preparing traditional products using organic plants and agricultural produce.
During the first meeting of the partners, the participants shared new ideas and proposals given by the local farmers during the information days held in Bulgaria, Romania, Georgia and Turkey. Essential to the wider promotion of the idea of preserving old traditional seeds was the shared desire to organize a variety exchange fest at the start of the agricultural season (beginning of next year), as well as to establish closer contacts and partnerships with the specialized institutions and authorities.
Project SEEDGUARD aims to improve awareness and capacity for the conservation of old traditional seed varieties, while proposing changes to improve the regulatory requirements for the establishment and functioning of community seed collections and their transformation into community seed banks. SEEDGUARD is implemented within the Interreg NEXT Black Sea Basin 2021-2027 program in partnership of four organizations led by the Union of Bulgarian Black Sea Municipalities.
Published on: 11.11.2024