This project will support Filipino organic farmers' access to the capital they need to build improved farm infrastructure and establish organic seed saving operations at their farms. Funds will also support the farmers' access to direct farm-to-market training and educational programs. These trainings will ensure farmers have access to the full extent of the organic market in the Philippines. This project is a continuation of the seed saving trainings that began in 2015.
The Organic Seed Savers of Tublay are actively working to propagate, store, and save locally produced organic seeds. The seeds they produce ensure the healthy soils and support food security by making organic produce more available in their communities. However, limited access to capital forces farmers to operate farms with unmaintained facilities and improper seed storage. Each of these issues affect the viability of the seeds they are working hard to produce.
This project will improve productivity of the Seed Savers by ensuring they have the capital to improve farm infrastructure. It will also teach the Seed Savers about how to market their seeds and their produce and how to access high-value regional market chains. Each of these steps will lead to increased income for the Seed Savers, will support improved food security of the local community and will ensure protection of the natural environment because farmers will no longer use chemicals to farm.
The project will ensure that 100% organic seeds are regionally adapted, locally produced and readily available and are produced on farms with the adequate facilitates needed for these operations. The long-term goal is for the Seed Savers Group to form a farmer owned and operated seed library and social-enterprise organic seed company. This will ensure organic seeds are more readily available to organic farmers in the Philippines and encourage more farmers to practice seed saving.
This project has provided additional documentation in a PDF file (projdoc.pdf).
