Gratia highlighted the role that community seed banks play in preserving existing biodiversity. According to her, community seed banks pay attention to the preexisting  diversity of crops, rather than focusing on uniformity. “Agriculture today is increasingly focusing on growing a few high-yielding varieties. While these crops might give production in controlled conditions, they are unable to handle the shock of climate change,” Gratia said. “But indigenous seed systems maintain diversity, and provide genomes containing varieties that are drought-tolerant, that mature early, and are pest-resistant,” she added. “They give us crops that are more suited to the landscape, adding to the nutritional diversity.”

According to her, seed banks emphasise the importance of seed sovereignty that leads to food sovereignty, thus allowing the community to choose what they want to grow. Seed banks enable farmers to be less dependent on private markets and move toward nutritional security by connecting people back to their local landscape. For indigenous communities, the relationship they share with the land is different; seed banks are a way of reviving this connection, Gratia explained. This also helps the youth and children to learn about the practices that their ancestors have been doing around traditional farming calendars. 

The knowledge that communities hold around selecting the healthiest plants, using the right material like bamboo for storage containers, identifying the right climatic conditions and pest control according to the colour, shape, size, of specific seeds, have been passed down over generations through oral knowledge, Gratia pointed out. This knowledge has not been made available in formal institutions, but has been shared with the youth through exposure to working in the fields with their parents. However, Gratia highlighted that there is a need to combine traditional knowledge with formal knowledge, and that we need to pay closer attention to how we see food. We are exposed to homogenised and ultra-processed food, when we need to shed light on the diversity available to us. Today, there is the risk of many indigenous plants becoming extinct if community and household seed banks are not encouraged and supported. 

Discussing the current policy landscape around seeds, Gratia explained that seeds are seen as highly commodified objects. For a long time, our policies have prioritised only seeds that are highly productive and certified. On the other hand, indigenous communities prioritise “a philosophy of community ownership, reciprocity, sharing, and cultural relationships,” she said. Our policies need to recognise seeds as traditional heritage rather than commodities, and recognise seed banks as an institution that require resource, funding, and technical support. Indigenous knowledge needs to be recognised as formal knowledge and not just as local knowledge. It is very scientific and impactful. According to her, this will only be made possible when community members are recognised beyond beneficiaries and consultants and are given space as decision-makers. 

“Sharing knowledge should not be confused with surrendering knowledge,” Gratia said. When communities share knowledge, it should be protected and its ownership should lie within the community. Local communities should decide how the information should be shared and accessed, based on principles of informed consent. Indigenous farming methods have recognised complementary roles for both men and women. While men manage more laborious tasks in the field, women have been involved in selecting, storing, drying, and preserving seeds and crops. They also hold the critical knowledge around nutrition. We need to recognise this knowledge and support it. We must look beyond just recognition—women farmers should have the  opportunity to create policy and design the structure that governs their lives, Gratia said. 

Gratia also discussed the different ways in which NESFAS is making it possible for the youth to access traditional knowledge from their elders. Co-created with the local community, NESFAS runs Agroecology Learning Circles or ALCs in 100 villages where elders of the community come together to document and map traditional knowledge and share it with young children. “We call it the brain of the village that drives the food systems,” Gratia said. 

During the panel, Gratia encouraged the youth to visit and learn from their local communities. “Let’s build a network where we build pride among farmers. Their knowledge is not primitive but a solution to the changing world,” she said. “We want the villages to become a living laboratory where communities can participate in multiplying the seeds. We want the youth to become the next generation of seed guardians.”