Paper short abstract:

We will describe the approach, methodologies and results of our work on Local Food Plants for Nutrition of the Sowing Diversity = Harvesting Security program (SD=HS, www.sdhsprogram.org).

Paper long abstract:

This presentation describes the approach, methodologies and results of the work on Local Food Plants for Nutrition of the Sowing Diversity = Harvesting Security multi-stakeholder program (SD=HS, www.sdhsprogram.org). SD=HS aims to empower indigenous peoples and smallholder farmers to improve their food and nutrition security, while promoting gender equality and conserving agrobiodiversity. The main goals of our key intervention on Local Food Plants for Nutrition are: (a) to improve the diversity and quality of the diets through the conservation, use and management of agrobiodiversity, particularly neglected and underutilized species; and (b) to strengthen communities’ strategies to cope with the recurrent seasonal cycles of food scarcity through the improved used of these species.

The starting point for our support is a community’s local knowledge, and its associated cultural values, needs and priorities. Our work relies on indigenous peoples and smallholder farmers’ capacities to manage plant diversity, supported through Farmer Field Schools (FFS) and other participatory approaches. Our activities range from cultivation to cooking and consumption of local food plants. By the end of 2020, SD=HS had supported 234 FFS, including 5,317 farmers, and in that context had trained 436 master trainers and facilitators in Uganda, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Peru, Guatemala, Laos and Nepal.

Finally, we will reflect why the conservation of traditional knowledge and agrobiodiversity hold the key to building rural household resilience and food and nutrition security during the COVID-19 crisis.