Community Seed Banks – too Embedded to Fail? A comparative case study on the sustainability of community seed banks in Uganda and Tanzania
(2022) MIDM19 20221LUMID International Master programme in applied International Development and Management
Department of Human Geography
- Abstract
- Since the 1980s, community seed banks (CSBs) have been established around the world to conserve and improve access to indigenous seed for smallholder communities and contribute to food and seed sovereignty. However, after the withdrawal of external support, these CSB initiatives often collapse. Using a qualitative, comparative case study design, this study provides an in-depth analysis of CSBs established in Uganda and Tanzania. In doing so, I draw on social capital theory and feminist political ecology (FPE), as previous research in other geographical contexts has shown their importance.
Apart from field notes and participant observation, the empirical research includes 22 semi-structured interviews with CSB members and INGO... (More) - Since the 1980s, community seed banks (CSBs) have been established around the world to conserve and improve access to indigenous seed for smallholder communities and contribute to food and seed sovereignty. However, after the withdrawal of external support, these CSB initiatives often collapse. Using a qualitative, comparative case study design, this study provides an in-depth analysis of CSBs established in Uganda and Tanzania. In doing so, I draw on social capital theory and feminist political ecology (FPE), as previous research in other geographical contexts has shown their importance.
Apart from field notes and participant observation, the empirical research includes 22 semi-structured interviews with CSB members and INGO representatives conducted in ten CSB initiatives in Uganda and Tanzania. This work concludes that the three pillars of social capital – ties, bridges and connections – as well as women’s participation have a strong influence on the sustainability of CSBs as these factors largely determine the activities of these initiatives. This study thus contributes to the still relatively small body of academic literature on CSBs by arguing that both the embeddedness of CSBs in social ties and the participation of women farmers are crucial for their sustainability in the East African context. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
http://lup.lub.lu.se/student-papers/record/9079332
- author
- Reinhard, Lukas LU
- supervisor
- organization
- course
- MIDM19 20221
- year
- 2022
- type
- H2 - Master's Degree (Two Years)
- subject
- keywords
- Community seed banks, Social capital, Feminist political ecology, Smallholder agriculture, Uganda, Tanzania
- language
- English
- id
- 9079332
- date added to LUP
- 2022-07-20 09:36:20
- date last changed
- 2022-07-20 09:36:20
@misc{9079332, abstract = {{Since the 1980s, community seed banks (CSBs) have been established around the world to conserve and improve access to indigenous seed for smallholder communities and contribute to food and seed sovereignty. However, after the withdrawal of external support, these CSB initiatives often collapse. Using a qualitative, comparative case study design, this study provides an in-depth analysis of CSBs established in Uganda and Tanzania. In doing so, I draw on social capital theory and feminist political ecology (FPE), as previous research in other geographical contexts has shown their importance. Apart from field notes and participant observation, the empirical research includes 22 semi-structured interviews with CSB members and INGO representatives conducted in ten CSB initiatives in Uganda and Tanzania. This work concludes that the three pillars of social capital – ties, bridges and connections – as well as women’s participation have a strong influence on the sustainability of CSBs as these factors largely determine the activities of these initiatives. This study thus contributes to the still relatively small body of academic literature on CSBs by arguing that both the embeddedness of CSBs in social ties and the participation of women farmers are crucial for their sustainability in the East African context.}}, author = {{Reinhard, Lukas}}, language = {{eng}}, note = {{Student Paper}}, title = {{Community Seed Banks – too Embedded to Fail? A comparative case study on the sustainability of community seed banks in Uganda and Tanzania}}, year = {{2022}}, }