Past Projects
Rise Up Project
Project Location: Lao Cai Province, Vietnam
Project Duration: 1 May 2022 to 30 April 2024
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The Rise Up Project, funded by the Agroecology Fund, was implemented by SEARICE from 1 May 2022 to 30 April 2024 in four villages in two districts of Lao Cai Province in Vietnam. In the course of implementation, an additional eight villages in other districts and provinces benefitted from selected components of the project.
The Rise Up Project showcased how a short-term intervention by SEARICE together with partners had been able to demonstrate how agroecology practices had benefitted over 300 households. A total of 120 farmers, 78 of whom were women, were trained in agroecology. Sixty-two of the trained farmers learned how to implement the different components of agroecology. They were also able to train other farmers in their respective communities and to share agricultural inputs, such as organic fertilizers, seeds, chicks and other inputs. All of the 62 core farmer trainers belonged to the Tay, H’mong and Nung indigenous communities, and 61 percent of them were women.
Field visit in Lao Cai province in Vietnam
Farmers FIRST Project
Project Location: Philippines
Project Duration: 1 January 2020 to 31 December 2022
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The Farmers FIRST Project was implemented by SEARICE from 1 January 2020 to 31 December 2022 in several provinces in the three island groups of the Philippines. Its overall goal was to empower farming households in rural communities by ensuring livelihood and food security.
Its specific objectives were as follows:
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To develop capacities of smallholder men and women farmers in the target communities on agroecology including sustainable seed systems;
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To strengthen the capacities of support institutions at the local, provincial, and national levels; and
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To contribute towards policy change that will support farmers’ innovations.
The constraints posed by the COVID-19 pandemic at the start of the Project’s implementation necessitated innovations on the part of SEARICE. The new plan included the mentoring approach led by farmer-trainers, establishment of learning farms, shifting to online meetings, consultations, and capacity building activities, and provision of resources/inputs to augment hands-on learning on agroecological farming. In project sites where conditions had improved, SEARICE and partner local government units conducted activities while strictly following safety protocols.
By the end of 2022, 27 farmer-mentors, six of whom were women, were actively involved in sharing their knowledge and skills with farmers not only in their communities but with farmers in neighboring areas as well. A total of 28 learning farms covering a total land area of 48.9 hectares were established and enhanced. Six farms covering a total land area of 11.18 hectares were listed as potential learning farms.
A total of 1,786 farmers were trained in various aspects. Among the trainings conducted were on agroecology (including principles, components, diversified cropping systems), soil and plant health, plant genetic resources (seed) conservation and community seed banking, livestock raising and management, vegetable breeding, technologies such as liquid smoke, vermiculture, production of organic concoctions, and alternative health and medicine.
Over 600 households received farm inputs, such as seeds (rice, corn, and vegetables), fruit tree seedlings, and poultry and livestock animals reached 611 households.
In terms of policy work, the Project sustained SEARICE’s campaign against Golden Rice and lobbying for the amendment of the National Seed Law. SEARICE also facilitated the formulation of the implementing rules and regulations (IRRs) of the Kidapawan Organic Agriculture Code. The municipality of President Roxas requested assistance in refining their sustainable agriculture code and in formulating the IRRs while the municipality of Antipas requested support in drafting their sustainable agriculture code.
YAPAK-PIGLASCA member in the Philippines demonstrating to other farmers how to validate a good seed for storage.
Global Advocacy for Initiatives in Agroecology Project
Project Location: Philippines and Cambodia
Project Duration: June 2019 to December 2021
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The Global Advocacy for Initiatives in Agroecology (GAIA) Project was implemented by SEARICE from June 2019 to December 2021. The Project had the following expected outcomes:
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Key stakeholders, including women and men farmers, policymakers, and CSOs are informed of farmers’ rights to seeds, and the need to protect farmers’ seed systems and promote right to food;
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Like-minded CSOs are knowledgeable of the content of the debates in the international and regional arenas, thereby enhancing their collective advocacy work and intensifying campaigns for the farmers they work with; and
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The project makes a contribution to instituting policy changes that uphold farmers’ rights to seeds and their right to food at the global and regional levels.
Under the GAIA Project, SEARICE successfully intervened in various international negotiations, specifically those under the auspices of the International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture (ITPGRFA); the 24th Meeting of the Subsidiary Body on Scientific, Technical and Technological Advice (SBSTTA24), the GBF3, the 35th Food and Agriculture Organization Regional Conference for Asia and the Pacific (FAO-APRC35), the 18th Session of the Commission on Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture (CGRFA18), and civil society meetings related to the United Nations Food Systems Summit (UNFSS). SEARICE also engaged in other activities of FAO, Alliance of Bioversity International and the International Center for Tropical Agriculture (CIAT), as well as with civil society partners from Sweden and Norway.
SEARICE put forward its proposals on critical issues and worked to ensure that these are reflected in position statements of the Convention on Biodiversity (CBD) Alliance, the Farmer Experts – NGOs Internal Caucus in the Plant Treaty, and the 18th Meeting of the Commission on Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture (CGRFA). SEARICE leveraged its longstanding relationships with actors in these caucuses to secure a hearing for its proposals. Through SEARICE’s interventions, recognition of smallholder farmers and the development of farmers’ seed systems were included in the text of the final version of joint statements in the CBD, and in the options document being developed to support the implementation of Farmers’ Rights.
In the Asia-Pacific Region, the Project helped to strengthen SEARICE’s leadership in the drafting and consolidation of statements on behalf of civil society organizations (CSOs) to the crucial FAO Report on the State of Food and Agriculture for the FAO-APRC35. SEARICE also took part in a regional forum on sustaining family farms in the Asia-Pacific and delivered its views based on community-centered approaches. SEARICE also continued its work in advocacy by delivering critical positions in the First Multi-Stakeholder Symposium on PGRFA and the 2nd International Agrobiodiversity Congress. Additionally, SEARICE presented the linkage of community work and policy advocacy through presentations in events organized by partners - Asia-Europe Environment Forum (Stockholm Environment Institute), Seed Markets for Agroecology (Bread for the World), Genes, Power and Diversity (The Development Fund, Norway). Ultimately, in all possible avenues provided by community partners, they were given timely updates on the development of international negotiations and how these were linked to national and local policies and their work.
SEARICE published several research papers, comprehensive discussion papers on policies, and complementary information materials, all of which were based on its grounded experience with communities. These proved significant to its continuous lobbying efforts in international negotiations. Videos were produced by SEARICE to highlight pertinent global issues in agriculture from the point of view of smallholder farmers. Complementary papers on the analysis of the implementation of Plant Variety Protection (PVP) laws modeled after UPOV (International Union for the Protection of New Varieties of Plants) PVP and the prospects for farmers’ seeds systems in Vietnam were published and will, in the long-term, contribute to the global discussions on farmers’ rights to seeds, especially in light of the ever-growing incursion of UPOV in Asia.
Farmer leader sharing experiences on PPB/PVS in Mekong Delta, Vietnam.
Generating Lessons for Advocacy and Sustainability in the South
Project Location: Vietnam
Project Duration: July 2019 to December 2020
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The project called Generating Lessons for Advocacy and Sustainability in the South (GLASS), was implemented by SEARICE from July 2019 to December 2020. It aimed to document lessons on how the seed clubs in the Mekong Delta had contributed to the improvement of the local seed systems and to showcase these lessons at a side event of the 8th Governing Body of the International Treaty for Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture (ITPGRFA) held in Rome, Italy on 11-16 November 2019.
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SEARICE and the Can Tho University-Mekong Delta Development Research Institute (CTU-MDI) had been working together with farmers to help address the shortfall in the seed supply in the Mekong Delta Region of Vietnam as early as the 1990s. The farmers learned through farmer field schools (FFS) how to breed and select seeds that possess qualities that they most preferred. Graduates of the FFS decided to form seed clubs which would eventually supply the needed seeds in the local communities. A total of 325 seed clubs had been formed at the time of the documentation.
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The SEARICE study showed that seed clubs have significantly contributed to farmers, their communities, in and to agricultural biodiversity, through the following:
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Improvement of farmers’ socio-economic status by increasing their income. The use of lower-priced but high-quality seeds, the application of new techniques that reduce production costs and the incidence of pests and diseases, together result in better yields.
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Greater access of communities to seeds that were observed to be of high quality but are less expensive.
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Enhancement of private and government extension work by bringing together farmers for training and establishing learning farms in different areas simultaneously. This model has improved the chance of convincing farmers to experiment and adapt new technologies.
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Production of 360 farmer-developed rice seed varieties (as of 2018), of which five are already certified at the national level, thus contributing in general to the enhancement of rice seed biodiversity.
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Contribution to the development of the next breed of development workers as seed clubs also work with universities and colleges by providing hands on training to students who could form the new generation of agricultural workers that recognize farmers as equal partners in development.
The side event, billed “Securing Local Seed Systems: The Journey of Seed Clubs in Vietnam,” was held on 12 November 2024, Carina Knorpp of the Ministry of Agriculture and Food of Sweden and Elin Cecilie Ranum of the Development Fund of Norway and an advisor to the Norwegian Delegation to the GB8 participated as reactors in the event.​​
The accomplishments of the seed clubs and the impact they have had on the lives of farmers were highly lauded. The reactors commended the seed clubs’ successes, particularly the increased resilience and increased income which made it possible for the farmers to invest on their children’s education and more secure economy. They were impressed with the number of farmer-developed varieties and the crucial role of farmers as breeders and as innovators.
Focus group discussion at the Phat Tai Cooperation in Tra Vinh Province, VIetnam.
