Casa Semintelor – the community seed bank project, started in November 2018 and will last 30 months. The Seed bank is implemented by Romania in Transition Association, together with the support and mentoring by Arche Noah, the International Seeds Savers Association, with more than 30 years of experience in saving the seeds.
The project is a part of BALKAN BEETS, launched by Arche Noah and Pro Specie Rara, with funding from the Gen-Ethische Foundation.
During the 30 months, will be created at least one Seed Comunity Bank, the first in Bucharest.
About Romania in Transition Association (ART) and “Seminte Libere” (Free Seeds) Initiative:
The Association was born from the passion and energy of the Transition Towns Movement. The word ‘transition’ is coming from Transition Towns Network , an international movement to which Romania in Transition belong, a network of more than 2100 grass roots initiatives in more than 40 countries.
It is used here as the transition from an oil based economy to a more friendly one with the environment and with much more resonsability for the natural resources.
ART is meant to inspire, connect, encourage people and communities to create that beautiful greener world we wish to live in, more sustainable and resilient.
Under it’s umbrella were developed many intiatives, and one of the most known in Romania and the one that brought this project to life is Seminte Libere (Free Seeds)
Initiated in January 2014 by Adina M. Moise, a psychologist with a great love for the nature, “Seminte Libere” initiative evolved during the years, facilitating the direct exchange of the traditional seeds for the amateur gardeners and also for the small farmers.
Thousands of members can connect directly in a social media group where they can ask for what they need or offer the seeds they have in surplus, but nothing compares with the annual exchange events organized in several cities and areas in Romania, where community meets, celebrate and share!
About Arche Noah & Balkan Beets:
In 2018, Arche Noah and Pro Specie Rara, with funding from the Gen-Ethische Foundation, launched BALKAN BEETS. This project aims to promote the conservation of crop diversity and the production of organic seeds and planting materials in South Eastern Europe. Various on-site organizations in Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, North Macedonia and Romania, each with their own set of diverse solutions adapted to their respective local context, will be supported under BALKAN BEETS until 2022 to build sustainable and economically self-sufficient systems.
BALKAN BEETS set out four different goals over its three-year lifetime:
- Support start-ups in creating alternatives to the use of imported industrial seeds and fruit trees
- Support a community seed bank in increasing their capacities to become central actors of crop biodiversity management (Casa Semintelor)
- Re-introduce endangered genetic resources collected in the “hot-spots” of crop biodiversity and embedding them into local and sustainable value chains
- Engaging gastronomy and tourism in crop biodiversity management to create revenues for small actors
Project manager Balkan Beets: Emil Platzer
Emil.platzer@arche-noah.at