Help Us Build A Seed Bank

I am Abena Offeh-Gyimah, founder of the Beela project. Beela works with the local communities to save, preserve, and protect indigenous African seeds, foods, and plants. I have partnered with TRAX Ghana to save African seeds in the Upper East region of Ghana.

We need your help to build a community seed bank and to train a group of farmers as seed ambassadors to work with their local communities to preserve native seeds.

Your donation will support us to:

1. To build and establish a seed bank in Bolgatanga, located in the Upper East region of Ghana

2. To train and provide resources for our farmers' leads to advocate as seed ambassadors in their communities

3. To support our Community Outreach Coordinator in Bolgatanga, who works with the farmer leads and the communities

Seeds have always been in the hands of African farmers and their communities. Seeds are very much a part of the culture, tradition, livelihood, movement, and history of many ethnic groups on the African continent. Community festivals, practices, and rituals before and after the planting season have been connected to saving, keeping, and sharing indigenous seeds. The very source of the foods we consume every day comes from seeds.

International seed policies influenced by corporate greed, and unfair agricultural policies are impacting the right of African farmers to save their native seeds. In the Upper East region, we see the impact of chemicals on the fields, the land, the rivers, and indigenous trees. We see the loss of varieties of millet, sorghum, and local vegetables. We see how seeds are gradually moving away from the hands of our farmers to corporations. Fewer farmers are encouraged to save their local seeds, leading to genetically modified seeds being pushed into African farmers' hands.

Your donation will contribute to building and sustaining biodiversity in the Upper East region and supporting communities to be more food secure by keeping their native seeds in their hands. Your help and support are deeply appreciated.

Thank you,

Abena Offeh-Gyimah