“Seeds for Food” started in August 2007 (http://www.seedsforfood.org).
We are collecting seeds of (sub)tropical vegetables and fruits and send these free seeds to development projects, where smallholder farmers can’t afford commercial seeds.
The success of this humanitarian action is still growing.
More and more people, instead of throwing the seeds of the fruits they eat (avocado, papaya, cherimoya, litchi, pumpkin, squash, melon, bell pepper, pomegrenate, …) wash and dry thoroughly these seeds and send them to us.
A number of people, growing vegetables themselves, save some seeds for the same purpose. These seeds are sent to development projects in similar climatic zones.
Once smallholder farmers can grow the free plant species and varieties, they are in a position to collect seeds themselves. It goes without saying that these farmers are not interested in getting expensive top quality seeds, e.g. F1-hybrids. Growing fruit trees and some vegetables, mostly for the first time in their life, is more important than harvesting the best and the biggest varieties.
Can you imagine the good feelings we have when our Belgian friend Willy SEVENANTS brings us the full load (16 kg !) of giant pumpkin seeds and some other species, seeds collected by an impressive group pf his friends :
John Van der Linden : Oud-scouts Hoboken Voorzitter VOSOG vzw
Guido Van Dam : Oud-Scouts Vilvoorde Vice-Voorzitter VOSOG vzw
Willy Sevenants : Oud-Couts Buken Secretaris VOSOG vzw
Hugo Coose : Oud-Scouts Buken
Henri Bosmans : Oud-Scouts Buken
Filip Van de Ven : Oud-Scouts Leuven
Rene De Greef : Oud-Scouts Halle
Eric Roelens : Oud-Scouts Tienen
Adri Vermeesch : Vosog Noordzee
Swa Sommeren Wortel
Lenie’s Boetiek Hoogstraten
Pompoenconfederatie Duisburg-Tervuren
Pompoengenootschap Kasterlee
- 2011-01-14 – 16 kg of seeds collected by Willy SEVENANTS an his friends in Belgium
Our sincere thanks go to this group, but of course also to all the other “seed donors” contributing to the success of our initiative.
