by Tricia Simon for Grenada Agro Tourism
Grand Etang Forest Reserve is made up of a vast array of plants with a broad biodiversity for sustainable growth, which bodes well for sustainable agricultural growth and seed sovereignty in Grenada.
As humans became agrarian, we began to save our seeds for the next planting season. This is the very reason why mother nature gave us seeds for the majority of the foods we consume. Indigenous people around the world have always saved their seeds, our African ancestors passed down this tradition to our farmers. Today in Africa, the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) is celebrating and encouraging women in Kenya to save seeds.
We are one, one people, one human race who needs to work together to feed each other. The United Nations is advocating seed sovereignty by recently approving the “Declaration on the Rights of Peasants and other People Working in Rural Areas.” Seed banks and so seed sovereignty are important for food security as climate change increases and we see conditions such as excess drought, thus we need to ensure there is biodiversity in our seeds and plants. In regards to increasing drought and food insecurity in the Caribbean basin, a recent study stated, “Climate change is impacting the Caribbean, with millions facing increasing food insecurity and decreasing freshwater availability as droughts become more likely across the region.”
Maize or corn is said to originate in the Americas with 20,000 varieties of naturally grown corn. Correct me if I am wrong; in Grenada, we appear to have about 2 (the imported sweet corn and the traditional corn). Where does that leave our biodiversity in regards to corn? In a recent decision, Mexico banned the importation of genetically modified (GM) corn with the primary rationale to protect their biodiversity of corn. Biodiversity is important for our human survival as it helps to promote a healthy ecosystem where we as humans can thrive. In regards to biodiversity it is said that “without a wide range of animals, plants and microorganisms, we cannot have the healthy ecosystems that we rely on to provide us with the air we breathe and the food we eat.” Our biodiversity is at stake as “researchers in Germany have found that around 75% of vegetables grown at some point between 1836 and 1956 no longer exist.”
Heirloom plants are the old, open-pollinated, unique, flavorful varieties of vegetables and fruit that have been around for at least 50 years (before commercial hybrids came along), essentially an old plant passed down from generation to generation. Heirloom plants are open-pollinated meaning pollinated by natural sources including insects, birds and wind in the open field from the same genetic material so the offspring plant is genetically identical to the parent plant, meaning they are “true to type”.
Seeds are saved and then planted for generations. In Grenada, this includes our traditional corn and sorrel plants. Imagine, with the traditional corn we have several products, with the sweet corn sweeping the nation we have one product, to eat as roasted or boiled corn. War is upon us and how are we to provide flour when wheat, and so flour, skyrockets to astronomical levels and the average man cannot afford the cost?
There are several benefits of using heirloom and open-pollinated seeds. First, you can save your seeds without having to repurchase seeds for the next planting season. The cost savings are significant allowing farmers to save costs that would be passed on to consumers. Second, heirloom seeds allow for genetic diversity. Imagine if we all plant tomato xx and it is susceptible to a fungal infection, then in Grenada we would not have any tomatoes. Heirloom seeds are said to “pass on many different genes from generation to generation. With hybrid seeds, genetic information is “fixed,” and only certain genes are preserved with most genetic diversity lost. Heirloom seeds are like genetic diversity banks that maintain many unique genes from generation to generation that is constantly being lost with more and more hybrid plants.”
Biodiversity is important as it prevents total devastation to one’s crop. A prime example would be the Black Sigatoka Disease which decimated the banana industry in the Caribbean basin. The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations stated: “Black Sigatoka Disease first made its way to the Caribbean in 1991 and has spread systematically since then throughout the region. In countries where Black Sigatoka Disease has flourished, the banana and plantain industries have suffered extensive losses. In St Vincent and the Grenadines, the value of exports of the fruits was reduced by 90%. Exports of plantains from Guyana declined by 100% within 2-3 years of the disease taking hold there.”
Third, flavours and colours are intense with the heirloom seeds. The majority of carrots in the grocery store are said to be bred to be “super strong.” In fact, many traits that are desirable to the home gardener are weeded out on purpose with hybrid seeds; for example, some carrots are bred to be super strong. They are bred to be very tough to allow machines to pull the carrots out of the ground without breaking the carrots. This characteristic makes it easy to harvest carrots by machine, but it makes the carrot less enjoyable for the consumer because it’s really tough and hard to chew.” The majority of farmers in Grenada are small scale where due to the topography harvest is done by hand, so do we need strong carrots or carrots with amazing colours and flavours?
Grenada is a tourist destination where a significant portion of our income comes from tourist-related activities. Food is a crucial aspect of our destination with all of our local spices such as nutmeg. As the world’s First Culinary Capital we are positioned to enjoy guests who travel just to “eat ah food” in the Isle of Spice. Imagine, we only see orange carrots in the grocery store when carrots run the gamut of colours from orange, red, yellow, purple and white with the accompanying intense flavours and nutrients. Grenada is blessed with rich volcanic soil, clean air and water to plant a kaleidoscope of colours of fruits and vegetables which are heirlooms.
Organic farming as touted by the Grenada Organic Agricultural Movement (GOAM) lends itself to an increase in biodiversity as the seed inputs are strictly monitored. Basically, we would return to the old days of planting our crops for food production and food security. The majority of farmers in Grenada plant on a small scale. It is typical for a farmer to purchase sweet peppers at the grocery store, eat and save the seeds. But do we know the history of those seeds? Where were they grown, are those seeds appropriate for Grenada’s climate especially with drought increasing due to climate change? Are they hybrid (GMO) or heirloom? What are the effects on our agricultural diversity in Grenada? Would a national seed bank in Grenada help to boost our food security in this time of global insecurity? The reality is that the United States has 20 seed banks to save its seed biodiversity.