In Katete District, Eastern Province, there is a small, unassuming building that is perhaps the most important structure for food security in the community. It contains 180 varieties of seeds — sorghum, cowpea, groundnut, millet, and dozens of other crops — each adapted over generations to the specific soils, rainfall patterns, and pest pressures of this part of Zambia. This is the Katete Community Seed Bank, the first and now flagship of SACCN's SeedForward network in the country.
Why Eastern Province Needed Seed Banks
Eastern Province is one of Zambia's most important agricultural regions, but it has been devastated by climate instability over the past decade. The 2015–2016 El Niño wiped out most of the maize harvest. Just as communities recovered, the 2019–2020 season brought armyworm infestations. And then the 2023–2025 El Niño struck — the worst in the region in 40 years. Each disaster pushed more families into debt, forced them to sell assets, and pushed them toward monocropping of hybrid commercial varieties — making them more, not less, vulnerable to the next shock.
"My grandmother grew 14 different crops. My mother grew six. By the time I started farming, I was growing just two — maize and groundnut. The seed bank gave me back what my family lost." — Seed Bank Member, Katete District
How the Seed Bank Network Works
Each community seed bank in the SeedForward Zambia network is governed by a committee of at least seven members, with a minimum of four women required by SACCN's programme guidelines (reflecting the research-proven finding that women-led seed banks preserve more varieties). Banks receive technical support from SACCN's Zambia programme team for seed health testing, proper storage conditions, and documentation of traditional uses and cultivation knowledge.
Seeds are distributed on a "seed-plus" basis: a family that receives seeds agrees to return 1.5 times the quantity received — ensuring the bank grows over time rather than depleting. The practice mirrors traditional seed exchange customs that many communities had abandoned under commercial agriculture pressure.
The El Niño Recovery Effort
When the 2023–2025 El Niño devastated harvests in Eastern Province, the SeedForward network's 18 seed banks became emergency lifelines. The network distributed 4,200 seed packages — each containing a drought-tolerant mix of sorghum, cowpea, and groundnut varieties specifically selected by community elders for performance in low-rainfall conditions — to families who had lost everything. For most recipients, these seeds were the difference between planting again and abandoning farming entirely.
Expanding the Model
The success of the Zambia network is informing SeedForward's expansion into Malawi and Tanzania. SACCN is also developing a digital seed library — a searchable database of indigenous varieties, their cultivation knowledge, and their climate performance — to support seed exchange between banks across national borders. In a region where climate does not respect boundaries, neither should seed sovereignty.
