What happened to your seeds ?

Since 2007 we are collecting seeds of tropical fruits and the classical vegetables in order to offer them for free to development projects on different continents.  This initiative soon became a huge success, many “sponsors of seeds” understanding that this is a very simple and practical way to help undernourished people to fresh food, in particular the rural people in the drylands.

Nowadays, seeds are sent from all over the world to my personal address in Belgium, where we select the species which would adapt to particular climates and then send them to development projects in Asia, Africa and South America (see www.seedsforfood.org).

It is interesting to see that a number of people have questions concerning the possible invasive nature of some vegetables or fruits.

To the best of my knowledge there are no invasive vegetables.  And if there are, I would like to know them.  My logic says : if one or another “foreign” vegetable invades a new area where it is cultivated, no harm would be done because more vegetables would mean more food.  Would people really mind such an invasive vegetable to spread easily, in particular the rural people in the drylands ?  Suppose a variety of tomato, parsley, onion, beetroot, carrot, orange, lemon, avocado, papaya, etc. would invade a desertlike area or a rural area in a Sahel country.  Would people really mind ?  Would such a variety be an ecological catastrophe or would the local population appreciate the proliferation of that new kind of “free fresh food”.

I would like to know the views of other people about this “problem”.

Here is a message from Adam STUART (UK) who has a number of questions on the topic :

“My name is Adam Stuart, and I will be living abroad in Malawi, Africa for a number of years. I came upon your website or blog describing container gardening while I was searching to determine what seeds might be best to bring for gardening that would not be harmful to Malawian ecology. It appeared from my preview of your work that perhaps you might have some insight into what vegetables may not be good candidates. I’m hoping that you may be able to shed some light on the subject, and hope it is alright to contact you in this regard.

As an example, I am a huge fan of tomatoes. Having grown tomatoes in my own garden, however, I recognize that tomatoes are most likely to reproduce year after year; although, I haven’t found that they are likely to spread easily. If I may ask, what is your opinion on this matter? Would tomatoes be an invasive species in Africa? Are there specific tomato species that might be safer than others?

Of course, I’m also interested in knowing what species would be ideal and/or not ideal for gardening in Africa. I don’t want to be responsible for introducing invasive species when I’ll be living in Malawi to help develop sustainable economic practices that help protect natural resources instead of degrade them.

Thank you for taking the time to read my email. I understand you are likely to be busy, so I appreciate what assistance you may be able to provide.

Best Regards,

Adam Stuart”

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I have sent the following reply to Adam :

Hello Adam,

…………….

Good to hear that you will be living in Malawi for a certain time, where my good friend Patrick HARRY is promoting container gardening since 2007.  It would be good if you contact him over email (see his address).

To the best of my knowledge there are no invasive vegetables.  Even if one or another species would invade a certain area, it would be excellent for people and animals (getting more food that way).  I am sure people would not mind at all and harvest that species for their own benefit.

It is difficult to say which are the best species for Africa.  All depends upon the climate.   But seemingly the seeds of melons and pumpkins I gave to Patrick did wonderfully well.

I would rather try different species and see what is going best (Trial and Error) . Seeds not germinating are still a contribution to the organic content of the soil.  So, no harm done.

Wishing you a lot of success and greetings to Patrick,

Willem

———————————————-

Today, my good friend Patrick HARRY (Malawi) sent a message with some very interesting data on vegetable production with container gardening :

“I was reading very carefully your e-mail  on the topic of introducing new seeds in Africa. It is of great interest to hear people like Stuart having interest to stay in Malawi and try to help in the development of Container Gardening.

Tomatoes, which he said he grow in his garden, can also do well in Malawi despite the difference in climate.   However it depends on the species.

The melons and pumpkins seeds, which you offered me as a gift when I was in Belgium in 2007, are good examples of seeds which are introduced from Europe to Africa.  They  do well despite the difference in climate. Those seeds, even if they were newly introduced, survived the warm climate of  Malawi and finally healthy fruits were produced.  This was a significant success through container gardening.

2009 – Malawi container gardening project : look what the seeds we were collecting did for these kids. Let us multiplicate such initiatives like container gardening and school gardening for the benefit of all those hungry kids in the world. Ladies and Gentlemen at the decison-level of the international scene, this green ball is laying in your camp ! (Photo Patrick HARRY)

I am therefore encouraging Stuart to bring with him a lot of vegetables and some tree species from Europe, which can be introduced in Malawi through container gardening.  I am ready to meet him and he is welcome to contribute to the project for the better of the people of Malawi, so that hunger, poverty and desertification can be combated all together through container gardening.

I wish you all the best.

NOTE: The e-mail address for the container gardening project is containergardeningmw@yahoo.com.

Patrick Harry.
(Director/ Coordinator of Container gardening project- Malawi)”

2009 – Malawi container gardening project : Kids in particular love to participate in container gardening, apparently with astonishing success. Something to consider when taking initiatives to halt malnutrition in the drylands. (Photo Patrick HARRY)

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What a pleasure to hear that melon and pumpkin did so well in Malawi.  Our sincere thanks go to all our sponsors of seeds.  Can you imagine that eating a melon or a pumpkin in Europe, Canada, the USA or Australia, saving the seeds instead of throwing them in the garbage bin or on the compost heap, is helping a number of kids in Malawi to juicy fruits or a tasty pumpkin soup ?

Do I hear more critics on our action “Seeds for Food” ?  Invasive species ?  Not in Malawi !  No where !

Seeds from Australia to India

A nice message from Australia :

“Dear Professor Dr. Willem VAN COTTHEM

I am living in Australia and wonder if you could give me an address to send my ‘Rocket’ and ‘Flat Leaf Parsley’ seeds to where they are needed.  I have quite a pile!

What wonderful work you are doing and such a simple, straightforward idea.

With kindest regards,
Sandie Roach
Perth, Western Australia “

————–

Dear Sandie,

Sincere thanks for the nice offer.  You are right, why should your seeds first come to Belgium and then be shipped to India ?  I hope you will be successful and I will insist on receiving a short note on the results of the vegetable growth.

Please send your seeds to :

The Director of SCAD-KVK
Dr. V. SRINIVASAN
Alayamkottai Road Vagaikulam
628102 THOOTHUKUDI
Tamil Nadu
India

————–

May I suggest to add a short note to the seeds, explaining how you got the projects’ address and why you send the seeds within the framework of our action “SEEDS FOR FOOD” (www.seedsforfood.org).

Warm regards,

Prof. Van Cotthem

Seeds from the UK (Ph. and W. COCKBURN)

It’s a real pleasure to find a big envelope full of seeds, sent by Philip and Wendy COCKBURN from Readham, NORWICH (UK).

I also appreciate the accompanying note :

“Please find enclosed some seeds.  We hope they will be useful to you.  Sorry not to have sent some before, but we will have more Squash seeds as we eat them!  We do hope your personal troubles have resolved themselves ok.  Kind regard, Philip and Wendy“.
——————-
Sincere thanks for seeds and human thoughts.  The condition of my wife has improved a little bit after she had that brain stroke on Oct. 28, 2008.  Hope for a partial remains.

Willem

2009-11 : A nice family garden in Smara Refugee Camp (S.W. Algeria), well protected against the wind, at the start of the new winter season. The desert sand was treated with TerraCottem soil conditioner two years ago. The vigorous growth of the different crops indicates that this compound still stocks water and fertilizer. (Photo Eng. Taleb BRAHIM)

First seeds from Italy (G. LORE, BEE / VB)

Today I was really happy to receive the first envelope with seeds from Italy.  It contained many different species of Italian seeds.  Although it was not quite clear who was sending it, I presume it was Gabriella LORE.  My sincere thanks to her (“Grazie mille, Cara Gabriella !“).

Do we get your support too ?

More and more friends ask for a possibility to support our action financially by transferring a small amount of money to our “SEEDS FOR FOOD” account, thus making the shipment of seeds to different development projects more easy.

 

I started this action thinking that it would be possible to find different ways to provide this development aid without heavy financial efforts.  It might suffice to pay for the postage costs when sending the seeds to me in order to help people in need in a very effective way to fresh food.

 

2007 – In one of the refugee camps in the Sahara desert in S.W. Algeria : our main objective is to help all undernourished children to fresh food and healthier conditions.

I knew that shipping heavy loads of seeds abroad is very costly, but I hoped to find cheap solutions, e.g. with the help of the organizations responsible for the development projects or with the help of the Embassies.  Sometimes people traveling to the projects can take some seeds with them.  In many cases I was successful and the seeds were delivered in good order.  In other cases, there is no other solution than to spend some money at shipment costs.  Up to now I have done this with all my heart, convinced that my example would be followed by many friends or “fans”.

 

Today, it seems that a number of friendly people insist on having a chance to support the action “SEEDS FOR FOOD” by transferring some money.  Therefore, I have opened this account :

 

Account number : 001-5956162-50

or

Acount number in IBAN format : BE86 0015 9561 6250

BIC-code FORTIS : GEBABEBB

Address :

SEEDS FOR FOOD – p/a W. Van Cotthem

Beeweg 36

B 9080 – ZAFFELARE (Belgium)

————

This is not a bank account of an association.  It is only opened for personal use by myself.  I opted for this solution because opening an account for an association is a complex matter, due to existing legislation.

But please, don’t worry ! I promise you very sincerely that the money transferred to this account will be used totally for shipping the seeds to development projects.  I will publish at regular intervals a report on the use of these sums at this website.

This must be a “fund” that serves for 100 % the recipients in the Developing Countries and not for 75 % or more for “administrative costs” (the nicest expression used in many cases).

Please take for granted that I am not insisting on sponsoring via this account.  I am not a beggar, but if people really want to be so kind to support our action financially too, they will have a chance to do so.

To all the sponsors I convey my most sincere thanks.

Prof. Dr. Willem VAN COTTHEM

What about invasive vegetables (Adam STUART, Malawi)

On 17-11-2009 16:34, Adam Stuart wrote:

Mr. Van Cotthem

My name is Adam Stuart, and I will be living abroad in Malawi, Africa for a number of years.  I came upon your website or blog describing container gardening while I was searching to determine what seeds might be best to bring for gardening that would not be harmful to Malawian ecology.  It appeared from my preview of your work that perhaps  you might have some insight into what vegetables may not be good candidates.  I’m hoping that you may be able to shed some light on the subject, and hope it is alright to contact you in this regard.

As an example, I am a huge fan of tomatoes.  Having grown tomatoes in my own garden, however, I recognize that tomatoes are most likely to reproduce year after year; although, I haven’t found that they are likely to spread easily.  If I may ask, what is your opinion on this matter?  Would tomatoes be an invasive species in Africa?  Are their specific tomato species that might be safer than others?

Of course, I’m also interested in knowing what species would be ideal and/or not ideal for gardening in Africa.  I don’t want to be responsible for introducing invasive species when I’ll be living in Malawi to help develop sustainable economic practices that help protect natural resources instead of degrade them.

Thank you for taking the time to read my email.  I understand you are likely to be busy, so I appreciate what assistance you may be able to provide.

Best Regards,

Adam Stuart”

—————-

Hello Adam,

Thanks for sending this mail.

Good to hear that you are living in Malawi, where my good friend Patrick HARRY is promoting container gardening.  It would be good to contact him over email (see address).

To the best of my knowledge there are no invasive vegetables.  Even if one or another species would invade a certain area, it would be excellent for people and animals (more food).  I am sure people would not mind at all and collect that species for their own benefit.

It is difficult to say which are the best species for Africa.  All depends upon the climate.

I would rather try different species and see what is going best.  Seeds not germinating are still a contribution to the organic content of the soil.

Wishing you a lot of success and greetings to Patrick,

Willem

We need seeds of orange pumpkins

Our action “Seeds for Food” <www.seedsforfood.org> is running as a train, thanks to heaps of envelopes and postpacks full of pumpkin seeds sent every day by people who have eaten these pumpkins, collected the seeds of these fruits, washed and dried them.  All these seeds are fully disinfected and prepared for shipment to different development projects all over the world.

It has been shown that people living continuously in food insecurity really love to grow pumpkins in their kitchen garden.  Some schools in developing countries have introduced them in their school garden and pupils are taking full care of these impressive plants.  The pumpkins produced locally play a very important role in the daily diet, thus contributing to public health because of the content of carotenoids, vitamins and antioxidants.

As the small-scale farmers at the development projects cannot afford to purchase expensive commercial pumpkin seeds, our free seeds are most welcome.  Growing pumpkins is a valuable factor for food security : healthy fresh fruits can be eaten over a longer period and the big pumpkin leaves and stems can be used as fodder for the livestock or for composting.

Today, I felt happy to discover an interesting publication at the “Science Daily”-website, indicating that orange pumpkins seem to be more interesting than the yellow or white ones  :

Wouldn't it be nice if hungry people could grow these magnificent pumpkins themselves ? If only we could offer them all the pumpkin seeds, thrown in the garbage bins during the haloween period. Why not launching an international "PUMPKIN DAY" ? Maybe some day one of those famous singers can transform this idea into an action !

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/11/091104111733.htm

Powerful Pumpkins, Super Squash

ScienceDaily (Nov. 10, 2009) — Carotenoids, the family of yellow to red pigments responsible for the striking orange hues of pumpkins and the familiar red color of vine-ripe tomatoes, play an important role in human health by acting as sources of provitamin A or as protective antioxidants.  Pumpkins and squash, available in a wide range of white, yellow, and orange colors, are excellent sources of dietary carotenoids, particularly lutein, alpha-carotene, and beta-carotene. The colors of these nutritional vegetables are determined by their genetic makeup — the concentration and type of carotenoids they contain — which are influenced by both genetic and environmental factors.

The good news: this wide range of carotenoids in pumpkins and squash provides fertile ground for genetic improvement. When breeders have reliable information about carotenoid types and concentrations, they can work to improve the vegetables’ nutritional value and create new varieties of antioxidant-packed offerings for consumers.

But identifying and quantifying carotenoids hasn’t been simple; scientists traditionally use a method called “high-performance liquid chromatography,” or HPLC. HPLC is highly sensitive and reproducible, but can be expensive and time-consuming. To determine if carotenoid content of pumpkin and squash could be accurately measured using a less-expensive and simpler method, Rachel A. Itle and Eileen A. Kabelka from the University of Florida’s Horticultural Sciences Department designed a research study using colorimetric analysis to correlate color space values with carotenoid content in pumpkins and squash. The study appeared in a recent issue of HortScience.

Pumpkins and squash with white, yellow, and orange flesh color were grown at multiple locations for the study. The flesh of each specimen was evaluated using both HPLC and colorimetric analysis. According to the research, “strong correlations between colorimetric values and carotenoid content were identified.”

Interestingly, the researchers found a “nine-fold increase in total carotenoids provided within orange-red and yellow-orange colored cultigens versus yellow colored cultigens.“

(continued)

Adapted from materials provided by American Society for Horticultural Science, via EurekAlert!, a service of AAAS.

Who sends me photos of seed collecting activities ?

The former posting on this blog about Willy SEVENANTS collecting pumpkin seeds brought me to this question : “Would it be possible to send me one or more pictures on the way you were collecting seeds for our action ?“.

I am convinced it will be interesting for the visitors of this blog to see some pictures from different sponsors of seeds.

I wonder if our seed collectors will react positively on this request.

Thanking in advance,

Willem

Collecting pumpkin seeds massively (W. SEVENANTS, Belgium)

One of our faithful sponsors of seeds is Willy SEVENANTS (Kampenhout, Belgium), a former boy-scout, who collects heaps of pumpkin seeds during the “haloween-period” in his region.  Every year he is delivering big boxes full of excellent seeds.  These are sent to different development projects, where they produce excellent food for men and animals.

2009-11 : Willy SEVENANTS and his friends, former boy-scouts too, collecting pumpkin seeds in the haloween-week.

2009-11 : Preparing haloween-pumpkins is really fun, but it offers excellent opportunities to collect pumpkin seeds too.

Commercial seeds versus “Seeds for Food” (AfricaFiles / allAfrica / Willem Van Cotthem)

Read at :

AfricaFiles

Title: Uganda embarks on seed improvement
Author: Aidah Nanyonjo, Kampala
Category: Ecology
Date: 12/9/2008
Source: New Vision
Source Website: <http://www.africafiles.org/database/>

African Charter Article# 24: All peoples shall have the right to a general satisfactory environment favorable to their development.

Summary & Comment: Uganda has embarked on a two year project to develop and adapt seed varieties that grow well in the local environment. The research is funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. AB

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Uganda embarks on seed improvement

http://allafrica.com/stories/200812100139.html

Uganda has embarked on a two year project to develop and adapt seed varieties that grow well in the local environment.

Dr. Peter Seruwagi, the head of Horticulture programme at the National Crops Resources Research Institute (NaCCRI), Namulonge says the multi million project which is called ‘Vegetable breeding and seed systems‘ is funded by the Bill and Merinda Gates Foundation through the World Vegetable Centre. “We want to come up with seed varieties that are of good quality for improved productivity as well as consumption,” he said. Seruwagi says most imported seed varieties especially for horticulture do not do well in the Ugandan environment. The project will cover tomatoes, egg plants, onions and other vegetables. “It is not true that all the imported seeds are of low quality. They may be of high quality in the country of origin, but due to climatic differences they fail to do well here. We have received several cases where these seeds fail to germinate,” he says.

The Institute has organised a seed fair where Ugandan seed companies will exhibit their products. The seed fair, with a theme ‘Vegetables for health and wealth,’ will take place on December 12, 2008. “As part of the project, the seed fair aims at promoting the use of quality seeds and increased vegetable production for income generation,” he says.He said the market for vegetables has grown widely following the benefits they contain. “Eating a wide variety of vegetables means you are more likely to get all the vitamins and minerals that are important to your health,” Seruwagi added.

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MY COMMENT (Willem)

It is a well known fact that some imported seeds, even of the highest quality, will not germinate and develop into healthy plants, due to climatic or edaphic(soil)  constraints.

For that reason some comments on our “Seeds for Food” action doubt about the positive effect of the seeds we send abroad to development projects.

2008-04 – Tomato production in a family kitchen garden in the Sahara desert

It goes without saying that we are conscious about the right choice of the species sent.  But even if not all the seeds offered for free to projects will germinate or develop into healthy plants, the percentage of them germinating and producing fresh vegetables and fruits is a big step forward for the recipients, because “Eating a wide variety of vegetables means you are more likely to get all the vitamins and minerals that are important to your health“.  And even the non-germinating seeds will always play a positive role, being organic matter that will be decomposed in the soil and thus contribute to the organic content of that soil.

We appreciate very much the efforts of  the “multi million project which is called ‘Vegetable breeding and seed systems‘  funded by the Bill and Merinda Gates Foundation through the World Vegetable Centre.  We expect that the outcome will be : an interesting selection of excellent varieties of seeds, producing bigger plants and better tasting vegetables.

However, the question remains if these selected varieties will be produced in Uganda (and in the other developing countries) at such a large scale that sufficient seeds will be offered for free to the poor rural people.  Or will they be produced by companies, putting commercial varieties of seeds on the market which again will be too expensive to be easily purchased by smallholders.

We remain convinced that offering free seeds of tropical fruits, collected from all the juicy fruits we are eating in developed countries, to small-scale farmers in the developing countries, is a valuable contribution to their sustainable development.  Taking into account the climatic and edaphic conditions at the sites or regions of the developing countries, where we are sending the collected seeds of vegetables to, is also a major step in that direction.  Once those smallholders have these free seeds developing in their kitchen garden, they are in a position to select seeds from the plants they are growing.  They will not be dependent anymore on “donations of seeds”.  They will be able to enhance bit-by-bit their annual income by taking the surplus of vegetables and fruits to the local market.  And at the end of the day they will earn sufficient money to buy the “top quality seeds” selected by their national experts and produced by the commercial seed companies.

In the meanwhile, we continue to collect seeds of vegetables and fruits and we offer them for free to every development project wanting to lay-out kitchen gardens, in particular in the drylands.

Is this working well ?  Ask the people who received already some seeds … or look at the pictures of newly installed kitchen gardens, even those in the Sahara desert.  Seeing is believing, isn’t it ?

2008-04 – Engineer Taleb BRAHIM taking care of the right application of the seeds in the harsh climatic and edaphic conditions of the Algerian Sahara.