Seed fair of the terai community seedbanks
On 15 May 2019, about 30 members of 10 community seedbanks from the terai (the southern lowland) region of Nepal came together at the Agyauli Community Seedbank in Nawalparasi, to display and exchange seeds of traditional crop varieties and share related crop knowledge (photo 1). They also shared stories about the socio-cultural, religious, spiritual, nutritional and medicinal values of their varieties. A similar seed fair will be organized with the community seedbanks of the hill and mountain areas early in 2020, just prior to the planting season in the hills. 

The seed fair was organized by the newly formed national Community Seed Banks Association of Nepal (CSBAN), Local Initiatives for Biodiversity, Research and Development (LI-BIRD2) and Bioversity International with the financial support of the Seeds, Soil and Culture Fund, managed by RSF Social Finance and the New Field Foundation. The seed fair was organized as part of a new initiative to strengthen the organizational capacity of CSBAN and the Nayakrishi Seed Network in Bangladesh by: i) promoting seed exchanges and sharing of knowledge and experiences among community seedbanks and with other (seed) stakeholders;