Seed Activities in Micronesian Schools

07 June 2002
Seed saving taught in a high school in Pohnpei in February 2001. Report by Frank Frost (retired policeman and long time seed saver)

Frank in training at The Seed Centre prior to going to Pohnpei

When I attended the Seed Savers course at Byron Bay in October 2000 I was shortly to head to the Island of Pohnpei to visit my son and family who are aid workers at the PATS school. His wife Diane, the head of the Agriculture Department of the school, is strongly into Permaculture principles and the idea of seed saving, and was keen for me to give some instruction on seed saving principles and the idea of a seed bank perhaps for the whole island.

When I was over there early in February I was given the chance to give a number of lessons to all children in the school who take agriculture as a subject and gave instruction on seed saving techniques. I was also able to put into place on the departmental computer a seed saving form, similar to the ones you use at Seed Savers. I also developed a suitable form for general use for plant identification firstly in the field by students and also for the keeping of a permanent record as they build a plant identification manual. It is hoped that they may be able to get a digital camera for photographing plants or at least getting pictures to go with plant information.

We also gathered a small round pepper plant which is grown a few villages away and I was able to save some seeds and dry them and leave them there for future use. In testing the seed for viability a number germinated and I left the small seedlings growing on for them to gather the seed in quantity for future use. It was a wonderful example of the gathering of a local variety, that seems to be grown only in one small isolated area, as set out in The Seed Savers? Handbook.

In the time I was there I believed I set up some guidelines to be followed but must point out that there is still much more to be done and I hope to return again with perhaps the setting up and better cataloguing of seeds into a proper seed bank. There is also the opportunity to test, grow and collect new plants and varieties that grow there.

The school has in the past been buying much of its seed from seed companies in the USA, many of them hybrid but this is being changed to open pollinated types thus allowing them to keep their own seed. Local people are beginning to buy seeds from the school at fair prices and as the use of open pollinated types is being expanded the principle of being able to save their own seeds is being encouraged.

It was a great chance to be able to get the message across to children not only from Pohnpei but from other home islands such as Truk, Kosrae, the Marshall Islands.