Wheat landrace accessions provided to farmers were selected through participatory research which was conducted at the Ginir community seedbank from 2022 to 2024. Twenty farmers selected from the Ginir community seedbank collaborated with researchers to evaluate and select the wheat accessions. The four wheat accessions chosen were productive, rust-tolerant, and suited to local growing conditions. In the bulg cropping season of 2025, the seeds of the selected wheat accessions have been distributed to 45 farmers, with each receiving 100 kilograms of seed following the community seedbank’s established seed distribution criteria.

Mr. Wubeshet Teshome, Crop and Horticulture Biodiversity Research Lead Executive, explained the aim of the seed distribution and recommended farmers plant the seeds on suitable land, weed, and do other management operations on time to achieve a good yield. He also stated that because the amount of seeds requested by farmers far exceeds the amount of seed available in the store, criteria should be established to properly distribute the seeds to the requestor. As a result, members agreed to give preference to farmers who do not have seed loans.

Dr. Yeshitila Mekbib, the Seeds for Resilience Project Coordinator, informed that researchers and farmers jointly made significant contributions in selecting wheat accessions. The chosen landrace accessions were high-yielding, rust-tolerant, and suited to local growing conditions. As a result, the selected accessions would help farmers achieve seed and food security, as well as increase the on-fam maintained wheat diversity which in turn, contributes to building the climate resilience capacity of farmers. He further explained even though a large number of farmers requested the seeds of selected wheat accessions, the seed was distributed fairly to both male and female farmers as per the agreed criteria set by members of the community seedbank. Dr. Yeshitila also advised farmers to properly plant the seeds and notified them that a team of researchers would conduct a supervision visit to the farmers’ fields. Finally, he informed the participants that in collaboration with concerned organizations attempts would be made to register the selected wheat accessions in the national variety registry list in order to further scale up and distribute the seeds throughout the country’s wheat-growing regions