Why save seeds?

Visitors to the PMN training garden

Visitors to the Solomon Islands Planting Material Network garden examine seed being dried on newspaper in the sun

•	growing many different food plants and varieties of those plants is a traditional way of providing family food security
•	seeds can be saved to plant in your garden
•	the Planting Material Network encourages members to look after all their varieties of plants through on-farm conservation; all of these varieties are important for today and for the future
•	seeds can be exchanged with other farmers for different seeds
•	planting the seeds you save means you do not have to spend your money to buy seeds
•	saving seeds and growing different food plants in your garden provides you with vegetables for a mixed family diet
•	a mixed diet improves your family’s health and helps your children grow strong and healthy
•	saving seeds means you can grow food for your family during crisis or disaster
•	saving seeds and exchanging them with other farmers makes Solomon Island communities more self-reliant.