Guizhou museum awarded at intl conference

Guizhou's "seed museum in the mountains" preserves 153 kinds of crop seeds from Guizhou, Guangxi and Yunnan. [Photo/colorful Guizhou network]

The 3rd Mountain Future International Conference was held in Kunming, Southwest China's Yunnan province, from April 16 to 19. At the conference's poster exhibition, the "seed museum in the mountains" in Meide village, Congjiang county, Southwest China's Guizhou province, won second prize.

The "seed museum in the mountains" currently preserves 153 kinds of crop seeds that were collected by youths from 16 villages across Guizhou, Guangxi, and Yunnan. It acts both as a seed display and a base to protect the seeds.

In 2018, Zhang Chuanhui, a youth returning to his hometown in Liping, initiated an online discussion about "how to return to our hometowns". Young people who used to be migrant workers began to re-evaluate their connection to their homeland, and the value of soil and seeds.

These young people then went door-to-door collecting old seeds and recording relevant species information.

After more than two years of effort, a stilted building was completed in Meide village, becoming a home and information library for old crop seeds from Guizhou, Guangxi, and Yunnan.

Every spring, these young people select relatively independent small plots of land to cultivate various seeds, which constantly strengthens and multiplies the high-quality genes of seeds through the repeated exchange between seeds and soil.

During the planting process, these youths guide villagers to adopt traditional ecologically-friendly planting methods, such as using livestock manure as organic fertilizer; mixing fresh tobacco leaves or vine plants with salt to make fermented organic fertilizer; or burying last year's glutinous rice straw into the soil to increase nutrients.

Wu Fengying, co-founder of the seed museum, said that the museum has also become a natural education classroom for local children. During their spare time, the children participate in agricultural activities with adults, observe and record the growth of crops, and learn about and taste wild mountainous fruits and herbs.