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National Fair of Native Seeds and Food

ViaNica.com | Sep 3, 2010

Promotional image of the event.
Cinthia Membreño

More than 270 expositors, from 12 departments of the country, will exhibit tomorrow, September 4, a variety of native products during the third edition of the National Fair of Native Seeds and Food. The event will begin at 8:30 am in Multicentro Las Americas shopping mall, located in Managua, and will include tasting and selling of products, in addition to cultural shows.

Marisol Marin Fernandez, coordinator of the Seeds for an Identity Campaign (one of the organizers of the event), explained that this time peasants from the departments of Boaco, Chontales, Granada, Madriz, Nueva Segovia, Rivas, Masaya and others, will participate. The objective will be teaching the importance of native seeds for food safety, biodiversity management and the promotion of an eco-friendly agriculture.

According to the website of the Mesoamerican Service of Sustainable Agriculture (SIMAS), the farmers will sell basic grains, processed food, fruits, vegetables, handicrafts made of native seeds, among other products.

The national fair will have four components: education, sales, tastings and culture. With the first one, the benefits of native seeds over the transgenic ones will be shown. Through the second one, peasants will sell their products. The third one will allow visitors to taste a variety of Nicaraguan meals, specially beans, and with the last one they will enjoy dance and musical shows by eight groups (one of them is a group of blind peasants named "Los Landeros").

According to Marin, the biggest accomplishment of the event has been promoting the products of the Nicaraguan peasants nationwide. Another is that, for the second edition, the expositors sold all their products sooner than expected. "That's why we told them to bring the double amount of seeds this time," she said.

During the activity, which entrance will be for free, there will also be presentations about the importance of native seeds for food security and sovereignty, its contribution to biodiversity and the mitigation of climate change effects. For further information, see our Events Calendar.