Photo (from left to right): Hal Atienza (Executive Director, Global Seed Savers Network Philippines), Keeshia Austria (Visayas Area Coordinator, LiSu), Fidel Ricafranca (Website Designer), and Dr. Crina Tañongon (UP Cebu Dean, CCAD)
As part of its continuing development, the Sugbu Seed Archive Team conducted its first co-creation workshop on April 11 at the University of the Philippines Cebu to advance a community-driven digital platform documenting Cebu’s food heritage and seed knowledge. With support from the Central Visayas Studies Center (CVSC) and the Center for Science and Society (CSS) of Columbia University, the workshop, structured as a co-creation–based design and content feedback session, brought together representatives from the Global Seed Savers Network Philippines, including Hal Atienza, its Executive Director, and Keeshia Austria, Visayas Area Coordinator, through Lihok Liso sa Sugbu (LiSu).
The Sugbu Seed Archive Team included Dr. Crina Tañongon (Project Co-proponent, with Taylor Mitchell of Columbia University), Fidel Ricafranca (Website Designer), and Danna Blair Briones (Research Assistant). The session refined the platform’s content and design to keep it accessible, grounded, and responsive, positioning the Sugbu Seed Archive as a communicative platform that advances seed sovereignty, raises public awareness, and reconnects communities with their agricultural heritage.
Atienza and Austria emphasized the urgency of documenting and preserving Cebu’s seed heritage, noting how shifts in food systems have led to the loss and transformation of traditional crops.
The workshop also clarified the platform’s intended users, including family farmers, urban gardeners, consumers, and institutional actors such as government and academe.
Stories from seed-saving communities grounded the discussion, with accounts of farmers who have preserved heirloom seeds through years of practice and whose knowledge reflects intergenerational transmission of farming values. These narratives highlight the importance of recognizing seed keepers and sustaining the cultural and ecological knowledge they carry.
Participants articulated shared directions for the platform: promoting seed sovereignty, educating the public on seed systems and classifications, empowering farmers, and engaging younger generations in nature-based practices. Proposed features include accessible content on seed origins and distinctions and the potential development of an online seed catalogue.
A key consideration was the need for the platform to remain pang-masa—grounded in everyday language, relatable contexts, and lived experiences—while maintaining the depth of scientific, historical, and cultural knowledge it seeks to document.
In Cebu, community organizations—Communities for Alternative Food Ecosystems Initiative (CAFEI), Slow Food Community of Sugbo, Global Seed Savers Network-Philippines through Lihok Liso sa Sugbu (LiSu), and Visayas Native Tree Enthusiasts (VNTE)—have been advancing restorative solutions to food insecurity and the climate crisis. The Sugbu Seed Archive was developed to document these knowledge and make them accessible to Cebuano farmers through a digital platform featuring heirloom seeds, native trees, and Indigenous edible plants, alongside cultivation guides, cultural narratives, and research on food sovereignty translated into Cebuano. The Sugbu Seed Archive Team will conduct the same workshops with the other partner organizations.