Magház – Network for Agricultural Diversity was established in 2012 aiming to work for the participatory mamagement and awareness-raising of agrobiodiversity in Hungary.
Our mission is to connect organizations and individuals working on the conservation and the improvement of crop diversity in the Carpathian Basin. Our main activities are: collection, multiplication and distribution (seed-swaps and membership) of landraces/obsolete varieties, awareness raising and education on the importance of agrobiodiversity, sustainable land use and crop production, seed saving, seed health.
We are organising workshops and webinars, publishing articles on our bolg (https://maghazblog.blog.hu/), website (https://www.maghaz.hu/) and YouTube channel :
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCsYmBis79baYMHBB4H60l8w)
We released in 2014 booklet and 2020 a book about practices of seed saving. In 2020 we launched our landrace database (https://www.maghaz.hu/tudastar/magtar), where anybody can read the description and find pictures of the accession maintained in our network.
The network has 6 hubs, spread around in the country, which serve as a gene-bank and knowledge center, offering seeds (seed swaps), garden visits, workshops.
Interview with the member
The Hungarian national network brings a Middle/Eastern European perspective to the EC-LLD network. With a focus on raising awareness of agrobiodiversity and seed saving knowledge lost under Soviet rule, the network offers seed saving courses online and in the field.
Magház wants to make the story of seed saving visible across Hungary. They devote time to raising awareness about agrobiodiversity by supporting community members to organize seed swaps and by promoting the association online via social media. In Hungary it is possible to register landrace varieties, which is not the case in many EU countries; many gardeners and farmers are unaware of this or unsure of the regulations.
Magház seeks to make this common knowledge among growers in Hungary. For Magház, it is essential to raise awareness so seed saving as a practice can become more common. Their hope is that people will become more involved in public discussions “because if you don’t get involved, our voices are not going to be heard,” says a staff representative of Magház. Magház’s decentralized model also makes them unique within the LLD network. Rather than a single centralized seed house or garden, they operate through many decentralized network of hubs throughout the country. They mainly work with farmers and gardeners on vegetable varieties.
