As global food chains face mounting threats from climate change, monoculture farming, and biodiversity loss, seeds have emerged as a symbol of resistance, memory, and renewal. In Colombia, seeds are not only the foundation of agriculture – they are vessels of cultural identity, ecological knowledge, and generational continuity.
From April 21 to 26, the Banco de la República is hosting Semana de las Semillas – Seed Week – and cultural initiative that forms part of the Central Bank’s broader 2025 agenda, dedicated to exploring the intimate links between territory, sustainability, and traditional knowledge.
This flagship event in Bogotá is taking place at the Museo de Arte Miguel Urrutia (MAMU) and is held in collaboration with the Bogotá Botanical Garden’s Agroecological Urban and Peri-urban Agriculture Project. But Seed Week is a decentralized cultural effort, with dozens of events unfolding simultaneously across the country – from the mangrove rivers of Buenaventura to the rainforest towns of Chocó, to the dry tropical forests of Santa Marta.
At its core, Seed Week is both a celebration and a warning. It underscores the fragile state of traditional harvesting practices, seed autonomy, and food sovereignty—especially among rural, Indigenous, and Afro-descendant communities threatened by large-scale agro-industry, extractive development, and the erosion of ancestral territories.
In Quibdó, capital of the Chocó department, Seed Week opens with the conference dedicated to forests, titled: “Bosques del Chocó: Conservación y prosperidad para las futuras generaciones” (Chocó’s forests: Conservation and prosperity for future generations). The space will explore the deep ties that exist between seed preservation and tree conservation. Held in the Centro Cultural de Quibdó, the event highlights the role of seeds in Afro-Colombian cosmology and sustenance, drawing attention to the cultural landscapes that rely on wild harvesting and the resilience of native plant species in the face of illegal logging, gold mining, and climate disruption.
In Buenaventura, a port city shaped by water and mangrove ecosystems, the event “Diálogos ribereños: prácticas alimentarias en los ríos de Buenaventura” (Riverside Dialogues: Food Practices along the Rivers of Buenaventura) creates a platform for elders, cooks, and farmers to share their experiences of seasonal planting, seed saving, and the ritual importance of native species like borojo, chontaduro, and yuca brava. These practices – anchored in African diasporic knowledge – are increasingly under pressure as industrial food chains disrupt localized economies.
Meanwhile in Santa Marta, the focus turns to ecological education with the workshop “¿Por el viento o por el agua? Semillas y dispersores de los bosques secos tropicales” (By Wind or by Water? Seeds and Dispersers of the Dry Tropical Forests). Hosted at the Museo Tairona, the session invites participants to explore the delicate dance between flora and fauna in seed dispersal. This region, marked by environmental stress and expanding agricultural frontiers, is a critical zone for understanding how native seeds contribute to ecosystem health.
These regional events form part of a broader campaign by the Banco de la República to center seeds as biocultural heritage – living archives that contain both ecological DNA and human memory. Through the project “Semillas, memorias que llevan vida” (Seeds: Memories That Carry Life), the Central Bank aims to stimulate national reflection on sustainability, food systems, and cultural autonomy.
“Seeds are not just inputs for production,” emphasize the organizers. “They are carriers of stories, medicine, and rituals. They reflect the ways our communities relate to nature and to each other.”
The 2025 cultural agenda will expand on these themes through traveling exhibitions, artist residencies, oral history projects, and documentary screenings. These will highlight the work of Indigenous communities, campesino movements, and Afro-Colombian organizations that continue to preserve their seed traditions in the face of legal and political pressures from agribusiness lobbies. Planned exhibitions will feature everything from traditional seed containers and storytelling to biodiversity mapping and seed-swapping rituals known as ferias de semillas.
In Bogotá, Seed Week culminates with a series of dialogues and demonstrations at MAMU from April 24 to 26. These events focus on strengthening community seed banks and agroecological farming models as viable, climate-resilient alternatives to conventional agriculture. Representatives from the Bogotá Botanical Garden will present case studies on how seed-saving practices are transforming urban food security and reviving neighborhood economies.
Seed Week is also deeply symbolic. It is timed to coincide with Earth Day (April 22) and the International Day of Seeds (April 26) – marking a convergence between global environmental awareness and grassroots cultural action.
As the second-most biodiverse country on Earth, yet vulnerable to environmental exploitation, Seed Week is a reminder that the future of Colombia’s ecosystems may lie in its smallest, most powerful form of resistance: the seed. As the events unfold in cities and rural communities, they invite Colombians to reflect on a simple but urgent question: Who controls the seeds that feed us, and what does that mean for our sovereignty and survival?
For full programming details and local schedules, visit the Banco de la República’s Cultural page: www.banrepcultural.org/noticias/participa-en-la-semana-de-las-semillas-en-la-red-cultural-del-banco-de-la-republica
, held April 21–26 at MAMU in Bogotá, highlights seed preservation as biocultural heritage. Events in Santa Marta, Quibdó, and Buenaventura celebrate ancestral food traditions, agroecological knowledge, and community resistance to industrial agriculture.){kind=link}