In the framework of the LEMRACE project for the conservation of the agricultural genetic heritage of Lemnos, the students of Moudros High School learned first-hand about many Lemnian landraces. MedINA’s agronomist, Danae Sfakianou, visited the school and the students had the opportunity to see rare seeds of Lemnian local varieties, learn why their conservation is important and what are the cultivation practices followed, such as planting distances, sowing season etc.
Among the valuable landraces that the students learned about was Rovi, an extremely rare variety that was systematically cultivated in the past and used to feed the cattle that ploughed the fields. At the same time, they also learned about the varieties Lafyri and Afkos, the lathouria of Lemnos, which are used to make the well-known fava beans.
The activity ended with the planting of landraces in the school grounds, where the students carefully sowed seeds of rovi, bean, chickpea, lupine, afkos, aspromytiko bean and lafyri.
We are most grateful to the school principal, Nikolaos Rigopoulos, for his warm welcome and to teachers Asimenia Hondroudi, Maria Dervisi and Eleftheria Tabaki for their excellent cooperation.
The project “LEMRACE – Conservation of the crop genetic wealth of Lemnos: local varieties for sustainable development of the Lemnian food system” is implemented by the Mediterranean Institute for Nature and Anthropos (MedINA) and the Institute of Plant Breeding and Genetic Resources of ELGO-DEMETER, and is funded by the Green Fund.