When the CGIAR celebrated World Food Day last month, it drew attention to the vital role of genebanks, announcing World Bank approval of a US$10 million grant in support of this work.

More than 600,000 plant samples reside in the 11 genebanks operated by CGIAR-supported Centers. “Our genebanks represent the most important international effort to conserve genetic resources of staple crops, forages and agroforestry species,” said CGIAR Director Francisco Reifschneider.

“The plant samples are not the Centers’ property,” added Emile Frison, Director General of the International Plant Genetic Resources Institute (IPGRI), “but are global public goods, held in trust for humanity.”

“Investing in agriculture for food security” was the theme of World Food Day, which the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations marks each year on October 16, the anniversary of its founding. “Of the many investments needed, none is more fundamental than support for genebanks, which safeguard the crop diversity on which food security depends,” noted Katherine Sierra, Vice President of the World Bank’s Sustainable Development Network and CGIAR Chair.

Safeguarding the Genetic Base of Food Production

The new grant strengthens and complements other efforts under way since the 1990s to better safeguard the genetic base of world food production. Two major reviews revealed a need for additional investment to fully guarantee long- term preservation of the collections held in trust by the CGIAR Centers. The CGIAR responded with measures designed to ensure that the genebanks meet international standards for conservation and to make the collections more widely available to users.

In 1994, the CGIAR System-wide Genetic Resources Programme (SGRP) was set up to coordinate activities across Centers. The SGRP then established the System-wide Information Network for Genetic Resources to improve access to information about the in-trust plant collections. More recently, the Global Crop Diversity Trust was created to build a solid financial foundation for ensuring the conservation and availability of crop diversity for food security worldwide.

In 2003, the World Bank began supporting a two-part initiative to improve the conservation and management of the collections held by the CGIAR as global public goods. During the first phase (mid-2003 to 2006), with a grant of US$13.6 million, the Centers processed, regenerated, characterized and tested more than 275,000 plant samples.

In a second 3-year phase to begin in 2007, the Centers will use the new grant of $10.46 million to further improve their stewardship of the collections, increase collaboration and contribute importantly to the development of a global system for conservation and use of crop genetic resources.

A Global System for Conserving and Using Crop Diversity

This work will take place within the framework of the International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture, which came into force in 2004 and has since been ratified by more than 100 countries. The Treaty creates a multilateral system that offers signatory countries access to selected genetic resources from all other signatories.

On World Food Day, the Centers signed agreements in Rome with FAO, which will bring the in-trust collections into the new multilateral system. “This significant step,” said Jane Toll, SGRP Coordinator and Director of IPGRI’s Global Partnerships Programme “puts the CGIAR genebanks at the heart of an emerging global system for the conservation and use of plant genetic resources.”

Each year the Centers distribute as many as 50,000 samples, mainly to national programs in developing countries. Plant breeders and farmers employ these resources in crop improvement, putting to use genes for traits such as better nutritional quality, specific consumer preferences and tolerance to drought and other harsh conditions. “This work is vital for enabling agriculture to remain esilient in the face of changing global conditions in the climate, environment and economy,” commented Frison.

To cite a recent example, CGIAR wheat researchers and colleagues in Ethiopia and Kenya identified resistance to a new race of a major disease, black stem rust, among samples of traditional wheat varieties. They are now incorporating the resistant lines into wheat breeding programs in an effort to ward off a global rust epidemic.

The genebanks have also proved vital, on dozens of occasions, for helping rural people recover from more sudden shocks to food systems, caused by natural disasters or conflict. For example, in dealing with the aftermath of genocide in Rwanda, Hurricane Mitch in Honduras and Nicaragua, and the consequences of war in Afghanistan and Iraq, the genebanks were instrumental in replenishing stocks of local and improved crop varieties.