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December 12, 2007
The
International Crops Research
Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT) has entered
into an agreement with the
Global Crop Diversity Trust (GCDT), to ensure the long-term
availability of funds for the conservation, characterization and
distribution of germplasm (seeds) in the ICRISAT's Genebank for
the benefit of agriculture and food security for mankind.
Dr William Dar, Director General of ICRISAT, and Prof Cary
Fowler, Executive Director of the GCDT, signed the agreement,
recently during the Annual General Meeting of the Consultative
Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR) at Beijing,
China.
Under the agreement, the Trust will commit US$ 8 million and
ICRISAT US$ 2 million, totaling an endowment of US$ 10 million.
The proceeds from the endowment will be used for genetic
resources conservation and management activities at ICRISAT. As
per the agreement, the endowment's support for the sorghum
germplasm collection will begin in 2007, pearl millet from 2008
and chickpea in 2009, to be followed by other ICRISAT mandate
crops. The aim is to raise at least US$ 450,000 per year as
return from the endowment to meet critical operational needs
such as regeneration, characterization, conservation and
viability testing for the crop collections held in trust at
ICRISAT.
According to Dr William Dar, the long-term partnership with the
GCDT, an international fund established to ensure conservation
and availability of plant genetic resources for food and
agriculture, will ensure that there is steady financial support
to ICRISAT's Genebank.
ICRISAT holds more than 118,000 accessions of germplasm for
pearl millet, sorghum, chickpea, groundnut, pigeonpea and 6
small millets in its Genebank, Dr Dar added. "This global
treasure holds the genetic material to overcome some of the
future breeding bottlenecks and can help breeders develop
varieties that can overcome drought, pest and disease
infestations."
According to Dr CLL Gowda, ICRISAT's Global Theme Leader for
Crop Improvement, the genetic resources at ICRISAT are to be
preserved for eternity. This is a big responsibility that the
Center is shouldering, to ensure that the genetic resources are
conserved safely and will be available for the future
generations.
"This requires continuous funding support to ensure that the
material is regenerated, safely conserved and supplied to
researchers globally. And this is where GCDT's support has great
significance for us," Dr Gowda added.
Through the agreement ICRISAT and GCDT will conserve and make
available the ICRISAT-held collections through:
* Long-term storage,
management and curation of germplasm;
* Safe duplication of the collection;
* Characterization and evaluation of germplasm;
* Documentation of the germplasm and provision of data in
publicly-available documentation systems;
* Distribution of the germplasm in accordance with the
International Treaty;
* Providing training and capacity building;
* Partnering with other genebanks and networks; and
* Providing conservation services to others.
With the committed continuous
support from GCDT, ICRISAT's germplasm collection holds the
future for dryland agriculture in the developing countries.
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