Patancheru, India
February 25, 2008
The
International Crops Research
Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT) joined the
group of international organizations that will deposit seeds of
germplasm of mandate crops at the Svalbard Global Seed Vault, to
be inaugurated on 26 February.
Dr William Dar, Director General of ICRISAT, is at Svalbard for
the opening celebrations on 25 and 26 February for the global
initiative to store the seeds of agricultural crops from across
the world in a specially created seed vault. The Svalbard
archipelago is half way between the northern coast of Norway and
the North Pole.
Located in a remote, yet accessible location within a mountain
under permafrost (permanently frozen layer) conditions, the
Svalbard Seed Vault has a natural temperature of minus 6 degree
centigrade (-6°C). The vault is further cooled to -18°C and is
designed to provide ultimate secure protection against
catastrophes to plant genetic resources for food and
agriculture.
According to Dr William Dar, ICRISAT's participation in the
duplicate conservation of seeds in the vault adds a special
significance to the project - it gives increased protection to
global agriculture from climate change. The seeds of germplasm
that will be transferred by ICRISAT are those of hardy dryland
crops that can withstand climate change when it happens. These
are the seeds of sorghum, pearl millet, chickpea, pigeonpea,
groundnut and six small millets.
"Mandated to increase agricultural productivity in the drylands
of Asia and sub-Saharan Africa, our crops have the ability to
withstand the perils of climate variability and change," Dr Dar
said. "Including our seeds to be stored in the Svalbard seed
vault means that we are storing the seeds of hope for
posterity."
Though a global disaster may or may not happen, seeds stored in
genebanks (such as the one at ICRISAT) are routinely used to
re-start agriculture in areas affected by natural disasters and
civil strife. For instance, sorghum germplasm lost during civil
wars in Ethiopia and Rwanda was replenished from the collection
stored in the ICRISAT genebank. ICRISAT repatriated germplasm to
several countries: Botswana (sorghum), Iran (chickpea), Nepal
(chickpea), Kenya (pigeonpea), Sudan (sorghum), Zambia (sorghum,
pearl millet, pigeonpea, groundnut and finger millet), and India
(all crops).
ICRISAT will deposit seeds of 20,000 germplasm accessions in the
first installment this year, which will be the first year of the
5-year schedule during which the Institute will transfer about
110,000 germplasm accessions. The Global Crop Diversity Trust,
one of the agencies supporting the project and a partner of
ICRISAT, is providing the financial support for the transfer of
sample.
The samples being sent to Svalbard are duplicates of the
collection at ICRISAT's gene bank. Among the largest
public-funded genebanks globally, the facility at ICRISAT's
headquarters at Patancheru, India, holds 118,882 accessions of
various crops, along with their wild relatives, representing 144
countries.
ICRISAT's collection has benefited the crop improvement efforts
of many national agricultural research systems. Sixty-six
germplasm accessions of various crops have been released
directly as cultivars in 44 countries contributing to food
security. In addition, a vast number of germplasm accessions
distributed have been used as building blocks for numerous
varieties and hybrids that are cultivated in many parts of the
world. More than 75 national programs have released 602
varieties (as of December 2007) of ICRISAT mandate crops, using
ICRISAT-supplied breeding material (developed from the
germplasm).
The Nordic Gene Bank and the
Global Crop Diversity Trust (GCDT) invited ICRISAT to
deposit its germplasm collections at the Svalbard Global Seed
Vault. ICRISAT accepted and signed the Standard Deposit
Agreement with the Norwegian Ministry of Agriculture and Food in
September 2007.
In December 2007, ICRISAT and GCDT also signed a partnership
agreement 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.
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 began in 2007, pearl millet will begin 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 from the
endowment to meet critical operational needs such as
regeneration, characterization, conservation, viability testing
and supply of the crop collections held in trust at ICRISAT,
thereby providing long-term conservation funds.
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