Farmer carrying pearl millet on his headICRISAT genebank has made available the seed samples of 584 available pearl millet accessions to Sudan following a request from the Plant Genetic Resources (PGR) Unit of the Agricultural Research Corporation (ARC) in Sudan. The ARC in Wad Medani, Sudan requested ICRISAT for a complete set of the pearl millet genetic resources accessions collected from Sudan for the purposes of conservation and enhancement of utilization by the scientific community of Sudan. ICRISAT sent the seed samples, on a priority basis, through the National Plant Quarantine Services, Government of India. Acknowledging the receipt of 584 pearl millet germplasm seed samples, Dr El Tahir Ibrahim Mohamed, Head, PGR Unit of ARC wrote to HD Upadhyaya on 12 June, “We are so grateful to all of you personally and to the institute of ICRISAT for delivering very valuable services for the conservation and utilization of such important germplasm of a number of cultivated crops, collected previously from Sudan. The material received will be conserved for utilization in the genebank of the Plant Genetic Resources Unit in Wad Medani, Sudan. Thank you again for the immediate positive response to our request and for all the assistance and cooperation”. In his reply to Dr Mohamed, Dr Upadhyaya reiterated ICRISAT’s commitment to the NARS programs by providing genetic resources for their use in the improvement programs. On several occasions earlier, the ICRISAT genebank has restored germplasm of the mandate crops and small millets to Botswana, Cameroon, Ethiopia, India, Kenya, Nigeria, Somalia, Sri Lanka and Sudan. The genebank at ICRISAT Patancheru serves as a world repository for the genetic resources of its five mandate crops and six small millets. (Source: ICRISAT. In: Happenings, In-house Newsletter No. 1367, 19 June 2009. Photo credit: ICRISAT).