Global impact of the plant genetic resources
collections held in trust by the CGIAR Centres
The collections held by the CGIAR genebanks
represent the single largest accumulation in the
world of plant genetic resources for food and
agriculture. They are probably the most important
collections in existence for ensuring global food
security and improving the livelihoods of the poor.
Established over a thirty-year period, initially to
service the plant breeding programmes of the CGIAR
Centres, these collections have acquired a much
greater global significance due to their unique
content. The collections are particularly rich in
farmer traditional varieties and the wild relatives
of crops.
Developing countries benefit
Over the past 15 years, the CGIAR genebanks have
distributed more than one million free samples of
seeds and plant materials to researchers and plant
breeders, with more than 80 percent going to
universities and national research programmes in
developing countries.
See examples of the impact that plant genetic
resources from the CGIAR genebank in-trust
collections have had in developing countries to:
Impact: increasing
yields
The Centro Internacional de Mejoramiento de Maíz y
Trigo (CIMMYT) has dramatically changed wheat production in the developing world
through providing germplasm to national agricultural
research systems and helping farmers improve
cropping practices. In developing countries, some 55
million hectares are now sown to CIMMYT-based bread
wheat, representing 80 percent of production. CIMMYT
provides farmers with wheat varieties that give good
yields under a range of cropping conditions,
producing well even in bad years and yielding more
than locally adapted wheats in good years. The
CIMMYT-derived wheats make better use of water and
nutrients, are more tolerant of environmental
stresses, and possess durable resistance to
diseases. As well as increasing the reliability of
yields these improvements bring environmental,
economic and health benefits through reducing the
amount of fertilizer and pesticides that farmers
apply to their fields.
A
pigeon pea variety identified by the International
Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT)
(ICP 8863) as resistant to fusarium wilt had an
adoption rate of 60 percent one year after its
release in Karnataka, India. The variety also
out-yielded the best cultivar previously available
by about 57 percent. It reduced the unit cost to
farmers by 42 percent and benefited the Indian
economy to the tune of US$62 million. The variety
now holds sway in the wilt-epidemic regions of
Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh and Maharashtra through
farmer-to-farmer distribution of seeds.
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Impact: supporting
livelihoods in marginal environments
In 1983, researchers from Cameroon selected the
drought-resistant sorghum variety S35 from the
collection held by the International Crops Research
Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT).
During the 1984 drought in northern Cameroon,
scientists recorded a yield of 1300 kilograms per
hectare for S35, compared with 719 kilograms per
hectare for the farmers' local variety -- a gain of
85 percent. This was achieved without the use of
irrigation or fertilizers. By 1995, S35 covered
around 44,000 hectares in Cameroon and 64,000 in
Chad -- around 32% and 27% respectively of each
countries rainfed sorghum areas.
Rice is a vital staple in many African countries, and the Africa
Rice Center (WARDA)
and its partners have put the genetic diversity of
this crop to work for poor farmers and consumers
across the continent. Especially effective has been
the use of material from WARDA’s genebank to develop
NERICA (new Rice for Africa). NERICA varieties
combine the high yields of Asian rice with the
suitability of African rice to the continent’s harsh
growing conditions. Today, about 150,000 hectares
across the continent are planted with NERICA
varieties. Numerous reports from sub-Saharan Africa
document the positive impact of the new rice on the
livelihood of farm families.
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Impact: combating human and
crop diseases
Vitamin A deficiency is a leading cause of blindness
and early death for millions of children worldwide.
One of the solutions is an affordable and widely
grown food, the orange-fleshed sweet potato, which
is rich in beta-carotene, converted by the body into
Vitamin A. An assessment by Centro Internacional de
la Papa (CIP)
and Michigan State University concluded that the
introduction of orange-fleshed sweet potato to
Africa could benefit 50 million children under the
age of six. Drawing on the extensive collection of
potato and sweet potato resources in its genebank,
CIP developed 40 new varieties that have high levels
of beta-carotene and are well adapted to growing
conditions in Africa. These were distributed to
farmers and consumers in Kenya, Ghana, Mozambique,
South Africa, Tanzania and Uganda, and
awareness-raising campaigns and community education
programs were carried out, focusing on the health of
young children. The project is being extended to
China, where some 40,000 children a year lose their
sight from Vitamin A deficiency.
In Africa
scientists at the International Institute of
Tropical Agriculture (IITA)
and the Centro Internacional de Agricultura Tropical
(CIAT)
have developed cassava varieties resistant to the
major pests and diseases that occur in Africa.
Cassava mosaic disease costs the continent an
estimated US$2 billion a year in lost crops. Over
the last 30 years, IITA has sought ecologically
acceptable ways of controlling the diseases that
attack cassava and, with national programme
partners, has tackled the problem using resistant
material from East and West Africa to diversify the
crop’s genepool and increase disease resistance. In
1996, IITA distributed plantlets from 308 new clones
held in tissue culture to national institutes for
test planting by farmers in East, Southern, West and
Central Africa. Farmers reported yields up to five
times greater than many susceptible varieties
damaged by disease. IITA is now collaborating with
CIAT to map the disease resistance genes and develop
molecular markers for resistance. This will enable
them to spread the benefit of the research to Latin
America and Asia to protect the local genepools
against a potential strike by the disease.
The Centro Internacional de Mejoramiento de Maíz y
Trigo (CIMMYT)
has been instrumental in warding off a global wheat
disease epidemic. A current major threat is Ug99, a
black stem rust first found in Ugandan wheat in
1999. This pathogen has been appearing in fields
throughout East Africa ever since, where it is
reducing grain yields by up to 71 percent. If not
conquered soon, Ug99 could become a global epidemic
within the next 15 years. Efforts are underway in
the wheat genetic resources community to screen
germplasm collections for sources of resistance to
Ug99. CIMMYT has screened some 5,000 accessions from
its wheat genebank with partners from Ethiopia and
Kenya, where the disease is prevalent. Resistance
has been found in both cultivar and landrace
samples, and these genebank materials are now being
incorporated in breeding programmes.
The International Center for Agricultural Research
in the Dry Areas (ICARDA)
and the national programmes of Egypt and Sudan have
developed seven new pest and disease-resistant faba
bean varieties for cultivation in the diverse
environments in the Nile Valley region. In the
1970s, even before losses of up to 90 percent caused
by chocolate spot and rust diseases and the
parasitic weed, broomrape, Egypt was not able to
meet domestic demand. Development of the new
varieties stemmed yield losses and, by 1983,
self-sufficiency in faba bean production was
restored. By 1996, Egypt was able to export the crop
and is now the world’s third-highest producer of
faba beans.
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Impact: helping
communities recover from natural disasters and human
conflicts
The CGIAR genebanks have also come to the aid of
war-ravaged countries including Rwanda and Cambodia.
Timely action by the Centres has helped restore
agricultural production in these countries, just as
it has in other locations in the aftermath of
natural disasters such as Hurricane Mitch in Central
America, and the many countries affected by the
Asian tsunami.
In the mid-1990’s Rwanda was shattered by genocide,
war and famine. The Centro Internacional de
Agricultura Tropical (CIAT)
responded by spearheading an emergency seed relief
program that involved a broad consortium of Centres
(Bioversity
International [formerly IPGRI],
ICRISAT,
IITA,
ILRI
and the
World Agroforestry Center). Drawing on
their genebanks and expertise, the Centres helped
aid agencies obtain good quality seed of appropriate
crop varieties for large-scale multiplication and
targeted distribution to farmers in need. ICRAF
assisted returning refugees by training students,
field technicians and farmers who would play leading
roles in rehabilitating the country’s agriculture.
Cambodia suffered enormous agrobiodiversity losses
under the rule of the Khmer Rouge in the late 1970s.
The Pol Pot Regime banned cultivation of important
traditional rice varieties, and many deepwater rice
varieties disappeared as a result. Farmers were
forced to plant exotic rice varieties that were not
adapted to growing conditions in the country. In
fleeing from the Khmer Rouge, farmers were forced to
relocate to areas where the traditional seeds they
took with them failed.
After the fall of the Khmer Rouge, the International
Rice Research Institute (IRRI)
helped reverse the fortunes of Cambodian rice
farmers. Institute scientists had collected more
than 750 rice accessions just as the Khmer Rouge
were gaining power, adding them to the 55 Cambodian
rice varieties already in the IRRI genebank. As soon
as it was safe to do so, IRRI scientists collected
an additional 3,800 traditional rice varieties as
well as 1,100 wild rice accessions in cooperation
with Cambodian researchers. These materials were
duplicated and the duplicates repatriated to
Cambodia. Moreover, a major effort was made to
strengthen the capacity of the Cambodian
Agricultural Research and Development Institute.
Since then, the country’s rice production has
increased by 70 percent, and for the past 10 years,
it has produced small rice surpluses for export.
The catastrophic tsunami that killed hundreds of
thousands of people and devastated 12 Asian nations
in 2004 posed unprecedented and immediate
challenges. Among these was rebuilding the
livelihoods of the agricultural communities
affected. In Sri Lanka and Malaysia, a crippling
effect of the ocean surges was extensive salt and
sand damage to coastal regions. Traditional crops
could not tolerate the changed conditions, and there
was an urgent need for salt-tolerant plants. The
IRRI genebank, which contains more than 40
salt-tolerant rice varieties, responded to calls for
assistance, providing six tolerant varieties suited
to the hard-hit countries.
This page draws on the individual Centre websites
and includes text from the brochure ‘Safeguarding
the World’s Agricultural Legacy’, produced by the
Consultative Group on International Agricultural
Research (CGIAR).
Download the brochure in PDF format.
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in-trust collections.
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