All latest news and events
Plan for Bigger, Better Yams
Yields of yams could be boosted—and with them food security—by using their biodiversity more efficiently, according to a strategy for yam conservation facilitated by the Crop Trust.
In the United States and the Caribbean, the...
12 Apr 2023
Finger Millet Breeding Gets A Boost In East Africa
A new three-year project holds promise to mainstream finger millet into the cropping system in Africa and improve the livelihood and nutrition security of smallholder farmers in Africa and worldwide. The project was launched last...
4 Apr 2023
Cracking the Problem of Tree Seeds
World Agroforestry’s (ICRAF) genebank hosts the world’s largest holdings of agroforestry tree genetic resources but encounters several unique challenges in getting some of the seeds in its collection of 190 species to germinate.
4 Apr 2023
Chill Solution for Meeting Future Demand of Sweetpotato
From Lima to Lusaka, open the menu of one of the fancier burger joints and you may well find fries made from sweetpotatoes rather than the more common, blander sort of tuber. The value chain that ensures that this delicious snack...
31 Mar 2023
Millets: Use Them or Lose Them
2023 marks the International Year of Millets – hardy, nutritious crops that are in decline. A recently published global conservation strategy maps out how to keep millets on our plates.
They’re hardy, reliable, rich in...
30 Mar 2023
Global Seed Vault Becomes More Important Than Ever As Climate Change Threatens Crops
When you think of fresh produce and fields of grain, the Arctic may not spring to mind. But just 800 miles from the North Pole, the Svalbard Global Seed Vault holds emergency stockpiles of most of the world's crops.
It provides...
30 Mar 2023
Rhodes Graduates Reap Benefits from Decade-Long Ties to Global Seed Vault
Food security affects everyone from farmers to scientists, economists to elected officials, and nutritionists to consumers. In a snow-capped mountain located between mainland Norway and the North Pole is the Svalbard Global Seed...
30 Mar 2023
Exchanging Crop Diversity Safely, the CGIAR Way
Key messages
CGIAR genebanks work closely with germplasm health units (GHUs) to ensure that the plant material they send is safe to cross borders. The GHUs have had a huge economic impact in recipient countries. IRRI’s...
27 Mar 2023
Chilling Out for Conservation
CGIAR genebanks are using cryopreservation for the long-term conservation of crops that can’t be stored as seeds.
Molecules in living organisms are always racing around. That movement is what keeps us alive – and what...
23 Mar 2023