Where is collected germplasm and who controls it?
The majority of ex situ plant germplasm is currently located in Northern institutions or is being conserved in gene banks developed and maintained by the International Agricultural Research Centres (IARCs) of the CGIAR. The IARC gene banks are located primarily in the South but their funding and guidance comes primarily from Northern donors. The objective of the agreed undertaking between the CGIAR centres and FAO with respect to these collections is to ensure that all germplasm samples are stored in duplicate and that they are freely accessible. The IARCs hold over 600,000 seed samples in their genebanks which, according to some estimates, amount to between 20% and 50% of all unique germplasm in storage worldwide [1]. Because these gene banks contain “inventoried” germplasm, their collections are considered among the most valuable genetic materials simply because they are more readily identifiable and accessible to institutional plant breeders than farmer’s varieties or “wild” crop re
