News

Zhongcao No. 3. When you first hear that name, you can be forgiven for thinking it’s an expensive perfume. But actually, it’s a Chinese variety of alfalfa. 

It stands out for more than just its unusual moniker. This variety has...

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...

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.

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...

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...

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...

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...

Take home messages

Potato landraces collected in farmers’ fields are being “repatriated” back to the farmers. A study was conducted to determine how long Andean farmers continue to use repatriated landraces after...

'Curcurbits' isn't really a term we use around the dinner table ... but we sure love to eat them. Pumpkins, squash, cucumbers, watermelons, musk melons, chayote ... and don't forget the egusi melons. They are all curcubits, and...

Genebank experts supported by the Crop Trust’s BOLD (Biodiversity for Opportunities, Livelihoods and Development) Project recently visited the Vietnam National Genebank to evaluate its efforts to conserve crop diversity. Vietnam...

Take home messages

Four out of every 10 Nigerian cowpea farmers surveyed are growing an improved cowpea variety that can link its ancestry back to a genebank The use of improved varieties has not diminished the diversity...