In
September 2002, the international media reported that looters
had destroyed Afghanistan's largest crop seed collection.
The seed was dumped so that looters could take the plastic
containers in which samples were stored. The FHCRAA has begun
to repatriate seed from duplicate collections around the world.
So far seed samples of 41 barley landraces and 250 kg seed
of several cereal and legume landraces have been sent back
to Afghanistan.
The Consortium has also organized collection trips to try
to replace lost seed, landraces and wild relatives of important
crop species. For example, some 60 almond, 47 pistachio, 14
pomegranate, and 16 melon samples were collected. Fruit tree
nurseries were established on the research stations in Nangarhar,
Baghlan, Kunduz, and Takhar provinces which resulted in the
production of 183,000 grafted saplings of different fruit
trees. These were distributed to farmers and local authorities
for the establishment of orchards. In 2005, ICARDA established
95 orchards in northeastern Afghanistan.
| Germplasm
from Afghanistan preserved in the genebank of the Consortium
members of the CGIAR. |
| Centers |
Crop
collections |
Number
of accessions
|
| CIAT |
Beans |
73
|
| CIMMYT |
Maize,
wheat |
21
|
| ICARDA |
Genetic
resources collection, wheat, barley, lentil, chickpea,
forage legumes |
2217
|
| ICRISAT |
Chickpea,
small millets, sorghum |
723
|
| IITA |
Genetic
resources collection |
77
|
| ILRI |
Genetic
resources collection |
23
|
| IRRI |
Rice
collection |
69
|
| CIAT:
Centro Internacional de Agricultura Tropical; CIMMYT:
Centro Internacional de Mejoramiento de Maïz y
Trigo; ICARDA: International Center for Agricultural
Research in the Dry Areas; ICRISAT: International Crops
Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics; IITA:
International Institute of Tropical Agriculture; ILRI:
International Livestock Research Institute; IRRI: International
Rice Research Institute. |
|
|
|
|