IITA, Ibadan, Nigeria - “Congratulations, the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA) is the first centre to provide a proper inventory!” – Svalbard Global Seed Vault (SGSV).

Nigeria-based IITA is proud to announce that it is the first organization to contribute to the new Svalbard Global Seed Vault project.

Twenty-one boxes of IITA germplasm samples, as part of a first installment, have arrived in Oslo to go to the isolated Norwegian archipelago in time for its February 26 opening.

The SGSV has been created to preserve seed samples as a repository of last resort for humanity’s agricultural heritage as global warming, natural disasters and the threat of nuclear war threatens mankind’s food security and eco-systems.

The futuristic sci-fi vault is cut into the permafrost on the side of a mountain in the frozen Arctic – ironically where nothing much grows. It will hold over 200,000 crop varieties thousands of seed samples from Africa, Asia, Latin America and the Middle East.

Built by the Norwegian government as a service to the global community, the facility is funded by the Rome-based NGO Global Crop Diversity Trust.

But the bank is just a holding area – the seeds are being supplied from the more important genebanks of organizations that are part of the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR).

IITA, committed to alleviating hunger and poverty in Sub-Saharan Africa, has sent a large sample of its global collection of cowpea (also known as black-eyed pea), wild vigna, soybean, maize and bambara.

Dr Dominique Dumet, genenank manager said “the Institute has the world’s largest and most diverse seed collection of cowpea with some 15,122 unique samples that come from 88 countries. IITA estimates that their genebank holds close to half of global cowpea diversity and its collection contains about 70% landraces from Africa.”

Cowpea originates from Africa, from which 11,500 accessions are in trust in IITA’s genebank, which constitutes 76% of their global collection. IITA’s collection of cowpea started in the early 1970s with seed samples stored since 1978 (still viable).

The fast-growing and very nutritious crop, one of the most ancient known to man, is popular because it grows well in dry and semi-arid regions while maintaining healthy soil.

Contact:

Dr Dominique Dumet
Genebank Manager
International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA) Ibadan, Nigeria This email address is being protected from spam bots, you need Javascript enabled to view it

Anthony Whittingham
Corporate Communications Manager
International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA) Ibadan, Nigeria This email address is being protected from spam bots, you need Javascript enabled to view it
Telephone: +234-2-241-2626 (x 2773)
Website: www.iita.org

For more information and photographs, please visit: http://www.croptrust.org/main/arctic.php?itemid=217

About IITA

The International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA) is an Africa-based international research-for-development organization, established in 1967, and governed by a board of trustees. Our vision is to be one of Africa’s leading research partners in finding solutions for hunger and poverty. We have more than 100 international scientists based in various IITA stations across Africa. This network of scientists is dedicated to the development of technologies that reduce producer and consumer risk, increase local production, and generate wealth. We are supported primarily by the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR, www.cgiar.org ).
 
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