Global impact of distribution of tropical
forages germplasm
L.G. Santos, A. Ciprian, A.M. Hernández & D.G. Debouck
Eco-Efficient Agriculture for the Poor
Genetic Resources Program, Centro Internacional de Agricultura Tropical Apartado Aéreo 6713, Cali, Colombia
 l.g.santos@cgiar.org
The genebank of CIAT, now operated by the Genetic Resources Program, was established as such GRP has distributed a total of 44,398 samples to external users in 105 countries around the world,
in late 1978. In 1978-79, collections of tropical pastures were progressively passed to it for their indicating that 57% of the total collection has been distributed.
conservation and study. With world mandates for lowland tropical forages, the GRP conserves
mostly as seed collections 23,140 accessions of this crop commodity (CIAT, 2009). Because The most important users that have benefitted from this genebank are NARS, Universities and
germplasm activities - namely distribution - have been on since 1973 to date, some analysis of other users such as commercial companies, farmers, regional organizations, etc. (Figure 2) and
trends is possible. they are using this crop for different purposes in agronomy, training, basic research and applied
research mainly (Figure 3).
The signing of an agreement in October 1994 between the Food and Agriculture Organization
(FAO) of the United Nations and CIAT confirms further the curatorship role of GRP. Since 1995,
CIAT Users External Users
distribution of germplasm to external users has been systematically done under the acceptance of 39,710 samples
CIAT Users 44,398 samples
a Material Transfer Agreement (SMTA). In 1995-1996 the first designation to FAO (i.e. the sending 47.2% 52.8%
of an electronic file about all accessions maintained in-trust by CIAT) took place, with subsequent NARS
updates every two years since Universities 26.7%
47.2%
To December 2009, GRP has received accessions from 74 countries and has distributed to 105 Others
countries. A total of 58 countries has provided and received Tropical forages accessions (Figure 1). CGIAR center 11.1%
NGOs
9.5%
2.3% 3.2%
84,108 samples (13,190 accessions)
105 countries
Figure 2. Distribution of forage germplasm from CIAT-GRP in 1980-2009
Applied Research
2.5% Others
Basic Research 0.6%
13.3%
Training
Figure 1. Movement of forage germplasm from countries to CIAT, and from CIAT to Countries. 14.0%
In Table 1, there is a list with the major 20 donor countries of forages germplasm, originating from
Africa, Asia and, Central and South America. It can be seen that countries like Ethiopia has
benefited from the distribution that exits with the Standard Material Transfer Agreement (SMTA).
GRP conserves 273 accessions from this country and has distributed 1,165 accessions (four times
more that its conserved collection) originating from 33 countries. The same case is represent by Agronomy
Peru and Ecuador, but in South America, where they have received materials from 42 and 34 69.3%
countries, respectively. In Asia the case more relevant is China with 278 accessions of its
collection conserved into the CIAT genebank and 370 accessions have been sent to this country
with 35 different backgrounds.
Figure 3. Distribution of forage in 1980-2009 by purpose
NUMBER OF ACCESSIONS ORIGINATING NUMBER OF ACCESSIONS ORIGINATING
COUNTRY RECEIVED DISTRIBUTED FROM COUNTRY RECEIVED DISTRIBUTED FROM
FROM TO (No. Countries) FROM TO (No. Countries)
Acknowledgements
BRAZIL 5,006 1,888 48 ARGENTINA 293 541 40
COLOMBIA 4,019 2,846 48 CHINA 278 370 35 These distribution and related research activities have been supported by grants of CIAT core
budget (with contributions of, namely, USAID and the EU), the World Bank, the International
VENEZUELA 2030 1,175 40 ETHIOPIA 273 1,165 33
Board for Plant Genetic Resources, the System-wide Programme on Information for Plant
INDONESIA 1144 437 19 VIETNAM 251 32 12 Genetic Resources, the Global Crop Diversity Trust, and the Ministerio de Agricultura y
THAILAND 1017 184 23 PERU 207 823 42 Desarrollo Rural of Colombia.
MEXICO 696 958 45 TANZANIA 155 35 8
PANAMA 612 198 24 BURUNDI 140 39 9
References
KENYA 469 419 28 COSTA RICA 135 248 30
HONDURAS 374 149 23 ECUADOR 122 449 34
CIAT (2009). Annual report. International Center for Tropical Agriculture. Palmira, Colombia.
ZIMBABWE 301 87 20 BELIZE 115 36 10
FAO (1998). The state of the world's plant genetic resources for food and Food and Agriculture
Table 1. Holdings of Forage germplasm at CIAT- GRP and distributed to countries Organization of the United Nations. Rome, Italy.
Poster presented at the Annual Program Review Week, CIAT -Palmira, Colombia, 6-8 May 2010.