AGROSAVIA and the Alliance of Bioversity International and CIAT strengthen ties to carry out joint activities for the conservation of genetic resources for food and agriculture

Mosquera, Cundinamarca. October 26, 2023. To strengthen the Seeds of the Future Agreement between AGROSAVIA and the Alliance of Bioversity International and CIAT, the Director of the Tibaitatá Research Center, the Head of the Agrobiodiversity Department of AGROSAVIA and their respective teams, received in Tibaitatá the Leader of the Germplasm Bank "Seeds of the Future" of the Alliance and its team, to expand strategies aimed at conservation activities, especially the regeneration of wild materials, through the construction of a specific agreement, as well as actions around training between both institutions that allow us to know and promote genetic resources for food and agriculture.

Seeds of the Future carries out, within its conservation processes, the characterization and regeneration of species of beans, cassava, grasses, and forages under environmental conditions and good agricultural practices that allow regenerating seeds with optimal quality standards. Through a specific agreement, the aim is to regenerate bean seeds at the Tibaitatá Research Center of AGROSAVIA, considering this center as an ideal option to meet the quality standards that allow this activity to be successfully carried out. Peter Wenzl, Leader of the Germplasm Bank of the Alliance of Bioversity International and CIAT, expressed, "It would be an agreement that would generate mutual benefit because we could do our work in a safe place, with good infrastructure to produce seeds and, at the same time, we would have many opportunities to exchange experiences and optimize protocols that would benefit both institutions."

For her part, Dr. Carolina González Almario, Head of the Agrobiodiversity Department of AGROSAVIA, highlighted that this agreement would be an excellent opportunity to delve into good agricultural practices associated with field conservation and regeneration of materials from the germplasm banks of the Colombian nation.

The Seeds of the Future framework agreement between AGROSAVIA and the Alliance of Bioversity and CIAT aims to strengthen the interaction between the two institutions, specifically in research lines focused on genetic resources conserved in Germplasm Banks, under the following areas of cooperation: a) research in phytosanitary diagnosis of seeds (biological and molecular), including orthodox seeds, intermediate seeds, and collections conserved in the field; b) development of phytosanitary cleaning processes aimed at the certification and delivery of clean materials; c) research associated with seed quality testing; d) quality management systems for germplasm banks and laboratories; e) research in cryopreservation and in vitro conservation of the genetic resource conserved; f) use of genomic technologies for the characterization of genetic resources and IT platforms for data management in germplasm banks; g) at the regulatory level, the aim is to work on legal frameworks associated with the conservation, use and distribution of plant genetic resources at the global and national levels; as well as in other research areas related to Germplasm Banks and Genetic Resources.