AGROSAVIA delivered wheat and barley cultivars to ADR to strengthen food security and agricultural innovation

Bogota, Capital District. May 21, 2025. In a strategic step toward strengthening the country's food sovereignty and boosting agricultural research, Corporación colombiana de investigación agropecuaria (AGROSAVIA) officially delivered on May 20, 19 wheat and 8 barley cultivars to the Rural Development Agency (ADR, for its acronym in Spanish), from the National Germplasm Bank for Food and Agriculture.

This bank, managed by AGROSAVIA, is a key national asset that safeguards 275 species of interest to agriculture and food security, contributing to the preservation of genetic agrobiodiversity and the development of new varieties adapted to the conditions of the Colombian countryside.

The transfer of these genetic materials seeks to support productive strengthening programs promoted by ADR, especially in regions where wheat and barley represent an opportunity to diversify crops, improve incomes, and reduce dependence on imports.

Carolina González Almario, Head of the Corporation's Agrobiodiversity Department, stated, "It has been a very special day. Within the framework of the Germplasm Bank's actions, we have continued implementing initiatives to deliver, restitute, or rematriate genetic materials conserved in the germplasm banks to producers. The delivery of these cultivars is a concrete example of how science, conservation, and rural development work with communities and reach the territories under an integrated conservation strategy. We want all the scientific and technical knowledge generated by the banks to integrate with the local, ancestral knowledge held by communities. This interaction will also allow them to become custodians of this agrobiodiversity."

The delivered cultivars were selected for their agronomic potential, their adaptation to the country's different agroecological conditions, and their contribution to improving the productivity of these systems, a shared priority between AGROSAVIA and ADR.

Diego Solano, ADR's Vice President of Productive Integration, said, "The goal is for these materials not only to be preserved in the Corporation's laboratories, but also for us to be able to take them to the fields and territories, multiply this seed, and conserve it with our farmers. Wheat and barley are part of our food security, not only in Colombia but throughout the world. We want to propose a nationwide program, strengthening and focusing primarily on the Andean region, understanding the history these grains have played in Colombia's food security and sovereignty."

This inter-institutional collaboration ratifies the commitment of the entities attached to the Ministry of Agriculture to a more resilient, sustainable, and science-based agriculture, benefiting the country's small and medium-sized producers.