Genebanks

Overview

The eleven CGIAR genebanks are custodians of the world’s most diverse publicly available crop collections. They conserve more than 700,000 accessions of more than 3,000 plant species. The genetic material is freely available to researchers, breeders, local communities, and farmers under the terms of the Plant Treaty, helping them find their own solutions for a more resilient, sustainable agriculture.

The Genebanks Accelerator will enable smarter, more widespread use of crop diversity, underpinned by rigorous conservation, a supportive policy environment and exceptional phytosanitary controls. By leveraging frontier technologies in genomics, AI, and cryopreservation, we will enhance the availability and impact of genetic resources worldwide.

Our goal

Our work will contribute to

Providing genetic variation across 3,000+ plant species

Fair distribution of 100,000s of germplasm samples

Helping 10,000s of farmers and millions of consumers

Strengthening the global genebank and plant health systems

Where we work

North Africa, Sub-Saharan Africa, Latin America, Central and West Asia, South and Southeast Asia, and more than 100 countries globally

Challenges

Challenges we’ll address

Biodiversity loss: Increasing threats to genetic diversity in crops and their wild relatives due to climate change and intensive agricultural practices.
Food security and nutrition: Declining resilience of agricultural systems due to homogenization of landscapes and over-reliance on a small number of crops and varieties.
Phytosanitary risks: Potential spread of pests and diseases across borders and delays in germplasm distribution if phytosanitary standards not maintained.
Policy gaps: Need for fair and effective international access and benefit-sharing frameworks, including in relation to Digital Sequence Information.

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Areas of work

Biodiversity Conservation

We will conserve a highly diverse collection of germplasm, assuring genetic integrity, quality, health and longevity of plant materials preserved as seeds in long-term storage, as in-vitro plants, cryopreserved or in field genebanks, while making samples and data availablé to requesters worldwide. All CGIAR Genebanks follow international standards assuring efficient long term conservation, availability and data management at the highest levels of quality.

Strategic User Engagement

We will proactively engage diverse user groups to increase awareness and use of genebank resources, develop Al-enabled tools for more time-efficient and precise accession selection, and enhance digital infrastructure for seamless access to genetic resources.

Genetic Resources Policy

We will influence and contribute to international policy on genetic resources conservation, access and use, including access and benefit-sharing policies, digital sequence information (DSI), farmer's rights, representing the CGIAR in international forums such as the Convention on Biodiversity (CBD) and the International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture (IT-PGRFA). We will also support national partners in policy development and implementation and help scientists across CGIAR science programs and accelerators comply with evolving standards.

Germplasm Health

We will ensure phytosanitary compliance for safe global germplasm exchange, develop innovative diagnostic and disease management protocols, and strengthen international collaborations for biosecurity and health testing, interacting directly with National Plant Protection Organizations (NPPOs) across countries, engaging on development and implementation of best practices on phytosanitation.

Strenghtening Capacity for In Situ and Ex Situ Conservation

We will enhance plant diversity conservation by strengthening the global community of genebanks, phytosanitary agencies and the underlying policy environment through the promotion of hands-on capacity building, and regional networks and communities of practices (CoP), such as the Latin American CoP on Genebanks, or the Cryo Network for Latin America, and Seed Quality Management training.

Gender Equality & Social Inclusion

Genebanks actively promote gender-inclusive approaches by ensuring equitable access to genetic resources for women, smallholder farmers, and Indigenous communities. They also facilitate capacity-sharing initiatives to support underrepresented groups in biodiversity conservation and sustainable agriculture.

Our approach

Interlinked support across CGIAR’s portfolio
Genebanks will work closely with the Breeding for Tomorrow and Multifunctional Landscapes programs and the Digital Transformation accelerator.

Working to share our capacity with

National partners
Governments and policymakers
Scientists and farmers

Our expertise

Global leader in genebank management, conserving and making available over 700,000 accessions
Collections offer unique diversity, including underused crops and valuable landraces, and wild relatives
Pioneering use of AI, genomics, and cryopreservation for genetic conservation, characterization, and distribution
Strong policy influence in international genetic resource governance
Established partnerships with breeding programs, universities, and national genebanks
Direct support to hundreds of farmers through the complementary conservation of local diversity and the reintroduction of diversity lost in situ.

Events

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