Strengthening Global Food Security: Strategic Banana Diversity Moves from Belgium to Colombia
A strategic set of banana genetic resources has recently been transferred from the International Musa Germplasm Transit Centre (ITC) in Leuven, Belgium, to the Future Seeds genebank, both part of the Alliance of Bioversity International and CIAT. This initiative strengthens the Banana collection while advancing global efforts to safeguard banana diversity, one of the world’s most important food crops.
- Africa
- crops
- Genebank
Strengthening Global Food Security: Strategic Banana Diversity Moves from Belgium to Colombia
A strategic set of banana genetic resources has recently been transferred from the International Musa Germplasm Transit Centre (ITC) in Leuven, Belgium, to the Future Seeds genebank, both part of the Alliance of Bioversity International and CIAT. This initiative strengthens the Banana collection while advancing global efforts to safeguard banana diversity, one of the world’s most important food crops.
The materials, planted in the banana field collection at Palmira's campus and preserved within the Future Seeds genebank at our campus in Palmira, Colombia, include accessions selected for their resilience to drought, resistance to major diseases, high nutritional value, and valuable diploid genetic traits essential for breeding programs. Additionally, to the ITC accessions, local materials of banana and plantain can be found in the field collection, bringing a living platform of diversity, in which researchers can accelerate efforts to characterize genetic resources and develop improved banana varieties while safeguarding local genetic diversity both in vivo and in vitro.