IITA and the Institut de Recherche Agronomique de Guinee (IRAG) stepped up efforts to save native African cassava varieties from genetic erosion with the collection of 73 local cassava varieties from Guinea Conakry, West Africa. These varieties are now conserved under ex situconditions at the IITA’s Genetic Resources Center (GRC) in Ibadan, Nigeria and form part of a safety collection to safeguard the continent’s plant genetic resources. The collecting mission was funded by the Global Crop Diversity Trust, IRAG-Guinea Conakry and IITA.
“The conservation of local cassava varieties provides hope for future cassava breeding programs and helps guarantee food security in Africa,” says Dominique Dumet, Head of the GRC and Coordinator of the collecting mission.
Many local varieties of cassava, a major staple in Africa and a buffer against food crisis, are threatened by genetic erosion — a process whereby an already limited gene pool of an endangered species of plant or animal diminishes even more when individuals from the surviving population die out without getting a chance to breed within their endangered low population.
“In Guinea Conakry, for instance, about seven local cassava varieties are fast disappearing. This is risky especially for cassava since it is a clonal crop,” according to Paul Ilona, IITA Senior International Trials Manager.
Both local and improved cassava varieties alike create a robust gene pool, offering choices for breeders in future breeding programs. However, the loss of genes due to the extinction of some local varieties might limit future cassava improvement programs. Besides, the endangered varieties might even hold key traits that could offer possible solutions to hunger and poverty in the future.
Ilona says the loss of native cassava varieties might limit the number of genes available for breeders to work with. “As breeders, anytime we lose (crop) genes, it hurts. That is why the conservation of native cassava varieties at the GRC is important to us,” he says.
Apart from cassava, the IITA-GRC holds over 25 000 accessions of major African food crops, including cowpea, yam, soybean, bambara nut, maize, and plantain and banana. The accessions are held in trust on behalf of humanity under the auspices of the FAO. IITA shares these accessions without restriction for use in research for food and agriculture.
The collecting mission in Guinea Conakry makes it the fourth country, after Angola, Togo and Benin Republic, to allow IITA to collect and share their germplasm with other countries, since the International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture went into force in June 2004.
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Pour plus d'informations, veuillez contacter,
Dr Dominique Dumet, d.dumet@cgiar.org
Head, Genetic Resources Center
Siège de l'IITA
Jeffrey T. Oliver, o.jeffrey@cgiar.org
Chargé de communication d'entreprise (international)
Godwin Atser , g.atser@cgiar.org
Chargé de la communication d'entreprise (Afrique de l'Ouest)
Bureau de la communication
Siège de l'IITA
Ibadan, Nigéria
URL : www.iita.org
À propos de l'IITA
L'Afrique est confrontée à des problèmes complexes qui minent l'agriculture et la vie des populations. Nous développons des solutions agricoles avec nos partenaires pour lutter contre la faim et la pauvreté. Notre recherche pour le développement (R4D), maintes fois récompensée, repose sur une réflexion ciblée et autorisée, ancrée dans les besoins de développement de l'Afrique subsaharienne. Nous travaillons avec des partenaires en Afrique et au-delà pour réduire les risques pour les producteurs et les consommateurs, améliorer la qualité et la productivité des cultures, et générer de la richesse grâce à l'agriculture. L'IITA est une organisation internationale de recherche pour le développement sans but lucratif, créée en 1967, dirigée par un Conseil d'administration et soutenue principalement par le CGIAR.
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