82
4 Institutional Frameworks for the Exchange and Utilization of PGRFA
convened a series of technical meetings, conferences as well as the regular and
extraordinary sessions of the Commission on Genetic Resources for Food and
Agriculture. In addition to the technical support, specialized UN trust funds such
as the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) and the Global
Environment Facility, international and regional development banks such as the
World Bank promote the work of the different PGRFA conservators. Additionally,
there are networks which try to co-operate the work of national conservators and
to share the results.
Finally, the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research
(CGIAR) represents the main international conservator as regards stored
accessions. Genebanks in 12 of their centers conserve 593,367 accessions mainly
of their mandate crops (SGRP, 1996). These collections, now being partially
placed under the auspices of FAO, represent major global collections for the
respective crops.
While farmers have been breeding and are continuing to breed by mass
selection from their local varieties to improve their crops, professional plant
br£eders, working in private companies or public-funded research institutes,
utilize more complex and expensive techniques to incorporate favorable traits of
varieties from different locations into modern varieties. Above all breeders use
their own breeding lines, developed out of their working collections of plant
genetic resources over ten to fifty years of research (Kush, 1996). Even though
constant improvements can be made with the breeders' 'elite' germplasm (Wych
et aI., 1983), plant breeders are - beside other genebanks - the most frequent users
ofPGRFA stored in public genebanks (Hammer, 1995).
According to a recent survey of the International Association of Plant Breeders
(AS SINSEL), which represents more than 1,000 private breeding companies from
26 countries, 88% of their members are maintaining genetic resources in their own
genebanks (AS SINSEL, 1997 ).
In addition to the national public and private breeding involvement and the
multi-national breeding companies, there is an important breeding engagement by
the international community through the international agricultural research centers
(IARCs). While being the spearhead in the breeding success of the green
revolution in the 1960s and 1970s, the IARCs may have to playa crucial role in
the next step forward in breeding for sub-tropical and tropical agro-ecological
zones. Their role as conservators has been described with the public conservators.
Because of the technological improvement and therewith expanded applications
of biotechnology in agriculture, the demand for genetic resources has increased
significantly (von Braun and Virchow, 1996). The growing demand for PGRFA is
represented in the increasing number of new releases of transgenic plants (de
Kathen, 1996). The urgent need to improve varieties by incorporating more
genetic diversity into the varieties has been frequently stated (Gustafson, 1997).
Beside the many ongoing conservation activities, the biotechnology industry is
one of the most important actors on the demand side, transforming genetic
resources into high value products and determining the increasing importance of
genetic resources as an agricultural production factor and therewith its
conservation. Furthermore, the biotechnology industry contributes to an increase
4 Institutional Frameworks for the Exchange and Utilization of PGRFA
convened a series of technical meetings, conferences as well as the regular and
extraordinary sessions of the Commission on Genetic Resources for Food and
Agriculture. In addition to the technical support, specialized UN trust funds such
as the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) and the Global
Environment Facility, international and regional development banks such as the
World Bank promote the work of the different PGRFA conservators. Additionally,
there are networks which try to co-operate the work of national conservators and
to share the results.
Finally, the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research
(CGIAR) represents the main international conservator as regards stored
accessions. Genebanks in 12 of their centers conserve 593,367 accessions mainly
of their mandate crops (SGRP, 1996). These collections, now being partially
placed under the auspices of FAO, represent major global collections for the
respective crops.
While farmers have been breeding and are continuing to breed by mass
selection from their local varieties to improve their crops, professional plant
br£eders, working in private companies or public-funded research institutes,
utilize more complex and expensive techniques to incorporate favorable traits of
varieties from different locations into modern varieties. Above all breeders use
their own breeding lines, developed out of their working collections of plant
genetic resources over ten to fifty years of research (Kush, 1996). Even though
constant improvements can be made with the breeders' 'elite' germplasm (Wych
et aI., 1983), plant breeders are - beside other genebanks - the most frequent users
ofPGRFA stored in public genebanks (Hammer, 1995).
According to a recent survey of the International Association of Plant Breeders
(AS SINSEL), which represents more than 1,000 private breeding companies from
26 countries, 88% of their members are maintaining genetic resources in their own
genebanks (AS SINSEL, 1997 ).
In addition to the national public and private breeding involvement and the
multi-national breeding companies, there is an important breeding engagement by
the international community through the international agricultural research centers
(IARCs). While being the spearhead in the breeding success of the green
revolution in the 1960s and 1970s, the IARCs may have to playa crucial role in
the next step forward in breeding for sub-tropical and tropical agro-ecological
zones. Their role as conservators has been described with the public conservators.
Because of the technological improvement and therewith expanded applications
of biotechnology in agriculture, the demand for genetic resources has increased
significantly (von Braun and Virchow, 1996). The growing demand for PGRFA is
represented in the increasing number of new releases of transgenic plants (de
Kathen, 1996). The urgent need to improve varieties by incorporating more
genetic diversity into the varieties has been frequently stated (Gustafson, 1997).
Beside the many ongoing conservation activities, the biotechnology industry is
one of the most important actors on the demand side, transforming genetic
resources into high value products and determining the increasing importance of
genetic resources as an agricultural production factor and therewith its
conservation. Furthermore, the biotechnology industry contributes to an increase