Regional training on building community seed banks in sub-Saharan Africa

Adapted from the project website

About

On June 26th, 2023, in Dubai, ICBA conducted a hands-on training workshop on community seed banks for 27 researchers, extension specialists, cooperative members and other stakeholders from the project countries. During the workshop, the participants learnt about approaches and strategies to establish and manage community seed banks and were introduced to value chains for millets using the farm-to-fork approach.

Since 2019, ICBA has established best practice hubs in six project countries to introduce different genotypes of crops such as millets and cowpea from its genebank, which is home to over 16,000 accessions of around 300 drought-, heat- and salt-tolerant plant species from more than 150 countries and territories. The genebank’s collection also includes about 5,000 accessions of barley, which is one of the largest in the Middle East, as well as more than 1,200 accessions of quinoa, which is the largest of its kind outside South America.