A new report assesses vegetable seed collections in selected Southeast Asian genebanks

In Southeast Asia, the diversity of vegetable genetic resources in farmers’ fields has narrowed due to a variety of factors, including the adoption of improved varieties. Genebanks are essential in conserving this diversity in the long term, and this study collected questionnaire-based data from five genebanks, in Malaysia, the Philippines, Thailand and Vietnam.

The five genebanks were found to provide important services for conserving vegetable genetic resources, holding a total of 51,000 vegetable accessions largely collected in the respective countries. However, only 11% are safety duplicated in other genebanks, with just 2% in the Svalbard Global Seed Vault. No genebank has a seed health laboratory, all genebanks distributed seed samples only within their own country, and only in the Philippines were seed shared with the private sector. Genebanks were found to require support in data management, such as use of systems including the GRIN-Global Community Edition, and to adopt online platforms such as FAO WIEWS and Genesys.

Another key constraint which applies to many genebanks globally, is the low quality of conservation activities. This concerns, backlogs in seed viability testing and regeneration, amongst others, that require investments. It was also noted that none of the genebanks has an in-house seed health laboratory, which is important to monitor the presence of seed-borne diseases. However, all genebank managers indicated that there are seed health laboratories in their country that can be used if necessary.

The genebanks described in this study are very valuable in terms, as the plant genetic resources they contain has the potential to play an important role in adapting vegetable varieties to the new challenges faced by farming systems. However, the risk of losing the material is considerable due to collection management procedures and facilities. Their impact on society is thus currently limited as accessible to science and breeding is limited. Targeted investments or changes of priority could improve the situation considerably and should therefore be considered to be urgent. Farmers would benefit greatly from seed companies having better access to genebank materials to breed better varieties, and achieving this requires the building of partnerships with more public, private and civil society organizations.

For more information, read the report, available here

Schreinemachers P, Pruangwitayakun S, van Hintum T, Jamora N, van Zonneveld M. 2024. An assessment of vegetable seed collections in selected Southeast Asian genebanks. Publication No. 24-1087. World Vegetable Center, Shanhua, Tainan, Taiwan. 11pp.

This work is an output from the Taiwan-Asia Vegetable Initiative (TAsVI), funded by the Taiwan Ministry of Foreign Affairs. It is implemented by the World Vegetable Center, in partnership with the Taiwan Agricultural Research Institute (TARI) National Plant Genetic Resources Center; Malaysia Agriculture Research and Development Institute (MARDI) Horticulture Research Centre; University of the Philippines Los Banās (UPLB) Institute of Plant Breeding, and Bureau of Plant Industries (BPI), the Philippines; Kasetsart University, Tropical Vegetable Research Center (TVRC), and Department of Agriculture Horticulture Research Institute national genebank, Thailand; and Fruit and Vegetable Research Institute (FAVRI), and Vietnam Academy of Agricultural Sciences (VAAS) Plant Resource Center (PRC), Vietnam.