2008B

iove

rsit

y In

tern

atio

nal

Annual Report

Contents

Bioversity’s modus operandi is based firmly on working with others, leveraging our funds and abilities so that we not only achieve results, but also help to build capacity in those we work with and for. So strong and plentiful are these links, however, that to list them all in every case would make for a very long and dry document. In the following stories some of our partners have been mentioned by name while others have not, but we would like to take this opportunity to thank them all. Bioversity depends on partnership and partners to get the job done. We also acknowledge the support of all our donors, especially those that contribute unrestricted funds.

Bioversity office locations ii

Foreword 1

Maintaining crop and cultural diversity in the Andes 2

Bananas to alleviate vitamin A deficiency 5

Why pop just corn? 8

High-density plantain plantations: Lessons from Latin America 10

Fruitful cooperation will deliver enhanced opportunities 12

Mapping biodiversity data the DIVA way 14

GRPI scours the globe for fresh thought on genetic policy 16

Coconut embryos cross the Atlantic to safe new home 18

Tomorrow’s coffee, straight from the freezer 20

Agricultural biodiversity on the world stage 22

World Bank invests in hunt for super-chocolate 24

Finance report 2008 26

Risk management 27

Restricted grants 2008 28

Selected publications 33

Projects 37

Establishment agreement 38

Board of Trustees 38

Professional staff 39Bioversity International is the operating name of the International Plant Genetic Resouces Institute (IPGRI) and the International Network for the Improvement of Banana and Plantain (INIBAP).

Supported by the CGIAR

ii

Major Programme andRegional Of�cesOther of�ces

Turrialba, Costa Rica

Cali, Colombia

Heverlee, Belgium

Aleppo,Syria

Douala, Cameroon

Cotonou, BeninKampala, Uganda

Nairobi, Kenya

Serdang, Malaysia

Los Baños, Philippines

Beijing, China

New Delhi, India

Tashkent, Uzbekistan

Bioversity HQ, Rome, Italy Montpellier, FranceRome, Italy

Addis Ababa,Ethiopia

Bioversityoffice locations

That ancient Chinese curse—may you live in interesting times—does not actually seem like all that much of a curse today. We are living in interesting times, and while they may raise challenges they also offer opportunities.

Perhaps the most interesting change of the past year has been the agreement, at the annual meeting in Maputo of the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR), to move ahead with the Change Management Process. This represents a real breakthrough for international agricultural research. The details have still to be agreed, of course, but it looks like a more efficient system will be with us towards the end of 2009. In essence this will see centres collaborating and cooperating as they work together to deliver on the CGIAR’s new objectives. It will also see donors accepting their responsibility to maintain a level of funding that allows centres to plan with reasonable security from year to year. The importance of partnerships and strategic alliances between centres and partners has also been recognized in the proposed organizational structures. Perhaps the biggest change is that the Consortium of ‘doers’ and the Council of Donors will in effect have a contractual relationship, through performance contracts, which should help to ensure that the poor for whom we work receive the very best scientific and technical research to improve their lives.

Bioversity played an important role in the wide-ranging discussions that culminated in the adoption of the various reports from the Change Management Process working groups, and we look forward to continuing to contribute to a new and invigorated CGIAR.

In June 2008 Bioversity was tasked with representing the Alliance of CGIAR Centers at the High-Level Conference on World Food Security: the Challenges of Climate Change and Bioenergy, called by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO). As soaring food prices gripped the public’s attention, what was planned as a scientific and technical meeting, to the preparations for which Bioversity scientists made considerable contributions, turned into a high-level government summit.

Among pledges of further emergency aid, it was important to put the case for increased investment in research for medium- and long-term solutions. Without continuing, and indeed increased, support for agricultural research and development the world runs the risk of repeated emergencies with no response apart from crisis and tragedy. This is a message that development agencies too seem to be receiving, and contingent on the further progress of the CGIAR Change Management Process we can look forward to the increased support that a more sustainable future requires.

We remain convinced that agricultural biodiversity is an absolutely vital resource that offers vast potential not only for the sustainable intensification of production, but also for better nutrition and for adaptation to and mitigation of the impacts of climate change. Demonstrating the benefits of that potential and ensuring that people are able to make best use of agricultural biodiversity are enormously interesting tasks that we regard as a blessing, not a curse.

Emile Frison Tony Gregson Director General Board Chair

Foreword

2

As Bioversity’s researchers and their partners have accumulated experience and evidence from their studies of how and why local people make use of agricultural biodiversity it has become clear that success takes more than merely identifying genetic resources. A project being implemented in collaboration with partners in Bolivia (PROINPA) and in Peru (CIRNMA) and supported by the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) is seeking ways to encourage farmers and consumers to use a broader selection of crops. One area in which it is working is the Andean mountains of South America.

The project identified two villages in Bolivia, Santiago de Okola and Coromata Media, both near Lake Titicaca about 60 km north-east of La Paz, one of Bolivia’s two capital cities. The villages still maintain a broad diversity of native crops and a survey in 2008 provided a snap-shot of these crops and how they fit into the local culture—not only production systems

but also the social uses and social calendar of the villages.

“Some of these crops play a particular role in the local culture,” said Stefano Padulosi, leader of the project. “For example, quinoa plays a special part in All Saints Day celebrations on 31st October, during which people use quinoa flour to prepare small figures of llamas. These are made by all the male members of the community, from the youngest to the eldest. These traditions contribute to keeping these crops in cultivation—but as the society evolves and ‘modernizes’ these links with the past are being lost.”

Previous work in Bolivia showed that one of the main reasons why consumers are giving up on some of the traditional crops is that they require a lot more work to process them and make them ready to eat. For example, the seed coat of quinoa must be removed before the grain can be cooked or further processed into flour, and this was taking several

The Andes are the origin of many crops, including potatoes and tomatoes, and the people of the region may have domesticated as many as 70 different crop species, including roots, grains, legumes and fruits. Bioversity continues to work to promote and protect that diversity.

Maintaining crop and cultural diversity in the Andes

A scene on the road leading from La Paz to Santiago de

Okola: waiting for the bus to bring local produce to the

nearest town market. S. P

adul

osi

/Bio

vers

ity

Inte

rnat

iona

l

�

hours with traditional methods. The project developed a simple mill that removed the seed coats in a matter of minutes and even preserved better the nutritional value of the seed (see ‘Quinoa: a delicate balancing act,’ Bioversity Annual Report 2006, p. 17).

Alas, surveys in 2008 showed that despite the mills local crops were having little impact on people’s diets. Most of the traditional foods have been replaced by processed carbohydrates—bread, pastries and pasta—in the diet. These foods are cheap and quick to prepare, making them more convenient than the traditional crops.

“The mill solved part of the problem—the time it takes to process the seed—but consumers were still faced with a lack of modern recipes for the traditional crops,” noted Padulosi. A particular gap was convenient high-energy snacks that children like so much. There is also the problem that traditional crops are thought of as ‘food of the poor’ and a resultant lack of a ready market for the crops. “This is one of the difficulties in working with neglected and underutilized crops,” said Padulosi. “With commodity crops, the whole chain is in place—the agronomic practices to get the best out of the crop, processing technology, markets, distribution systems, the

policy environment. But with neglected species, you are always starting from scratch.”

One of the ways the project addressed both the lack of practical recipes and the image problem of the crops was through a link-up with Alexander Coffee, a chain of coffee shops in Bolivia that targets middle- and upper-

income coffee drinkers in Bolivia’s larger towns and cities. “The owner of Alexander Coffee, Carmen Quezada de Prado, heard about our work and offered to join our promotion of traditional crops through her coffee shops,” said Padulosi. The coffee shops ran a series of events, each focusing on a specific Andean grain crop (quinoa, cañihua and amaranth) and each lasting several weeks. They produced posters and factsheets about the crops, big banners and table displays in all the shops, and they developed a whole range of products using that particular crop. “There were cakes and biscuits, salads and tacos, all kinds of things,” enthused Padulosi.

Sales of the local products were very good during these campaigns and customers, Bolivians and foreigners alike, commented enthusiastically on them. The project is now monitoring continuing sales and public perceptions of the crops among Alexander Coffee’s customers to see if the effects last.

Efforts at promotion help to raise awareness of these crops and to create markets for them. But there is also the question of how to ensure that diversity is maintained within each of the target crops. “We are making progress in promoting these neglected species,” said Padulosi, “but how can we ensure

S. P

adul

osi

/Bio

vers

ity

Inte

rnat

iona

l

Women from Santiago de Okola are proud to offer

traditional snacks and drinks made from quinoa and

cañihua to visiting Bioversity and PROINPA staff.

S. P

adul

osi

/Bio

vers

ity

Inte

rnat

iona

l

�

that these enhanced markets will benefit the tens of varieties grown by local farmers and not just one or two?”

To tackle that challenge, the project is investigating the nutritional quality and suitability for different kinds of food processing technology of several varieties, looking for those with attractive market traits. Good popping quality is vital for making ‘popcorn’-type snacks (see also p. 8) while good extrusion character is essential for pasta and pastries. “The wider the diversity we are able to mobilize within each crop, the greater will be the options we can create for making neglected and underutilized species economically viable, useful and enjoyable to people today and in the future,” said Padulosi.

Encouraging farmers to continue growing these traditional crops is also a challenge. “Money is not the only answer,” said Padulosi. The project is looking at a whole range of mechanisms, such as seed fairs at which awards are presented to farmers who put the greatest range of diversity on show, or who demonstrate innovation in conserving and using diversity. “Social prestige is often worth more than money in these traditional societies,” said Padulosi. “Recognizing the role played by farmers as custodians of local diversity is a powerful way to reinforce the self-esteem of community members and thus to contribute towards a self-sustainable and virtuous circle for on- farm conservation.”

Maintaining diversity at the farm level requires the maintenance of traditional production systems. These too are under threat as younger generations migrate to towns. Agritourism is a potential solution that the project is looking into. “The two villages we are working with are close to one of the most visited tourist sites on Lake Titicaca, the Isla del Sol in Bolivia. The problem is that most tourists visit only the Isla del Sol and don’t go to other places around the lake because there are not enough facilities for their stay,” said Padulosi. “We decided to explore whether the villagers could benefit from tourism by providing simple accommodation and encouraging people to take an interest in traditional

agriculture in the area.” Working with a Bolivian NGO, La Paz on Foot, and two Italian NGOs that have worked on similar schemes in Ecuador—UCODEP and Movimondo—the project has helped farmers to build simple huts for visitors and trained farmers to present their work to visitors, to demonstrate their crops and local farming practices and to prepare a variety of foods based on native crop resources for tourists.

“The local farmers are shy people, not used to being tour guides,” noted Padulosi. “But initial results are promising and we are seeing more visitors to the area.” The next step is for the project to monitor the effects of agritourism on the maintenance of crop and livestock diversity.

Padulosi stressed the importance of maintaining the traditional crops and varieties and the knowledge associated with them. Already there is evidence of local impacts of climate change in the project area; places that were commonly frost-free are seeing frequent frosts. Quinoa, once popular in these areas, is susceptible to frost, and several farmers are switching to cañihua, a more cold-tolerant Andean grain. Similar changes are likely to be needed in the future as these farmers face new challenges. Without crop diversity and the knowledge needed to grow, process and use that diversity, their options are going to be very limited.

Further informations.padulosi@cgiar.org

S. P

adul

osi

/Bio

vers

ity

Inte

rnat

iona

l

Young people from Santiago de Okola gave Bioversity

staff traditional dress in recognition of their efforts to

establish agritourism.

S. P

adul

osi

/Bio

vers

ity

Inte

rnat

iona

l

Quinoa growing in the fields outside Santiago de Okola.

�

Roughly half of the world’s population suffers from some degree of vitamin A, iron and zinc deficiency, and one of the great challenges to current nutrition and health policies is to deliver a sustainable increase in dietary intakes of these micronutrients in afflicted areas. Bioversity has long worked to improve nutrition by promoting an increased overall diversity of diet. At the same time the organization has not neglected biofortification, which is the idea of increasing the nutrient contents in staple crops. Bananas and plantains

(Musa spp.) are just such a staple food for millions of people, especially in the developing world. In some parts of the world, for example the Pacific, a single orange-fleshed banana can provide the entire adult daily requirement of vitamin A precursors. Might a similar approach be available in Africa?

Bioversity, as part of the CGIAR’s HarvestPlus Challenge Program, undertook the task of assessing and logging nutritional variability in bananas and plantains. The broad aims were to help breeders and nutrition experts to make the most of existing Musa varieties by analyzing which have the highest micronutrient levels and how best they might be grown, harvested, stored, prepared, processed and consumed to retain micronutrients. At the most practical level, the project has set out to ensure that these varieties become easily available to the undernourished people who need them most.

Mark Davey, a project team member based at Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, in Belgium, recently reported encouraging progress in screening bananas and plantains for vitamin A precursors and other micronutrients. To date more than 170 different varieties have been screened for the provitamin A carotenoids (pVACs) contents in their fruit, and a subset of 47 of those have been screened for iron and zinc.

The results show that there is a lot of variation in mean concentration of fruit pulp pVACs among the different banana and plantain varieties and that varieties with high fruit pVACs are widely distributed across the different genome groups, but only at a low frequency. It takes no great leap

How much genetic variability is there in the world’s banana and plantain varieties for provitamin A and micronutrient content? Bioversity asked the question a couple of years ago and the answers are just in.

Bananas to alleviate vitamin A deficiency

How much variation in vitamin A precursors does

the outward diversity of bananas hide?

Mar

k D

avey

�

of faith to see that the introduction of such varieties into the diet at modest and realistic levels of consumption has the potential to improve the vitamin A status of people who depend on bananas and plantains.

“We did a study to see what the impact of using high-pVACs varieties would be on vitamin A deficiency using household data from plantain-

growing regions of Ghana,” explained Inge van den Bergh, Bioversity’s project coordinator. “We predict it would reduce the burden of illness by almost a fifth, and it would be more cost-effective than other kinds of intervention.”

By contrast, concentrations of iron and zinc were low and showed limited variability among the varieties, even

where the different types were grown under widely-differing environments and soil types.

“This knowledge provides us with the necessary data and new hope for developing a successful banana and plantain breeding programme for new varieties with enhanced nutritional content and for the direct introduction to farmers of varieties that are naturally rich in carotenoids,” said Davey.

The study demonstrates that within the Musa germplasm pool there is abundant genetic diversity in the levels of vitamin A precursors in the fruit. In the past it had been assumed that there just was not enough variation to make Musa worth exploring for better nutrition though biofortification. In fact the existing diversity can be exploited both to identify varieties potentially suitable for direct introduction in afflicted regions and to use in breeding programmes to increase the vitamin A content of this very important staple food.

Another important consideration in favour of this approach is that farmers traditionally grow a wide range of banana and plantain varieties. It would thus be relatively easy to integrate varieties high in vitamin A precursors into the production systems, and they would probably prove acceptable to consumers too.

On the negative side, the high sterility of most banana and plantain varieties means that breeding for such traits is likely to be a lengthy process. And the

Colour charts help field workers to evaluate varieties,

but laboratory analysis is essential to confirm

impressions.

A. L

ane/

Bio

vers

ity

Inte

rnat

iona

l

Mar

k D

avey

�

challenges do not stop there. Before the widespread introduction of new and possibly unfamiliar types of banana and plantain can take place, detailed agronomic trials will have to be carried out to optimize production conditions.

Another potential problem is that previous results from plantain breeding have indicated an inverse relationship between the intensity of the orange colour of fruits (which is linked to the amount of pVACs) and suckering growth. In other words, pale-fleshed varieties produced good

suckers that fruited relatively quickly, a good thing for farmers, while more orange-fleshed varieties produced small suckers and took longer to fruit. It remains to be seen whether these two traits—growth cycle and pVACs—can be uncoupled from each other, or whether breeding for fruits with high pVACs automatically has an adverse effect on the performance of the variety.

Worldwide there are well over a thousand banana and plantain varieties, which suggests that as more germplasm is screened it should be

possible to identify novel sources of types rich in vitamin A precursors. However, in contrast to other crops, the degree of genotypic variation in iron and zinc is limited in Musa. Thus, while bananas may become a much richer source of vitamin A, people and researchers will have to look elsewhere for iron and zinc. Fortunately, there are many other local crops that can meet those needs.

Further informationi.vandenbergh@cgiar.org

Bananas and plantains vary widely in their provitamin A carotenoids (pVACs) contents.

pVACs-rich cultivars could help overcome vitamin A deficiency in diets of people who depend on bananas and plantains.

Accession namepVACs content

(µg/100 g fresh weight)

Bantol Red 3456.9

Henderweyargh 3340.8

Pusit 2751.9

Iholena Lele sub var ‘Long Peduncular’ 2593.0

Batard 2371.7

Katimor 2203.0

Chek Tuk 1666.3

Chek Porng Moan 1611.2

Senorita 1573.3

Oonoonoo Kengoa 1387.7

Popo’ulu Lahi 1258.3

Klue Kai Boran 1235.1

Oonoonoo 1049.7

Popoulou 864.8

Popo’ulu Aulena 852.4

Essang 793.2

Maoli ‘Ele’ele sub var Hinupua’a 788.3

Maoli ‘Ctar-kona’ 659.5

Gros Michel 650.9

Manameg Red 607.3

Kunaimp 401.8

Ebang 376.3

Nakitembe 329.3

Mbwazirume 271.6

Klue Kai Thong Ruang 201.2

Cachaco 189.3

Cavendish 153.1

Grande Naine 90.0

Williams 78.9

Yangambi km5 45.8

8

Recent years have seen a dramatic increase in ‘snack culture’ in Kenya. Office workers and especially children grab a quick bite at lunch time and even between meals, and the snacks are commonly sugar-based confectionaries or, increasingly, French fries. These energy-rich foods are associated with increasing incidence of obesity and other non-communicable diseases such as diabetes and heart disease. Recent years have also seen Bioversity and its partners take an increasing interest in traditional and neglected crops.

Could these two trends feed one another?

“I was looking for technologies that we could promote that would encourage people to grow and use traditional crops,” said Yasuyuki Morimoto, a Bioversity scientist. “I remembered the excitement of pop-cereals from when I was a child in Japan. Just the sound of the grains popping would set me off looking for the pop-cereal seller.”

This set Yasu to thinking whether this could be a way to provide healthier snacks as well as create new markets for traditional grains and seeds. These once-popular crops have lost ground in recent years to ‘exotic’ grains, such as maize and wheat. Although these exotics can give high yields under ideal conditions they lack the pest resistance and climatic adaptation of their traditional rivals, and so are often poorly adapted to the conditions found on smallholder farms in the East African highlands. What is more, traditional crops are commonly more nutritious, containing higher levels of vitamins and minerals than the upstarts.

Yasu tracked down a blueprint for a popping machine from a colleague in

Japan and found a Japanese engineer, Hideki Ishigaki, working at Kaplong Youth Polytechnic near Kericho, Nairobi, who was able to build a prototype of the machine using locally available materials. He then linked up with the Matayos Self-Help Youth Group in Matayos village in Busia district, near Kenya’s western border with Uganda, to test the popper on local cereals and grains. Busia is a centre of diversity for sorghum and finger millet and large numbers of landraces are still grown there.

Bioversity’s work with farmers and markets in Kenya took a new turn in 2008 with a project that looked at a novel way to develop markets for traditional grains and seeds in Africa—‘popcorn’ made from sorghum, finger millet, rice, green gram and a host of other ‘unfashionable’ seeds.

Why pop just corn?

Farmer harvesting sorghum.

Y. M

ori

mot

o/B

iove

rsit

y In

tern

atio

nal

�

“We wanted to see if the popper would work with local crops and if there would be a market for the pop-cereals,” Yasu said.

There were a few initial problems with the popper, which called for some re-engineering. The machine is basically a high-pressure pressure cooker. Internal pressure reaches about 10 times atmospheric pressure, compared with only twice atmospheric pressure for an ordinary pressure cooker. The prototype had problems with losing pressure during popping. If the pressure drops too much the whole batch of seed can be lost, which small producers could not afford. Current success rates average between 50 and 60% of seeds popping, which cuts into profitability, so work on modified seals is ongoing.

Initial tests of the popped cereals have been very promising. The Youth Group made ‘popcorn’ from many different

traditional crops, and people in the village have shown an interest in these novel snacks. The Youth Group has been running a series of experiments with different grains, testing their popping behaviour and which ones customers like best. They have also tested different popping recipes, trying different pressures, cooking times, flavourings and packing. So far, they have developed recipes for 13 different crops, including sorghum, millets and cowpea. The next batch of experiments will look at different landraces of the crops, to identify the better poppers among them. This is likely to be fruitful because other crops, such as chickpeas and beans, have varieties specifically selected for good popping.

But still there is the issue of the market for the popped cereal. “Rural people don’t have much money to spare for ‘luxuries’ like popcorn,” Yasu noted. So the focus is turning to the environs of Nairobi, where disposable incomes are higher and access to the Nairobi urban market is greater.

“We have a programme of events lined up building on the leafy vegetables work,” said Yasu (see ‘Back by popular demand,’ Bioversity Annual Report 2007, p. 10). “We plan to piggyback promotion of these novel popped cereals on those events.”

It’s early days yet, but it looks like pop-cereal will help bring some of the traditional crops of the Kenyan highlands back to their former prominence. Farmers get fresh options and new markets, and consumers get a nutritious and tasty snack that is also good for the environment.

Further informationy.morimoto@cgiar.org

Some of the grains the project has popped (left to

right): red sorghum (Sorghum bicolor), finger millet

(Eleusine coracana) and rice (Oryza sativa).

Y. M

ori

mot

o/B

iove

rsit

y In

tern

atio

nal

Y. M

ori

mot

o/B

iove

rsit

y In

tern

atio

nal

Demonstrating the popper in the market.

10

Banana and plantain farmers who try to obtain better yields by increasing the number of plants in their field will eventually be confronted with the law of diminishing returns. Tightly packed plants compete with each other for nutrients, water and sunlight. The results are smaller bunches and a longer wait between planting and harvesting.

Nevertheless, when Sylvio Belalcázar and his team based at the Instituto Colombiano Agropecuario, now CORPOICA, were asked in the late 1970s to breathe new life into the cultivation of plantain, they started experimenting with high-density planting to realize economies of scale. “The demand for food was growing,” recalls Belalcázar, “and we had to find a way to increase yield without increasing production costs so as to avoid a rise in the price of plantain.”

The lessons learned as they tested and fine-tuned the practice in various

locations have now been distilled into a practical guide by some of the Bioversity scientists and partners who took part in the scientific validation of high-density plantations in Latin America and the Caribbean. The guide, currently available in Spanish only, concentrates on those aspects of high-density planting that are fundamental for achieving the best returns: the preparation of uniform planting material and irrigation.

A high-density plantation contains at least 2000 to 2500 plants per hectare, roughly double the 1000 to 1500 plants per hectare of a conventional plantation. But there is more to successful high-density planting than just increasing the number of plants per hectare. Success depends on starting with good-quality planting material of uniform size, and then making sure that the plants grow in lockstep.

Farmers are advised to start with tissue-culture plantlets—a practice currently popular mostly in China and the Philippines where the price of in vitro plants is low—or microcorms, which are obtained from the offshoots or suckers that grow at the base of the plant. The suckers are collected when they are still small and are carefully prepared to eliminate any damaged tissue before being planted in bags. When they are large enough the plants are sorted by size and planted out in the field. Most farmers will prefer to set up their own nursery to replant their fields. The guide recommends replanting after every harvest but Luis Pocasangre, scientist for Bioversity’s Commodities for Livelihoods (CfL) Programme in Latin America, adds that they can also wait and replant after two harvests. “Two crop cycles is OK,” he says, “but no more.”

Latin America invented the large-scale cultivation of bananas for the export market. Researchers there are now perfecting an intensive production system that promises better returns to farmers.

High-density plantain plantations: Lessons from Latin America

Carefully selected offset corms, graded for size, being

grown in a farm nursery.

L. P

oca

sang

re/B

iove

rsit

y In

tern

atio

nal

11

Farmers must start with uniform planting material in order to prevent larger plants from stunting the development of smaller ones growing in their shadow. The guide also advises farmers to spread their harvest by planting different parts of their fields at different times of the year. “But farmers might decide to concentrate their harvest at the one time of the year when production is low, and demand and prices are high,” says Charles Staver, who coordinates projects on sustainable production in Bioversity’s CfL Programme. Of course, if many farmers do the same the price differential will decline, but even in the absence of a monetary incentive farmers may prefer concentrating production, he adds. Those who opt for spreading their harvest have to find steady buyers for their bananas.

High-density plantations are taking off across the region. In Nicaragua, Piero Cohen, a particularly successful farmer who owns a 650-hectare high-density farm in Chinandega, exports part of his production to the US, El Salvador and Honduras, where much of it is sold fresh or processed into chips. In the Dominican Republic, where about 5000

hectares are planted at high densities with a hybrid (FHIA-21) developed by the Fundación Hondureña de Investigación Agrícola, Dominican farmers sell to companies that make banana chips as well as to local supermarkets. According to Ramon Jimenez of the Instituto Dominicano de Investigaciones Agropecuarias y Forestales, the hybrids are so popular that farmers are looking for more planting material to start up production in new areas and to replant old fields. But nowhere are FHIA hybrids more popular than in Cuba, where farmers have succeeded in cramming as many as 4000 plants per hectare into their fields. The plants are replaced every year, mainly because if the farmers didn’t uproot them, hurricanes would.

FHIA hybrids offer the possibility of reducing or eliminating pesticides. Indeed, the primary motivation of Cuban farmers who use them is the lack of money to buy pesticides. But even without the help of disease-resistant varieties, high-density planting reduces the build-up of pests such as weevils and nematodes, because the fields are regularly replanted with material that mostly does not contain pests.

High densities are also said to create a microclimate that hinders the development of the fungus causing black leaf streak (better known as black Sigatoka). Farmers who are growing susceptible varieties and have always used pesticides will probably continue

doing so, notes Staver, but high-density planting offers them opportunities to cut down on pesticide use. There is similarly no proscription against using herbicides to remove weeds, as an alternative to removing them by hand or mechanically until the crop plants can shade them out. Weeds compete for nutrients and water and are not compatible with successful high-density planting, explains Pocasangre, who also stresses the importance of a constant supply of water.

Plantains require at least 2000 mm of water a year to ensure normal development, and dry spells during the critical period of fruit formation can translate into the loss of up to 70% of production. To avoid such mishaps, farmers are advised to irrigate their field. Maintaining an irrigation system and a nursery on top of managing a field of thousands of plants is obviously not within the reach of resource-poor farmers. Even though economic studies in Costa Rica have shown that high-density planting can increase net returns by up to US$1000 per hectare per year compared with low-density semi-perennial systems, the barrier to entry is high.

“High-density planting is for relatively well-off farmers who have the capacity to scale their investments in response to commercial opportunities,” notes Thierry Lescot, a banana scientist at the French agricultural research and development institute, CIRAD.

Staver agrees that “many challenges exist to adapt components of this intensive production system to the conditions of small farmers”. Higher-quality and more-uniform planting material, as well as more frequent replanting, are some of the practices that will be tested by farmer groups in four Latin American and Caribbean countries in a new Bioversity project funded by the Regional Fund for Agricultural Technology (FONTAGRO). The objective is to see which combinations of technologies contribute to improving the livelihoods of farmers who have less to invest than those who have already adopted high-density planting.

Further informationc.staver@cgiar.org

L. P

oca

sang

re/B

iove

rsit

y In

tern

atio

nal

Bunches, bagged to protect them from pests, await

harvest in a high-density plantation.

12

Signed in December 2008, Bioversity’s newest project funded by the Global Environment Facility (GEF) aims to help farmers to make use of selected tropical fruit trees to sustain their communities and by doing so to conserve the genetic diversity of those species and their wild relatives. The project is an outgrowth of a previous tropical fruit project funded by the Asian Development Bank (see ‘Tropical fruit project grows to maturity,’ IPGRI Annual Report 2002, p. 29).

The five-year project focuses on four tropical fruits (and their wild relatives) and four countries. The countries are India, Indonesia, Malaysia and Thailand, and the four fruits are citrus (Citrus spp.), mango (Mangifera indica), mangosteen (Garcinia mangostana) and rambutan (Nephelium lappaceum). Each is highly diverse and economically

important within one of the target countries, but no single country has the full range of genetic diversity of any of the target fruits. Efforts by any one of them would thus be fragmented in terms both of conserving and of using the diversity, but because partners in the four countries had positive experiences from the previous project they agreed to work together and thus to benefit from the resulting synergies. Each country has already identified project sites, which in total will involve some 36 communities.

The total project budget is US$10.3 million, with US$2.6 million coming from Bioversity, US$3.6 million from GEF and the rest largely from partners. The main driver for the project is that the four chosen fruits have historically formed important components of cultivated and natural

The project title is a mouthful—Conservation and Sustainable Use of Cultivated and Wild Tropical Fruit Diversity: Promoting Sustainable Livelihoods, Food Security and Ecosystem Services—but it should deliver tasty results for farmers and conservation.

Fruitful cooperation will deliver enhanced opportunities

Bhu

wo

n S

thap

it/B

iove

rsit

y In

tern

atio

nal

Citrus and other tropical fruits are important sources

of nutrition and income.

1�

ecosystems, but the cultivation of all four is now threatened to a greater or lesser extent. An additional benefit of the chosen species is that they contain important nutrients that can play a part in a healthy diet. The project will develop and implement appropriate conservation procedures for the target species and focus on the management and sustainable use of diversity by user groups. Ultimately, the aim is to establish a landscape-level community-based management model for safeguarding tropical fruit tree genetic resources, biological wealth and vital ecological functions over the long term.

“We will be adopting on-farm and in situ approaches to use and conservation,” said Bhuwon Sthapit, the Bioversity scientist who coordinates the project.

Conservation using traditional ex situ approaches has proved to be only a partial solution, because it fails to address the loss of wild diversity and does not preserve the ecosystem conditions that are critical for the ongoing evolution of fruit tree diversity. “It also does not meet the needs of rural communities,” says Sthapit. One approach he is eager to try will be to establish certification systems that can boost the market value of products that make use of tropical fruit diversity.

The project has been many years in planning and will now move forward into the first phase of implementation, as the several partners in the four countries start their work on the ground. The close cooperation among the partners—fostered during the Asian Development Bank project—augurs well for the wide applicability of the effort. “A regional, networked approach maximizes the variation that we can look at, ecosystem and genetic, and will let us learn lessons that have wider applicability than if we worked in one country with a limited set of species, ecosystems and political and economic systems,” Sthapit pointed out.

Sthapit adds that there is a clear need to identify and implement good practices for the management of tropical fruit tree diversity that can contribute to reducing rural poverty. “That is why an important aspect of the project to

accomplish this is to build the capacity of farmers and institutions to identify and apply the relevant good practices in their local contexts.”

The project strategy is community-centred and emphasizes both local governance and participation; a key element is to study the decisions that local people make and the actions they take with the resources that they have. Sthapit stresses one particular aspect of these studies: “We really need to understand better the gender roles that characterize local management of natural resources. Women play a vital role in the use and conservation of all genetic diversity—including fruit trees—and it will be important to learn what they have to say.”

Further informationb.sthapit@cgiar.org

Women play a central role in the conservation and marketing of diversity.

Bhu

wo

n S

thap

it/B

iove

rsit

y In

tern

atio

nal

Outcome 1: Diversity of tropical fruit tree genetic resources is conserved in situ and on-farm through improved knowledge of its value, use and sustainable management practices.

Outcome 2: Rural communities benefit by using methodologies and good practices for the management and conservation of tropical fruit tree species and intraspecific diversity.

Outcome 3: Stakeholders have the capacity and leadership skills to apply good practices for managing tropical fruit tree diversity for sustainable livelihoods, food security and ecosystem health.

Anticipated outcomes

1�

How do you calculate the amount of biodiversity in an area? Many studies divide the target area into smaller areas of equal size (often squares in a grid), calculate a measure of diversity in each area and then compare that figure to the measure in the other units. There is software that can undertake the geographical part of such analyses but off-the-shelf packages can be expensive and difficult to learn.

In 2000, to address this need and others, Bioversity and the International

Potato Center (CIP), with the financial support of the CGIAR’s System-wide Genetic Resource Programme (SGRP), developed a package called DIVA-GIS. From the start, the intention was to give national plant genetic resources programmes and regional networks the tools they needed to assess the genetic diversity they were working with. Now in its sixth generation, the software is freely available to all users, along with tutorials. It has modules

The geographic distribution of agricultural diversity is an important consideration at all stages of genetic resource exploration and conservation, yet difficult to visualize and analyze. Software called DIVA-GIS gives mere mortals and diversity scientists the power to map.

Mapping biodiversity data the DIVA way

DIVA maps accessions from a genebank database given

their latitude and longitude. By clicking on each point the user has access both to the data in the accession database and to

current and predicted future climatic data.

1�

specifically tailored to the needs of scientists working in the field of biological diversity, giving them access to complex analyses at the click of a button and without the need for a GIS specialist.

“One feature of DIVA that is incredibly useful is the ability to find the geographic coordinates for a germplasm accession based on the description of where the accession was collected,” enthused Andy Jarvis, one of the developers of the system. Geographic coordinates—latitude and longitude—are commonly missing from germplasm databases, but many accessions have a record of where they were collected, at least in terms of the name of the country and the name of the nearest town or village, often with additional details such as the distance and direction from the town or village to the collecting site. DIVA can use this information to estimate the geographic coordinates of the collecting site by searching a global database of place names to find the best match.

“I remember when we mapped a collection of 3000 peanut accessions by hand,” said Jarvis with feeling, “looking up place names in atlases and on maps. It took us several months. Now you could do the same thing in DIVA in a matter of hours.”

DIVA-GIS makes it easy to perform integrated analyses of biodiversity data, from mapping diversity to understanding species’ environmental

adaptations and predicting their distribution. It contains global datasets of present-day climatic variables and various projections through to the year 2055, as well as datasets on land cover, topography and population.

Thousands of people around the world are now using DIVA-GIS in a wide range of ways. A search on Google Scholar for “DIVA-GIS” found more than 100 publications in 2007 and 2008 that used or referred to the DIVA-GIS software, ranging from modelling the geographic distribution of invasive ant species in New Zealand to identifying regions of rapid diversification of mammals in California, with plenty of examples from the field of plant genetic resources. Analyses can help to guide germplasm conservation, from prioritizing areas for collecting missions to planning in situ conservation areas. DIVA-GIS can also be used to identify accessions that are likely to have particular environmental adaptations that could be fed into breeding programmes or distributed to farmers in anticipation of climate change.

What started out as a simple piece of software to map diversity in germplasm collections has now become a mainstay piece of publicly available software for biologists across the world.

Further informationa.jarvis@cgiar.org

DIVA can predict where a species occurs (in red), using a ‘climate envelope’ for current or future climates.

1�

“Genetic resources policy-making at the international level was going in circles at the time,” recalled project leader Michael Halewood. “We wanted to break away from that and directly involve field stakeholders—farmer groups, unions, junior officials and the like—to see if we could get away from the staleness of discussions at the international level.”

In 2002, with the backing of the Netherlands and Canada, a raft of colleagues across the world embarked

on what became known as the Genetic Resources Policy Initiative (GRPI). Now, after nearly seven years of studies and deliberation, the GRPI project has come to a close. Not surprisingly, Halewood reports mixed success with, for example, really fresh thinking on the need for impacts on genetic diversity to be considered alongside assessment of environmental impact when planning large-scale developments or policy changes.

The highlights, however, are tempered by low points, such as the realization that there is no a naïve ’state of nature’ in the minds of lower-level officials, farmers, traders and advisors when it comes to the subject of genetic regulation. “We were a little surprised how frequently we heard back the same words and ways of describing problems from folks working in communities and national programmes. Clearly, the international discourse—once polarized—permeates to all levels,” Halewood noted ruefully.

Seven years ago the Genetic Resources Policy Initiative set out to break the policy-making log-jam blocking progress in the management of plant genetic resources, moving down from high-level debate to the grass roots. Did it succeed?

GRPI scours the globe for fresh thought on genetic policy

Pet

er D

eup

man

n

Peter Deupmann (in the white shirt), a GRPI consultant, listens to farmers in Nepal as they discuss genetic resources policy.

1�

The project owes its origins to discussions in the 1990s within the so-called Crucible Group on how policies affected the stewardship, control and use of genetic resources. Analyses that followed, by both Bioversity and the International Development Research Centre of Canada (which funded the Crucible Group and then GRPI), highlighted disturbing trends in areas such as increasing controversy over competing claims for control of genetic resources; tensions among stakeholders that threatened future conservation; and the growing risks of over-hasty decision-making under pressure from obligations to implement international agreements.

On top of that list of issues, there was seen to be a need to define and advance specific national priorities within the context of international agreements and discussion. As a result, GRPI was developed to strengthen policy research and formulation capacities in the field of genetic resources at national and subregional levels. The ’big idea’ was that an inclusive approach was likely to produce more robust, effective and legitimate policies.

To ensure delivery against these aims, GRPI was carefully designed to provide resources, time, technical support and, above all, a context for focused genetic resources policy activities involving teams of stakeholders.

The project operated initially in six countries (Egypt, Ethiopia, Nepal, Peru, Vietnam and Zambia), with one more—Uganda—added at a later stage, and also in two regions—West-Central Africa and East Africa. The selection of countries and regions involved an extensive consultation process which was then followed by the identification of national and regional institutional hosts and governance units: Task Forces. It was the Task Forces that then became the central mechanism for ensuring widespread participation and inclusiveness in project governance and activities (see ‘Genetic Resources Policy Initiative,’ IPGRI Annual Report 2002, p. 6).

At the heart of the GRPI approach has been the ‘3M modus operandi’:multistakeholder involvement, multi-disciplinary coverage and multisecto-

ral participation. First, the 3M teams conducted national surveys to identify opportunities for policy development. Then they agreed upon the kinds of research and capacity building that would be necessary in support of those policy developments. The 3M teams then guided, and sometimes participated in, those research and capacity-building activities. Through-out the process, the 3M teams reached out to involve policy-makers in order to ensure the uptake and use of their targeted products.

The 3M modus operandi is unrivalled in achieving inclusiveness, but the investment of time and resources required is substantial. Hard, proactive work is needed to ensure the inclusion and continued participation of groups as diverse as farmers and the private sector. This is an essential dimension, and yet it proved to be one of the most challenging.

Halewood is convinced that GRPI owes much of its success to the fact that its inclusiveness raised the profile of the project in participating countries, created respect and legitimacy with authorities, and provided a welcome model for individual governments to take forward a more consultative, inclusive approach to genetic resource policy-making.

“There were definite surprises,” Halewood recalled. Work in Egypt uncovered novel thinking on the need for genetic resources impact assessments in development planning, in the same mould as the very much more common environmental impact assessments. “This is a shift in policy ideas that is likely to have substantial and beneficial international impacts. It will take a while, but if we are able to build on this example, 5 to 10 years from now, impact assessments of genetic resources for food and agriculture may be pretty wide-spread,” he concluded.

Elsewhere, as a result of GRPI’s activities, laws were drafted and

even approved and papers were published analyzing policy options and summarizing data to inform policy development. The project also published several reports on issues such as farmers’ rights, seed systems, the economics of on-farm conservation and participatory processes. Two multi-authored books that will bring many of these threads together are in the final stages of production.

Yet, from the outset, GRPI also sought to bring about change as much as to deliver tangible products. A measure of success here is the much improved culture for genetic resources policy-making in the participating countries and strengthened national abilities to engage in 3M analysis. Equally significant has been the learning that has gone on in parallel with these developments. The GRPI process has served as an experiment in participatory policy research that really can inform future work. It also demonstrated, once again, the need for projects to build in protracted, in-depth relationships with national partners, both for the development of relevant products and to ensure that those products get picked up and used by the people who need them most.

Halewood expresses his genuine satisfaction that the GRPI methods—though slow—do work and do deliver. He hopes one outcome of GRPI will be a positive impact on the effective implementation of the International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture and on the development of a more thriving interface between formal and informal seed systems.

“When we started the project, the Treaty still wasn’t in force. GRPI matured along with the Treaty, and has already given rise to some spin-off contributions of significance to the Treaty’s Governing Body,” Halewood said. “Some additional GRPI outputs will be contributed to the Governing Body and can also help to inform the FAO Commission on Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture’s discussions on access and benefit-sharing as it affects agricultural genetic resources.”

Further informationm.halewood@cgiar.org

18

A foil packet in a conventional genebank can contain thousands of individual seeds. Coconuts are seeds too, and also need safeguarding, but they are much too big to be stored in a genebank. What’s more, they cannot be dried for long-term storage, even if there were room. That makes field genebanks necessary. But establishing safety duplicate collections around the world raises problems. The obvious solution is to move the mature seednuts, produced from carefully hand-pollinated flowers to preserve their genetic identity. The problem is that in addition to being big and bulky, they could carry diseases. Years ago Bioversity and its partners drew up guidelines for the safe international movement of coconut genetic diversity, and since then have been trying to promote the use of less risky methods, such as moving just the embryos found within the seeds.

The embryo of a coconut is slightly bigger than a grain of wheat, and sits beneath one of the three eyes in the shell. It can be quite easily cut out with a plug of coconut meat around it and then grown into a seedling using standard tissue-culture techniques.

“That was OK for some transfers,” says Luz Maria George, Coordinator of COGENT, referring to earlier embryo

culture efforts, “and the researchers optimized the procedures, but there was no large-scale success.”

George and the manager of the new regional genebank in Brazil, Semíramis Ramalho Ramos, got together to plan how to make the most of Brazil’s very limited budget for establishing the new facility. With individual seednuts costing US$4 for dwarf varieties and US$14 for talls (because pollination is so much more difficult; see ‘Raising a new generation of coconut trees,’ Bioversity Annual Report 2006, p. 20)

Brazil and the International Coconut Genetic Resources Network (COGENT) recently decided to establish a regional coconut genebank in Brazil, to serve Latin America and the Caribbean. Implementing the decision, however, was anything but straightforward.

Coconut embryos cross the Atlantic to safe new home

S.R

.R. R

amo

s/E

mb

rap

a

Disinfecting seednuts prior to excising the embryos.

S.R

.R. R

amo

s/E

mb

rap

a

Coconut embryos are extracted from seednuts along with plugs of coconut meat.

1�

a lot of the funds would have gone on the raw material.

“We decided to use embryo transfer, and we planned very carefully to anticipate all the potential problems,” George said. That meant obtaining no fewer than nine official documents for each batch of embryos and several others that would be helpful. A crucial concern for Brazil was lethal yellowing disease, which is not present in the country. All the donor trees had to be certified as free of the disease.

It turned out to be cheaper to fly Ramalho Ramos and Ana da Silva Lédo, a tissue culture expert, to Côte d’Ivoire, rather than relying on a courier firm to deliver the embryos. This would also avoid the distressing possibility of paying all that money for the seednuts, collecting the embryos and then having them accidentally forgotten out in the sun to shrivel and die. With planning reminiscent of a military campaign the two scientists arrived at the field genebank, bringing with them sterilized supplies from Brazil, and proceeded to process nuts every day for a week. There are scores of steps, from disinfecting the exterior of the seednuts to packing the excised embryos in insulated boxes. As George said, “It isn’t rocket science, but you have to implement it properly.”

They ended up with more than 2300 plugs from 12 varieties, the numbers calculated to allow for a level of embryo failure based on previous efforts that would still leave more than enough individuals of each variety to populate the field genebank.

Back in Brazil, the Ministry of Agriculture had to inspect the plugs containing the embryos before any further work could be done. With that certificate in hand the embryos were

cut from the plugs and incubated in a growth medium. Of the 2141 embryos that arrived intact and could be processed further, just 32 (1.4%) were contaminated with fungi, while 354 (15.3%) suffered bacterial contamination. These rates are low, compared with previous studies, showing that the meticulous procedures were effective, but they also indicate that a focus on bacterial contamination is likely to be valuable for future research.

More assessments will take place as time goes on, from the survival rate of the excised embryos to the successful establishment of the trees in the field genebank. These data are crucial to the future use of embryo transfer for coconut, a fact recognized by the Global Crop Diversity Trust, which funded a training and research workshop in the Philippines in December 2008. The workshop enabled participants to discuss the practical aspects of embryo transfer and to share results in order to come up with recommendations for how best to implement the protocol to improve the chances of success.

The Trust is keen to see a rationalized system put in place for the long-term conservation of coconut using efficient and safe techniques for moving coconut diversity around. “The workshop showed that neglecting one small point in the protocol can result in a very expensive loss of germplasm. There is no reason why that has to happen,” said Charlotte Lusty, coordinator of the Trust’s coconut project. More seednuts are being produced in Côte d’Ivoire, and COGENT has invited applications from regional genebanks to host some of the varieties as a safety duplicate and to further refine the embryo-transfer techniques.

“We need a little more research to make the protocol even more robust,” said George. “And the technique needs to be implemented properly and meticulously.” To that end, a proposal has been put to the Rural Development Administration in Korea, which is fast becoming a powerhouse of tissue culture and cryopreservation in the region, to train researchers in the correct techniques and to create a global collection of cryopreserved coconut diversity.

Further informationj.engels@cgiar.org

S.R

.R. R

amo

s/E

mb

rap

a

Seednuts, the result of controlled pollination, start their journey to Brazil.

S.R

.R. R

amo

s/E

mb

rap

a

20

There exists a curious irony in the world of coffee. To a coffee grower, farming for example in the highlands of Ethiopia, the lack of diversity among her coffee bushes must be set against the mind-boggling range of coffee and coffee products available to affluent consumers in developed countries. The endless menu of lattes, cappuccinos, frappes, espressos, Americanos and mochas is barely on the same planet as the coffee grower.

Globally then, coffee is big business. It is now the world’s most valuable traded agricultural commodity, with an annual export value in excess of US$6.2 billion. Most coffee-producing countries are in the developing world, where coffee is grown predominantly by small-scale, often poor, farmers, to whom the coffee trade is vital for their livelihoods.

Of course, the success of the crop—and of the whole coffee industry built upon it—depends on the availability of diversity to enhance the genetic base of coffee. This is needed to provide resistance to pests and diseases such as coffee berry disease, coffee

rust, fusarium wilt, bacterial blight, nematodes and major insect pests, as well as adaptation to abiotic stresses such as climate change and drought. And on top of all that, there is the drive to enhance the aroma and flavour.

In 1998 The State of the World’s Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture, published by FAO, noted 21 000 accessions of coffee, and all this diversity has traditionally been conserved in field genebanks, which present real challenges in conservation and security. A single cyclone in Madagascar, for example, could destroy the unique field collections of Mascarocoffea species that are so important for delivering traits of low or zero caffeine. And that’s not just speculation; a cyclone did destroy the coffee collection at Ilaka Est. Fortunately the collection was duplicated at another site on the island, Kianjavato, and only a few accessions were lost.

Across the world many field genebanks, not just coffee, are thought to be equally vulnerable as a result of environmental and economic factors, such as pests and diseases, weather, fire, vandalism,

Economic and technical arguments are winning over sceptics in the battle to use cryopreservation to safeguard the world’s coffee diversity.

Tomorrow’s coffee, straight from the freezer

Sté

pha

ne D

usse

rt/I

RD

Coffee beans germinating successfully after being

frozen to -196 ̊C.

21

lack of funds and policy changes. For real security and future diversity, a new approach is needed.

Step forward cryopreservation. With this ‘super-freezing’ technique, living tissues are conserved at -196 ºC in liquid nitrogen, to arrest the cells’ metabolic activity. Carried out with the help of precise protocols, cryopreservation allows plant material to be stored without alteration or modification for a theoretically unlimited period of time.

Enthusiasts for the method point to the fact that cryopreserved plant cultures are stored in small spaces, are protected from contamination and require very little maintenance. While some species, such as banana, are increasingly well catered for in cryopreservation, until now there

have been doubts about the practical delivery of coffee cryopreservation and about whether the economics of this approach stack up.

For the past 15 years or so, Bioversity and many of its partners have invested in the development and adoption of cryopreservation by researching, testing and documenting protocols; by training technicians and scientists; and by supporting the acquisition of equipment for cryopreservation. As part of this effort, a survey of gene-bank managers and cryopreservation specialists was carried out in 2006 to assess the obstacles. One fascinating result identified by the survey is a general belief that cryopreservation is expensive, even though very few studies have analyzed the actual costs and effectiveness of cryopreservation and even fewer have gone further to compare the costs with those of maintaining field genebanks.

A new study led by Ehsan Dulloo, a Bioversity scientist, focused on a comparison of costs in maintaining one of the world’s largest field collections of coffee with those of establishing a coffee cryocollection at the Centro Agronómico Tropical de Investigación y Enseñanza (CATIE) in Costa Rica. Bottom line: cryopreservation costs less (in perpetuity per accession) than conservation in field genebanks. A comparative analysis of the costs of both methods showed that the more accessions there are in cryopreservation storage, the lower the per-accession cost.

The team’s calculations show the initial cost for the establishment for a cryocollection with 2000 accessions (US$110 055 or US$55 per accession) is less than that of a field collection of some 1992 accessions (US$138 681 or US$69.62 per accession). These figures are in the same cost range (US$50–75) as that reported by others—such as the USDA for the establishment of a cryopreserved temperate fruit collection at Corvallis on the US west coast.

A vital partner in the work was the Institut de recherche pour la dével-oppement in France, Dulloo noted. The cryopreservation technique was developed by IRD in the framework

of joint projects with Bioversity and CATIE, and the beauty of the protocol is that it allows the cryopreservation of whole seeds. “Most cryopreserva-tion conserves parts of the plant, like cells or just the growing tip, and these then need to be grown into whole plants to regenerate the collection. Cryopreservation of whole seed makes regeneration very easy and much less expensive,” Dulloo explained. IRD’s experience also enabled the detailed cost calculations of the project.

To keep those costs to a minimum in future, the solution may well be a regional or global cryopreserved collection for coffee germplasm (as demonstrated by other crops such as Musa). This would allow the costs of cryopreservation and the benefits derived from germplasm conservation to be shared amongst partner countries.

Further informatione.dulloo@cgiar.org

Sté

pha

ne D

usse

rt/I

RD

Coffee seedlings from cryopreserved beans growing on strongly.

22

Rainforests and coral reefs will get lots of attention in 2010, as will blue whales and pandas, but Bioversity is seiz-ing this opportunity to make sure the world gains a better appreciation of the importance of biodiversity in agri-culture. To that end, on 22 May 2008—the International Day of Biodiversity—Bioversity launched a global campaign called ‘Diversity for Life’.

The launch took place at the Teatro Eliseo in Rome, Italy, before an invited audience of policy-makers and opinion-shapers, with a round-table discussion that included notable contributions from Emile Frison, Bioversity Director General, and Professor Gian Tommaso Scarascia-Mugnozza, President of the Italian Academy of Sciences and a long-time supporter of Bioversity. The discussion was moderated by Italian television and radio journalist, Emanuela Falcetti.

To complete the launch the world-renowned Orchestra di Piazza Vittorio gave a special performance. “The orchestra features about 20 musicians from as many countries and embodies the importance of cultural diversity,” said Ruth Raymond, campaign organizer and Head of the Public Awareness Unit at Bioversity. The performance began with a short film in which the members of the orchestra talked about the foods they grew up with and how important their diverse food traditions were to each of them.

Diversity for Life has targeted several countries around the world that will be running coordinated campaigns in the run-up to 2010. In Kenya, for example, Japhet Kareke Mbiuki, an Assistant Minister of Agriculture and Livestock, launched the campaign at a conference organized with the National Museums of Kenya. Later, the Kenyan President,

The United Nations has declared 2010 to be the International Year of Biodiversity. A global campaign launched by Bioversity seeks to ensure that agricultural biodiversity is not forgotten.

Agricultural biodiversity on the world stage

Fran

cesc

o D

emic

helis

/Bio

vers

ity

Inte

rnat

iona

l

Prof. Gian Tomasso Scarascia-Mugnozza (left) spoke of Bioversity’s long-standing role as champion of international efforts to conserve and use agricultural biodiversity.

2�

Mwai Kibaki, and Agriculture Minister, William Ruto, spent time admiring a Bioversity display of traditional African leafy vegetables.

In Italy, plans are already well advanced for an initiative called ‘Teaching the Teachers,’ supported by the National Academy of Science Teachers, the Italian Academy of Sciences and the National Research Council. Teachers are working with Bioversity scientists to develop lesson plans that showcase agricultural biodiversity. “We hope to launch those on the International Day of Biodiversity 2009,” Raymond said, “and then to extend the lesson plans into other subjects, like literature, history and geography, and to other countries.”

The campaign is also looking for backing for an oral history project, in which schoolchildren would document the food and culture recollections of their parents and grandparents. The records they gather will form a valuable corpus for further study, and will also enable children from different cultures to connect with one another using modern communications tools, thus helping to spread an awareness of the importance of agricultural diversity and its strong links to cultural diversity and well-being.

Further informationr.raymond@cgiar.org

The reception that followed the launch of the global

campaign, Diversity for Life, gave guests an opportunity

to examine the many exhibits highlighting the campaign’s

themes of cultural and agricultural diversity while sampling food from eight

countries.

Fran

cesc

o D

emic

helis

/Bio

vers

ity

Inte

rnat

iona

l

Fran

cesc

o D

emic

helis

/Bio

vers

ity

Inte

rnat

iona

l

F. D

emic

helis

/Bio

vers

ity

2�

In the world of chocolate, not all cacao varieties are created equal. Across Latin America and the Caribbean, for example, many small growers produce crops from nondescript ’ordinary’ varieties of cacao. But, like gold dust, thinly scattered through this bulk are a few ’super’ varieties that offer extraordinary taste and high quality to discerning lovers of chocolate.

The problem is, while buyers know a good bean when they taste one, the growers have not known how to identify these rare and valuable cacao gems and keep them separate. If this challenge could be cracked, cacao growers would have a premium crop and consumers would have a big smile on their faces.

The World Bank recently decided to help fund the development of a solution. A proposal from Bioversity to use genetic fingerprinting to identify important cacao diversity was one of the happy winners among 22 finalists selected from 100 proposals competing in Washington DC in the World Bank’s Development Marketplace 2008. This annual competition helps trawl innovative projects to find those showing the most promise for improving the lives of farmers in developing countries. And as an extra bonus, Hannes Dempewolf, the young scientist at the heart of the project, had a rare chance to explain the merits of the work direct to the World Bank President, Robert B. Zoellick. “He was impressed with the underlying ‘conservation through use’ philosophy,” Dempewolf reported.

Project leader Jan Engels is a senior scientist at Bioversity with long experience of cacao diversity. “I am very pleased with the Bank’s decision,”

he said. “This will encourage farmers to conserve cacao diversity for the best of reasons—because it earns them more money.”

At the core of the project is an effort to develop standardized, reliable methods to identify valuable beans. The approach depends on the sequence of some DNA that is separate from the chromosomes that carry the bulk of a plant’s genes. These independent DNA elements, found in organelles called plastids, are generally unique to individual varieties. Until recently it has been just too costly to carry out routine sequencing of this plastid DNA, or plastome, in order to identify cacao varieties. New science now makes it both feasible and economic.

A proposal from Bioversity International to use cutting-edge molecular biology to identify the best that traditional cacao has to offer was one of the winners in the World Bank’s 2008 Development Marketplace.

World Bank invests in hunt for super-chocolate

J. E

ngel

s/B

iove

rsit

y In

tern

atio

nal

Super-cacao or run-of-the-mill? New molecular tools will provide the answer.

H. D

emp

ewo

lf/B

iove

rsity

Inte

rnat

iona

l

2�

J. E

ngel

s/B

iove

rsit

y In

tern

atio

nal

Dempewolf is studying for a PhD at the University of British Columbia (UBC) in Vancouver, Canada, and is closely involved with the molecular work. “This is like DNA fingerprinting for varieties,” he explained. Unlike chromosomes, plastids very rarely exchange genetic material during sexual reproduction. So the plastomes of individual varieties tend to be fixed and identifiably different from one another. The fingerprinting delivers unequivocal labelling of distinct, specific cacao varieties. In the past year it has become possible to sequence entire plastomes with the speed and reliability required to make the project work and now both UBC and the United States Department of Agriculture are contributing their extensive expertise in DNA analysis to aid the project.

In the field, the hunt for cacao ’gold dust’ is to be trialled first in Trinidad and Tobago, where farmers who specialize in older, high-quality varieties routinely receive double the world price for their crop. While older is not necessarily better, cautions Engels, the exciting part of this work is the bringing together of the two highly innovative strands of cutting-edge molecular technology and participatory variety selection.

Victoria Henson-Apollonio, head of the CGIAR’s Central Advisory Service for Intellectual Property, is also excited by the direction of the project. “There is a lot of interest in gourmet chocolates,”

she said. Discerning consumers demand single-source, sustainably-produced chocolate. In turn this drives increasing interest among commercial buyers in cocoa of proven quality from particular places, which should benefit local producers. “But only if their cacao can be authenticated,” added Henson-Apollonio. “This project could give us a way to know which cacao varieties produce premium chocolate and ensure that the beans going into processing are indeed from those varieties.”

This World Bank-funded project on cacao adds to Bioversity’s portfolio on this valuable crop. A €500 000 project, funded by the Austrian Development Agency is helping farmers in Nicaragua

to identify and process top-quality beans, linking them with buyers for chocolate gourmets in North America and Europe. And a project funded by the Common Fund for Commodities is adopting a participatory approach to cacao selection and breeding, working with farmers in 10 countries around the world (see ‘New approaches to cacao breeding,’ Bioversity Annual Report 2006, p. 14). For the smallholder farmers who grow 90% of the world’s cacao, projects such as these offer a route to better livelihoods.

Further informationj.engels@cgiar.org

J. E

ngel

s/B

iove

rsit

y In

tern

atio

nal

An experienced ‘nose’ helps identify the best cacao, but DNA finger-printing is more reliable.

Working with growers to compile the results of trials of their trees.

2�

The financial indicators at the end of 2008 suggest that Bioversity is financially in a strong position and will continue to remain fiscally healthy for the foreseeable future.

A major new fundraising initiative was launched in the UK, targeting foundations, trusts, the corporate sector and wealthy individuals. The process of registering a charity in the UK, to be named Bioversity International (UK), commenced, and its founding Board of Trustees was established. As a result of a fundraising visit to the USA, Bioversity was pleased to receive its first donation from a wealthy individual at the end of the year.

Gerard O’Donoghue Director, Corporate Services

It was a challenging year for Bioversity in financial terms. The impact of the global financial crisis and fluctuating Euro/US dollar exchange rates meant that finances had to be managed very carefully. As a result of continuing support from many of our key donors and careful budgeting and management, including limiting expenditures, we finished the year with an operating surplus of US$182 000. Total revenues for the year were US$38.5 million, an increase of US$0.3 million on 2007 revenues of US$38.2 million. However, if the additional 2007 contribution from the European Commission (to make up for the 2006 shortfall) is excluded the real increase was US$2.1 million. Expenditures were US$38.3 million which resulted in the operating surplus of US$182 000 for the year.

The small operating surplus was necessary to maintain the organization’s reserves at the 81–82-day level. This is within the CGIAR’s recommended minimum range of 75–90 days. Bioversity’s liquidity reserve level of 120 days lies within the CGIAR’s recommended range of 90–120 days.

The CGIAR also looks at two other financial indicators to assist and monitor the financial performance of centres. These are the indirect cost ratio, which reflects the level of overhead in the organization, and the management of donor receivable/payable ratio, which reflects the flow of funds from committed donors. I am happy to note that Bioversity, at 18.9%, is towards the bottom end of indirect cost ratios in the CGIAR system. Our donor receivable/payable ratio at 0.81 is also commendable.

Financereport 2008

Despite considerable challenges Bioversity finished the year with a small surplus that contributed to healthy financial indicators.

Donors supporting Bioversity with unrestricted funds, 2007 and 2008

2008 2007

Australia 221 188

Belgium 1 148 880

Canada 1 152 898

China 130 120

France 410 351

Germany 540 397

India 75 75

Ireland 925 541

Italy 2 999 3 512

Japan 15 12

Korea, Republic of 50 50

Malaysia 10 10

Netherlands 2 193 2 165

Norway 1 045 721

Philippines 17 18

Portugal 275 0

South Africa 40 0

Sweden 735 577

Switzerland 685 620

Thailand 10 10

United Kingdom 1 630 1 955

USA 350 325

World Bank 1 760 1 800

Total - Unrestricted Grants

16 415 15 225

2�

Bioversity’s Board of Trustees has responsibility for ensuring that an appropriate risk management system is in place which enables management to identify and take steps to mitigate significant risks to the achievement of the centre’s objectives.

Risk mitigation strategies have been ongoing at Bioversity and include the implementation of systems of internal control which, by their nature, are designed to manage rather than eliminate the risk. The organization also endeavours to manage risk by ensuring that the appropriate infrastructure, controls, systems and people are in place throughout the organization.

The Board has adopted a risk- management policy that has been communicated to all staff together with a detailed management guideline. The policy includes a framework by which the organization’s management identifies, evaluates and prioritizes risks and opportunities across the organization; develops risk mitigation strategies that balance benefits with costs; monitors the implementation of these strategies; and reports, in conjunction with finance and administration staff and internal audit, semi-annually to a Task Group of the Board and annually to the full Board, on results.

The Board is satisfied that Bioversity has adopted and implements a comprehensive risk management system.

Risk management

Breakdown of total expenditure (%)

0

20

40

60

80

100

Depreciation Operational travel Collaborators/Partnership costs Supplies and services Personnel cost

2008 2007

Financial indicators

2008 2007 2006

Total income US$ 000s 38 454 38 244 32 337

Total expenditures US$ 000s 38 272 36 525 34 811

Year-end results US$ 000s 182 1 719 -2 474

Short-term liquidity Days 120 123 104

Long-term reserves Days 81 82 67

Indirect cost ratio % 15.93 16.2 15.5

Cash management on restricted operations 0.81 0.49 0.61

Top 20 donors to Bioversity in 2008

US$’000

Netherlands 4 681

Italy 3 751

World Bank 3 269

UNEP/GEF1 3 006

Belgium 2 859

European Union 1 893

United Kingdom 1 630

Switzerland 1 549

Canada 1 295

Norway 1 045

CFC2 946

Ireland 925

Global Crop Diversity Trust 866

Germany 787

Sweden 735

Austria 536

Uganda 515

IFAD 509

France 410

USAID 350

1 United Nations Environment Programme/ Global Environment Facility 2 Common Fund for Commodities

28

Restrictedgrants 2008

For the Year Ended December 31, 2008 (US dollar 000s)

AAS/AFORNET

Use and conservation of indigenous fruit tree diversity for improved livelihoods in Eastern Africa 7

ACIAR

Mitigating the threat of banana Fusarium wilt: Understanding the agroecological distribution of pathogenic forms and developing disease management strategies 105

Alliance of the CGIAR Centers Central Advisory Service on Intellectual

Property—CAS-IP 161

Austria Developing training capacity and human

resources management 222

Sustainable futures for indigenous smallholders in Nicaragua: Harnessing the high-value potential of native cacao diversity 182

Development of strategies for the conservation and sustainable use of Prunus africana to improve the livelihood of small-scale farmers 132

Subtotal 536

Belgium Improving livelihoods in Musa-based systems in

Central Africa 1351Support for maintaining the International Musa

Collection 360

Subtotal 1711

Brazil

Establishment of the International Coconut Genebank for South America and the Caribbean 50

Amazon Initiative research activities 8

Subtotal 58

Catholic Relief Service

Strengthening the capacity of the regional NARS to sustainably manage the outbreak of BXW in East and Central Africa (Crop Crisis Control) 97

CFC Cocoa productivity and quality improvement: A

participatory approach 653Promotion of exports of organic bananas in

Ethiopia and Sudan 292

Farmer participatory evaluation and dissemination of improved Musa germplasm 1

Subtotal 946

CGIAR CSO Programme

Native cacao in northern Ecuador: Using native cacao to reduce poverty and conservation of globally important biodiversity in northern Ecuador 14

Christensen Fund

Reviving biocultural heritage: Strengthening the socio-economic and cultural basis of agrobiodiversity management for development in Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan 80

A voice for Vavilov: Using modern means of communication to address cultural and agricultural biodiversity and promote a global conversation 38

Establishment of a Platform for Agrobiodiversity Research—web-based framework for participatory interaction on seeds conservation and use of agrobiodiversity by communities to manage climate change 76

Subtotal 194

CIDA Global Plan of Action implementation in

selected sub-Saharan Africa countries 100

CGIAR–Canada linkage fund: Understanding and managing the genetic diversity of Noug (Guizotia abyssinica) for its improvement 43

Subtotal 143

CIRAD

Structural, functional and comparative annotation platform dedicated to plants’ and their bioaggressors’ genomes 2

CORAF/WECARD

Sustainable use of biodiversity: Deepening the methodological basis of participatory plant breeding 6

CTA Co-publication of a self-learning manual on

Seed Handling in Genebanks, phase I 8

European Commission Conserving and promoting the use of resources

of commodity crops 1011Conservation and sustainable use of the forest

and other wild species 532

Establishment of a European Information System on Forest Genetic Resources (EUFGIS) 147

2�

Networking on conservation and use of plant genetic resources in Europe and Asia (DIVERSEEDS) 55

Evoltree network of excellence 148

Subtotal 1893

European Countries

ECPGR—Phase VII 811

EUFORGEN—Phase III 382

Subtotal 1193

FAO Publication of the Plant Genetic Resources

Newsletter 37Development of Typo3 web-based projects and

knowledge-sharing platforms 50

Knowledge Fair 50Using markets to promote the sustainable

utilization of crop genetic resources 7Thematic study on biodiversity for food and

nutrition 5The impact of climate change on genetic

resources for food and agriculture 4

Workshop on climate change for SBSTTA 13 70Organization of the task force meeting of the

GIPB 34Expert consultation on climate change and

biodiversity for food and agriculture 25

Chapter 1 and Chapter 2 FAO SOW_PGRFA 14International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources

for Food and Agriculture (IT-PGRFA) 24Occurrence and importance of genetic

vulnerability studies 3

Subtotal 323

FONTAGRO

Plantain technological innovations in production, processing and marketing: Improving the quality of life in rural communities in four Latin American and Caribbean countries 64

Soil quality and health of bananas in Latin America and the Caribbean 7

Subtotal 71

Gates Foundation Agricultural Geospatial Information Leveraging

Environment (AGILE) 14

GFAR

Associate Scientist—Montpellier, France 95

Global Crop Diversity Trust

Crop-specific regeneration guidelines 27

Regeneration of accessions in the international coconut genebank for Africa and the Indian Ocean 5

The long-term funding of ex situ collections of germplasm held by Bioversity International 250

Conserving banana diversity for use in perpetuity 177

Development and refinement of cryopreservation protocols for the long-term conservation of vegetatively propogated crops 17

Workshop: Coconut embryo culture to improve collecting and safe movement of germplasm on behalf of Bioversity International 70

GRENEWECA 59

ALIS—Global system for information exchange for the conservation and use of plant genetic resources for food and agriculture 254

Regeneration and safety duplication of regionally prioritized crop collections: REDARFIT 7

Subtotal 866

GRDC

Vavilov-Frankel fellowships 22

GTZ / BMZ Global Facilitation Unit for Underutilized

Species 93

Postdoctoral project: Assessing the contribution of diversified Musa genetic resources to poverty reduction, environmental sustainability and gender equality in rural communities 94

Publication of ‘Gene flow between Crops and their Wild Relatives in Centres of Crop Origin and Diversity’ 52

Promotion of neglected indigenous vegetable crops for nutritional health in Eastern and Southern Africa—Phase II 8

Subtotal 247

HealthNet TROSustainable agricultural and health practices for

enhancement of nutrition and health status of smallholder communities in Gitega and Butembo 10

�0

1. The following provided support for CacaoNet: Biscuit, Cake, Chocolate and Confectionery Association, World Cocoa Foundation and Mars, Inc

2. The following provided support for CAS-IP: ICRISAT3. The following provided support for CGIAR-ICT/KM Coordination:

Alliance of the CGIAR Centers and World Bank.4. The following provided support for the Genetic Resources Policy Initiative

(GRPI): IDRC, The Netherlands and Rockefeller Foundation.

Restrictedgrants 2008

ICARDA

Musa crop register activity 14

IDRC Adaptive management of seed systems and

gene flow (Mexico, Cuba and Peru) 4

Managing agriculture for better nutrition and health, improved livelihoods and more sustainable production system in SSA 196

Subtotal 200

IFAD

Programme empowering Sahelian farmers to leverage their crop diversity assets for enhanced livelihood strategies 78

Programme for strengthening the income opportunities and nutritional security of the rural poor through neglected and underutilized species (NUS II) 215

Programme for overcoming poverty in coconut-growing communities: Coconut genetic resources for sustainable livelihoods 104

Technical support to IFAD’s Technical Advisory Division—second contract 48

Technical support to IFAD’s Technical Advisory Division—third contract 40

Technical support to IFAD’s Technical Advisory Division—third contract 24

Subtotal 509

IITA

Banana tissue culture 1

IFAR IFAR 2008 fellowship—Armenia (Nelli

Hovhannisyan) 11

International Foundation for Science (IFS) Proposal writing workshop on neglected and

underutilized species of plants 22

International Organization Development (IOD) ILAC initiative: Impact evaluation research

scoping study and project design 40

Italy Associate Expert—Institutional Learning and

Change 106

Associate Expert—2010 campaign 23

Productivity, resilience and ecosystem services from community management of diversity in production systems 156

In situ conservation and use of forest and other wild species 311

Policy and law 156

Subtotal 752

Japan Community plant genetic resources use and

conservation in East Africa 201

Japan CGIAR Fellowship Program (JIRCAS): Assessment for farmer’s crop diversity management and use in Kenya 3

Subtotal 204

Korea, Republic of

Associate Scientist 120

Associate Scientist—operational fund 40Documentation of useful plant genetic

resources in Asia-Pacific-Oceania region 27

Subtotal 187

Luxembourg

Conservation and maintenance of grapevine (Vitis L.) genetic resources in the Caucasus and Northern Black Sea region 8

Conservation, characterization and evaluation for nutrition and health of vegetatively propagated crop collections at the Vavilov Institute 202

Subtotal 210

Malaysia

Conservation and use of rare tropical fruit species diversity with potential for enhanced use in Malaysia 3

Multi-Donors to CacaoNet1

Support to CacaoNet expenditure 30

Multi-Donors to CAS-IP2 Consultancy Services for Inter-Centre

Collaboration 13

Multi-Donors to CGIAR-ICT/KM Coordination3

Chief Information Officer expenditure 300Multi-Donors to Genetic Resources Policy Initiative—GRPI4

Genetic Resources Policy Initiative expenditure 255

Netherlands Associate Expert—Supporting research on

agricultural biodiversity 72Associate Expert—Conservation and use of

tropical fruit biodiversity 67

�1

Associate Expert—Conservation and use of crop diversity for pest and disease management 93

Associate Expert—Management of forest genetic resources 99

Associate Expert—Nutrition 102Associate Expert—Economic and social

aspects of agrobiodiversity 107

Associate Expert—Assessing the potential contribution of banana-based production systems to improve nutrition 100

Associate Expert—Communicating agro-biodiversity science for problem-based learning 96

Associate Expert—Platform for Agricultural Biodiversity Research 21

Central Advisory Service on Intellectual Property—CAS-IP 918

Innovating for sustainable poverty reduction 813

Subtotal 2488

Nordgen

PhD student 123

NZAID Pacific Agricultural Plant Genetic Resources

Network (Papgren)—Phase II 121

Peru

Development of Andean grain crops with potential for ensuring people’s nutrition and poverty alleviation 47

Philippines Coconut-based diversification to reduce

poverty in coconut-growing communities 11Introduction, evaluation and adoption of new

banana materials in the Philippines 4Conservation and use of tropical fruit species

diversity in the Philippines 50

Subtotal 65

Pioneer

Vavilov-Frankel Fellowship 10

Portugal Conservation strategies and the role of forest

genetic resources in Mozambique 94

SDC In situ conservation of agricultural biodiversity—

Phase IV 17

Strengthening the scientific basis of in situ conservation of agricultural biodiversity—Phase V 336

System-wide Genetic Resources Programme 315System-wide PGR Policy Research Unit, CGIAR

and SGRP 196

Subtotal 864

SIDA

ASARECA technical backstopping to EAPGREN 8

Spain

Management, improvement and conservation of forest genetic resources in sub-Saharan Africa 35

Strengthening regional collaboration in conservation and sustainable use of forest genetic resources in Latin America and sub-Saharan Africa 150

Institutional strengthening for sustainable resource use in the Amazon region 16

Subtotal 201

Uganda

Novel approaches to the improvement of banana production in Eastern Africa: The application of biotechnological methodologies 515

UNEP-GEF

In situ conservation of crop wild relatives through enhanced information management and field application 1084

Conservation and use of crop genetic diversity to control pests and diseases—Phase 1 1145

In situ conservation of agricultural biodiversity (horticultural crops and wild fruit species) in Central Asia 777

Subtotal 3006

USDA CacaoNet 2007 and Support to CFC-Cacao

2007 31Support to Cacao Meetings and CacaoNet

2008 35

Collaboration with Bioversity International to support research and conservation of crop genetic resources 8

Subtotal 74

VVOB Associate Scientist—Technology transfer in

Eastern and Southern Africa 3

Wageningen University Feasibility study for the pesticide reduction plan

for banana 1

�2

Restrictedgrants 2008World Bank

CGIAR Genetic Resources Policy Committee 66Central Advisory Service on Intellectual

Property (CAS-IP) 100

Soil quality and health of bananas in LAC 7

Collective action for the rehabilitation of global public goods in the CGIAR genetic resources system—Phase II (GPG 2) 1036

System-wide and ecoregional program 300

Subtotal 1509

Subtotal Temporary Restricted Grants 20 602

Challenge ProgramsGeneration Challenge Program

Application and development of web services technology 10

Large-scale phylogenomic analyses to gene function prediction for Generation Challenge Program crops 27

Implementation of web services technology in the Generation Challenge Program Consortium 62

Development of tools and technology to increase the functionality of the Generation Challenge Program information platform 5

Development of Generation Challenge Program domain models and ontologies 16

Management of the Generation Challenge Program central registry and the creation and maintenance of templates for data storage in repositories 61

Subtotal 181

HarvestPlus Challenge Program

Addressing micronutrient deficiencies in urban and peri-urban populations in West and Central Africa through Musa-based foods (amendment 3) 79

Sub-Saharan Africa Challenge Program

Improving human nutrition and income through integrated agricultural research on production and marketing of vegetables in Malawi and Mozambique 112

Subtotal Challenge Programs 372

Total Restricted Grants 20 974

��

Selectedpublications

Bioversity Annual Report 2007

Geneflow 2008

Plant Genetic Resources Newsletter 152–154 (with FAO)

MusaDoc 2008

An Analysis of the Risk from Xanthomonas campestris pv.

musacearum to Banana Cultivation in Eastern, Central and Southern

Africa (with the Central Science Laboratory, UK)

Banana Bacterial Wilt Resource CD (Version 2) (with CRS, USAID,

IITA and NARO)

Conifers Network. Report of the fourth meeting (18–20 October

2003, Pitlochry, United Kingdom) (with EUFORGEN)

Data Analysis Manual for Coconut Researchers. Bioversity Technical

Bulletin No. 14 (with COGENT)

Descriptores para chirimoyo (Annona cherimola Mill.) (with CHERLA)

Descriptors for Cherimoya (Annona cherimola Mill.) (with CHERLA)

Descriptors for Hazelnut (Corylus avellana L.) (with CIHEAM and FAO)

Evaluation of Best Practices for Landrace Conservation: Farmer

Evaluation

Framework for Transforming Best Practices for Landrace

Conservation to Policies

Guía de Diagnóstico de la Calidad y Salud de Suelos Bananeros

(with FONTAGRO and MusaLAC)

Guía Práctica para la Producción de Plátano con Altas Densidades:

Experiencias de América Latina y El Caribe (with MusaLAC)

Identification and Characterization Guide for FHIA Banana and

Plantain Hybrids (with MusaLAC)

Implementing the Agricultural Biodiversity Programme of Work: The

contribution of Bioversity International and its partners

Manuel de Formation des Formateurs sur les Champs de Diversité

(with InterMondes, IUED, IER, INERA, INRAN and FIDA)

Minutes of a Joint Meeting of the Documentation and Information

Network Coordinating Group and the EURISCO Advisory Group.

Planning for the continuation of EPGRIS (2–3 April 2007, Rome,

Italy) (with ECPGR)

On-farm Management of Agricultural Biodiversity in Nepal: Lessons

learned (with LI-BIRD and NARC)

Report of a Working Group on Cucurbits. First Meeting, 1–2

September 2005, Plovdiv, Bulgaria (with ECPGR)

Report of a Working Group on Leafy Vegetables. First Meeting,

13–14 October 2005, Olomuc, Czech Republic (with ECPGR)

Report of a Working Group on Vitis. First Meeting, 12–14 June 2003,

Pali, Serbia and Montenegro (with ECPGR)

Report of the Steering Committee Meeting. Eleventh meeting, 2–5

September 2008, Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina (with ECPGR)

RISBAP Bulletin. The Banana Asia-Pacific Network Newsletter, vols

13–16 (with BAPNET)

Statistical Analysis for Plant Genetic Resources: clustering and

indices in R made simple. Handbooks for Genebanks No. 9

The Scope of Access and Benefit-sharing under the International

Treaty. Policy Brief (with SGRP)

•

•

•

•

•

•

•

•

•

•

•

•

•

•

•

•

•

•

•

•

•

•

•

•

•

•

•

Peer reviewed publicationsAl Ibrahem A, Bari A and Rashed MM. 2008. Olive genetic diversity

of Palmyra under threat. Acta Horticulturae 791:143–147.

Bélanger J and Johns T. 2008. Biological diversity, dietary diversity,

and eye health in developing country populations: establishing the

evidence-base. EcoHealth On-line first: DOI: 10.1007/s10393-008-

0180-2.

Bettencourt E, Ford-Lloyd BV and Dias S. 2008. Genetic erosion and

genetic pollution of crop wild relatives: the PGR Forum perspective

and achievements. In: Maxted N, Ford-Lloyd BV, Kell SP, Iriondo J,

Dulloo E and Turok J, editors. Crop Wild Relatives Conservation and

Use. CABI Publishing, Wallingford, Oxon, UK. pp. 277–286.

Blomme G, Swennen R, Soka G, Turyagyenda LF and Tenkouano

A. 2008. Relationship between root and shoot growth traits during

the plant crop and first ratoon in banana and plantain (Musa spp.)

and its implications for perennial cultivation on degraded Ultisols in

south-eastern Nigeria. Journal of Applied Biosciences 8(2):309–322.

Blomme G, Swennen R, Tenkouano A, Turyagyenda LF, Soka G and

Ortiz R. 2008. Comparative study of shoot and root development

in micropropagated and sucker-derived banana and plantain (Musa

spp.) plants. Journal of Applied Biosciences 8(2):334–342.

Blomme G, Turyagyenda LF, Mukasa H and Eden-Green S. 2008.

The effectiveness of different herbicides in the destruction of banana

Xanthomonas wilt infected plants. African Crop Science Journal

16(1):103–110.

Blomme G, Turyagyenda LF, Soka G and Swennen R. 2008.

Changes in leaf lamina shape and size during banana shoot

development. Journal of Applied Biosciences 8(1):280–287.

Carpentier S, Coemans B, Podevin N, Laukens K, Witters E,

Matsumura H, Terauchi R, Swennen R and Panis B. 2008. Functional

genomics in a non-model crop: transcriptomics or proteomics?

Physiologia Plantarum 133(2):117–130.

Carpentier S, Panis B, Vertommen A, Swennen R, Sergeant K,

Renaut J, Laukens K, Witters E, Samyn B and Devreese B. 2008.

Proteome analysis of non-model plants: a challenging but powerful

approach. Mass Spectrometry Reviews 27(4):354–377.

Coemans B, Takahashi Y, Berberich T, Ito A, Kanzaki H, Matsumura

H, Saitoh H, Tsuda S, Kamoun S, Sagi L, Swennen R and Terauchi

R. 2008. High-throughput in planta expression screening identifies

an ADP-ribosylation factor (ARF1) involved in non-host resistance

and R gene-mediated resistance. Molecular Plant Pathology

9(1):25–36.

Conte MG, Gaillard S, Lanau N and Rouard M. 2008. GreenPhylDB:

A database for plant comparative genomics. Nucleic Acids

Research 36 (Supplement 1):D991–D998.

Cook SE, Jarvis A and Gonzalez JP. 2008. A new global demand

for digital soil information. In: Hartemink AE, McBratney A and

Mendonça-Santos MdeL, editors. Digital Soil Mapping with Limited

Data. Springer, The Netherlands. pp. 31–41.

•

•

•

•

•

•

•

•

•

•

•

•

��

Selectedpublications

Dens K, Romero R, Swennen R and Turner DW. 2008. Removal

of the bunch, leaves or pseudostem alone, or in combination,

influences growth and bunch weight of the ratoon crops in two

banana cultivars. Journal of Horticultural Science & Biotechnology

83(1):113–119.

Dulloo ME and Maxted N. 2008. The crop wild relative specialist

group of the IUCN species survival commission. In: Maxted N,

Ford-Lloyd BV, Kell SP, Iriondo J, Dulloo E and Turok J, editors. Crop

Wild Relatives Conservation and Use. CABI Publishing, Wallingford,

Oxon, UK. pp. 651–656.

Dulloo ME, Labokas J, Iriondo JM, Maxted N, Lane A, Laguna E,

Jarvis A and Kell SP. 2008. Genetic reserve location and design.

In: Iriondo JM, Maxted N and Dulloo ME, editors. Conserving Plant

Genetic Diversity in Protected Areas. CABI Publishing, Wallingford,

Oxon, UK. pp. 23–64.

Elsen A, Gervacio D, Swennen R and De Waele D. 2008. AMF-

induced biocontrol against plant parasitic nematodes in Musa sp.: a

localized or systemic effect. Mycorrhiza 18(5):251–256.

Engels JMM, Maggioni L, Maxted N and Dulloo ME. 2008.

Complementing in situ conservation with ex situ measures. In:

Iriondo JM, Maxted N and Dulloo ME, editors. Conserving Plant

Genetic Diversity in Protected Areas. CABI Publishing, Wallingford,

Oxon, UK. pp. 169–181.

Engels JMM, Polreich S and Dulloo ME. 2008. Role of community

gene/seedbanks in the conservation and use of crop genetic

resources in Ethiopia. In: Thijssen MH, Zewdie Bishaw, Abdurahman

Beshir and de Boef WS, editors. Farmers, Seeds and Varieties.

Supporting informal seed supply in Ethiopia. Wageningen

International, Wageningen, The Netherlands. pp. 149–159.

Gallard A, Panis B, Dorion N, Swennen R and Grapin A. 2008.

Cryopreservation of Pelargnonium apices by droplet-vitrifications.

CryoLetters 29(3):243–251.

Gotor E, Alercia A, Ramanatha Rao V, Watts J and Caracciolo F.

2008. The scientific information activity of Bioversity International:

the descriptor lists. Genetic Resources and Crop Evolution

55(5):757–772.

Hajjar R, Jarvis DI and Gemmill-Herren B. 2008. The utility of crop

genetic diversity in maintaining ecosystem services. Agriculture,

Ecosystems and Environment 123:261–270.

Halewood M and Nnadozie K. 2008. Giving priority to the commons:

the International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food

and Agriculture. In: Tansey G and Rajotte T, editors. The Future

Control of Food: a guide to international negotiations and rules

on intellectual property, biodiversity and food security. Earthscan,

London, UK and IDRC, Ottawa, Canada. pp. 115–141.

Hijmans RJ, Jarvis A and Guarino L. 2008. Climate envelope

modeling: Inferring the ranges of species to facilitate biological

exploration, conservation planning, and threat analysis. In: Gibbs JP,

•

•

•

•

•

•

•

•

•

•

•

Hunter ML and Sterling EJ, editors. Problem-solving in Conservation

Biology and Wildlife Management. 2nd edition. Blackwell, UK. pp.

244–254.

Hodgkin T and Hajjar R. 2008. Using crop wild relatives for crop

improvement: trends and perspectives. In: Maxted N, Ford-Lloyd BV,

Kell SP, Iriondo J, Dulloo E and Turok J, editors. Crop Wild Relatives

Conservation and Use. CABI Publishing, Wallingford, Oxon, UK. pp.

535–548.

INFOOD, Bioversity International and FAO. 2008. Expert

Consultation on Nutrition Indicators for Biodiversity. 1. Food

composition. FAO, Rome, Italy. 35 pp.

Iriondo J, Maxted N and Dulloo ME, editors. 2008. Conserving Plant

Genetic Diversity in Protected Areas. CABI Publishing, Wallingford,

Oxon, UK. 288 pp.

Iriondo JM, Dulloo ME, Maxted N, Laguna L, Engels JMM and

Maggioni L. 2008. Final considerations for the in situ conservation

of plant genetic diversity. In: Iriondo JM, Maxted N and Dulloo ME,

editors. Conserving Plant Genetic Diversity in Protected Areas. CABI

Publishing, Wallingford, Oxon, UK. pp. 182–202.

Iriondo JM, Ford-Lloyd B, De Hond L, Kell SP, Lefevre F, Korpelainen

H and Lane A. 2008. Plant population monitoring methodologies

for the in situ genetic conservation of CWR. In: Iriondo JM, Maxted

N and Dulloo ME, editors. Conserving Plant Genetic Diversity in

Protected Areas. CABI Publishing, Wallingford, Oxon, UK. pp.

88–123.

Iskandar I, Snook L, Toma T, MacDicken K and Kanninen M. 2008.

A comparison of damage due to logging under different forms of

resource access in East Kalimantan, Indonesia. In: Moeliono M,

Wollenberg E and Limberg G, editors. The Decentralization of Forest

Governance: politics, economics and the fight for control of forests

in Indonesian Borneo. Earthscan, London, UK. pp. 173–192.

Jarvis D and Hodgkin T. 2008. The maintenance of crop genetic

diversity on farm: supporting the Convention on Biological Diversity’s

Programme of Work on Agricultural Biodiversity. Biodiversity

9(1/2):23–28.

Jarvis A, Lane A and Hijmans RJ. 2008. The effect of climate change

on crop wild relatives. Agriculture, Ecosystems and Environment

126:13–23.

Kaity A, Ashmore SE, Drew RA and Dulloo ME. 2008. Assessment

of genetic and epigenetic changes following cryopreservation in

papaya. Plant Cell Reports 27(9):1529–1539.

Keleman A, Hellin J and Bellon MR. 2008. Maize diversity, rural

development policy and farmers’ practices: lessons from Chiapas,

Mexico. Geographical Journal on-line first: DOI: 10.1111/j.1475-

4959.2008.00.

Kell SP, Laguna l, Iriondo JM and Dulloo ME. 2008. Population

and habitat recovery techniques for the in situ conservation of

genetic diversity. In: Iriondo JM, Maxted N and Dulloo ME, editors.

•

•

•

•

•

•

•

•

•

•

•

��

Conserving Plant Genetic Diversity in Protected Areas. CABI

Publishing, Wallingford, Oxon, UK. pp. 124–168.

Koskela J and European Environment Agency. 2008. European

forests – ecosystem conditions and sustainable use. European

Environment Agency Reports No 3/2008:39–40.

Kruijssen F, Sudha M, Somsri S and Hardiyanto A. 2008. Collective

action for the marketing of underutilized tropical fruits in South Asia.

Acta Horticulturae 794:173–182.

Lefèvre F, Collin E, De Cuyper B, Fady B, Koskela J, Turok J and

von Wühlisch G. 2008. European forest genetic resources: status

of current knowledge and conservation priorities. In: Maxted N,

Ford-Lloyd BV, Kell SP, Iriondo J, Dulloo E and Turok J, editors. Crop

Wild Relatives Conservation and Use. CABI Publishing, Wallingford,

Oxon, UK. pp. 178–194.

Lehner B, Verdin K and Jarvis A. 2008. New global hydrography

derived from spaceborne elevation data. Eos 89(10):94–95.

Lewis-Lettington RJ. 2008. International dimensions of plant variety

protection and informal seed supply in Ethiopia. In: Thijssen MH,

Zewdie Bishaw, Abdurahman Beshir and de Boef WS, editors.

Farmers, Seeds and Varieties. Supporting informal seed supply in

Ethiopia. Wageningen International, Wageningen, The Netherlands.

pp. 1–7.

Lewis-Lettington RJ. 2008. Biodiversity and genetic resources

access laws and informal seed supply with specific reference to

Ethiopia. In: Thijssen MH, Zewdie Bishaw, Abdurahman Beshir and

de Boef WS, editors. Farmers, Seeds and Varieties. Supporting

informal seed supply in Ethiopia. Wageningen International,

Wageningen, The Netherlands. pp. 323–331.

Lilja N and Bellon M. 2008. Some common questions about

participatory research: a review of the literature. Development in

Practice 18(4–5):479–488.

Lilja N and Bellon M. 2008. Participatory research practice at tha

International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT).

Development in Practice 18(4–5):590–598.

Louwaars NP and Engels JMM. 2008. Seed policies: enabling

support to informal seed systems. In: Thijssen MH, Zewdie Bishaw,

Abdurahman Beshir and de Boef WS, editors. Farmers, Seeds and

Varieties. Supporting informal seed supply in Ethiopia. Wageningen

International, Wageningen, The Netherlands. pp. 307–311.

Marandu YF and Kamau H. 2008. Revisiting plant genetic resources

networks in sub-Saharan Africa region. Journal of Sustainable

Development in Africa 10(1):229–245.

Maxted N, Dulloo ME, Ford-Lloyd BV, Iriondo JM and Jarvis A.

2008. Gap analysis: a tool for complementary genetic conservation

assessment. Diversity and Distributions 14(6):1018–1030.

Maxted N, Iriondo JM, De Hond L, Dulloo ME, Lefevre F, Asdal A,

Kell SP and Guarino L. 2008. Genetic reserve management. In:

Iriondo JM, Maxted N and Dulloo ME, editors. Conserving Plant

•

•

•

•

•

•

•

•

•

•

•

•

Genetic Diversity in Protected Areas. CABI Publishing, Wallingford,

Oxon, UK. pp. 65–87.

Maxted N, Iriondo JM, Dulloo ME and Lane A. 2008. Introduction:

The integration of PGR conservation with protected area

management. In: Iriondo JM, Maxted N and Dulloo ME, editors.

Conserving Plant Genetic Diversity in Protected Areas. CABI

Publishing, Wallingford, Oxon, UK. pp. 1–22.

Maxted N, Ford-Lloyd BV, Kell SP, Iriondo J, Dulloo ME and Turok

J, editors. 2008. Crop Wild Relative Conservation and Use. CABI

Publishing, Wallingford, Oxon, UK. 720 pp.

Mercer K, Martínez-Vásquez A and Perales HR. 2008. Asymmetrical

local adaptation of maize landraces along an altitudinal gradient.

Evolutionary Applications 1:489–500.

Padulosi S, Hoeschle-Zeledon I and Bordoni P. 2008. Minor crops

and underutilized species: lessons and prospects. In: Maxted N,

Ford-Lloyd BV, Kell SP, Iriondo J, Dulloo E and Turok J, editors. Crop

Wild Relatives Conservation and Use. CABI Publishing, Wallingford,

Oxon, UK. pp. 605–625.

Pitamber S, Sthapit B, Shrestha P, Upadhyay M and Yadav M. 2008.

Community seed banks: experiences from Nepal. In: Thijssen MH,

Zewdie Bishaw, Abdurahman Beshir and de Boef WS, editors.

Farmers, Seeds and Varieties. Supporting informal seed supply in

Ethiopia. Wageningen International, Wageningen, The Netherlands.

pp. 103–109.

Roux N, Baurens FC, Dolezel J, Hribova E, Heslop-Harrison P, Town

C, Sasaki T, Matsumoto T, Aert R, Remy S, Souza M and Lagoda P.

2008. Genomics of banana and plantain (Musa spp.), major staple

crops in the tropics. In: Moore PH and Ming R, editors. Genomics of

Tropical Crop Plants. Springer, New York, USA. pp. 83–111.

Rudebjer P, Eyog-Matig O and Thomson L. 2008. Biodiversity

in forestry education: what needs to change?. In: Temu AB,

Chamshama SAO, Kung’u J, Kaboggoza JRS, Chikamai B and

Kiwia AM, editors. New Perspectives in Forestry Education. Peer

reviewed papers presented at the First Global Workshop on Forestry

Education, September 2007. ICRAF, Nairobi, Kenya. pp. 270–286.

Strosse H, André E, Sági L, Swennen R and Panis B. 2008.

Adventitious shoot formation is not inherent to micropropagation

of banana as it is in maize. Plant Cell Tissue and Organ Culture

95(3):321–332.

Suganthagunthalam D, Swennen R, Elsen A and De Waele D.

2008. Host plant response of burrowing nematode resistant Musa

genotypes to the root-knot nematode, Meloidogyne incognita.

Communications in Agricultural and Applied Biological Sciences

73(1):219–222.

•

•

•

•

•

•

•

•

•

��

Thormann I, Durah K, Gaiji S, Lane A and Dulloo ME. 2008. Crop

wild relatives information—developing a tool for its management and

use. In: Maxted N, Ford-Lloyd BV, Kell SP, Iriondo J, Dulloo E and

Turok J, editors. Crop Wild Relatives Conservation and Use. CABI

Publishing, Wallingford, Oxon, UK. pp. 504–512.

Tinzaara W and Gold CS. 2008. Banana pests and their

management. In: Capinera JL, editor. Encyclopedia of Entomology.

2nd edition. Springer, The Netherlands. pp. 359–369.

Van der Veken L, Win PP, Elsen A, Swennen R and De Waele D.

2008. Treatment of missing values for multivariate statistical analysis

of gel-based proteomics data. Proteomics 8(7):1371–1383.

Vinceti B, Eyzaguirre P and Johns T. 2008. The nutritional role of

forest plant foods for rural communities. In: Colfer CJP, editor.

Human Health and Forests: a global overview of issues, practice and

policy. Earthscan, London, UK. pp. 63–96.

von Korff M, Grando S, Del Greco A, This D, Baum M and Ceccarelli

S. 2008. Quantitative trait loci associated with adaptation to

Mediterranean dryland conditions in barley. Theoretical and Applied

Genetics 117:653–669.

Wale E. 2008. Challenges in genetic resources policy making: some

lessons from participatory policy research with a special reference to

Ethiopia. Biodiversity and Conservation 17(1):21–33.

Wale E. 2008. A study on financial opportunity costs of growing

local varieties of sorghum in Ethiopia: Implications for on-farm

conservation policy. Ecological Economics 64(3):603–610.

Watts J, Horton D, Douthwaite B, La Rovere R, Thiele G, Prasad S

and Staver C. 2008. Transforming impact assessment: beginning the

quiet revolution of institutional learning and change. Experimental

Agriculture 44(1):21–35.

•

•

•

•

•

•

•

•

Selectedpublications

��

Projects

From January 2008, all Bioversity activities are carried out within one of 10 Projects

Project F01: Enhancing the contribution of agricultural biodiversity to human wellbeing aims to enhance the use of agricultural and forest biodiversity to improve people’s well-being, by demonstrating ways in which biodiversity can support nutritional and health benefits and by identifying new biodiversity-based income options for the rural and urban poor.

Project F02: Productivity, resilience and ecosystem services from community management of diversity in production systemsis concerned with developing practices that support communities in their use of genetic diversity to maintain and improve productivity, resilience and resistance in production systems.

Project F03: Managing biodiversity to improve livelihoods in commodity crop-based systemsfocuses on enabling rural commu-nities to better use coconut, cacao and Musa diversity to increase their incomes, food security, health and natural resource endowments.

Project F04: Conserving and promoting the use of genetic resources of commodity cropsaims to promote the conservation, characterization, evaluation and effective use of the genetic diversity of coconut, cacao and Musa, three commodity crops of special importance to smallholders in developing countries. The project seeks to strengthen international research capacity through networks

and consortia, and facilitates consensus building through action-oriented platforms.

Project F05: Enhancing the ex situ conservation and use of genetic diversityaims to improve the ex situ conservation and use of agricultural biodiversity, including crop wild relatives, as a means of mitigating the impacts of global threats such as environmental degradation, water scarcity and climate change.

Project F06: Conservation and use of forest and other wild speciesaims to document the diversity within useful wild species, including wild relatives of crops; study and make known the benefits it confers; analyze the threats to its persistence; and provide knowledge, strategies, mechanisms and tools to facilitate its conservation and sustainable use.

Project F07: Biodiversity informaticsaims to improve the management of, access to, and use of genetic resources information through standardized information gathering and management, facilitating information use, exchange and access, and capacity building.

Project F08: Policy and lawcontributes to genetic resources policy development at global, regional, national and CGIAR system-wide levels. The Project is the administrative home of the CGIAR Central Advisory Service on Intellectual Property (CAS-

IP) and provides the secretariat for the Genetic Resources Policy Committee (GRPC) of the CGIAR.

Project F09: Strengthening global systems for conservation and use of genetic resourcescontributes to the development of more effective global and regional collaboration on conservation and use of agricultural biodiversity. Through the Project, Bioversity discharges its responsibilities as convening Centre of the System-wide Genetic Resources Programme (SGRP) and, in partnership with FAO, provides support for the Global Crop Diversity Trust (GCDT). It also hosts the Platform for Agrobiodiversity Research (PAR).

Project F10: Status, trends and valuation of agrobiodiversityaims to assess the status, trends and values of agricultural biodiversity at the genetic level, to provide tools and mechanisms for long-term monitoring of genetic erosion and to evaluate the cost of agrobiodiversity loss, its drivers and strategies to counter them.

�8

Establishment agreement

The international status of Bioversity is conferred under an Establishment Agreement which, by December 2008, had been signed by the Governments of:

Algeria, Australia, Belgium, Benin, Bolivia, Brazil, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Chile, China, Congo, Costa Rica, Côte d’Ivoire, Cyprus, Cuba, Czech Republic, Denmark, Ecuador, Egypt, Ethiopia, Ghana, Greece, Guinea, Hungary, India, Indonesia, Iran, Israel, Italy, Jordan, Kenya, Malaysia, Mali, Mauritania, Mauritius, Morocco, Norway, Oman, Pakistan, Panama, Peru, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Russia, Senegal, Slovakia, Sudan, Switzerland, Syria, Tunisia, Turkey, Uganda and Ukraine.

BOARD CHAIR

Dr Anthony K. GregsonOakview EastPO Box 262WarracknabealVictoria 3393Australia

MEMBERS

Dr Ganesan BalachanderThe Ford Foundation55 Lodi EstateNew Delhi 110003India

Dr Emile FrisonDirector GeneralBioversity InternationalVia dei Tre Denari, 472/a00057 MaccareseRomeItaly

Dr Peter HazellImperial College LondonWye CampusKent TN25 5AHUnited Kingdom

Dr Antonio La ViñaAteneo School of Government4F, Ateneo Professional SchoolsRockwell Drive, Rockwell CenterMakati City 1200Metro ManilaPhilippines

Dr Olga F. Linares*Smithsonian Tropical Research InstituteUnit 0948APO AA 34002-0948BalboaPanama

Prof. Phindile E. Lukhele-OlorunjuUniversity of VendaPrivate Bag x5050ThohoyandouLimpopo Province0950 South Africa

Prof. Luigi MontiDepartment of Soil, Plant and Environment SciencesUniversità di Napoli, Federico IIVia dell’Università, 10080055 PorticiNaplesItaly

Dr Shivaji PandeyDirector, Plant Production and Protection DivisionFAOViale delle Terme di Caracalla00100 RomeItaly

Prof. Dr Ana SittenfeldDirector, Office of International AffairsUniversity of Costa RicaSan PedroSan JoseCosta Rica

Dr Stephen Smith*Pioneer Hi-Bred International Inc.7300 NW 62nd AvePO Box 1004JohnstonIowa 50131USA

Dr Paul ZuckermanZuckerman & Associates105 Grosvenor RoadLondon SW1V 3LGUK

* Left during 2008

Board of Trustees

��

OFFICE OF THE DIRECTOR GENERALFRISON, Dr Emile Director General (Rome, Italy)

ATTA-KRAH, Dr Kwesi Deputy Director General (Rome, Italy)

HARDING, Dr Paul Assistant Director General (Rome, Italy)

BAUER, Ms Birgitta**** Project Office Manager (Rome, Italy)

CHAPMAN, Mr Robert* Manager, Planning, Evaluation and

Learning (PEL) (Rome, Italy)

CHERFAS, Dr Jeremy Assistant to the DG, Board and Public

Relations (Rome, Italy)

HUIE, Ms Annie Programme Specialist, Donor Relations

(Rome, Italy)

KILLERMANN, Ms Britta Personal Assistant to the Director

General (Rome, Italy)

PREITE MARTINEZ, Media Assistant (Rome, Italy)

Ms Cecilia*

SAJISE, Dr Percy*** Honorary Research Fellow

(Laguna, Philippines)

SANDS, Ms Patti Programme Specialist (Rome, Italy)

SMITH, Ms Allison* Grants Office Manager (Rome, Italy)

WATANABE, Dr Kazuo Honorary Research Fellow

(Tsukuba, Japan)

DIVERSITY FOR LIVELIHOODS PROGRAMMEBELLON, Dr Mauricio Director, Diversity for Livelihoods

Programme (Rome, Italy)

BAI, Dr Keyu Assistant Coordinator (Beijing, China)

BHAG MAL, Dr Honorary Research Fellow

(New Delhi, India)

DRUCKER, Dr Adam* Senior Economist (Rome, Italy)

EYZAGUIRRE, Dr Pablo Senior Scientist, Anthropology and

Socio-economics (Rome, Italy)

FADDA, Dr Carlo* Global Project Manager, Crop Genetic

Diversity and Disease Management

(Rome, Italy)

GOTOR FACELLO, Associate Expert, Impact Assessment

Dr Elisabetta Specialist (Rome, Italy)

GRUM, Dr Mikkel Scientist, Genetic Diversity

(Nairobi, Kenya)

HERMANN, Dr Michael Senior Scientist, Genetic Diversity

(Montreal, Canada)

JARVIS, Dr Devra Senior Scientist, In situ Conservation

(Rome, Italy)

JOHNS, Prof. Timothy Honorary Research Fellow

(Quebec, Canada)

KRUIJSSEN, Ms Froukje Associate Scientist, Market Analysis

(Serdang, Malaysia)

MILGROOM, Dr Michael Honorary Research Fellow

(Ithaca, USA)

MORIMOTO, Dr Yasuyuki Associate Scientist, Post Doctoral

(Nairobi, Kenya)

MUSINGUZI, Mr Enock Associate Scientist, Nutrition

(Nairobi, Kenya)

NDUNG’U-SKILTON, Ms Julia Associate Scientist, In situ

Conservation (Nairobi, Kenya)

PADULOSI, Dr Stefano Senior Scientist, Integrated

Conservation Methodologies and Use

(Rome, Italy)

PASCUAL, Dr Unai* Honorary Research Fellow

(Cambridge, UK)

PERALES RIVERA, Honorary Research Fellow

Mr Hugo Rafael (Chiapas, Mexico)

QUEK, Dr Paul Scientist, Documentation/Information

(Serdang, Malaysia)

NANKYA, Ms Rose* National Project Manager, Pests and

Diseases (Kampala, Uganda)

SETTE, Ms Cristina Programme Specialist, ILAC

(Rome, Italy)

SOKA, Mr Geoffrey** Associate Expert, Pests and Diseases

(50%) (Kampala, Uganda)

STHAPIT, Dr Bhuwon Ratna Scientist, In situ Crop Conservation

(Pokhara, Nepal)

THOMPSON, Dr Judith Science Writer/Process Manager

(Rome, Italy)

TURDIEVA, Dr Muhabbat Regional Project Coordinator for

UNEP-GEF Project in Central Asia

(Tashkent, Uzbekistan)

VAN OUDENHOVEN, Associate Scientist, Economic and

Mr Frederik Social Aspects of Agrobiodiversity

(Rome, Italy)

WATTS, Ms Jamie Project Coordinator, ILAC Initiative

(Rome, Italy)

UNDERSTANDING AND MANAGING BIODIVERSITY PROGRAMMESNOOK, Dr Laura Director, Understanding and Managing

Biodiversity Programme (Rome, Italy)

ALERCIA, Ms Adriana Germplasm Information Specialist

(Rome, Italy)

ARNAUD, Ms Elizabeth*** Scientist, F07 Project

(Montpellier, France)

ATIENO, Mr Frederick Information and Documentation Officer

(Nairobi, Kenya)

Professionalstaff

�0

BARI, Mr Abdullah** Scientist, PGR Information/Data

Management and Analysis

Methodologies (Aleppo, Syria)

BROWN, Dr Anthony Honorary Research Fellow

(Canberra, Australia)

CHANDRABALAN, Ms Dorothy Scientific Assistant (Serdang, Malaysia)

CHO, Dr Myoung Rae Seconded Senior Scientist

(Serdang, Malaysia)

CUNNINGHAM, Dr Anthony Honorary Research Fellow

(Fremantle, Australia)

DIAS, Ms Sonia Programme Specialist, Documentation

and Information (Rome, Italy)

DULLOO, Dr Ehsan Project Coordinator, Conservation of

Agricultural Biodiversity (Rome, Italy)

DURAH, Dr Kheder** Regional Network Manager/Information

Specialist (Aleppo, Syria)

ENDRESEN, Mr Dag IT Outreach Specialist (Lund, Sweden)

EYOG-MATIG, Dr Oscar Scientist, Forest Genetic Resources/

Coordinator, SAFORGEN

(Cotonou, Benin)

FRANCO, Mr Tito Documentation and Information

Programme Specialist (Cali, Colombia)

GAIJI, Mr Samy** Project Coordinator, Management,

Access and Use of Genetic Resources

Information (Rome, Italy)

HONG, Mr Lay Thong** Forest Genetic Resources Specialist

and APFORGEN Facilitator

(Serdang, Malaysia)

JARVIS, Dr Andrew Senior Scientist, Spatial Analyst

(Cali, Colombia)

JORGE, Dr Maria Alexandra Associate Scientist, Genebank

Management (Addis Ababa, Ethiopia)

LANE, Dr Annie** Global Project Coordinator, Crop Wild

Relatives Project (Rome, Italy)

MACKAY, Dr Michael* Senior Scientist and Coordinator,

Biodiversity Informatics Project

(Rome, Italy)

MARANDU, Mr Wilson Conservation Scientist (Nairobi, Kenya)

MATHUR, Dr Prem N. Scientist, Genetic Diversity

Assessment and Use, and South Asia

Coordinator (New Delhi, India)

SCHELDEMAN, Dr Xavier Scientist, Conservation and Use of

Neotropical PGR (Cali, Colombia)

SKOFIC, Mr Milko Database and Programmer Analyst

(Rome, Italy)

SOOD, Mr Rajesh Information System Analyst

(Rome, Italy)

THORMANN, Ms Imke International Information System

Project Coordinator/Programme

Specialist, Plant Genetic Resources

Information Management (Rome, Italy)

TRAFICANTI, Ms Hope Science Writer/Process Manager

(Rome, Italy)

VAN DAMME, Ms Veerle Honorary Research Fellow

(Cali, Colombia)

VAN ZONNEVELD, Mr Maarten Associate Scientist (Cali, Colombia)

VIPARTHI, Mr Kiran GPG2 Information System Analyst

(Rome, Italy)

GLOBAL PARTNERSHIPS PROGRAMMEHODGKIN, Dr Toby Director, Global Partnerships

Programme (Rome, Italy)

BIJ DE VAATE, Ms Marije** Associate Scientist, Platform for

Agrobiodiversity Research (PAR)

(Nairobi, Kenya)

BORDONI, Mr Paul Scientific Assistant, Global Facilitation

Unit for Underutilized Species

(Rome, Italy)

DEMERS, Ms Nicole Communications and Information

Assistant (Rome, Italy)

ENGELS, Dr Jan Genetic Resources Management

Advisor (Rome, Italy)

HOESCHLE-ZELEDON, Coordinator, Global Facilitation Unit for

Dr Irmgard ** Underutilized Species (Rome, Italy)

KHUMALO, Ms Sibonginkosi* Associate Expert, Support

for Agrobiodiversity Research

Development and Communication

(Nairobi, Kenya)

LALIBERTÉ, Ms Brigitte Scientist, Coordinator, Global Public

Goods Project, SGRP (Rome, Italy)

WILLIAMS, Dr David* Coordinator of the System-wide

Genetic Resources Programme

(Rome, Italy)

COMMODITIES FOR LIVELIHOODS PROGRAMMEMARKHAM, Dr Richard** Director, Commodities for Livelihoods

Programme (Montpellier, France)

BLOMME, Dr Guy Associate Scientist, Assistant to

Regional Coordinator

(Kampala, Uganda)

CALDERON PARDO, Administrative Officer

Mr Helder** (Turrialba, Costa Rica)

Professionalstaff

�1

EKESA-ONYANGO, Associate Expert, Assessing the

Ms Beatrice Potential Contribution of Banana-

Based Systems (Kampala, Uganda)

ESKES, Dr Bertus Coordinator, CFC/ICCO/Bioversity

Cocoa Project (Montpellier, France)

GARMING, Dr Hildegard Post Doctoral Research Fellow

(Turrialba, Costa Rica)

GEORGE, Dr Maria Luz Coordinator, COGENT

(Serdang, Malaysia)

GONNORD, Mr Emmanuel** Finance and Administrative Officer

(Montpellier, France)

HANCOCK, Dr Wayne Field Project Leader

(Addis Ababa, Ethiopia)

JOHNSON, Mr Vincent* Process Manager/Science Editor

(Montpellier, France)

KANNIAH, Ms Jayashree** Scientific Assistant (Serdang, Malaysia)

KARAMURA, Dr Deborah Musa Genetic Resources Specialist

(Kampala, Uganda)

KARAMURA, Dr Eldad Regional Coordinator, Eastern and

Southern Africa (Kampala, Uganda)

MOLINA, Dr Agustín Regional Coordinator

(Los Baños, Philippines)

PEREZ VINCENTE, Honorary Research Fellow

Dr Luis Fernando (Turrialba, Costa Rica)

PICQ, Ms Claudine Coordinator, Information/

Communication and Publications

(Montpellier, France)

POCASANGRE, Dr Luis Associate Scientist, Technology

Transfer (Turrialba, Costa Rica)

PONSIOEN, Mr Guido Information/Documentation Specialist

(Montpellier, France)

ROSALES, Dr Franklin** Regional Coordinator, Latin America

and Caribbean (Turrialba, Costa Rica)

ROUARD, Mr Mathieu Bioinformatician (Montpellier, France)

ROUX, Dr Nicolas Senior Scientist, Coordinator, Musa

Genomics and Genetic Resources

(Montpellier, France)

RUAS, Mr Max Database Manager and Computer

Technology Specialist (Montpellier,

France)

STAVER, Dr Charles Senior Scientist, Sustainable Musa

Production and Utilization

(Montpellier, France)

TINZAARA, Mr William Associate Scientist (Kampala, Uganda)

SWENNEN, Prof. R. Honorary Research Fellow

(Heverlee, Belgium)

VAN DEN BERGH, Dr Inge*** Scientist and Coordinator, ProMusa

Research Network (Montpellier, France)

VAN DEN HOUWE, Ms Inès Scientist, Germplasm Conservation

(Heverlee, Belgium)

POLICY RESEARCH AND SUPPORT UNITHALEWOOD, Dr Michael Head, Policy Research and Support

Unit (Rome, Italy)

CHISHAKWE, Mr Nyasha** Policy Specialist (Nairobi, Kenya)

LEWIS-LETTINGTON, Policy and Legal Specialist, GRPI

Mr Robert** (Nairobi, Kenya)

LOPEZ NORIEGA, Ms Isabel Legal Specialist (Rome, Italy)

MOORE, Dr Gerald Honorary Research Fellow

(Rome, Italy)

CAPACITY DEVELOPMENT RESEARCH AND SUPPORT UNITGOLDBERG, Ms Elizabeth Head, Capacity Development

Research and Support Unit

(Rome, Italy)

RUDEBJER, Mr Per Scientist, Capacity Development

Research and Support Unit

(Rome, Italy)

VAN SCHAGEN, Mr Boudy Associate Scientist, Communicating

Agrobiodiversity Science and Problem-

based Learning (Nairobi, Kenya)

PUBLIC AWARENESS RESEARCH AND SUPPORT UNITRAYMOND, Ms Ruth Head, Public Awareness Research and

Support Unit (Rome, Italy)

BAENA, Ms Margarita Capacity Development and Public

Awareness Specialist (Cali, Colombia)

CAPOZIO, Ms Nora* 2010 Campaign Liaison Officer

(Rome, Italy)

KHALIL, Mr Rami** Media and Public Awareness Officer

(Aleppo, Syria)

MOORE, Ms Cassandra Programme Specialist, Public

Awareness (Rome, Italy)

OBEL-LAWSON, Ms Elizabeth Scientific Assistant (Nairobi, Kenya)

VEZINA, Ms Anne Editor/Scientific Writer

(Montpellier, France)

HUMAN RESOURCES UNITFINOCCHIO, Mr Francesco Director, Human Resources (Rome, Italy)

LAMBERT, Ms Ingrid Human Resources Manager

(Rome, Italy)

LIBERTO, Ms Giselle Human Resources Officer (Rome, Italy)

ROSE, Ms Sarah** Senior Human Resources Officer

(Rome, Italy)

�2

ProfessionalstaffCORPORATE SERVICESO’DONOGHUE, Mr Gerard Director, Corporate Services

(Rome, Italy)

BUONAIUTO, Mr Massimo Multimedia/Web Specialist

(Rome, Italy)

DI PAOLO, Mr Fabio Programme Specialist, Publications

Distribution and Marketing

(Rome, Italy)

GARRUCCIO, Ms Maria Library and Information Services

Specialist (Rome, Italy)

GLOVER, Ms Melanie Budget/Audit Officer (Rome, Italy)

HARMANN, Ms Karen Senior Accountant (Rome, Italy)

HUNT, Ms Lyn*** Manager of Administrative Services

(Rome, Italy)

KANE-POTAKA, Ms Joanna Head, Information Marketing and

Management (Rome, Italy)

LUZON, Ms Josephine Finance Manager (Rome, Italy)

NEATE, Mr Paul Information Dissemination and

Communications Manager

(Rome, Italy)

PAPINI, Ms Silvia** Office Manager (Rome, Italy)

STABILE, Mr Lorenzo Database Developer/Information

Systems Analyst (Rome, Italy)

TAZZA, Ms Patrizia Design/Layout Specialist (Rome, Italy)

THOMPSON, Ms Helen Programme Specialist, Library and

Information Services (Rome, Italy)

VALORI, Mr Dario Information Technology Manager

(Rome, Italy)

REGIONAL OFFICESSub-Saharan AfricaBAIDU-FORSON, Mr Joseph Regional Director (Nairobi, Kenya)

AVOHOU, Mr Hermane Scientific Assistant, SAFORGEN

(Cotonou, Benin)

KAMAU, Mr Henry Scientist, Training/LCA Initiative

Coordinator (Nairobi, Kenya)

VODOUHE, Dr S. Raymond Regional Coordinator for West and

Central Africa (Cotonou, Benin)

AmericasRAMIREZ, Dr Marleni Regional Director (Cali, Colombia)

CASTANEDA, Ms Nora* Research Assistant (Cali, Colombia)

Asia, Pacific and OceaniaSEBASTIAN, Dr Leocadio* Regional Director (Serdang, Malaysia)

ARORA, Dr R.K. Honorary Research Fellow

(New Delhi, India)

CHIN, Prof. H.F. Honorary Research Fellow

(Serdang, Malaysia)

KIU, Ms Jee Jee Administrative Officer

(Serdang, Malaysia)

LIM, Mr Eng Siang Honorary Research Fellow

(Serdang, Malaysia)

VELUTHATTIL, Administrative Officer

Mr Surendrakumar (New Delhi, India)

ZHANG, Dr Zongwen Associate Scientist, East Asia

Coordinator (Beijing, China)

Central and West Asia and North AfricaAYAD, Dr George** Regional Director (Aleppo, Syria)

HADJ HASSAN, Dr Adnan Honorary Research Fellow

(Aleppo, Syria)

KABIROV, Mr Azam Coordinator (Tashkent, Uzbekistan)

MAMELLY, Mr Adib** Finance and Administration Officer

(Aleppo, Syria)

EuropeTUROK, Dr Jozef Regional Director (Rome, Italy)

BOZZANO, Mr Michele Programme Specialist, Forest Genetic

Resources (Rome, Italy)

DEL GRECO, Ms Aixa Scientific Assistant (Rome, Italy)

KOSKELA, Dr Jarkko Scientist, EUFORGEN Coordinator

(Rome, Italy)

LIPMAN, Ms Elinor Scientific Assistant (Montpellier, France)

MAGGIONI, Mr Lorenzo Scientist, ECPGR Coordinator

(Rome, Italy)

SPELLMAN, Ms Olga Programme Specialist, Editing and

Layout (Rome, Italy)

VINCETI, Dr Barbara Scientist, Forest Biodiversity

(Rome, Italy)

GLOBAL CROP DIVERSITY TRUSTFOWLER, Dr Cary Executive Director, Global Crop

Diversity Trust (Rome, Italy)

CLYNE, Ms Anne*** Director of Finance (Rome, Italy)

DAOUD, Ms Layla Project Officer, Global Crop Diversity

Trust (Rome, Italy)

GUARINO, Mr Luigi Senior Science Coordinator, Global

Crop Diversity Trust (Rome, Italy)

LAIRD, Mr Julian Director of Development, Global Crop

Diversity Trust (Rome, Italy)

LUSTY, Ms Charlotte*** Scientist (Rome, Italy)

MWILA, Mr Godfrey* Programme Scientist (Rome, Italy)

TOLL, Ms Jane Project Manager, Global Crop Diversity

Trust (Rome, Italy)

WARUHIU, Ms Kijo Scientific Specialist, Global Crop

Diversity Trust (Rome, Italy)

��

OTHER HOSTED STAFFASSAF, Ms Jenin Programme Officer, ICT-KM

(Rome, Italy)

CHANDLER, Ms Fiona* Scientific Liaison Officer, Alliance

Office (Rome, Italy)

HENSON-APOLLONIO, Senior Scientist, Project Manager,

Dr Victoria Central Advisory Service on Intellectual

Property (CAS-IP) (Rome, Italy)

IZAC, Dr Anne-Marie Chief Alliance Officer (Rome, Italy)

NOORDELOOS, Mr Marco* Gender & Diversity Center Goals

Coordinator (Rome, Italy)

OLIVEROS, Mr Oliver** GFAR/DURAS Project Coordinator

(Montpellier, France)

PASTORE, Ms Antonella CGXchange Project Coordinator,

ICT-KM (Rome, Italy)

PORCARI, Ms Enrica Chief Information Officer, ICT-KM

Programme Leader (Rome, Italy)

WILDE, Ms Vicki Gender & Diversity Program Leader

(Rome, Italy)

* Joined during 2008

** Left during 2008

*** Changed/moved position during 2008

**** On leave without pay during 2008

��

CreditsEditor: Jeremy Cherfas Managing editor: Paul Neate Writers: Paul Neate, Richard Sanders, Anne Vezina Design and layout: Patrizia Tazza Cover illustration: Greg Morgan Printing: Ugo Quintily S.p.A.

2008 Annual Report

CitationBioversity International. 2009. Annual Report 2008. Bioversity International, Rome, Italy.ISBN 978-92-9043-796-3

Bioversity International, Via dei Tre Denari 472/a, 00057 Maccarese, Rome, Italy

© Bioversity International, 2009