24 October 2007

The destruction in 2003 of Iraq’s Abu Gharib national genebank could have been a disaster for genetic resources conservation in an area where the ‘Fertile Crescent’ provided the cradle for domestication of cereal crops. The impact of this loss was, however, mitigated by the existence of a ‘black box’ collection at the International Center for Agricultural Research in the Dry Areas (ICARDA) in Aleppo, Syria, where seven years earlier Abu Gharib scientists had sent seeds of the 200 most valuable varieties for safe-keeping.

Two banana specialists working under the supervision of Bioversity scientists have received Borlaug LEAP Fellowships awarded by the USDA's Foreign Agricultural Service to developing country researchers.