BACKGROUND
There is an urgent need to promote crop diversity conservation by demonstrating its value in sustainable agriculture through the development of materials with improved nutrient utilization efficiency, yield stability, and resilience to cope with new challenges posed by the current climate change situation.
In this context, PGR management in situ (on-farm) is critical since it allows for the constant development and adaptation of conserved materials to changing environmental factors, and hence the generation of new diversity, which is thought to be important for future crop improvement. Indeed, a better knowledge of the in-situ mechanisms of crop diversity evolution is required.
The IOFS within the Programme on Development of National Gene Banks in the OIC Member States, the objectives of which to facilitate the strengthening of the institutional and human capacity of the research institutions and gene banks through coordination and cooperation, as well as to build a framework for constant collaboration among countries on conservation and sustainable use of plant and animal genetic resources for increasing agricultural productivity and ensuring food security in the OIC Member States, plans to organize several activities in the format of the training for the PGR professionals in 2022.
The IOFS celebrates the “Year of Africa 2022” and implements its Action Plan that is incorporated server projects and activities for the African Member States since the beginning of the year. Considering that Africa is a hot spot and a center of diversity for many species of global importance, and most of the Sub-Saharan Member States lack national and regional gene banks in which they could conserve in situ and on-farm genetic resources, using the traditional farming practices, the IOFS intends to pay special attention towards addressing such challenges.
The IOFS in partnership with the Turkish Cooperation and Coordination Agency (TIKA) is pleased to provide training for plant genetic resources professionals, the program is specifically designed for the participating countries with the goal of producing positive results and facilitating future collaboration between scientists.
THE OUTLINE OF THE EVENT
The germplasm managers and curators should always keep abreast of and take into account the good practices of the management of gene banks and germplasm collections from acquisition to registration, regeneration, conservation, characterization, distribution, and finally documentation. In this regard, it is important to discuss the initial elements of management of the gene bank and the collections; discuss options for efficient and cost-effective management of seed collections in gene banks, and discuss risk identification and actions to minimize or manage risks at the various gene bank activity and operations. In addition, the institutional legal, policy framework, as well as effective gene bank strategies for establishing the gene bank will be also considered as part of the agenda
HOSTING INSTITUTE
The National Gene Bank of Turkiye based on the Field Crops Central Research Institute, under the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry of the Republic of Turkiye has shown full capacity which uses advanced technologies and is one of the biggest Gene Banks in the OIC region with 61.451 accessions kept that is suitable to conduct the stated training. The Field Crops Central Research Institute has become an essential partner of the IOFS, actively participating in IOFS activities, particularly wheat development and PGR/Gene Bank issues. The Research Center and Gene Bank are located in Ankara, Turkiye.
PARTNERS: The Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry of the Republic of Turkiye and the Turkish Cooperation and Coordination Agency.
RESOURCE PERSONS: International experts in the field of PGR are invited to the event for sharing best practices with the participants.
PARTICIPANTS
The target group of training workshop participants will include the PGR Professionals from the OIC Member States, such as Uganda, Sierra Leone, Gambia, Guinea Bissau, Mozambique, Nigeria, Uzbekistan, Republic of Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan, Bangladesh, and Tajikistan.
TRAINING WORKSHOP DETAILS
Date / Duration: 26-30 September 2022 / 5 days
Venue: Ankara, Turkiye
Format: In-person, with the possibility of extension to online participation upon requests of member countries
Language of the event: English
Focal point: For more information about this workshop, please contact:
