Tainan, Taiwan
September 18, 2009

Source: The World Vegetable Center Newsletter

AVRDC – The World Vegetable Center was represented well when Dr. Andreas Ebert, Global Theme Leader – Germplasm and Genebank Manager of the Center’s Genetic Resources and Seed Unit, participated as trainer for vegetable crops in the first International Training Course on Plant Genetic Resources and Genebank Management. The course was held from 7 to 18 September at the National Agrobiodiversity Center (NAC) of the Rural Development Administration (RDA) in Suwon, Korea.

Fifteen participants from 11 countries—Cambodia, Korea, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Mongolia, Myanmar, Philippines, Thailand, Uzbekistan, and Vietnam—listened to lectures and practicals given by 17 instructors from Korea and nine instructors from international research centers including Bioversity International (BI, headquarters in Rome and APO Regional Office in Malaysia), the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI), the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI), and AVRDC – The World Vegetable Center.

On the morning of the second day of training, a special event was held to recognize NAC as a “Center of Excellence for International Cooperation and Training on Plant Genetic Resources,” based on a memorandum of understanding signed between RDA and BI in March 2009. Dr. Emile Frison, Director General of Bioversity International, Rome; Alexander Nowak, Counsellor and Head of Cultural and Legal Affairs, German Embassy, Korea; Dr. Ruaraidh Sackville Hamilton, Director, IRRI Seedbank; and Dr. Leocadio Sebastian, Regional Director, BIAPO, Malaysia, joined dozens of local guests to celebrate the honor.

The Director of NAC opened the ceremony with a progress report, followed by commemorative remarks by Dr. Kim, RDA Administrator, and congratulatory remarks by Sang-Hun Kang, Korean Seed Association, and Dr. Frison. Dr. Ebert thanked RDA for storing safety duplicates of AVRDC’s germplasm under a blackbox arrangement in long-term conditions. “I highlighted the Center’s role in fighting malnutrition and hidden hunger,” he said, “ and expressed our appreciation for the opportunity to deliver lectures and discuss vegetable germplasm management with interested and enthusiastic participants.” The training participant from Myanmar gave final remarks on behalf of the trainees.

Dr. Ebert also made a symbolic handover of the 5037 accessions sent to RDA for safety deposit in May 2009.

This training course served as a first test for the Crop Genebank Knowledge Base, an initiative of the System-wide Genetic Resources Program (SGRP) of the CGIAR. The initiave is financed by the World Bank, coordinated by Dr. Ehsan Dulloo of Bioversity International and Dr. Alexandra Jorge of ILRI, and involves a team of crop genetic resources specialists.

On Wednesday, September 9, Dr. Ebert gave presentations on “Vegetable germplasm regeneration and quality preservation” and “Guidelines for seed regeneration and seed storage of eggplant.”

Given the interest in the region and the positive feedback from the trainees, Bioversity International and RDA are planning to offer similar international training courses on a yearly basis.

Website: https://avrdc.org/

Published: September 18, 2009