Long-Term Agreement to Protect Thousands of Rice Varieties

The International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) and the Global Crop Diversity Trust recently unveiled a new agreement that will involve the annual dispersal in perpetuity of US$600,000 to help fund the protection and management of the world’s thousands of unique rice varieties. The funding agreement is expected to help conserve and manage forever the extraordinary diversity of arguably the world’s most important crop.

At least 80,000 distinct rice varieties are carefully stored at IRRI’s T.T Chang Genetic Resources Center. The collection is considered the Institute’s “crown jewels” and is kept in a special earthquake-proof and fireproof facility that must be maintained at temperatures as low as –19 degrees Celsius.

Under the agreement, IRRI has pledged to designate a portion of its financial assets to generate $400,000 in annual income that will be invested in the genebank, which will unlock $200,000 from the Trust each year. The money will be used to acquire any rice varieties not currently in the repository and to ensure the storage systems for long-term conservation are up to international standards.

Readers can access the news release at http://bulletin.irri.cgiar.org.