Guidelines and Procedures for Safe Food and Forage Crops Germplasm Moverment

Abstract

Within the framework of the CGIAR, ICARDA has the world mandate for the improvement of barley, lentil and faba bean. It also has a regional mandate for the improvement of wheat (bread and durum), Kabuli chickpea and pasture and forage crops in the dry areas. The development of improved germplasm and elite genotypes for use by national, regional and international breeding programs is the major objective of the ICARDA crop improvement program. ICARDA holds ‘in trust’ rich and valuable collections of genetic resources of cereals, food legumes, forages and range species in its genebanks that are located in Lebanon, Morocco and Syria. Based on CGIAR Intellectual Assets Principles, the breeding germplasm (including germplasm under development) developed by ICARDA and all the genetic resources held in trust are considered international public goods (IPGs) to be made available upon request to national and international researchers, individuals from the private sector, graduate students, farmers, and others around the world for use in breeding, research and education purposes. They are made available by means of the Standard Material Transfer Agreement (SMTA). Facilitated seed and germplasm exchange and movement are vital for crop improvement and conservation, as well as for use as genetic resources.