SUSTAINABILITY OF VEGETABLE GERMPLASM - HAVE WE BEEN TOO EFFICIENT FOR OUR OWN GOOD: THE CIP CASE.

Abstract

Valuable vegetable genetic resources exist in potentially precarious survival situations in developing countries. This germplasm is often in the hands of local farmers who do not have the resources to maintain material with no immediate and apparent benefit to them. Concerns have been raised about the breeding activities of international agricultural research centers whose efforts are linked with national agricultural research system (NARS) efforts to introduce improved cultivars directly to these farmers. Critics have maintained that the introduction and availability of improved vegetable genotypes have endangered the survival of important land-races, other locally adapted materials, and even wild species. Are these concerns justified? The International Potato Center (CIP) has been involved in potato cultivar improvement for 20 years. The impacts of their improvement program on NARS, local farmers and survival of important native germplasm will be examined.