Human resource capacity in conservation and use of plant genetic resources in the SADC region: A review
Abstract
260 words
This review presents the main achievements made by the Southern Africa Development
Community (SADC) – Plant Genetic Resources Centre (SPGRC) in training and building
capacity in conservation and sustainable use of plant genetic resources since its establishment
in 1989. SPGRC was established to conserve landraces, primitive cultivars, and wild relatives
of important food crops in response to the rapid erosion of genetic resources as a result of
introduced modern crop varieties and the increasing rate of ecological degradation. Results
revealed a significant success in training personnel on conservation was achieved when the
understanding of the importance for conserving and promoting sustainable use of plant genetic
resources was still low. The long-term training was the original idea of the International
Board for Plant Genetic Resources (IBPGR) (now Bioversity International) and funding
was provided by the Nordic countries coordinated by the Swedish International Development
Agency (Sida). The University of Birmingham in the UK provided MSc training on plant
genetic resources and use while the short-term capacity building courses were carried out
at the Lund University in Sweden and occasionally at SPGRC in Zambia. The combined
number of people that graduated to MSc and PhD in conservation and sustainable use of
plant genetic resources grew from less than ten in the 1980s to 57 and 6, respectively in
2012 when the Sida project ended. Other donors that contributed in training of personnel in
conservation and use of plant genetic resources include: Southern African Network for
BioSciences - SANBio (in environmental policy and planning), UN Food and Agriculture
Organization - FAO (in plant pre-breeding).
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