Annual Report
- 2003
Annual Report 2003
From here you can explore the various stories contained in IPGRI's Annual Report for 2003. The supplementary information -- for example Financial Information, Staff and details of IPGRI's project set -- are not published on the Web. However, they can be found in a printable PDF of the Annual Report, which can be downloaded here. The file is about 2Mb.
Alternatively, if you would prefer to receive a printed copy, please send your address details by e mail.
Foreword
In 2004, it will be 30 years since IPGRI began as the International Board for Plant Genetic Resources. While we are not planning any grandiose celebrations, we are taking the opportunity to re-examine IPGRIs strategy and to...
Decoding diversity with molecular methods
Farmers in Alta Verapaz maintain massive amounts of diversity in their home gardens, not just chilli peppers. This couple holds a root of chayote (Sechium edule) which is used as medicine.
Laboratory technologies are giving scientists an insight into plant genetic resources and bringing benefits for use and conservation
Home gardens are small plots, usually around the house, where people tend the plants that mean...
Why genetic diversity matters
Diversity in the colour of canahua (Chenopodium pallidicaule), growing in the altiplano of Bolivia, hides even more important diversity in the ability to cope with different challenges.
The joint annual meeting of the American Society of Agronomy, the Soil Science Society of America, and the Crop Science Society of America offered an ideal opportunity to promote the benefits of agricultural biodiversity
A...
Big projects to protect wild relatives and farmers' yields
The Erebuni Reserve in Armenia was created specifically to protect wild relatives of wheat.
The Global Environment Facility of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP-GEF) is supporting projects that look at the use of agricultural biodiversity to fight pests and diseases and to conserve the wild relatives of...
Global Strategy for Plant Conservation
Even in intensively cultivated areas, like the rice terraces of Nepal, crop diversity and associated indigenous knowledge can be protected.
A global framework to guide the conservation of the threatened plant species of the world gets under way In April 2002, at their meeting in The Hague, the Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity made a...
A meeting of minds on agricultural biodiversity
Local marketplaces, such as Nairobi's Ngara market, directly reflect the value of agricultural biodiversity to growers and shoppers.
A new facilitation unit to coordinate work on agricultural biodiversity was just one of the recommendations to emerge from an international meeting
The number of people alive on Earth has doubled since 1961. The amount of food...
What's in a name?
A tool that allows rapid checks of long lists of plant names makes life easier for genebank managers and others Databases are only as good as the data they contain, and while an experienced human being may realize that Triticun...
Uncorking grapevine diversity in the Caucasus
The future of grape harvests depends on conserving wild varieties.
One of the ancestral homes of the grapevine is the focus of a new project to capture, document and protect the riches of this culturally and economically important plant
The grapevine was probably domesticated in several places...
Making headway: the Genetic Resources Policy Initiative
Two years ago, IPGRI and IDRC (International Development Research Centre), with the support of other donors, launched the Genetic Resources Policy Initiative (GRPI). Two years into the project and GRPI has made significant...
Squeezing information from a stone
New techniques for identifying olive varieties based on the visual characteristics of their stones will improve their use and conservation
For most people, the most complex thought an olive stone prompts is where to discard it...
Fonio: West Africa's treasure
A farmer tends his field of fonio
A project in West Africa sheds light on the cultural richness and economic potential of fonio, the so-called 'hungry rice' West Africans have cultivated fonio (Digitaria spp.) for thousands of years and the cereal forms an...
Assessing the impact of better bananas
Banana samples from around the world, kept at the INIBAP Transit Centre in Belgium, are part of the search for improved varieties.
Dissemination of improved banana varieties to farmers in East Africa should have a great impact on farmers' lives Banana is a basic staple food for hundreds of millions of people in the developing world and nowhere more so than...
Sesame: threats and opportunities
Sesame makes an important contribution to the lives of rural Indian families
IPGRI is working to safeguard one of India's oldest and most precious crops: sesame People in India have been growing sesame for more than 5000 years and the country now accounts for about a quarter of sesame production...
Models for better forest management
Rojelio Quilaleo is a community leader in Chiuquilihuin, where Araucaria araucana is a vital component of livelihoods.
A dynamic approach is enabling scientists to understand how a complex forest ecosystem operates and is offering local people a rich choice of management options to improve their lives The Araucaria araucana forests of Argentina...
