Virtual Event, 14/06/2023
Community seed banks facilitate the exchange and storage of local crop varieties. In tribal areas in India, mud jars are traditionally used for seed storage.
©FAO/Pankaj Paul
On the occasion of the International Year of Millets 2023, the Secretariat of FAO’s International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture is collaborating with the Crop Trust and the International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT) to organize an international panel of experts to highlight the importance of the genetic diversity of sorghum and millets for food security and nutrition.
The panel will comprise high-level experts from FAO, the Crop Trust, ICRISAT and other governmental, private sector, and civil society organizations with interest in sorghum and millets and will reflect on recent advances and current challenges in the conservation, sharing, and use of the diversity of these important but often unjustly overlooked crops.
The experts will provide a global overview of the status of the production of sorghum and millets, and of the conservation and use of their diversity, including the latest trends and statistics. They will focus, in particular, on current practices by international genebanks, national programs, researchers, breeders, the seed sector and non-governmental organizations.
Examples from Asia and Africa, as well as from other selected regions around the world, will be showcased. The panel will also help identify current barriers to the effective and efficient use of the diversity of these crops and opportunities that may benefit from joint efforts.
The international panel will be held on 14 June from 12:00 to 14:30 CEST. The webinar will be conducted in English, with interpretation in Arabic, French, and Spanish.
