Seed Vault Receives Key African Deposits for Food Security

At least 12,000 seed samples from 19 genebanks have been deposited in the Svalbard Global Seed Vault, safeguarding vital crop diversity amid global challenges. 

The deposits include sorghum and pearl millet from Sudan, where civil war nearly destroyed the national genebank; nutrient-rich velvet beans from Malawi, used in sustainable farming and traditional medicine; critical food crops from the Philippines, a typhoon-prone nation; and over 3,000 varieties of rice, beans, and maize from Brazil. Sudan is depositing seed samples of 19 species, including several varieties of sorghum, a crop deeply rooted in the nation's cultural heritage and cultivated for thousands of years. 

The deposit marks a milestone in the Biodiversity for Opportunities, Livelihoods, and Development (BOLD) project, a decade-long initiative funded by Norway and managed by the Crop Trust, which supports gene banks in preserving crop diversity.