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Over the next decades, agricultural production practices will change significantly and become more sustainable while they also respond to the need to contribute to reducing malnutrition and hunger and meeting the challenges of climate change. The enhanced use of agricultural biodiversity will play an essential role in this process, providing improved adaptability and resilience in agro-ecosystems. Plant genetic resources, a major component of agricultural biodiversity, play a key role in improving agricultural production and productivity. They are also essential to coping with climate change. As a result of climate change, increased efforts will be needed to conserve the diversity of crops and their wild relatives, and both in situ and ex situ conservation strategies will have to be adapted to meet changing environmental conditions and the need to secure biodiversity threatened by changing climate and altered production practices. Improved use of plant genetic resources will be essential, and this is like...

This paper reviews and discusses how studies on (i) on-farm diversity assessment, (ii) access to diversity and information, (iii) extent of use of available materials and information, and (iv) benefits obtained by the farmer or farming community from their use of local crop diversity, are necessary to identify the different ways of supporting farmers and farming communities in the maintenance of traditional varieties and crop genetic diversity within their production systems. Throughout this paper two key themes are emphasized. First, any description or analysis within the four main areas (assessment, access, use and benefit) can, and most probably will, lead to a number of different actions. Second, the decision to implement a particular action, and therefore its success, will depend on farmers and the farming community having the knowledge and leadership capacity to evaluate the benefits that this action will have for them. This in turn emphasizes the importance of activities (whether by local, national...

Over the last decade, Bioversity International has worked with national, regional and local partners in eight countries (Burkina Faso, Ethiopia, Hungary, Mexico, Morocco, Nepal, Peru, and Vietnam) on the maintenance and use of crop genetic diversity on farm, particularly that found in traditional varieties (or landraces). The work has involved investigating the extent and distribution of diversity in over 27 crops and exploring with farmers and rural communities the management practices used to maintain traditional varieties. The results of this collaboration have (i) provided tools to assess the amount and distribution of crop genetic diversity in production systems (ii) increased our understanding of when, where and how this diversity will be maintained, (iii) identified practices, communities and institutions that support maintenance and evolution of crop genetic diversity in production systems, and (iv) provided possible mechanisms for ensuring that the custodians of these systems and genetic...