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Seeds found again in Afghanistan
Everyone knows that potatoes don't grow on battlefields and Afghanistan is no exception. During the armed conflict of 2002, the country's agriculture was wrecked, and the only seed bank was looted. The samples of the extraordinary genetic variety of the local agriculture, collected by scientists and stored in plastic containers, seemed lost forever. Luckily, some colleagues in other parts of the world were doing much the same work.
While teams of scientists left on missions, briefcases loaded with emergency supplies of seeds at the ready, and the first shipments of tubers arrived in Kabul, scientists at Lima were studying the crop varieties most suitable for Afghanistan, taking into account its particular climatic conditions, diseases present etc. In addition to finding the most appropriate existing varieties, they fine-tuned ad hoc varieties created; seeds "cleaned" of diseases and imperfections to help the farmers rebuild their agriculture as soon and as efficiently as possible. Thanks to four seed banks, including the CIP, the rebuilding of the agricultural landscape of Afghanistan is now underway and the local plants can be cultivated anew.
(16/06/2006)
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