In Costa Rica, a seed bank is being maintained to safeguard against food insecurity and climate change.
Located at the Tropical Agricultural Research and Higher Education Center (CATIE) near the town of Turrialba, the facility houses some 6,200 seed samples from 125 species of edible plants, including squash, chilli, and tomato.
These seeds can be kept for up to 40 years, in temperatures as low as -20C, for research purposes, genetic engineering of plants, or to replace species that die out.
According to plant geneticist William Solano, the seed bank is a resource that can be used now or in the future.
It holds seeds from 57 countries, with around 90 per cent of them coming from the Central American region.
These seeds are collected from markets and farms or grown wild.
The CATIE stockpile, which includes the second-largest collection of squash family seeds worldwide, is stacked on shelves in hundreds of small, silver envelopes.
“In response to climate change, we have here important materials for food security that are locally adapted to a variety of climate conditions, ranging from humidity to extreme drought,” Solano told AFP.
As climate change threatens food production, traditional, native seeds are essential for agrifood systems’ sustainability.
Seed expert Ester Vargas of the University of Costa Rica agrees, saying that there is variability in native seeds that allows them to adapt to different conditions in the areas of their origin.
Seed banks like the one at CATIE serve to guarantee the availability of crops with high nutritional value for generations to come.
The UN’s Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) estimates that almost one in ten people worldwide will suffer hunger in 2022, with increases in parts of Africa, western Asia, and the Caribbean.
The FAO says seed banks help preserve the most adapted varieties for a given region.
“As climate change has a significant impact on agricultural production, growing local varieties, which have a high degree of genetic diversity, is highly important because these varieties have the ability to withstand better and adapt to environmental stresses and changes,” a document on the organisation’s website states.
CATIE agronomist Daniel Fernandez said the bank also served another purpose: as a genetic archive of species that were replaced by more modified crops that may need to be brought back one day.
The centre’s seed bank is critical because it houses seeds that are not present in banks anywhere else in the world.
The bank has seeds from many countries, but the majority is from the Central American region.
CATIE’s seed bank is helping to ensure that locally adapted seeds are preserved and that future generations have access to crops with high nutritional value.
“Many of the seeds we have here are important not just for Costa Rica, but for the world,” Solano said.
“We have a very important genetic resource here.”
According to Solano, the seed bank is an essential tool in the fight against food insecurity and climate change, and it will continue to be a necessary resource for researchers and farmers in the years to come.
– With AFP