A Dynamic Farmer-Based Approach to the Conservation of African Plant Genetic Resources

This is a biodiversity conservation project which addresses a neglected aspect of plant diversity, that of indigenous crop varieties maintained by farmers in dynamic agro-ecosystems such as those found in Ethiopia. Efforts to conserve crop diversity to-date have focused on maintaining genetic diversity in static ex situ gene banks. This has arrested the complex interaction of genetically diverse traditional varieties (landraces) with their associated pests, predators and pathogens. Ex situ conservation also fails to retain traditional farmer knowledge associated with landraces, knowledge which can be instrumental in utilization and development of new crop varieties from farmers original landraces.