Costing the ex situ conservation of plant genetic resources at AVRDC – The World Vegetable Center

Abstract

AVRDC-The World Vegetable Center maintains the world's largest international public collection of vegetable genetic resources at its headquarters in Taiwan. The ex situ conservation and dissemination of germplasm to researchers and breeders worldwide contributes to global food and nutrition security but also carries considerable costs. The objective of this study is to quantify these costs for the 12-month period from September 2011 to August 2012 using the Decision Support Tool developed by the International Food Policy Research Institute. The results show that the present value of capital assets is USD 1.99 million for the facilities and USD 0.48 million for the equipment. The total annual cost is USD 0.684 million, of which 74 % are labor costs. The average conservation and dissemination cost per accession is USD 10.08 per year. Seed regeneration, seed processing, characterization, and seed dissemination are the four most costly operations of the genebank. The storage itself only contributes 17 % of the cost. In comparison, the average cost per accession is USD 5.15 at ICARDA, USD 6.84 at CIMMYT, USD 8.62 at ICRISAT, USD 9.19 at IRRI, and USD 22.52 at CIAT (in 2012 US dollar values). High labor costs in Taiwan increase AVRDC's average cost, but the fact that more vegetable species are selfpollinating and thus less labor intensive to regenerate than cross-pollinating species keeps the average costs in check. These results are important benchmarks for other genebanks.

The Vulnerability of Plant Genetic Resources Conserved Ex Situ

“…The range of the annualized cost per accession for different types of germplasm (representing selfing and outcrossing species and clonal materials) was used to project the scope of the required endowment funds. These annualized costs were obtained from published reports ( Jarret and Florkowski, 1990;Epperson et al, 1997;Pardey et al, 2001;Koo et al, 2004;Hawtin et al, 2011;Singh et al, 2012;Schreinemachers et al, 2014) and based on the methodology developed with accounting principles (Koo et al, 2002(Koo et al, , 2003a(Koo et al, , 2003b(Koo et al, , 2004Horna, 2010). However, the magnitude of the required public investments illustrated here should be used only as a guide and with caution, as the precise level of the required endowment fund to support long-term accessions, and focus has now changed from germplasm acquisition to sustainable conservation.…”

“…The calculation of conservation costs in a genebank is a very difficult and complex task (Virchow, 1999(Virchow, , 2003Koo et al, 2004;Rubenstein et al, 2005), and the annualized costs per accession estimated for different types of plant germplasm varied widely from $3 (for wheat [Triticum aestivum L.] germplasm) to $650 (for banana [Musa spp. ] germplasm) ( Jarret and Florkowski, 1990;Singh et al, 2012;Schreinemachers et al, 2014).…”

Conservation of Rice Genetic Resources for Food Security

“…A cost analysis done on major gene banks around the world showed that the annual cost could range from US $0.6 million to US $1.2 million, depending on the location and total germplasm holdings. 26 In rice genetic conservation, IRRI holds the largest collection of rice germplasm, with 126,601 accessions conserved. IRRI requires an annual budget of US $797,553 to conserve and disseminate its germplasm, 26 of which 61% of the total cost is allocated for labour.…”

“…26 In rice genetic conservation, IRRI holds the largest collection of rice germplasm, with 126,601 accessions conserved. IRRI requires an annual budget of US $797,553 to conserve and disseminate its germplasm, 26 of which 61% of the total cost is allocated for labour. Since gene banks do not have unlimited resources at their disposal, gene banks should consider the size and scope of their collections, while conserving as much of the total crop gene pool as possible.…”

The contribution of international vegetable breeding to private seed companies in India

“…The Center's genebank contains more than 8300 accessions each of tomato and pepper (Schreinemachers et al 2014;Ebert and Chou 2015). Its breeding programs focus on the development of improved open-pollinated vegetable lines suitable for tropical and subtropical conditions.…”