Facility for world's largest seedbank renovated

2025/04/02

To address crises brought about by climate change, Minister of Agriculture Chen Junne-jih welcomed collaboration by the Tainan City-based World Vegetable Center with global partners to enhance food security. 

Chen made the remarks at the opening of a renovated building for the  International Vegetable Genebank March 31 at WVC, famous for its extensive collection of genes and outstanding research capacity. Guests included Gugu Shabangu, principal secretary of Eswatini’s Ministry of Agriculture and international nonprofit organization, Crop Trust, executive director Stefan Schmitz.

Founded in May 1971 by the Asian Development Bank, Japan, Korea, Philippines, Thailand, USA, Vietnam, and Taiwan with a mandate to work in tropical Asia, the WVC, formerly known as the Asian Vegetable Research and Development Center established a seed bank in southern Taiwan’s Tainan County in the 1970s.  

After decades of use, the facility’s infrastructure was aging and there was  a lack of space. To safeguard seed samples, in 2024 the MOA assisted the WVC to renovate the building and upgrade the IVG’s equipment.   

The IVG is the world’s largest such bank, with over 65,000 genetic resources such as seeds, tissues, and DNA sequences from 155 countries. Additionally, the facility also possesses samples from over 12,000 green beans, and  over 35,000 native southeast Asian vegetables, the most complete collection assembled worldwide. 

Over the years, domestic public and private agricultural sectors and the WVC have collaborated in breeding over 40 new vegetable varieties that can withstand disease, drought and heat, including tomatoes and pumpkins. In July 2024, the MOA signed a memorandum of understanding between WVC and ten MOA research institutes to strengthen cooperation, the ministry concluded.


Source: Taiwan Today (https://taiwantoday.tw/index.php)