Seed Genebank

The World Agroforestry Center (ICRAF) maintains a seed genebank at the Headquarters in Nairobi, Kenya that conserves a wide diversity of tree species used in agroforestry systems to ensure their long term availability.
The genebank currently holds 6,336 accessions representing about 190 tree species used in agroforestry systems. This collection was acquired through donations from various institutes such as Oxford Forestry Institute, and germplasm collection missions conducted jointly with national agricultural research systems (NARS), universities and international institutes in species natural distribution range. The genebank has a laboratory for conducting seed research, a short-term holding facility for drying maintained at 15ºC and 40–45% RH, and medium-term storage at 4ºC and 40-45% RH that holds the active collection. For long term conservation and safety duplication, ICRAF partners with the Millennium Seed Bank at Kew in the United Kingdom, and the Kunming Institute of Botany genebank in China. The ICRAF genebank also has over 700 accessions representing 165 tree species held at the Svalbard Global Seed Vault in Norway. The genebank is instrumental in the supply of agroforestry tree germplasm for ICRAF domestication programs and to research partners. Small samples of available agroforestry tree seeds are offered for research (download seed request form). The genebank assists sourcing for bulk requests from national partners where the species may be available. Being a signatory to the International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture, ICRAF genebank distributes the agroforestry seeds via theStandard Material Transfer Agreement (SMTA). The genebank disseminates species specific information in GENESYS.