Page 1 Page 2 Page 3 Page 4 Page 5 Page 6 Page 7 Page 8 Page 9 Page 10 Page 11 Page 12 Page 13 Page 14 Page 15 Page 16 Page 17 Page 18 Page 19 Page 20 Page 21 Page 22 Page 23 Page 24 Page 25 Page 26 Page 27 Page 28 Page 29 Page 30 Page 31 Page 32 Page 33 Page 34 Page 35 Page 36 Page 37 Page 38 Page 39 Page 40 Page 41 Page 42 Page 43 Page 44 Page 45 Page 46 Page 47 Page 48 Page 49 Page 50 Page 51 Page 52 Page 53 Page 54 Page 55 Page 56 Page 57 Page 58 Page 59 Page 6050 GERMINATION.CA MARCH 2017 WORLD STATUS Whether it’s supporting seed banks, looking at declining wheat yields or developing new lentil varieties, researchers around the globe are hard at work. AFRICA SOUTH AFRICA HAS implemented a national strategy to sup- port community seed banks. Traditional practices are eroding as a result of increased commercialization of agriculture and, in many areas, urban migration of the younger generation. Heat, drought, and poverty threaten crops, especially in marginal areas important to many smallholder farmers. Due to prolonged periods of drought, many households have lost their stocks of traditional seeds. In response, South Africa’s Department of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries, with technical assistance from Bioversity International provided under the CGIAR Research Program on Policies, Institutions, and Markets, has begun to support community seed banks. The objec- tive is to help local smallholder communities revive and improve their traditional seed-saving practices for the sake of food security, sustainable agriculture, and conservation of the country’s agricultural biodiversity. Two pilot community seed banks have been established to date, one in Gumbu village in Limpopo province and one in the town of Sterkspruit, Eastern Cape province. The seed banks are managed by community members and women farmers; active custodians of agricultural biodiver- sity who are playing a key role. In the coming years, new community seed banks will be established throughout the country, and links will be set up between the community banks and the national gene bank. The Gumbu village community seed bank is managed and operated by a group of 40 women farmers. They give priority to nutritious crops and good-tasting varieties that are resistant, easy to prepare in traditional dishes, require few inputs, have a short growing cycle and store well. The women state that the community seed bank allows them to maintain a range of different crop species and varieties inherited from their parents, supply their house- holds with food and earn some extra money. They also say that exchange of seeds among farmers from different communities helps to stop the loss of crop diversity that is occurring in the area. —CGIAR AUSTRALIA RECENT RESEARCH BY CSIRO scientists, published in the journal Global Change Biology, found Australia’s yield potential (determined by the climate and soil type, man- aged using best practice and current technology) declined by 27 per cent over the past 25 years. CSIRO team leader Zvi Hochman said the study found that Australia’s wheat-growing zone had experienced an average rainfall decline of 2.8 mm or 28 per cent per cropping season, and a maximum daily temperature increase of around 1 C from 1990 to 2015. These observations are consistent with the higher end of future climate change projections for the wheat zone over the next 26 years. The findings indicate a risk to the future prosperity of Australia’s more than $5 billion per annum wheat indus- try, which contributes around 12 per cent of the total wheat traded globally. CSIRO team leader Zvi Hochman led a study showing that Australia’s wheat yield potential (determined by the climate and soil type, managed using best practices and current technology) declined by 27 per cent over the past 25 years. Photo: CSIRO