Technical support for regional plant genetic resources development in the Pacific

• Secretariat of the Pacific Community, Fiji

The unique and important diversity maintained in the perennial crop-based production systems of Pacific Island countries has in recent years become better recognised. In the context of agricultural plant genetic resources (PGR) conservation and use, scientists have undertaken some collecting, conservation and improvement of PGR (e.g. roots and tubers, bananas, coconuts and breadfruit) in the region. Associated initiatives include the establishment of the Regional Germplasm Centre (RGC) at the Secretariat of the Pacific Community (SPC) together with activities funded by the European Union (the EU-funded Pacific Regional Agricultural Programme (PRAP)), INIBAP (for bananas and plantains), Australia's Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry (DAFF) through SPC, and COGENT (for coconuts).
Examples of PGR activities in the region include: the AusAID-funded TaroGen project for the improvement, conservation and utilisation of taro genetic resources; the EU-funded South Pacific Yam Network (SPYN) for collecting and conservation of Dioscorea alata; COGENT activities focusing on the collecting of coconut populations from Pacific Island countries and their establishment in the PNG International Coconut Genebank; further breadfruit characterisation; and distribution of INIBAP banana lines resistant to Black Leaf Streak virus.
Despite these investments, progress had been confined to a few crops in a limited number of countries. Thus in April 1999 ACIAR supported a workshop in Lae, PNG to develop a framework for PGR conservation, management and use in Pacific agriculture. The workshop led to a PGR Working Group facilitated by SPC, with members drawn from PNG and Fiji. The working group developed the regional plant genetic resources framework for the Pacific, which was approved by the Permanent Heads of Agricultural and Livestock Services (PHALPS) during its meeting in Fiji in early 2001.

This project developed complementary conservation strategies (CCSs) for agricultural crops of importance in the Pacific Region as a basis for sustainable plant genetic resource (PGR) conservation. Major objectives were:
Ensure effective coordination of PGR activities at regional level in the Pacific;
Develop and implement strategies for the effective conservation and use of PGR for food and agriculture in the Pacific (including neglected and underutilised species);
Increase capacity in PGR conservation and use in the Pacific.

The PGR framework developed by the Working Group was used as a basis for a research proposal, encompassing a range of activities within the regional PGR framework. The New Zealand Official Development Assistance (NZODA) supported funding for the proposal. ACIAR funded a coordinator to oversee these network activities. As a complementary activity for the regional coordinator vis--vis the NZODA proposal, and in addition to the coordinator function, the main task for this position involved the identification and promotion of the appropriate conservation technology (in situ and ex situ) for the regional project. The coordinator therefore focused primarily on PGR conservation technology for agricultural crops, and worked as a PGR adviser based at SPC with joint reporting responsibility to both IPGRI and SPC and working closely with all partners. In addition to provision of the PGR Adviser position, some of the activities relating to PGR conservation technologies that had not been covered under NZODA funding (e.g., emergency collecting, characterisation, training, development of intellectual property rights policies and collecting strategies) also received attention through this project.

ACIAR support for IPGRI and SPC helped the establishment of the Pacific Agricultural Plant Genetic Resources Network (PAPGREN) in 2001. Members of the network are from Cook Islands, Fiji, Kiribati, Palau, Papua New Guinea, Samoa, Solomon Islands, Tonga and Vanuatu. Its task is to develop management strategies for agricultural PGR in the Pacific, and promote the safe exchange of germplasm within and outside the region. A major output of the PAPGREN annual meeting in Vanuatu in October 2005 was an agreement on the main points of a regional strategy for the Global Crop Diversity Trust and a revised document was submitted based on comments and suggestions received in early 2006. It was presented to the 2nd Heads of Agriculture and Forestry Services meeting in Sept. 2006. The Trust now considers the Pacific regional strategy completed and has posted it on its website.
At the 2005 annual meeting, the network members were briefed on developments in reaching a Standard Materials Transfer Agreement (SMTA) for the Multilateral System of the International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture (ITPGRFA). A follow-up workshop in May 2006, with complementary funding from Australia's DAFF, succeeded in further raising regional awareness of the ITPGRFA. The 2006 annual PAPGREN meeting discussed all the above issues as well as a new project funded by NZAID which will continue many of the initiatives begun by the present project
In developing and implementing strategies for the effective conservation and use of PGR for food and agriculture in the Pacific (including neglected and underutilised species) (Objective 2), PAPGREN meetings in 2004 and 2005 agreed on the elements of a regional strategy for ex situ conservation. This strategy is based on complementarity of approaches (field genebanks, in vitro and cryopreservation), adequate duplication, and effective collaboration among all stakeholders within the region and beyond. It includes elements of the strategy for taro and breadfruit developed by TaroGen and PAPGREN, and builds on outcomes of this project's precursors. Pacific regional strategies for banana and coconut have also been developed for the Trust with substantial input from the Regional Germplasm Centre and PGR Advisers in consultation with national program focal points. The regional strategy has now been presented to Pacific Heads of Agriculture and Forestry (HOAFs) and accepted by the Trust. It will guide the Trust's allocation of funds to the region in the future.
To complement these strategies for staple crops, the 2006 annual PAPGREN meeting agreed to a regional strategy for the development of neglected and underutilised crops based on interventions. The subregional strategy developed for the Trust contains several elements on a number of underutilised crops of the Pacific.
In efforts to increase capacity in PGR conservation and use in the Pacific (Objective 3) the ACIAR-supported PGR Adviser provided training and helped in increasing awareness on PGR issues in the subregion. Major emphasis was given in early 2006 to the policy issues arising from the ITPGRFA negotiations that culminated in the workshop funded by DAFF. In 2006 considerable time and effort went into building awareness of the ITPGRFA (and into the associated area of the Trust regional and crop strategies) as these are important for promoting an enabling environment (both policy and financial) in the region to fully support PGR activities. The annual PAPGREN meeting in November 2006 was the last to be organised by the PGR Adviser.