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PRICELESS plant collections are being destroyed by cash-strapped seed banks
as they struggle to save money, claims a leading Dutch plant geneticist. Theo
van Hintum of the Centre for Genetic Resources in Wageningen says that
irreplaceable collections bequeathed by generations of farmers and professional
collectors are being stripped while the collection of new seeds has virtually
ceased.

According to van Hintum, the practice is widespread. But nobody publicises
it: 鈥淚t is a kind of taboo,鈥� he says, adding that budget-driven cutbacks could
have 鈥渕ajor genetic consequences鈥�, even including the loss of some genotypes or
complete populations. 鈥淚t is dangerous,鈥� he warns.

At van Hintum鈥檚 own centre, the collection of cabbage varieties has been
slashed from 273 to 54. But this was legitimate management, he says. Molecular
analysis revealed that many of the plants were genetically almost
indistinguishable: 鈥淓ven a larger reduction would have been justifiable,鈥� he
says.

Some plant collections in parts of the developing world are especially
threatened. Mary Taylor of the Pacific Regional Germplasm Centre in Suva, Fiji,
says that unique collections of varieties of local staple foods such as taro and
yams, planted in research fields, have been 鈥渆ither very depleted or lost
肠辞尘辫濒别迟别濒测鈥�.

The Solomon Islands, scene of recent unrest, are home to a collection of 650
varieties of taro. Taylor says she has no idea whether the collection survived.
鈥淲e hope it鈥檚 still there,鈥� she says. 鈥淚t鈥檚 irreplaceable.鈥�

Last year the nations of the Pacific opened a state-of-the-art gene bank. But
only 10 per cent of the present collections will go there. 鈥淭hat鈥檚 all we can
afford,鈥� Taylor says.

There is an ethical issue too, believes Stefano Padulosi of the IPGRI in
Rome. Destroying a plant variety is like destroying part of a culture, he
says.