2023 Annual report Agrobiodiversity and Tree Diversity for Resilient Communities

The evolution of banana varieties in Africa is a great example of fruit biodiversity. Since their arrival from Asia to Africa 2,000 years ago, farmer selection has led to the existence of over 150 varieties today.  

With the support of the Belgian Development Cooperation, we have focused on upscaling banana diversity in the drought-prone ‘Cattle Corridor’ that stretches from northern Tanzania through Uganda and southwestern Ethiopia. In Uganda, bananas are now mostly grown in monoculture systems, and knowledge of traditional varieties and cropping methods is disappearing. Readily marketable varieties are promoted to the detriment of traditional varieties that are less suitable for intensification but preferred by communities for their cultural importance, culinary importance, and agronomic benefits.  

To ensure the safeguarding and upscaling of these varieties, Alliance researchers have been training young scientists to identify and analyze local banana diversity. Surveys comparing past and present trends in diversity have allowed us to identify farmer-selected and adopted varieties that can mitigate the effects of climate change. The study found that 23 banana varieties were threatened with extinction, while 14 ‘new varieties’ were identified.  

The collaboration between the Alliance of Bioversity and CIAT, KU Leuven, and our African partners NARO and TARI have distributed improved banana varieties to increase food security in the African Great Lakes region. The project targets small- and medium-sized farming systems, where farmers produce cooking bananas both for home consumption and for sale. Access to high-quality, climate-resilient and disease-resistant varieties offers an opportunity to reduce poverty in smallholder farming communities in water-scarce regions. Using the diversity of varieties safeguarded in our genebank in Belgium, we designed a citizen science experiment to introduce seven genebank varieties for on-farm evaluation. To date, this experiment has led to the production of over 1,200 banana plants in 56 farms in Tanzania.  

Another benefit of growing a diversity of varieties is increased resilience in the face of banana diseases such as Fusarium Wilt - a serious challenge affecting sweeping across many major banana-producing countries. 

Community seedbanks build resilience, especially in the face of climate change and associated biodiversity loss. The Alliance has helped establish numerous seedbanks that hold a diversity of resilient crops and neglected and underutilized species such as sorghum, finger millet, cassava, cow peas, pigeon peas, common beans and traditional leafy vegetables gathered from national genebanks and local communities. This diversity is accessible to thousands of farmers, especially women in Africa who are disproportionately affected by the impacts of climate change. The seedbanks provide easy access to a diversity of seeds, improving farmers’ resilience, food security and dietary diversity.  

In the last two years, we established a woman’s seedbank serving over 400 women in Kenya’s Kisumu County. The group of women leading this seedbank were especially motivated to increase access to seeds of neglected and underutilized crops, such as traditional leafy vegetables. In Uganda, the new Nyatonzi community seedbank was established in a remote area of Masindi district, offering sorghum and finger millet seeds to local farmers.  

In Kenya and in Uganda, we provided additional support for community seedbanks to increase uptake and add value to their products. We supplied three seedbanks with equipment such as seed cleaners, threshers and dryers, and trained over 300 farmers in seed production based on the latest research. We also supplied roller mills to process composite flour with different proportions of the locally sold crops, allowing them to earn income from the proceeds. These value-added products can significantly contribute to farmers’ livelihoods. 

Likewise, in India, our participatory Seeds for Needs program supported farmers in selecting a diversity of crops adapted to their local agroecological conditions. We are also collaborating with national governments, universities, civil society organizations, private sector actors and farmers to mainstream traditional varieties. Farmer organizations are marketing seeds of diverse crops under a unique brand, “Dharti Naturals.” By acting as the intermediary between farmers and the market, the organizations increase the uptake of seeds saved on-farm, increasing the availability of these varieties in the national market. Through these initiatives and institutional support mechanisms, seedbanks have become major players in Indian seed markets, earning their own income and becoming more resilient. 

The science of characterizing food components has evolved from considering food as simply a source of energy to understanding the role of essential nutrients for public health. We now understand that as well as the known macro- and micronutrients in the food we eat, there are lesser-known specialized metabolites including sterols, flavonoids, terpenes and several other classes of bioactive molecules that are increasingly recognized for their role in supporting health. We also know that health-damaging compounds such as lead, mercury, pesticides and other synthetic compounds can enter the food we eat due to the pollution of our water and soil, unsustainable agricultural practices and the ways we process food. 

In 2023, the Alliance collaborated with the American Heart Association to lead the Periodic Table of Food Initiative (PTFI). The PTFI’s goal is to empower stakeholders to develop data-driven solutions for our most urgent food systems challenges: biodiversity loss, climate change impacts and poor diet quality, which are aggravated by the insufficient intake of diversified foods, leading to undernutrition and diet-related non-communicable diseases. 

The PTFI developed standardized analytical methods and created a framework for housing data generated by food researchers that will enable a comprehensive inventory of knowledge of “what is in our food”, creating a repository of knowledge on food biodiversity and the thousands of bioactive molecules present in foods. Working with research partners across the world to generate new knowledge is allowing us to address all forms of malnutrition, improving people’s lives and planetary health. 

Peru is the point of origin for cacao diversity, with hundreds of varieties offering unique traits and flavors. In 2023, our researchers explored aspects of sustainable cacao production including agroforestry, pollinator health and native varieties.  

However, to reach the full potential of this diversity, farmers need access to markets. One challenge for upscaling biodiverse production is meeting the standards for safe levels of cadmium: 

In Rome, our Cacao of Excellence Program opened the doors for new cacao research, with its Development Laboratory and Training Centre receiving, analyzing and processing hundreds of cacao varieties into chocolate, leading to its globally renowned Cacao of Excellence Awards. The genetic and flavor diversity of the beans on display at the lab has already benefitted over 100 visiting researchers and trainers-of-trainers from across the cacao sector, empowering national value chain stakeholders in sensory analysis protocols for improved market access. 2023 also saw the launch of the Guide for the Assessment of Cacao Quality and Flavour, containing peer-reviewed protocols that offer precise instructions for the establishment of cacao processing and assessment facilities and the creation of sensory evaluation panels for actors across the cacao value chain.  

“The training at the lab is unmatched. For the first time, I was able to witness and work with an incredible amount cacao diversity simultaneously and in one location. In my country, accessing beans from other regions is very challenging, and this helped our team to better understand the beans we grow and their unique flavors.” - Luis Cabrera, UOPROCAE Cacao Cooperative quality specialist