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Genetic Improvement and Adaptation of Mediterranean and Tropical Plants
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The European Union supports the new International Network for Edible Aroids
13/05/2011 - Press release
An International Network for Edible Aroids (INEA) has just been founded. It is a consortium of scientists and producers from a range of countries worldwide. The European Union is providing three million euros of funding over five years.
The aim of INEA is to implement a project entitled Adapting Clonally Propagated Crops to Climatic and Commercial Change. Clonally propagated crops are important for the world's poor people, but take some time to react to environmental changes as it is rare for them to flower or produce seeds. The project centres on the following species: taro, cocoyam, swamp arum, giant taro, Amorphophallus paenoniifolius and a few others.
The inaugural session of INEA was held in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, on 13 and 14 April 2011. The meeting enabled the participants to report on their results to date on edible aroids and their expectations as regards the new network.
"We are very pleased for the participating countries that INEA has seen the light of day
", said Vincent Lebot, technical coordinator of the project for CIRAD, at the start of the session. "We can now set up a global network of scientists and farmers to freely exchange plant material, information and technologies, with a view to improving these crops wherever they are grown
", he added.
The
SPC in Fiji and CIRAD in France and Vanuatu are the organizations in charge of project implementation, and are responsible for financial and scientific aspects respectively.
The countries participating in INEA are: Burkina Faso, Costa Rica, Cuba, Germany, Ghana, India, Indonesia, Kenya, Madagascar, Nicaragua, Nigeria, the Philippines, Papua New Guinea, Portugal, Samoa, Slovenia, South Africa and Vanuatu.
Two regional organizations are also associates: the SPC and CARDI, the Caribbean Agricultural research and Development Institute, in Trinidad, along with two international agricultural research organizations: CIRAD, and Bioversity International in Italy.
- Category: Institutional