United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization: thousands of rice genetic data will be collected around the world.

Economic Daily, Geneva-reporter Chen Jian reported: the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations recently issued a press release saying that the genomic sequences of more than 3000 different varieties of rice will be included in the International Treaty on Plant genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture. In order to enable the global sharing of genetic information of these different varieties of rice, this is essential to the cultivation and development of more crop varieties and to ensure food security in the future.

At present, countries and different organizations around the world are making efforts to store genetic materials in the seed bank, but because there is no access to the data of genetic resources, it is difficult for researchers and plant breeders to understand the information such as genetic resources contained in different types of seeds stored in the seed bank. With the rapid growth of population, climate changes such as droughts, floods and pests have an increasingly strong impact on agricultural production. In order to meet the increasing food demand and ensure food security, different crop species that are more efficient, less harmful to the environment and resistant to various climatic conditions need to be developed.

Shaker Bhatti, secretary of the International Treaty on Plant genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture of the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization, said that genetic information provided by the International Rice Research Institute on more than 3000 species of rice will be included in the treaty, which is very important to ensure food security in the future.

The sixth meeting of the Council of the International Treaty on Plant genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture will discuss the establishment of a global unified information system on plant genetic resources to improve the current multilateral system. The system will be developed and supervised by the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization.

The International Treaty on Plant genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture was examined and adopted by the 31st Conference of the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization on November 3, 2001 and entered into force on June 29, 2004. Up to now, there are 136 States parties to the Treaty. The Treaty establishes an international legal framework for global conservation and access to crop diversity to ensure adequate sharing and sustainable use of plant genetic resources by users and providers of genetic material through the establishment of a global system of access to plant genetic resources.