The Council of Agriculture (COA) last month joined the ranks of the world’s most ambitious seed bank project, and signed the agreement of the Svalbard Global Seed Vault (SGSV) with the Nordic Genetic Resource Center (NordGen) at a celebration activity marking the first anniversary of the SGSV in Norway.

On February 28, 2008, the most ambitious seed bank facility ever constructed was inaugurated in Svalbard, a Norwegian archipelago in the Arctic Ocean merely 1,000 kilometers from the North Pole. The SGSV, built and funded by the Norwegian government into the side of a permafrost-covered mountain of the island of Spitsbergen, is designed to store in deep freeze the seeds of the world’s plant and crop varieties in the event of a global catastrophe. More than 100 countries have backed the vault, which stores seeds and packages them in foil at sub-zero temperatures.

COA, on February 26, 2009, signed the SGSV agreement with the NordGen, and would abide by the agreement to provide about 12,000 seed samples of rice, grains, and vegetables to the SGSV for preservation in the future. COA’s joining SGSV signified a new page for the island’s agricultural collaboration with the international community.

According to the COA, some 50 million seed samples provided by 24 international or national-level agricultural research institutes were already stored in the SGSV, and that it is estimated that another 100 million seeds will be put in storage at the SGSV within this year. The COA said the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations passed the International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture in 2004, and the SGSV was established in February 2008. The vault’s purpose is to ensure survival of crop diversity in jeopardy of plant epidemics, nuclear war, natural disasters or climate change as well as to prevent the world a chance to restart growth of food crops from demolishment that may have been wiped out, the COA added.

The SGSV, drilled 500 feet below permafrost, in the middle of a frozen Artic mountain topped with snow, will store and protect samples from every seed collection in the world. An automated digital monitoring system controls temperature and humidity and provides high security.

The COA noted that with the aim of maintaining the quality of Taiwan’s various plant seeds and of making more agricultural contribution to the international society on mind, the COA, along with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, had proactively tried and sought the participation of the SGSV project since June, 2008. The approximately 12,000 crop seeds offered by Taiwan to be stored in the global seed bank will also uplift the visibility of Taiwan’s quality agriculture on the international stage, the COA said.

The Council stressed that Taiwan, situated at the tropical and subtropical zones, makes an ideal place for different biological species to grow and prosper, shaping abundant biological and crop diversities. In addition to the primitive seeds and crops, Taiwan also develops a wider array of seeds and species by applying cutting edge agricultural technologies, said the COA.

“Through the participation of the international global seed bank and preserving Taiwan’s fine seeds at the bank will push Taiwan towards a new milestone in terms of sustainable seed development,” the COA said.

It added that Taiwan will learn a lot from the global community on the evaluation, preservation, and sustainable use of crop genetic resources via Taiwan’s substantial involvement with members from the international community.