Did you know that the Philippines has its own gene bank?

The National Plant Genetic Resources Laboratory (NPGRL) in the Institute of Plant Breeding at the University of the Philippines-Los Baños (UPLB) turns 50 this year. Established on November 12, 1976, its mandate is to conserve plant genetic resources and currently contains almost 20,000 accessions (seeds in storage) that include native and wild species and registered varieties. The only thing it doesn’t conserve is rice, which is conserved under the Philippine Rice Research Institute (PhilRice).

“We have been doing a lot of collecting activities in our conservation efforts. One of our priorities for conservation is our farmers’ varieties and native species… These are getting lost, so if we conserve them, they have a chance to return to the fields in the future,” NPGRL Head Dr. Lavernee S. Gueco said in Taglish. “Plant breeders also use our genetic resources to develop new and better varieties that, for example, could withstand pests, diseases, drought, and so on.”

The NPGRL has cold storage rooms and freezers for orthodox seeds, which are seeds whose moisture content can be lowered so that they can be kept in a cold environment for decades; a field gene bank for recalcitrant varieties, or seeds whose moisture content is too high for them to be conserved through freezing (a lot of fruit trees fall into this category); and in vitro conservation through tissue culture, a laboratory technique which can protect field varieties from pests, diseases, and calamities.

“A gene bank is important because if there’s a problem that wipes out our [plant] genetic resources, we won’t have to start from zero because we can withdraw seeds from the bank for planting,” Gueco said.

Folks who frequent wet markets lament that the native fruits and vegetables that used to fill the stalls have been replaced by imported ones. “Even agriculture students aren’t aware of the variety of our genetic resources. For example, the Philippines has over 300 species of edible fruits and nuts,” he added. “Usually, the fruits that students know aren’t even local. It’s the same with vegetables.”

The homogenization of food crops can pose problems in the future. “We need diversity for our agriculture to be sustainable,” Gueco said. “If we only plant one variety and it is susceptible to disease, it can be wiped out. If we plant different varieties, diseases are somehow managed.”

Native fruits are one of the top priorities for conservation. “Our native varieties are adapted to local conditions, [and] resistant to pests and diseases… You can eat them fresh and they usually contain high antioxidant properties,” Gueco said. “Katmon has beautiful flowers, and its sour fruit can be eaten or used in sinigang. Mabolo (the fruit of the kamagong tree) is delicious and its wood is good for furniture. We also have many Syzygium species like lipote and baligang that are good for wine.”

The popularity of agritourism offers farmers an opportunity to highlight native varieties. “Foreigners sometimes like experiencing what’s native to the Philippines,” Gueco said. “It would also be nice to eventually have parks that showcase native species.”

The NPGRL is open to the public, and is frequented by students, researchers, breeders, and farmers. Interested parties can write to the Director of the Institute for Plant Breeding to schedule a visit or to inquire about depositing or withdrawing seeds. “But since the gene bank has a limited capacity, we can also only provide a limited number of seeds,” Gueco said. “Part of our collection is stored in other gene banks around the world, including the Svalbard Global Seed Vault in Norway and the World Vegetable Center in Taiwan, as backup.”

Being a public organization, the NPGRL faces many challenges. The Philippines is prone to disasters, which can sometimes cause power outages. The NPGRL has backup generators, but this may not be enough. There is also a shortage of staff despite an increase in activities and acquired collections. And of course, there is always the issue of a lack of funding and support. “Hopefully, we would invest more on research so we can better conserve genetic resources and have better varieties available to farmers,” Gueco said. “Hopefully, the Philippines can take genetic resources conservation seriously because it can help food security. It’s difficult to depend on other countries… If we can improve our production and become self-sustaining in producing our own food, that would be good.”

The NPGRL may be half a century old, but it still has many goals. “At the moment, our priority is to conserve whatever we have in the gene bank and hopefully in the future, we can conserve the other varieties we don’t have and back them up here,” Gueco said.

Conserving plant genetic material is important, especially in a world where they are increasingly being devalued. The NPGRL ensures that the flora that were familiar to our ancestors are not forgotten.