Dear all,

I’m not sure how this will show up in this list, but it is an announcement for the first webinar we are organizing here at the IYM secretariat. Please share it through your networks and join us in the webinar.

Best regards

Makiko

S A V E  T H E  D A T E

14 June 2023 | 12:00 to 2:30 pm (CEST)

“Unlocking the Power of Diversity:

The Role of Sorghum and Millets Genetic Resources”

in Sustainable Agriculture”

An online event in English, with interpretation in Arabic, French, and Spanish

REGISTER HERE

On the occasion of the International Year of Millets 2023, the Secretariat of FAO’s International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture is collaborating with the Crop Trust and ICRISAT to organize an international panel of experts to highlight the importance of the genetic diversity of sorghum and millets for food security and nutrition. The Panel will reflect on recent advances and current challenges in the conservation, sharing, and use of the diversity of these important but often unjustly overlooked crops.

The panel will comprise high-level experts from FAO, the Crop Trust, International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT) and other governmental, private sector, and civil society organizations with an interest in sorghum and millets.

The experts will provide a global overview of the status of the production of sorghum and millets, and of the conservation and use of their diversity, including the latest trends and statistics. They will focus, in particular, on current practices by international genebanks, national programs, researchers, breeders, the seed sector and non-governmental organizations.

Examples from Asia and Africa, as well as from other selected regions around the world, will be showcased. The panel will also help identify current barriers to the effective and efficient use of the diversity of these crops and opportunities that may benefit from joint efforts.

A G E N D A

Time		Agenda item and Presenters
12:00	Opening Session
12:15	Keynote Presentation: What are the challenges to sorghum and millet production and consumption and how can we overcome them? Mr Prabhu Pingali, Professor and Director, Tata-Cornell Institute, College of Agriculture & Life Sciences, Cornell University
12:40	Presentations: Perspectives on the conservation of plant genetic resources: Ms Paula Bramel, Consultant, Crop Trust: Crop Conservation Strategies for Millets and Sorghum Mr Colin Khoury, Senior Director, Science and Conservation, San Diego Botanic Garden: The Crops That Feed the World Mr Kuldeep Singh, Head Genebank, ICRISAT: Conservation at ICRISAT Mr Rajeev Varshney, Director, Centre for Crop & Food Innovation, Food Futures Institute, Murdoch University (Australia), Recent Developments in Sorghum and Millets Genomics
13:30	Panel Discussion: The Use of Diversity Introduction by moderators, Mr Luigi Guarino (Crop Trust) and Mr Álvaro Toledo (ITPGRFA) Mr Andrew Mushita, Executive Director, Community Technology Development Organization (CTDO), Zimbabwe Mr Alexander Bombom, Principal Research Scientist, National Agricultural Research Organisation (NARO)-National Livestock Resources Research Institute (NaLIRRI), Uganda Mr Stephen Kresovich, Program Director, Feed the Future Innovation Lab for Crop Improvement, Department of Global Development, Cornell University, USA Ms Tara Satyavathi, Director, ICAR-Indian Institute of Millets Research, India Ms Damaris A. Odeny, Plant Molecular Breeder, ICRISAT Ms Maria Marta Pastina, Research Director, Embrapa Maize and Sorghum, Brazil Mr David Jordan, Professor of Plant Breeding and Genetics, The University of Queensland, Australia
14:30	Closure