The gene bank of Belarus currently holds 90 thousand samples, with 46 thousand samples of seeds alone. The work of this institution was discussed during the visit of the President of Belarus, Alexander Lukashenko, to the selection and seed production complex of the RUP "Scientific and Practical Center of the National Academy of Sciences of Belarus for Agriculture" in Smolevichi district, as reported by a BELTA correspondent.
"The bank is sacred. For journalists to understand," Alexander Lukashenko emphasized. He recalled the story of how, in besieged Leningrad, people, despite starving and dying themselves, preserved the fund of a similar gene bank, not taking a single grain from it.
"So that they understand what this is. People were dying there, but they preserved this repository," Alexander Lukashenko stressed.
After the collapse of the Soviet Union, Belarus not only preserved but also developed its domestic seed production school. It also created its own gene bank, which is currently highly valued globally and is unique within the CIS space. This bank contains seeds of virtually everything that grows in Belarus – not only agricultural crops but also weeds and forest species. All of this is not needed now but is stored for future generations, who may find this genetic material very useful.
"In short, it's the gold reserve in crop production," the head of state noted.
As explained by Fyodor Privalov, Director General of the Scientific and Practical Center for Agriculture, while similar banks have been established over hundreds of years worldwide, Belarus achieved this in a relatively short period. Moreover, the work of Belarusian scientists has received the highest international acclaim. For instance, the Belarusian wheat variety "Kapylyanka" was recognized as unique and was deposited in the global Svalbard Global Seed Vault on Spitsbergen Island, which collects the best samples from around the planet. In this case, the Belarusian variety remains unique and unsurpassed in terms of baking quality.
However, such gene banks are not only oriented towards future generations but also serve as a foundation for the breeding work of current scientists.