Minister of Agriculture and Forestry İbrahim Yumaklı stated that the seeds of the vegetation that constitute all the richness of Turkey are classified and analyzed in two seed gene banks within the Ministry in Ankara and Izmir, and said, "We keep 120 thousand genetic materials under protection in these two gene banks."
Minister Yumaklı visited and inspected the Turkish Seed Gene Bank in Ankara, one of the two seed gene banks operating within the Ministry's General Directorate of Agricultural Research and Policies (TAGEM).
Here, Yumaklı evaluated the work of seed gene banks and stated that Turkey's seeds are kept under protection in seed gene banks.
Minister Yumaklı stated that the two seed gene banks operating in Ankara and Izmir work with backup and gave the following information:
“Türkiye Seed Gene Bank is the third largest gene bank in the world in terms of capacity.
Here we preserve both our past and our future. Seeds belonging to Turkey's vegetation, which constitute all the richness of our country, from grains to different plant varieties and wild species, are classified and analyzed in this gene bank. We keep 120 thousand genetic materials under protection in our two gene banks in Izmir and Ankara. “We have a Seed Gene Bank that is a reference in every respect both at home and abroad.”
Pointing out that the gene bank sheds light on both the research and innovation and development of the academic community in Turkey, Yumaklı said the following.
“In a period when the concept we call food nationalism has emerged to ensure countries' own food supply security in both cyclical and different situations, the importance of this gene bank is much better understood. If we take into account the richness of the Anatolian geography and against all kinds of negative situations in the future, the importance of this gene bank will be understood. I wish success to our engineers and other colleagues working at the Turkish Seed Gene Bank, the academic community that contributes to Turkish seed production, and especially all our colleagues who are stakeholders in seed breeding studies. I would like to thank them for the important work they have done.”
ANKARA SEED GENE BANK
Work on collecting and preserving genetic resources within the Ankara Field Crops Central Research Institute started in 1988.
"Turkey Seed Gene Bank" (TTGB), which was opened by President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan during his Prime Ministry period, became operational in 2010 for the permanent preservation of all collected materials and the maintained seeds.
Turkey Seed Gene Bank, established as a unit of the Ankara Field Crops Central Research Institute within the General Directorate of Agricultural Research and Policies affiliated to the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry, is responsible for the detection, collection, preservation and characterization of plant genetic resources in Turkey, the creation of the gene pool to be used in breeding studies and the creation of the gene pool to be used in breeding studies. It carries out studies with the aim of providing appropriate amounts of material to research projects at international standards.
Within the framework of the work of the Seed Gene Bank, where local and indigenous seeds are also preserved, national/international seminars and trainings are organized in order to raise awareness for the protection of biological diversity and to transfer the experiences gained.
As of 2024, the institution is the direct executive of 4 TAGEM projects and participates in the projects of other departments and institutes as a researcher.
The gene bank in Ankara has documentation, seed cleaning preparation unit, drying and packaging unit, 7 cold storage rooms, seed physiology laboratory, 2 climate rooms, plant molecular biology laboratory and a herbarium.
IZMIR SEED GENE BANK
Within the framework of the agreement signed between Turkey and the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (UN/FAO) for the establishment of an International Regional Center in the country for the purpose of surveying, collecting, preserving and evaluating plant species cultivated in South-West Asian countries, their wild relatives and wild species with economic potential. Work on the conservation of plant genetic resources began in 1964 at the Aegean Agricultural Research Institute (ETAE), now known as the Aegean Agricultural Research Institute.
Since 1995, with the entry into force of the Agricultural Research Project (TAP), the "Plant Genetic Resources" and "Creating a Database for Plant Diversity and Genetic Resources" programs of the "Plant Diversity and Genetic Resources" Research Opportunity Area have been carried out nationally.
While the Aegean Agricultural Research Institute serves as the coordination center of these national programs, the Department of Biological Diversity and Genetic Resources has undertaken the coordination task.
Plant genetic resources studies are carried out by groups of cereals, edible legumes, forage crops, industrial plants, vegetables, fruit and vineyard and ornamental plants, endemic species, medicinal and fragrant plants in the main disciplines of survey, collection, systematics and taxonomy, conservation and documentation.
In the National Seed Gene Bank managed by the Department of Biological Diversity and Genetic Resources, village populations belonging to plant genetic resources originating from Turkey; Seed samples of their wild relatives, old varieties that are no longer used, and lines with clearly determined hereditary characteristics are preserved.
Safety backups of the base collections in the National Seed Gene Bank are made at the Central Research Institute of Field Crops Turkey Seed Bank.