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Preserving the genetic diversity of crop plants and their wild relatives across various environments—including natural plant communities, enclosed gardens, home gardens, small farms, gene bank collections, plantations, and breeding material collections—is a crucial and complex task requiring extensive national and international cooperation.
The primary objectives of this pilot program include:
- The in situ and on-farm conservation of local landraces, ecotypes, and populations adapted to regional conditions.
- The propagation of Hungarian field crop and vegetable landraces in conditions similar to their original growing environments (near their collection sites in iso-climatic conditions).
- The distribution and promotion of propagated gene bank samples among home gardeners and farmers to encourage wider adoption.
The program is implemented by the Plant Genetic Resources Institute of the Centre for National Biodiversity and Gene Conservation.