Genebank details

The Institute of Rural Economy (IER) is a public institution founded in 1960 as a science and technology institution, and is the principal organization in Mali's national agricultural research system. Its mission includes developing and implementing agricultural research programs, providing technical support for agricultural development, and ensuring the transfer of technological innovations to the rural world. IER’s main areas of expertise are agricultural and livestock production, post-harvest and food technologies, socio-economics, and agricultural economics. Other areas of expertise of IER include forestry and fisheries resources as well as studies on socio-economic impact and evaluation. IER operates Mali’s national genebank called Unit of Genetic Resources (URG, adapted from French: Unité des Ressources Phytogénétiques) that conserves wild relatives and traditional cultivars ex situ. The conservation activities are focused on cereals (sorghum, millet, maize, fonio, irrigated rice, rainfed rice), legumes (sesame, soybean, voandzou, cowpea, groundnut, okra, amaranth, wild watermelon, melon) and a collection of 100 varieties of mango trees. The IER also conducts in situ conservation activities in some regions of Mali.