Xxxxxx and Plantain. The IITA banana and plantain collection comprises 290 accessions. The collection was not included in the agreement signed with the International Treaty. The collection is maintained as living plants in the field with 173 also maintained in vitro. There used to be a collection at the IITA Onne Station near Port Harcourt, Nigeria, but due to security concerns it has largely been abandoned. However, there is little information about that collection, whether it is still there or can be rehabilitated, and even the extent to which it has been duplicated at the Bioversity ITC in Leuven. If it still exists and can be rescued, there will be considerable costs associated with doing so and moving it to Ibadan. Overall no new material is coming into the collection and it is not expected to expand significantly in the future unless material can be recovered from Onne. IITA Banana Annual cost (2010 US$) Costs Current 2015 Number of accessions 290 290 Annual recurring cost per accession 66.24 66.24 Total annual recurring cost of maintaining existing accessions 19,209 19,209 Annual cost of acquiring 1% additional accessions (non- compounded) 0 0 Total annual capital costs 9,317 9,317 Total Annual Cost 28,526 28,526
Xxxxxx and Plantain. Because of the need to locate the collection in a country free from banana diseases, Bioversity International’s banana and plantain (Musa) collection is maintained at Katholieke Universiteit, Leuven, Belgium in the International Transit Centre (ITC). The collection comprises approximately 1,300 accessions that are maintained in vitro, and require sub- culturing every year and refreshing every 10 years (i.e. growing out as plants in the greenhouse, with field testing in the region of origin to check for somaclonal variation, etc.). Approximately 60% of the collection is currently cryopreserved and putting the remaining collection (plus new acquisitions) into liquid nitrogen represents a very significant “one-off” cost (see Section 4). The cost of virus indexing (mostly carried out in Australia) and, where needed, therapy is also very significant. The rationalization of operations (e.g. in vitro conservation and rejuvenation) may be possible once the collection is entirely cryopreserved. Bioversity banana Annual cost (2010 US$) Costs Current 2015 Number of accessions 1,298 1,412 Annual recurring cost per accession 652.50 652.50 Total annual recurring cost of maintaining existing accessions 846,946 921,331 Annual cost of acquiring 1% additional accessions (non-compounded) 41,492 41,492 Total annual capital costs 63,456 63,456 Total Annual Cost 951,894 1,026,279
