BOLD News

New study underlines the need for more flexible policies to support farmer-led seed innovation after 30 years of success.

Around the world, seed systems are being tested by climate shocks, rising costs, disrupted trade and...

Chips, French fries, pomme frites, or fries za kifaransa in Swahili. Whatever you call them, fried potatoes are among the world's most popular foods. It’s no different in Nakuru, Kenya.

At the Nakuru market, Rada Mwati stands...

In the bustling potato markets of Kenya, one name reigns supreme – Shangi. This single variety is so dominant that it currently commands 60 to 70% of the country’s total potato production. For the 800,000 smallholder farmers who...

The CGIAR has taken a major step forward in the long-term conservation of crops that cannot be stored as seed, as Ecuador becomes the first country to deposit material in the new Cryopreservation Vault at the International Potato...

For many smallholder farmers in the tropical highlands of East Africa, the dream of a bountiful potato harvest is increasingly overshadowed by a ‘chemical tax.’ Disease pressure keeps farmers trapped in a costly cycle – spraying...

The sun is barely up when I meet Jasmin Salum in her family’s irrigated plot in Mumbivi, a small village just outside Singida in central Tanzania. The air is cool, still holding the last traces of night. The only sound is the...

While there are many ways to prepare them, modern potatoes are bred from a relatively narrow genetic pool. And yet, the diseases attacking potatoes continue to evolve. In East Africa’s highland potato fields, breeders and farmers...

I grew up in a multi-ethnic community in the suburbs of a town in Inner Mongolia, in northern China. My grandmother is a farmer and has had a great influence on me. She often takes me back to the village where she grew up and...

Coffee and chocolate are among the world’s most cherished indulgences. Yet behind every cup and every bar lies a vulnerable biological foundation that millions of livelihoods depend on.

An estimated 125 million people worldwide...

In times of climate crisis and accelerated biodiversity loss, genetic conservation is an investment in resilience. Every seed stored in a genebank represents a possibility for adaptation for future generations. Unfortunately,...

Africa’s population is set to double by 2050, with cities absorbing most of that growth. At the same time, diets are changing, climate shocks are intensifying and policies still favor a few major crops. Against this backdrop,...

With temperatures rising and rainfall becoming scarcer in Tunisia, more farmers will turn to drought-tolerant barley to sustain both their households and their herds.

A hailstorm swept across Tunisia’s Kef region and wiped out an...

Every seed in a genebank is on a journey. 

The journey starts when the seed is collected in the field, continues through various stages of cleaning and drying, takes a bit of a pause in long-term storage, and eventually continues...

In a wheat field an hour’s drive south of Casablanca, Dr Ali Sahri and his team pose for a photo as the swaying spikes tickle their legs. Behind their smiles lies an awesome responsibility: to safeguard Morocco’s unique crop...

LONGYEARBYEN, NORWAY, 22 October 2025 – Twenty genebanks representing every continent bar Antarctica deposited more than 21,000 seed samples to the Svalbard Global Seed Vault this week. Among them were new contributors from the...

Ecuador may be small in size, but it’s big in biodiversity. With landscapes that stretch from the Amazon to the Andes and even include the Galápagos Islands, this South American country is home to many plants and animals found...

Kazakhstan releases its first drought- and heat-tolerant variety of alfalfa, one of the world’s most important feed crops.  Developed thanks to wild relatives seeds stored in local and global genebanks, the new variety...

During the first few hours of daylight – before the sun gets high and it’s too hot outside – experimental fields at the World Vegetable Center (WorldVeg) research station in Cotonou, Benin, are buzzing with activity. Solar-powered...