Conservation of Plant Genetic Resources in China

China is a large country endowed with diverse natural resources, including crop genetic resources. The principal custodians of the country’s crop genetic resources have been the millions of smallholder farmers, who for centuries have maintained crop diversity on their farms and in their communities. In recent years, farmers’ conservation efforts have been reinvigorated by the establishment of community seed banks, supported by researchers, extension agents, and national government and nongovernment organizations. The number of community seed banks has reached 42 by 2022. This is a positive development that merits more attention and support. These local efforts are backed up by an extensive formal national gene banking system (with multiple entities and activities across the country), which conserves more than 500,000 accessions of more than 2300 species. However, in recent decades, the conservation of crop genetic resources (in particular, in situ conservation) has come under pressure due to several factors, such as modernization, urbanization, a growing population, and several policy challenges. The 2020 Central Economic Conference determined that one of the key tasks to be executed in 2021 was to solve the problems of the supply of diverse quality seeds and cultivated land. According to the Chinese Government, the key to achieving food security is to implement a new agricultural strategy by strengthening the conservation and utilization of germplasm resources and establishing seed banks. This chapter presents an overview of the ex situ and in situ conservation activities in the country and makes several policy recommendations to back up the new agricultural strategy proposed by the government and give higher priority to safeguarding China’s plant genetic resources.