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Building Capacities on Tissue Culture to Support and Sustain Biodiversity for Food Security and Nutrition - TCP/SAM/3803

Year of publication 2024

Place of publication Rome, Italy ;

Pages 6

Publisher FAO ;

Product type Project

Synopsis (short abstract) A dearth of disease-free, healthy planting materials of desired varieties in various vegetatively propagated crops of importance to Samoa has meant that many farmers and producers suffered low productivity or were unable to continue/expand their production activities, leading to food shortages and an increase in prices in local markets, restricting food access and creating food insecurity and undernutrition. Plant tissue culture has made an immense contribution in the field of science during the last 100 years, above all in the latter half of the 20th century. Plant tissue culture, i.e. the propagation of multiple plants from a small amount of plant material, also plays a pivotal role in industry, agriculture and plant breeding. Tissue culture is a technique that involves the use of small pieces of plant tissue for the multiplication of planting materials within a much shorter period of time than that required by other crop multiplication techniques. Plant tissue culture is thus an integral part of plant biotechnology and an important alternative to conventional methods of seed multiplication. Samoa’s economy depends on agriculture and, more recently, tourism, although this was affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. Farmers in Samoa have faced many agriculture-related issues, ranging from the low availability of disease-free planting materials to limited access to production inputs and supplies.

Language English

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