Russian Attacks Threaten To Ruin Ukraine's Giant Seed Bank

In underground vaults near Ukraine's battlefields, the genetic code for nearly 2,000 crops is in danger of being permanently destroyed, Maytaal Angel reported for Reuters.

Photo Insert: Ukraine is the world’s 4th biggest grain exporter.

The risk came into sharp focus earlier this month when a research facility near Ukraine's national seed bank was damaged, according to Crop Trust, a non-profit organization set up by the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO).

The facility and Ukraine's seed bank are both based in Kharkiv, northeastern Ukraine, which has come under intense bombing from Russian forces.

Reuters could not determine the cause of the damage and Crop Trust said only that the research facility had been hit, but declined to give further details, citing security reasons. It was a narrow escape.

Only 4% of the seeds in Ukraine's store, the 10th largest of its kind in the world, has been backed up.

"Seed banks are a kind of life insurance for mankind. They provide the raw materials for breeding new plant varieties resistant to drought, new pests, new diseases, and higher temperatures," Stefan Schmitz, the executive director of Crop Trust, told Reuters.

"It would be a tragic loss if Ukraine's seed bank were destroyed."

The director of the seed bank could not be reached, Ukraine's academy of science declined to comment and Russia's defense ministry did not immediately reply to request for comment on the damage.

Researchers rely on the diverse genetic material that seed banks store to breed plants that can withstand climate change or disease.

They have become increasingly vital to ensuring enough food is produced each season to feed 7.9 billion people as the world's weather becomes more extreme.

Ukraine is the world’s 4th biggest grain exporter.

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