TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — The World Vegetable Center’s gene bank was recently renovated and officially inaugurated at a public ceremony in Tainan on Monday.

Originally funded in 2010 by Taiwan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the facility was established as a professional gene bank for conserving germplasm such as seeds, tissue, and DNA sequences. After decades of operation, aging storage infrastructure began affecting seed preservation, prompting modernization efforts that also improved energy efficiency, per UDN.

World Vegetable Center Director-General Marco Wopereis said soil acidification and climate change have made it increasingly difficult to grow crops. “We need more crops, more diversity, and shorter production terms. We need to produce more good crops that can benefit this generation and the next.”

Gugu Shabangu, principal secretary of Eswatini's Ministry of Agriculture, expressed gratitude for Taiwan’s assistance in providing seeds and agricultural consultants to help local farmers cultivate crops. She said these efforts improved the nutrition of countless children and citizens, laying a solid foundation for her country’s future development.

Over the past 50 years, the World Vegetable Center (WVC) has distributed more than 700,000 seed samples to agricultural researchers, breeders, the private sector, and farmers in more than 200 countries and regions. These efforts have led to the development of hundreds of new vegetable varieties, bolstering global agricultural progress and contributing to food and nutritional security.

The WVC said modernizing the gene bank was essential, as preserving genetic diversity is key to achieving long-term food and nutrition security. The seed bank now houses more than 55,000 accessions across 330 vegetable species from 155 countries, along with an additional 6,000 seeds of native African vegetables stored at the African Vegetable Gene Bank in Tanzania.

Agriculture Minister Chen Junne-jih (陳駿季) said the gene bank upgrade reflects Taiwan’s commitment to global food security and sustainable agriculture. Preserving and sharing vital vegetable seed resources will enable future generations to better respond to climate change and enhance nutritional value, while reinforcing global seed system resilience.

Stefan Schmitz, executive director of the Crop Trust, said the gene bank plays a vital role in safeguarding the future of vegetable diversity. With the completed modernization, these valuable seed resources can be provided to breeders, researchers, and farmers to help develop climate-resilient, high-yield vegetable crops.

The WVC emphasized that mounting threats from urbanization, climate change, biodiversity loss, and emerging pests and diseases make preserving crop genetic diversity an urgent global priority. Through expanded international cooperation and strengthened research efforts, it aims to become a leading global center for developing resilient vegetable varieties.