Sudan making its first deposit amid the country’s ongoing civil war

From February 2025: More than 2,000 seed samples that were rescued from Sudan’s national gene bank are deposited in the icy chambers of the Svalbard Global Seed Vault, along with 12,000 other seed samples from 22 seed banks. The seed samples include essential varieties of sorghum and pearl millet from Sudan’s seed bank, a collection nearly destroyed during the country’s civil war.

This time, the Seed Vault received seed samples of 19 species from Sudan’s seed bank, a collection nearly destroyed during the country’s civil war. The seed boxes included many varieties of sorghum. Sorghum has been cultivated for thousands of years in what we now call Sudan and is deeply tied to Sudanese cultural heritage. Sorghum is also a lifeline for food security in the country, as its ability to withstand drought makes it crucial for adaptation to climate change.

“In Sudan, where conflict has displaced more than eight million people and disrupted agriculture, these seeds represent hope,” said Ali Babikar, director of Sudan’s Agricultural Plant Genetic Resources Conservation and Research Centre (APGRC). “By safeguarding this diversity in Svalbard, we are preserving options for a resilient, food-secure future, regardless of the challenges we face.” APGRC includes the Sudanese national gene bank, located in the city of Wad Medani. This institution had preserved more than 17,000 seeds, but militants raided and looted the freezers and scattered the seeds. With the support of the Emergency Reserve for Genebanks, a funding facility managed by the Crop Trust and the FAO International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources, hundreds of seed samples were transported to NordGen, where staff there sorted, catalogued, packed and documented them as part of the Sudanese deposit. The rescued Sudanese seeds are now well deposited into the Seed Vault in Svalbard.