OP-6: Number of International Nurseries distributed

Definition: This indicator serves to track the number of international nurseries provided to cooperators. ICARDA runs an international nursery trialing system as an integral part of the crop improvement program. It provides the cooperators with the opportunity to evaluate the genetically diverse germplasms generated through conventional and modern breading methodologies under their own agro-ecological conditions and socio-economic contexts.

Unit of Measure: Count

Disaggregated by: Crop, Entity type (CGIAR, non-CGIAR), entity name, country
Crops: Chickpea, Lentil, Faba beans, grass pea, Spring Barley, Winter barley, Durum wheat, Spring Bread wheat, Other

Method of Calculation: Summation of count

Data sources: International Nurseries Data Management System (IDMS)

Data collection method: Routine recording in IDMS

Data collection and reporting responsibility: Program leader- seed systemsand international nurseries

Data Collection and Reporting Frequency: Annual

Evidence required: IDMS report, Standard Material Transfer Agreements (SMTAs)

Rationale: The development of improved germplasm and elite genotypes for use by national, regional and international breeding programs is the major objective of the ICARDA crop improvement program. ICARDA holds 'in trust' rich and valuable collections of genetic resources of cereals, food legumes, forages and range species in its genebanks and all the genetic resources are considered international public goods (IPGs) to be made available upon request to national and international researchers, individuals from the private sector, graduate students, farmers, and others around the world for use in breeding, research and education purposes. This indicator therefore serves as a metric to quantify ICARDA's work in facilitating seed and germplasm exchange and movement.

Comments and limitations: Whereas this indicator is used as a proxy for the use of seed and germplasm, it is likely that some cooperators do not put the received seed and germplasm to use (within reasonable time), imparing the accuracy and utility of the indicator information.