ABSTRACT
The obvious answer to the question posed in the title of this chapter is yes. Landraces contain the genetic diversity used for the generation of new and improved crop varieties, and are the basis for scientific plant breeding. Many farmers, particularly poor farmers in the developing world, continue to rely on them for their sustenance and livelihoods. Because of their importance they have been actively collected and many are maintained in gene banks around the world (known as ex situ conservation). The aim of this chapter, however, is not to address the rationale and benefits of ex situ conservation of landraces or their contribution to the livelihoods of the poor in developing countries, but to argue for the need of maintaining the social-biological systems that generate crop landraces in the first place. The rationale for this is that these systems provide an important global option value, particularly in the face of climate change. In order for them to be of practical use, it is not enough just to maintain these systems for many different crops around the world. It is also necessary to implement a global information system that monitors and provides access to the germplasm they provide.
