ABSTRACT
As a multitude of studies have shown in the course of the past 30 years, global interdependence on plant genetic resources for food and agriculture (PGRFA) is nothing new, but merely a statement of fact. An often quoted FAO study dating from the year 1998 revealed the knowledge that only four crops (rice, wheat, sugar and maize) account for 65 per cent of the dietary intake worldwide (Palacios, 1998).
