The Scientific Research Organisation of Samoa is partnering with Food and Agriculture Organisation to build its capacity on tissue culture.
This is to enable support and the sustaining of biodiversity through the Food and Agriculture Organisation’s Technical Cooperation Programme.
The partnership was announced earlier this month.
Tissue culture is defined as a technique which involves the use of small pieces of plant tissue for rapid multiplication of planting materials.
“Tissue culture is seen as an important technology for developing countries for the production of disease-free, high quality planting material and the rapid production of many uniform plants.”
A workshop to launch the programme was held at SROS while the technical cooperation programme will build the capacities of relevant Government staff on tissue culture production, conservation and management, and tissue culture protocols and laboratory management practices.
According to the F.A.O. Subregional Coordinator for the Pacific Islands, Xiangjun Yao the organisation learnt that the recently built tissue culture laboratory at Nu’u Research Station is the only laboratory in the Pacific Region, which could replicate the genebank at the Pacific Community in Suva, Fiji.
Xiangjun said that with the launching of the technical cooperation programme for building capacities on tissue culture to support and sustain biodiversity for food security and nutrition at the SROS, the FAO is confident that ultimately Samoa farmers will have a more stable supply of disease-free planting materials.