FAO, the European Union and Iraq’s Ministry of Agriculture inaugurated the rehabilitated National Plant Genetic Resources Bank in Abu Ghraib on September 15. A United Nations in Iraq release dated October 1 says the facility, established in 1977, received improved storage technologies, digital documentation and solar systems.

It can now store up to 30,000 seed samples for medium-term use and up to 20,000 for long-term conservation. These are capacity limits; the release does not say the bank currently holds those quantities. The bank is intended to support researchers and crop improvement; no current collection inventory or results for new crop varieties were disclosed.