Did you know that SPC runs the Centre for Pacific Crops and Trees (CePaCT), a lab facility that maintains, tests and distributes crop varieties that are key for food and nutrition security? Since COVID-19, the need for Pacific countries to be more self-sufficient in food production has become urgent.
The CePaCT preserves crops that mature faster, have good eating quality and have high nutritional value, including crops that are tolerant to climatic conditions such as droughts, high salinity, swampy conditions, pests and diseases.
CePaCT currently holds 17 crops with 2,230 varieties including 1000 taro accessions, the largest collection in the world - not only crops from around the Pacific but also from Asia, Africa, Europe, and the Americas.
