ECPGR ForEVA

EU devotes only 3% of its arable land to protein crops, and imports more than 75% of its plant protein, despite the complementary and additional nutritional, agronomic and environmental benefits of legume crop cultivation. ECPGR ForEVa is a grain legumes working group project aiming at speeding up the breeding gains. 

ForEVA is a preparatory action towards the establishment of an EVA-legume network, which will eventually ensure comprehensive characterization and evaluation, of legume germplasm using a multiactor approach. These activities will enable the preparatory steps to obtain valuable PGR in enough quantities of seeds to be distributed and tested in different locations for jointly agreed attributes as performance under variable biotic and abiotic pressures. At the end of the Activity, the Network will have the elements in place to swiftly operate as an EVA-legume network, provided necessary funds are identified, including through the lobbying effort that this Activity will exercise.