This past June, the ex situ conservation project for local fruit and vegetable varieties concluded successfully. The project was part of the FOGAIBA grant programme to promote the conservation, sustainable use, and development of genetic resources in agriculture.
The initiative focused on contributing to the development of the Catalogue of Local Varieties of the Balearic Islands through the multiplication and characterisation of traditional varieties.
The project included the multiplication of 23 vegetable crop varieties and the characterisation of four local bean varieties (Phaseolus vulgaris L.), as well as maintenance of the genetic reserve of fruit trees, which holds more than one hundred specimens of pear, plum, apple, apricot, peach, grapevine, and citrus trees.
Over the past year and a half, several workshops on the cultivation, handling, and traditional uses of local varieties have also been held as part of the “From Garden to Kitchen” and “Self-Sufficiency Workshops” series.
