The Lift Line
“Centres of diversity continue to be important in discussions on biodiversity and bioresources.”
Why This Explainer Matters for Your Exam
This Sunday science column in The Hindu, by R. Geeta, a retired professor of Delhi University, marks a century since Nikolai Vavilov’s paper “Studies on the origin of cultivated plants” (1926). It is not tied to a news event, but it explains a concept UPSC tests in both papers: centres of origin and diversity of crops, and the institutions built on them, from gene banks to farmers’ rights.
GS Paper 3: Conservation of biodiversity; agricultural biotechnology and seeds; food security; intellectual property rights in agriculture. GS Paper 1: Distribution of key natural resources across the world (crops and their regions of origin).
| Concept | Meaning | Why it is testable |
|---|---|---|
| Centre of origin | The region where a crop was first domesticated | Vavilov was the first to map these systematically |
| Centre of diversity | The region where a crop shows its greatest variety today | Not always the same as the centre of origin |
| Crop wild relative | A wild species closely related to a crop | Source of genes for resistance and tolerance |
| In situ / ex situ conservation | Conserving in the natural habitat or on farms / in gene banks away from it | Both are needed |
| Farmers’ rights | Recognition of farmers as conservers and breeders of crop diversity | Article 9 of the Plant Treaty; India’s 2001 Act |
Background and Context
The scientist. Nikolai Ivanovich Vavilov (1887-1943) was a Soviet botanist and geneticist who, like Darwin and Wallace, travelled widely, in his case collecting crop varieties. He built on earlier botanists such as Alphonse de Candolle, who had studied the origin of individual crops, and on Eduard Regel’s applied botany in Russia. He died in prison in 1943.
The seed bank. The author notes that Vavilov collected about 2.5 lakh crop varieties and species, maintained in a facility he built into a global seed bank in 1921 in Leningrad (now St Petersburg): what is today the institute that bears his name. During the Second World War siege of Leningrad, its staff protected the seeds, and several died of hunger rather than eat the collection.
The centres. The author writes that Vavilov found most crops came from eight regions. The number changed as his work grew: his 1926 paper described five centres, the familiar eight come from his work of the mid-1930s, and he later revised the list again.
| Vavilov’s centre (1935 scheme) | Examples of crops |
|---|---|
| Chinese | soybean, tea |
| Indian (Hindustan), with Indo-Malayan sub-centre | rice, sugarcane, brinjal, mango, black pepper |
| Central Asian | onion, garlic |
| Near Eastern | wheats, barley, lentil |
| Mediterranean | olive, cabbage |
| Abyssinian (Ethiopian) | coffee (arabica), teff |
| South Mexican and Central American | maize, common bean |
| South American (Andean), with Chiloe and Brazilian-Paraguayan sub-centres | potato; cassava, groundnut |
The Analysis
1. Geography plus genetics. Vavilov’s insight was that varieties and their closest wild relatives cluster in particular regions, as evolution predicts: a species arises at one time and place and changes as it spreads. By studying many crops together, and the prehistoric cultures that shaped them, he could map where agriculture began.
2. Time matters as much as place. The potato originated in Peru and spread through South America; it reached India only after Columbus. A dish that seems timeless may be recent: the author notes that no one in the Chola period could have eaten potato chips.
3. A map became a strategy. Knowing where diversity lies told collectors where to look. Vavilov’s field stations across the Soviet Union tested varieties in different climates, speeding up the choice of varieties for breeding. This is the logic of every modern gene bank.
4. From science to rights. The same map shows who created crop diversity: farming communities in the centres, many in developing countries. That is why the work is central to the Convention on Biological Diversity and to farmers’ rights.
5. The concept has been refined. Molecular biology suggests a centre of diversity is not always the centre of origin; some crops were domesticated in several places. The author concludes that the idea holds broadly, and that centres of diversity remain important for policy.
The precision that earns marks. Three regimes govern plant genetic resources. The Convention on Biological Diversity (1992) affirms sovereign rights of States over their genetic resources, with the Nagoya Protocol (2010) on access and benefit-sharing. The International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture (2001), under the FAO, creates a Multilateral System for key food and forage crops and recognises farmers’ rights (Article 9). India implements them through the Biological Diversity Act, 2002 and the Protection of Plant Varieties and Farmers’ Rights Act, 2001.
Data and Institutions Vault
Prelims-grade facts:
Vavilov:
- Nikolai Vavilov, 1887-1943; paper “Studies on the origin of cultivated plants”, 1926.
- His centres grew from five (1926) to eight (1935 scheme); the Indian (Hindustan) centre includes rice, sugarcane, brinjal and mango.
- Seed bank in Leningrad (St Petersburg), built from 1921; about 2.5 lakh accessions (as cited by the author).
Institutions:
- NBPGR, New Delhi, holds India’s national gene bank.
- Svalbard Global Seed Vault (Norway, 2008) stores safety duplicates of seeds.
- Plant Treaty (ITPGRFA, 2001): Multilateral System; farmers’ rights in Article 9.
- India’s PPV&FR Act, 2001 lets farmers save, use, exchange and sell farm-saved seed, though not as branded seed of a protected variety.
Prelims, the traps:
- The potato is Andean (Peru), not Indian; it reached India after Columbus.
- A centre of diversity is not always a crop’s centre of origin.
⚠️ Watch the trap: the eight centres usually taught come from Vavilov’s work of the mid-1930s, not from his 1926 paper, which named five.
The Debate
For the author’s view. Vavilov’s centres remain the practical guide to where genetic diversity lies, where to collect and conserve it, and whose contribution to recognise. As climate change demands crops that tolerate heat and drought, the wild relatives in those centres grow more valuable.
The complication. The model is a simplification: Vavilov revised it himself, and later research shows many crops were domesticated in several regions or diversified far from where they began. Gene banks also struggle with funding, and benefit-sharing with farming communities has been slow.
The balanced verdict. Use the centres as a map, not a law: conserve diversity both on farms and in vaults, duplicate collections, and make benefit-sharing real so that the communities who created diversity keep a stake in conserving it.
How to Think About This
Link a concept to an institution to a right. Centres of diversity (the concept) explain why gene banks and the Plant Treaty exist (the institutions), which in turn explain farmers’ rights and benefit-sharing (the rights). A strong GS3 answer on seeds, biodiversity or food security walks along that chain.
Diagram-in-Words
Takeaway Box
- Centenary: Vavilov’s “Studies on the origin of cultivated plants”, 1926.
- Centres: five in 1926, eight in the 1935 scheme; India is one of them.
- Seed bank: Leningrad, from 1921; saved through the wartime siege.
- Refinement: a centre of diversity is not always the centre of origin.
- Policy chain: centres of diversity, gene banks, Plant Treaty, CBD, India’s PPV&FR Act, 2001.
Sources: The Hindu, FAO, International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture, NBPGR
Source: A Century of Vavilov's Centres of Origin: How One Scientist's Map Still Shapes Seed Banks and Farmers' Rights — Ujiyari.com | Free UPSC & State PCS Editorial Analysis
