In link with seed production systems, creating and maintaining coconut genebanks is crucial for three main reasons:
- Locating the germplasm help to assess where and what are the best varieties for seednut production.
- Pacific Region is the richest zone for coconut varieties (diversity of germplasm by land surface unit). It seems that is is also where traditional varieties are disappearing most quickly, mainly because of the cultural changes caused by globalization. Genebanks helps to mitigate this loss.
- In most cases, for an economy of scale, the units for conserving germplasm and producing seednuts are conceived together and planted side to side. This strategy is questionable in the Pacific region because a centralized system is sometimes not adapted to the multitude of islands that can make up a single country. Some new approaches, like the Polymotu concept, try to link seednut production and conservation in a decentralized way.
