The vault outside Longyearbyen keeps 1.4 million seed samples from 135 genebanks in 84 countries and the international centres.

Each square is one genebank. Its area is the number of seed samples it keeps in the vault; the smallest are drawn at the smallest size that can be seen.

Graphic: Svalbard Wire · Sources: NordGen Seed Portal, retrieved 24 October 2026; ICARDA: seedvault.no 2019; Ukraine: regjeringen.no 14 October 2026; CREA: Crop Trust October 2026. The country is read from the institute code; the international centres are counted apart.

seed samples: 1,417,799
genebanks: 135
countries: 84
genera: 1,246
species: 6,589
of the samples are kept by CIMMYT, the largest depositor: 13.4%

Samples, genebanks, genera and species: NordGen Seed Portal, retrieved 24 October 2026. The countries are read from the institute codes. CIMMYT's share: its 190,453 samples of 1,417,799.

The genebanks

Order by samples name

All 135 genebanks

Rank	Genebank	Country	Samples	Taxa	Share
1	CIMMYT CIMMYT CIMMYT International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center	International centre, Mexico	190,453 samples	69 taxa	13.4% of all samples
2	NPGS NPGS NPGS National Plant Germplasm System	United States	156,950 samples	2,183 taxa	11.1% of all samples
3	IRRI IRRI IRRI International Rice Research Institute	International centre, Philippines	135,597 samples	52 taxa	9.6% of all samples
4	ICRISAT ICRISAT ICRISAT International Crop Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics	International centre, India	128,206 samples	113 taxa	9.0% of all samples
5	IPK IPK IPK Leibniz Institute of Plant Genetics and Crop Plant Research	Germany	72,507 samples	4,084 taxa	5.1% of all samples
6	ICARDA ICARDA ICARDA International Centre for Agricultural Research in Dry Areas	International centre, Syria	71,229 samples	345 taxa	5.0% of all samples
7	AVRDC AVRDC AVRDC The World Vegetable Center	International centre, Taiwan	62,238 samples	486 taxa	4.4% of all samples
8	CIAT CIAT CIAT International Center for Tropical Agriculture	International centre, Colombia	58,631 samples	725 taxa	4.1% of all samples
9	ICARDA ICARDA ICARDA International Centre for Agricultural Research in Dry Areas	International centre, Lebanon	57,804 samples	405 taxa	4.1% of all samples
10	RDA RDA RDA National Institute of Agricultural Sciences, Rural Development Genebank	South Korea	48,272 samples	106 taxa	3.4% of all samples
11	APG APG APG Australian Pastures Genebank	Australia	38,422 samples	1,453 taxa	2.7% of all samples
12	PGRC PGRC PGRC Plant Gene Resources of Canada	Canada	34,952 samples	505 taxa	2.5% of all samples
13	NORDGEN NORDGEN NORDGEN Nordic Genetic Resource Center	Sweden	31,021 samples	723 taxa	2.2% of all samples
14	AGG AGG AGG Australian Grains Genebank	Australia	27,152 samples	265 taxa	1.9% of all samples
15	IITA IITA IITA International Institute of Tropical Agriculture	International centre, Nigeria	24,448 samples	61 taxa	1.7% of all samples
16	CGN CGN CGN Centre for Genetic Resources	Netherlands	23,821 samples	435 taxa	1.7% of all samples
17	AfricaRice AfricaRice AfricaRice Africa Rice Center	International centre, Côte d'Ivoire	22,381 samples	13 taxa	1.6% of all samples
18	SPGRC SPGRC SPGRC SADC Plant Genetic Resources Centre	International centre, Zambia	17,258 samples	101 taxa	1.2% of all samples
19	IHAR IHAR IHAR Plant Breeding and Acclimatization Institute	Poland	15,524 samples	281 taxa	1.1% of all samples
20	Agroscope Changins Agroscope Changins Agroscope Changins Agroscope Changins	Switzerland	12,242 samples	133 taxa	0.9% of all samples
21	TARI TARI TARI Taiwan Agricultural Research Institute	Taiwan	11,313 samples	24 taxa	0.8% of all samples
22	CIP CIP CIP Centro Internacional de la Papa	International centre, Peru	10,958 samples	462 taxa	0.8% of all samples
23	ILRI ILRI ILRI International Livestock Research Institute	International centre, Ethiopia	10,867 samples	1,363 taxa	0.8% of all samples
24	JIC JIC JIC John Innes Centre, Germplasm Resources Unit	United Kingdom	10,750 samples	34 taxa	0.8% of all samples
25	EMBRAPA EMBRAPA EMBRAPA The Brazilian Agricultural Research Corporation	Brazil	8,149 samples	100 taxa	0.6% of all samples
26	VIR VIR VIR N.I. Vavilov All-Russian Scientific Research Institute of Plant Industry	Russia	6,082 samples	349 taxa	0.4% of all samples
27	BWPRC BWPRC BWPRC Barley and Wild Plant Resources Center, National University Corporation Okayama University	Japan	5,922 samples	1 taxa	0.4% of all samples
28	ARC ARC ARC Agricultural Plant Genetic Resources Conservation and Research Centre	Sudan	5,709 samples	38 taxa	0.4% of all samples
29	AAS AAS AAS Pyongyang AAS	North Korea	5,700 samples	2 taxa	0.4% of all samples
30	PGRI-NARC PGRI-NARC PGRI-NARC Plant Genetic Resources Institute, National Agricultural Research Centre	Pakistan	4,932 samples	29 taxa	0.3% of all samples
31	NGBK NGBK NGBK National Genebank of Kenya	Kenya	4,707 samples	17 taxa	0.3% of all samples
32	IER IER IER Institut d'Economie Rurale	Mali	4,486 samples	18 taxa	0.3% of all samples
33	SSE SSE SSE Seed Savers Exchange	United States	4,437 samples	138 taxa	0.3% of all samples
34	PhilRice PhilRice PhilRice Philippine Rice Research Institute	Philippines	4,417 samples	1 taxa	0.3% of all samples
35	INIA INIA INIA Instituto Nacional de Investigacion Agropecuaria	Uruguay	4,182 samples	5 taxa	0.3% of all samples
36	UAAS UAAS UAAS Institute of Plant Production n.a. V.Y. Yurjev of UAAS	Ukraine	3,555 samples	56 taxa	0.3% of all samples
37	NPGRL NPGRL NPGRL National Plant Genetic Resources Laboratory	Philippines	3,461 samples	23 taxa	0.2% of all samples
38	NBPGR NBPGR NBPGR National Bureau of Plant Genetic Resources India	India	3,292 samples	8 taxa	0.2% of all samples
39	AGRESEARCH AGRESEARCH AGRESEARCH Margot Forde Forage Germplasm Centre, AgResearch Ltd	New Zealand	3,121 samples	141 taxa	0.2% of all samples
40	GBioS/PAGEV GBioS/PAGEV GBioS/PAGEV Laboratory of Genetics, Biotechnology and Seed Sciences	Benin	2,954 samples	27 taxa	0.2% of all samples
41	CATIE CATIE CATIE Centro Agronómico Tropical de Investigación y Enseñanza	International centre, Costa Rica	2,414 samples	53 taxa	0.2% of all samples
42	ICRAF ICRAF ICRAF World Agroforestry Centre	International centre, Kenya	2,375 samples	252 taxa	0.2% of all samples
43	AGES AGES AGES Austrian Agency for Health and Food Safety	Austria	2,363 samples	396 taxa	0.2% of all samples
44	CARC CARC CARC Czech Agrifood Research Center	Czechia	2,132 samples	272 taxa	0.2% of all samples
45	IPGRBG IPGRBG IPGRBG Institute for Plant Genetic Resources K. Malkov	Bulgaria	2,119 samples	94 taxa	0.1% of all samples
46	NACGRAB NACGRAB NACGRAB Nigeria National Centre for Genetic Resources and Biotechnology	Nigeria	2,092 samples	16 taxa	0.1% of all samples
47	UzRIPI UzRIPI UzRIPI Uzbek Research Institute of Plant Industry	Uzbekistan	2,058 samples	198 taxa	0.1% of all samples
48	ISABU ISABU ISABU Agricultural Research Institute of Burundi	Burundi	1,933 samples	34 taxa	0.1% of all samples
49	NRSSL NRSSL NRSSL National Rice Seed Storage Laboratory for Genetic Resources	Thailand	1,906 samples	1 taxa	0.1% of all samples
50	IPGR IPGR IPGR Institute of Plant Genetic resources	Albania	1,900 samples	20 taxa	0.1% of all samples
51	BPGV-DRAEDM BPGV-DRAEDM BPGV-DRAEDM Portuguese Bank of Plant Germplasm	Portugal	1,883 samples	37 taxa	0.1% of all samples
52	ASC / ANAU ASC / ANAU ASC / ANAU Scientific Center of Agrobiotechnology, Armenian National Agrarian University	Armenia	1,865 samples	63 taxa	0.1% of all samples
53	INRA MAROC INRA MAROC INRA MAROC Institut National de la recherche Agronomique	Morocco	1,846 samples	70 taxa	0.1% of all samples
54	NRCGR NRCGR NRCGR Republican National Genetic Resource Center	Tajikistan	1,646 samples	2 taxa	0.1% of all samples
55	SVKPIEST SVKPIEST SVKPIEST Research Institute of Plant Production Piestany	Slovakia	1,591 samples	38 taxa	0.1% of all samples
56	CSIC CSIC CSIC Agencia Estatal Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas	Spain	1,550 samples	154 taxa	0.1% of all samples
57	AGRI AGRI AGRI Genetic Resources Institute of the Azerbaijan National Academy of Sciences	Azerbaijan	1,522 samples	110 taxa	0.1% of all samples
58	JHI JHI JHI The James Hutton Institute	United Kingdom	1,416 samples	113 taxa	0.1% of all samples
59	HRIGRU HRIGRU HRIGRU Warwick Genetic Resources Unit	United Kingdom	1,376 samples	58 taxa	0.1% of all samples
60	UNALM UNALM UNALM Universidad Nacional Agraria La Molina	Peru	1,296 samples	1 taxa	0.1% of all samples
61	BRGV Suceava BRGV Suceava BRGV Suceava Suceava Genebank	Romania	1,284 samples	124 taxa	0.1% of all samples
62	GRIGADEB GRIGADEB GRIGADEB Groupe de Recherche, Innovation agricole, Gestion de la biodiversité et Action pour un développement Durable et Equitable à la Base	Benin	1,203 samples	14 taxa	0.1% of all samples
63	GRIBL GRIBL GRIBL Genetic Resources Institute, University of Banjaluka	Bosnia and Herzegovina	1,148 samples	147 taxa	0.1% of all samples
64	ITRAD ITRAD ITRAD Institut Tchadien de Recherche Agronomique pour le Développement	Chad	1,145 samples	16 taxa	0.1% of all samples
65	INIAP INIAP INIAP Instituto Nacional Autónomo de Investigaciónes Agropecuarias	Ecuador	1,058 samples	9 taxa	0.1% of all samples
66	ICABIOGRAD ICABIOGRAD ICABIOGRAD Indonesian Center for Agricultural Biotechnology and Genetic Resources Research and Biotechnology	Indonesia	1,050 samples	2 taxa	0.1% of all samples
67	FOFIFA FOFIFA FOFIFA The National Center for Applied Research on Rural Development	Madagascar	1,045 samples	1 taxa	0.1% of all samples
68	INERA INERA INERA Institute of Environment and Agricultural Research	Burkina Faso	1,040 samples	1 taxa	0.1% of all samples
69	CTU CTU CTU Can Tho University	Viet Nam	1,000 samples	1 taxa	0.1% of all samples
69	SSN SSN SSN Seed Savers Network Organization	Kenya	1,000 samples	5 taxa	0.1% of all samples
71	EGF EGF EGF Ecogerm Farmers	Cameroon	990 samples	11 taxa	0.1% of all samples
72	ICTA ICTA ICTA Instituto de Ciencia y Tecnologia Agri'colas	Guatemala	950 samples	10 taxa	0.1% of all samples
73	UNGB UNGB UNGB The Uganda National Genebank	Uganda	946 samples	15 taxa	0.1% of all samples
74	ICCI ICCI ICCI Institute of Creal Crop Improvement, Tel Aviv University	Israel	941 samples	21 taxa	0.1% of all samples
75	MPGRC MPGRC MPGRC Malawi Plant Genetic Resources Centre	Malawi	813 samples	20 taxa	0.1% of all samples
76	IBBR IBBR IBBR Institute of Biosciences and BioResources - National Research Council	Italy	753 samples	14 taxa	0.1% of all samples
77	PdeP PdeP PdeP Parque de la Papa	Peru	750 samples	6 taxa	0.1% of all samples
78	BRAC BRAC BRAC Bangladesh Rural Advancement Committee	Bangladesh	725 samples	35 taxa	0.1% of all samples
78	MARDI MARDI MARDI Malaysian Agricultural Research and Development Institute	Malaysia	725 samples	8 taxa	0.1% of all samples
80	MPGRPPD MPGRPPD MPGRPPD Biotechnology, Plant Genetic Resources and Plant Protection Division	Myanmar	718 samples	11 taxa	0.1% of all samples
81	ICGB ICGB ICGB Wild Cereal Gene Bank	Israel	661 samples	2 taxa	0.0% of all samples
82	ADRON ADRON ADRON Anne van Dijk Rice Research Centre Nickerie	Suriname	577 samples	1 taxa	0.0% of all samples
82	AFT AFT AFT Oak Park Research Centre	Ireland	577 samples	7 taxa	0.0% of all samples
84	OAU OAU OAU Obafemi Awolowo University	Nigeria	560 samples	28 taxa	0.0% of all samples
85	KSRIAPG KSRIAPG KSRIAPG Kazakh Scientific Research Institute of Agriculture and Plant Growing	Kazakhstan	522 samples	15 taxa	0.0% of all samples
86	NARI NARI NARI National Agricultural Research Institute	Papua New Guinea	520 samples	1 taxa	0.0% of all samples
87	IASA IASA IASA Instituto de Agroecología y Seguridad Alimentaria de la Universidad Mayor Real y Pontificia de San Francisco Xavier de Chuquisaca	Bolivia	500 samples	2 taxa	0.0% of all samples
88	LARI LARI LARI Lebanese Agricultural Research Institute	Lebanon	453 samples	408 taxa	0.0% of all samples
89	DAFF DAFF DAFF Department of Agriculture, Food and Rural Development	Ireland	435 samples	58 taxa	0.0% of all samples
90	CSIR - PGRRI CSIR - PGRRI CSIR - PGRRI Council for Scientific and Industrial Research – Plant Genetic Resources Research Institute	Ghana	420 samples	10 taxa	0.0% of all samples
91	IRQ001 IRQ001 IRQ001 Directorate of Seed Testing and Certification	Iraq	418 samples	23 taxa	0.0% of all samples
92	ABU ABU ABU Ahmadu Bello University	Nigeria	406 samples	3 taxa	0.0% of all samples
93	INRAB INRAB INRAB Institut National des Recherches Agricoles du Bénin	Benin	381 samples	4 taxa	0.0% of all samples
94	CONAGREP CONAGREP CONAGREP The Permanent Secretariat of the National Commission for the Management of Plant Genetic Resources	Burkina Faso	370 samples	10 taxa	0.0% of all samples
95	BERC BERC BERC Biodiversity Education and Resource Centre	Nigeria	362 samples	16 taxa	0.0% of all samples
96	PSARTI PSARTI PSARTI Plant Science Agricultural Research and Training Institute	Mongolia	360 samples	47 taxa	0.0% of all samples
97	FABIA FABIA FABIA Fabia CSB Bogdanci	North Macedonia	341 samples	25 taxa	0.0% of all samples
97	RPCNASBAF RPCNASBAF RPCNASBAF Scientific Practical Centre of the National Academy of Sciences of Belarus for Arable Farming	Belarus	341 samples	3 taxa	0.0% of all samples
99	TAVTAVI TAVTAVI TAVTAVI I. Lamouri Research Institute of Farming	Georgia	305 samples	66 taxa	0.0% of all samples
100	BIT BIT BIT Borneo Institute	Indonesia	294 samples	4 taxa	0.0% of all samples
101	ICBA ICBA ICBA International Centre for Biosaline Agriculture	International centre, United Arab Emirates	290 samples	113 taxa	0.0% of all samples
101	NFSC NFSC NFSC The Norwegian Forest Seed Centre	Norway	290 samples	8 taxa	0.0% of all samples
103	CREA-CI CREA-CI CREA-CI The Council for Agricultural Research and Economics (CREA)	Italy	271 samples	2 taxa	0.0% of all samples
104	PPF PPF PPF Faculty of Agriculture and Food Sciencies, University of Sarajevo	Bosnia and Herzegovina	252 samples	15 taxa	0.0% of all samples
105	LVMI LVMI LVMI Latvian State Forest Research Institute 'Silava'	Latvia	246 samples	56 taxa	0.0% of all samples
106	VMT VMT VMT State Forest Service	Lithuania	244 samples	44 taxa	0.0% of all samples
107	METK METK METK Centre of Estonian Rural Research and Knowledge	Estonia	236 samples	48 taxa	0.0% of all samples
108	SCVIC SCVIC SCVIC Scientific Centre of Vegetable and Industrial Crops	Armenia	234 samples	23 taxa	0.0% of all samples
109	HRPGB HRPGB HRPGB National Plant Genebank, Ministry of Agriculture	Croatia	208 samples	7 taxa	0.0% of all samples
110	SRCA SRCA SRCA Scientific Research Center of Agriculture	Georgia	206 samples	16 taxa	0.0% of all samples
111	INRAN INRAN INRAN Institut National de la Recherche Agronomique du Niger	Niger	204 samples	4 taxa	0.0% of all samples
112	NIHORT NIHORT NIHORT National Horticultural Research Institute	Nigeria	199 samples	3 taxa	0.0% of all samples
113	UCR UCR UCR Universidad de Costa Rica	Costa Rica	187 samples	16 taxa	0.0% of all samples
114	LPGPB LPGPB LPGPB Armenian State Agrarian University, Laboratory of plant gene pool and breeding	Armenia	175 samples	22 taxa	0.0% of all samples
115	CN FCRC CN FCRC CN FCRC Chai Nat Field Crops Research Center	Thailand	150 samples	3 taxa	0.0% of all samples
116	INIA INIA INIA Instituto de Investigaciones Agropecuarias	Chile	145 samples	3 taxa	0.0% of all samples
117	DELEP DELEP DELEP Desert Legume Program	United States	134 samples	94 taxa	0.0% of all samples
118	AUG AUG AUG Agricultural University of Georgia	Georgia	120 samples	2 taxa	0.0% of all samples
119	UCC UCC UCC University of Cape Coast	Ghana	100 samples	1 taxa	0.0% of all samples
120	IFVCNS IFVCNS IFVCNS Institute of Field and Vegetable Crops	Serbia	96 samples	9 taxa	0.0% of all samples
120	INIA INIA INIA Instituto Nacional de Innovación Agraria	Peru	96 samples	8 taxa	0.0% of all samples
122	DOAGB DOAGB DOAGB Department of Agriculture, Ministry of Agriculture and Cooperation	Thailand	55 samples	16 taxa	0.0% of all samples
123	CHAIPAT CHAIPAT CHAIPAT The Chaipattana Foundation	Thailand	34 samples	24 taxa	0.0% of all samples
124	JKI JKI JKI Federal Research Centre for Cultivated Plants - Institute of Fruit Breeding	Germany	25 samples	7 taxa	0.0% of all samples
124	NAGREF NAGREF NAGREF National Agricultural Research Foundation Greece	Greece	25 samples	1 taxa	0.0% of all samples
124	RBG RBG RBG Millennium Seed Bank Project Seed Conservation Department Royal Botanic Gardens Kew Wakehurst Place	United Kingdom	25 samples	24 taxa	0.0% of all samples
127	UAWC UAWC UAWC Union Of Agricultural Work Committees	Palestine	23 samples	21 taxa	0.0% of all samples
128	ABGBONN ABGBONN ABGBONN Botanical Garden, University of Bonn	Germany	12 samples	8 taxa	0.0% of all samples
129	BDNA BDNA BDNA Baekdudaegan National Arboretum	South Korea	10 samples	10 taxa	0.0% of all samples
130	CN CN CN Cherokee Nation	United States	9 samples	3 taxa	0.0% of all samples
131	Sveaskog Sveaskog Sveaskog Sveaskogs Förvaltning AB	Sweden	8 samples	4 taxa	0.0% of all samples
132	Luke Luke Luke Natural Resources Institute Finland	Finland	7 samples	2 taxa	0.0% of all samples
132	TLL TLL TLL Temasek Life Sciences Laboratory Limited	Singapore	7 samples	2 taxa	0.0% of all samples
134	INRA INRA INRA National Institute for Agricultural Research	France	2 samples	1 taxa	0.0% of all samples
134	LSB LSB LSB Lombardy Seed Bank, Botanical Garden, University of Pavia	Italy	2 samples	1 taxa	0.0% of all samples

Three things the squares show

ICARDA
ICARDA, the only depositor that has taken seeds out (two squares: Syria and Lebanon): 116,484 samples withdrawn 2015 to 2019 after Aleppo, 42,729 re-deposited by 2019.
Source: seedvault.no 2019. Show in the list
Ukraine
Ukraine, 773 samples on 13 October, the first since 2022.
Source: regjeringen.no 14 October 2026. Show in the list
CREA
CREA, Italy, new this month with 271 samples.
Source: Crop Trust October 2026. Show in the list
How the vault is filled
In 2025 the vault opened for deposits three times, in February, June and October.
Source: NordGen Annual Review 2025

Graphic: Svalbard Wire · Sources: NordGen Seed Portal, the depositors list at seedvault.nordgen.org, retrieved 24 October 2026. The ranks and the shares are computed from its figures.

The vault outside Longyearbyen keeps 1.4 million seed samples from 135 genebanks in 84 countries and the international centres.

The genebanks

Three things the squares show

ICARDA

Ukraine

CREA

How the vault is filled