The Plant Genetic Resources Board of cultivated plants (PGRB) is a professional consulting and advisory body of “authorized person” and participants of the National Programme on Conservation and Utilization of Plant Genetic Resources (NPPGR).
The PGRB can also function as an expert group for the Ministry of Agriculture and the needs of the Czech Committee for cooperation with the Food and Agriculture Organization of United Nation (FAO); comments on cooperation with international organizations (in particular FAO, ECPGR, AEGIS), and international cooperation participants NPPGR.
PGRB activities are based on Law 148/2003 Coll. about conservation and utilization of plant genetic resources and micro-organisms important for nutrition and agriculture. PGRB opinions are recommendatory in character.
The PGRB deals with issues that have a direct or indirect connection with plant genetic resources (PGR) important for food and agriculture (varieties, landraces, genetic and experimental breeding materials, crop wild relatives), especially with regard to the preservation of the PGR – collection activities, documentation, characterization, evaluation, conservation and utilization.
PGRB also discusses the use of PGR for sustainable development in agriculture, especially for improving the biological potential of crops, expansion and efficient use of agro-biodiversity in systems of farming, and ensuring the non-production functions of agriculture.
Issues addressed by the PGRB responds to the mandate of similar national councils in other countries, and is defined by international documents on the protection and use of plant genetic resources and biodiversity, in particular the Convention on Biodiversity (1992) Global Plan of Action (FAO, 1996), the International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources (FAO, 2004) and the Standard Material Transfer Agreement (2006).