National Target 11: By 2020, the genetic diversity of priority cultivated plants and farmed and domesticated animals and

National Target 11: By 2020, the genetic diversity of priority cultivated plants and farmed and domesticated animals and of wild relatives, including other socio-economically as well as culturally valuable species is maintained, and strategies have been developed and implemented for minimizing genetic erosion and safeguarding their genetic diversity.

​Agricultural intensification and commercialization policies that favor high yielding crop and animal varieties have led to the underutilization and disappearance of landraces and local breeds of plants and  animals. Such changes lead to the loss of the genetic pool that can be used in the improvement of future breeds of crops and livestock. Additionally, the cultivation of large tracts of land with exotic species may also contribute to genetic erosion especially through invasion and colonization of ecosystems (NBSAP, 2016).