Here is the gist of what CIAT is asking for in return for seeds as I understand it.
"Guidelines for the distribution of genetic materials from the in-trust collections kept at CIAT"
1. About approved purposes for the distribution of materials
The purposes approved for distribution are related to food and agriculture, therefore the requests for agricultural production including commercial production, conservation, breeding, training, research for food and agriculture, are approved.
2. Steps to be fulfilled for the approval of a request
1) the person asking for the germplasm is fully identified, and with full non confusing address,
2) the number and identity of requested material are fully defined (with one set per request),
3) clear purpose with enough elements of description, and in line with the purpose(s) (Agronomy’andTraining’ are valid purposes,) approved by the Governing Body,
4) unambiguous approval of the SMTA, (Standard Material Transfer Agreement)
5) phytosanitary regulations about the shipment are implemented in the country of the Receptor and in Colombia.
3. About the materials that can be approved
Requests for the same material(s) by the same user within the same period of two (2) years will not be processed, but until the third year from the first request. A farmer or any other user when requesting one (1) material will obtain it once the five aforementioned points are met. In like manner, an individual user can ask for up to five (5) materials for purposes such as ‘Agronomy’, ‘Training’ or ‘Conservation’
4. About the amounts that can be approved
It can only deliver small amounts of each requested material to each user. For example, an individual farmer will normally receive twenty seeds of a specific variety of bean or four sticks of a landrace of cassava, enough planting material for multiplication up to his/her needs.
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If you have a working relationship to your local Extension office, you might enlist their help because. . . Institutions working in extension could obtain up to thirty (30) different materials for variety testing and similar trials.
All in all, it seems very workable. Perhaps we can have one member give the results of a first attempt and go from there. It may be better for someone like Bluejay77 -- with a proven record of bean trials to make a first effort.
Now I will check out the CIAT website for more information. All I've checked is the URL given in a post here.
