Nikolai Vavilov’s Centers of Origin of Cultivated Plants With a View to Conserving Agricultural Biodiversity

This article is based on Nikolai Vavilov’s studies on the centers of origin of cultivated plants and the beginnings of agriculture. Vavilov (1887-1943), a Soviet botanist and geographer, was the first scientist to conduct extensive research on plant varieties and cultivation. Not all of Vavilov’s ideas regarding the iden- tification of the original centers of cultivated plants have been fully accepted, and one of his successors, North American Jack Harlan, suggested that the term “centers of origin” be replaced by “centers of diversity”. After having outlined Vavilov’s re- search and expeditions to different regions of the world, I shall focus on the origin and spread of major agricultural crops (cere- als, rice, corn, potatoes), with some considerations on the pre- sent need to conserve agricultural biodiversity which, although at risk from industrial technologies, is better protected in areas of origin where farming methods are less intensive and based on the practices of local communities.