Management of forest genetic resources falls in the hands of a number of organizations, both governmental and non-governmental. Governmental organizations include the Forestry Department and the Parks and Wildlife Department both of them have a responsibility for looking after large gazetted forest reserves and national parks. Other organizations, like Wild Life Society of Malawi and other non-governmental organizations (NGOs) are in the forefront educating the public about conservation of forests and promotion of tree planting to meet daily domestic needs. The Ministry of Agriculture and Irrigation together with some NGOs are also teaching people about agroforestry technologies in order to boost crop production.
The National Herbarium and Botanical Gardens are responsible for herbarium specimen collection and identification of plants. They also carry out monitoring of species that are becoming endangered due to over-exploitation or other natural causes.
The Department of Environmental Affairs in the Ministry of Forestry, Fisheries and Environmental Affairs also has a standing committee that controls and regulates the collection and movement of plant genetic resources to and from the country. The committee has a set of conditions that one has to fulfill before embarking on any plant collection.
The National Plant Genetic Resources Committee was formed in 1989 to guide the National Plant Genetic Resources Centre (NPGRC) and collaborate with the SADC region Gene Bank (SRGB) in promoting plant genetic resource conservation. Among other terms of reference, it was formed to guide the NPGRC on the most appropriate measures for conservation of various species of crops, forestry and indigenous plants, to ensure optimum utilization by the Malawians, through three working groups (food crops, industrial and horticultural, forestry and in situ working groups)
For many years, plant genetic resources have been handled by several organizations among which are the Department of Agricultural research (DAR), the Tea Research Foundation (TRF), the National Herbarium, the University of Malawi, the Sugar Corporation of Malawi, FRIM, the Department of Environmental Affairs as well as the Department of Wild Life.
