Although 60,000 known plant species and 123,000 known animal species are found in Africa, only 20 plants and 385 animals have been sequenced till date. Even 50% of the orphan crops, which play a crucial role in food security, have not been sequenced. To correct this oversight, the African BioGenome Project was launched in June 2021 as a coordinated, pan-African effort to generate, analyze, and deploy genomics data for the sustainable use of biodiversity and agriculture across Africa.

The Earth BioGenome Project, launched in November 2018, is an ambitious undertaking with the goal of sequencing all the existing, named eukaryotes—about 2 million species of fungi, plants, and animals—in a 10-year timeframe. The project was highlighted in “The Earth BioGenome Project: The Launch of a Moonshot for Biology Special Feature” in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.