In 1991, World Agroforestry Centre published a directory of seeds and microsymbionts "Multipurpose Trees and Shrubs - Sources of Seeds and Inoculants" (by P von Carlowitz). The objective of that directory was to provide users with contacts of potential seed or microsymbiont suppliers for agroforestry tree taxa and to provide a basis for selecting among those suppliers.

Since then, new suppliers have come into being, and the directory needed updating. Therefore, in collaboration with FAO (Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations), DFSC (DANIDA Forest Seed Centre) and IUFRO (International Union of Forestry Research Organizations), and with funding from DFID (the British Department for International Development), BMZ (the German Bundesministerium für wirtschaftliche Zusammenarbeit und Entwicklung) and VVOB (The Flemish Office for Development Cooperation and Technical Assistance), World Agroforestry Centre decided to review the suppliers and produce a new directory.

This revision presented the opportunity to include a number of new information fields in the directory, allowing users to make more informed choices of seed suppliers. These new fields emphasize quality aspects and documentation provided with seed or microsymbionts.

Questionnaires developed with inputs from colleagues in FAO’s Forestry Department and others were sent to suppliers listed in the 1991 directory and to new suppliers. To ensure that the directory is up to date, only information from completed questionnaires is included.

The authors sincerely regret the inadvertent omission of any supplier from this directory. Suppliers who would like to be included in future editions of the directory are asked to read the section on providing new information.