Under these agreements, the centres recognize the authority of the Governing Body of the Treaty to provide policy guidance relating to their ex situ collections (i.e. collections of seeds stored in genebanks). From 1 February 2008, the Centres have been transferring all plant genetic resources for food and agriculture they hold in trust - using the SMTA. They have also helped countries recover from natural disasters such as Hurricane Mitch which struck Honduras and Nicaragua. A recent study showed that of the more than one million seed samples distributed over the past 10 years, the vast majority (80 per cent or more) went to universities and national agricultural research systems where scientists are developing new crop varieties that give higher yields, have improved nutritional value, use less water, need lower amounts of fertilizers, and have natural resistance to pests, diseases and climatic vagaries such as droughts and floods.