Breeding for Tomorrow
Overview
We aim to develop and deliver a portfolio of climate-resilient, market-preferred, and nutritious crops, livestock, and aquatic species that make food systems more productive, resilient, inclusive, and sustainable.
By leveraging breeding modernization, market intelligence, and strengthened partnerships, we will improve seed systems, boost agricultural productivity and resilience, reduce hunger, and enhance sustainability, particularly in the Global South.
Our goal
Our work aims to help
Technical Report
Where we work
Where we will work in Central and West Asia and North Africa, Latin America and the Caribbean, South and Southeast Asia, Sub-Saharan Africa
Challenges
Challenges we’ll address
- Optimizing crops for mechanization, longer shelf-lives, simpler processing, and climate resilience to provide for the Global South’s growing populations
- Lowering agricultural costs without sacrificing nutrition
- Improve environmental sustainability
Our publications
Identify, locate and download research and other outputs produced by our program/accelerator
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Tracking bean diseases in Uganda Generating evidence for early warning and decision support systems
The Bean Disease Expert Team conducted field assessments on 205 bean farms across multiple agroecological zones in Uganda during the 2026 main season...
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Building Equitable ClimateResilient African Bean Insect Sectors BRAINS Project Zambia baseline survey report
This study investigated household-level knowledge, practices, and challenges related to climate change adaptation and sustainable livelihoods in six...
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Building Equitable Climateresilient African Bean Insect Sectors BRAINS Project Kenya baseline survey report
The baseline data described in this paper were collected in five counties in Kenya, specifically in Machakos, Murang’a, Nakuru, Homabay and Bungoma....
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Building Equitable Climateresilient African Bean Insect Sectors BRAINS Project Cameroon baseline survey report
Cameroon has been grappling with food insecurity and undernourishment in the past decades as key developmental challenges. This will worsen over the...
Areas of work
Market Intelligence
We will optimize the return on investment by driving institutional innovation in product design and investment prioritization, which will support the development and delivery of climate-resilient, nutritious, and market-preferred products.
Accelerated Breeding
We will accelerate the development of a new generation of climate-resilient, nutritious, and market-preferred varieties. We will also steer efficient, sustainable, and fair breeding processes and collaborations.
Breeding Resources
We will work to empower interconnected breeding programs by providing a portfolio of services, that enables breeders to access global technologies, knowledge, and innovations for maximum impact.
Inclusive Delivery
We will accelerate the delivery of genetic gain to farmers’ fields in the Global South through robust, equitable and scalable dissemination systems resulting in strengthened food systems and improved livelihoods.
Enable
We will address the complex challenge of designing an effective and efficient coordination and support system across different functions, diverse partners, and dynamic priorities within global, national, and regional breeding and product delivery pipelines.
Social inclusion
Breeding for Tomorrow will proactively engage women and other socially disadvantaged groups – such as the youth and indigenous communities – in their multiple roles as smallholders, seed-entrepreneurs, food producers, processors, traders, and consumers.
Our approach
Interlinked support across CGIAR’s portfolio
We will work closely with the Better Diets and Nutrition, Climate Action, Genebanks, Policy Innovations, Scaling for Impact, Sustainable Animal and Aquatic Foods, Sustainable Farming programs, and the Capacity Sharing, Digital Transformation, and Gender Equality & Inclusion accelerators.
Working to share our capacity with
- National partners
- Non-partner countries, regions, and global platforms
- Scientists
Our expertise
- A global research infrastructure with an improved and diverse germplasm and direct access to its genebanks
- Established advanced breeding technologies
- A growing transdisciplinary expert network of globally renown international scientists, economists, breeders. climate change experts, and agronomists
- A trusted partner for local stakeholders across regions
- A strategic edge in delivering high-level outputs aligned with market and social needs
- A global, multi-product and multi-Impact Area mandate that allows us to set global standards for market intelligence and market-driven design of breeding products
Crops to End Hunger
Crops to End Hunger (CtEH) is a global initiative modernizing CGIAR-national crop breeding programs by upgrading research stations, building staff capacity, and deploying tools to improve breeding efficiency.
Events
News
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ICRISAT Co-Leads World’s Largest Peanut Diversity Study, Revealing Hidden Genetic Potential
A comprehensive study on groundnut diversity covering 2,320 accessions from 87 countries identifies genes for flowering-time regulation and dwarfing,...
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IITA scientist Paterne Agre wins prestigious 2026 Japan International Award for Young Agricultural Researchers
IITA’s Molecular Breeder and Bioinformatics Scientist, Dr Sourou Angelot Paterne Agre, is named one of three recipients of the prestigious 2026 Japan...
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Restoring soil, growing opportunity: Inside the CarboRestore field experiment
In Maragua, Murang’a County, researchers are testing whether combining crushed basalt, biochar, and compost can help restore soil fertility, improve...
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Talking about crop breeding in society: myths and realities
What exactly is crop breeding? How does it work? And what does it take to develop a successful new variety? This guide explores some of the most...