A new blueprint for crop breeding: IRRI’s OneRice Framework forges a faster, more efficient path to global food security 

By Sankalp Bhosale, Suresh Kadaru, and Glenn Concepcion 

As the global population continues its relentless climb, projected to reach 9 billion by 2050, the challenge of feeding humanity intensifies. With arable land shrinking, the world faces a critical need to produce more food from less land. For decades, plant breeders have been on the front lines of this battle, developing improved crop varieties. However, the pace of improvement in staple crops like rice has slowed, with yields plateauing and older varieties remaining stubbornly popular among farmers, hindering the adoption of newer, potentially better options.

But a groundbreaking new approach, called the OneRice Breeding Framework, is poised to change this narrative. Developed at the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI), a leading research center within the CGIAR global research partnership, this framework is a comprehensive, end-to-end, and market-driven system designed to accelerate the development and delivery of superior rice varieties. It promises not only to increase food production but also to enhance nutrition and improve the incomes of millions of rice farmers worldwide keeping pace with rapidly changing climate.