Building strong breeding partnerships in Cameroon: a conversation with Hortense Mafouasson

For crop breeding to deliver impact, improved varieties must respond to farmers’ needs and local realities. National agricultural research and extension systems (NARES) play a critical role in making this connection possible. CGIAR breeding programs therefore work together with national partners to develop, test, adapt, release and promote improved crop varieties that meet local needs.

Through Enable, an Area of Work of CGIAR Breeding for Tomorrow, the Science Program overseeing CGIAR-partner crop breeding efforts, connections are strengthened to build more efficient breeding systems.

We spoke with Hortense Mafouasson, Head of the Division of Crop Production at the Institut de Recherche Agricole pour le Développement (IRAD) in Cameroon, about how CGIAR and IRAD are working together to strengthen national breeding capacity while ensuring breeding remains aligned with the country's priorities.

Can you tell us about IRAD's role in connecting CGIAR's breeding research with Cameroon’s agricultural priorities?

Hotense Mafouasson: IRAD is the national institute responsible for developing improved crop varieties adapted to Cameroon’s agricultural systems. But its role extends far beyond breeding research; among other things, we are also the connector between international development work and national approval and dissemination.

Unlike in some countries where research institutes may directly manage dissemination, IRAD works closely with Cameroon’s Ministry of Agriculture, which is responsible for extension services and promoting improved varieties among farmers. We support this by training extension staff on newly available varieties, establishing demonstration plots, organizing field days, etc.

IRAD also collaborates with a wide range of national stakeholders, including universities, students, cooperatives, agro-dealers and small and medium-sized enterprises involved in the agricultural sector. This broad network ensures that breeding innovations are connected to the realities of farmers and the wider seed system.

At the international level, IRAD works with several CGIAR Centers and research partners, including the Alliance of Bioversity International and CIAT on beans, CIMMYT on sorghum and maize, AfricaRice on rice, CIP on potato, and the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA) on maize, cowpea and cassava.

With so many different partners, we need a coordination engine to make sure these collaborations are as efficient as possible. That is the role of Enable: bringing partners together to help align efforts around shared breeding priorities.

How did the collaboration between IRAD and CGIAR begin, and how has it evolved over time?

HM: The collaboration between IRAD and CGIAR began some years ago, exploring how Cameroon could be more connected to regional breeding networks and benefit from exchange of knowledge, technology and germplasm.

This was followed by a thorough assessment of IRAD’s maize, cassava and bean breeding programs by the Enable team. This process provided a detailed overview of existing capacities, challenges and opportunities, and led to the development of clear improvement plans for each program.
The resulting roadmap has become an important guide for IRAD’s breeding teams, helping identify priorities and define the steps needed to strengthen our breeding programs.

Before, we did not have a complete picture of where everybody was and what everyone was doing. Now, we know where we are coming from and where we are going. 

The impact is already visible. Through regional networks such as the Alliance’s ECABREN and PABRA, Cameroon has gained access to improved breeding materials. For beans, IRAD is testing promising lines developed by the Alliance, selecting those best suited to Cameroonian conditions and preparing for future releases. We do the same thing for sorghum with CIMMYT under the ADCIN and also for rice with AfricaRice. 

We are now moving towards developing our own bean breeding program. We did not have enough breeders trained before, but through initiatives such as the PABRA Academy, we are building the skills needed to develop our own bean varieties.

How do you ensure that the varieties developed through this partnership respond to farmers' needs?

HM: A key element of our collaboration with CGIAR is around strengthening approaches that involve farmers and other value-chain actors in breeding decisions – right from the start. 

As part of Product Design Teams (PDTs) convened by Enable, IRAD brought together farmers, researchers, and seed producers to identify priority market segments for beans in Cameroon. Then, we collectively defined corresponding Target Product Profiles (TPPs), that is, the ideal variety and its characteristics to meet the needs of each specific market segment.

Involving all stakeholders in the design process is key to ensure that the varieties we develop really address the needs of end users. Subsequently, we applied the same approach to other crops, including sorghum, where lessons learned from the bean PDTs helped inform discussions with CIMMYT.

After that, Enable and our team organized a Product Advancement and Planning Meeting (PAPM), showing how to identify the best product lines to evolve for the next stage, much like any company developing a specific innovation product.

IRAD has also adopted new approaches for evaluating breeding materials, including farmer-participatory trials using tools such as TRICOT. These methods help generate richer information about variety performance under real farming conditions.

What do you see as the next step in the partnership between IRAD and CGIAR?

HM: The progress achieved through collaboration demonstrates the value of long-term partnerships built around shared goals. IRAD is pleased by the collaboration with CGIAR Centers on several crops, and for the coordination work of Breeding for Tomorrow through Enable. We expressed that we needed support, and several years later we can really see the change.

Capacity strengthening remains central to this progress. If you are not training people, you cannot move forward. We now have a dedicated team of scientists who are willing to learn and bring back their knowledge to Cameroon.

Cameroon has a tremendous potential to strengthen its breeding systems even more and to deliver greater impact for farmers. Through institutional support and collaboration with CGIAR, this will happen faster!

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Main image: Hortense Mafouasson and bean farmers at a capacity building event on disease identification. Credits: Hortense Mafouasson. This work aligns with Breeding for Tomorrow, under its Enable Area of Work. Written by Julie Puech.