CGIAR–Bangladesh partnership enters its next phase

Convened with support from CGIAR’s Scaling for Impact program, the 10th CGIAR Advisory Committee Meeting in Dhaka reflected on five decades of CGIAR–Bangladesh collaboration — and how that legacy can shape the next generation of food-system innovation.

Walk through a Bangladeshi market and much of what is on sale carries the imprint of international agricultural research. The rice grown across three seasons, the wheat and maize of the north, the potatoes and orange-fleshed sweet potatoes reaching urban kitchens, the lentils and vegetables in diversified rotations, and the carp and tilapia raised in household ponds all reflect decades of collaboration between CGIAR and Bangladesh’s national research institutions.

That partnership came together again on 17 May 2026, when the Bangladesh Agricultural Research Council (BARC) hosted the 10th CGIAR Advisory Committee Meeting in Dhaka. Convened with support from CGIAR’s Scaling for Impact program in Bangladesh, the meeting brought CGIAR Centers, national agricultural research and extension institutions, agricultural universities and partner organizations into one room to review progress and shape the next phase of collaboration.

Established in 2013, the Advisory Committee is designed to keep CGIAR’s work aligned with Bangladesh’s priorities. Chaired by the Executive Chairman of BARC, the forum gives national institutions a direct role in setting the direction of research and scaling, while also carrying Bangladesh’s voice into CGIAR’s System Council, where global strategy and research priorities are approved.

Bangladesh is one of CGIAR’s most significant country partnerships. Six CGIAR Centers maintain offices and staff in the country, and the reach of their work is substantial: an estimated 52 percent of Bangladesh’s rice farmers and 60 percent of its wheat farmers grow varieties bred from CGIAR material, while CGIAR-related innovations reached between 8 and 9.4 million households in 2023/24.

"At this moment, the greatest demand is for safe food, the biggest problem is the lack of safe food, and the most severe scarcity is that of safe food. The present government is generous to scientists, and we want more new innovations. Unless agriculture becomes export-oriented, Bangladesh’s economy will not be stable and strong.” 

Mr. Mohammed Amin Ur Rashid, Hon’ble Minister for Agriculture and Fisheries and Livestock 

This year’s meeting was chaired by Dr. Md. Abdus Salam, Executive Chairman of BARC, and opened in the presence of the Hon’ble Minister for Agriculture and Fisheries and Livestock, Mr. Mohammed Amin Ur Rashid, and the Secretary of the Ministry of Agriculture, Dr. Rafiqul I Mohamed. Directors General from BRRI, BARI, BWMRI, BINA and BFRI joined representatives from universities and partner organizations. The six CGIAR Centers active in Bangladesh — IRRI, CIMMYT, CIP, IWMI, IFPRI and WorldFish — each presented their work and priorities.

The meeting also located Bangladesh within CGIAR’s 2025–2030 global research portfolio. CGIAR’s work is now organized through eight Programs and four Accelerators, covering crop breeding, climate action, nutrition, sustainable farming, aquatic foods, landscapes, policy, fragile settings, genebanks, digital transformation, gender equality and capacity sharing. The Scaling for Impact program works across this portfolio to help proven innovations move into wider use. Nine of these programs and accelerators are active in Bangladesh.

The presentations showed how deeply CGIAR science is embedded in Bangladesh’s food system. IRRI reported that 81 percent of the country’s 147 released high-yielding rice varieties carry IRRI genetic material, including stress-tolerant varieties for salinity, drought, submergence and cold. Newer work includes zinc-enriched rice, low-glycaemic-index rice and Alternate Wetting and Drying trials that cut irrigation water use by 20 to 30 percent and methane emissions by 30 to 50 percent.

CIMMYT highlighted its contribution to wheat and maize improvement, with roughly three-quarters of Bangladesh’s released wheat varieties drawing on CIMMYT lines. It also described a growing rural mechanization economy: about 4,700 machinery entrepreneurs serving nearly 246,000 farmers, more than 660 small manufacturers, and local production of over 500 spare parts. Its Agvisely advisory service now reaches more than 500,000 farmers through the Department of Agricultural Extension.

CIP described 24 potato and sweet-potato varieties released with national partners, including salt- and heat-tolerant potatoes, an early-bulking potato, and orange- and purple-fleshed sweet potatoes rich in nutrients. IWMI presented work on solar irrigation, groundwater monitoring and machine-learning-based salinity forecasting in coastal polders. WorldFish reported that improved carp and tilapia strains, multiplied through hatcheries and nurseries, have reached more than one million fish farmers. IFPRI underlined its long-running evidence and policy role, from household surveys used globally to work that shaped machinery subsidy reform and food policy systems.

The most important part of the meeting, however, was not only what CGIAR reported. It was what national partners asked for next. Participants called for stronger maize seed systems, faster-maturing and more stress-tolerant rice, more low-glycaemic-index varieties, renewed germplasm exchange and training, deeper work on salinity and irrigation, farmer insurance linked to good practice, and closer collaboration with agricultural universities.

Those requests showed the Advisory Committee working as intended: not as a showcase, but as a negotiation over priorities. In a more constrained funding environment, that function matters even more. Bangladesh has already turned decades of rice research into near self-sufficiency in its staple food and built one of the world’s largest aquaculture sectors. The next question is how CGIAR and Bangladesh will jointly shape, finance and scale the next generation of food-system innovation.

"CGIAR centers are making valuable contributions to the promotion of agrifood systems in Bangladesh. They also facilitate coordination, effective policy dialogue, and the upscaling of research outcomes to improve nutrition, food security, and resources for farming families in Bangladesh." 

Dr. Rafiqul I Mohamed, Secretary, Ministry of Agriculture