Current practices and institutional arrangements in breeding by CGIAR – NARS

Work Package 5 of the initiative is carrying out a qualitative study with CGIAR and National Agricultural Research Systems (NARS) colleagues to understand better key persons responsible for main breeding-related decisions (e.g., which pipelines and trait/s to prioritize) and what kind of information/data is used to prioritize investment decisions and from whom such information is acquired. We thus base this study on four research questions:

What are the institutional breeding arrangements within the CGIAR, NARS and Private Sector, especially with regards to who are part of breeding teams, which disciplines are included and  to what extent are they involved in the breeding decision making process?

Where do breeders source information that is used to give direction to the breeding program?

What are the challenges breeders face in acquiring information to set breeding objectives?

What are the main factors breeders identify as contributing to a successful breeding program and what is their perception of successful breeding?

The results presented are from seven key informant interviews with NARS and CGIAR breeders and crop leads. We spoke with 2 female and 3 Male breeders from NARS and 1 male breeder and crop lead from the CGIAR.  Crops covered are common beans, maize, cowpea and soybean.