IRRI spotlights innovative partnership in strengthening African seed systems at CGIAR Science Week 2025

On the second day of CGIAR Science Week 2025, IRRI continues to highlight its leadership in harnessing and scaling science and innovation through rice research worldwide. In the science talk, “Transformative Partnerships for Sustainable Agriculture: Scaling Innovation, Strengthening Seed Systems, and Strengthening Climate Resilience,” Dr. Ajay Panchbhai, IRRI’s Regional Breeding Lead – East and South Africa, emphasized the power of South-to-South cooperation in open-pollinated rice varieties (OPVs) seed systems.

The “Global South” is composed of developing economies, including Asia (excluding Israel, Japan, and South Korea), Africa, Latin America, Oceania (excluding Australia and New Zealand), and the Caribbean.

As part of the first panel session, Dr. Panchbhai shared IRRI’s efforts in building resilient seed systems across Africa, which often suffer from fragmentation, as it operates with multiple seed sources. In Tanzania, for example, many farmers rely on informal seed systems, depending on farmer-saved seeds of traditional and improved rice varieties, farmer-to-farmer exchange, and local market systems, leading to inconsistent supply and quality.

In response, IRRI focuses on three key strategies: awareness creation, capacity building, and catalyzing partnerships. From trait development to delivery in the breeding chain, Dr. Panchbhai illustrated a successful public-private partnership (PPP) model, where CGIAR centers play a bigger role in the early to middle stages. At the same time, national research systems and private sector actors contribute in later stages.

“We strongly believe that we cannot do everything alone, and it is the same with our national partners and the private sector. Partnership is the only way when we talk about strengthening Africa’s seed systems,” he said.

Dr. Panchbhai identified numerous opportunities within the South-South cooperation, including advancements in agricultural technologies, policy harmonization, private sector investments in the agricultural sector, commodity trading, data sharing and digital innovations, and agricultural education and capacity sharing….