In Mexico, a project has been completed to develop new elite parental lines of wheat with increased resistance to diseases. These lines can be used in breeding programs to quickly introduce specific, targeted traits, like ready-made ingredients in a larger recipe. “Deep scoping rapid-cycle recurrent genomic selection to accelerate the breeding pipeline for quantitative disease resistance in wheat” The project
For over two decades, biofortification has helped make staple crops more nutritious for more than 350 million people. But for these gains to last and reach everyone, nutrition must become a standard feature of every new crop variety released. That’s exactly what is now happening in countries like India and Nigeria, where governments are introducing minimum variety release standards for
By Pieter Rutsaert, Agnes Mbugua, Moti Jaleta, Kevin Pixley The Opportunity Crops and Soils movement, previously known as the Vision for Adapted Crops and Soils (VACS), focuses on developing efficient and impactful breeding programs for seven “Opportunity Crops”, including: Bambara groundnut, Finger Millet, Okra, Sesame, Taro, Amaranth, and Pigeon Pea. Representing diverse categories – nuts, cereals, vegetables, roots and tubers,
By Arelene Julia Malabayabas, Melanie Connor, Arielle Sandrine Rafanomezantsoa, Edgar Twine, Jane Nabikyu, and Ruvicyn Bayot Rice is an important crop for Uganda’s future. As the country’s second most important cereal crop both in terms of production and caloric contribution, it plays a vital role in food security and sustains thousands of rural households. The rice milling industry serves as an
How can we ensure that the improved, climate-resilient varieties developed by CGIAR and partners reach the smallholder farmers who need them most? This question lies at the heart of CGIAR Breeding for Tomorrow’s Inclusive Delivery (formerly Seed Equal). We sat down with Christopher Ojiewo, Inclusive Delivery Lead, to unpack what ‘inclusive delivery’ means and how it can transform smallholder livelihoods.
When the rain finally came to her village in Tanzania, Mariam didn’t just plant her usual variety of beans. That season, she tried three different ones – side by side, on her own land. By harvest, one plot clearly stood out: better yield, stronger against disease, and with good taste and marketability. Mariam didn’t learn this from a lab or
This year’s 4th African Plant Breeders’ Association (APBA) Conference brought together more than 400 breeders, researchers, and partners in the largest gathering of plant breeding experts on the continent. For Breeding for Tomorrow (B4T), the event was all about partnership. As the program driving CGIAR’s integrated approach to modern, data-driven crop breeding, B4T supports national breeding programs through technical backstopping,
Matty Demont (IRRI), Berber Kramer (IFPRI), Robert Andrade (Alliance Bioversity-CIAT), Melanie Connor (IRRI), Nedumaran Swamikannu (ICRISAT), Sika Gbegbelegbe (IITA), Bert Lenaerts (IRRI), Ruvicyn Bayot (IRRI), and Vivian Polar (CIP) Area of Work 1 on Market Intelligence, CGIAR Breeding for Tomorrow Science Program Like many donation-dependent non-profits, CGIAR faces recurring budget fluctuations that force difficult trade-offs. Each funding cycle demands a