A vision

for breeding excellence

Farmers and consumers in low- and middle-income countries can benefit from world-class breeding programs, according to a detailed vision developed by the CGIAR Excellence in Breeding Platform (EiB). Throughout 2019, the EiB team developed this vision in close contact with researchers from CGIAR and national agricultural research systems, funders, and private sector partners.

In parallel, each CGIAR breeding program developed a plan for strategic improvements to breeding, in close collaboration with EiB staff and in alignment with the EiB vision for CGIAR breeding.

Participants at the EiB annual meeting in 2019.

In parallel, each CGIAR breeding program developed a plan for strategic improvements to breeding, in close collaboration with EiB staff and in alignment with the EiB vision for CGIAR breeding.

EiB has also supported all CGIAR breeding programs to develop product profiles, which identify market-driven objectives. Eduardo Covarrubias joined to lead the EiB module on breeding scheme optimization to support delivery on those objectives. Initiatives underway include the production of in-depth breeding scheme optimization guidelines for publication on the EiB Toolbox and a computer simulation platform in collaboration with the Roslin Institute at the University of Edinburgh.

Breeding operations and phenotyping capacities were assessed at eight research stations across four CGIAR Centers. EiB also conducted a CGIAR-wide survey to identify equipment needs, preferences and areas of improvement, which will inform budgets for modernization and standardization of equipment.

A CGIAR-wide project on operational excellence was first piloted at CIMMYT. Staff in Mexico received training in Six Sigma techniques, identified bottlenecks within their areas of work and started projects to address them.

The High-Throughput Genotyping project became a self-sustaining service, brokering around US$2 million worth of low-cost and high-quality genotyping data for CGIAR and national breeding programs to date. Its staff continues to train users and provides consultancy services to ensure genotyping is used effectively to speed up variety selection.

Connecting genotypic data from service providers with field data collection apps was a key focus of software development. The number of apps and data management services connected through the Breeding Advanced Programming Interface (BrAPI) project continues to grow.

Programmers from across CGIAR reached a key milestone in showing that the major data management software applications can be spun up in a single software solution: the Enterprise Breeding System. It will be released in 2020 for use by breeding teams at CIMMYT and the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI). In addition to workshops and trainings, EiB sponsored six sabbaticals, to support collaboration across institutions and the development of unified data management systems.

© 2020 International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center
We would like to thank all funders who supported this research through their contributions to the CGIAR Trust Fund.

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CREDITS

Editors-in-chief
Rodrigo Ordóñez, Geneviève Renard
Project coordination
Alison Doody, Emma Orchardson
Art directors
Clyde R. Beaver III, Alfonso Cortés, Nancy Valtierra
Layout and design
Nancy Valtierra
Web development
Ricardo López
Graphics and illustrations
Ángel Eduardo Aguilar, Clyde R. Beaver III, Alfonso Cortés, Marcelo Ortiz, Eliot Sánchez,
Nancy Valtierra
Writers and editors
Ricardo Curiel, Leslie Domínguez, Mary Donovan, Alison Doody, Jennifer Johnson, G. Michael Listman, Marcia MacNeil, Marta Millere, Matthew O’Leary, Emma Orchardson, Samuel Storr
Contributors
Ricardo Ampudia, Lone Badstue, Hans Braun, Johanna Braun, José Juan Caballero Flores, Denise Costich, Susanne Dreisigacker, Andrea Gardeazabal Monsalue, Elias Garcia, Bram Govaerts, Filippo Guzzon, Jesús Herrera, M.L. Jat, Victor Kommerell, Timothy J. Krupnik, Jean-Flavien Le Besque, Joshua Masinde, Terence Molnar, Dina Najjar, Natalia Palacios, Thomas Payne, Kevin Pixley, B.M. Prasanna, Michael Quinn, Rajiv Kumar Sharma, H.S. Sidhu, José Luis Torres, Martha Wilcox, MAIZE Independent Steering Committee (ISC), WHEAT Independent Steering Committee (ISC)
Photography
Alfonso Cortés, Georg Goergen/IITA, Uttam Kumar, Peter Lowe, Johnson Siamachira, Love Kumar Singh/BISA, Sam Storr, CIMMYT Archives
ISSN#
0188-9214
Correct citation
CIMMYT. 2020. Seeds of change. CIMMYT Annual Report 2019. CDMX, Mexico: CIMMYT.
AGROVOC descriptors:
Maize; Wheat; Plant breeding; Genetic resources; Innovation adoption; Plant biotechnology; Seed production; Food security; Sustainability; Research policies; Economic analysis; Cropping systems; Agricultural research; Organization of research; Developing countries. Additional Keywords: CIMMYT. AGRIS category codes: A50 Agricultural Research; A01 Agriculture– General Aspects. Dewey decimal classification: 630

© International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT), 2020. All rights reserved. The designations employed in the presentation of materials in this publication do not imply the expression of any opinion whatsoever on the part of CIMMYT or its contributory organizations concerning the legal status of any country, territory, city, or area, or of its authorities, or concerning the delimitation of its frontiers or boundaries. CIMMYT encourages fair use of this material. Proper citation is requested.

ACRONYMS

ACIAR
Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research
AGROSAVIA
Colombian Agricultural Research Corporation (Corporación Colombiana de Investigación Agropecuaria)
ATA
Agricultural Transformation Agency
BISA
Borlaug Institute in South Asia
BrAPI
Breeding Advanced Programming Interface
CCAFS
CGIAR Research Program on Climate Change, Agriculture, and Food Security
CIAT
International Center for Tropical Agriculture
CIMMYT
International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center
CRP
CGIAR Research Program
CSISA
Cereal Systems Initiative for South Asia
CSSRI
Central Soil Salinity Research Institute
EIAR
Ethiopian Institute of Agricultural Research
EiB
CGIAR Excellence in Breeding Platform
FACASI
Farm Mechanization and Conservation Agriculture for Sustainable Intensification
FAO
Food and Agricultural Organization of the United Nations
ICAR
Indian Council of Agricultural Research
ICARDA
International Center for Agricultural Research in the Dry Areas
IFPRI
International Food Policy Research Institute
IIASA
International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis
IITA
International Institute for Tropical Agriculture
INIFAP
Mexico's National Forestry, Crops and Livestock Research Institute (Instituto Nacional de Investigaciones Forestales, Agrícolas y Pecuarias)
IRRI
International Rice Research Institute
MAIZE
CGIAR Research Program on Maize
MENA
Middle East and North Africa
MDGs
Millennium Development Goals
ODK
Open Data Kit
OPV
Open-pollinated variety
PET
Polyethylene terephthalate
PIM
CGIAR Research Program on Policies, Institutions, and Markets
R&D
Research and Development
SADER
Mexico's Secretariat of Agriculture and Rural Development (Secretaría de Agricultura y Desarrollo Rural)
SDGs
Sustainable Development Goals
SDSN
Sustainable Development Solutions Network
SMS
Straw Management System
STMA
Stress Tolerant Maize for Africa
TReNDS
Thematic Research Network on Data and Statistics
UN
United Nations
USAID
United States Agency for International Development
WHEAT
CGIAR Research Program on Wheat

Sustainable Development Goals

On September 24, 2013, the newly formed United Nations (UN) High-level Political Forum on Sustainable Development held its first meeting. At the Rio+20 Conference, Member States also agreed to launch a process to develop a set of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), which were to build upon the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) that were established in 2000 and expired in 2015.

Of the 17 individual goals, 10 relate directly to CGIAR activities and to CIMMYT’s mandate. The SDGs have set the pathway for the next 15 years of agricultural, social, and economic development. Likewise, CGIAR has transformed its approach to ensure that its work aligns with the ambitious goals.

CIMMYT, through its research for development activities, is working toward a world free of poverty, hunger, and environmental degradation. CIMMYT and CGIAR efforts help bring the world closer to reaching the goals, such as the empowerment of women, the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions, and the improvement of health and nutrition for the world’s poorest people.

CIMMYT’s work contributes to the following SDGs:

About CIMMYT

CIMMYT — the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center — is the global leader in publicly-funded maize and wheat research and related farming systems. Headquartered near Mexico City, CIMMYT works with hundreds of partners throughout the developing world to sustainably increase the productivity of maize and wheat cropping systems, thus improving global food security and reducing poverty. CIMMYT is a member of the CGIAR System and leads the CGIAR Research Programs on Maize and Wheat and the Excellence in Breeding Platform. The Center receives support from national governments, foundations, development banks and other public and private agencies.

For more information, visit www.cimmyt.org.