Public-Private Partnerships to Advance Climate Resilient Crops for Smallholder Farmers.

Most of the world’s poor depend on cereal crops such as rice, wheat, maize, sorghum and millet, but climate change is already affecting crop productivity and significant yield declines are projected in future years.  Major research investments in developing high-yielding, climate resilient cereals are needed along with complementary approaches to improve resource efficiency in cereal systems, enabling farmers to grow more cereals on less land, under a changing climate, and using fewer resources like fertilizer, water, labor and energy. The goal is to help increase the resilience of smallholder cereal systems and free up land and resources for farmers to invest in producing more nutritious and higher-value products. The U.S. Agency for International Development and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, along with research organizations such as the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT) are helping to create and support public-private partnerships aimed at achieving this goal by leveraging critical scientific and financial resources, upstream research investments, and product development capabilities to expedite the release of improved varieties. This session will highlight examples of these partnerships, which include large R&D companies as well as small- and medium-sized seed companies, and how they are employing novel commercialization pathways to ensure that the new varieties under development will reach smallholder farmers.