The Global Impacts of CGIAR Wheat Improvement Research.

CSSA “Symposium--Giants of Agricultural Progress and Impacts from Public Agricultural Research”

The Global Impacts of CGIAR Wheat Improvement Research

The Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research works to advance agricultural science and innovation to enable poor people, especially women, to better nourish their families, and improve productivity and resilience so they can share in economic growth and manage natural resources in the face of climate change and other challenges. Our vision is a world free of poverty, hunger and environmental degredation. The CGIAR’s WHEAT research program offers productivity-enhancing options, helping smallholders to improve farming practices and make the best use of their land in ever more challenging conditions constrained by virulent diseases, less water, fewer agricultural inputs, rising temperatures and more erratic rainfall. Globally, CGIAR-related wheat varieties covered about 106 million of the 165.7 million hectares assessed in 2014. Public breeding programs were the main source of varietal releases (63%), followed by the private-sector (37%). In Latin America, especially Argentina and Brazil, private companies had a greater role, accounting for 53% of wheat varietal releases. CGIAR-related varieties accounted for 63% of all releases. In South Asia – home to more than 300 million undernourished people and whose inhabitants consume over 100 million tons of wheat each year– 92% of the varieties released contained CGIAR breeding contributions and half of the spring bread wheat varieties were direct releases of CGIAR breeding lines. Elsewhere, the CGIAR developed germplasm has been an important contribution in variety release in In Latin America, Sub-Saharan Africa, and in West Asia and North Africa. Wheat is a key food staple that provides around 20 percent of the protein and calories consumed worldwide. Demand for wheat will grow in coming decades to feed rising populations in the developing world, as economies grow, women and men seek employment in cities, and dietary habits change. Millions of smallholder farmers in wheat-producing countries will require support to raise crop productivity sustainably and to meet the demand of poor consumers.