Genetic Innovation: Looking back at 2023 results

As we launch into a busy 2024, CGIAR Genetic Innovation (GI) Science Group is sharing some highlights from its interconnected portfolio of research Initiatives. Of course, our key end results are the delivery and adoption of improved varieties by smallholder farmers – and we’ll be compiling those within our annual Technical Reports soon. For now, check out this sample of results delivered by GI’s CGIAR-NARES networks in 2023 – all working toward better varieties that help meet growing climate, nutritional, equity, and other challenges.

Accelerated Breeding Initiative:

• Advancing portfolio characterization and market alignment: We made significant strides in advancing the characterization of the entire breeding pipelines’ portfolio. This encompasses a meticulous analysis of the Target Product Profiles (TPPs) pursued by each pipeline and the diverse market segments they serve. The Initiative is now strategically positioned to begin working with breeding teams and leverage insights from Market Intelligence, including on gender Together, they are embarking on a crucial phase—reviewing TPPs to enhance their impact, demand, and feasibility.
• Portfolio examination: Moreover, a strategic examination of the entire breeding portfolio and the tiers of breeding effort is underway, aiming to optimize impact and align investments more effectively. These strategic measures signify the culmination of years of dedicated work by multiple groups, marking a significant milestone in the evolution of CGIAR breeding programs.
• Process management: A standardized breeding process model, unanimously agreed upon by all crop leads, is now in place. This model streamlines pipeline optimization and facilitates the implementation of KPIs, enhancing overall efficiency. These have been established, providing a clear view of the “health” of each breeding pipeline. This ensures a comprehensive understanding of the progress and impact of ongoing projects.
• Breeding scheme improvement: Progress has also been made toward the development of “archetype” breeding schemes aligned with quantitative genetics principles, optimizing for higher rates of genetic gain. Further development of the breeding scheme manager has taken place to capture and streamline breeding schemes, ensuring efficient project management.
• Genetic gain: Numerous breeding schemes have been modified, achieving higher rates of genetic gain, advancing the pursuit of improved crop varieties. The Initiative is moving toward more standardized and representative genetic gains assessments, aligned with Target Population Environments (TPE). Clear recommendations have been provided regarding expectations for on-farm verification and the critical understanding of alignment between selection environment and on-farm performance in the TPE.
• New, efficient collaborative tools: The fully populated breeding portal is now live, serving as a comprehensive “single source of truth.” This centralized hub provides seamless access to critical information, fostering efficiency and collaboration across teams. This Program Management Platform (PMP) enables teams to plan and work against a common results framework across all projects and initiatives.
• NARES-CGIAR partnerships: made stronger through dialogue and agreements, capacity building and workshops, and co-ownership as we work to modernize our networks.
• Key 2023 communications:
  • Blog: How improved crop breeding is shaping the world’s youth
  • Blog: How CGIAR maize breeding is improving the world’s major staple crop for tropical regions
  • Blog:Can improved crop breeding boost gender equality?
  • Blog: As CGIAR-NARES networks deliver improved crops, new plans are set to accelerate progress
  • News: 5 research areas to remember from the African Plant Breeders Association 2023 Conference & Highlights from APBA 2023
  • ABI in the news: Devex: Can elevating farmers’ voices revolutionize crop design?

Breeding Resources Initiative:

• Global shared services: lab services, T&N and service request portal: Historically, CGIAR faced challenges in accessing services, but transformation is underway. The shared services being established by Breeding Resources Initiative provide CGIAR with much greater bargaining power in purchasing or contracting equipment, services, and tools. This enables the generation of cost-efficient and high-quality data, consistent across the breeding network. Shared services are already established for genotyping and sequencingand select biochemical (nutritional trait) testing. New additions include high throughput phenotyping, soil analysis, biometrics, expansion of existing biochemical testing services, equipment purchases and more.
• Trialing and Nursery support: Breeding programs can also request this, including engineering services, agronomic practice support for process improvement and so on By accessing these customized services, breeding teams will be supported by consultants and companies specialized in multiple disciplines, such as seed processing, irrigation, soil management, pest and disease management, and others.
• Breeding Resources Service Request Portal: is a one-stop-shop platform for CGIAR/NARES and partners, which makes it easier for users to request services and improves the workflow and the quality of service.
• Breeding informatics strategy: Originally anticipated for release in 2024, BRI team surpassed expectations by developing a breeding informatics strategy for CGIAR ahead of schedule, marking it one of the Initiative’s cornerstone achievement in 2023. The strategy delineates CGIAR-wide approach for the effective management of breeding databases, pieces of software, and tools. It outlines the establishment of a centralized breeding data management system serving CGIAR-NARES networks. Key components of this system include: Creation of a Breeding Information Management and Technology (BIMT) Unit, establishment of a Global User Support (GUS), and a Roadmap to 2027.
• Process management: To deliver common and streamlined processes at the Genetic Innovation level, BRI launched four Process Teams: Product Development, Trialling & Nursery, Lab Services, and Breeding Analytics. Each have representatives from various crops and Centers, which identify, validate and set the course for Continuous Improvement. They discover, develop and share best practices, document them, and identify capacity development needs.
• SIPOCS: Process Management Team (PMT, the team of Process Owners) finalized the peer-review of the four Process Teams’ SIPOCs (Six Sigma term for “Supplier, Input, Process, Output, Customer”). The SIPOCs are high-level descriptions of the processes owned by each team. Besides a consistency check, the review is a scope negotiation exercise between the teams to clarify boundaries and hand-over points between processes and people or teams operating it. It is also an important step before mapping the processes in more details.
• Key 2023 communications:
  • Blog: How we are professionalizing breeding research management processes
  • Blog: Inside Genetic Innovation’s process management
  • Blog: CtEH Modernizing breeding research stations in Africa for higher genetic gainsrelated to event/video: Crops to End Hunger : Facilities Upgrade and Mechanization
  • Blog: Feeding a continent: Investing in genotyping, phenotyping and germplasm exchange for Roots, Tubers, and Bananas in Africa related to Event/video: CtEH: Roots, Tuber and Banana Breeding
  • Webinar series: Crops to End Hunger Case Studies in Africa and Beyond: Supporting CGIAR Partners through Genotyping Services

Genebanks Initiative:

• Germplasm distribution: CGIAR Genebanks distributed over 200,000 germplasm samples to users worldwide in 2023. That is nearly four times as many samples as in 2022 (57k) and is the highest figure on record. It confirms that the plant materials conserved and managed by CGIAR are increasingly relevant to researchers and farmers.
• Capacity Development: We achieved record numbers on workshops, site visits and other ways of building the skills and capacities of staff and partners. Genetic Innovation also took a key role in promoting capacity building and benefit sharing at the Plant Treaty’s 10th Governing Body Session.
• Resources: The Bezos Earth Fund announced a US$15.5M grant to CGIAR at COP28 on a project to reduce methane emissions from livestock, via developing new varieties of forage grasses and legumes. The grant will allow researchers to screen the genebank collections held by CIAT, ICARDA and ILRI to find and deploy forages that are rich in methane-reducing compounds. The findings will also help breeders develop that are effective at limiting methane emissions. org awarded IRRI a $2m grant for a project using Artificial Intelligence to assess how rice varieties in IRRI’s genebank tolerate stresses like drought, flooding and salinity. This will make a time-consuming and costly process more efficient. The project will ultimately give farmers access to climate-resilient, high-yielding rice varieties.
• Key 2023 communications:
  • Video: Introduction to CGIAR Genebanks
  • Report: CGIAR promotes capacity building and benefit sharing at the Plant Treaty’s 10th Governing Body Session
  • Video series: Why genebanks are important
  • Resource: Library on Digital Sequence Information (DSI)
  • Video: CIMMYT genebank helps farmers in Sinaloa, Mexico recover traditional maize varieties

Market Intelligence Initiative:

• Seed Product Market Segment Database: The Seed Product Market Segment Database (SPMSD) launched in 2023 to provide data, information and insights to inform investment decisions on breeding pipelines and seed systems. The SPMSD contains more than 500 SPMSs identified using eight criteria including crop, material type, subregion, end use, color, production environment, production system and maturity. The database covers crops and subregions where CGIAR and NARES currently target investments. For each segment, the database presents descriptors for the opportunity for impact. In addition, identified market segments form the foundation on which TPP (Target Product Profiles) are designed for each prioritized market segment. The SPMSD is now available on GloMip. Also see Market Intelligence Brief #1.
• GloMip: The Global Market Intelligence Platform (GloMIP) is a publicly accessible platform designed for users looking for relevant market intelligence to support breeding programs or investment decisions. GloMIP has six portals, three fully operational in 2023: SPMS Database, Impact Opportunities, and Target Product Profiles (TPPs). These enable the user to view information on CGIAR breeding pipelines’ target beneficiaries and products and scan for impact opportunities across seed product market segments, countries and regions. In the TTP Portal, you can query a database of about 300 TPPs designed to help breeding pipelines deliver products that meet the requirements of farmers, consumers, and processors in the market segments. The Impact Opportunities Portal features 180 indicators across five CGIAR Impact Areas. Breeders can analyze how the TPPs aim to address impact challenges and where the gaps are.
• Analysis in 2023 on gender intentionality: A team of gender researchers began piloting adjustments to templates and processes to advance intentionality at multiple levels. An agreement with FairTrade Africa was under development to develop a “Standardized protocol” to address gender intentionality in breeding.
• A baseline investigation of the current perceptions, attitudes, and institutional incentives to utilize market intelligence information for breeding decision-making in crop-breeding teams (CGIAR, NARES, and private sector) began. This study’s aim is to generate evidence on the costs, benefits, and comparative effectiveness of a transdisciplinary approach to market intelligence-driven breeding, seed systems, and investment prioritization.
• A multi-country, multi-crop qualitative study helped understand how women and men farmers form their varietal uptake choices and compared these perspectives with ongoing seed promotion strategies. We found that most farmers are willing to plant what they can try (farm and/or cook) and can assess against their own needs and food cultures. Trust in seed promotion channels and greater exposure to the production and cooking performance of new seed products can encourage varietal uptake.
• Key 2023 communications:
  • Brief: Market Intelligence Brief #5 Maize farmers acquire early-maturity seed across production environments
  • Bulletin: Market Intelligence Bulletin, Insights for innovation in seed product and design and seed systems development
  • Blog: Current practices and institutional arrangements in breeding by CGIAR – NARS
  • News: This is a man’s world: Gendered perceptions of Ugandan agro-input dealers
  • News: Market Intelligence insights for groundnut breeding and seed systems in Tanzania
  • News: Let’s cook about it!

Seed Equal Initiative:

• Prestigious awards: Seed Equal’s Jean Claude Rubyogo (Alliance of BIoversity and CIAT) won the 2023 Africa Food Prize award for his work as Director of the Pan Africa Bean Research Alliance (PABRA). Swati Nayak received the 2023 Borlaug Field Award for her work as Seed System and Product Management Lead for South Asia at IRRI, as well as Seed Equal work on supporting demand-driven cereal seed systems. S
• Collaboration with ISF: CGIAR working through Seed Equal signed a 5-year MOU for with the International Seed Federation, a global association representing the private seed sector, to address low agricultural productivity resulting from poor adoption of improved varieties and limited access to quality seed. The MOU sets the groundwork for both organizations to provide solutions to complex issues in the seed sector and overall agri-food systems and by taking together the lead in informing policy discourse, discussions, and advocacy efforts with data-driven, evidence-based insights and recommendations. 
• Engagement: Major advances in Kenya, Uganda, and Rwanda mean improved seed policy and regulatory environments to accelerate the delivery of genetic gain to farmers fields. Research and engagement in many partner countries advanced on issues like private sector engagement, varietal licensing, seed quality assurance systems, and seed trade.
• Key 2023 communications:
  • Blog: CGIAR Genetic InnovationsSeed Equal leadership team participates in the World Seed Congress 2023
  • Video:Changing Smallholders’ Livelihoods: Award-Winning Innovations for Seed Systems Development
  • Blog: Empowering Africa legume seed producers on market demand-driven seed production business models and ICT tool
  • Blog:Inaugural Rwanda National Seed Congress paves the way for sustainable seed industry growth
  • Social Media Post:CGIAR Seed Equal Team at the Asian Seed Congress

Other GI projects:

• RTB Breeding project, highlights include:
  • Potato: Setting Potato breeding Network for Africa, a first-ever costing project Breeding Cost Structure for Effective Breeding Decision in Africa, the reference genome of Solanum tuberosum variety “Nyota” which supports genomic analysis in potato.
  • Yam: KASP markers, DArTAG markers, genomic prediction cross-performance (GPCP) is fully implemented or parent and mate selection, and a range of promising superior elite breeding lines identified for further testing
  • Banana: KASP markers, Matooke hybrids reaching farmers in Tanzania, and high-yield, disease (TR4) resistant Mchare hybrids now under multilocational testing
• Dryland Crops project (formerly AVISA) highlights include: Sorghum seed sales profit and empower rural women in Tanzania, using effective communication in promoting genetic improvement tools, building renewed interest in millet, development of millet value chains and processing, and utilizing a range of innovations in unlocking the potential of millet.

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We would like to thank all funders who support CGIAR research through their contributions to the CGIAR Trust Fund. And to the supporters  of CGIAR Excellence in Breeding.