The Global Partnership Initiative for Plant Breeding Capacity Building (GIPB)
Overview

At the first session this month of the governing body of the International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture, FAO will propose a global initiative to help developing countries make better use of crop genetic diversity...

At last count, the world's genebanks conserved some 1.5 million unique samples of food crops and their wild relatives, providing the world's plant breeders with an almost inexhaustible source of genetic diversity for crop improvement programmes. In Mexico, for example, the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT) holds 22,000 maize accessions stored at -3°C in specially design vaults that ensure seed viability for 25 to 40 years.

Now zoom across to Mozambique, where maize is a staple food, to the National Institute of Agriculture Research in Maputo. There, maize seed is stored in refrigerators, and a total of four senior plant breeders serve the entire country, dividing their time between work on maize, cassava and beans. The country's other source of improved maize, the Mozambique Seed Company, has long since abandoned its maize programme following the termination of donor funding. Result: in the years between 1985 and 2001, the institute released just four improved maize varieties that have had little impact on maize production – farmers’ maize yields continue to average a low one tonne per hectare.

The state of plant breeding in Mozambique, and the results of FAO surveys of plant breeding programmes in 44 other developing countries, will be presented during the first session of the governing body of the International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture, being held in Madrid from 12-16 June. At a special “side-event”, FAO will propose a Global Initiative for Plant Breeding Capacity Building (GIPB) aimed at helping developing countries to improve their agricultural productivity through sustainable use of plant genetic resources.

“The Treaty's first session is an important opportunity to strike a better balance between the conservation and utilization of crop diversity,” says Elcio Guimaraes, senior officer for crop breeding at FAO. “All the work that has been done to conserve plant germplasm will be futile if local plant breeding capacity is not in place to fully use it.”

Why is plant breeding capacity so important
for developing countries?

The power of plant breeding

Plant breeding has been instrumental in boosting crop production in both developed and developing countries over the past century. High yielding varieties of rice and wheat were at the heart of the Green Revolution, which produced a spectacular increase in food production in Asia in the 1970s. In the US, more than half the gains in yields of all major field crops over the past 70 years is attributed to the genetic improvements - for maize, soybeans and wheat, the annual rate of gain thanks to plant breeding is estimated at one to three percent a year.

“All of the countries we surveyed need to increase crop production, both to ensure food security and to increase income in their agricultural sectors. By some estimates, most crops in developing countries are realizing only 20% of their yield potential. Most of the deficit is due to abiotic stresses - unsuitable soils, drought - with the rest due to biotic stresses such as diseases, insect pests, weeds and poor plant nutrition. Plant breeding alone will not bridge the gap, but plant breeders can contribute to higher yields by developing improved varieties that are suited to their countries’ particular agro-ecological conditions, and robust enough to tolerate stresses in areas where fertilizer, chemicals and irrigation are often too costly or unavailable. Another looming challenge is climate change, which is likely to affect crop productivity in tropical regions. Plant breeding programmes will need to use all available tools in adapting to those changes. In addition, developing regions are highly dependent on so-called ‘orphan crops’, such as sorghum, yam, cassava and plantain – those crops are of little or no importance to breeders in the developed world, so little research is being done on them.” 

What findings have emerged from FAO’s surveys of plant breeding
 programmes in developing countries?

New varieties can take years

Developing a new cereal variety can take up to 12 years, from the first tentative crosses to its final release into the marketplace. Even more time is required for tree crops. Often from one to three years are needed to collect, evaluate and assemble promising new genetic diversity, followed by several years of recombination and selection to identify new lines suitable for development of superior varieties. It takes a further one to three years to multiply seed and distribute it to farmers.

“So far we have completed surveys of 44 countries in Africa, Asia, Eastern Europe and Latin America, looking at trends in plant breeding and related biotechnology capacity in the period 1985 to 2005. We found that the capacity for germplasm evaluation and varietal development in most countries is clearly inadequate, owing to massive reductions in public investment in crop improvement. In Africa, where we surveyed 19 countries, in nearly all cases there is less financial support for plant breeding today than in 1985. The result is that the number of plant breeders is much lower than in the developed world. They have limited training in traditional breeding and almost no training in newer technologies, such as marker-assisted selection. Even where a country does have biotechnology capacity, linkages between biotechnologists and plant breeders are poor. In fact, breeders said one of the most important factors limiting their programmes was lack of knowledge of molecular techniques, followed by the lack of laboratory infrastructure to carry out experiments in advanced plant breeding.

“Another major problem is the lack of long-term commitment to plant breeding, both on the part of donors and national governments. While National Agricultural Research Systems should be the first source of funding, resources are simply not available in many countries and most breeding programmes do not even approach sustainability. National programmes are heavily dependent on external funding, which is often short-term. Other constraints we identified are the poor state of germplasm conservation, limited access to international genetic resources, and weak links between breeding programmes and the market - farmers can’t obtain seeds of improved varieties or the varieties that are available do not meet their needs.”

How will a Global Initiative for Plant Breeding Capacity Building
improve that situation?

The Trust and the Treaty...

Jointly hosted by FAO and IPGRI, the Global Crop Diversity Trust is building a $260 million endowment to help conserve national and international genebank collections. The Trust is an element in the funding strategy of FAO’s International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture, which has been ratified by 104 countries. The main objectives of the treaty, which was approved by the FAO Conference in November 2001, are the conservation and sustainable use of plant agrobiodiversity and the fair and equitable sharing of benefits. The first session of the Treaty’s governing body (Madrid, 12-16 June) will be the first time the contracting parties meet to discuss its implementation.

“The main goal of GIPB is to facilitate action to enhance the capacity of developing countries to effectively use plant genetic resources by upgrading their plant breeding programmes and seed delivery systems. Our surveys have highlighted opportunities for a range of capacity-building activities, including training, modernizing procedures for on-station and on-farm trials and testing, and obtaining finished or near-finished cultivars from private and public sources. The GIPB would serve as a clearing house for information, and work with developing countries to identify their needs so that partners in the initiative can then develop plans to provide the required training, germplasm or technologies. Strong, sustained commitment from national government to provide people, facilities and long term support for their plant breeding programmes would be a major requirement for their participation.”

Who would you like to see participate in the initiative?

“Essentially, the GIPB would be a multi-party initiative of knowledge institutions and agencies around the world that have a track record in supporting agricultural research, working in partnership with country programmes committed to developing stronger plant breeding capacity. Partners would include the CGIAR Centers, National Agricultural Research Centers, regional centres of excellence in agricultural research, universities and other academic institutions, professional agricultural societies and NGOs. Farmers would also play a crucial role by participating in setting the goals and objectives of breeding programmes and in local selection activities. Just as important will be participation by the private sector companies.”

How would the Global Initiative work with the International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture and the Global Crop Diversity Trust?

“Countries that ratify the International Treaty undertake to implement a Funding Strategy ‘to mobilize funding for priority activities, plans and programmes, in particular in developing countries and countries with economies in transition’. So the GIPB might operate as an independent work programme under the policy guidance of the Treaty’s governing body, and as an element within its Funding Strategy. That strategy could use the knowledge generated by the GIPB to orient its priorities. What we envisage is a mechanism that identifies and prioritizes needs for capacity building, then seeks support from GIPB partners. That might entail creation of a steering committee to match donors and country needs. Through consultations such as those we will be holding in Madrid, we hope to create a shared vision of what needs to be done and identify those who can contribute. We see the GIPB as a complement to the Global Crop Diversity Trust - while the Trust focuses on conservation of crop diversity, the initiative would take concrete steps to ensure that developing countries have the capacity to utilize it.”

Submitted by Elcio Guimaraes
FAO/AGPC
Elcio.Guimaraes@fao.org

The Global Partnership Initiative for Plant Breeding Capacity Building (GIPB)
Report of the Stakeholder Forum

12-13 June, 2006
Madrid, Spain

Introduction

Over the last 10 years, significant progress has been made in addressing the needs and modalities to improve the conservation of plant genetic resources for food and agriculture among governments and global partners. While conservation is vital, it is not enough. Strengthening the capacity of our partners to identify and use new and more useful sources of variation for traits important to them now while enhancing their capacity to easily identify useful germplasm for the future is equally needed. The International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture supports both conservation and sustainable use of PGRFA and the fair and equitable sharing of the benefits arising out of their use. There is, therefore, an important opportunity to improve the balance between conservation of plant genetic resources and their effective use to meet farmer and consumer needs, address food security concerns and contribute to the Millennium

Development Goals

Sustainable utilization of PGRFA requires plant breeding strategies through continuous and effective use of germplasm through careful characterization, evaluation and documentation. Advances in biotechnology when combined with conventional techniques offer an enormous potential for developing and pursuing such a strategy. However, the lack long term support for national breeding programs,  lack of access to germplasm accessions and/or  promising new technologies, especially biotechnologies, and limitations of trained personnel and institutional capabilities, prevent national plant breeding programs from meeting the needs of developing countries.

The Global Initiative for Plant Breeding Capacity Building (GIPB) was launched to address these challenges in a concerted and systematic manner complementing existing efforts whenever possible. The goal of the Initiative is to strengthen capacities of the developing countries and those with economies in transition to improve their productivity through sustainable use of plant genetic resources for food and agriculture using better breeding and seed delivery systems.

Stakeholders of GIPB including representatives of developing countries, CGIAR Centers, agricultural universities and research institutes, NGO’s, FAO and the private sector met to discuss the needs for plant breeding and related biotechnology capacities identified by developing country scientists through FAO surveys and the capabilities of GIPB partners to address those needs. Topics for discussion included training in plant breeding and related technologies, potential partnerships for providing technologies and genetic resources, and mechanisms for information sharing between GIPB partners.

GIPB partners including CGIAR centers, universities and the private sector in both the developed and developing world possess capabilities for training relevant to utilization of plant genetic resources to ensure food security and sustainable development at several levels. Visits and scientific exchanges between scientists from among GIPB partners, the organization of work shops, short courses and consortia, and formal degree programs at MSC and PHD levels could be used to effectively train new scientists in developing countries and upgrade the skills in new technologies for scientists already working.

Technology partnerships which could provide screening and trialing methodologies, shared laboratory facilities, and guidance for finding solutions to thematic constraint like abiotic and biotic stresses could offer valuable assistance to developing country programs in plant breeding and utilization.

Genetic resource partnerships would support for efforts by the Global Crop Diversity Trust to strengthen germplasm conservation, characterization and utilization and identify genetic resources available from public and private breeding programs which could benefit developing country breeding programs.

Finally, a mechanism for sharing information among GIPB partners in order to provide access to newly available information in a format that is accessible and organized to meet needs of breeders in developing country programs. This must include guides to direct breeders to information available via the internet and other methods of communication. GIPB would provide information to policy makers on germplasm utilization needs and opportunities and work to raise the level of awareness of plant breeding’s effectiveness in providing varieties to farmers who utilize PGR to produce food.

Conclusions of GIPB workshop participants

Utilization of PGR in addition to collection and characterization offers a major opportunity to improve crop productivity.

-Plant breeding, often without other inputs, is effective and successful in utilizing PGR to develop varieties that improve food security and sustainable development contributing meaningfully to the millennium development goals.

-Developing countries need additional plant breeding capacity and long term support of breeding programs.

-A mechanism is needed to support the involvement of GIPB partners in enhancing and facilitating developing countries utilization of PGR to ensure food security and sustainable development.

Summary and next steps

Developing countries have expressed their needs for being able to more effectively utilize PGR. GIPB partners can address these needs by building the capacity in developing countries in plant breeding and related technologies. There is both the capability and willingness to form effective partnerships within GIPB that can enhance and facilitate the ability of developing countries to utilize PGR. Additional discussions are needed among developing country scientists and policy makers, GIPB partners and donors to identify resources and mechanisms to meet developing country needs. FAO has offered to facilitate this process

Contacts for more information on GIPB:
Eric Kueneman (eric.kueneman@fao.org) or Elcio P. Guimarães (elcio.guimaraes@fao.org)

Submitted by Vernon Gracen
Consultant to FAO for GIPB
Department of Plant Breeding and Genetics
Cornell University
vg45@cornell.edu 

RELATED RELEASE:
Putting plant genetic resources to work through capacity building in plant breeding (May 2006)