The GCP is a 10-year program launched in 2003 with a $15 million annual budget to improve crops in harsh drought-prone environments in Africa, Asia, and Latin America. It partners with over 200 institutes including the CGIAR. The GCP aims to use genetic diversity and plant science to develop improved crop varieties for food security. It focuses on cereals, legumes, roots, and tubers through research themes, initiatives, and an integrated breeding platform. Major achievements include developing genetic resources, genomic tools, and stress-resistant markers. Moving forward, the GCP faces challenges in monitoring and evaluating impact, ensuring product delivery, and strengthening partnerships to complete its work by 2013.
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2011: Introduction to the CGIAR Generation Challenge Programme (GCP)
1. GGIAR Generation Challenge Programme
(GCP)
Partnerships in modern crop breeding
for food security
November 2011
2. GCP in brief
Launched in August 2003
10-year framework (2004–2008; 2009–2013)
About US$15M annual budget
Target areas: Harsh drought-prone environments
Africa (SSA), S & SE Asia, LA
Mandate crops
Via CGIAR (DFID, EC, SDC, USAID, CG Fund Council)
Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation
Cereals: maize, rice, sorghum, wheat,
Legumes: beans, chickpeas, cowpeas, groundnuts
Root and tubers: cassava
A CGIAR Challenge Programme hosted at CIMMYT
Main objective: To use genetic diversity and advanced plant science to
improve crops for greater food security in the developing world
GCP : A broker in plant science bridging the gap between upstream
and applied science
www.generationcp.org
5. The GCP network in 2010:
200+ Institutes
Germplasm
Breeding
Private
sector
Technology
CGIAR
Private
sector
Products/Impact
Farmer’s field
ARIs
Country
programmes
NGOs
Germplasm
Environments
Needs
6. Major achievement: GCP community
Partnerships
EPMR panel noted that GCP community is one of the
Programme’s crucial assets. In their words: “Perhaps the
most important value of GCP thus far, is the opportunities
it has provided for people of diverse backgrounds to think
collectively about solutions to complex problems, and, in
the process, to learn from one another.”
Linking upstream with applied science
The sorghum case: From Cornell to Moi University with a
stop in Brazil
Within a decade: Plantlet under hydroponics – Gene
cloned – Favourable alleles identified – Improved
germplasm for Brazil – Improved germplasm for Kenya
Evolution of roles and responsibilities
Leader become mentors
Trainees become doers and leaders
8. Research Organisation (Management)
3. Crop information systems
Databases, Information Network
1. Integrated crop breeding
Phenotyping
Germplasm
Phenotyping
Genes
Molecular breeding
2. Comparative and applied genomics
Human resources & infrastructure
4. Capacity building
Breeding programmes
Improved genotypes
Delivery Plans
Products
5. Product delivery
Improved germplasm in farmers’ fields
9. The two phases of the Programme
Phase I (2004–2008):
A combination of commissioned and competitive projects
‘Opportunistic’ and high project turn over
Establishing the GCP community
Identifying the winners and opportunities for Phase II
Phase II (2009–2013):
Mid-term activities
Focused and targeted research
Major effort in service development
Clear impact indicators by 2013 to evaluate success
A needs and bottom-up approach: Research and services
2014: Transition year
10. Selected major outputs
Access to genetic resources
Genotyping for 21 reference sets of CGIAR mandate crops
Substitution lines (groundnuts, rice)
Mutant collections (rice, potatoes, beans)
Synthetics (groundnuts and wheat)
MAGIC (cowpeas, rice, sorghum) NAM (rice) BCNAM, (sorghum)
Development of genomic resources
BAC libraries and EST sequences (legumes, cassava)
New markers: DArTs, SSRs and SNPs (all crops)
Identification of markers for biotic stresses
Validated markers for resistance to pests and diseases for beans,
cassava, chickpeas, cowpeas, groundnuts, maize, potatoes and rice
11. Selected major outputs
Identification of markers for abiotic stresses
Tolerance to Al toxicity in sorghum and salinity and phosphorus
deficiency in rice
Drought tolerance in chickpeas, cowpeas, maize, rice, wheat
New tools
GIS, bioinformatic and data management tools
Marker tool kit
Enhanced capacities in country programmes
Human capacities / Local infrastructure / Analytical power
Socioeconomic studies
Ex ante analyses MB impact in developing countries
Impact briefs
12.
13. The 7 Research Initiatives:
50% of GCP resources to RIs in Phase II
Basis: RIs are crop-, crop cluster-, and area-based
Key trait: Main focus of all the RIs is drought tolerance
Target crops/area and target countries/countries of planned research
1.
Cassava: Nigeria, Ghana, Tanzania, Uganda/Brazil, Colombia
2.
Legumes
Cowpeas: Burkina Faso, Mozambique, Senegal/USA
4.
Chickpeas: Ethiopia, India, Kenya
3.
Beans: Ethiopia, Kenya, Malawi, Mexico, Nicaragua, Zimbabwe
Groundnuts: Malawi, Senegal, Tanzania
Maize: China, India, Indonesia, Kenya, Thailand, The Philippines, Vietnam
Rice: Africa – Burkina Faso, Mali, Nigeria; Asia – Bangladesh, Cambodia,
Thailand, Vietnam, Myanmar
5.
Sorghum: Mali (additional countries via CoP to be established)/Australia
6.
Wheat: Africa – Ethiopia, Morocco; Asia – China, India/Australia
7.
Comparative genomics to improve cereal yields in high-aluminium and lowphosphorus soils (maize, rice, sorghum): Indonesia, Kenya, Niger/Brazil
14. An Integrated Breeding Platform
to support reeding in the South
www.integratedbreeding.net
Overall objective
To provide access to modern breeding
technologies, breeding material and related
information in a centralised and functional manner
to improve plant breeding efficiency in developing
countries.
Short-term objective
To establish a minimum set of tools, data
management infrastructure and services to
demonstrate that molecular breeding can be
efficiently applied to eight crops spread across 14
user cases
Multilateral funding for an overall budget
of US$ 20M over 5 years
Mainly Gates, DFID, EC
15. The IB Platform will offer:
Access to Breeding Services:
•
•
•
well characterised and useful genetic resources
quality, economic high throughput genotyping
sophisticated phenotype and metabolite analyses
Access to Informatics Tools:
•
•
•
for breeding logistics and data management
analysis and decision support for molecular breeding
accumulated public crop information of certified quality
Capacity Development - Training and support for:
•
•
•
•
•
•
planning and comparing breeding strategies
data management and curation and quality control
analysis and decision support
use of markers and molecular breeding techniques
phenotyping sites and protocols
use and protection of intellectual property
Community development
•
•
support for communities of practice by crop or discipline
facilitation of germplasm exchange
The IBP will not do breeding per se
19. Major Challenges Today
M&E: Implement realistic workplans
Clear milestones, products and timelines
Reliable Delivery Plans with clear impact indicators
Ensure delivery and sustainable use of GCP products
Product delivery strategy
Reinforce ownership by the GCP community
Partnership
Balance community momentum and a focused research agenda
Data release and quality control
Difficult to finish the work (time, resources)
Still not a lot of data in our Central Registry today
Quality and documentation are very variable
Change in mindset: from institutional to corporate
20. Conclusions
A vibrant community bridging the gap between basic and
applied agricultural science providing new tools for plant
breeding
Agile programme structure
Dynamic network of partners
Significant amount of products already been generated
Already an impact in the breeding community
The success of the GCP will be judged on the
quality of the science and relevance of its
products for impact on crop improvement
Visit us: www.generationcp.org
21. GCP people:
The Programme’s greatest asset!
Participants of the GCP General Research Meeting, September 2011