| Abstract |
In 2012, around 1.6 million farmers made use of the results of 145 projects under WHEAT. Millions more have benefited from input-saving agronomy and precision agriculture tools and other research results generated through past CGIAR funding for wheat research. Indeed, CGIAR-derived improved varieties are grown on over 50 percent of the entire area sown to wheat in the developing world, where two thirds of global production comes from. In 2012, WHEAT funding ensured that improved germplasm demand from 620 collaborators in 120 countries was met by CIMMYT and ICARDA. Six countries on two continents became ‘Ug99 epidemic’-proof this year (secure from a devastating stem rust that is spreading across the world) and India saw an early commercialization success that builds on multi-year shuttle breeding between Mexico and Kenya. On the upstream front, ‘Seeds of Discovery’ started the largest genetic diversity analyses ever to find heat tolerant wheat. Across the globe, wheat research is funded mostly by public sources. WHEAT made strides to better leverage and coordinate this investment nationally, regionally, and globally. Researchers from 36 institutions jointly developed the Wheat Yield Consortium Business Plan and took it to 21 donors and research councils from 17 countries. WHEAT is a founding member of the G-20 Wheat Initiative, which wants to better coordinate large national research programs. But better R&D coordination across organizations and institutions is not enough. Greater long-term investments in wheat R4D are needed to avoid ‘pricing out’ 1.2 billion poor from accessing a healthy and diverse diet due to rising staple food prices. Wheat is grown in many male-dominated societies, so WHEAT initiated a gender audit to find new avenues for increasing womens’ participation in wheat value chains. As populations, urbanization and women entering the workforce increase, CIMMYT and ICARDA are working to sustainably improve food security in Africa. As the estimated $US 6bn wheat import bill (2012) shows, wheat is a no longer a minor crop for consumers in sub-Saharan Africa. African Agriculture Ministers officially recognized this in November, whilst the African Development Bank (AfDB) started to invest in wheat R4D. Building on that, WHEAT is developing a Wheat for Africa (W4A) Strategy, to encourage national and international actors to join forces in filling the R4D gaps. Today, people consume 2.8 times the wheat that was eaten in 1961. Twelve of the 15 farming systems on our planet, where most poor people live, are maize-, rice- or wheat-based, or a combination thereof. Wheat products are staple foods that cannot be easily substituted. The potential for improvement is enormous and so is the potential for wheat. |
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