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Setting up breeding programs for success: �Knowing where to go and how to get there

Biswanath Das

Enable Area of Work Lead, �CGIAR Breeding for Tomorrow

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Reflections on the Current state

  • Public and private sector programs are different:
    • Objectives, priorities, market focus, cohesion
    • Budgets are an issue everywhere!

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Common elements for success

  • Collaboration and multidisciplinary input is critical
  • Breeding is complex – successful programs define processes
  • The most successful programs have ruthless focus

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1. Focus

Public breeding programs tend to be trait focused, breeder led, all encompassing

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  1. Define Market Segments (and TPPs) through broad expert consultation

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  • Prioritize market segments

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Market Segmentation: process of dividing a broad market into smaller, distinct groups of consumers who share common characteristics, behaviors, or needs (HBS)

Target Product Profile: The set of essential and nice-to-have traits, the scale used to measure each trait and the threshold score for each trait that is required in a new product to meet or exceed the needs of farmers, processors and consumers in a crop market segment

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Setting Breeding Priorities

Market Segment Description

Water yam for fresh tuber and processed market

Crop

Yam

One CGIAR Region

WCA

One CGIAR Sub Region

West Africa

Countries and areas within country

Ghana

Spillover countries

Nigeria, Benin, Cote d'Ivoire

Hectares within ONE CGIAR sub region

3 hectares

Material type

Clone

Biological Region/Eco System

Humid forest, transitional and Savannah (Eastern, Ashanti, Oti, Savanna, Northern, Bono East, Bono West, Upper West)

Production System

Rainfed

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Target Product Profile

Target Product Profile

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Trait

Scale (Unit of Measurement)

Min Score (for the trait required in the product)

Trait requirement (Essential/Nice to have)

Improve trait (Y/N)

Threshold trait (Y/N)

Agronomic traits

Maturity (Bulking)

Months

8-9

Essential

N

Y

Fresh Tuber yield

t/ha

≥30

Essential

Y

 

Sprout establishement

%

≥95%

Nice to have

 

Y

Tuber dry matter content

%

≥20

Essential

Y

 

Tuber shape

visual (Spherical,oval,cylindrical)

Cylindrical

Essential

 

Y

Tuber size

kg

1-2

Nice to have

 

Y

Hairs on Tubers

Visual (Less, medium, high)

Less

Nice to have

 

Y

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Biotic/Abiotic traits

Anthracnose severity score

1-5 scale; 1= best

≤2

Essential

 

Y

Mosaic virus severity score

1-5 scal; 1 =best

≤2

Essential

Y

 

Brown Spot

1-5 scal; 1 =best

≤2

Essential

Y

 

Nematode severity score

1-5 scal; 1 =best

≤2

Essential

 

Y

Consumer traits

Boiled yam quality

1-5 scale;5=best

≥4

Essential

Y

 

Pounded yam Quality (Index)

1-5 scale;5=best

≥4

Essential

Y

 

Pounded yam Color

Chromameter/Subjective

White

Nice to have

 

Y

Pounded yam Texture/stickness

Texturometer/Subjective

Sticky

Essential

 

Y

Mealiness

Texturometer/Subjective

Mealy

Essential

 

Y

Strechability of dough

Texturometer/Subjective

Strechable

Essential

 

Y

Smoothness of dough (Pounded yam)

Texturometer/Subjective

Smooth

Essential

 

Y

Processing traits

Oxidative browning/dicolaration intensity

0-3 scale; 0=best

0 at least for 180 minutes after peeling or cutting the tubers

 

 

Y

Tuber Shelf life

Months

8-12

Nice to have

 

Y

Peel loss

%

≤5

Nice to have

 

Y

Nutritional enhancement traits

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Production/Multiplication traits

 

 

 

 

 

 

Unique product registration traits

 

 

 

 

 

 

Benchmark or Check Varieties Selected For Comparison

Seidubile (Matches), Akaba

Nigeria cassava PDT (product design team) coordinated by NRCRI

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>130 PDTs conducted since 2022, >350 national TPPs defined

Ghana market segment and TPP for ‘Water Yam for fresh tuber and processed market’

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2. Define a Breeding Strategy, Access Services

Define a strategy for each MS: Germplasm Improvement, Product Evaluation or Ignore.

    • Impact / ROI
    • Germplasm
    • Infrastructure
    • Human Capacity (3 pipelines/breeder)

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Access modern tools and services (internal and external)

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Basics are fundamental: field plotmanship (accuracy)

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Han et al, 2019

https://cgiar-service-portal-prd.azurewebsites.net/hub

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3. Integrate On Farm Verification

  • Integrate OFV in Variety development process

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  • Failure to understand on farm performance is Dangerous

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  • Data supports
    • Release and registration
    • Product design updates
    • Go To Market strategies

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Breeding pipeline

Early stage testing

Late stage testing

On Farm Verification

Registration and Release

Commer-cialize and Scale

Withdraw Product

TARI

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4. Establish a Process to Choose winners

Breeding pipeline

Early stage testing

Late stage testing

On Farm Verification

Registration and Release

Commer-cialize and Scale

Withdraw Product

Breeder Decision

PDT Decision (All)

PDT Decision (All)

Portfolio Manager, Seed systems, marketing

Portfolio Manager & Seed Systems

Portfolio Manager & Seed Systems

Product performance feedback loop

Annual Product Advancement and Planning Meetings (PAPMs)

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  • Multidisciplinary Teams, clear responsibilities, clear purpose (varieties advanced against defined TPP)

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5. Product Life Cycle Management

Critical to make space and promote new, improved products

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Beware the ‘Nokia Syndrome’

Goncharov, 2020

Nokia 3310’s success contributed to its downfall

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6. Costing Breeding, Trialing and OFV Operations

Critical to develop budgets, allocate resources, identify high cost centers

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Public tools are available: https://aussorgm.org.au/downloads/breeding-costing-tool/

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Over 30 Programs have been Costed in Detail (Lennin Musundire)

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NARES programs are 80% budgeted for already

NARES lack 20% operational budget

Operational budget of $50,000 to $80,000 will enable many NARES to run end to end pipelines

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Programs need to be ready to absorb funding

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7. Sustainably Fund Raise

New approaches - the world is changing

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  • Engage with Governments (use costing evidence):
    • Policy makers assume breeding is expensive
    • $1m will support 5 to 10 pipelines
    • Malabo Declaration (10% of nat. exp.)

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  • Licensing and royalties
    • eg End-Point Royalty system in Australia
    • 1% royalty on 5,000 mt maize seed = $100k
    • NARES in ESA generating $200k annually

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Thank you!

Questions?

Follow us online:

LinkedIn / Facebook: �CGIAR Breeding for Tomorrow��X: @cgiarbreeding

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