Dr Jean-Marcel Ribaut at the 2015 UC Davis Plant Breeding Symposium: “Challenges in Plant Breeding", 10 April 2015

1. An initiative of the CGIAR
Adoption of modern breeding in
developing countries: The
Generation Challenge Programme
experience- can it work?
UC Davis Plant Breeding Symposium
April 10th, 2015
Jean-Marcel Ribaut
Photo credit: Neil Palmer/CIAT

2. Our Discussion Today:
♦ The challenges
♦ GCP: Introduction and achievements
♦ The Integrated Breeding Platform
♦ BMS deployment plan
♦ Brain-drain and capacity building
♦ Lessons learnt and legacy
♦ Conclusion and perspectives

3. Adoption of Modern Breeding:
The Big Challenges (most of the time)
The technical component
 Poor field infrastructure
 Limited IT
 Hardware
 Software
 Internet connection
 Limited access to laboratories
Financial component
 Limited breeding activities, research driven by donors
 Limited professional development and staff motivation
Human component
 Capacity building
 Brain-drain
 Good breeders are very busy people

4. GCP: Intro and Achievements

5. GCP in Brief
 A CGIAR Challenge Programme hosted at CIMMYT
 10-year framework (Phase I, 2004–2008; Phase II, 2009–2014)
 US$ 170 M program
 Target zones: drought-prone environments
 Sub-Saharan Africa, South & South East Asia, L. America
 Eighteen CGIAR mandate crops in Phase I
 Nine CGIAR mandate crops in Phase II
 Cereals: maize, rice, sorghum, wheat,
 Legumes: beans, chickpea, cowpea, groundnut
 Roots and tubers: cassava
Strategic 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

6. Translational Research
 A “Must Have” for impact on the ground
 A lot of good intention but still too little impact
 Research: Link upstream with applied research with well
defined delivery pipeline
 Examples of initiatives: Gates Foundation projects, African Orphan
Crop Consortium, NGGIBCI, GCP, others
 Deployment and sustainable adoption: Still the major
challenge
 Paternalistic approaches
 Maintain scientist/breeder excitement about their work (capacity
building, funds, recognition, partnerships, professional
development, etc)
 It starts by implementing good practice
Impact of translational biology often relies on change
management and the human component should not be
underestimated

7. The sorghum case: From Cornell to African farmers’
fields with a stopover in Brazil: a ten-year effort
 Step 1: Competitive Project (initiated 2004)
 Led by Cornell in collaboration with EMBRAPA
 Plantlets screened under hydroponics – Alt1 gene cloned
Magalhaes et al. 2007, Nature Genetics, 39: 1156–1151
 Step 2: Competitive Project (initiated 2007)
 Led by EMBRAPA in collaboration with Cornell
 Favourable alleles identified – Improved germplasm for
Brazil
Caniato et al. 2011, PLoS One 6, e20830
 Step 3: Commissioned work (initiated 2009)
 Led by Moi University in collaboration with EMBRAPA
 Introgression of favourable alleles – Improved germplasm
for Kenya and Niger
Linking Upstream with Applied Science

8. Indicators
 Money allocation to partners
 Significant in-kind contribution from partners
 Open exchange of experience and information
 Partners not necessarily attracted (purely) by money, but to be part
of a network, visibility and exchanges with peers abroad
 Critical but indispensable intangibles – trust and goodwill
 Partners continue to work together after GCP projects end
Evolution of roles and responsibilities
 A switch: Leaders become mentors
 Knowledge applied & transferred: Trainees become doers & leaders
 In Phase II, more than half of our PIs are from developing countries
and more than half the grants go directly to National Programmes
It takes time and resources to nurture and implement true
partnership!
True Partnerships

9.  Genetic resources
 Reference sets for 18 crops (all CGIAR mandate crops)
 Genomic resources
 Markers for orphan crops
 Informative markers
 Drought, viruses and insect resistance
 Genes/QTL
 AltSB for Al tolerance, Pup1 for P uptake efficiency, Saltol for salt tolerance
and Sub1 for submergence tolerance
 Improved germplasm
 New bioinformatic tools (data management, diversity studies,
breeding, etc)
 Enhanced capacity for MAB in NARS programmes
 Human resource capacity / physical infrastructure / analytical power
 Ex-ante analyses of MAB impact in developing countries
Product catalogue: www.generationcp.org/impact/product-catalogue
Selected Major Research Outputs

10. The Integrated Breeding
Platform

11. IBP Purpose and Targets
Overall Objective:
National program, CGIAR centre and SME plant breeding programs serving
South Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa, with spillovers to other regions in the
developing world, will be using modern breeding information management,
decision support, and DNA marker technologies to increase the rate of
genetic gain, productivity and quality in staple food crops
Impact indicator:
 Number of cultivars (across all crops) produced using the BMS and related
services that are grown in farmers’ fields
Cumulative milestone (2015-19)
 At least 100 breeding teams will release cultivars (across all crops)
produced using the BMS and related services in farmers’ fields

12. Breeders:
 Increase data quality, documentation and exchange
 Savings in time and cost to run breeding activities
 Increased genetic progress per crop cycle
Value proposition
Institutional management:
 Improved institutional data management
 Better product at lower price (efficiency and effectiveness)
 Increase value proposition to attract funds
Society:
 Improved crops (quality-yield) in farmers’ fields
 More income for smallholder farmers
 More and better food to feed the world

13. From Phase I to Phase II
 Phase I:
 2009-14: $22M ($12M B&MGF) under the leadership of the GCP
 Phase II:
 2014-19: $24M ($16M secured) under the leadership of the IBP
 Key milestones:
 BMS v1: Stand-alone, June 2013
 BMS v5: Commercial, December 2015
 Implementation of business plan:
 Subsidized users: Public sector in developing countries
 Paying users: Private and public sectors in developed countries
 Deployment of the BMS is not just about adopting new
technology; it is about changing the way of doing breeding
 Focuses on sustainable adoption of good breeding practices,
starting with suitable, modern data management.

14. Numbers of organisations with plant
breeding activities (per site)
Continent Total SME
Commercial
Top 10 IARI Universities NARS
Africa 279 56 11 30 72 110
Asia 1,628 889 28 12 301 398
Europe 1,306 640 121 0 94 181
Latin America 484 190 33 3 84 174
North America 361 153 56 0 76 76
Oceania 102 56 6 0 18 22
Grand Total 3,890 1,984 255 45 645 961
Target users:
Primary target: Breeding Programmes in developing countries
Secondary target: Basically anyone running breeding activities

15. IBP General Overview
The Integrated Breeding Platform
https://www.integratedbreeding.net

16. Breeding Management System
A suite of interconnected software tools and applications specifically
designed to help breeders manage their day-to-day activities:
Programme management
Customise preferences and
monitor programme activities
from the Workbench, a
dashboard application with
integrated tools to manage and
query crop information across
the system
Marker-assisted breeding
Select germplasm and design
crosses by complementing
phenotypic selection with marker
technology, for integrated breeding
decisions
Breeding activities
Prepare trials and nurseries,
manage seed inventories and
keep continuous genealogy
records season after season
Statistical analysis
Analyse field and lab data with
powerful statistics and mixed
model comparisons of locations
and genotypes

17. To be successful in enhancing plant
breeding efficiency in developing countries,
we need to deliver much more than a simple
analytical pipeline!
For breeders in developing countries the
adoption and implementation of the BMS as
a day to day routine platform is a revolution!
The establishment of reliable, locally based,
support services is critical for adoption!
Key Principles for Modern Breeding
Adoption in Developing Countries

18. Breeding Services & Products
https://www.integratedbreeding.net

19. The Support Services
Considering the nature of the IBP and the very diverse potential users
of the BMS, it is critical to provide top-quality support services to
promote adoption and to ensure sustainable use
 Professional Support to be provided in three ways:
 Client-oriented, customised breeding support primarily targeting
developing-country breeders
 Capacity building support to provide professional and comprehensive
training in using the tools
 Interaction with peers through social networks and CoPs
 Technical Support to be provided at two levels to all users:
 Level 1: installation technical support
• To overcome any difficulties in downloading, installing and getting started
with the BMS and related tools
 Level 2: operational technical support
• for users that might encounter problems in day-to-day use of the BMS and
related tools

20. Central Support Team:
Managers plus specialists
DB/DM
BMS CB
Breeding
BMS Sustainable Support Service
BMS Adoption: 3 teams
Customized and punctual support

21. Delivery Model – Network of Hubs
IBP General Overview

22. BMS Deployment Plan

23. IBP deployment: Key steps
 Identification of potential champion(s) in target institute/program;
 Individual needs assessment, including development of champion(s)
through personalised training (one crop cycle);
 Training of the next tier of champions, (one crop cycle);
 Institutional needs assessment and formal commitment of upper
management;
 Institutional deployment plan;
 Implementation of the plan by training of the rest of
the institute/program, led by internal champions with the support of
the IBP implementation team (one-two crop cycles); and
 On-going maintenance and trouble-shooting as required
 From institute/program/NARS support/IT staff
 From IBP regional hub).
The Snowball approach!

24. Brain-Drain and Capacity
Building

25. 1990 2000
Total African labour force (in thousands) 227,338 298,112
Total African skilled labour (in thousands) 5,842 11,896
Percentage of skilled labour to total labour force 3% 4%
Total emigrants from Africa (in thousands) 2,911 4,497
Skilled emigrants from Africa (in thousands) 652 1,388
Percentage of skilled emigrants to total immigrants 22% 31%
% of skilled immigrants to the total skilled labour force 10.0 % 10.4 %
10 of Africa’s 53 countries have lost more than 35% of their tertiary-
educated labour force, suffering massive brain-drain:
Cape Verde 68% Gambia 63% Seychelles 56%
Mauritius 56% Sierra Leone 53% Ghana 47%
Mozambique 45% Liberia 45% Kenya 38%
Uganda 36%
EMIGRATION RATES FOR SKILLED PEOPLE FROM AFRICA
Extracted from Marfouk, A. 2007, ‘The African brain-drain: Scope and determinants’
https://dipot.ulb.ac.be/dspace/bitstream/2013/13586/1/dul- 0071.pdf

26.  Public sector losing staff to the private sector and international
institutions in-country:
 Better terms of service
 Better facilities and other work resources
 Opportunity to directly benefit from work results, e.g. commercialised
varieties
 Opportunities for international work in overseas branches
 Developing nations losing scientists to the developed world
 All of the above!
 Opportunities for cutting-edge science
 Opportunities for personal recognition – e.g. publications in journals
 Opportunities for interaction with ‘professional heavy-weights’
 Opportunities for continuing education, professional development
Can only be mitigated, not eliminated
The Situation: Brain-drain at Two Levels

27.  Employment policy measures
 Enhanced terms of service, including increased salaries
 Contracts requiring minimum periods of service, post-training
 Creative alternatives
 Negotiated ‘circular migration’ which would also bring new skills and
knowledge – professional exchange programmes
 Policies to attract native professionals working overseas –
controversial!
 Potential institutional measures
 Improved facilities
 Capacity to do and participate in exciting projects
 Partnerships with institutions overseas with tangible benefits to staff
 Mid-term strategic changes
 Greater investment in agricultural research directly through NARS
 Accelerated national economic development – ‘reverse brain-drain’
 Home-country training to replace those that leave
Mitigating Brain-Drain

28. Eastern & Southern Africa – West and Central Africa – South & Southeast Asia
YEAR 1
MB project Initiation
Intro to some MB approaches
Field data analysis
Mgnt of breeding data
Field trial Mgnt system
Trainees community
YEAR 2
Updates on tools of year1
Adv molecular analysis
Genotypic data Mgnt system
Marker–trait associations
Tools for MTA
Trainees community
YEAR 3
Updates on tools of year1s&2
Configurable workflow
Genetic diversity analysis
Association mapping
Partner specific projects
Trainees community
WUR team, DM CoP &
other technical trainers
Specific training:
Local level
Specific Language
Different level:
Technicians
Integrated Breeding Multiyear Course (IB–MYC)
ESA WCA SSEA

29. IB–MYC trainees 2012-2014
170 breeders; 10 crops; 31 countries

30. Dissemination of Knowledge using IBP
 Self-contained manual and tutorials for IBP tools
 Tutorial to be embedded in the tools, each step linked to video, related e-
learning material, quizzes, case studies
 Access to relevant learning material:
 Support material in an e-learning format (customisable depending on the
audience (http://passel.unl.edu/communities/ibp)
 Interaction with Universities
 Curriculum for breeders (ISU) with BMS as the means of implementation
 African Plant Breeding Academy, UC-Davis, ACCI, WACCI, etc.
 One-stop user access to:
 Tools and services to put knowledge into practice
 Social networks of peers (question–answer, advice forum)
Integrated approach: learning as you go

31. Lessons Learnt

32. Challenges:
 Most of the breeders in the developing world capture their data
by hand and store them in hard copy (book)
 In general, protective and proprietary attitude prevents data
sharing
 Not a top priority, no clear resource allocation, data still in the
hands of individual scientists
One of the major challenges in collaborative efforts
Implementation:
 Clear DM policy in place at the institutional level
 Quality and documentation improved thanks to:
 Adoption of new data capture tools with predefined templates
 Proper budget allocation including support staff
 Part of the staff evaluation process
 Donor requirement beforehand
Quality control must start at the scientist level
Data Management (A Key Technical Hitch)

33. Capacity Building
 CB conducted in isolation from research is of little value
 There is a need to optimise and maximise CB in developing
countries through better coordination of on-going efforts!
 Today the relevance of CB on technology per se, and even
“mechanical” data analysis, is decreasing – outsourcing to
specialist service providers
 Rather, CB should focus on strategic approaches, adoption of
good practice, data interpretation and problem-solving
 The learning-by-doing concept appears to be a promising and
sustainable approach for professional development
 Brain-drain is reduced if scientists can conduct exciting
research and be a part of international efforts
 The community-networking element is also key to retain
skilled people

34. Trainees are Tomorrow’s Partners
 Training not only about knowledge per se!
 It promotes the development of a true CoP, with a strong
team spirit: after 3 courses of 2 weeks each, they know each
other well!
 Establish the basis for sustainable adoption of the technology
 Trainees become:
 Trainers (knowledge dissemination)
 Mentors (helping others)
 Champions (testimony)
 Ambassadors (promotion)
Needs to be adjusted to crop cycle, every six months?
IB–MYC is a good model for
implementation at the regional level

35. IBP Deployment: Lessons Learnt
 Do not rely on upper management alone, top-down directives
rarely work (in the public sector )
 Engage at the breeder level and support and mentor
enthusiastic breeders (champions)
 Funding alone is not sufficient incentive
 GSS and fingerprinting experience during IBP Phase 1
 But, resource allocation to support adoption in a sustainable
way is a clear “must have”
 An holistic approach is essential during the needs assessment
 GCP experience has demonstrated the necessity for a range of
complementary activities and investments beyond the BMS

36.  Most people are reluctant or resistant to change, even where
there are clear and demonstrable benefits from making a change
 Most changes can be implemented only by:
 Strong bottom-up demand
 Strong and clear support from upper management
 Need to be ready to:
 Change the way you do business
 Dedicate time to learn new things
 Share results/methods in an open manner
 Adopt a corporate and some times entrepreneurial spirit
 Enforcement and implementation
 Big difference between the private and public sectors
 Need to nurture a culture of change
To Change People’s Behavior:
A (THE) Major Challenge!

37. Keep in mind that:
 In developing countries you breed mainly for resilience, not
genetic gain per se (less loss, not larger gains)
 Very diverse target environments
 Grain yield not the only driver for staple crops
So:
 No car if a bicycle will do the job!
 What works in developed countries, might not be most suitable in
developing countries
 Reduced breeding history
 G x E, germplasm structure, abiotic stresses, additivity vs dominance, etc
 Be careful not to be technology driven
Give Breeders What they Need!
Not what we believe will be good for them 

38. Genomics: Thanks to new sequencing
technologies the crop genome is unveiled
today! Now what do we do with that?

39. Conclusions and
Perspectives

40.  Access to suitable tools and analytical pipeline is not a key limitation
anymore
 Technology development is without doubt the easier part of the
equation
 More focus and effort on sustainable deployment and adoption of
modern approaches
 But in the right context!!!!
 Modernisation of plant breeding programs is a change management
process; it is not simply a matter of introducing a new technology and
tools and expecting institutions to embrace change
Modern Breeding in developing countries:
Can it work ? (I)
One size doesn’t fit all!

41. Time is right (and ripe!) to make a change:
 Capacity in most target countries is increasing significantly
 Human capacity: fast progress
 Infrastructure: can be improved, but we are getting there….
 Increasing Investments
 Major public investments, more direct support to NARS
 But, to be a grantee, need base level capacity
 Increasing interest from “Big Brother” in the private sector
 Development and effective international partnership
 Growing interest and effort in translational research
 Solid international networking (e.g. CRPs, Gates’ Initiatives, GCP)
 More presence of regional organizations (e.g. CORAF)
 Promotion of data access and exchange of information (Open access
policy adopted and implemented)
So YES, it can work!
Modern Breeding in developing countries:
Can it work ? (II)

42. Thank you! Thank you!