The business of plant breeding

16th January 2018
by secretary

Paepard

12 January 2018. The Business of Plant Breeding is the result of a study on demand-led plant variety design for markets in Africa, sharing the best practices from private and public sector breeding programmes worldwide that are applicable to improving tropical crops in Africa.

Beginning with an overview of the principles of demand-led plant breeding, the book then discusses aspects such as understanding the demands of clients and markets in rural and urban areas, foresight in setting product profiles and breeding targets, and determining breeding strategy and stage plans. It also covers measuring success and making the business case for future investments in breeding programmes that will deliver new varieties to meet market demands.

The book (i) brings together the experience of plant breeders around the world, representing universities, national plant breeding programmes, regional and international agricultural research institutes, and private seed companies, showcasing how to respond to changing market demands, (ii) provides educational resource materials within each chapter, (iii) includes templates for use as planning tools by plant breeding programs for determining priority traits that meet market demands.

An important read for professionals and students of plant breeding and genetics, this book is also a useful resource for anyone interested in developing and disseminating new, market-led technologies to increase productivity and profitability in tropical agriculture.

Content
The book covers a set of 7 intricate topics:

Principles of Demand-led Plant Variety Design
Visioning and Foresight for Setting Breeding Goals
Understanding Clients’ Needs
New Variety Design and Product Profiling
Variety Development Strategy and Stage Plan
Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning
The Business Case for Investment in New Variety Development

The book was launched during the workshop with breeders on demand led plant variety design for emerging markets in Africa between 11 and 13 December 2017 in Nairobi, Kenya.

Related:

15-19 January 2018. Kumasi, Ghana. Alliance takes steps to boost bean production.

A four-day conference to find radical ways of doing things to substantially increase bean production in sub-Saharan Africa was organized by the West and Central Africa Bean Network Steering Committee of the Pan-African Bean Research Alliance (PABRA) and the goal was to engage key stakeholders to help address the production constraints.

The meeting organized jointly with the Crop Research Institute (CRI) of the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), has brought together agricultural researchers and scientists from Ghana, Togo, Nigeria, Burkina Faso, Mali, Congo, Cameroun, Central African Republic, Senegal and Guinea.

Dr. Buruchara – the PABRA Director, explained that the approach was expected to link all stakeholders along the value chain, stimulate financial opportunities and improve access to market information to enable farmers to make informed decisions about when and where to sell and compare the prices on offer.

Source: PAEPARD FEED

The business of plant breeding

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