11-14 February 2019. Jodhpur, India. The 13th International Conference on Dryland Development Presentation by M Bassi, M. Baum:

1. International Center for Agricultural Research in the Dry Areas
icarda.org cgiar.org
A CGIAR Research Center
How to set priorities and capture
market/farmers' needs
FM Bassi, M. Baum

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Varieties not in farmers fields
Variety Name Release date Farmers (%)
Average Yield (kg/ha)
Irrigated
(w=17%)
Rainfed
(w=83%)
Karim 1985 19.2 3,559 838
Achtar 1988 18.9 4,024 987
Marchouch 1984 14.1 3,725 893
Marzak 1984 11.4 3,684 728
Amal 1993 9.8 4,026 988
Radia 2005 6.3 5,058 1,113
Arrehane 1996 3.6 4,015 988
Saidi (saada) 1988 3.1 3,800 781
Carioca 2005 2.4 5,092 940
• Even superior varieties fail to be picked up by farmers due to issues in the seed system
• It is a combined issue of slow production of G3 seeds, royalties, extension, and
monopoly

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Setting priorities: survey with 32 respondents
importance
1. Yield potential (G)
2. Drought tolerance
3. Yield stability (GxE)
4. TKW
5. Leaf Rust
6. Heat tolerance
7. Stem Rust
8. Yellow pigment
9. Gluten strength
10. Yellow Rust

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Setting priorities: product profiles v1.0
• Since 2016 (IDYT40th) two major product profiles aligned with ICARDA’s strategy:
• Food security: disease resistances, stability, and large grains for village markets
• Poverty alleviation: top industrial quality, yield potential and drought tolerance, but do not
have a strong disease package.

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What “we” understand of a product line
CGIAR breeder set goals
Works with colleagues to
develop a variety that fits
Provides it to national partners
for selection
Release
Push it on the market through
farmers demo
Seed companies commercialize
it
Industry tries to adapt to its
use
Feedback
Feedback
• It relies on the ability of the breeder to set the right
goals
• It relies on the ability of the users to provide feedback to
the breeders
• This worked ok for the first 40-60 years, but it has
encountered some issues recently
• Of course: breeders' decisions are not the only issue in
the system
• We asked the question: do breeders and farmers goals
align?

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What “we” should understand of a product line
CGIAR breeder work with
partners to deliver
Work with
colleagues to
develop a
variety that fits
National breeders capture all
inputs and defines a product
line
Release
Farmers survey as “new”
participatory approach
Seed companies express
preferences
Industry provides preferences
• It avoids waste of energy
• It ensures all goals are met
• Selection indexes can be applied in an objective manner
Pathologists, entomologists, genetic resources, pre-
breeders, biotech, agronomy, quality experts, …

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Setting priorities: Product Profiles (PP) v2.0
• Capture more complexity: food uses, phenologies, farm type, and combinations of traits
• In January 2019, we held the first EiB Product profile meeting
• Poverty reduction: prioritize PP on large extension with potential of sellable harvest
• Food security: prioritize PP on small extension with many families