W W W .Rtb.Cgiar.Org

Total Page:16

File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb

W W W .Rtb.Cgiar.Org RESEARCH PROGRAM ON Roots, Tubers and Roots, Tubers Bananas for Food and Bananas Security and Income Hundreds of millions of people depend on root, tuber and banana crops for food and income, particularly in the least developed regions of Africa, Asia and the Americas. The CGIAR Research Program on Roots, Tubers and Bananas (RTB) is working globally to harness the untapped potential of those crops in order to improve the food security, nutrition and livelihoods of some of the world’s poorest families. Why Roots, Tubers, and Bananas? RTB crops – cassava, potatoes, sweet- potatoes, yams, bananas, plantains and tropical and Andean roots and tubers such as aroids, maca or ahipa – are some of the most important crops in the world’s poorest regions. They provide between 14% and 60% of the daily per capita calories consumed by the more than 840 million people living in the least developed countries. They can be grown relatively quickly with few inputs, they tolerate marginal soils or conditions, they produce plenty of calories per hectare, and some are rich in key nutrients, all of which gives them significant potential for improving food www.rtb.cgiar.org security and nutrition. They are also important cash crops that can be used to increase family incomes, and they are frequently grown or marketed by women. At the same time, they present common challenges for farmers, since they are propagated clonally (rather than with seeds) favoring a build-up of yield reducing pathogens and requiring storage of bulky and perishable planting material. Who are we? RTB is a collaboration of five research centers with decades of experience in these crops on different continents, including four CGIAR research centers - the International Potato Center (CIP), which leads the research program, Bioversity International, the International Center for Tropical Agriculture (CIAT), the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA) - and the French Agricultural Research Centre for International Development (Cirad), which also represents INRA, IRD and Vitropic. The four CGIAR research centers joined forces in 2011 and launched RTB in 2012, whereas Cirad joined in 2013. These five centers have come together to address common issues, mobilize complementary expertise and resources, avoid duplication of efforts, and create synergies to increase the benefits of their research for smallholder farmers, consumers, and anyone else involved in the value chains for these crops. S. Quinn, CIP The RTB strategy organizes research around seven themes: • Theme 1: Unlocking the value and use potential of genetic resources S. de Haan, CIP D. Dufour, CIAT • Theme 2: Accelerating the development and selection of cultivars with higher, more stable yield and added value What are we doing differently? • Theme 3: Managing priority pests and diseases RTB is changing the way the research centers work and collaborate, creating a more cohesive approach to common challenges and goals through knowledge sharing, • Theme 4: Making available low-cost, multidirectional communications, communities of practice and crosscutting initiatives. high-quality planting material for Participating centers work with an array of national and international institutions, non- farmers governmental organizations and stakeholders’ groups, and RTB aims to promote greater • Theme 5: Developing tools for more cooperation among them while strengthening their capacities as key players. Because productive, ecologically robust cropping the impact of RTB research is highly dependent on its adoption by next users and end systems users, it must be informed by their needs and preferences. RTB has consequently opened channels for stakeholder input and feedback on research options. • Theme 6: Promoting postharvest technologies, value chains and market Because women are widely involved in the growing and marketing of RTB crops, face a opportunities different set of constraints than men, and have traditionally been the last to benefit from agricultural research and extension, RTB is working to improve gender responsiveness • Theme 7: Enhancing impact through among the participating centers and their partners. partnerships To improve research performance, en- Harnessing the potential of RTB crops hance progress towards outcomes and increase value for money through Despite the challenge of getting such evidence-based impact, RTB is adopting a global collaboration operational, RTB a results-based management model. made significant progress on various fronts This will be implemented through a set during its first two years: of user-oriented flagships, such as the • Stakeholder input: The program began orange-fleshed sweetpotato, and linked with a participatory process for assessing research products to enable uptake. These RTB research priorities using online sur- bring together work in different themes to veys in five languages, which received achieve outcomes. input from more than 1,600 crop experts and other stakeholders around the world. • Online crop atlas: In conjunction with the priority assessment, the centers collaborated on the creation of an online, Bioversity International open-access GIS platform called RTBMaps, which allows users to visualize issues such as crop production, constraints and social indicators. • Conserving genetic diversity: RTB supports several initiatives to strengthen the conservation of crop germplasm, including in-situ (on site). • Using genetic and metabolite data for breeding: The program has launched an ambitious effort to collect, analyze and associate genetic, metabolite and phenotypic data from the main RTB crops and use the results to accelerate the development of improved varieties. • Addressing seed degeneration: RTB is supporting an international, cross-crop initiative A broad alliance of research-for-development to reduce seed degeneration (transmission of crop diseases via planting material) that stakeholders & partners involves the research centers and several universities. • Priority pests and diseases: RTB is supporting various efforts to improve the management of crop pests and diseases, among them a global alliance to control [email protected] @rtb_cgiar banana bunchy top disease in Africa, a cross-crop research initiative on bacterial diseases, and a cross-center project to model how climate change may affect various www.facebook.com/rtbcgiar pests and diseases. • Network mapping: RTB has analyzed its research networks and mapped a baseline of collaboration among 578 researchers at 315 organizations, which will be used to monitor the evolution of RTB partnerships in the future. • Mainstreaming gender: In order to ensure that its research benefits women and men alike, RTB is integrating gender responsiveness into all areas. .
Recommended publications
  • Networking Banana and Plantain
    Networking Banana and Plantain Annual Report 2000 The mission of the International Network for the Improvement of Banana and Plantain is to sustainably increase the productivity of banana and plantain grown on smallholdings for domestic consumption and for local and export markets. The Programme has four specific objectives: • To organize and coordinate a global research effort on banana and plantain, aimed at the development, evaluation and dissemination of improved cultivars and at the conservation and use of Musa diversity • To promote and strengthen collaboration and partnerships in banana-related research activities at the national, regional and global levels • To strengthen the ability of NARS to conduct research and development activities on bananas and plantains • To coordinate, facilitate and support the production, collection and exchange of information and documentation related to banana and plantain. INIBAP is a programme of the International Plant Genetic Resources Institute (IPGRI), a Future Harvest Centre. The International Plant Genetic Resources Institute is an autonomous international scientific organization, supported by the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR). IPGRI’s mandate is to advance the conservation and use of genetic diversity for the well-being of present and future generations. IPGRI’s headquarters is based in Rome, Italy, with offices in another 19 countries worldwide. It operates through three programmes: (1) the Plant Genetic Resources Programme, (2) the CGIAR Genetic Resources
    [Show full text]
  • Descriptors for Baobab (Adansonia Digitata L.)
    afrika focus — Volume 28, Nr. 1, 2015 — pp. 125-126 Descriptors for Baobab (Adansonia digitata L.) Kehlenbeck K.S. Padulosi, A. Alercia Bioversity International, World Agroforestry Centre Italy, Kenya, 2015 Bioversity International belongs to the so-called CG centre group. The latter, in full the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (though no longer known under their full name), consists of some fifteen research centres that are members of the CGIAR Consortium. Each centre has a global mandate to study, improve and promote (sub)tropical crops and animal production. Research is carried out in close collaboration with hundreds of partners, including national and regional research institutes, civil soci- ety organizations, academia, development organizations and the private sector. CGIAR´s collaborative research is dedicated to reducing rural poverty, increasing food security, improving human health and nutrition, and ensuring the sustainable man- agement of natural resources. The 15 Research Centres generate and disseminate knowledge, technologies, and policies for agricultural development through the CGIAR Research Programs. The CGIAR Fund provides reliable and predictable multi-year funding to enable research planning over the long term, resource allocation based on agreed priorities, and the timely and predictable disbursement of funds. A multi-donor trust fund finances research carried out by the Centres through the CGIAR Research Programs. In all, some 10,000 scientists and staff, top-notch research infrastructure and dy- namic networks try to deliver adequate solutions to burning development questions. CGIAR’s collections of genetic resources are the most comprehensive in the world, al- lowing the system’s scientists to deliver on expectations, within their mandate.
    [Show full text]
  • Worldfish Style Guide
    Photo credit: <Name>/<Organization> credit: Photo WorldFish Style Guide Version 3 April 2020 Table of contents Contents Table of contents i Introduction 1 Editorial style 2 1. Abbreviations 2 1.1. Acronyms and initialisms 2 1.2. Abbreviations for “species” 2 1.3. American states 2 1.4. Chemical elements 2 1.5. Geographic terms 2 1.6. Latin phrases 3 1.7. Periods in abbreviations 3 1.8. Project and program titles 3 1.9. Repeating units 3 1.10. Tables and reference materials 3 1.11. Truncations 3 1.12. Units of measurement 3 2. Annex versus appendix 4 3. Avoiding discriminatory language 4 3.1. Nonsexist language 4 3.2. Nonracist language 4 3.3. Language and disabilities 4 3.4. Language and age 5 4. Branding 5 5. Capitals 5 5.1. Geographic terms 5 5.2. Government 5 5.3. Headings 5 5.4. Hyphenated compounds 5 5.5. Initial words 6 5.6. Internet 6 5.7. Project and program titles 6 5.8. Small capitals 6 5.9. Titles 6 5.10. Titles of publications 6 i 6. Compound words 6 7. Copyright 7 8. Cross-references 7 9. Dates and times 7 10. Figures and illustrations 8 10.1. Figure captions 8 10.2. Numbering figures 8 10.3. Photo captions 8 11. Endnotes 8 12. Format 9 12.1. Headings 9 12.2. Order of elements in a publication 9 12.3. Paragraphs 9 13. Front matter/Preliminaries 9 13.1. Acknowledgments 9 13.2. Contents 9 13.3. Page numbering 9 14.
    [Show full text]
  • Two Blades of Grass: the Role of Science in the Green Revolution Alan Mark Fletcher November 13 and 14, 2011
    Two Blades of Grass: The Role of Science in the Green Revolution Alan Mark Fletcher November 13 and 14, 2011 Alan Mark Fletcher ’50 worked for over fifty years as a science writer and editor at institutions including Cornell University, the University of Georgia, the International Rice Research Institute, and the International Service for National Agricultural Research. Whoever could make two ears of corn or two blades of grass grow upon a spot of ground where only one grew before, would deserve better of mankind, and do more service to his country, than the whole race of politicians put together. - Jonathan Swift, in Gulliver’s Travels n 1798 the English clergyman-philosopher Thomas Malthus published “An Essay on the Principle of I Population,” in which he argued that while the population of the world would increase geometrically, the food available would increase only arithmetically. Malthus postulated that human population growth, therefore, would eventually outstrip the agricultural capacity of the Earth. At some point, he predicted, natural forces like famine and disease would reduce the human population to a sustainable level. His hypothesis has yet to be proven on any large scale with humans, but biologists have seen the Malthusian principle turn out to be correct with other animals, and there is no reason to believe that his hypothesis does not apply to humans. Back in 1968, Stanford University ecologist Paul R. Ehrlich scared us to death when he published The Population Bomb, in which he maintained that the Malthusian principle was about to overtake us. His book began with this statement: “The battle to feed all of humanity is over.
    [Show full text]
  • Bioversity International’S Views on the Preparation, Scope and Content of the Post-2020 Global Biodiversity Framework
    Bioversity International’s views on the preparation, scope and content of the post-2020 global biodiversity framework Rome, 14 December 2018 Agricultural biodiversity or agrobiodiversity is a subset of biodiversity. Both wild biodiversity and agrobiodiversity provide multiple ecosystem services that support food production, underpin food security and human wellbeing. We consider that biodiversity conservation efforts in agricultural contexts should better integrate wild and agrobiodiversity approaches. There is potential to better integrate and align efforts and activities to achieve outcomes for both agricultural and wild biodiversity, yet most agricultural and wild conservation strategies continue to be pursued separately. Given that globally, 38% of land is now farmed, agricultural land management is increasingly important for wild biodiversity conservation. How agrobiodiversity generates ecosystem services • Crop provisioning; livestock provisioning • Nutritional and dietary diversity; increased number of functional traits leads to more resistant and resilient crops • Reduced need for pesticides due to agrobiodiversity-based pest and disease control; complex vegetation structure as filter of pollutants • Increased carbon sequestration through more continuous biomass; increased soil function and carbon sequestration; increased use of legumes reduces need for NPK use • Intercropping and interspecific crop diversity providing habitat and resources for natural enemies. Intraspecific diversity suppressing pests and diseases 1 Bioversity International is increasingly seen as the world’s leading agrobiodiversity research and innovation centre with expertise on conservation and use of agrobiodiversity, working towards healthy diets from sustainable food systems; productive and resilient farms, forests and landscape; and effective genetic resources conservation and use. Biological diversity is vitally important to agriculture, food and nutrition security, as well as to the integrity of the natural resources upon which 1 Attwood et al.
    [Show full text]
  • Introduction Assignment of GLIS Dois to PGRFA Hosted by CGIAR Center
    CGIAR Centers’ use of Digital Object Identifiers (DOIs): a submission to the Advisory Committee on the Global Information System Introduction This submission has been prepared in response to a request from the Secretary of the International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources (ITPGRFA), Dr Kent Nnadozie, to the eleven CGIAR Centers that signed Article 15 agreements with the Governing Body of the ITPGRFA. In his letter, the Secretary referred to a request from the Scientific Advisory Committee on the Global Information System (SAC-GLIS), to the Secretariat to: “gather information from GLIS users, including CGIAR Centers and other institutions managing crop germplasm repositories, on the current application of DOIs to crop germplasm in the Multilateral System of Access and Benefit-Sharing for which DSI/GSD are available in compatible information systems” He asked the Centers if they “could provide the Secretariat with information pertinent to the request of the SAC-GLIS”. In preparing this submission, the management team of the Policy Module of the CGIAR Genebank Platform conducted a survey among the eleven Article 15 Centers. All Centers responded to the questionnaire. The following sections provide a summary of their responses. It includes illustrative examples of Centers’ practices using DOIs to date. Assignment of GLIS DOIs to PGRFA hosted by CGIAR Centers’ Current status As of May 21, 2019, GLIS reported that 834,252 DOIs have been minted. Approximately 94% of those DOIs are for materials hosted by CGIAR Centers. CGIAR Centers made it a priority in 2018 to ‘mint’ DOIs for materials in the international collections that they host. The ITPGRFA Secretariat provided excellent technical support.
    [Show full text]
  • CIP Leads Initiative to Understand How Climate Change Affects Pests
    Page | 1 CIP Leads Initiative to Understand how Climate Change Affects Pests The Paris Agreement of December 2015 heralds a greater global effort to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and mitigate the effects of climate change, yet farmers around the world are already dealing with the consequences of a warming atmosphere. While more frequent droughts and floods are causing widespread crop damage, the greatest threat to farmers from global warming may be the growing abundance and expanding distribution of crop pests and diseases. “A crop pest that currently produces three or four generations per year may produce as many as six or seven generations per year once average temperatures rise by 2ºC—3ºC,” warned Jürgen Kroschel, Team Leader for Agroecology and Integrated Pest Management at the International Potato Center (CIP). Pests and diseases already pose major threats to the food security and livelihoods of smallholders in developing countries, yet there is a shortage of information about how much and where climate change will transform those 2015 Annual Report International Potato Center • Av. La Molina 1895, La Molina. Apartado 1558, Lima 12, Perú. • www.cipotato.org • [email protected] Content on this site is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Page | 2 threats. To help fill that knowledge gap, Kroschel is coordinating a CIP-led, multi- crop collaboration with several other international research centers and national programs to conduct research aiming at predicting how global warming will affect some of the most destructive crop pests and diseases in East Africa. The research project’s ultimate goal is to help local government agencies and the farmers they serve to better assess, prepare for, and confront the risk of crop pests and diseases as the climate changes.
    [Show full text]
  • Crop Trust Briefing
    Agenda Item 12 For Information Re-Issued: 08 May 2018 Future Funding of CGIAR Genebanks: Background Document-Revision 1 Purpose This revised paper sets out the long-term fundraising goal of the Crop Trust, the commitments made to the Genebank Platform to 2022 and the short-term challenges to meet the fundraising target of $500 million by 2022 in order to fund the Article 15 collections in perpetuity. Action requested The System Council is asked to consider this background information ahead of the Crop Trust’s presentation to the System Council’s 6th meeting on the topic “Future Funding of CGIAR Genebanks”. Document category: Working document of the System Council There is no restriction on the circulation of this document Prepared by: Crop Trust 6th CGIAR System Council Meeting Revision1-SC6-08 16-17 May 2018, Berlin, Germany Page 1 of 16 Future Funding of CGIAR Genebanks Background Document - System Council 17 May 2018 Meeting Prepared by the Global Crop Diversity Trust 7 May 2018 1. Purpose The purpose of this paper is to provide System Council Members with background information ahead of the Crop Trust’s presentation to Members on 17 May 2018 on the topic “Future Funding of CGIAR Genebanks”. This paper sets out the long term fundraising goal of the Crop Trust, the commitments made to the Genebank Platform to 2022 and the short-term challenges to meet the fundraising target of $500 million by 2022 in order to fund the Article 15 collections under the International Treaty of Plant Genetic Resource (ITPGR) in perpetuity. 2. Fundraising Targets The Crop Trust’s Strategic Workplan sets out a target of USD 850 million required in the endowment fund in order to fund the operation of a global portfolio of national and international collections for the ex-situ conservation of crop diversity.
    [Show full text]
  • (Oryza Spp.) List of Descriptors
    Descriptors for wild and cultivated Rice(Oryza spp.) List of Descriptors Allium (E,S) 2000 Peach * (E) 1985 Almond (revised) * (E) 1985 Pear * (E) 1983 Apple * (E) 1982 Pearl millet (E,F) 1993 Apricot * (E) 1984 Pepino (E) 2004 Avocado (E,S) 1995 Phaseolus acutifolius (E) 1985 Bambara groundnut (E,F) 2000 Phaseolus coccineus * (E) 1983 Banana (E,S,F) 1996 Phaseolus lunatus (P) 2001 Barley (E) 1994 Phaseolus vulgaris * (E,P) 1982 Beta (E) 1991 Pigeonpea (E) 1993 Black pepper (E,S) 1995 Pineapple (E) 1991 Brassica and Raphanus (E) 1990 Pistacia (excluding Pistacia vera) (E) 1998 Brassica campestris L. (E) 1987 Pistachio (E,F,A,R) 1997 Buckwheat (E) 1994 Plum * (E) 1985 Capsicum * (E,S) 1995 Potato variety * (E) 1985 Cardamom (E) 1994 Quinua * (S) 1981 Carrot (E,S,F) 1999 Rambutan (E) 2003 Cashew * (E) 1986 Rice * (E) 1980 Chenopodium pallidicaule (S) 2005 Rocket (E,I) 1999 Cherry * (E) 1985 Rye and Triticale * (E) 1985 Chickpea (E) 1993 Safflower * (E) 1983 Citrus (E,F,S) 1999 Sesame * (E) 2004 Coconut (E) 1992 Setaria italica and S. pumila (E) 1985 Coffee (E,S,F) 1996 Shea tree (E) 2006 Cotton * (Revised) (E) 1985 Sorghum (E,F) 1993 Cowpea * (E) 1983 Soyabean * (E,C) 1984 Cultivated potato * (E) 1977 Strawberry (E) 1986 Date palm (F) 2005 Sunflower * (E) 1985 Echinochloa millet * (E) 1983 Sweet potato (E,S,F) 1991 Eggplant (E,F) 1990 Taro (E,F,S) 1999 Faba bean * (E) 1985 Tea (E,S,F) 1997 Fig (E) 2003 Tomato (E, S, F) 1996 Finger millet * (E) 1985 Tropical fruit * (E) 1980 Forage grass * (E) 1985 Ulluco (S) 2003 Forage legumes * (E) 1984 Vigna aconitifolia and V.
    [Show full text]
  • Banana Root System: Towards a Better Understanding for Its Productive
    Banana Root System: towards a better understanding for its productive management Proceedings of an international symposium held in San José, Costa Rica, 3-5 November 2003 Sistema Radical del Banano: hacia un mejor conocimiento para su manejo productivo Memorias de un simposio internacional, San José, Costa Rica, 3-5 noviembre 2003 David W. Turner and Franklin E. Rosales, editors INIBAP – International Network for the Improvement of Banana and Plantain The mission of INIBAP is to sustainably increase the productivity of banana and plantain grown on smallholdings for domestic consumption and for local and export markets. The Programme has four specific objectives: • To organize and coordinate a global research effort on banana and plantain, aimed at the development, evaluation and dissemination of improved cultivars and at the conservation and use of Musa diversity • To promote and strengthen collaboration and partnerships in banana-related research activities at the national, regional and global levels • To strengthen the ability of NARS to conduct research and development activities on bananas and plantains • To coordinate, facilitate and support the production, collection and exchange of information and documentation related to banana and plantain. INIBAP is a network of the International Plant Genetic Resources Institute (IPGRI), a Future Harvest centre. MUSALAC – Banana and Plantain Research and Development Network for Latin America and the Caribbean MUSALAC was created under the umbrella of FORAGRO on 6 June 2000 in Cartagena de Indias, Colombia, following the signing of a Constitution Agreement. MUSALAC is composed of 15 national research and development institutions representing their respective country (Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Costa Rica, Cuba, Ecuador, Honduras, Jamaica, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama, Peru, Puerto Rico, Dominican Republic and Venezuela) and 4 regional/international institutions (CATIE, CIRAD, IICA and INIBAP).
    [Show full text]
  • Diversifying Food and Diets, Using Agricultural Biodiversity to Improve
    Diversifying Food and Diets Currently 868 million people are undernourished and 195 million children under five years of age are stunted. At the same time, over 1 billion people are overweight and obese in both the developed and developing world. Diseases previously associated with affluence, such as cancer, diabetes and cardio-vascular disease, are on the rise. Food system-based approaches to addressing these problems that could enhance food availability and diet quality through local production and agricultural biodiversity often fall outside the traditional scope of nutrition, and have been under-researched. As a consequence, there remains insufficient evidence to support well-defined, scalable agricultural biodiversity interventions that can be linked to improvements in nutrition outcomes. Agricultural biodiversity is important for food and nutritional security, as a safeguard against hunger, a source of nutrients for improved dietary diversity and quality, and strengthening local food systems and environmental sustainability. This book explores the current state of knowledge on the role of agricultural biodiversity in improving nutrition and food security. Using examples and case studies from around the globe, the book explores current strategies for improving nutrition and diets and identifies key research and implementation gaps that need to be addressed to successfully promote the better use of agricultural biodiversity for rural and urban populations, and societies in transition. Jessica Fanzo was formerly a Senior Scientist with Bioversity International and is now an Associate Professor of Nutrition at Columbia University in New York. Danny Hunter is the Global Project Coordinator at Bioversity International for the UNEP/FAO/GEF project ‘Mainstreaming biodiversity conservation and sustainable use for improved human nutrition and wellbeing’ and Adjunct Associate Professor, School of Agriculture and Wine Sciences, Charles Sturt University, Australia.
    [Show full text]
  • Genebank Innovator
    c r o p t r u s t A N N U A L R E P O R T 2 0 1 3 When we lose crop diversity we lose options for the future. Marie Haga Executive Director, Crop Trust Published in The Hindu, Nov. 2013 “Plant genetic material is one of the most valuable resources on earth. Far too little understood – far too little discussed. In the next 10 years, we need to feed 1 billion more people.” Marie Haga, Crop Trust Executive Director Letter from the Chair of the Executive Board Letter from the Executive Director The Crop Trust at a Glance 2004 - 2013 Timeline The Global System CGIAR Research Program (CRP) for Managing and Sustaining Crop Collections Information Systems The Vault Crop Wild Relatives A Brief Look Back: The Global System Project The Crop Trust Now Governance Future Directions Our Supporters Crop Trust Call to Action Financial Statements Crop Trust Highlights There’s a special kind of change that doesn’t feel like change – when an organization grows to meet the vision with which it began. Walter Fust Executive Board Chair, Crop Trust here’s a special kind of change that doesn’t feel challenges facing crop diversity conservation like change – when an organization grows and use have not become any easier – much the to meet the vision with which it began. This has opposite! – but the Crop Trust has learned, and been the feeling shared by all of us on the Board grown, and gained the momentum it needs to of the Crop Trust this year.
    [Show full text]