1.2 Detalles de contacto de las personas de referencia e instituciones involucradas en la evaluación y la documentación del Enfoque

Nombre del proyecto que facilitó la documentación/ evaluación del Enfoque (si fuera relevante)

ICARDA Institutional Knowledge Management Initiative

Nombre de la(s) institución(es) que facilitaron la documentación/ evaluación del Enfoque si fuera relevante)

International Center for Agricultural Research in the Dry Areas (ICARDA) - Líbano

1.3 Condiciones referidas al uso de datos documentados mediante WOCAT

¿Cuándo se compilaron los datos (en el campo)?

2022

El compilador y la/s persona(s) de referencia claves aceptan las condiciones acerca del uso de los datos documentados mediante WOCAT :

Sí

2.1 Breve descripción del Enfoque

Improving crop varieties is crucial for food security and climate resilience, but traditional methods are slow and expensive. The Speed Breeding Platform shortens breeding time substantially, enhances quality, and relies on strong partnerships between NARES and CGIAR centers.

2.2 Descripción detallada del Enfoque MST

Descripción detallada del Enfoque MST:

Climate change presents significant challenges for agriculture and crop production. One possible solution to enhance climate resilience is the development and adoption of improved, better adapted crop varieties. These varieties are specifically engineered to withstand specific threats, offering farmers a more reliable means of ensuring successful harvests despite the challenges posed by a changing climate. Improved varieties are thus crucial for achieving food security.
However, a major limitation of this solution is that researching and producing new crop varieties is a complex process that demands considerable time and resources. It involves cross design, segregating generation advancement and rigorous field testing to identify traits. The development of new varieties often spans several years, if not decades, before they are ready for widespread adoption by farmers. Sustained investment and collaboration across scientific organizations are thus crucial.

To accelerate the development of improved crop varieties, the International Center of Agricultural Research in Dry Areas (ICARDA), together with partners is implementing Speed Breeding as its main generation advancement method. Through the support of the Arab Fund for Economic and Social development (AFESD), the Templeton World Charity Foundation, Inc and the Crop Trust, protocols to accelerate the generation advancement of the main crops (wheat, barley, faba bean, lentil, grasspea and chickpea) have been developed and are available to NARES. ICARDA has also established the Speed Breeding Platform in Rabat, Morocco. Covering approximately 500 square meters, this facility comprises four buildings, including two greenhouses of 175 m2 and 185 m2 respectively, each housing five independently controlled growth chamber.i

The Speed Breeding method utilises LED lighting - originally invented by NASA to sustain astronauts during prolonged space missions to compensate for the absence of sunlight in space. By providing plants with approximately 22 hours of light per day, this accelerates their growth significantly. Cultivating crops in a controlled environment shields them from the unpredictable impacts of adverse weather conditions. The major advantage is thus its ability to accelerate the breeding process for improved crop varieties. For instance, while traditional methods may take between 6 and 12 years to breed a new grass pea (Lathyrus sativus) variety, utilizing the Speed Breeding Platform reduces this timeframe to approximately 5 years. The Speed Breeding Platform thus enhances efficiency and responsiveness in addressing agricultural challenges.

The Speed Breeding Platform has a capacity for advancing over 50,000 cereal and legume plants. This is done in close collaborations with fellow scientists from other CGIAR centers and National Agricultural Research and Extensions Services (NARES) centers. NARES centers play an indispensable role in determining the traits and varieties to prioritize for advancement, using their direct engagement with farmers in field settings to assess their specific needs and challenges. The main advantages are:
- Varieties reach farmers faster by reducing the time from crossing to field testing;
- Testing during advancement increases the resilience of new varieties to pests and diseases i.e., higher quality of improved varieties;
- It can help coordinating breeding action between CGIAR and NARES by co-designing crosses and centralizing advancement i.e., higher resource efficiency.

The main disadvantage is the high costs associated with building and operating the facilities of the Platform. In addition, it requires expertise to operate. However, NARES personnel are currently being trained and educated in breeding and using the Speed Breeding Platform.

In conclusion, while improved crop varieties hold immense potential for climate resilience in agriculture and ensuring food security, their development remains a complex, time-consuming and resource-intensive process. The approach of the Speed Breeding Platform represents a promising step forward, by faster and more efficient crop breeding, facilitating a prompter solution.

Acknowledgement: the pilot facilities used to set up the ICARDA Speed Breeding Platform were funded by a project from the Third Call for Proposals under the Benefit-sharing Fund of the International Plant Treat for Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture entitled “Addressing the challenges of climate change for sustainable food security in Turkey, Iran and Morocco, through the creation and dissemination of an international database to promote the use of wheat genetic resources and increase genetic gains.” CFP 2014/2015-W3B-PR-18-Turkey. The final facilities were funded by a project from the Arab Fund for Economic and Social Development (AFESD) entitled “Modernization of ICARDA Breeding Programs".

2.3 Fotos del Enfoque

2.5 País/ región/ lugares donde el Enfoque fue aplicado

2.6 Fechas de inicio y conclusión del Enfoque

2.7 Tipo de Enfoque

• proyecto/ basado en un programa

2.8 Propósitos/ objetivos principales del Enfoque

The objective of the new Speed Breeding Platform is to provide the tools to CGIAR and NARES breeding programs to develop better varieties faster and shorten the time needed to reach farmer’s fields. The access to this technology also helps responding to new threats hindering productivity in a faster and more effective way.

2.9 Condiciones que facilitan o impiden la implementación de la/s Tecnología/s aplicadas bajo el Enfoque

3.1 Partes interesadas involucradas en el Enfoque y sus roles

3.2 Involucramiento de los usuarios locales de tierras/ comunidades locales en las distintas fases del Enfoque

	Involucramiento de los usuarios locales de tierras/ comunidades locales	Especifique quién se involucró y describa las actividades
iniciación/ motivación	pasivo
planificación	pasivo
implementación	pasivo
monitoreo y evaluación	pasivo

3.3 Flujograma (si estuviera disponible)

3.4 La toma de decisiones en la selección de Tecnología(s) MST

Especifique quién decidió la selección de las Tecnología/ Tecnologías a implementarse:

• solo por especialistas MST

Especifique las bases que sustentaron la toma de decisiones:

• hallazgos de investigaciones

4.1 Construcción de capacidades / capacitación

¿Se proporcionó la capacitación a usuarios de tierras/ otras partes interesadas?

Sí

• Researchers and breeders

Forma de capacitación:

• en el contexto de trabajo
• cursos

Temas avanzados:

Breeding

4.2 Servicio de asesoría

¿Los usuarios de tierras tienen acceso a un servicio de asesoría?

Sí

Especifique si servicio proporcionado se realizó:

• en los campos de los usuarios de tierras
• en centros permanentes

4.3 Fortalecimiento institucional (desarrollo institucional)

¿Se establecieron o fortalecieron instituciones mediante el Enfoque?

• sí, un poco

Especifique el nivel o los niveles en los que se fortalecieron o establecieron las instituciones:

• nacional

Especifique el tipo de apoyo:

• construcción de capacidades/ entrenamiento

Proporcione detalles adicionales:

National scientists are trained in breeding and using the Speed Breeding Platform

4.4 Monitoreo y evaluación

¿El monitoreo y la evaluación forman parte del Enfoque?

No

4.5 Investigación

¿La investigación formó parte del Enfoque?

Sí

• Genetics / Breeding

Proporcione detalles adicionales e indique quién hizo la investigación:

Research in breeding is done by ICARDA, CGIAR centers and NARES centers

5.1 Presupuesto anual para el componente MST del Enfoque

Si no se conoce el presupuesto anual preciso, indique el rango:

• 100,000-1,000,000

Comentarios (ej. fuentes principales de financiamiento/ donantes principales):

The main donors were the Benefit Sharing Fund of the ITPGR (FAO) that provided the funding that resulted in the first Speed Breeding pilot facility with capacity for 3,000 plants and the Arab Fund for Economic and Social Development (AFESD) who provided the funds for the expansion of this initial pilot facility and develop the ICARDA Speed Breeding Platform, a fully automatic facility that allows advancing more than 50,000 cereal and legume plants

5.2 Apoyo financiero/material proporcionado a los usuarios de tierras

¿Los usuarios de tierras recibieron financiamiento/ apoyo material para implementar la Tecnología/ Tecnologías? :

No

5.3 Subsidios para insumos específicos (incluyendo mano de obra)

• ninguno

5.4 Crédito

¿Se proporcionó crédito bajo el Enfoque para actividades MST?

No

5.5 Otros incentivos o instrumentos

¿Se usaron otros incentivos o instrumentos para promover la implementación de Tecnologías MST?

No

6.1 Impactos del Enfoque

6.2 Motivación principal del usuario de la tierra para implementar MST

6.3 Sostenibilidad de las actividades del Enfoque

¿Pueden los usuarios de tierras sostener lo que se implementó mediante el Enfoque (sin apoyo externo)?

• incierto

6.4 Fortalezas/ ventajas del Enfoque

Fuerzas/ ventajas/ oportunidades desde la perspectiva del usuario de la tierra
Varieties reach farmers faster by reducing the time from crossing to field testing
Allows testing during advancement increasing the resilience of new varieties to pests and diseases
Can help coordinating breeding action between CGIAR and NARES by co-designing crosses and centralizing advancement

6.5 Debilidades/ desventajas del Enfoque y formas de sobreponerse a ellos

Debilidades/ desventajas/ riesgos desde la perspectiva del usuario de la tierra	¿Cómo sobreponerse a ellas?
Relatively high initial investment to develop the facilities	ICARDA platform is open to NARES and other collaborators hence costs can be shared.
Expertise is needed to achieve results	Code of conducts and protocols of the facilities has been published and trainings of NARES staff are being done.

7.1 Métodos/ fuentes de información

7.3 Vínculos a la información relevante disponible en línea

Título/ descripción:

ICARDA Cereals and Legumes Speed Breeding Platform.

URL:

https://mel.cgiar.org/reporting/downloadmelspace/hash/186eb1d94780ca956e9b86227305761a/v/7ec567b72097f21057ea41b0124cf1a7

Título/ descripción:

Laura Becker, Enrico Bonaiuti, Miguel Sanchez-Garcia, Zakaria Kehel, Andrea Visioni, Ajit Govind. (1/12/2020). Monitoring, Evaluation, and Learning Plan for Modernization of Crop Breeding Programs in Arab Countries.

URL:

https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11766/12212

Título/ descripción:

Miguel Sanchez-Garcia, Zewdie Bishaw, Abdoul Aziz Niane. (31/12/2021). 2022 ICARDA global barley breeding program International Nurseries. Beirut, Lebanon: International Center for Agricultural Research in the Dry Areas (ICARDA).

URL:

https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11766/66860

Título/ descripción:

Samira El-Hanafi, Souad Cherkaoui, Zakaria Kehel, Miguel Sanchez-Garcia, Jean-Benoit Sarazin, P. Stephen Baenziger, Wuletaw Tadesse. (14/2/2022). Hybrid Seed Set in Relation with Male Floral Traits, Estimation of Heterosis and Combining Abilities for Yield and Its Components in Wheat (Triticum aestivum L. ). Plants, 11 (4).

URL:

https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11766/67050