Global Partnership Initiative for Plant Breeding Capacity Building

The Global Partnership Initiative for Plant Breeding Capacity Building (GIPB) is a "multi-party initiative of knowledge institutions around the world that have a track record in supporting agricultural research and development, working in partnership with country programmes committed to developing stronger and effective plant breeding capacity."

The Global Partnership Initiative for Plant Breeding Capacity Building (GIPB) stems in part from the International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture,. It seeks to "improve the balance between the support to conservation of plant genetic resources for food and agriculture (PGRFA)" in order to "meet producer and consumer needs, to address food security and livelihood concerns and to contribute to the Millennium Development Goals." It seeks to increase the capacity of developing countries in plant breeding, including biotechnology. This includes training more plant breeders and "the development of an integrated set of capabilities and support systems that would build and sustain effective national and regional plant breeding capacities."

Grantees
Grants announced in May 2009 include:
 * Morpho-physiological characterization of Burkina Faso rice collection for drought and iron toxicity tolerance, Institut National de l’Environnement et de la Recherche Agronomique (INERA), Burkina Faso
 * Improvement of rice varieties/breeding lines for low water availability in South and Southeast Asia, School of Environmental and Natural Resource Sciences, Faculty of Science and Technology, Universiti Kebangsaan, Malaysia
 * Broadening the genetic base of potato for the tropics, in preparation for climate change, International Potato Center (CIP), Peru
 * Recurrent and genome-wide selection for enhancing yield in rice, Philippine Rice Research Institute, The Philippines
 * Evaluation of activation of endogenous banana streak virus sequences in Musa germplasm from Southeast Asia and the Pacific, Institute of Plant Breeding – Crop Science Cluster, College of Agriculture, University of the Philippines Los Baños, The Philippines
 * Improvement of African maize germplasm by introgressing temperate genes to enhance nutritional quality and adaptability to climate change, African Centre for Crop Improvement, University of Kwazulu-Natal, Republic of South Africa

Key Partners

 * Global Crop Diversity Trust
 * The International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture
 * Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research

Stakeholders
"The GIPB encourages broad multi-stakeholder engagement from a wide diversity of organizations, such as:"


 * National Bodies: Plant breeding programs in each country.
 * Corporate and business sector
 * Foundations

Regional Organizations and Networks:
 * Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA)
 * Asia Pacific Association of Agricultural Research Institutions (APAARI)
 * Central Asia and the Caucasus Association of Agricultural Research Institutions (CACAARI)
 * The Association of Agricultural Research Institutions in the Near East and North Africa (AARINENA)
 * The Cucurbit Genetics Cooperative (CGC)
 * European Forum on Agricultural Research and Development (EFARD)
 * Forum for Agricultural Research in Africa (FARA)
 * International Network for Genetic Evaluation of Rice (INGER)
 * International Rice Research Institute (IRRI)
 * Africa Rice Center (WARDA)
 * Centro International de Agricultura Tropical (CIAT)
 * The Grapebreeders
 * International Centre for Plant Breeding Education and Research (ICPBER)
 * The Latin American Fund for Irrigated Rice (el Fondo Latinoamericano para Arroz de Riego - FLAR)
 * North American Regional Forum on Agricultural Research (NAFAR)
 * Part of the Global Forum on Agricultural Research (GFAR)
 * Regional Forum on Agricultural Research and Technology Development (FORAGRO)
 * Red Iberoamericana de Innovación en Mejoramiento y Diseminación de la Papa (RED LATINPAPA)
 * West Africa Centre for Crop Improvement (WACCI)

Societies and Associations:
 * Seed Savers Exchange (SSE)
 * Asociación nacional de obtentores vegetales (España) - Anove
 * German Plant Breeders' Association - BDP
 * Rose Hybridizers Association - RHA
 * Plant Breeding and Genetics Society of Bangladesh (PBGSB)
 * Iranian Agricultural Research, Education and Extension Organization (AREEO)
 * Centre Français du Riz (CFR)
 * Cámara Uruguaya de Semillas (CUS)
 * British Society of Plant Breeders Ltd. (BSPB)
 * Mexican Society for Plant Breeding (Sociedad Mexicana de Fitogenética) - SOMEFI
 * New Zealand Plant Breeding & Research Association Inc. (NZPBRA)
 * Brazilian Society of Plant Breeding (Sociedade Brasileira de Melhoramento de Plantas) (SBMP)
 * American Society for Horticultural Science (ASHS)
 * Society for the Advancement of Breeding Research in Asia and Oceania (SABRAO)
 * Crop Science Society of America (CSSA)
 * Colombian Association for Plant Breeding and Crop Production (Asociación Colombiana de Fitomejoramiento y Producción de Cultivos)
 * Association for Plant Breeding (Gesellschaft für Pflanzenzüchtung e.V.) - GPZ
 * European Association for Research on Plant Breeding (EUCARPIA)

Global Organizations and Networks:
 * The World Information and Early Warning System of Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture (WIEWS)
 * The World Information Sharing Mechanism on the Implementation of the Global Plan of Action for the conservation and sustainable use of PGRFA - WISH-GPA
 * Global Forum on Agricultural Research (GFAR)
 * Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR)
 * Global Crop Diversity Trust (GCDT)

Team & Contributors
The team & contributors include:
 * Fred Bliss, Professor Emeritus at the University of California, Davis and Retired from Monsanto.
 * Aluizio Borem
 * Marcelo J. Carena, Associate Professor, Corn Breeding and Genetics, North Dakota State University, Fargo.
 * José Galli
 * Vernon Gracen
 * Elcio P. Guimarães, Research Area Director for Latin America and the Caribbean at the International Center for Tropical Agriculture (CIAT), Colombia
 * Aruna Gujral, Policy-External Relations Officer/Consultant, FAO
 * Tapani Haapala
 * Clair H. Hershey, Editor of Plant Breeding News, an electronic newsletter sponsored by GIPB and Cornell.
 * Amiri Kassam, is Visiting Professor in the School of Agriculture, Policy and Development at the University of Reading, UK, and former interim Executive Secretary of the CGIAR Science Council
 * Eric Kueneman, former Deputy Director of the Crop Production and Protection Division of FAO
 * Mauricio Antônio Lopes, Head of Labex-Korea, a partnership between the Brazilian Agricultural Research Corporation – Embrapa and the Rural Development Administration of South Korea
 * Chike Mba, Agricultural Officer (Plant Genetic Resources Use) in the Plant Production and Protection Division of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO)
 * Michela Paganini

Contact Information

 * Web: http://km.fao.org/gipb/

Related SourceWatch Articles

 * U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization
 * FAO Plant Production and Protection Division
 * FAO Rural Infrastructure and Agro-Industries Division
 * FAO High Level Panel of Experts
 * Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research
 * High-Level Expert Forum on How to Feed the World in 2050
 * World Food Programme
 * African Agribusiness and Agro-Industries Development Initiative