Demand-led Breeding or Market-led Breeding
Purpose Statement
The Demand-led plant breeding purpose is to identify and share best practices in Demand-led Plant Variety Design for Changing Markets in Africa from private and public sector breeding programs worldwide. The intended audiences are professionals in plant breeding and related areas such as seed production who have interests in developing and disseminating new plant varieties as a way to increase productivity and profitability in crop agriculture, especially in Africa.
Vision Statement
Transforming African agriculture by enabling small scale farmers to better participate in local and regional markets, by increasing the availability and adoption of high performing plant varieties that meet market demands.
DLB Partners
The key project partners in Africa are three regional centres specialising in plant breeding, namely: African Centre for Crop Improvement (ACCI) at the University of KwaZulu Natal in southern Africa; West Africa Crop Improvement Centre (WACCI) at the University of Ghana; and the Alliance of Bioversity International and the International Centre for Tropical Agriculture and the Pan African Bean Research Alliance (ABC-CIAT-PABRA). In addition to the three centres, other DLB partners include; the Ethiopian Institute of Agricultural Research (EIAR) together with Haramaya University, Ethiopia; the Ugandan National Agricultural Research organization (NARO) together with Makerere University, Uganda; and Kenya's University of Nairobi. The project team also works with an extensive Community of Practice of more than 400 plant breeders working in national agricultural research institutes and universities throughout Africa. For more information about any of the Partners, please click on the respective logo below;
DLB Community of Practice
The DLB “community of practice” is established amongst some 400 plant breeders (120 of whom are women) within African national agricultural research systems (NARS). These professionals are working on 44 crops within 28 countries of Africa. A comprehensive survey was conducted with this community as to their current priorities and new varieties available.
The DLB project partners are working with this community to mainstream demand-led breeding within breeding programs for several target crops in the countries of Africa. The members of the community of practice are mainly those who have participated in more than 20 DLB training workshops conducted in eastern, southern, and West Africa between 2015-20.
DLB Sponsors
The DLB project is funded by an Alliance for Food Security formed by the Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research (ACIAR), the Crawford Fund and the Syngenta Foundation for Sustainable Agriculture (SFSA). The program is managed by the University of Queensland, Australia. For more information about any of the supporters, please click on the respective logo below;
