"CGIAR" Consultative GroupInternational Agricultural Research

Published purpose

This project supports the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR) Research Program on Wheat to improve the nutrition of poor and vulnerable groups in developing countries. Given that over 55% of the world’s poor rely on wheat both for food and livelihoods, wheat is growing in importance as a strategic crop for improving nutrition. Increasing wheat yields and thereby reducing the volatility of wheat prices is key to ensure that people have access to adequate nutrition. This project supports research in four key areas of wheat production: (1) fusarium head blight resistance, a disease which reduces grain yields and reduces the quality and nutritional value of wheat; (2) durable resistance to stem, stripe and leaf rusts, which can infect wheat and cause loss of crops up to 90%; (3) improved photosynthesis, partitioning and plant architecture to improve wheat yield; and (4) conservation agriculture, which is a set of principles (minimum tillage, surface residue and crop rotation) that builds farming methods that simultaneously boost productivity and reduce natural resource degradation.