CGIAR, the world’s largest public-sector agriculture research partnership, has announced a five-year, $25.7 million grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to expand the use of biodiversity held in the world’s genebanks to develop new “climate-smart” crop varieties for millions of small-scale farmers worldwide.

Led by CGIAR’s International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT), the project aims to create crops that can survive the acceleration of climate change. The project is a key component of a broader initiative focused on increasing the value and use of CGIAR genebanks for climate resilience and is one of a series of Innovation Sprints coordinated by the Agriculture Innovation Mission for Climate (AIM4C) initiative, which is led by the United States and the United Arab Emirates. 

“Breeding new resilient crop varieties quickly, economically and with greater precision will be critical to ensure small-scale farmers can adapt to climate change,” said Enock Chikava, interim director of agricultural development at the Gates Foundation. “This initiative will contribute to a more promising and sustainable future for the hundreds of millions of Africans who depend on farming to support their families.”

(Photo credit: Getty Images/boezie)