Dryland farmers are set to benefit from faster development of climate-resilient crop varieties following a new partnership between the International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT) and the ARC Training Centre in Predictive Breeding for Agricultural Futures.
Under a newly signed Memorandum of Understanding, ICRISAT will collaborate with the ARC Training Centre to integrate advanced genomic prediction tools and simulation-based breeding strategies into its crop improvement pipelines.
The partnership aims to significantly accelerate the development of improved varieties of key dryland crops to help farmers cope with intensifying climate stress, emerging pests and diseases, and rising food demand.
By combining predictive breeding technologies with ICRISAT’s extensive global breeding networks, the collaboration will optimize breeding strategies and shorten the time required to deliver improved crop varieties. The innovations are expected to increase genetic gains while reducing the cost, time and resources needed to develop new cultivars.
“Dryland agriculture is on the frontline of climate change,” said Himanshu Pathak, Director General of ICRISAT. “Farmers in these regions cannot wait decades for improved crop varieties.”
“Predictive breeding allows us to anticipate which genetic combinations will perform best before they are even field-tested,” he added.
“Through collaboration with one of the world’s leading centres for predictive breeding at the University of Queensland, we are accelerating the delivery of climate-resilient crops that farmers urgently need to sustain productivity, nutrition and livelihoods,” Pathak said.
Working closely with national agricultural research systems, ICRISAT has already contributed to the release of more than 1,200 improved cultivars of dryland crops across over 40 countries.
Building on this legacy, the institute is modernizing its breeding programs to deliver breakthrough crop varieties capable of achieving yield gains of between 20% and 25% while improving resilience to drought, heat and other climate stresses.
ICRISAT has already introduced rapid breeding cycle protocols for crops such as chickpea, pigeonpea and more recently finger millet, significantly shortening breeding timelines. The new partnership is expected to further strengthen these efforts by integrating genomic prediction into breeding pipelines.
“This partnership represents an important milestone in our ongoing commitment to continuous improvement of ICRISAT’s world-class breeding programs,” said Stanford Blade, Deputy Director General for Research and Innovation at ICRISAT.
“Over the past decade, we have invested heavily in improving breeding efficiency. Integrating genomic prediction, one of the key recommendations of the 2024 Breeding Program Assessment Tool review, will allow our scientists to deliver improved varieties faster and with greater precision,” Blade said.
The ARC Training Centre in Predictive Breeding for Agricultural Futures, supported by the Australian Research Council and led by the University of Queensland, focuses on developing and applying next-generation predictive breeding technologies in plant and animal breeding.
“This partnership is a fantastic opportunity to put cutting-edge predictive breeding tools into the hands of ICRISAT’s breeders,” said Lee Hickey, Director of the ARC Training Centre.
“Beyond the technology itself, building local capacity to implement and adapt these approaches is critical and will help ensure long-term impact for farmers across India and Africa,” he added.
Coordinated by Janila Pasupuleti, the collaboration will develop a transition strategy to implement rapid-cycle genomic prediction across ICRISAT’s dryland crop breeding programs. The initiative marks a significant step toward faster and more efficient development of improved crop varieties for farmers in climate-vulnerable regions.
