Developing Climate Resilient Crops and Livestock for the Developing World - Where are the Quantum Leaps?

Great gains have been made over the last 50 years in the struggle against poverty and hunger in the developing world, and substantial credit rests with international agricultural research – particularly crop improvement research. Now, despite great progress, nearly a billion people remain food insecure, and twice that number suffer from micronutrient deficiency.  Moreover, the 21^st century faces new challenges, including decreasing amounts of high-quality arable land, both per capita and in absolute terms, increased competition for limited water, and, most ominous due to its uncertain impacts, climate change.  Smallholder farmers and herders will face more rapidly changing abiotic and biotic stresses than ever before.  There is probably no more pressing opportunity for helping smallholder farmers to adapt to climate change than to increase the availability and accessibility of new crop varieties or livestock breeds with improved tolerance to heat, drought, flood, pests, and disease, either within a crop already grown, or of other, better adapted crops and livestock.  While USAID and other investors work closely with national governments to build a supportive infrastructure to facilitate agriculture-led economic growth, such as transportation infrastructure and input supply systems, there is need for a focused research agenda to accelerate genetic gain in crops and livestock.  How can we leapfrog the process of providing improved genetic materials at a pace that has not been possible before to mitigate the risks from climate change? Workshop participants are encouraged to reflect on what is needed to respond to these challenges for developing country agriculture, and consider what research is required to respond to those challenges.