Empowering smallholder farmers to reach their farming potential,
CAPACITY BUILDING
Transferring knowledge of underutilized species so that breeders can work together with smallholder farmers to develop better varieties more suited to their local needs and long term market opportunities.
CONNECTIONS
Build a strong network between breeders, students, smallholder farmers, local universities, rural communities, local markets and civil society groups.
EMPOWERMENT
Empower smallholder farmers to be owners of their local breeding and development projects. Increase diversity in underutilized species that help improve nutrition, income and climate adaptation for smallholder farmers and their families.
Together towards a sustainable future
Plant Breeders Without Borders contributes to the UN Sustainable Development Goals through:
UNDERUTILIZED CROPS
We focus on improving underutilised species, as they are at risk of disappearing because of the lack of breeding knowledge.
The introduction of sustainable practices will help to increase yields and farmer’s income, while protecting the environment and supporting wellbeing and social development in the rural community.
LOCAL NUTRITIONAL NEEDS
Underutilised species can be highly nutritional in components such as protein, vital for preventing malnutrition in infants.
By addressing nutritional opportunities for people and animals we aim to contribute to zero hunger.
DIVERSITY
We create new varieties that will help smallholder farmers to diversify their production and that will enrich their nutritional needs. This will foster healthy lives and promote well-being including the early stages of an infant’s life by improving their nutrition.
EMPOWERING FARMERS
We strongly believe in the importance of empowering smallholder farmers to become the breeders of new generations of underutilised species.
Our programs seek to encourauge equal opportunities to empower both men and women in rural villages. 43% of smallholder farmers are woman.
CLIMATE CHANGE CROPS
Our work seeks to develop crops that are more resilent to variable climates caused by climate change.
SUSTAINABILITY
Our approaches to developing food production techniques will generate a diverse variety of underutilised species such as legumes and vegetables, helping to improve soil fertility and structure for future crops and improve the well-being of smallholder farming communities.
Our 10 year commitments
Plant Breeders Without Borders commits with a 10 year plan that will impact smallholder farmers in 10 developing countries: 8 of them during the first 3 years through 3 developing projects. We will run 60 capacity building activities involving 50.000 smallholder farmers and launch 60 new varieties in 10 years, that will duplicate the yield of underutilized species.
1.5 Million
By 2030 we will engage with more than 1.5 million smallholder farmers through capacity building activities and new varieties adoption.
Increase Yield
Increase yield of current levels smallholder farmers are achieving with their underutilized species, through improving breeding techniques and adopting better agronomic practices.
Improve Nutrition
Increasing production on targeted underutilized crops, will take millions of people out of hunger by 2030.
Our projects
We are in a constant building of a database of plant breeding project with guidance and support from groups such as Crops for the Future and Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR). Plant breeders with the appropriate skills will be matched to projects. A student/trainee will also be allocated to a project to allow mentoring and the passing on of plant breeding knowledge. Participatory plant breeding will be the model used to deliver the training to people on the ground, which will include farmers, extension staff and local scientists.
Ethiopia 2015
In February of 2015, Anthony Leddin travelled to Ethiopia to carry out the first pilot plant breeding training with Plant Breeders Without Borders (PBWB). The training was facilitated in Ethiopia by the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI). It was delivered to 18 people including local farmers encouraging them to start their own businesses in forage seed production.
Indonesia 2017
Bayer and Plant Breeders without Borders join forces with Bogor University in Indonesia to empower 30 farmers and agricultural students to develop their own varieties of Bambara Groundnut and other Indonesian indigenous vegetables.
