CGIAR Report Concerning Centers’ Implementation of their Article 15 Agreements: A submission to the Eleventh Session of the Governing Body of the International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture Contents Executive summary ......................................................................................................................................................... 2 Introduction ........................................................................................................................................................................ 2 Holdings and distributions under the Plant Treaty framework ................................................................... 3 Holdings by CGIAR Centers’ Genebanks ............................................................................................................. 3 Conservation types ................................................................................................................................................. 5 Dynamic curation of accessions ........................................................................................................................ 6 Long-term partnership agreements ................................................................................................................ 6 Distribution of PGRFA by CGIAR Centers .......................................................................................................... 6 Overall picture.......................................................................................................................................................... 6 Transfers from CGIAR Centers’ genebanks .................................................................................................. 8 Distribution of non-Annex 1 materials .......................................................................................................... 9 Prevention of transboundary spread of pests and phytosanitary safety of CGIAR germplasm ... 10 Highlights of CGIAR’s crop improvement work ................................................................................................ 12 Highlights of new capacity sharing projects with national partners supported by the CGIAR Genebank Accelerator ................................................................................................................................................. 14 Some CGIAR Genebank Accelerator capacity sharing highlights ............................................................... 17 CGIAR involvement in access and benefit-sharing related processes since the Tenth Session of the Governing Body ...................................................................................................................................................... 18 Enhancement of the functioning of the Multilateral System of Access and Benefit-sharing ..... 18 Farmers’ Rights.......................................................................................................................................................... 19 Under the framework of the CBD and the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework .......................................................................................................................................................................................... 19 Cooperation with the Plant Treaty Secretariat ................................................................................................. 20 2 Executive summary This report provides an update on the status of the plant genetic resources for food and agriculture (PGRFA) collections maintained by the eleven CGIAR Centers that signed Article 15 agreements with the Governing Body of the International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture (Plant Treaty) in 2006. As of August 31, 2025, these Centers held almost 724,191 accessions of crop, forage and tree germplasm which they maintain in their genebanks and make available under the standard material transfer agreement (SMTA). During more than 18 years of their operation under the Plant Treaty framework, from January 2007 to August 2025, CGIAR Centers’ genebanks and breeding programs distributed close to 6,100,000 PGRFA samples under more than 64,000 SMTAs. The majority of the PGRFA distributed were improved materials from the Centers’ breeding programs. While it varies from year to year, 30% of the materials distributed in the last six years are from the genebanks. Overall, 80% of these materials were sent to recipients in developing countries and countries with economies in transition. Furthermore, the report includes examples of CGIAR Centers’ contributions to the prevention of transboundary spread of pests and diseases, as well as their crop improvement work. It also includes highlights of some capacity sharing projects with national partners that are being supported by the CGIAR Genebank Accelerator, covering examples from a range of genebank operations and activities, from cryopreservation to the use of genomic tools for collection management and use, from national support for the implementation of the Plant Treaty’s Multilateral System of Access and Benefit-sharing (ABS) to promoting regional and cross-regional Communities of Practice (CoP) on advancing molecular characterization and the use of digital sequence information (DSI). Since the Tenth Session of the Governing Body in November 2023, CGIAR has been actively engaged in various international processes on access and benefit-sharing (ABS), including the process for the enhancement of the multilateral system of the ITPGRFA and in the deliberations leading to the establishment and operationalization of a Multilateral Mechanism (MLM) on ABS for digital sequence information (DSI) under the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) and the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework. Introduction CGIAR always submits reports to the biennial meetings of the Governing Body of the International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture (Plant Treaty), concerning the CGIAR Centers’ operations under the framework of their 2006 Article 15 agreements with the Governing Body, and their contributions to the implementation of the Plant Treaty more generally1. These reports always include core information about holdings and distributions of PGRFA by the Centers under the Plant Treaty framework, and CGIAR contributions to Treaty-related activities and outcomes over the previous biennium. In addition, CGIAR takes advantage of these biennial reports to periodically highlight additional aspects of our management and use of PGRFA both by genebanks and the breeding programs. For 1 CGIAR Reports concerning the implementation of their Article 15 Agreements to the Second, Third, Fourth, Sixth, Seventh, Eighth, Ninth and Tenth Sessions of the Governing Body are available at: http://www.fao.org/3/a-be157e.pdf, http://www.fao.org/3/a-be109e.pdf, http://www.fao.org/3/a-be118e.pdf; http://www.fao.org/3/a-mo439e.pdf; http://www.fao.org/3/a-mu437e.pdf; https://www.fao.org/3/nb776en/nb776en.pdf; https://www.fao.org/3/ni851en/ni851en.pdf and https://www.fao.org/3/nn607en/nn607en.pdf respectively. http://www.fao.org/3/a-be157e.pdf http://www.fao.org/3/a-be109e.pdf http://www.fao.org/3/a-be118e.pdf http://www.fao.org/3/a-mo439e.pdf http://www.fao.org/3/a-mu437e.pdf https://www.fao.org/3/nb776en/nb776en.pdf https://www.fao.org/3/ni851en/ni851en.pdf https://www.fao.org/3/nn607en/nn607en.pdf 3 instance, the CGIAR report to the Tenth Session of the Governing Body included illustrative examples of CGIAR Centers’ activities related to in situ conservation of PGRFA, promotion of farmers’ rights and capacity building activities with national agricultural research organizations under the CGIAR Genebank Initiative. This report once again provides details on capacity strengthening activities. It also highlights CGIAR efforts to maintain germplasm that is free of quarantine pests and diseases and CGIAR crop improvement programs. CGIAR is also submitting two other reports to this Session of the Governing Body with the following titles: (i) The status of implementation of the CGIAR Principles on the Management of Intellectual Assets: a submission from CGIAR to the Eleventh Session of the Plant Treaty’s Governing Body2, and (ii) CGIAR capacity sharing with NARS to use digital sequence information in conservation and crop improvement programs: a submission from CGIAR for consideration by the Governing Body of the International Treaty.3 Past reports to the Governing Body regarding CGIAR Centers’ management of the Article 15 collections are available on-line.4 Information about CGIAR’s contributions to the PGRFA-related aspects of the MYPOW of the UN FAO’s Commission on Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture (CGRFA) can be found in the recent CGIAR reports to the Twelfth Session of the ITWG-PGRFA5, held in December 2024, and the Twentieth Regular Session of the CGRFA6, held in March 2025. Holdings and distributions under the Plant Treaty framework Holdings by CGIAR Centers’ Genebanks The eleven CGIAR Centers that signed Article 15 agreements with the Governing Body of the Plant Treaty in 2006 currently conserve and make available, using the standard material transfer agreement (SMTA), a total of 724,191 accessions of crop, tree and forage germplasm. Details concerning the Centers, crop collections and numbers of accessions available for distribution under the SMTA are included in Table 1. 2 Available at: https://hdl.handle.net/10568/176452. 3 Available at https://hdl.handle.net/10568/176624. 4 For previous CGIAR Reports concerning the implementation of their Article 15 Agreements, see above the links provided in footnote 1. In addition, annual reports of the CGIAR Genebank Initiative (recently renamed Genebank Accelerator) are available at: https://www.genebanks.org/resources/annual-reports. 5 The CGIAR Report to the Twelfth Sessions of the Intergovernmental Technical Working Group on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture is available at: https://openknowledge.fao.org/server/api/core/bitstreams/8b0cfa54-3b66-4251- ad2e-0825e65c48d7/content. 6 The CGIAR Report to the Twentieth Regular Session of the Commission on Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture is available at: https://openknowledge.fao.org/server/api/core/bitstreams/e263c5b5-1edb-41ee-8637- e3c365949292/content. https://hdl.handle.net/10568/176452 https://hdl.handle.net/10568/176624 https://www.genebanks.org/resources/annual-reports https://openknowledge.fao.org/server/api/core/bitstreams/8b0cfa54-3b66-4251-ad2e-0825e65c48d7/content https://openknowledge.fao.org/server/api/core/bitstreams/8b0cfa54-3b66-4251-ad2e-0825e65c48d7/content https://openknowledge.fao.org/server/api/core/bitstreams/e263c5b5-1edb-41ee-8637-e3c365949292/content https://openknowledge.fao.org/server/api/core/bitstreams/e263c5b5-1edb-41ee-8637-e3c365949292/content 4 Table 1: PGRFA conserved and made available by CGIAR Centers’ genebanks pursuant to their Article 15 agreements with the Governing Body CENTER CROP ACCESSIONS AVAILABLE WITH SMTA AFRICARICE Rice 21,032 BIOVERSITY Banana 1,691 CIAT Beans 37,936 Cassava 5,951 Forages 22,657 CIMMYT Maize 28,413 Wheat 122,543 CIP Andean roots and tubers 1,100 Potato 5,045 Sweet potato 5,586 ICARDA Barley 31,851 Chickpea 15,229 Faba bean 9,594 Forages 25,271 Grasspea 4,356 Lentil 14,342 Pea 4,591 Wheat 43,357 ICRAF Fruit trees 8, 246 Multipurpose trees 7,021 ICRISAT Chickpea 20,487 Groundnut 15,240 Pearl millet 25,502 Pigeon pea 13,492 Small millets 11,694 Sorghum 44,451 IITA Banana 392 Cassava 3,234 Cowpea 17,069 Maize 1,680 Misc legumes 6,841 Yam 4,200 ILRI Forages 16,230 IRRI Rice 127,867 Total 724,191 Source: Online Reporting Tool of CGIAR Genebank Initiative and ICRAF genebank managers, covering up to December 2024. 5 Conservation types The numbers that are shown in Table 1 refer to unique accessions (which are counted only once) that are available under the SMTA. At the present time, 643,440 of these accessions are also technically available, meaning that their current stock and viability status make them suitable for immediate distribution. The number of technically available accessions varies in time, based on the calendars for accessions’ regeneration and viability tests, among other factors. The CGIAR genebanks’ operative principle is that accessions that are legally available (those in Table 1) can and must be shared with the SMTA as soon as possible after they are requested. Each of the accessions in Table 1 is conserved in a number of different forms and/or locations. Centers conserve seed accessions of cereals, legumes, forages and multi-purpose trees in long-term conservation storages within their own facilities. The majority of these accessions are also secured through safety duplication at two levels: so-called “first-level” safety duplication goes to another genebank that can store the material under long-term conditions; “second-level” duplication is at the Svalbard Global Seed Vault, the ultimate backup for seeds. In both cases, the safety-duplicated seeds are stored under “black box” conditions, meaning that the organization holding the safety back up is not allowed to access the seeds themselves or even open the boxes. A portion of the accessions that are conserved as seed are also conserved as living plants in field collections. Living plants are also the conservation modality for fruit trees. Accessions of vegetatively propagated crops such as potato, cassava and banana are conserved in vitro; a portion of them are also maintained as living plants in field collections and, increasingly, in cryobanks. Cryopreservation is the ultimate long-term preservation method for sterile, vegetatively propagated crops and crops that produce recalcitrant seeds. During the last decades, CGIAR Centers have optimized and applied cryopreservation to their mandate crops making their cryobanked collections of potato and banana amongst the world’s largest crop cryobanks (see Figure 1). Figure 1: Number of cryopreserved accessions from 2020 to 2024. 0 500 1000 1500 2000 2500 3000 3500 4000 4500 5000 2016 2020 2021 2022 2023 2024 Number of cryopreserved accessions 2016-24 Banana Potato Sweet potato Cassava Yam https://www.croptrust.org/what-we-do/programs/svalbard-global-seed-vault/ 6 Dynamic curation of accessions In January 2022, CGIAR Centers adopted the ‘Guidance note for CGIAR Genebanks on improving accession management’.7 This Guidance Note promotes harmonized and dynamic curation across the Centers. It establishes the procedures for archiving accessions that are considered of low priority for conservation, according to pre-defined criteria. In the case of orthodox seed, archived accessions are stored in the genebank under optimal conditions for long-term survival, but without monitoring and regenerating them. They continue to be viable for many years. However, in vitro samples of archived accessions of vegetatively propagated crops die almost as soon as conservation activities are interrupted, and they are therefore discarded soon after the decision to archive has been made. The note defines the process that the Centers must follow to communicate the archiving of accessions to the organizations or countries of origin of those accessions, the Governing Body of the Treaty, the Commission on Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture, and the global community. As of December 2024, CIAT and ILRI earmarked 6,572 accessions from the forage collections they maintain for archiving, in accordance with the Global Strategy for the Conservation and Utilisation of Tropical and Subtropical Forage Genetic Resources. All these accessions are known to have low or no potential for forage research. The majority of these accessions will be viable (and therefore available for distribution) for many years still. After making the decision to achieve them, the Centers found that 1,380 of these accessions do not reach the Centers’ standard viability rate. These Centers are in the process of communicating the status of these 1,380 accessions to the organizations from which the accessions were originally obtained. In 2019 – 2024, dynamic accession curation in CIMMYT led to the decision to archive a large number of accessions: around 36,300. Most of them are barley breeding materials that were inherited from an old CIMMYT breeding program that came to an end many years ago; the rest of the archived accessions come from CIMMYT wheat breeding program. CIMMYT has contacted various organizations that could potentially be interested in hosting part of these materials while they are viable; so far, no organization has volunteered to take those materials. If no organization does come forward the materials will eventually be discarded. No other Center has registered archiving activities. Long-term partnership agreements Good progress was made against the goal to secure collections under CGIAR management in long- term conservation for availability to diverse users in perpetuity. By the end of 2024, four genebanks had collections meeting or sustaining performance targets (i.e., seed collections of AfricaRice, CIAT, IITA and IRRI), and two additional genebanks were expected to reach targets in one to two years. The Crop Trust provided US$5.3 million bilaterally to CGIAR genebanks in 2024 in long-term funding, including three long-term partnership agreements (LPA) securing in-perpetuity funding for IRRI, the Alliance (seeds – i.e., excluding vegetatively propagated crops), and AfricaRice (effective as of 2025). Distribution of PGRFA by CGIAR Centers Overall picture The CGIAR Centers have distributed close to 6,100,000 PGRFA samples under more than 64,000 SMTAs during the 18 years they have been operating under the Plant Treaty framework. The majority of the 7 CGIAR Genebank Platform (2022) Guidance note for CGIAR Genebanks on improving accession management: Approved by CGIAR EMT on 28 April 2022. 12 p. Available at: https://hdl.handle.net/10568/126835. https://hdl.handle.net/10568/126835 7 PGRFA distributed were improved materials from the Centers’ breeding programs. From 2018 to 2024, materials that have been distributed by the genebanks represent 30% of the total distributions by CGIAR Centers, but this proportion varies from year to year. Table 2 provides details of materials distributed (from both genebanks and breeding programs8) by each CGIAR Center. Table 2: CGIAR Centers’ transfers of PGRFA with SMTAs, 2007 to 2023/24. Center SMTAs Samples PUD9 From To AfricaRice 656 58,990 31,872 2007-03-05 2023-11-28 Bioversity 633 9,515 908 2007-01-24 2024-12-03 CIAT 3196 310258 36646 2007-01-05 2023-12-19 CIMMYT 27,352 3,320,876 - 2007-03-16 2025-06-03 CIP 923 25,288 13,240 2007-01-19 2025-04-09 ICARDA 12,376 1,106,951 951,282 2007-02-13 2024-12-06 ICRAF 502 2,728 - 2011-09-03 2025-06-23 ICRISAT 6,244 345,775 78,580 2006-12-07 2023-12-15 IITA 1,285 55,376 - 2007-03-07 2023-10-24 ILRI 1,112 18,800 - 2007-02-22 2025-04-25 IRRI 10,136 830,990 473,115 2007-01-04 2025-01-09 Source: Plant Treaty Secretariat. Eighty percent of the materials referred to in Table 2 were sent to recipients in developing countries and countries with economies in transition. Twenty percent were sent to recipients in developed countries. More details concerning regional distributions of PGRFA by CGIAR Centers are provided in Figure 2. 8 Not all Article 15 Centers have breeding programs, e.g., Bioversity, ICRAF, ILRI. 9 PUD stands for PGRFA under Development. 8 Figure 2: Regions of recipients of germplasm samples from CGIAR Centers' genebanks and breeding programs 2007-2023/24/25 inclusive. Transfers from CGIAR Centers’ genebanks There is considerable fluctuation, from year to year, in the ratio of materials the CGIAR Centers’ genebanks send to recipients within the CGIAR (mainly to plant breeders) and to recipients outside the CGIAR, as can be seen below in Figure 3. Since 2017, the Centers’ genebanks have been distributing more materials to recipients outside the CGIAR than internally, except in 2023, when IRRI genebank shared more than 114,000 accessions with rice breeding programs within IRRI as part of a project that involves a pilot study wherein almost the entire collection could be phenotyped for traits of interest using AI methodologies. Some Centers do not have crop breeding programs (e.g., Bioversity, ILRI), so they have very few, or no, internal transfers. Most of the Centers do not fill out a new SMTA for internal transfers, since doing so would entail a legal entity making a legal agreement with itself. Nonetheless, all such transfers are considered pursuant to the terms of the SMTA and all recipients of materials within Centers are bound by its terms and conditions. 0 20000 40000 60000 80000 100000 120000 140000 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023 2024 Within CGIAR Outside CGIAR 9 Figure 3: Accessions distributed annually with the SMTA by CGIAR Centers’ genebanks from 2018 to 2024. Source: Online reporting tool of CGIAR Genebank Initiative, and ICRAF genebank managers. Figure 4 provides percentages for each type of recipient of samples from CGIAR Centers’ genebanks to recipients outside CGIAR, for years 2019-2023, with the largest groups being advanced research institutes and universities, and national agricultural research organizations and national genebanks. Transfers to the commercial sector represented 15%, 7%, 6% and 4% of CGIAR Centers’ genebank transfers in 2020, 2021, 2022 and 2023, respectively. Transfers to NGOs and farmers’ groups have fluctuated considerably over the years: From 15% in 2019 to 3% in 22. Figure 4: Types of recipients of germplasm samples distributed by CGIAR Centers’ genebanks 2019- 2023 inclusive. Source: Online reporting tool of CGIAR Genebank Initiative, and ICRAF genebank managers. Distribution of non-Annex 1 materials Only 1% of the PGRFA samples distributed by the Centers collectively belong to non-Annex 1 crops. That said, out of ICRISAT’s eleven mandate crops, six are non-Annex 1 crops. ILRI and CIAT forage collections and ICRAF tree collections include many non-Annex 1 species too. In fact, most of the forage accessions that are conserved in ILRI and almost all the trees conserved at CIFOR-ICRAF, are of non-Annex 1 species. In the period 2020-2023, CGIAR Centers distributed an average of 2,695 samples per year of approximately 140 species of non-Annex 1 crops, forages and trees, with annual figures fluctuating from approximately 4,000 in 2020 to just over 12,000 in 2021. Groundnut, soybean, Bambara groundnut, foxtail millet and various forages are among the most distributed. At ILRI, a higher number of non-Annex I samples are distributed every year compared to Annex 1 materials. Historical data show that from 1983 until 2024, ILRI distributed 32,691 samples of non-Annex 1 accessions. Following the decision of the Second Session of the Governing Body in 2009, CGIAR Centers have been using the SMTA to distribute non-Annex 1 materials from their in-trust germplasm collections and Individuals, unknown and other users 2% Farmers, farmer organizations and NGOs 9% Private companies 9% Universities and advanced research institutes 46% National agricultural research organizations and national genebanks 34% 10 other materials that the Centers have acquired with the providers’ permission to make these materials available using the SMTA. While on average the portion of non-Annex 1 materials is relatively small vis-à-vis the total amount of distributions by CGIAR Centers, the transaction costs potentially associated with maintaining a different system for distributing non-Annex 1 materials would be significant for the Centers that maintain and work on both Annex 1 and non-Annex 1 species. As stated in previous submissions to the Governing Body, the Centers appreciate the administrative efficacy of being allowed to use the same transfer instrument for both Annex 1 and non-Annex 1 materials. Prevention of transboundary spread of pests and phytosanitary safety of CGIAR germplasm CGIAR ensures distribution of phytosanitary safe germplasm to avoid the risk of transboundary spread of invasive pests (pathogens, pests, and noxious weeds), which are among the significant threats to global food security and biodiversity. Target 6 of the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework is to reduce the introduction of invasive alien species by 50% by 2030. The various measures used to achieve this mission include FAO International Plant Protection Convention (IPPC) procedures, which form the basic framework of national quarantine procedures, to rigorously control the transboundary spread of quarantine pests through the movement of plant and plant products, including germplasm (seed). To mitigate invasive pest-spread risk through germplasm distributed by the CGIAR genebanks and breeding programs, the Centers’ Germplasm Health Units (GHUs), working in partnership with National Plant Protection Organizations (NPPOs), ensure compliance with the phytosanitary and quarantine standards of the FAO-IPPC. The CGIAR GHUs responsibilities include producing pest-free germplasm, conducting germplasm health indexing using standard diagnostic methods to verify pest- free status, and securing phytosanitary permits from NPPOs to meet the regulatory requirements of recipient countries. Working as a community, GHUs harmonize phytosanitary services, standardize procedures and data management, and optimize methods to diagnose and eradicate quarantine threats. They continue to forge strong partnerships with national plant protection organizations to enhance their capacity to control evolving pest and diseases. GHUs performed phytosanitation and seed health testing of germplasm for conservation and exchange (import and export), safety duplication in the Svalbard Global Seed Vault and third-party genebanks. GHUs have also supported the germplasm exchange events of breeding programs, seed systems, and international trials, including seed health testing and phytosanitation of germplasm. In 2024, the GHUs of ten Centers (AfricaRice, Bioversity, CIAT, CIMMYT, CIP, ICARDA, ICRISAT, IITA, ILRI, and IRRI) performed phytosanitation and seed health testing for 245,193 accessions for conservation, import and exporting, including tree crops, vegetatively propagated (clonal) crops, and orthodox seeds regenerated for seed increase and previously untested germplasm. Altogether, 369,878 samples were tested using 1,270,396 diagnostic assays, which resulted in the detection and separation of 29,911 (8.1%) contaminated samples (Table 3). Pre-export testing identified contamination in 3.6% of 39,245 samples from genebanks and 2.0% of 93,181 samples from breeding programs, which were removed from export shipments and replaced with clean materials. Similarly, post-entry testing detected contamination in 0.5% of 12,899 samples imported by breeding programs. Percent contamination was highest (11.8%) in materials processed for conservation, which is expected as most of the materials come from field collection missions. GHUs facilitated 1,741 exchange events to 125 countries, 84.1% (1464 events) were exports and 15.9% (277 events) were imports (Table 4). The ten genebanks contributed to 529 exports to 80 countries 11 and 86 events of imports from 13 countries. The breeding and non-plant taxa exchange events comprise 959 (55.1%) and 167 (9.6%), respectively. Safe international exchange of germplasm and other bioresources is crucial to sustain CGIAR research and development activities and meet partner's demands. The various approaches used in the ten GHUs have been ensuring the detection and elimination of contaminated germplasm, thus preventing the spread of quarantine pathogens, and contributing to the conservation of clean stocks of germplasm and its safe international exchange upon demand from internal and external users. CGIAR GHUs also convened consultation meetings, jointly with Inter-African Phytosanitary Council (AU- IAPSC), to harmonize protocols for germplasm exchange under the “GreenPass – A Systems Approach to Generating Phytosanitary-Safe Germplasm” initiative, which aims to establish streamlined procedures for the expedited and secure exchange of germplasm across countries. GHUs have also organized capacity development events contributing to upgrading of skills of staff within CGIAR, and national partners. Table 3. Germplasm samples processed by GHUs for conservation and exchange for genebanks and Breeding programs in 2024 Center Accessions analyzed1 Samples analyzed2 Samples rejected for replacement3 Diagnostic reactions performed for health testing4 AfricaRice 37,077 76,022 2 158,670 Bioversity - - - - CIAT 5,817 5,726 1,608 51,496 CIMMYT 43,387 7,523 1,314 91,176 CIP 1,180 2,167 70 12,005 ICARDA 52,830 35,504 306 413,989 ICRISAT 11,089 11,321 1,578 21,289 IITA 10,156 96,420 11,604 130,765 ILRI 1,466 2,408 1,050 14,037 IRRI 50,072 23,432 157 34,664 Total 245,193 369,878 29,911 1,270,396 1Unique accession ID genebank; 2Representative sub-set or whole sample of an accession used for germplasm health testing; 3Samples failed to meet phytosanitary standards; 4Total number of diagnostics tests used for sample analysis. 12 Table 4. Summary of import and export events facilitated by GHUs in 2024 Genebanks Breeding Programs Non-seed materials* Center Import Export Import Export Import Export Total AfricaRice 1 19 34 43 4 3 104 Bioversity - 33 - - - - 33 CIAT - 44 - 25 - - 69 CIMMYT 1 155 43 212 - 1 412 CIP 59 124 - 109 - - 292 ICARDA 7 39 27 140 2 - 215 ICRISAT 2 23 1 20 - 2 48 IITA 13 25 12 74 25 33 182 ILRI - 7 - - - - 7 IRRI 3 60 31 188 12 85 379 Total 86 529 148 811 43 124 1,741 *Plant tissues, nucleic acid, microbes, and insects for crop protection, genomics, and molecular and analytical research work. Highlights of CGIAR’s crop improvement work CGIAR’s Accelerated Breeding Initiative was designed to deliver better-performing, farmer-preferred crop varieties while reducing the average age of varieties in farmers’ fields.10 The advancements introduced and pursued by the CGIAR Research Initiative on Accelerated Breeding between 2022 and 2024 have shaped the future of research and breeding within CGIAR – which is now within the purview of the CGIAR Breeding for Tomorrow Program (B4T) – accelerating genetic improvements and delivering relevant and impactful solutions to farmers worldwide. The Initiative improved focus, speed, partnerships and farmer involvement, ensuring that new, high-value varieties are developed and widely adopted across crop breeding networks in sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia. This approach has been highly successful, with 934 new varieties developed and released by partner organizations across 65 countries between 2022 and 2024, directly benefiting regions where 50 to 100 million people live on less than USD 2.15 per day. In order to achieve this, for the first time, the entire CGIAR breeding portfolio has been comprehensively captured and documented, significantly improving its alignment, transparency, and strategic focus: • CGIAR breeding Centers have mapped 157 breeding pipelines (>95 percent of the total) to 418 distinct market segments (from a total of 701 defined) and 418 Target Product Profiles (TPPs) – the package of traits delivered in an improved variety. • Individual crop breeding strategies have been documented, linking Breeding Pipelines, TPPs, and Market Segments, and describing the level of emphasis given to each. • Each TPP outlines priority traits identified through stakeholder discussions held in 95 Product Design Team meetings, reflecting those traits that are most impactful and in demand by farmers and end-users. 10 See CGIAR Research Initiative on Accelerated Breeding, Annual Technical Report 2024. https://www.cgiar.org/initiative/accelerated-breeding https://www.cgiar.org/cgiar-research-porfolio-2025-2030/breeding-for-tomorrow/ https://hdl.handle.net/10568/172683 https://hdl.handle.net/10568/172683 https://storage.googleapis.com/cgiarorg/2025/05/INIT01_AcceleratedBreeding.pdf 13 • Using the CGIAR Research Initiative on Market Intelligence’s Global Market Intelligence Platform (GloMIP, see below), a data-driven approach was applied, allowing to refocus breeding investments towards those with greatest opportunities for impact. To consolidate and manage this information, a Breeding Portal was developed: a purpose-built data management platform providing real-time, transparent views of CGIAR breeding activities. In addition, significant progress was made across breeding teams, integrating cutting-edge technologies and optimized breeding approaches: • The average cycle time was shortened from 54 to 41 months, bringing programs closer to achieving TPPs faster and more efficiently. • Programs increasingly used genomic profiles to predict variety performance (58 percent, up from 35 percent in 2022). Genomic selection enables breeders to (i) select parents for recycling earlier in the breeding process; (ii) increase the number of breeding materials assessed, thereby making it more likely to find those that have the desirable trait combinations; and (iii) focus further testing efforts on the most promising candidates. • Breeding programs (74 percent) used trait introgression to introduce novel high-value traits into a highly elite genetic background which lacks these traits. • Simulations enabled breeding teams (58 percent) to optimize breeding schemes. • Breeding teams (32 percent) brought on-farm testing earlier into the breeding process. • Implementing large-scale on-farm trials is highly resource-dependent. Between 2022 and 2024, the number of programs that executed on-farm verification at more than 30 sites almost tripled (now at 53 percent), using new trial designs and partnership approaches. Providing robust performance data to inform variety release decisions increases confidence among seed system actors, governments, and ensures that farmers’ feedback is taken into account before such decisions are made. Another core area was to strengthen partnerships and make them more equal to leverage synergies, pool resources, minimize duplication, and increase the level of ownership among partners. In just three years, Accelerated Breeding’s efforts have made CGIAR breeding more focused on high-impact market segments and better aligned with developing the right crop varieties – with the right package of traits – to meet the needs of clearly defined target beneficiaries. The application of advanced breeding methodologies and tools is accelerating the rate at which breeding networks develop improved varieties exhibiting a step-change in performance. At the same time, stronger and more equitable partnerships systematically integrate NARES into decision-making. This increases local ownership, enhances breeding network efficiency, strengthens long-term capacity, and improves the likelihood that superior varieties will reach, and are adopted by, farmers. As part of these strategic shifts in breeding approaches, institutional capacity for market intelligence has been reinforced and institutionalized among CGIAR Centers and some national agricultural research organizations. As an example, IITA and NARES partners implemented the Tricot approach for evaluating consumer preferences and on-farm varietal testing of cassava varieties. The Tricot approach is also currently being tested for evaluating roots, tubers and banana crops in Nigeria. Additionally, IITA led the use of foresight analysis to elicit near-future market segments to capture rapid megatrend changes (that is, climate change, urbanization, population density, and income). Transdisciplinary collaborations have also played a pivotal role in ensuring that genetic innovations align with market intelligence insights, gender equity, and socioeconomic impact priorities, making breeding programs more inclusive, efficient, and impactful. Transdisciplinary teams have used market https://reporting.cgiar.org/reports/result-details/350?phase=4 https://reporting.cgiar.org/reports/result-details/342?phase=4 https://reporting.cgiar.org/reports/result-details/342?phase=4 https://reporting.cgiar.org/reports/result-details/1241?phase=4 https://reporting.cgiar.org/reports/result-details/344?phase=4 https://reporting.cgiar.org/reports/result-details/345?phase=4 14 intelligence from a variety of sources and advanced the integration of gender considerations into the breeding pipelines, leading to the development of gender-responsive target products profiles. Acknowledging that many traits are in demand by women and men alike, 55 percent of the breeding teams were able to integrate insights from gender studies or on-farm trials; and 74 percent of the teams had access to gender expertise. Some national agricultural research organizations, such as NARO in Uganda, partnered with IFPRI and CIP to develop a research program incorporating market and behavioral intelligence in their breeding programs. Another pillar of CGIAR breeding programs focuses on seed systems so that improved varieties can reach farmers at the last mile. Over the past years, seed system specialists working under the CGIAR Initiative called Seed Equal, supported the production and delivery of quality seed of improved, climate-resilient, market-preferred, and nutritious varieties of priority crops, ensuring equitable access for women, youth, and other disadvantaged groups across Asia, Africa, and Latin America. Beyond production, Seed Equal boosted adoption of quality seeds through partnerships with breeding institutions and farmer-led initiatives. The development and implementation of policies, regulations, and investments for varietal release, seed quality assurance, and market development in the seed sectors have also been supported, which has resulted in revised seed quality assurance regulations for vegetatively propagated crops in Kenya, increased private sector participation in the seed market and enhanced regulatory coherence in Rwanda, innovative anti-counterfeiting measures and new quality assurance standards in Uganda, and equitable licensing models that return royalties to public breeding programs in Nigeria, among other results. Highlights of new capacity sharing projects with national partners supported by the CGIAR Genebank Accelerator Given the importance of capacity sharing, in addition to the information provided in this section, CGIAR has submitted two other reports to this session of the Governing Body, namely: - CGIAR Submission on the Draft Action Plan for the implementation of the Capacity Development Strategy of the International Treaty 2023-2030, 11 and - CGIAR capacity sharing with NARS to use digital sequence information in conservation and crop improvement programs: a submission from CGIAR for consideration by the Governing Body of the International Treaty,12 Interested Contracting Parties and stakeholders are invited to consult these other submissions as the information therein is not duplicated in the present document. In 2024, CGIAR’s capacity sharing work covered a range of genebank operations and activities, from cryopreservation to the use of genomic tools for collection management and use. Regional workshops were convened in Kenya, India, Morocco, Colombia, and Peru. These workshops helped to extend the reach of communities of practice on using genotypic data to manage collections and cryobanking, as well as general genebank operations. As part of the Latin American CoP, thirteen institutes in Central and South America pooled resources to genotype and map genetic diversity of their respective collections of beans, maize, cassava, potato, and wheat. Several partners entered into collaborations with CIP to cryopreserve their clonal crop collections. 11 Available at: https://hdl.handle.net/10568/174808. 12 Available at: https://hdl.handle.net/10568/176624. https://cgspace.cgiar.org/items/d77ca0fe-7274-4e0f-82e8-df059f749b9b https://hdl.handle.net/10568/174808 https://hdl.handle.net/10568/176624 15 Over the course of 2022-2024, under the framework of the Genebank Initiative, CGIAR Centers signed Letters of Agreement (LoAs) lasting 2.5 years with lead agencies in 15 countries, for projects to strengthen genebank operations, improve collection composition and develop national measures to implement the Plant Treaty’s Multilateral System of Access and Benefit-sharing. Lead partners in all six countries focused on implementing the Plant Treaty, organized national consultations and developed draft legal instruments. In two of those countries, the draft instruments were presented to the Ministers of Agriculture for adoption in 2024, and one in 2025. Lead partners in the remaining three countries will submit their draft bills and other relevant legal instruments for adoption in 2026. New Letters of Agreement with lead partners in Colombia, Mali, Niger, Nigeria and Togo were signed in 2025 to support implementation of the Multilateral System and core genebank operations, including germplasm collection, conservation, regeneration, and characterization. In 2024, 10,294 people visited CGIAR genebanks. A total of 76 PhD, MSc, and BSc students were hosted by genebanks and around 140 training events took place with more than 1,800 participants from 55 countries, including: - Asia and Pacific regional training/workshop entitled “Improving Genebank Operations and Data Curation” in Hyderabad, India, for NARS partners (organized by ICRISAT, IRRI, World Vegetable Center, and the Alliance); - The African regional workshop entitled “Optimizing Genebank Operations: Advanced Seed Processing and Data Curation” in Nairobi, Kenya, for NARS partners (organized by ILRI, CIFOR- ICRAF, IITA, AfricaRice, and the Alliance); - “Genetic Resources Conservation and Use Training”, Tashkent (organized by ICARDA, with participants from 14 Gulf, Caucasus, and Central Asia countries); - “CGIAR Cryo Workshop”, Lima (organized by CIP with the Alliance, IITA, ICRAF, ICRISAT, and World Vegetable Center); - IRRI conducted a two-week hands-on training program on genebank operations, attended by 31 participants from 17 institutes in 11 countries in South and SE Asia, Africa and Latin America. - ILRI conducted a weeklong training workshop on “Quality Seed Production and Testing for Conservation and Distribution of Germplasm to Enhance Food System Transformation and Climate Adaptation”. Twenty-three participants from the Ethiopian Agricultural Authority (16 people) and Ethiopian Biodiversity Institute (7 people) benefitted from the training. - ILRI hosted and trained four staff from the national genebank of Zimbabwe and two staff from the national genebank of Rwanda, to enhance genetic resources management at national level. A team from ILRI’s genebank also visited both national genebanks to provide support with the implementation of quality management systems and data management. - IRRI conducted a field day in farmers’ fields in the Philippines to showcase the diversity of rice accessions, helping farmers to select best accessions for cultivation. Furthermore, to build capacity of NARS partners to evaluate and utilize large germplasm collections, germplasm (~12k) was shared, and field days were carried out with NARS partners in Philippines, Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia and Indonesia. - Training workshops on “Germplasm Health and Seed Phytosanitation” were organized by the GHUs for national plant protection organizations in Africa, Asia and Latin America, resulting in the training of more than 100 quarantine officials. - The GreenPass consultation workshop was organized by IITA jointly with the African Union Inter-African Phytosanitary Council and nine plant protection organizations from sub-Saharan Africa (Benin, Côte d’Ivoire, Cameroon, Ethiopia, Ghana, Kenya, Nigeria, Uganda, and 16 Zimbabwe) to reach a consensus on developing harmonized (common) protocols for germplasm exchange of important food crops in sub-Saharan Africa. 17 Some CGIAR Genebank Accelerator capacity sharing highlights Regarding seed quality management The Genebank Accelerator, in collaboration with the UK’s Open University, developed a five- module, on-line course entitled “Science of Seed Quality Management”. The Genebank Accelerator team ran two pilot editions of the course in 2024: the first time with almost 60 CGIAR staff participating, and the second time with almost 100 scientists from NARS. The trainings are spread out over six weeks, with intermittent live sessions. The first module introduces genebank operations, seed storage, viability testing, and maintaining genetic integrity in line with FAO genebank standards. The second module focuses on seed viability decline, species differences, and monitoring methods. In the third module, participants learn about the impact of harvest timing, field conditions, drying, and cleaning on seed quality. The fourth module focuses on role of seed moisture and drying methods in longevity. The final module provides practical guidance on testing conditions, dormancy-breaking techniques, and regeneration standards to maintain genetic integrity. Building on the online course, the Genebank Accelerator organized a one-week, in-person, hands- on training workshop in Zimbabwe on Seed Quality Management, 25-29 August. Participants included 24 participants from NARS who finished the on-line course. The workshop provided them with the opportunity to apply knowledge in practical field and laboratory settings, reinforcing earlier online learning. One of the overall objectives of the combined online course and in person workshop was to create a SQM community of practice (SQM-CoP) for Africa which will continue to facilitate capacity sharing with respect to SQM. More editions of the course, combining learners from CGIAR Centers and NARS will be run in the future. Regarding Advanced Molecular Characterization, Cryopreservation and Digital Sequence Information The Genebank Accelerator organized a 12-day open webinar series on Molecular Characterization, which ran from September 1-13, 2025, attracting over 200 participants from Africa, Asia, Latin America, and Europe. The webinar series was entitled ‘Advanced Molecular Characterization, Cryopreservation and Digital Sequence Information’. The first week participants were introduced to the foundations of molecular biology, DNA extraction, PCR, sequencing platforms, and genotyping. The second week included focus on cryopreservation, bioinformatics, polyploid analysis, and international law related to the governance of digital sequence information (DSI). The webinar was designed to combine scientific theory with information about practical applications, giving genebank managers and researchers the tools they need to connect molecular techniques with seed conservation challenges in their institutions. In December 2025, the Genebank Accelerator will organize a one-week workshop at ICRISAT campus in India. Participants for the hands-on training will be drawn from NARS scientists who finished the webinar series. The ICRISAT workshop will provide participants opportunities to apply techniques discussed during the webinars. Again, one of the hoped-for outcomes of these combined activities will be the formation of a DSI Community of Practice (DSI CoP) that will continue to facilitate capacity-sharing with CGIAR and NARES in Africa and Asia (NB: as noted above, more information about DSI-related capacity sharing can be found in another report submitted to this Eleventh Session of the Governing Body entitled ‘CGIAR capacity sharing with NARS to use digital sequence information in conservation and crop improvement programs’.13 18 Regarding Genetic Resources Policies for Scientists in Agricultural Research Organizations The CGIAR Genebank Accelerator developed an on-line training course with UK’s Open University focusing on genetic resources policies. Originally, the course was designed specifically for training CGIAR Scientists about access and benefit-sharing policies, to help ensure they are aware of, and able to comply with, applicable laws in their day-to-day work. After running the course for few years, the Genebank Accelerator revised the course and opened it up to any scientists working in agricultural research organizations anywhere in the world. It is called ‘Genetic Resource Policies for Agricultural Research Scientists’. The Genebank Accelerator organized two editions of the course in 2024 and one (so far) in 2025. The course takes approximately 40 hours to complete, and is spread out over 8 weeks, with intermittent live sessions with scientists and policy experts from around the world. CGIAR involvement in access and benefit-sharing related processes since the Tenth Session of the Governing Body Enhancement of the functioning of the Multilateral System of Access and Benefit- sharing CGIAR participated in the Eleventh, Twelfth, Thirteenth and Fourteenth Sessions of the Open-Ended Working Group to Enhance the Functioning of the Multilateral System of Access and Benefit-sharing (WG-EFMLS). CGIAR engagement in this process has been coordinated by the Genebank Accelerator’s genetic resources policy group. This engagement has included: • Written submissions to the ITPGRFA Governing Body and the working group for the enhancement of the multilateral system. Recent submissions include: a. Elements to consider in developing draft negotiating texts: A submission from CGIAR to the Co-Chairs of the Working Group to Enhance the Functioning of the Multilateral System of Access and Benefit-sharing, submitted to the Plant Treaty Secretariat and the Co-chairs of the WG-EFMLS prior to its Twelfth meeting; b. Policy brief on digital sequence information/genetic sequence data: Generation, Use and Sharing of Digital Sequence Information in Crop Improvement. CGIAR was commissioned by the co-chairs of the WG-EFMLS to develop the brief; it was presented to the group at its Twelfth meeting at the request of the co-chairs; c. CGIAR Genebank Accelerator’s submission to WG-EFMLS 14; d. A report on the potential impacts of patents on facilitated use of PGRFA in the multilateral system. • Active participation in the formal and informal meetings, the Small Group on Direct use and the Standing Group of Legal Experts (SGLE). • Bilateral exchanges with regional and stakeholder groups prior to and during the meetings of the WG-EFMLS and the Governing Body. 13 Available at: https://hdl.handle.net/10568/176624. https://hdl.handle.net/10568/151955 https://hdl.handle.net/10568/151955 https://hdl.handle.net/10568/151955 https://cgspace.cgiar.org/items/d4449981-3932-45c9-b6ef-95c1ffa885a0 https://cgspace.cgiar.org/items/d4449981-3932-45c9-b6ef-95c1ffa885a0 https://openknowledge.fao.org/server/api/core/bitstreams/57b81676-c277-47d2-ba7d-02a3357a81cc/content https://openknowledge.fao.org/server/api/core/bitstreams/b7f680e8-a019-4549-a4ec-f357dbbf0e38/content https://hdl.handle.net/10568/176624 19 Farmers’ Rights A representative of the CGIAR Genebank Accelerator participated in the Fifth and Sixth meetings of the Ad Hoc Technical Expert Group on Farmers’ Rights (AHTEG-FR), and delivered the following presentation at AHTEG-FR-5 concerning "CGIAR Centers’ experiences, practices and lessons learned in facilitating and promoting realization of Farmers' Rights". At both meetings, the CGIAR Genebank Accelerator also facilitated the participation of a representative of the International Indigenous Forum on Biodiversity (IIFB). Under the framework of the CBD and the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework CBD COP16, which took place in Cali, Colombia, in October 2024, adopted, among others, a decision to operationalize a multilateral mechanism for benefit-sharing from the use of DSI.14 The decision included elements for which CGIAR had actively advocated. Over the course of the negotiations that culminated in CBD COP 16's decision, CGIAR submitted reports to negotiators in different negotiating bodies, participated in all formal negotiating sessions, meetings of the so-called Informal Advisory Group to the Co-Chairs of the Working Group on DSI and informal 'off the record' meetings organized by the Meridian Institute and the ABS Capacity Strengthening Initiative. CGIAR scientists also published journal articles focusing on the ongoing negotiations and also organized side events during negotiating meetings to share important scientific information and perspectives with negotiators. Links to relevant activities, submissions and scientific publications include: • Peer reviewed journal article "Harmonize rules for digital sequence information benefit- sharing across UN frameworks", available at: https://hdl.handle.net/10568/158136. • Data governance policy brief with DSI scientific network, available at: https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.12755428. • Side event recording: "How to ‘future proof’ benefit-sharing from the use of DSI in agricultural research and development". Genebank Initiative side event made at the Second meeting of the CBD Ad Hoc Open-ended Working Group on Benefit-sharing from the Use of Digital Sequence Information on Genetic Resources, 13 August 2024, available at: https://hdl.handle.net/10568/159344. • "What is digital sequence information’s role in agricultural research and benefit-sharing?". Alliance blog on Genebank Initiative's COP 16 side event of 21 October convened with the ITPGRFA, 'Sealing the deal on DSI Access and Benefit Sharing: a critical review of COP 16’s options from the perspective of agricultural R&D', available at: https://hdl.handle.net/10568/159777. 14 “CBD/COP 16 Decision on ‘Digital Sequence Information from Genetic Resources’” available at: https://www.cbd.int/doc/c/bd4f/2861/9dce4f46d43a637231a442e0/cop-16-l-32-rev1-en.pdf. https://hdl.handle.net/10568/158136 https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.12755428 https://hdl.handle.net/10568/159344 https://hdl.handle.net/10568/159777 https://www.cbd.int/doc/c/bd4f/2861/9dce4f46d43a637231a442e0/cop-16-l-32-rev1-en.pdf 20 Cooperation with the Plant Treaty Secretariat Communications among CGIAR Centers and the Secretariat of the Treaty are frequent and ongoing. Here we list just a few examples of areas of cooperation in 2024 and 2025, wherein the Plant Treaty Secretariat: • Participated as special guests/resource persons in several of the live sessions that are part of the 40-hour, seven-module, online course initially developed in 2021 by the CGIAR Genebank Platform entitled ‘Genetic Resource Policies for Agricultural Research Scientists’ which is open to scientists working in agricultural research organizations around the world. As of August 2025, the Genebank Accelerator coordinated seven editions of the course, with approximately 200 learners from CGIAR Centers and national and regional organizations, including breeders, genebank managers, intellectual property experts and legal officers. Several members of the Secretariat have participated actively in all editions of the course. • Participated online in the Annual Genebank Meeting convened under the CGIAR Genebank Accelerator in September 2024. • Commented on the CGIAR Genebanks Accelerator draft proposal. Following close coordination on previous calls for capacity sharing expressions of interest issued by the Genebank Initiative, for evaluating roots, tubers and banana crops in Nigeria. Additionally, IITA led the use of foresight analysis to elicit near-future market segments to capture rapid megatrend changes (that is, climate change, urbanization, population density, and income). Transdisciplinary collaborations have also played a pivotal role in ensuring that genetic innovations align with market intelligence insights, gender equity, and socioeconomic impact priorities, making breeding programs more inclusive, efficient, and impactful. Transdisciplinary teams have used market intelligence from a variety of sources and advanced the integration of gender considerations into the breeding pipelines, leading to the development of gender-responsive target products profiles. Acknowledging that many traits are in demand by women and men alike, 55 percent of the breeding teams were able to integrate insights from gender studies or on-farm trials; and 74 percent of the teams had access to gender expertise. Some national agricultural research organizations, such as NARO in Uganda, partnered with IFPRI and CIP to develop a research program incorporating market and behavioral intelligence in their breeding programs. Another pillar of CGIAR breeding programs focuses on seed systems so that improved varieties can reach farmers at the last mile. Over the past years, seed system specialists working under the CGIAR Initiative called Seed Equal, supported the production and delivery of quality seed of improved, climate-resilient, market-preferred, and nutritious varieties of priority crops, ensuring equitable access for women, youth, and other disadvantaged groups across Asia, Africa, and Latin America. Beyond production, Seed Equal boosted adoption of quality seeds through partnerships with breeding institutions and farmer-led initiatives. The development and implementation of policies, regulations, and investments for varietal release, seed quality assurance, and market development in the seed sectors have also been supported, which has resulted in revised seed quality assurance regulations for vegetatively propagated crops in Kenya, increased private sector participation in the seed market and enhanced regulatory coherence in Rwanda, innovative anti-counterfeiting measures and new quality assurance standards in Uganda, and equitable licensing models that return royalties to public breeding programs in Nigeria, among other results. • Highlights of new capacity sharing projects with national partners supported by the CGIAR Genebank Acceleratorparticipated as resource persons in national capacity building 21 workshops in Togo and Uruguay focusing on developing measures to implement and operate under the multilateral system. • Visited and reviewed projects of countries that are supported by the Plant Treaty Benefit- sharing Fund that are coordinated by CGIAR Centers or in which CGIAR scientists are involved. • Responded to occasional requests for advice/feedback from the CGIAR scientists who convene the CGIAR Genetic Resources Policy Helpdesk. • Organized, with the cooperation of the Alliance of Bioversity-CIAT, a special half-day informal information session on March 31, 2025, back-to-back with the formal session of WG-EFMLS 13.