Details for Generation Challenge Programme Medium-Term Plan: 2006–2008

Since the inception of the Generation Challenge Programme in September 2003, rapid progress has been made in the implementation of the GCP research and capacity building portfolio. At the same time, the vision and strategies have matured substantially, now aimed more solidly toward consolidating and refining the research mandate and implementing a strategy to ensure product delivery to intermediate users and farmers. A strong base has been created – in terms of organisation, technical infrastructure, knowledge systems, and novel research activities – that makes steady progress toward the GCP goal of creating a public platform of genetic, genomic, and bioinformatics tools for use in plant breeding programs. It is recognized, however, that the research agenda needs additional focus, within and across the subprogrammes, to demonstrate: 1) the value of the multidisciplinary approach, including comparative genomics, considered in the GCP; and 2) the ability to quickly deliver targeted products to plant breeding programs for short-term impact in farmers’ fields.