China-CIMMYT Wheat Project Wins CGIAR Award

Three new wheat varieties for noodles and pan bread, developed by  a team of scientists from the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Science (CAAS), Shandong Academy of Agricultural Science  (SAAS) and CIMMYT (International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center), were planted to 8 million hectares in 2002-2006 in China, giving an additional 2.5 million tons of grains worth US$513 million.  “Farmers benefited by an additional US$101 million in quality-based premiums and US$8 million more was generated through marketing seeds of these varieties. Finally, the improved quality of these wheats has greatly benefited the milling and food industries.” says Zhong He, the CIMMYT wheat expert of the team. With these accomplishments the team won the  2007 Award for Outstanding Agricultural Technology in the Asia-Pacific Region of the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR).

“This is the only research team in the Chinese agricultural community that has produced such impact and received such high honors from the provincial and central governments in recent years,” says He. Wheat improvement efforts among the three institutions started in 1970 and has since then developed varieties with enhanced disease resistance, higher yields and good noodle and bread quality. Current use of modern technologies such as molecular marker-assisted breeding fast-tracked these development endeavors.

For details, see press release at:   http://www.cimmyt.org/english/wps/news/2007/dec/china.htm or contact  Zhonghu He at zhhe@public3.bta.net.cn.