climate change-resistant crops to be developed at 14th CGIAR research center

To fight hunger and malnutrition in the world, London announced, during a world summit on food security on Monday November 20, the creation of a 14th CGIAR center dedicated to research in agroecology.

Food insecurity is today, more than ever, a worrying issue, with war, global warming and lack of water. It affects poor countries but also certain populations in rich countries, such as France and Canada, where a third of indigenous families and four out of 10 single mothers are in a situation of food insecurity.

“Developing flood-resistant rice, disease-resistant wheat…”

The World Food Security Summit took place in London on Monday November 20. Co-hosted by the United Kingdom, Somalia, the United Arab Emirates and two private foundations, this event aims to promote the application of advanced science and technology and facilitate collaboration around innovations in agriculture.

This is where Rishi Sunak, the British Prime Minister, announced the creation of a research center attached to the CGIAR, the Consortium of International Agricultural Research Centers to combat food insecurity: “We have already developed drought-resistant, vitamin-rich crops that now feed 100 million people in Africa. And we are going even further, launching a new scientific center to develop flood-resistant rice, disease-resistant wheat and much more.”

Research centers around the world

The UN had declared its goal to eradicate hunger and malnutrition by 2030. This is an ambitious goal because today, more than 258 million people are in imminent danger of famine, according to the Program world food.

Currently, there are already 13 CGIAR centers. The headquarters is also in Montpellier and it will be the first center in the United Kingdom. He will facilitate new collaborations with British scientific institutes and will be located near Oxford, certainly to be as close as possible to the cutting-edge research of Oxford universities. Artificial intelligence is one of the tools that will be used by this new center. The idea is to develop climate-smart agronomic practices and improve the health of animals and livestock. At the moment the center is entirely funded by the UK government, but calls for private funding will follow soon.