Canada and CGIAR

CGIAR (formerly the Consultative Group for International Agricultural Research) is the world’s largest public agricultural research network dedicated to science and innovation. It advances the transformation of food, land and water systems through evidence-based research and innovation.

As a global multilateral partner for agricultural research, CGIAR works to:

• reduce poverty
• enhance food and nutrition security
• strengthen country ecosystems and natural resource management

CGIAR has 13 thematic research centres across five continents. There, they conduct large-scale multidisciplinary agricultural research in partnership with a variety of stakeholders.

CGIAR’s comparative advantage lies in its extensive scientific infrastructure and facilities. It has:

• more than 3,000 partner organizations
• 9,000 scientists
• a local presence in 108 countries

CGIAR plays an important role in shaping science, research and innovation priorities in developing countries. Its research centres manage the world’s largest and most frequently used network of gene banks, helping to protect and share plant diversity for future generations.

Canada’s support for CGIAR

CGIAR offers important advantages for Canada. The organization provides scientific research and expertise that help improve:

• nutrition, through biofortified crops
• animal health, through better breeding and veterinary care
• access to quality seeds and inputs that support healthier diets in developing countries

In the past decade, Canada contributed an average of $10 million each year. This places Canada in the top 10 donors to CGIAR. Canada’s support totals $60 million for the 2023 to 2027 period. Canada is the seventh-largest contributor to the CGIAR Trust Fund and the ninth-largest funder of CGIAR’s bilateral projects. This reflects Canada’s long‑standing commitment to global agricultural research.

CGIAR also helps foster a global network of agricultural scientists, including many based in Canada. Canadian researchers work closely with CGIAR centres on joint projects that:

• strengthen Canada’s own food systems
• support Canadian export capacity
• create impact in developing countries

This partnership has direct benefits for Canadian agriculture. For example:

• about 65% of Canadian wheat genetics comes from cultivars developed through CGIAR research supported by Canada’s international assistance
• the University of Saskatchewan’s lentil and chickpea breeding programs rely on extensive germplasm and knowledge exchange with CGIAR
• Canada remains the world’s largest exporter of pulses thanks in part to these collaborations

Achievements

In the past 50 years, with the support of Canada and other donors, the CGIAR System Organization has:

• improved wheat, maize and rice crops in developing countries, resulting in benefits worth more than US$10 billion per year; almost half the world’s wheat land is sown with varieties that are products of research by CGIAR scientists
• triggered the production of additional food in developing countries; every dollar Canada invested in CGIAR research generated $9 worth of additional food
• reduced infant mortality by a third across the developing world; by adopting modern crop varieties, CGIAR prevents between 3 million and 6 million infant deaths each year
• responded to urgent and emerging crop and livestock diseases, including:
  • the fall armyworm outbreak in Sub-Saharan Africa
  • the wheat blast epidemic in Bangladesh
  • East Coast fever
• developed drought-tolerant maize, increasing harvests in Africa by about 20% across one million hectares of farmland
• developed a biofortified orange-fleshed sweet potato that helps tackle vitamin A deficiency in children and women of reproductive age
  • Today, more than 6.8 million households in Africa and South Asia are growing and eating nutrient-enriched sweet potatoes