With USAID shut, Norman Borlaug's institute knocks on India's doors for help
Today, his organisation – the Mexico-headquartered International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center or CIMMYT – is reaching out to the Indian government and the private sector, seeking financial support for its breeding research and development programme in the two cereals that cover over a quarter of the world's cropped area.
The reason: A funding crunch brought about by global factors, including the shutting down of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) by the Donald Trump administration, officially from July 1.
The agency, which administered civilian foreign aid and development assistance for the US government, accounted for about $83 million out of CIMMYT's total grant revenue of $211 million in 2024. That made it CIMMYT's largest funder, followed by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation (now Gates Foundation), which gave $42 million.
'USAID ceasing operations and other development agencies drastically reducing funding is going to significantly impact our agricultural R&D activities worldwide. While there may be some money this year from projects in winding-down stage, the real effects will be felt from 2026. We are looking for support from countries such as India that have interests in CIMMYT continuing to empower farmers through science and innovation and breeding varieties today for tomorrow's climate,' CIMMYT's director-general, Bram Govaerts, told The Indian Express.
CIMMYT's advanced breeding lines are present as parent or grandparent in wheat varieties planted on more than 60 million hectares (mh) globally. The early Green Revolution blockbuster varieties that Indian scientists developed were all through selections from CIMMYT materials. That included Kalyan Sona (released in 1967), Sonalika (1968) and PBW 343 (1995), which, at their peak, were grown on 5-6 mh, 14 mh and 7-8 mh respectively.
That hasn't changed much.
Last year, Indian farmers sowed wheat on around 32 mh, with the top 10 varieties accounting for over 20 mh. Of these 10 varieties, six were released from CIMMYT-derived germplasm – DBW 187, DBW 303, DBW 222, WH 1270, DBW 327 and PBW 826 – and covered an estimated 15.3 mh (see table).
'Roughly 50% of the wheat cultivated in India now is from varieties released after 2019 and developed through collaboration between CIMMYT and national institutions such as the Indian Institute of Wheat and Barley Research, Karnal. Our partnership has led to India not only becoming self-sufficient, but even transforming wheat for the world,' Govaerts said.
He cited the example of DBW 303, 'the first wheat variety in South Asia to exceed an average grain yield of 8 tonnes per hectare'. Some advanced lines, yet to be released for commercial planting, have even achieved 10-tonnes yield in CIMMYT's field trials.
In October 2011, CIMMYT established the Borlaug Institute for South Asia (BISA) as a joint venture with the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR). BISA has three research stations at Ludhiana (Punjab), Jabalpur (Madhya Pradesh) and Samastipur (Bihar).
CIMMYT has also opened a 'doubled haploid' facility for maize at Kunigal (Karnataka), jointly with the University of Agricultural Sciences, Bangalore. This first-of-its-kind facility in Asia produces genetically pure inbred lines of maize that can be used as parents for further crossing and breeding of hybrids by both public sector institutions and private seed companies.
CIMMYT's India office has 19 international and 144 national staff. Besides, some 25 scientists from India work at CIMMYT offices all over the world. 'A tenth of our 1,800-plus global staff are Indians,' Govaerts noted.
India's contribution to CIMMYT's budget was just $0.8 million in 2024. While CIMMYT began as a pilot programme of the Mexican government and the Rockefeller Foundation in the 1940s and 50s, over time it became more reliant on funding from USAID and newer non-profits like the Gates Foundation.
With USAID's shuttering, India has scope and reason to step up its funding and have a say in CIMMYT. 'India is a neutral voice in world affairs. We, too, are a neutral and apolitical organisation focused on food security that is vital for peace. Borlaug's Nobel Prize (in 1970) was for Peace,' Govaerts added.
CIMMYT's current research and field trials are aimed at raising yields as much as breeding varieties with improved heat tolerance, disease resistance and biological nitrification inhibition (BNI) traits.
Wheat is increasingly prone to yield losses from mercury spikes in March, at the crop's final grain formation and filling stage. Studies show that every one-degree Celsius rise in night temperatures lowers yields by an average of 6%. By identifying traits in wheat plants that promote heat tolerance, scientists are able to develop varieties better adapted to hotter days as well as warmer nights.
The BNI trait can, similarly, make wheat and maize plants hold more nitrogen in the soil, instead of releasing it into the atmosphere. Improved nitrogen retention in soil, in turn, can potentially reduce the application of urea and other nitrogenous fertilisers by up to 20%.
CIMMYT has transferred the BNI trait into some of its high-yielding bread wheat lines. BISA, in collaboration with ICAR, has used these pre-breeding donors to develop a pipeline of BNI elite lines, which may be introduced in all-India trials by 2027-end.
All this is relevant to India's future food security and consolidating the yield gains from the Green Revolution that Borlaug initiated in the early 1960s.
Harikishan Sharma, Senior Assistant Editor at The Indian Express' National Bureau, specializes in reporting on governance, policy, and data. He covers the Prime Minister's Office and pivotal central ministries, such as the Ministry of Agriculture & Farmers' Welfare, Ministry of Cooperation, Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution, Ministry of Rural Development, and Ministry of Jal Shakti. His work primarily revolves around reporting and policy analysis. In addition to this, he authors a weekly column titled "STATE-ISTICALLY SPEAKING," which is prominently featured on The Indian Express website. In this column, he immerses readers in narratives deeply rooted in socio-economic, political, and electoral data, providing insightful perspectives on these critical aspects of governance and society. ... Read More
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