Drylands Crops Elevating Product Design Team’s Role Toward Impactful Product Selection

By Pieter Rutsaert and  Agnes Gitonga et.al

Across crop breeding programs, considerable effort has been invested in setting up product design teams (PDTs) per crop per country. These are multidisciplinary teams made up of representatives from across the commodity value chain that are able to provide expert guidance and accurate information on market needs in order to define national and regional market segments and associated target product profiles. Members of PDTs include scientists (e.g., breeders, social scientists, climate scientists, nutritionists, gender experts) and representatives from the seed industry, processors, farmer groups and government representatives. Since their formation, the role of PDTs has been limited to reviewing and updating market segment information—participating in the design of target product profiles of identified and prioritized market segments. PDTs also participate in product advancement meetings where advancement decisions on varieties are made based on data against defined target product profiles.

However, the sorghum and pearl millet breeding teams have taken the role of the PDT to the next level. On the breeding team’s most recent crop tour in Kenya to evaluate new breeding lines, it invited the PDT to join in so different stakeholders could directly see and evaluate the new pipeline materials breeders are planning to use in the breeding programs as well in varietal release processes. Traditionally, crop tours are attended only by breeders and other scientists involved in the crop improvement process.

Mark Nas, plant breeder–sorghum and millet, Eastern and Southern Africa, set out the following targets with the PDT: “When we created the PDT in May 2023, we outlined three major tasks for the team— 1) inform the crop improvement teams on Kenyan market segments and target product profiles, 2) participate in crop tours to evaluate upcoming products, and 3) serve as a major decision-making committee in pushing products to the final stage of deployment, release, and commercialization. So far, this PDT has completed the first two.”

The involvement of the PDT early in the breeding process has several benefits. Different end-user stakeholders in both grain and seed value chains are directly involved in the breeding program and can guide breeding teams on the diverse requirements they need from sorghum and pearl millet. Having a vote in the direction of breeding programs helps ensure that traits prioritized by different stakeholders are included in the gene pools breeders work with. In addition to reliance on data alone, involvement of the PDTs in the crop tours will facilitate improved decision-making during the final product advancement meetings.

From a seed systems perspective, involving these stakeholders so early in the breeding process and keeping them engaged can also potentially increase adoption of new seed products. Ganga Rao, product development breeder—Eastern Africa, explained: “Having diverse stakeholders present during the crop tours allows them to anticipate upcoming products from the breeding pipelines. This might create a launch pad for quick awareness about new products, seed production planning, and, ultimately, wider adoption.”