The Role of Small and Medium Size Private Breeding Companies in Germplasm Development

Abstract

Although wheat breeding is of limited profitability if compared to othercrops, a viable private sector committed to wheat breeding is found inmany countries with commercial agriculture. ``The private sector{''} hasbeen usually perceived as a rather uniform block, and its remarkablediversity is often overlooked. (S) under bar mall and medium size (P)under bar rivatly owned plant breeding (C) under bar ompanies (SPCs)play a major role in germplasm and variety development in Germany andother european countries. SPCs have good potential to increase theoverall efficiency of national/regional wheat research systems elsewhereas well. Policy-makers concerned with the design of an efficientnational innovation system should take into consideration thecomparative advantages and actual and potential contributions of publicresearch insitutions, SPCs, and (m) under bar ultinational (c) under barorporations (MNCs) in a systematic way to identify the optimum mode ofcooperation and division of labour.