Breeding Program Assessment Tool

BPAT logo

The BPAT project aims to improve the efficiency of public sector plant breeding programs in the developing world.

Plant breeding plays a critical role in addressing food insecurity, climate resilience, and poverty reduction—especially for smallholder farmers in emerging economies. Improved technical and managerial performance could deliver higher rates of genetic gain, adoption, and varietal turnover in South Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa in most staple crops.

To realise its full potential, breeding must evolve. Programs need to be:

performance-driven, not just process-oriented
adaptable and innovative, while grounded in local realities
aligned with global goals, such as CGIAR’s Breeding for Tomorrow (B4T) and the Accelerated Breeding Initiative (ABI).

Our vision

We envision a future where every breeding program:

operates with evidence-based decision-making at its core
embraces continuous learning and data-informed improvement
collaborates across networks to maximise impact and efficiency.

Since 2015, the Breeding Program Assessment Tool (BPAT) has been dedicated to transforming how plant breeding programs across Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR) and National Agricultural Research and Extension Systems (NARES) are evaluated and supported. As we enter BPAT Phase III, our vision is to enable a new era of breeding—one that is data-informed, agile, and impact-focused.

BPAT is an assessment tool that facilitates a structured review of key technical, capacity and management components of plant breeding programs to help design improvements that increase their efficiency and achieve higher rates of genetic gain.

BPAT is a structured evaluation process for breeding programs that assesses their management and organisation using criteria commonly used to evaluate commercial plant breeding programs.
It consists of a questionnaire, and an evaluation visit by a team of world class plant breeding experts and management consultants.
A scorecard and report are generated describing program strengths and areas for improvement.
The evaluation can then be used by the breeding program as a basis for developing an improvement plan.
The tool has been used by select donors for evaluating and developing subsequent investments in crop improvement.

BPAT is a strategic enabler of innovation and accountability. Our modernised approach supports breeding programs in:

understanding their current performance and identifying clear opportunities for growth
benchmarking progress within and across institutions
building organisational readiness to adopt more advanced breeding strategies.

Whether helping programs master the basics or guiding them toward breakthrough innovation, BPAT ensures that every program receives advice suited to its unique context.

BPAT facilitates collaboration among breeding teams, donors, researchers, and technical experts by:

leading thematic reviews to address common bottlenecks
supporting harmonized strategies across crops and institutions
promoting the exchange of tools, insights, and success stories across the global breeding community.

Staff standing in crop in greenhouse BPAT provides assessments for CGIAR/NARES institutions that breed the following staple food crops

banana/plantain
cassava
chickpea
common bean
cowpea
C4 forage grasses
groundnut
lentil
maize
pearl millet
finger millet
potato
rice
sorghum
soybean
sweet potato
wheat
yam

Independent, impact-focused assessments

We conduct third-party evaluations that objectively assess breeding program performance. Aligned with the CGIAR and donor priority KPAs indicators, our assessments help:

corporate donors track return on investment
managers make data-backed decisions
teams prioritise meaningful improvements.

Real-time, data-driven insights

We extract data from key CGIAR-supported platforms to enable rapid, low-burden assessments:

Enterprise Breeding System (EBS)
Breeding Management System (BMS)
BIOFLOW
Breeding Scheme Manager
Analytical pipelines.

By working directly with curated datasets, we reduce the need for traditional surveys and provide real-time program intelligence.

Actionable reporting and strategic dashboards

Every assessment delivers a:

customised digital report with clear recommendations
dashboard that benchmarks performance against previous cycles and peer programs
focus on forward-looking strategies, from incremental fixes to transformative shifts.

Targeted deep dives and innovation labs

Where applicable, BPAT facilitates:

in-depth program assessments
thematic reviews that address issues such as TPP alignment, cost-effectiveness, and increasing genetic gains
expert-led workshops to promote new technologies and proven practices from both within and around the CG system.

Organisational and technical readiness reviews

We evaluate:

organisational effectiveness: team structure, leadership, and decision-making
technical readiness levels: the tools, systems, and skills needed to execute breeding strategies such as climate-resilient crop development.

This dual lens approach ensures programs are equipped for both innovation and execution.

Tailored, scalable support

BPAT adapts its assessments based on the:

maturity of the program
priorities of donors and stakeholders
resources and capacity available.

Programs receive light-touch or in-depth evaluations depending on their needs, with assessments strategically timed alongside CGIAR’s funding cycles.

Enabling strategic alignment

BPAT fosters alignment across the breeding ecosystem by:

supporting harmonised breeding plans in shared crops
encouraging uptake of CG-wide shared services
guiding programs to align with initiatives like B4T and ABI to amplify collective impact.

What we have achieved and looking ahead

Since 2015, BPAT has been used to assess over 50 breeding programs of 12 staple food crops, utilising a standardised set of targeted questions and delivered by global plant breeding experts. These evaluations led to substantial improvements in most programs and encouraged the development of CGIAR-wide data systems that now support more streamlined performance tracking. This progress has created new opportunities to ensure a more effective evaluation process, with reduced reliance on in-person assessments.

Strategic emphasis from donors has now shifted from breeding system modernisation toward developing market-ready products for small-scale producers. From 2026 and beyond BPAT will operate a modernising tool to reflect recent advances in breeding, changes in CGIAR operations, adoption of standardised metrics, and an increased focus on assessing product development.

Interdrought VIII

La Serena, Chile
17–21 November 2025

chris presenting in chile

Team leader

Associate Professor Christopher Lambrides
Christopher Lambrides's research profile

Data management

Dr Nimali Rathnayake
Nimali Rathnayake's research profile

Dr Sebastian Lopez Marcano
Sebastian Lopez Marcano's research profile

Project management

Ms Julianna Thomson
Julianna Thomson's profile

Ms Elizabeth Eng
Elizabeth Eng's profile

Mr Eric Pham
Eric Pham's profile

Plant breeding experts

Dr Joshua Cobb
Professor Mark Cooper
Professor André Drenth
Mr Guus Heselmans
Dr Randall Hollley
Dr Nicole Jensen
Professor David Jordan
Dr Philomin Juliana
Dr Yilma Kebede
Dr Emmanuel Monyo
Ms Vanda Morgan
Dr Greg Rebetzke
Dr Hannah Robinson
Dr David Tabah

The BPAT team is closely aligned with other major breeding program improvement platforms – Excellence in Breeding (EiB) and Accelerated Breeding Initiative (ABI).