This project focuses on research and technology transfer to promote and accelerate sustainable wheat breeding in Ukraine.
The project stresses that Ukraine is one of the top-five grain exporters on the global market and that many countries, particularly in Africa and the Middle East, heavily rely on wheat from Ukraine in particular. Ukrainian scientists have left the country and there is an urgent need for capacity building on wheat research. Therefore, this project wants to rebuild the research system through collaborations across the borders. It stresses that this will accelerate the Ukrainian wheat breeding program, contributing to national and global food and nutritional security. For instance, it will be focusing on so-called high-throughput plant phenotyping, using unmanned aerial vehicles to increase breeding cycle accuracy and speed while reducing manual labour and other costs, which will strengthen the competitiveness on the global markets. The project will also support the development of a Ukrainian wheat speed-breeding program.