Seed Innovation and Food Systems Drive Global Health

Anup Jagwani, Global Director for Farming and Agribusiness at the World Bank Group, addresses the World Seed Congress.

It is often said that the quality of seed determines the quality of produce and, consequently, the sustainability of the entire agricultural value chain, influencing everything from crop yields to nutritional value.

The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) emphasises that “we cannot have good crops if we do not have quality seeds,” a principle that underpins global efforts to improve food and nutritional security. It may thus be safe to conclude that seed is the foundation of good health.

The week of 18 to 23 May 2026 witnessed two related but parallel global events: one on global health, the 79th World Health Assembly in Geneva by the World Health Organization (WHO), and the other on the importance of seeds to global agriculture and food security, the World Seed Congress organised by the International Seed Federation (ISF).

With a record attendance of more than 1,700 delegates and guests representing over 900 companies and organisations in Lisbon and held under the theme “Joint Actions, Resilient Futures,” the seed congress called for a collective commitment and action at a moment when the multilateral frameworks underpinning global food and nutritional security are under unprecedented strain.

The congress took place amid mounting pressure on global agri-food systems, sparked by conflicts and worsened by climate change. In 2025, two famines were declared in a single year for the first time. This year, recent geopolitical tensions continue to threaten global trade and economic stability, while an estimated 700 million people worldwide, primarily in Africa and Western Asia, still face hunger each year.

Experts have warned that climate change, including a predicted El Niño event in mid-2026, could push an additional 132 million people in vulnerable contexts into food and nutrition insecurity within five years due to rising temperatures affecting crop yields.

“It would be easy to look at the state of the world and conclude that international cooperation is in retreat. But the seed industry tells a different story,” says Michael Keller, Secretary General of ISF. “We are here in Lisbon in record numbers in this critical year because we know that collaboration, innovation, and joint action are practical and appropriate responses to the scale of the truly global challenges we face now and in the future. Unfortunately, in Africa, non-flexible legal and regulatory frameworks still hamper innovation by private seed companies.”

About 2,000 km away in Geneva, WHO Director-General Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus delivered a similar message, focused on the theme “Reshaping global health: a shared responsibility,” strongly reinforcing the interconnected nature of global health and climate resilience, with several important social determinants of health, including food systems and nutrition.

Ghebreyesus highlighted the importance of not treating health as a standalone sector, but rather ensuring that all social determinants of health are well-functioning in support of resilience, sovereignty, and protection of communities from crises.

The chain is simple: climate change threatens agricultural production, food systems, and access to nutritious food, leading to malnutrition, and malnutrition in turn increases vulnerability to infectious diseases and public health emergencies.

Role of Seed Breeding Innovations for Health

Seed innovations alone account for 74 percent of the yield gains observed in crops in the European Union, according to S&P Global Commodity Insights. However, the global system of crop variety development depends heavily on cross-border trade, with novel varieties typically bred, tested, produced, and distributed across multiple countries before reaching farmers.

“Seed companies invest up to 30 percent of their turnover in research and development because we believe that innovation is key to solving problems at scale and for generations to come,” said Arthur Santosh Attavar, ISF President and Managing Chair of the international seed company Indo-American Hybrid Seeds. “ISF continues to work with national and regional seed associations, as well as governments, to create enabling policy environments that help ensure innovations reach farmers quickly and without unnecessary delays or restrictions.”

In the wake of increased climate-induced extreme weather events, one of the key innovations in seed breeding has been climate-resilient seeds designed to withstand not only intensified droughts but also the increased prevalence of pests and diseases linked to drought conditions.

The World Bank believes that breeding seeds that go beyond drought tolerance to high nutritional value could be a game changer.

“Until now, we have been dealing with climate resilience largely from the drought and sometimes excess rainfall perspective, but can we also start looking at developing seed varieties by building in additional nutritional aspects such as high protein content? At the World Bank, we are looking at different ways to build food systems resilience in a holistic way—covering the entire value chain from seed, infrastructure, markets and all the in-between, with a clear focus on sustainability,” said Anup Jangwani, Global Director of Farming and Agribusiness at the World Bank Group.

Sustained Awareness Is Key for Sustainability

Environmental sustainability has, in recent years, become a buzzword in the wake of increasing climate impacts. Unfortunately, there have been some cases of greenwashing linked to environmental sustainability—promotion of false solutions to the climate crisis that distract from and delay concrete and credible action.

However, at Companhia das Lezírias, the largest agricultural and forestry holding in Portugal, “environmental sustainability is a lived reality,” says Sandra Alcobia, who serves as a biologist and is responsible for tourism and visitation.

“Here, we live and practice environmental sustainability in reality; our production is organic in every sense. In 2015, the drought conditions that we suffered provided us with an awakening to make a drastic change, and we have not looked back. We are proud to be a certified carbon-neutral establishment.”

Established in 1836, the farm boasts 20,000 hectares of land for crop farming, animal rearing, and forestry—all based on the principles of sustainability and organic practices.

But Antonio Farrim, Veterinarian and Director of Agricultural Production at Companhia das Lezírias, believes public awareness is key to the climate-resilient and sustainable agenda.

“Governments must take full responsibility for sensitising the public on the health benefits of sustainably grown food,” he says. “For example, in beef production, the colour of organically produced meat is not usually visually appealing; it is slightly darker with yellow fat. In terms of nutrition, however, it is among the healthiest beef one can get, and yet most consumers do not understand this. It is therefore incumbent upon governments to undertake sustained awareness for both environmental sustainability and good health. For us here at Companhia, we don’t only produce for sustainability but also for good health of consumers.”

Head of External Communication at Syngenta, one of the world’s biggest agricultural innovation companies, Dimitri Houtart, agrees with the importance of public awareness.

Houtart says the growing global population poses a challenge as the world races to produce enough food sustainably, with limited land. This, he states, can only be achieved through innovation and sustained public awareness for the uptake of technologies that support high productivity.

However, he notes that “misinformation on catalytic research and innovations to improve productivity while preserving environmental integrity is one of the drawbacks.”

“The need for a well-informed cadre of agricultural journalists cannot be over-emphasised. Agricultural journalism is the most important branch of this profession because the agricultural information needs of the public, especially in this era of social media, are immense.”

Breeding Innovations for Africa’s Unique Challenges

A quick search on post-harvest losses in Africa reveals that they range between 20 and 40 percent, especially in crops such as maize, cassava, cowpea, and bananas—some of the continent’s staple crops.

Losses are largely attributed to pests, diseases, poor storage, and climate stress. While technological advancement is critical for improving agricultural productivity and food and nutrition security in many low- and middle-income countries, it has been slow to gain traction in Africa.

Thus, one of the innovations being tried is breeding crops that resist these stresses and reduce losses before they happen.

Professor Mohammed Ishiyaku of the Institute for Agricultural Research in Nigeria is one of the lead scientists behind Pod Borer Resistant cowpea—a variety developed by Nigerian scientists over three decades, now approved and grown commercially in Nigeria, with regulatory approvals advancing across the region.

“Legume pod borer (Maruca vitrata) is one of the most damaging insect pests limiting cowpea production,” says Prof. Ishiyaku. “The damage reduces both the size and quality of the harvest. It can reduce grain yield by up to 80 percent. Farmers typically spray pesticides up to 6–10 times per season, but this is often ineffective because chemicals do not reach larvae inside plant tissues. The chemicals are also expensive, and limited access and inadequate training often lead to health risks. Therefore, a cowpea variety that can protect itself from pod borer damage makes production easier and cheaper.”

An international public-private partnership, managed by the African Agricultural Technology Foundation (AATF), is developing Pod-Borer Resistant cowpea.

Sticking with innovation, Bruce Knight of Legume Technology in the United Kingdom has been conducting trials on supporting smallholder farmers in Africa with affordable inoculants for legume seeds.

With limited resources, most smallholder farmers still use untreated seeds kept from previous harvests. To help boost productivity, Dr Bruce Knight, with support from the Gates Agricultural Innovations programme, has developed an affordable small-packaged inoculant solution capable of treating at least a hectare of legume crops.

“After 10 years of trials, we have finally got it right,” says Knight. “We have developed an affordable inoculant solution for smallholder farmers in Africa.”