This article and video were originally posted on the CIMMYT website.

Wheat provides, on average, 20% of the calories and protein for more than 4.5 billion people in 94 developing countries. To feed a growing population, we need both better agronomic practices and to grow wheat varieties that can withstand the effects of climate change and resist various pests and diseases.

Watch CIMMYT Wheat Physiologist Carolina Rivera discuss — in just one minute — choosing and breeding desirable wheat traits with higher tolerance to stresses.

This week, the world’s eyes are upon global leaders gathered in Madrid for COP25 to negotiate collective action to slow the devastating impacts of climate change.

According to the UN, the world is heading for a 3.2 degrees Celsius global temperature rise over pre-industrial levels, leading to a host of destructive climate impacts including hotter and drier environments and more extreme weather events. Under these more extreme conditions, the world’s staple food crops are under threat.

A new video highlights the work of the Heat and Drought Wheat Improvement Network (HeDWIC), a global research and capacity building network under the Wheat Initiative, that harnesses the latest technologies in crop physiology, genetics and breeding to help create new climate-resilient wheat varieties. With the help of collaborators and supporters from around the world,  HeDWIC takes wheat research from the theoretical to the practical by incorporating the best science into real-life breeding scenarios.

Hunting for Wheat Rust Resistance Amid Relentless Fungal Mutations

Female farmers in India are not only responsible for managing the farm work and household chores, but have increasingly become a part of the sowing, weeding and harvesting of crops. The Cereal Systems for South Asia (CSISA) project is working with female farmers in Bihar to ensure that women are learning and developing new skills and getting information on improved farming technologies and practices.

In 2014, more than 100 female farmers in Muzaffarpur district planted their wheat using zero tillage technology. Watch the video above to learn more about the initiatives implemented by CSISA in India.

Dr. Nora Lapitan, Senior Scientist Advisor for the U.S.Agency for International Development, discusses the importance of wheat for global food security in her visit to CIMMYT headquarters.

In the 1990’s economists considered wheat to be a “minor food” for consumers in sub-Saharan Africa.But wheat is no longer a minor crop.African countries will spend about US$20 billion to import 40 million tons of wheat, used mostly to feed the continent’s rapidly expanding population.