Plant breeding programs in Portugal
In line with general trends in Western agriculture, agriculture in Portugal is contributing less and less to GDP, falling from 14% in 1985 to 2.8% in 2005. It remains, however, an important employer. Portugal is one of the poorer performing countries in terms of yields, reaching only one third of the average of the other European countries.
The Portuguese agricultural research system is mainly conducted under the authority of the Ministry of Science, Technology and Higher Education (MCTES) and the Ministry of Agriculture, Rural Development and Fisheries (MADRP). The NARS comprises several public and private institutes, with plant breeding being an important priority area since the 1980s. Two universities are also involved in plant breeding activities. There are some examples of fruitful cooperation between different institutions.
Wheat, maize, rice, wine grapes, triticale, legumes and forages are the crops covered by Portuguese breeding programmes, by order of importance. For the majority of the institutions the “germplasm enhancement” activity is increasing and a great concern of the breeders is to increase the crop productivity under biotic and abiotic stresses.
There are strong limitations in Portugal to develop breeding programmes with good continuity. The number of breeders for each crop is too small and there is no organized structure that integrates the classical methodologies with the modern ones. Additional limitations are the irregularity of financial resources to carry out field and laboratory experiments and the inadequate programmes coordination among the several institutions.
Research and education institutes with activities in plant breeding
Public Institutes
National Agricultural Research Institute - Instituto Nacional de Invesitção Agraria (INIA)
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Direcção Regional de Agricultura de Entre Douro e Minho (DRAEDM)
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Direcção Regional De Agricultura de Trás- Os-Montes (DRATM)
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Department of Genetics and Biotechnology - Departamento Genética e Biotecnologia, Universidade de Trás os-Montes e Alto Douro (UTAD)
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Superior Institute of Agronomy - Instituto Superior de Agronomia (ISA)
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Private Institutes
Institute of Experimental and Technological Biology - Instituto de Biologia Experimental e Tecnológica (IBET)
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Plansel
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Information by Maria Manuela Veloso (2007) - Information based on the Portugal's full report from the PBBC survey. Last revised 30-03-2010, GIPB.