Abstract

Building on the availability of new data technologies and bridging the biological interest in crop improvement with the economic interest in increasing the cost efficiency of breeding programs, accelerating the rate of genetic gain has emerged as a key objective in plant breeding for the Global South in recent years. The changing knowledge-control regimes of plant breeding, the social and political repercussions for smallholder farmers, and climate-adaptive agriculture are all the focus of this paper, which explains the concept of genetic gain, the conditions that led to its emerging status as an indicator of agricultural development, and the broader implications of this move. When choosing agricultural policies, we look at how the relationship between development goals and practice is affected by prioritizing the variables used to derive the indicator. In the absence of information on other key areas (such as agrobiodiversity, seed systems, and the differential impact of climate change on soil, crops, and communities) and tools to evaluate the advantages and disadvantages of the acceleration in seed selection, management, and evaluation fostered by the adoption of genetic gain as a key indicator, we conclude that genetic gain should not be considered as a primary indicator of agricultural development.