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WHEAT is the Crop of the coming era,says the Consultative Group onInternational Agricultural Research(CGIAR). And India is slated to be thelead producer of this cereal in the nextdecade. In a recently published report,the Institute predicts that wheat will bethe most important grain in developingnations as a result of a massive agricultural transformation. Advances in wheatresearch have produced varieties withhigher degrees of drought resi .stance'This is particularly attractive to theAfrican and certain Asian nations whichsuffer from prolonged and persistentdry spells. It is not surprising therefore,that in the developing world wheat hasexperienced a 96 per cent yield increasebetween 1970 and 1994, with India forging ahead of others. And DonWinkelmann, chairman Of CGIAR'S technical advisory committee is convincedthat this is only the beginning. "If wecontinue to invest in research we canachieve tremendous increases in productivity," he enthuses.