CIMMYT Director General, Bram Govaerts, praised China’s recent efforts to curb its reliance on food imports and increase funding for technology-driven breeding techniques, including gene editing. Govaerts suggested such measures have managed to shield China from the unfolding global food crisis that is caused by a mix of factors such as regional conflicts, climate change and rising protectionism.
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CIMMYT Ethiopia signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) in November 2023 with the Addis Ababa-based private food processing company Alvima Foods Complex Plc, in an effort to encourage durum wheat production among smallholder farmers and create market linkage in selected woredas of Oromia and Amhara regional states.
The MoU, which is part of CIMMYT Ethiopia’s overall durum wheat project aiming to reinvigorate durum wheat production in the country, was signed by Workneh Rikita, Alvima general manager, and Kindie Tesfaye, CIMMYT Ethiopia’s senior scientist.
The MoU aims primarily to create market linkage between farmers and manufacturers, in a context of a sharp decrease of durum wheat production. “Prior to the 1980s, 80% of the wheat produced in Ethiopia was durum, but in 2016 our nationwide research on wheat showed that the durum wheat coverage was 5%, which stands in contrast to the country’s effort to industrialize the economy and substitute import goods with local produce”, said Kindie Tesfaye, CIMMYT durum wheat project leader. “We, as CIMMYT, want to encourage farmers to produce good quality durum wheat in quantity, and teach them about contract farming by creating market linkage with produce receivers like Alvima.”
“Cooperation, not business venture”
Established in 2011, Alvima Foods Complex initially centered its operations around importing and exporting agro-food products. In 2017, the company set up a pasta and flour processing factory and contracted 800 farmers to produce durum wheat. “At first, our objective was to produce premium quality pasta, unlike most processing companies in the country which produce pasta from hard wheat or mixed wheat,” said Workneh Rikita, Alvima’s general manager. In the absence of binding rules, the project failed and Alvima resigned to import durum wheat. “The law on contract farming was constituted recently and the difficulties to access foreign currency (therefore to import goods), which led us to turn our attention back to our initial project”, said Workneh Rikita.
Alvima Foods Complex general manager added that his company didn’t sign the agreement as a business venture but as an advantageous cooperation to learn from. He thanked CIMMYT for agreeing to work with his company and expressed his hopes for its success.
The current durum wheat market in Ethiopia is unpredictable as prices are set by the brokers, which heavily disadvantages the growers. The objective of the memorandum of understanding is to address such market challenges faced by farmers, affording them guaranteed market opportunities at a fair price.
As part of the agreement between Alvima Foods Complex and the durum wheat growers in target districts of the Amhara and Oromia regional states, CIMMYT will leverage on its expertise to help the farmers produce more and in good quality. Alvima will access the produce from farmers’ cooperatives directly, without the intervention of middlemen, to guarantee better incomes to producers. Moreover, CIMMYT is training farmers on use of climate information, accessing climate advisories, video-based production trainings, and crop disease management.
“If the farmers get the premium price for their produce, they will be encouraged to continue producing better wheat,” said Kindie Tesfaye. “We want the cooperation to be sustainable and to create direct links between farmers and local food processors (such as AVLIMA). The MoU will also benefit Ethiopia by decreasing imports of processed food items.”
A multilayered challenge to durum wheat production
Supported by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, CIMMYT and Digital Green (an organization creating digital tools to assist farmers) have been conducting durum wheat improved varieties were insufficiently promoted; the seed was not made adequately accessible to farmers; productivity was perceived by farmers as being low; and market linkage was poor. These multilayered challenges led farmers to prioritize bread wheat varieties, according to Kindie Tesfaye.
In response, CIMMYT structured its support around three main pillars: the organization helps farmers access seeds together with Oromia’s Seed Enterprise, provides farmers with digital advisory services to improve their productivity, and works with the private and public sectors to upgrade market linkages, as with the memorandum of understanding signed with Alvima Foods Complex Plc.
On the evening of 31 October 2023, CIMMYT held a partnership and alumni event with partners in China. Over 100 people from all over China joined the event in Beijing, which was chaired by He Zhonghu, distinguished scientist and CIMMYT country representative for China.
The event centered around the promotion and celebration of mutual collaboration in scientific research. In his opening speech, CIMMYT Director General Bram Govaerts celebrated the progress of the China-CIMMYT partnership, and highlighted what can further be achieved for global food security through continued partnership. His sentiments were echoed by the Vice President of the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences (CAAS), Sun Tan, who expressed his high expectations and strong support for future collaboration between Chinese institutions and CIMMYT.
The event saw four Chinese institutions sign agreements with CIMMYT to promote mutual partnership: the Institute of Crop Sciences at CAAS, Huazhong Agricultural University, Henan Agricultural University, and Xinjiang Academy of Agricultural Sciences. Additionally, a ceremony was held in which 28 alumni and four partner institutions received awards for their contributions to scientific collaboration.
A fruitful partnership
China and CIMMYT have had a fruitful partnership over the past 45 years in areas including shuttle breeding, genomic research, sustainable crop systems and trainings that have greatly contributed to strengthening China’s food security with positive spillover effects to neighboring countries in the region.
The successful CIMMYT-China collaboration in shuttle breeding from the 1980s laid the foundations for the establishment of CIMMYT’s office in China in 1997. Bilateral cooperation then expanded to set up a Joint Lab between CIMMYT and the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs (MOARA), in which more than 20 Chinese agricultural research institutes also participated. More recently in 2019, CIMMYT and the Jiangsu Academy of Agricultural Sciences jointly opened a new screening facility for the deadly and fast-spreading fungal wheat disease, fusarium head blight.
CIMMYT has transferred approximately 26,000 wheat seed samples to more than 25 institutions in China, which are now using these materials in their breeding or crop improvement programs. As a result of these efforts, 300 wheat cultivars derived from CIMMYT germplasm have been released and are currently grown on 10% of China’s wheat production area. This collaboration between CIMMYT and China has yielded 10.7 million tons of wheat grain with an estimated value of $3.4 billion.
Additionally, CIMMYT-derived maize varieties have been planted on more than one million hectares across China, and 3,000 new inbred maize lines have been introduced through CIMMYT to broaden the genetic base of Chinese breeding efforts in southwestern provinces.
Staff from the Queensland Department of Agriculture and Fisheries (DAF), Agriculture Victoria, Food and Fibre Gippsland, and Bowen Gumlu Growers Association joined B.M. Prasanna (Maize Program Director at CIMMYT & CGIAR Plant Health Initiative Lead) on 19th October 2023 to learn about CIMMYT’s efforts and experiences with fall armyworm management at the global scale, and to build partnerships between CIMMYT and Australian institutions for future collaboration on plant health management.
At the online meeting, Prasanna shared CIMMYT’s research and development on FAW management in maize, including breeding for insect-pest resistance, screening maize germplasm against FAW under artificial infestation, and collaborative approaches on integrated pest management of FAW.
Key points from the discussion:
Dr Prasanna responded to several queries from the participants of the meeting. Australian researchers and CIMMYT showed interest in further research collaboration. Dr Ramesh Raj Puri, DAF Extension Officer, facilitated the meeting.
CIMMYT has stood out as one of the organisations that has provided support to Zimbabwe’s agricultural research by directly engaging with farmers giving advice to build soil health and improve yields.
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CIMMYT Director General, Bram Govaerts, shed some light on the role that SOILS-S2P plays in regenerative approaches to the food system and improved soil health.
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FAO Director General, QU Dongyu, pays tribute to Dr. Borlaug at CIMMYT in 2006. His influence extended globally, fostering collaboration with Chinese scientists and contributing to breakthroughs in rice varieties. Dr. Borlaug’s principles resonate in the continued pursuit of agricultural innovation and the enduring legacy of FAO, which was founded 80 years ago.
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The Gwanda Provincial Veterinary Laboratory, now renovated as part of the Livestock Production Systems in Zimbabwe (LIPS-ZIM) project, will help detect and control livestock diseases. CIMMYT is working with ILRI and other partners to improve livestock productivity and support smallholder farmers.
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In 2023, India reached a record wheat harvest of over 110 million tons. A partnership between CIMMYT and the Indian Institute of Wheat and Barley Research (IIWBR) now allows farmers to pre-order advanced wheat varieties, transforming the nation’s agriculture.
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To address agriculture’s 25% contribution to global greenhouse gas emissions, researchers created AGREE. This user-friendly tool, which UC Davis and CIMMYT developed, helps estimate emissions from various agricultural activities.
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The Sainsbury Laboratory, the John Innes Centre and 21 other institutes are joining forces in a major global effort to monitor plant pathogens. Led by CIMMYT, the initiative aims to strengthen wheat productivity in food-insecure areas of East Africa and South Asia.
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In Ethiopia, regional government representatives endorsed in October 2023 the National Framework on Climate Services (NFCS), a tool designed to guide the establishment and delivery of climate services in key sectors: water and energy, agriculture, health, disaster risk management, and environmental protection.
This endorsement by regional state representatives marks an important step towards the implementation at regional and zonal levels of the NFCS, which was adopted at the national level in 2020.
The adoption of the Framework concluded a two-day workshop organized by the Ethiopian Meteorological Institute in partnership with CIMMYT through the AICCRA project, which aims to scale climate-smart agriculture and climate information services for the benefit of millions of small-scale farmers in Ethiopia. The workshop was also attended by ministers, state ministers and heads of federal offices from the sectors affected by climate change.
Responding and adapting to climate change requires that all affected sectors cooperate and collaborate, stressed Fetene Teshome, General Manager of the Ethiopian Meteorological Institute, in his opening remarks. Experts and regional and local representatives should come together to establish a system that can gather quality information and disseminate it to its users, he added.
“We can’t tackle climate change easily, so we have to find ways to live with it and use it to our benefit,” said Habtamu Itefa, minister of water and energy. He urged the workshop participants to approach the NFCS as a system designed to outlive governments and called them to play an essential role in its implementation in their respective regions, zones, districts and kebeles (sub-districts).
“Climate services will bring meaningful changes in agriculture”
Among the sectors most affected by climate change, agriculture accounts for about 40% of the GDP and employs more than 80% of the population, making it the backbone of the Ethiopian economy. It is thus crucial to address climate change impacts on the sector.
CIMMYT Senior Scientist, Kindie Tesfaye, explained how the AICCRA project works to enhance access to climate information services and validated climate-smart agriculture technologies in six African countries, including Ethiopia. As a stakeholder of the project, CIMMYT is training farmers, development agents, and local agricultural experts, and other agricultural value chain actors on the use of climate advisory services in collaboration with LERSHA, a digital platform providing farmers with contextualized weather forecast, inputs, mechanization and financial advisory services.
“We consider climate as a major problem for the country’s agricultural activities because the sector is heavily dependent on rain-fed production system and we believe that implementing this national framework on climate services will bring meaningful changes to the sector enabling it to manage climate risks successfully,” said Kindie Tesfaye.
The AICCRA project supported strengthening the function of the NFCS coordination team for multi- stakeholder engagement, supporting the endorsement of the framework and providing training on resource mobilization for its implementation. The project is also building capacity at different levels, promoting climate smart agriculture.
Productive in-depth discussions
Prior to the NFCS endorsement, participants shared inputs from their respective regions and sectors, providing inputs to the framework. Delegates mostly discussed capacity building needs, information delivery channels, synergetic cooperation among government institutions and mobilization of resources for implementation.
On the second day of the workshop, four different papers were presented on a seasonal climate update for the 2023 Bega season (October to December), on the impacts outlook for the upcoming Bega season, on the national state of the climate, and on climate risk management in agriculture extension.
The plenary discussion that followed was led by Fetene Teshome and offered an opportunity to the participants to raise their concerns on the implementation of the framework in their respective regional states. Many of the participants reflected on how the framework can accommodate the different ecology of various areas and how it can upgrade or replace dysfunctional meteorology infrastructures.
The Climate Risk Curriculum module that was prepared by AICCRA for agricultural extension workers was also launched during the workshop.
The Pakistan-China laboratory has developed wheat varieties that have shown an impressive 8-10% yield increase over local varieties, and CIMMYT has expressed interest in collaborating with the laboratory to further strengthen wheat variety development efforts.
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Bram Govaerts, CIMMYT director general, underscored the far-reaching implications of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine for agricultural production and international trade at the recent World Food Prize Borlaug Dialogue 2023.
Govaerts also noted that scientific and political responses tend to be reactive, as seen in the rapid development of vaccines in response to the emergence of the new virus during the COVID-19 pandemic.
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On July 17-18, 2023, 87 wheat scientists gathered to learn about new approaches and methods for wheat improvement in Faisalabad, Pakistan. CIMMYT and the Wheat Research Institute, Faisalabad (WRI-FSD) jointly organized a two-day training. The course covered two topics: high throughput genotyping technologies and high throughput phenotyping platforms. The trainees, who were able to attend in person or remotely and 27% of whom were women, hailed from 17 NARES partners across Pakistan.
After being welcomed by the Director General of Ayub Agricultural Research Institute (AARI), Akhtar Ali, and CIMMYT’s Country Representative, TP Tiwari, participants received an update on the status of wheat in Pakistan from Muhammad Sohail, national wheat coordinator for the Pakistan Agricultural Research Council (PARC). Subsequently, WRI-FSD Director, Javed Ahmed, discussed wheat research in Punjab, where over 70% wheat is grown in Pakistan. Kevin Pixley, interim director of CIMMYT’s Global Wheat Program, joined the proceedings remotely for a conversation about CIMMYT’s and CGIAR’s collaboration with NARES. Participants discussed the model’s successes, bottlenecks, the role of NARES, and the potential for capacity development. The conversation generated broad interest and suggestions for enhancing the partnership’s effectiveness. Akhtar Ali, Muhammad Sohail, and Javed Ahmed all spoke very highly about CIMMYT’s support in Pakistan.
This event was organized as part of a collaborative project entitled “Rapid development of climate resilient wheat varieties for South Asia using genomic selection” that is jointly managed by Kansas State University and CIMMYT with funding from the USAID Feed the Future program.
“Training emphasized the need for an output-oriented researcher that covered the development of climate-resilient wheat varieties, given the environmental challenges we are experiencing like, drought and heat, and highlighted the importance of innovative methodologies and advanced tools for high throughput phenotyping and genotyping for sustainable and resilient wheat production in Pakistan” said Muhammad Ishaq, a senior research officer and one of the training participants from Kohat Research Station, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
At the conclusion of the training, Javed, direct of WRI Faisalabad, commended CIMMYT’s support and suggested continuing the pace of training. Dr. Tiwari stressed the importance of such efforts will help Pakistan’s scientists develop and deploy climate resilient, impactful wheat varieties to boost wheat production and reduce wheat imports in the country.