After a visit to CIMMYT headquarters, germplasm bank and maize nutritional quality laboratory, the Indonesian Agency for Agricultural Research and Development is increasing cooperation in maize and wheat research with CIMMYT. Read more here.
A delegation of the Indonesian Agency for Agricultural Research and Development (IAARD) visited the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT) to reaffirm their research partnership. Led by the Director General of IAARD, Fadjry Djufry, a group of Indonesian researchers and leaders visited CIMMYT on August 28 and August 29.
CIMMYT and IAARD have collaborated on research since 1981, when an Indonesian researcher participated in CIMMYT trainings. Since 1995, CIMMYT has worked with Indonesia through joint research and donations of inbred lines. CIMMYT has helped the Indonesian Cereals Research Institute (ICERI) in establishing infrastructure for a drought-tolerant nursery and has sponsored ICERI researchers to attend international scientific meetings. The CIMMYT-organized Asian Maize Biotechnology Network supported a satellite molecular laboratory for ICERI.
During the visit, the Indonesian delegation signed a memorandum of understanding with CIMMYT. Visitors also attended presentations on CIMMYT’s progress and strategy, toured the germplasm bank, visited the maize nutrition quality lab, and did a field visit to learn about sustainable intensification and climate change adaptation.
After CIMMYT director general Martin Kropff gave an overview of CIMMYT, the IAARD delegation presented their work and innovations to increase maize and wheat production. Indonesian researchers have released high yielding maize varieties, functional maize varieties and hybrid maize varieties. Farmers are intercropping maize, rice and soybeans. Post-harvest technology, mechanization and mapping have contributed to maize productivity.
IAARD also outlined its strategy to contribute to the government’s target of food self-sufficiency to become the world’s food basket by 2045.
IAARD suggested future collaboration with CIMMYT to help achieve this goal, including working together on research and development of improved maize and wheat, a double haploid for maize, water management, climate-smart agriculture and data management for genetic resources.
Two hybrid wheat varieties that are resistant to stem rust disease are set to be released to Kenyan farmers later this year. Mandeep Randham, wheat breeder and geneticist at International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center said that the two varieties, ‘Kenya Jacana’ and ‘Kenya Kasuku’ have high yields and resistant to stem rust disease known as U99. Read more here.
By 2012, young Bangladeshi mechanic Md Ole Ullah was working with the USAID funded Agricultural Mechanization and Irrigation Project, implemented by the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT), and International Development Enterprises (iDE Bangladesh). The new collaboration helped Ole develop the market for his locally-manufactured machines. Read more here.
“Knowing which strain you have is critical information that can be incorporated into early warning systems and results in more effective control of disease outbreaks in farmer’s fields” said Dr. Dave Hodson, a rust pathologist at CIMMYT in Ethiopia and co-author of the paper “MARPLE, a point-of-care, strain-level disease diagnostics and surveillance tool for complex fungal pathogens.” Read more here.
Energy is vital for modern farming. “Disruption in energy supply to the farm sector can hold back efforts to achieve poverty, hunger, health and education and energy-related SDGs in the rural farming areas,” said Akhter Ali, corresponding author of the study and agricultural economist at the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center. Read more here.
Newly formed, non-profit ProMaíz Nativo will promote Mexico’s native corn biodiversity with a front-of-pack logo to help consumers choose sustainably-grown, heirloom varieties. Read more here.
How can social protection programs be truly inclusive? Taking a social inclusion lens to agricultural development means looking beyond gender to other identity markers and changing the narratives in gender development approaches, which often place a disproportionate burden on women. Social protection programs do not always keep up with the changes of the traditional gender order.
In this episode, we talk to Juan Gonzalo Jaramillo Mejia, Project Manager and Researcher on Inclusion Innovation and Social Protection. He discusses why we must engage men in the fight for gender equality and how using a social inclusion lens to social protection programs is necessary to ensure that no one is left behind.
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CIMMYT researcher Bekele Abeyo remarked at the International Wheat Congress that there are hardly any African countries self-sufficient in wheat, and that food security in Africa is dependent on wheat production.
Matthew Reynolds, CIMMYT researcher and head of the Heat and Drought Wheat Improvement Consortium (HeDWIC), noted that the consortium has already benefited nine African countries and stresses the importance of future work in this area.
Read more here.
Agricultural researchers, who have teamed up to boost harvests and fight the major blight of wheat rust are now forming an international consortium in a bid to make wheat stand up to worsening heat and drought.
“There was a real shift in terms of the intensity of what we do together when we became aware of climate change,” said Hans-Joachim Braun, who heads the global wheat program for the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT), based in Mexico. For each 1 degree Celsius global temperatures rise above pre-industrial times, wheat harvests drop 5-8%, he said. That means the world will likely see a 10% drop in harvests even if governments hold global warming to “well below” 2C, as they have agreed, he said – and that drop would come even as the world’s population grows and demand for food rises.
Finding ways to breed wheat that can cope better with heat could help farmers from Australia to India and China, as well as the people who depend on their grain, he said. “It doesn’t matter where you use this trait – it will have an impact,” Braun said. Read more here.
At the opening session of the International Wheat Congress 2019 in Saskatoon, the director general of the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT), Martin Kropff, told a gathering of 900 wheat scientists that, with CIMMYT support, Bangladesh developed blast resistant wheat in the quickest possible time. Read more here.
Soil scientist David Guerena, who works for the Nepal Seed and Fertiliser Project run by CIMMYT, advocates for zinc-enriched fertilizers in Nepal. Read more here.
In a study by the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT), water conservation policies by the regional governments of Haryana and Punjab were revealed to actually aggravate air pollution. Read more here.
Demand for wheat is predicted to increase 70% by the year 2050. As demand for wheat is increasing, so are challenges to wheat production. New and more aggressive pests and diseases, diminishing water resources, limited available land, and unstable weather conditions due to climate change present risks for the crop.
Carolina Rivera is working to solve this problem. A wheat physiologist at CIMMYT and data coordinator with the International Wheat Yield Partnership, she works to identify new traits in wheat aiming to boost grain number and yield. Rivera is also one of the recipients of the 2019 Jeanie Borlaug Laube Women in Triticum Early Career Award.
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