Breaking Ground is a regular series featuring staff at CIMMYT
Deepmala Sehgal, wheat geneticist and molecular breeder at CIMMYT. Photo: M. Listman/CIMMYT
EL BATAN, Mexico (CIMMYT) — Molecular analysis research by Deepmala Sehgal, a wheat geneticist and molecular breeder who joined the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT) as an associate scientist in 2013, has led to the discovery of novel genes for yield, disease resistance and climate resilience in previously little-used wheat genetic resources.
But getting to the point of applying cutting-edge DNA marker technology to support CIMMYT wheat breeding has involved a few dramatic moves for the New Delhi native, who studied botany throughout middle school and university. “I loved science and chose plant science, because I enjoyed the field trips and didn’t like dissecting animals,” Sehgal said, explaining her choice of profession.
It wasn’t until she was studying for her Ph.D. at Delhi University in 2008 that she first used molecular markers, which are DNA segments near genes for traits of interest, like drought tolerance, and which can help breeders to develop improved crop varieties that feature those traits.
“For my thesis, I used molecular markers in a very basic way to analyze the diversity of safflower species that the U.S. Department of Agriculture had in its gene bank but didn’t know how to classify. I found a place for some and, for several, had to establish completely new subspecies,” Sehgal said.
Later, as a post-doctoral fellow at the University of Aberystwyth in Britain, Sehgal used an approach known as fine mapping of quantitative trait loci (QTL), for drought tolerance in pearl millet. “The aim of fine mapping is to get shorter QTL markers that are nearer to the actual gene involved,” she explained, adding that this makes it easier to use the markers for breeding.
As it turned out, Sehgal’s growing proficiency in molecular marker research for crops made her suited to work as a wheat geneticist at CIMMYT.
“By 2013, CIMMYT had generated a huge volume of new data through genotyping-by-sequencing research, but those data needed to be analyzed using an approach called “association mapping,” to identify markers that breeders could use to select for specific traits. My experience handling such data and working with drought stress gave me an in with CIMMYT.”
Based at CIMMYT’s Mexico headquarters, Sehgal currently devotes 70 percent of her time to work for the CIMMYT global wheat program and the remainder for Seeds of Discovery, a CIMMYT-led project supported by Mexico’s Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock, Fisheries and Food (SAGARPA), which aims to unlock new wheat genetic diversity able to address climate change challenges.
Over the last two years, she has served as lead author for two published studies and co-author for four others. One used genotyping-by-sequencing loci and gene-based markers to examine the diversity of more than 1,400 spring bread wheat seed collections from key wheat environments. Another applied genome-wide association analysis on a selection of landrace collections from Turkey.
“In the first, we discovered not only thousands of new DNA marker variations in landraces adapted to drought and heat, but a new allele for the vernalization gene, which influences the timing of wheat flowering, and new alleles for genes controlling grain quality, all in landraces from near wheat’s center of origin in Asia and the Middle East.”
Sehgal acknowledges the as-yet limited impact of molecular markers in wheat breeding. “Individual markers generally have small effects on genetically complex traits like yield or drought tolerance; moreover, many studies fail to account for “epistasis,” the mutual influence genes have on one another, within a genome.”
To address this, she and colleagues have carried out the first study to identify genomic regions with stable expression for grain yield and yield stability, as well as accounting for their individual epistatic interactions, in a large sample of elite wheat lines under multiple environments via genome wide association mapping. A paper on this work has been accepted for publication in Nature Scientific Reports.
Sehgal has found her experience at CIMMYT enriching. “I feel free here to pursue the work I truly enjoy and that can make a difference, helping our center’s wheat breeders to create improved varieties with which farmers can feed a larger, more prosperous global population in the face of climate change and new, deadly crop diseases.”
CIMMYT’s interventions on cropping intensification in Southern Bangladesh look beyond surface water irrigation to ensure long-term environmental sustainability. Photo: T. Krupnik/CIMMYT
DHAKA, Bangladesh (CIMMYT) – For the first time, researchers have mapped rivers and freshwater canals in southern Bangladesh using geospatial tools as part of a new initiative to help farmers in monsoon and rainfed systems transition to sustainable farming methods. Essential to this transition is the use of surface water for irrigation, which is less costly and more environmentally friendly than extracting groundwater.
A new study by the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT) indicates that by switching to surface water irrigation, farmers can greatly increase crop production, even in the face of soil and water salinity constraints. It identified over 121,000 hectares (ha) of currently fallow and rainfed cropland that could be placed under irrigation. Dry season wheat and maize production would also increase significantly, thereby greatly benefiting national cereal productivity.
Access to irrigation is needed to ensure crops will grow during southern Bangladesh’s dry season, a challenge for farmers who have traditionally relied on rainfed cultivation. Extracting groundwater for irrigation is energy-intensive, but southern Bangladesh has a dense network of rivers and natural canals that can be used for surface water irrigation.
In order to maximize productivity without expanding to new land, farmers in southern Bangladesh will need to rotate at least two crops per year. By using crop rotation, an SI practice that can boost yields, increase profits, protect the environment, and improve soil function and quality, farmers can grow different crops on the same plot, minimizing crop expansion into forests.
Surface water irrigation can increase cereal productivity and intensify cropping systems, even in the face of soil and water salinity constraints. Photo: T. Krupnik/CIMMYT
As South Asia’s population continues to rise and more people move out of poverty, changing dietary preferences are increasing the demand for wheat and maize, while maintaining the demand for rice. However, the average increase in the yield potential of staple crops since the 1960s has been negligible, while farm area per capita has shrunk more than 60 percent to just a tenth of a hectare per person, according to 2014 World Bank Indicators.
The Government of Bangladesh recently adopted land- and water-use policies to support agricultural development in southern Bangladesh by calling for donors to invest over $7 billion. Of these funds, $500 million will be allocated for surface water irrigation to help farmers transition from monsoon rice-fallow or rainfed systems to intensified double-cropping systems.
Future interventions on cropping intensification in southern Bangladesh must look beyond surface water irrigation to assess where conjunctive use of groundwater might be needed and to ensure long-term environmental sustainability. While research results support the targeted use of surface water irrigation alongside improved water governance measures, more viable crop diversification options must be explored and the environmental impact of large-scale irrigation development needs to be assessed.
Building on this study, the CIMMYT-led Cereal Systems Initiative for South Asia will work with national agricultural research systems, government and private sector partners to develop policy and market interventions that continue to build sustainable intensification strategies for both irrigated and rainfed systems across southern Bangladesh.
Breaking Ground is a regular series featuring staff at CIMMYT
Jiafa Chen, a statistical and molecular geneticist at CIMMYT. Photo: CIMMYT
EL BATAN, Mexico (CIMMYT) – Maize has always been an integral part of Jiafa Chen’s life.
Chen, a statistical and molecular geneticist at the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT), has helped identify new genetic resources that have the potential to be used to breed new maize varieties that withstand a variety of environmental and biological stresses. He has also played a significant role in the development of a recent partnership between CIMMYT and Henan Agricultural University (HAU) in China.
Born in Henan – a province in the fertile Yellow River Valley known for its maize and wheat production – Chen’s family grew maize, which was a major source of income and led to his interest in breeding the crop as a means to help small farmers in China. He went on to study agriculture at HAU, where he focused on maize at a molecular level throughout undergraduate and graduate school, then came to CIMMYT as a postdoctoral researcher in 2013.
“Coming to CIMMYT was natural for me,” Chen said. “CIMMYT’s genebank – which holds over 28,000 maize accessions – offered a wide array of genetic resources that could help to breed varieties resistant to disease and abiotic stress which are large challenges in my country.”
Over Chen’s four years at CIMMYT headquarters near Mexico City, he has helped characterize CIMMYT’s entire maize genebank using DArTseq, a genetic fingerprinting method that can be used to help identify new genes related to traits like tolerance to heat under climate change, or resistance to disease. This research is being used to develop maize germplasm with new genetic variation for drought tolerance and resistance to tar spot complex disease.
“Conserving and utilizing biodiversity is crucial to ensure food security for future generations,” Chen said. “For example, all modern maize varieties currently grown have narrow genetic diversity compared to CIMMYT’s genebank, which holds some genetic diversity valuable to breed new varieties that suit future environments under climate change. CIMMYT and other genebanks, which contain numerous crop varieties, are our only resource that can offer the native diversity we need to achieve food security in the future.”
Chen moved back to China this month to begin research at HAU as an assistant professor, where he will continue to focus on discovering new genes associated with resistance to different stresses. Chen was the first student from HAU to come to CIMMYT, and has served as a bridge between the institutions that officially launched a new joint Maize and Wheat Research Center during a signing ceremony last week.
The new center will focus on research and training, and will host four international senior scientists with expertise in genomics, informatics, physiology and crop management. It will be fully integrated into CIMMYT’s global activities and CIMMYT’s current collaboration in China with the Chinese Agricultural Academy of Sciences.
“I think through the new center, CIMMYT will offer HAU the opportunity to enhance agricultural systems in China, and will have a stronger impact at the farm level than ever before,” Chen said. “I also think HAU will have more of an opportunity to be involved with more global agricultural research initiatives, and become a world-class university.”
Cereal yields in sub-Saharan Africa must increase to 80 percent of their potential by 2050 to meet the enormous increase in demand for food. Above, Phillis Muromo, small-scale farmer in Zaka in Zimbabwe. Photo: J. Siamachira/CIMMYT
EL BATAN, Mexico (CIMMYT) — Cereal yields in sub-Saharan Africa must increase to 80 percent of their potential by 2050 to meet the enormous increase in demand for food, according to a new report.
Currently, sub-Saharan Africa is among the regions with the largest gap between cereal consumption and production, with demand projected to triple between 2010 and 2050. The study “Can Sub-Saharan Africa Feed Itself?” shows that nearly complete closure of the gap between current farm yields and yield potential is needed to maintain the current level of cereal self-sufficiency by 2050. For all countries, such yield gap closure requires a large, abrupt acceleration in rate of yield increase. If this acceleration is not achieved, massive cropland expansion with attendant biodiversity loss and greenhouse gas emissions or vast import dependency are to be expected.
Genomic regions associated with root traits under drought stress in tropical maize (Zea mays L.). 2016. Zaidi, P.H.; Seetharam, K.; Krishna, G.; Krishnamurthy, S.L.; Gajanan Saykhedkar; Babu, R.; Zerka, M.; Vinayan, M.T.; Vivek, B. Plos one, 11(10): e0164340.
Can sub-Saharan Africa feed itself? 2016. Ittersum, M.K. van; Bussel, L.G.J. van; Wolf, J.; Grassini, P.; Wart, J. van; Guilpart, N.; Claessens, L.; De Groote, H.; Wiebe, K.; Mason-D’Croz, D.; Haishun Yang; Boogaard, H.; Oort, P.J.A. van; Van Loon, M.P.; Saito, K.; Adimo, O.; Adjei-Nsiah, S.; Agali, A.; Bala, A.; Chikowo, R.; Kaizzi, K.; Kouressy, M.; Makoi, J.H.; Ouattara, K.; Kindie Tesfaye Fantaye; Cassman, K.G. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America PNAS, 113 (52): 14964-14969.
QTL mapping for grain zinc and iron concentrations and zinc efficiency in a tetraploid and hexaploid wheat mapping populations. 2016. Velu, G.; Yusuf Tutus; Gomez-Becerra, H.F.; Yuanfeng Hao; Demir, L.; Kara, R.; Crespo-Herrera, L.A.; Orhan, S.; Yazici, A.; Singh, R.P.; Cakmak, I. Plant and Soil, online first.
Control of Helminthosporium leaf blight of spring wheat using seed treatments and single foliar spray in Indo-Gangetic Plains of Nepal. 2016. Sharma-Poudyal, D.; Sharma, R.C.; Duveiller, E. Crop Protection, 88: 161-166.
Breeding value of primary synthetic wheat genotypes for grain yield. 2016. Jafarzadeh, J.; Bonnett, D.G.; Jannink, J.L.; Akdemir, D.; Dreisigacker, S.; Sorrells, M.E. Plos one, 11 (9): e0162860.
Introducing climate change in Bihar’s Krishi road map. Photo: CIMMYT-BISA
BIHAR, India (CIMMYT) — Rich endowment of fertile soil, adequate rainfall and sufficient ground water makes agriculture key to the overall development of the economy of the state of Bihar in India. Farm mechanization to enhance cropping intensity, reduce labor requirements and improve farm production efficiency is a vital policy initiative taken by Bihar’s Department of Agriculture to address the shrinking area under cultivation. Although the state government has accorded top priority to agriculture, the action plan (the so-called Krishi road map) it has prepared for the agriculture sector does not include a strategy for climate change mitigation.
Extreme climatic vulnerability keeps Bihar’s agricultural productivity low. It is the only state in the country where drought and flood recurrently occur at the same time. To overcome these adverse conditions, the government of Bihar is trying to re-orient agriculture by enacting diversification policies and other measures such as irrigation, flood control and drainage schemes. It has also been involved in climate-smart agriculture (CSA) work and pilot climate-smart villages (CSVs) undertaken by CIMMYT and the Borlaug Initiative for South Asia (BISA) and other collaborators. Concerns about climate change challenges were shared by Nitish Kumar, Bihar’s chief minister, with CIMMYT Director General Martin Kropff during his recent visit to Bihar. They also discussed local community collaboration with researchers, policymakers and scientists on establishing a strategic approach to scale sustainable intensification based on conservation agriculture.
Throughout 2016, traveling seminars and workshops were organized in CSVs to disseminate knowledge about climate-smart agriculture practices (CSAPs). Highlighted at these events were the benefits of direct-seeded rice, laser land leveling, bed planting, residue management, site-specific nutrient management, the GreenSeeker sensor, zero tillage, crop diversification, intensification with legume incorporation, information & communications technologies and weather forecasting. During a stakeholder consultation in September 2016 led by Vijoy Prakash, Bihar’s Agriculture Production Commissioner, CIMMYT-BISA shared its CSA experiences. Addressing the need to incorporate climate change into the Krishi road map, the Chief Minister and other senior government officials visited the CSA research sites at BISA-Pusa and the CSV pilots in Samastipur District implemented by CCAFS, CIMMYT and BISA. Bihar’s Agriculture Minister Vijay Kumar Choudhary also visited 30 CIMMYT-BISA pilot CSVs in Samastipur and Vaishali Districts.
Farmers sharing their experiences with climate-smart practices during a field visit by the Chief Minister of Bihar. Photo: CIMMYT-BISA
The Bihar Agricultural Management and Training Institute (BAMETI) issued a letter to CIMMYT stating that the government of Bihar plans to implement CSA and CSVs in all 38 districts of Bihar. BAMETI is responsible for organizing need-based training programs for the farming community. The Bihar’s Department of Agriculture is also preparing a proposal to introduce CSAPs to improve the resilience of farmers by mainstreaming CSVs in Bihar with technical and strategic support from CIMMYT, BISA and CCAFS in collaboration with Rajendra Agricultural University, Bihar Agricultural University and the ICAR research complex for the eastern region. Based on the success of CSVs, the linkages with CIMMYT will help fulfill Bihar’s innovative Krishi road map. Commending the work done in farmers’ fields and its relevance for addressing climate challenges from a farming systems perspective, Chief Minister Kumar sent a letter to CIMMYT’s DG on the occasion of CIMMYT’s 50th anniversary.
Since then, several field days, workshops and meetings have been conducted by CIMMYT-BISA in collaboration with other partners to fulfill the Krishi road map. On October 7, 2016, a field day on “Direct-Seeded Rice in Climate-Smart Villages’’ was held at CSV Digmbra with more than 300 farmers, service providers, NGOs, private companies and state agriculture department representatives participating, as well as scientists from Krishi Vikas Kendra University and CIMMYT.
Among the subjects discussed were CSA interventions implemented through innovative partnerships with farmers and farmer cooperatives to build farmers’ resilience to climate change and increase their productivity and incomes, while mitigating greenhouse gas emissions from agriculture. Samastipur’s district magistrate reported that the government of Bihar is supporting farmers’ adoption of improved technologies by providing them with subsidies for mechanization, irrigation and improved seed. Finally, several progressive farmers shared their experiences with climate-smart practices and encouraged other farmers to adopt them in order to improve their livelihoods.
Ulrich Schurr (L), of Germany’s Forschungszentrum Jülich research center and chair of the International Plant Phenotyping Network, and Matthew Reynolds, wheat physiologist with the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center, are promoting global partnerships in phenotyping to improve critical food crops, through events like the recent International Crop Phenotyping Symposium. Photo: CIMMYT/Mike Listman
EL BATÁN, Mexico (CIMMYT) — Global research networks must overcome nationalist and protectionist tendencies to provide technology advances the world urgently needs, said a leading German scientist at a recent gathering in Mexico of 200 agricultural experts from more than 20 countries.
“Agriculture’s critical challenges of providing food security and better nutrition in the face of climate change can only be met through global communities that share knowledge and outputs; looking inward will not lead to results,” said Ulrich Schurr, director of the Institute of Bio- and Geosciences of the Forschungszentrum Jülich research center, speaking at the 4th International Plant Phenotyping Symposium
Adapting medical sensors helps crop breeders see plants as never before
“Phenotyping” is the high-throughput application of new technology — including satellite images, airborne cameras, and multi-spectral sensors mounted on robotic carts — to the age-old art of measuring the traits and performance of breeding lines of maize, wheat and other crops, Schurr said.
“Farmers domesticated major food crops over millennia by selecting and using seed of individual plants that possessed desirable traits, like larger and better quality grain,” he explained. “Science has helped modern crop breeders to ‘fast forward’ the process, but breeders still spend endless hours in the field visually inspecting experimental plants. Phenotyping technologies can expand their powers of observation and the number of lines they process each year.”
Adapting scanning devices and protocols pioneered for human medicine or engineering, phenotyping was initially confined to labs and other controlled settings, according to Schurr.
“The push for the field started about five years ago, with the availability of new high-throughput, non-invasive devices and the demand for field data to elucidate the genetics of complex traits like yield or drought and heat tolerance,” he added.
Less than 10 years ago, Schurr could count on the fingers of one hand the number of institutions working on phenotyping. “Now, IPPN has 25 formal members and works globally with 50 institutions and initiatives.”
Cameras and other sensors mounted on flying devices like this blimp provide crop researchers with important visual and numerical information about crop growth, plant architecture and photosynthetic traits, among other characteristics. Photo: E. Quilligan/CIMMYTMany ways to see plants and how they grow
So-called “deep” phenotyping uses technologies such as magnetic resonance imaging, positron emission and computer tomography to identify, measure and understand “invisible” plant parts, systems and processes, including roots and water capture and apportionment.
In controlled environments such as labs and greenhouses, researchers use automated systems and environmental simulation to select sources of valuable traits and to gain insight on underlying plant physiology that is typically masked by the variation found in fields, according to Schurr.
“Several specialists in our symposium described automated lab setups to view and analyze roots and greenhouse systems to assess crop shoot geometry, biomass accumulation and photosynthesis,” he explained. “These are then linked to crop simulation models and DNA markers for genes of important traits.”
Schurr said that support for breeding and precision agriculture includes the use of cameras or other sensors that take readings from above plant stands and crop rows in the field.
“These may take the form of handheld devices or be mounted on autonomous, robotic carts,” he said, adding that the plants can be observed using normal light and infrared or other types of radiation reflected from the plant and soil.
“The sensors can also be mounted on flying devices including drones, blimps, helicopters or airplanes. This allows rapid coverage of a larger area and many more plants than are possible through visual observation alone by breeders walking through a field.”
In the near future, mini-satellites equipped with high-resolution visible light sensors to capture and share aerial images of breeding plots will be deployed to gather data in the field, according to symposium participants.
Bringing high-flying technologies to earth
As is typical with new technologies and approaches to research, phenotyping for crop breeding and research holds great promise but must overcome several challenges, including converting images to numeric information, managing massive and diverse data, interfacing effectively with genomic analysis and bringing skeptical breeders on board.
“The demands of crop breeding are diverse — identifying novel traits, studies of genetic resources and getting useful diversity into usable lines, choosing the best parents for crosses and selecting outstanding varieties in the field, to name a few,” Schurr explained. “From the breeders’ side, there’s an opportunity to help develop novel methods and statistics needed to harness the potential of phenotyping technology.”
A crucial linkage being pursued is that with genomic analyses. “Studies often identify genome regions tied to important traits like photosynthesis as ‘absolute,’ without taking into account that different genes might come into play depending on, say, the time of day of measurement,” Schurr said. “Phenotyping can shed light on such genetic phenomena, describing the same thing from varied angles.”
Speaking at the symposium, Greg Rebetzke, a research geneticist since 1995 at Australia’s Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO), said that the effective delivery in commercial breeding of “phenomics” — a term used by some to describe the high-throughput application of phenotyping in the field — is more a question of what and when, not how.
“It’s of particular interest in breeding for genetically complex traits like drought tolerance,” Rebetzke said. “Phenomics can allow breeders to screen many more plants in early generations of selection, helping to bring in more potentially useful genetic diversity. This genetic enrichment with key alleles early on can significantly increase the likelihood of identifying superior lines in the later, more expensive stages of selecting, which is typically done across many different environments.”
Moreover, where conventional breeding generally uses “snaphot” observations of plants at different growth stages, phenotyping technology can provide detailed time-series data for selected physiological traits and how they are responding to their surroundings—say, well-watered versus dry conditions—and for a much greater diversity and area of plots and fields.
Phenotyping is already being translated from academic research to commercial sector development and use, according to Christoph Bauer, leader of phenotyping technologies at KWS, a German company that breeds for and markets seed of assorted food crops.
“It takes six-to-eight years of pre-breeding and breeding to get our products to market,” Bauer said in his symposium presentation. “In that process, phenotyping can be critical to sort the ‘stars’ from the ‘superstars’.”
Commercial technology providers for phenotyping are also emerging, according to Schurr, helping to ensure robustness, the use of best practices and alignment with the needs of academic and agricultural industry customers.
“The partnership triad of academia, commercial providers and private seed companies offers a powerful avenue for things like joint analysis of genotypic variation in the pre-competitive domain or testing of cutting-edge technology,” he added.
On the final morning of the symposium, participants broke off into groups to discuss special topics, including the cost effectiveness of high-throughput phenotyping and its use to analyze crop genetic resources, measuring roots, diagnostics of reproductive growth, sensor technology needs, integrating phenotypic data into crop models, and public-private collaboration.
Schurr said organizations like CIMMYT play a crucial role.
“CIMMYT does relevant breeding for millions of maize and wheat farmers — many of them smallholders — who live in areas often of little interest for large-scale companies, providing support to the national research programs and local or regional seed producers that serve such farmers,” Schurr said. “The center also operates phenotyping platforms worldwide for traits like heat tolerance and disease resistance and freely spreads knowledge and technology.”
Researchers are seeking to re-engage rural youth who are increasingly abandoning agriculture to work in cities, raising the question who will grow our food in the future? Photo: P.Lowe/CIMMYT
EL BATAN, Mexico (CIMMYT) – More than 60 percent of the population in developing countries is below the age of 25, a demographic that is projected to grow. In Sub-Saharan Africa alone, the number of young people is expected to triple by 2050.
Despite large numbers of youth, farmers worldwide are an average age of about 60 as young people are being pushed out of their rural homes, due to factors like lack of access to land or credit. This is causing a dangerous trend that could result in a shortage of farmers in the coming decades, just as global food demand is projected to increase 70 percent by 2050.
However, when given the opportunity and access to resources, young men and women often prefer to stay in their rural homes and have proven to be more likely to adopt the new technologies needed to sustainably increase agricultural productivity than older farmers.
In an effort to address this age disparity and encourage young people to get involved in farming, youth in agriculture experts are developing a new framework with the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT) that aims to help boost interest in research on maize and wheat farming systems.
Youth in agriculture experts from the Institute of Development studies (IDS), the Royal Tropical Institute (KIT) and the Young Professionals for Agricultural Development (YPARD) visited CIMMYT headquarters near Mexico City to discuss prospects and implications for maize and wheat farming systems – building on efforts to produce a collaborative draft framing paper by IDS with the CGIAR Research Programs MAIZE and WHEAT to help think about how both programs want to engage with youth as part of their research agendas.
Jim Sumberg, agriculturalist and research fellow at the Institute of Development Studies, discusses how we can support youth and build up rural society at large. Photo: G. Renard/CIMMYT
In some situations young people are resorting to occupations other than farming due to lack of land or employment options in rural areas, according to Jim Sumberg, research fellow at IDS and an agriculturalist with over 25 years’ experience working on small-scale farming systems and agricultural research policy.
The response of agricultural research should not just be simply to make youth another target group, Sumberg said.
“We want to develop a more nuanced story, particularly in relation to the interests of MAIZE and WHEAT, and how these align with the interests and capabilities of different groups of young people – men and women, rich and poor, better and less well educated,” Sumberg said.
However, Sumberg cautioned against youth becoming just another box for donors to tick.
“There is a real danger that if we identify young people as a separate target group, as has been done before with women,” Sumberg said. “For each new box you put people in, you are chopping up rural society into separate pieces, as if youth aren’t related to the adults, older people and kids. But in fact everyone is embedded in social relations and networks and are connected to each other.”
What young people do economically, what they’re able to do both in farming and other occupations, has a lot to do with the nature of those relationships.
You need to consider questions like “Does a son or daughter receive land from a father or uncle? Does a wife lend money to her husband to start a business? If you only think in terms of isolate groups, you’re not getting the full picture,” he said.
Sumberg believes that we are early enough in youth involvement in agricultural research that we can avoid the mistake of making them a distinct and separate target. The real challenge is to work our way back to a more holistic image of rural society, which includes understanding the dynamic relationships between individuals and groups in each context in which we operate.
“It’s a great challenge, but the benefits are huge if we can pull this off,” Sumberg said.
The collaborative framing paper on youth for MAIZE and WHEAT will be published in 2017.
Mbula and her son Kivanga shell the cobs of KDV2 maize, an early maturing drought tolerant variety. Photo: B. Wawa/CIMMYT
NAIROBI, Kenya (CIMMYT) – Millions of women across Africa continue to drive agriculture and for Francisca Mbula, a mother of five in her late 50s, her successful journey in farming is credited to her 30-year old eldest son Nzioka Kivanga. Mbula’s family lives in Machakos County, a semi-arid area situated in the eastern part of Kenya’s capital Nairobi, and like thousands of other families, they depend on small-scale rainfed farming, which remains a key livelihood even though it is adversely affected by climatic shocks.
Machakos, like several other counties in eastern Kenya, was badly hit with drought that ravaged various parts of the country during the October-December short rains.
Kivanga is not in formal employment but a dedicated farmer. “Sometimes I see his lack of formal employment as a blessing, because without his hard work and zeal for farming I would not have learned about Drought Tego and KDV2 varieties that have changed my farming,” explained Mbula.
Both Drought Tego and KDV2 are modern improved varieties that are drought tolerant and offer better resistance to common maize diseases in this region. He started planting KDV2, an improved open pollinated variety, during March 2014 and a year later planted Drought Tego, an improved hybrid
A rear view of Kivanga’s new home, built from the income generated using improved maize varieties. Photo: B. Wawa/CIMMYT
“The KDV2 maize is very sweet and good for our Muthokoi meal made from maize and beans, because its grains are small so you don’t need a lot of beans. This helps a lot to cut costs,” said Kivanga. The two varieties are produced and marketed by the Dryland Seed Company (DLS) where Kivanga first learned and purchased at the company shop in Machakos in 2014.
KDV2 and Drought Tego’s yield success has brought many economic gains to Kivanga than he would have otherwise never earned planting traditional varieties. “I started building my house in 2013. It was very slow because I did not have cash to keep the construction going,” said Kivanga. “From the seven bags of KDV2 maize harvest I sold the extra five bags for 3,600 shillings (USD $36) each, which helped me to build up the house from the foundation to the walls.” The seven 90 kilogram (kg) bags of maize harvested from a 2 kg packet of KDV2 variety was four times more than what Kivanga and his mother would have harvested from their recycled local varieties.
When Kivanga got his harvest from Tego in September 2015, it surpassed his expectations. From the 2 kg packet of Drought Tego, Kivanga harvested ten 90 kg bags and another five bags from KDV2 in the same season.
Mbula holds a full cob from the Drought Tego variety, expected to provide her and her family a successful harvest. Photo: B. Wawa/CIMMYT
“With this harvest I was able to plaster all the walls and buy iron sheets for the roofing,” Kivanga said while pointing at his nearly finished house, which he plans to finish in 2016 after the August harvest.
DLS has played a major role in supporting farmers’ access to improved seed by creating awareness about available varieties and their suitability based on agro-ecological zone and planting season.
“KDV varieties are early maturing, so we advise farmers to plant these varieties during the short rains and Drought Tego during the long rains since it is medium maturing,” said Jecinta Mwende, a sales representative at DLS. “This is a sure way of farmers getting higher yields.”
DLS is a key partner collaborating with the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT) to produce and distribute improved stress tolerant varieties. In 2015 DLS produced 300 tons of its three varieties KDV2, KDV4 and Drought Tego, currently being sold to farmers. Another variety – SAWA – is the latest variety and its production started in 2016 as an introductory seed.
“The performance of the four varieties has been impressive even in our production fields, and we will have enough to distribute beyond the eastern region through the coming two planting seasons starting from October 2016,” added Ngila Kimotho, managing director of DLS Company.
Gideon Kruseman, CIMMYT ex-ante and foresight specialist presents household level bio-economic models at workshop. CIMMYT/Khondoker Mottaleb
Gideon Kruseman is CIMMYT’s ex-ante and foresight specialist.
The potential impact of climate change on agriculture and the complexity of possible adaptation responses require the application of new research methods and tools to develop adequate strategies. At a recent five-day training workshop titled “Crop and Bio-economic Modeling under Uncertain Climate,” scientists applied crop and bio-economic models to estimate biophysical and economic impacts of climate variability and change.
Crop system modeling is used to simulate yields for specific weather patterns, nutrient input levels and bio-economic household modeling involves using quantitative economic methodology to incorporate biological, chemical and/or physical processes to analyze the impact of technology development, policy interventions and such exogenous shocks as extreme weather events on the decision-making processes of smallholder farmers and related development indicators. Events influence results in two ways: the probability of occurrence will shape decision-making and actual occurrence will shape realized results.
During the training, which was organized and hosted by the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT), which took place in November in Kenya’s capital, Nairobi, scientists examined how technology development and policy or development interventions may influence farm household decisions on resource allocation and cropping patterns.
The training was beneficial due to its “holistic approach to solve smallholder agricultural production problem using decision support tools,” said Theodrose Sisay from the Ethiopian Institute of Agricultural Research.
Attendees learned in practical terms how shifting weather patterns will change farmer perception of the probability of occurrence of extreme events, which may influence subsequent cropping patterns and technology choices. Cropping system models shed light on the effects of different weather patterns on crop yields under varying management practices. Bio-economic household modeling then places those results in the context of smallholder livelihood strategies.
Bio-economic household model results demonstrated the conditions under which cropping patterns are likely to change as a result of resource constraints and household preferences. The analysis illustrated how cropping patterns may shift as a result of climate change:
Before climate change.After climate change.
Figure: comparison of model results of climate change scenarios
This was the third and last of a series of training workshops offered to same group of trainees since 2014. Not only did the 16 participants learn how to apply crop and bio-economic models allowing them to estimate biophysical and economic impacts of climate variability and change, but they also learned how to assess different adaptation options.
The tools they worked with included the Decision Support System for Agrotechnology Transfer (DSSAT), and a bio-economic household model using Gtree with the general algebraic modeling system (GAMS). The training involved plenary discussions, group work, and individual hands-on exercises.
The training program served as a refresher course on GAMS, said Janvier Egah, a socio-economist from Benin.
“Over time, I had forgotten everything,” he added. “With this training, I remembered the notions of the past course and learned new concepts such as integrating the costs of climate change in bio-economic models. These models interest me particularly and I want to write and submit proposals to apply them.”
The participants came with their own input data for the DSSAT cropping system model and learned how to calibrate the model. The participants developed climate change scenarios, ran simulations and interpreted the simulation outputs using graphical and statistical interfaces.
Workshop participants. Photo credit: CIMMYT
The participants, who have worked together in these workshops on three different occasions, indicated a strong willingness to continue collaborating after the conclusion of the project. They took steps to develop a concept note for a collaborative research grant with a major component related to the use of crop and bio-economic models.
The workshop had a stronger component related to the economic analysis of household decision-making than previous training sessions, and trainees used simulation models based on mathematical programming techniques.
At the conclusion of the workshop, participants expressed interest in pursuing further analysis of this type in the future as a complement to crop growth modelling.
To satisfy the enormous increase in demand for food in sub-Saharan Africa until 2050, cereal yields must increase to 80 percent of their potential. This calls for a drastic trend break. Graphic courtesy of Wageningen University
EL BATAN, Mexico (CIMMYT) – Sub-Saharan Africa will need to transform and intensify crop production to avoid over-reliance on imports and meet future food security needs, according to a new report.
Recent studies have focused on the global picture, anticipating that food demand will grow 60 percent by 2050 as population soars to 9.7 billion, and hypothesizing that the most sustainable solution is to close the yield gap on land already used for crop production.
Yet, although it is essential to close the yield gap, which is defined as the difference between yield potential and actual farm yield, cereal demand will likely not be met without taking further measures in some regions, write the authors of the report published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS).
In particular, sub-Saharan Africa faces the prospect of needing greater cereal crop imports or expanding onto previously unfarmed lands, which will lead to a sharp uptick in biodiversity loss and greenhouse gas emissions in the region.
“No low-income country successfully industrialized in the second half of the 20th century while importing major shares of their food supply,” said co-author Kindie Tesfaye, a scientist with the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT).
To meet food demand without planting on previously unsown lands, farmers in sub-Saharan Africa will need to close yield gaps, but in addition consider options to sustainably intensify the number of crops grown on existing croplands by rotation and expanding the use of irrigation in a responsible manner.
“If intensification is not successful and massive cropland expansion is to be avoided, sub-Saharan Africa will become ever more dependent on imports of cereals than it is today,” Tesfaye said, adding that the African Development Bank highlights self-sufficiency in agriculture as a principal goal of its action plan for agricultural transformation.
More than half of global population growth between now and 2050 is projected to occur in Africa, where it increased 2.6 percent each year between 2010 and 2015, according to data from the U.N. Department of Economic and Social Affairs.
In sub-Saharan Africa, population will increase 2.5 times overall by 2050, and demand for cereals will triple, while current levels of cereal consumption already depend on substantial imports.
For the study, titled “Can Sub-Saharan Africa Feed Itself?”, scientists focused on 10 countries where cereals make up half of calories in the human diet and half the cropland area that are part of the Global Yield Gap Atlas, which is developed using local data, to estimate food production capacity on existing cropland. Of the 10 countries, seven do not have enough land area to support expansion.
Except in Ethiopia and Zambia, cereal yields in most countries in the region are growing more slowly than population and demand, while total cropland area has increased a massive 14 percent in the last 10 years. Although Ethiopia shows progress in crop production intensification, other countries lag behind, Tesfaye said.
“With improved cultivars, hybrid seeds, coupled with increased use of irrigation, fertilizers, modern pest management practices and good agronomy, it’s possible to achieve accelerated rates of yield gain, but more research and development are required,” he added.
“Can Sub-Saharan Africa Feed Itself?” appears in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences the week of December 12. It is co-authored by Wageningen University, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, and multiple CGIAR centers, regional and national Institutions in Africa.
Thermal image of the CIMMYT-Obregon station acquired from the thermal camera at a 2-meter resolution on 14 February 2013. Well-watered (cooler) plots are shown in blue, water-stressed (warmer) plots in green and red. Roads and bare soil areas have an even higher temperature and are shown in yellow. Photo: CIMMYT
EL BATAN, Mexico (CIMMYT) — Micro-satellites are emerging as an effective low-cost option to collecting data like sow date and yields on small farms across the developing world. When used in combination with bio-physical and socio-economic data, micro-satellite data can improve monitoring and evaluation, better assess and understand changes and shocks in crop-based farming systems and improve technology targeting across farmer communities.
Data taken from satellites – remotely controlled communications systems that orbit the earth – can provide different spatial, spectral and temporal resolutions for agriculture that detail crop health, irrigation use, yield, soil analysis and more.
While this information has greatly benefited the accuracy and precision of farming across the globe, it’s traditionally been a challenge to collect data on farms in the developing world. Many farmers have small pieces of land that can’t be accurately observed by most freely available satellite imagery, and it’s extremely expensive to access information that isn’t free.
However, a trend in recent years towards smaller, often private organizations sending their own micro-satellites into the sky have made access to satellite imagery much more affordable due to their smaller size, shorter life cycles and lower upfront costs.
A recent study by scientists at the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT) looked at the impact of the micro-satellite SkySat in Bihar, India, which mapped sowing dates and yields of smallholder wheat fields during the 2014-2015 and 2015-2016 growing seasons. The study then compares how well sowing date and yield were predicted when using ground data, like crop cuts and self-reports, versus using crop models, which require no on-the-ground data, to develop and parameterize prediction models.
The study “Mapping Smallholder Wheat Yields and Sowing Dates Using Micro-Satellite Data,” concludes that micro-satellite data can be used to map individual field-level characteristics of smallholder farms with significant accuracy, capturing roughly one-half and one-third of the variation in field-measured sow date and yields, respectively, when parameterized with field measures. These results suggest that micro-satellites and the data they provide will continue to serve as an important resource for mapping field-level farm characteristics, and that their utility will only improve as micro-satellites develop increased temporal frequency throughout the growing season.
Learn more about this and other recent publications from CIMMYT scientists below.
Association analysis of resistance to cereal cyst nematodes (Heterodera avenae) and root lesion nematodes (Pratylenchus neglectus and P. thornei) in CIMMYT advanced spring wheat lines for semi-arid conditions. 2016. Dababat, A.A.; Gomez-Becerra, H.F.; Erginbas-Orakci, G.; Dreisigacker, S.; Imren, M.; Toktay, H.; Elekcioglu, I.H.; Tesfamariam Mekete; Nicol, J.M.; Ansari, O.; Ogbonnaya, F.C. Breeding Science. Online First.
Developing and deploying insect resistant maize varieties to reduce pre-and post-harvest food losses in Africa. 2016. Tadele Tefera; Mugo, S.N.; Beyene, Y. Food Security 8 (1) : 211-220.
Mapping smallholder wheat yields and sowing dates using micro-satellite data. 2016. Meha Jain; Srivastava, A.; Singh, B.; Rajiv K. Joon; McDonald, A.; Royal, K.; Lisaius, M.C.; Lobell, D.B. Remote Sensing 8 (10) : 860.
Nitrogen fertilizer placement and timing affects bread wheat (Triticum aestivum) quality and yield in an irrigated bed planting system. 2016. Grahmann, K.; Govaerts, B.; Fonteyne, S.; Guzman, C.; Galaviz-Soto, A.P.; Buerkert, A.; Verhulst, N. Nutrient Cycling in Agroecosystems 106 : 185-199.
Resistance of Bt-maize (MON810) against the stem borers Busseola fusca (Fuller) and Chilo partellus (Swinhoe) and its yield performance in Kenya. 2016. Tadele Tefera; Mugo, S.N.; Mwimali, M.; Anani, B.; Tende, R.; Beyene, Y.; Gichuki, S.; Oikeh, S.O.; Nang’ayo, F.; Okeno, J.; Njeru, E.; Pillay, K.; Meisel, B.; Prasanna, B.M. Crop Protection 89 : 202-208.
Bags of Hugo seed in storage in Haiti. CIMMYT/Alberto Chassaigne
EL BATAN, Mexico (CIMMYT) – Haiti’s farmers are benefiting from improved maize seed as part of a project developed to help kick-start the local seed sector and reduce dependence on international aid and imports.
Half of the Haitian population lives on less than $1.25 a day, and half of their food is imported, leaving them vulnerable to food price rises. Haiti receives $20 million per year in food assistance from U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) collaborations alone. Because of the lack of inputs, fragile infrastructure and soil erosion, most farming is subsistence in nature and kept in check by droughts and seasonal storms.
Until good-quality improved seed is available in Haiti, farmers will struggle to surpass yields of one ton per hectare, and most will settle for much less. “In order to be sustainable, you need seed systems and it needs to be a business,” said Arturo Silva, leader of the Haiti Mayi Plus project, led by the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT) with funding from USAID.
Bringing back Hugo
A very popular quality protein maize variety was introduced to Haiti 10 years ago by CIMMYT researcher Hugo Cordova. Haitian farmers know it as “Hugo,” but after a decade without a functioning system to guarantee that varieties are reproduced with the same genetic characteristics, the seed found in Haitian markets is no longer worthy of the name. Currently, there are only two formally-registered private seed producers in Haiti.
CIMMYT’s first task is to restore Hugo to its former glory by providing four tons of basic seed to be scaled up into commercial seed for use in Haiti. Although Hurricane Matthew destroyed 1.5 tons of this store in October, the project is still on track to surpass targets due to success elsewhere.
Haitian trainees in Mexico. CIMMYT/Alberto Chassaigne
In February 2016, eight people from Haitian seed enterprises, rural development groups and the Ministry of Agriculture travelled to the State of Oaxaca, Mexico, for a training course in seed production.
The training was so successful that, with 30 kilograms of foundation seed provided by CIMMYT, nearly four tons of basic Hugo seed will be produced in Haiti. Additionally, trainees passed on their newly acquired knowledge to around 30 farmers with the potential to become seed producers themselves.
From just over one ton of basic Hugo seed planted it will be possible to produce 140 tons of commercial seed for farmers, enough to plant 7,000 hectares of farmland in the area targeted by the project in southwest Haiti.
The return of Hugo is a quick win as a variety that farmers already know and trust. If farmers in target areas combine the new seed with good planting practices and fertilizer, they should be able to double their yields, at the very least.
Towards maize self-sufficiency in Haiti
An agricultural transformation can only occur as other obstacles facing Haiti are overcome. For now, CIMMYT, building on the work of USAID with its partners, is showing how a local seed sector can quickly be developed.
“We can have an impact in Haiti, but our focus is for this impact to be that they have people well-trained in quality seed production with the criteria of cutting dependency,” said Alberto Chassaigne, CIMMYT specialist in maize seed systems.
CIMMYT is working with local centers for rural development (CRDDs) to determine farmers’ needs, raise awareness of farming practices and identify those with the potential to become seed producers. CIMMYT donated a small seeder to the University of Quisqueya in Haiti’s capital, Port-au-Prince, and student trials are underway to investigate how to improve cropping intensity in farmers’ fields.
Hugo maize growing in Haiti. CIMMYT/Alberto Chassaigne
Looking to the future, studies are being conducted in Haiti to produce even better open-pollinated varieties (OPVs) and high-yielding hybrids that will allow an emerging local seed sector to take maize farming in Haiti to another level. The specialized genetics of hybrid maize yield more than OPVs when well fertilized, but must be produced using special protocol. CIMMYT’s partners in Haiti will be instrumental in creating a cultural change among farmers to see the value in paying for better seed and inputs.
“I believe that if we can have an impact in Haiti, with all the challenges it faces, there is no other country in Mesoamerica that can say it can’t be done there too,” said Chassaigne. “I work with very proactive, dedicated people who want to help their country; without them we will not achieve anything.”
David Hodson, CIMMYT senior scientist (L), describes the challenges posed by wheat rust to Priti Patel, Britain’s international development secretary, during the Grand Challenges Annual Meeting in London. DFID/handout
LONDON (CIMMYT) – International wheat rust monitoring efforts are not only keeping the fast-spreading disease in check, but are now being deployed to manage risks posed by other crop diseases, said a scientist attending a major scientific event in London.
Although initially focused on highly virulent Ug99 stem rust, the rust tracking system – developed as part of the Borlaug Global Rust Initiative, an international collaboration involving Cornell University and national agricultural research programs – is also used to monitor other fungal rusts and develop prediction models with the aim of helping to curtail their spread.
“Our data reinforce the fact that we face threats from rusts per se and not just from the Ug99 race group – we are fortunate that international efforts laid the groundwork to establish a comprehensive monitoring system,” said Hodson, one of more than 1,200 international scientists at the gathering.
“The research investments are having additional benefits,” he told Priti Patel, Britain’s secretary of state for international development, explaining that the wheat rust surveillance system is now also being applied to the deadly Maize Lethal Necrosis disease in Africa.
“The learning from stem rust and investments in data management systems and other components of the tracking system have allowed us to fast-track a similar surveillance system for another crop and pathosystem.”
“Researchers at the University of Cambridge are working with the UK Met Office and international scientists to track and prevent deadly outbreaks of wheat rust which can decimate this important food crop for many of the world’s poorest people,” Patel said, referring to collaborative projects involving CIMMYT, funded by the Gates Foundation and DFID
Patel also launched a DFID research review at the meeting, committing the international development agency to continued research support and detailing how the UK intends to deploy development research and innovation funding of £390 million ($485 million) a year over the next four years.
Wheat improvement work by the CGIAR consortium of agricultural researchers was highlighted in the research review as an example of high impact DFID research. Wheat improvement has resulted in economic benefits of $2.2 to $3.1 billion per year and almost half of all the wheat planted in developing countries.
Healthy soils are vital for a healthy and food secure future. (Photo: CIMMYT)
At the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT) we care deeply about one of the Earth’s most precious resources: soils. Humanity relies on soils not only for food production, but also for a range of vital ecosystem services. Soil is the vital substrate for terrestrial ecosystems, whether natural or agricultural.
Increasing population and related food demand are putting tremendous pressure on soils and too often lead to unsustainable practices jeopardizing their long term productivity. When increasing food demand is met by clearing new lands, it often occurs on more fragile soils, and/or at the expense of natural habitats. This short-term solution puts future livelihoods at risk and cannot continue.
For several decades, conservation agriculture (CA) has been a main research topic for CIMMYT’s agronomists. CA, as we define it, is based on three principles: 1) reduced or no tillage; 2) permanent soil cover; 3) crop rotation. Empirical evidence demonstrates the large benefits of CA on soil conservation/reclamation and soil health.
Work has been carried out and knowledge generated in very diverse agro-ecologies and socio-economic environments in the regions where CIMMYT works (Latin America, Southeast Asia, East and Southern Africa). Since many people use the term CA in a less scientific way, I sometimes call it innovation agriculture. I have seen many fields worldwide where our scientists work alongside farmers on sustainable intensification with a focus on these elements.
Agronomic “proof of concepts” is not sufficient, and we cannot just rely on results obtained at the field level to expect adoption at scale. Placing technical innovations, such as CA, into a farming systems context is needed to understand its adoptability and potential contribution to soil conservation, productivity, and climate change adaptation. One major adoption constraint of CA for many smallholder farmers is keeping a permanent crop cover with crop residues (zero tillage without proper soil cover can do more harm than good with regard to soil erosion).
Crop residues are often used to feed livestock, but these materials left in the field after a crop has been harvested are also essential to maintaining rich and fertile soil. Feeding the soil versus feeding animals is often a difficult choice farmers have to make. Through farming system research and participatory approaches, CIMMYT and its partners are working with farmers to develop technological and management options that provide higher profitability, improved resource use efficiency, while maintaining or improving their production base; soils.
The 2016 U.N. World Soil Day theme on Dec. 5, is “Soils and pulses, a symbiosis for life,” which resonates very well with our work: CIMMYT conducts research in maize and wheat based systems and is a strong proponent of diversification through the improved use of legumes in rotation or intercropping.
Soils draw a great deal of interest on the climate change mitigation front. They are a huge carbon reservoir with the potential to store even more under better land management and land use practices, as shown by the recent 4 per thousand initiative launched during the COP21 2015 U.N. climate talks in Paris. However, those mitigation options need to be better quantified to assess sequestration potential and not oversell options and technologies. CIMMYT scientists have recently contributed to several studies on that topic, helping to shed the light on greenhouse gas sequestration potential from technical innovations such as CA and reduced tillage.
Increased productivity through improved varieties of maize and wheat with better management practices is not only soil friendly but also provides land sparing opportunities; reducing the pressure on clearing new land preserving natural ecosystems.
CGIAR congratulates the Convention on Biological Diversity on the occasion of the 13th Conference of the Parties, and is committed to significantly contribute to the actions mentioned in the Cancun Declaration on Mainstreaming the Conservation and Sustainable Use of Biodiversity for Well-Being together with all its partners.
Biodiversity is vitally important to agriculture, food and nutrition security as well as to the integrity of the natural resources upon which agriculture depends. Biological diversity at the genetic, species, farm, and landscape levels is essential to increasing food security, improving health and nutrition, and enhancing resilience and adaptation to climate change, as well as to sustainably manage agricultural and forest landscapes.
Examples include:
The sustainable use of agricultural ecosystems as reservoirs of agricultural biodiversity, enhancing diversification and fostering an integrated use of landscape.
The conservation and promotion of the cultivation of native varieties, as well as the preservation of their wild relatives.
The use of measures to enhance agricultural biodiversity, particularly for small producers;
The reduction of agricultural pollution, and the efficient use of agrochemicals, fertilizers and other agricultural inputs.
Other topics include reduction of waste and loss of food; conservation of pollinators, sustainable fisheries and sustainable aquaculture, an integrated landscape approach in forestry management schemes; the promotion of the importance of forest ecosystems as reservoirs of biodiversity and providers of environmental goods and services.
As the world’s leading global agricultural research partnership, CGIAR conducts research in sustainable agriculture, livestock, fisheries and forestry, climate adaptation, nutrition, policies, and markets as well as the sustainable management of land, water and ecosystems, with three strategic objectives: to reduce poverty; improve food and nutrition security; and improve natural resources and ecosystem services.
CGIAR research is carried out by 15 CGIAR centers with 10,000 staff in 70, mainly developing, countries in close collaboration with hundreds of partners, including national and regional research institutes, civil society organizations, academia, development organizations and the private sector to enhance food and nutrition security and preserve natural resources. A true example of science with impact on the livelihoods of hundreds of millions of people and the conservation of natural resources.
CGIAR research also contributes to enhancing genetic diversity of agricultural and associated landscapes; increasing conservation and use of genetic resources; enriching plant and animal biodiversity for multiple goods and services; increasing the availability of diverse nutrient-rich foods and diversifying and intensifying agricultural systems in ways that protect soils and water (through e.g., conservation agriculture, agroforestry, and precision agriculture) and wild biodiversity.
As an important part of its mandate, CGIAR is committed to the conservation and sustainable use of genetic diversity through its networks of 11 global germplasm banks, covering 34 crops. CGIAR germplasm banks manage many of the largest and most important collections of crop diversity in the world, including landraces and crop wild relatives of cereals, roots and tubers, forages and trees. CGIAR centers – both their germplasm banks and breeding programs – transfer approximately millions of packages with around 100,000 different samples annually under the auspices of the International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture (ITPGRFA). This represents over 90 percent of the materials that are transferred globally under the Plant Treaty system. Of those materials, over 85 percent goes to recipients in developing countries, almost entirely to public sector research and development organizations.
Other examples of the work of CGIAR Centers in support of mainstreaming biological diversity include:
Repatriating lost crop diversity to small holder farming communities and countries that have lost such diversity.
Promoting diversity in production systems by including pulses that enhance nutrition and improve soil fertility; improving livestock systems.
Breeding to improve the nutrition, resilience, adaptation and productivity of the world’s major food crops, and building capacity for breeding within developing countries using the wide genetic diversity.
Promoting equitable access to genetic resources by keeping germplasm, information about germplasm, and tools to facilitate the use of germplasm in the public domain.
Developing an ‘Agrobiodiversity Index’ to help decision-makers, including governments, investors and companies, ensure that their decisions enhance the sustainable use and conservation of agricultural biodiversity.
In the course of their work, the CGIAR centers and their partners in developing and developed countries will also need to collect and use plant and animal materials that fall under the Nagoya Protocol. Mainstreaming biodiversity into food and agricultural systems depends on the mutually supportive implementation of the Nagoya Protocol and the Plant Treaty. Indeed, the CGIAR is partnering with the secretariats of the CBD, the Plant Treaty and a number of national programs to identify options for such mutually supportive implementation, and looks forward to continuing its work with the Convention on Biological Diversity in support of the implementation of the Cancun Declaration.
![Cameras and other sensors mounted on flying devices like this blimp [remote-control quadcopter] provide crop researchers with important visual and numerical information about crop growth, plant architecture and photosynthetic traits, among other characteristics. Photo: Emma Quilligan/CIMMYT](http://staging.cimmyt.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/12/Blimp-EmmaQuilligan.jpg)
