CSISA contributes to increased adoption of climate-resilient practices. Photo: CIMMYT
NEW DELHI, India (CIMMYT) — Major impacts of CIMMYTâs Cereal Systems Initiative for South Asia (CSISA) include success in increasing access to and affordability of modern farming technologies and practices for smallholder farmers across India, according to a new report.
The initiative, which began in 2012, resulted in positive impacts and has built a robust service economy to improve access to new technologies for smallholder farmers, said Andrew McDonald, CSISA project leader.
âIndia has a large number of smallholders, especially in eastern states where the average landholding size is decreasing and machine ownership by farmers is often not economically viable,â McDonald said. âUnless we build a robust service economy to facilitate uptake of new technologies, they would be beyond the reach of most smallholders.â
CSISA has developed a network of nearly 2,000 service providers in eastern India over the past three years to accelerate the expansion of sustainable intensification technologies, resulting in improved yields of up to 20 percent and increased farmer incomes through cost savings of $100 per hectare, the publication reports.
The report also details CSISAâs contribution to increased adoption of climate-resilient practices such as early planting of wheat and the use of zero-tillage seed drills, which help farmers overcome labor shortages during rice cultivation through mechanical rice planting.
âCSISA has built a compelling body of evidence for the importance of early planting to combat the negative effects of rising temperatures,â McDonald said.
âAs a result, public perception and official recommendations have changed, and more than 600,000 farmers are now planting wheat earlier in the Indian states of Bihar and Uttar Pradesh.â
Additionally, CSISA helped popularize hybrid maize, which has increased yields and improved food security.
âEnhancing the productivity of the rice-wheat cropping systems in South Asiaâs Indo-Gangetic Plains is essential for ensuring food security for more than 20 percent of the worldâs population,â said McDonald. âCSISA, in close collaboration with national wheat programs, has released new wheat varieties with higher yield potential, which perform well even in stress-prone areas.â
These results were achieved during CSISAâs second phase, from 2012 to 2015, through collaborative work with national research and extension systems, research institutes, state governments, non-governmental organizations, private companies and farmers,.
Led by CIMMYT, the Cereal Systems Initiative for South Asia (CSISA) aims to sustainably improve cereal productivity, food security and increase farmersâ income in South Asiaâs Indo-Gangetic Plains, home to the regionâs most important grain baskets. www.csisa.org
For more information, contact:
Anuradha Dhar
Communications Specialist
International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT)
This story is one of a series of features written during CIMMYTâs 50th anniversary year to highlight significant advancements in maize and wheat research between 1966 and 2016.
EL BATAN, Mexico (CIMMYT) — In 1935, Japanese scientist Gonjoro Inazuka crossed a semi-dwarf Japanese wheat landrace with two American varieties resulting in an improved variety, known as Norin 10. Norin 10 derived varieties eventually ended up in the hands of Norman Borlaug, beginning one of the most extraordinary agricultural revolutions in history. This international exchange of germplasm ultimately saved hundreds of millions of people from starvation and revolutionized the world of wheat.
Pictured above is a cross between Chapingo 53 – a tall variety of wheat that was resistant to a fungal pathogen called stem rust – and a variety developed from previous crosses of Norin 10 with four other wheat strains. Photo: CIMMYT
Norin 10 began to attract international attention after a visit by S.D. Salmon, a renowned wheat breeder in the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), to Marioka Agriculture Research Station in Honshu. Salmon took some samples of the Norin 10 variety back to the United States, where in the late 1940s Orville Vogel at Washington State University used them to help produce high-yielding, semi-dwarf winter wheat varieties, of which Gaines was the first one.
In neighboring Mexico, Norman Borlaug and his team were focusing their efforts on tackling the problem of lodging and rust resistance. After unsuccessfully screening the entire USDA World Wheat Germplasm collection for shorter and strong varieties, Borlaug wrote to Vogel and requested seed containing the Norin 10 dwarfing genes. Norin 10 was a lucky break, providing both short stature and rust resistance.
In 1953, Borlaug began crossing Vogelâs semi-dwarf winter wheat varieties with Mexican varieties. The first attempt at incorporating the Vogel genes into Mexican varieties failed. But after a series of crosses and re-crosses, the result was a new type of spring wheat: short and stiff-strawed varieties that tillered profusely, produced more grain per head, and were less likely to lodge. The semi-dwarf Mexican wheat progeny began to be distributed nationally, and within seven years, average wheat yields in Mexico had doubled. By 1962, 10 years after Vogel first supplied seed of the Norin 10 semi-dwarf progeny to Borlaug, two high-yielding semi-dwarf Norin 10 derivatives, Pitic 62 and Penjamo 62, were released for commercial production.
As the figure below indicates, these wheat varieties then led to a flow of other high-yielding wheat varieties, including Sonora 64 and Lerma Rojo 64, two varieties that led to the Green Revolution in India, Pakistan and other countries, and Siete Cerros 66, which at its peak was grown on over 7 million hectares in the developing world. The most widely grown variety during this period was the very early maturing variety Sonalika, which is still grown in India today.
[Reproduced from Foods and Food Production Encyclopedia, Douglas M. Considine]
From left to right: Norman Borlaug, Mohan Kohli and Sanjaya Rajaram at Centro de Investigaciones Agricolas del Noreste (CIANO), Sonora, Mexico, in 1973. (Photo: CIMMYT)
Borlaug had sent a fewdozen seeds of his high-yielding, disease-resistant semi-dwarf wheat varieties to India to test their resistance to local rust strains. M.S. Swaminathan, a wheat cytogeneticist and advisor to the Indian Minister of Agriculture, immediately grasped their potential for Indian agriculture and wrote to Borlaug, inviting him to India. Soon after the unexpected invitation reached him, Borlaug boarded a Pan Am Boeing 707 to India.
Fifty years on, we face new challenges, even though we have continued to make incremental increases to average yield. There is an ever-increasing demand for wheat from a growing worldwide population with changing dietary preferences. The worldâs climate is changing; temperatures are rising and extreme weather events are becoming more common. Natural resources, especially ground water, are also being depleted; new crop diseases are emerging and yield increases are not keeping pace with demand.
Borlaug and his contemporaries kicked off the Green Revolution by combining semi-dwarf, rust resistant and photoperiod insensitive traits. Today, a new plan and commitment to achieving another quantum leap in wheat productivity are in place. The International Wheat Yield Partnership, an international public-private partnership, is exploiting the best wheat research worldwide to increase wheat yield potential by up to 50%. This one-of-a-kind initiative will transfer germplasm to leading breeding programs around the world.
Cover photo: Norman Borlaug works with researchers in the field. (Photo: CIMMYT archives)
A farmer in his barren field in Sewena, Ethiopia. (Photo: Kyle Degraw/Save the Children)
One of the strongest El Niños on record is underway, threatening millions of agricultural livelihoods â and lives.
At least ten million people in the developing world are facing hunger due to droughts and erratic rainfall as global temperatures reach new records coupled with the onset of a powerful El Niño – the climate phenomenon that develops in the tropical Pacific and brings extreme weather across the world. Warmer than usual waters in the Pacific have made this yearâs El Niño a contender for the strongest on record, currently held by the 1997 El Niño, which caused over $35 billion in global economic losses and claimed an estimated 23,000 lives. These extreme El Niños are twice as likely to occur due to climate change, according to a letter published in Nature magazine by researchers at McGill University, Montreal, Canada, and the University of Sussex, Brighton, UK.
Who is most at risk?
Watch this video to learn more about El Niño’s impact on weather globally. (Source: World Meteorological Organization)
This El Niño has resulted in severe drought throughout Central America, the Caribbean and Ethiopia, and is predicted to lead to flooding in the Horn of Africa and drought in southern Africa in the coming months. It has also disrupted the Indian monsoon and led to drier conditions in Southeast Asia and Indonesia, which has resulted in devastating wildfires across the country.
The El Niño phenomenon is often followed by a transition to La Niña, another driver of global weather patterns. If this were to happen again, it would mean more severe drought in the eastern Horn of Africa, and hurt crops like sugar, palm oil, and rice in Asia.
Responding to and mitigating El Niñoâs effects
A shop attendant displays drought-tolerant seed at the Dryland Seed Company shop in Machakos, Kenya. (Photo: CIMMYT)
Ensuring farmers are equipped with climate resilient varieties that can withstand extreme stresses such as drought or waterlogging is an essential measure to counteract the side effects of El Niño. For example, after planting a drought tolerant maize variety developed by CIMMYT, farmers in Tanzania produced nearly 50 percent more grain than they normally would under the same conditions using other commercial varieties. In South Asia, CIMMYT has developed maize varieties that are tolerant to waterlogging and provide a safety net in years with heavy rains or flooding.
Crop-index insurance is another tool that can serve as both a preventive and responsive measure to support smallholders during natural disasters. It allows farmers to purchase coverage based on an index that is correlated with those losses, such as average yield losses over a larger area or a well-defined climate risk â like drought â that significantly influences crop yields. If implemented correctly, index insurance can build resilience for smallholder farmers not only by ensuring a payout in the event of climate shocks like those caused by El Niño, but also by giving farmers the incentive to invest in new technology and inputs, such as seed.
So â are we prepared for this storm? Since 2003, nearly one-quarter of all damage and losses from climate-related disasters have occurred in the agricultural sector in developing countries. While global food security will likely not suffer another shock like that of 2007-08, primarily because global stocks of maize, wheat and rice are so large, natural disasters resulting from El Niño combined with climate change are playing out into unchartered territory, posing a real threat to peopleâs lives and livelihoods.
This isnât the time to be complacent. We need to take preventive measures, and long-term investments in agricultural research will help us be prepared for future shocks and ensure crops and livelihoods can withstand more frequent natural disasters.
Mark your calendars! CIMMYT will celebrate its 50th anniversary during a three-day event from September 27 to 29, 2016.
We will be celebrating throughout the year, with the capstone event to be held in Mexico in September 2016.
We will showcase CIMMYTâs successes, impacts, and partnerships, and we will look toward the future: What will CIMMYT need to become in the next 50 years?
What do the complex challenges of the future mean for agricultural research-for-development at large?
The following themes will be in focus:
Maize and wheat science is fundamental for food security and sustainable development.
CIMMYT has made impacts well beyond the size of our institution, and is a key player in addressing research-for-development challenges of the future.
Our partnerships enable us to make impacts with our research, and we want to highlight and strengthen those partnerships.
We look forward to exploring these topics with CIMMYT50 participants, and to planning for a future with continued impact.
Information about the program and logistics will be available soon.
For any questions about the event, please contact the CIMMYT50 executive committee at cimmyt50@cgiar.org.
Follow us on Twitter @CIMMYT and follow the #CIMMYT50 hashtag for more information
Maize is the most widely cultivated crop in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA), and one of the few crops that have profound effects on the livelihoods of millions of people there.
To illustrate the point, sample these critical thresholds beyond and around the halfway mark:
more than half the cereal acreage is devoted to maize production in more than half of the SSA countries; and,
maize accounts for nearly half of the calories and protein intake in eastern and southern Africa, and for one-fifth of calories and protein intake in West Africa.
With the SSA population likely to double by 2050, maize production is facing a formidable challenge from biophysical and socioeconomic limitations. Climate change will further compound the crisis in maize production, undermining food security and poverty reduction in the region.
Although climate change is a global phenomenon, its impacts vary depending on region and season. In order to formulate appropriate adaptation options and to assure timely responses, we first need a better understanding of the potential impacts of climate change on maize yield and production at different spatial and temporal scales.
To help fill this gap for SSA, a forthcoming article in the International Journal of Climate Change Strategies and Management entitled Maize systems under climate change in sub-Saharan Africa: potential impacts on production and food security (early edition available online) assesses the baseline impact of climate change in a business-as-usual scenario. The study indicates that maize production and food security in most parts of SSA are likely to be severely crippled by climate change, although the projected impacts will vary across countries and regions.
Facts and figures from the study:
These results highlight the need for greater investment in maize research, particularly on developing maize varieties that tolerate both drought and heat in order to minimize or offset the inevitable impacts of climate change on maize production in sub-Saharan Africa and reduce food insecurity in the continent.
On 29 April, CIMMYT had a double reason to celebrate, picking up the award for âBest gender paperâ and âBest science paperâ (along with Bioversity), at the CGIAR Research Program on Climate Change, Agriculture and Food Security (CCAFS) Science Conference in Copenhagen. The conference was part of a series of CCAFS meetings held from 29 April â 02 May, and was attended by various CIMMYT staff.
The best gender paper, titled âAdoption of Agricultural Technologies in Kenya: How Does Gender Matter?â and co-authored by Simon Wagura Ndiritu, Menale Kassie and Bekele Shiferaw, highlighted the differences between technologies adopted on female- and male-managed farm plots in Kenya. They found that whilst there were gender differences in the adoption of technologies such as the use of animal manure, soil and water conservation, other differences in the use of chemical fertilizers and improved seed may stem from the varying levels of access to resources for men and women, rather than gender itself. âThis recognition inspires me to put more effort to produce more quality research that will bring excellent distinction to CIMMYT and myself,â said Kassie, while Ndiritu said âit is an encouragement to a young scientist,â adding that he is looking forward to having the paper published.
The winning science paper, âAssessing the vulnerability of traditional maize seed systems in Mexico to climate changeâ, was authored by David Hodson (FAO), and Mauricio Bellon (Bioversity) and Jonathan Hellin from CIMMYT. With climate change models predicting significant impacts in Mexico and Central America, particularly during the maize growing season (May â October), the paper assessed the capacity of traditional maize seed systems to provide farmers with appropriate genetic material, under the anticipated agro-ecological conditions. Their results indicated that whilst most farmers will have easy access to appropriate seed in the future, those in the highlands will be more vulnerable to climate change and are likely to have to source seed from outside their traditional supplies, entailing significant additional costs and changes to the traditional supply chain.
To share the good news, the Socioeconomics program hosted a get-together with the team in Nairobi, Kenya. During the cake cutting ceremony, the best gender paper award was dedicated to women farmers from Embu and Kakamega in Kenyaâs Eastern and Western Provinces, where the data was collected. The Nairobi team also took the opportunity to initiate monthly seminars in order to share research findings hosted by the Global Maize Program and the Socioeconomics program and promote regular interaction among the team. The program directors, Bekele Shiferaw and B. M. Prasanna nominated Dan Makumbi, Hugo De Groote, Sika Gbegbelegbe, Fred Kanampiu, and Sarah Kibera, to form the organizing committee for the seminars.
CIMMYT wheat physiologist Matthew Reynolds describes the technology used for conducting research into heat and drought resilient wheat varieties in Ciudad Obregon in Mexico’s northern state of Sonora in March 2015. CIMMYT/Julie Mollins
EL BATAN, Mexico (CIMMYT) â Scientists involved in a major global initiative aimed at increasing wheat yields as much as 60 percent by 2050 got a recent boost when the U.S. government announced $3.4 million in new research funds.
Researchers affiliated with the International Wheat Yield Partnership (IWYP), focused on developing new high-yielding varieties of wheat to meet demand that will be generated by a projected 33 percent increase in population growth from 7.3 billion people today to 9.5 billion by 2050, will be eligible to apply for the grant money.
âThis opens up new opportunities for scientists in the United States to provide invaluable input to the overall project of increasing yields, improving our potential to tackle this vital work to achieve global food security,â said Matthew Reynolds, wheat physiologist at the Mexico-based International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT), one of the founding members of IWYP.
“Wheat is one of the world’s most important staple crops, providing a significant amount of daily calories and protein throughout the world,” Vilsack said.
“By 2050, the demand for wheat as part of a reliable, affordable, and nutritious diet will grow alongside the world population, and continued wheat research will play an important role in ensuring its continued availability.”
IWYP, which targets partner investments of up to $100 million, supports the G20 Wheat Initiative in its efforts to enhance the genetic component of wheat yield and develop new wheat varieties adaptable to different geographical regions and environments.
CLIMATE RISKS
Wheat yields face threats from global warming. Findings in a report from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) state that it is very likely that heat waves will occur more often and last longer throughout the 21st century and rainfall will be more unpredictable.
Mean surface temperatures could potentially rise by between 2 to 5 degrees Celsius or more, the report said.
âWheat currently provides 20 percent of calories and protein consumed worldwide and current models show that a 2 degree increase in temperature would lead to 20 percent reduction in wheat yield and that a 6 degree increase would lead to a 60 percent reduction,â Reynolds said.
âIf we have a 40 percent yield reduction due to climate change, the risks to food security will be increased because wheat production has to increase by 60 percent just to keep up with population projections.â
In addition to CIMMYT, IWYP members include Britainâs Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC), Mexicoâs Secretariat of Agriculture, Livestock, Rural Development, Fisheries and Food (SAGARPA), the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), the Grains Research and Development Corporation of Australia (GRDC), the Department of Biotechnology of India (DBT), Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada (AAFC), the Institut National de la Recherche Agronomique (INRA) in France and the Syngenta Foundation for Sustainable Agriculture (SFSA) in Switzerland.
Applications are due May 3, 2016 and more information is available via the NIFA-IWYP request for applications.
Ruben EcheverrĂa, Director General of the International Center for Tropical Agriculture (CIAT) headquartered near Cali, Colombia, gave a brown bag seminar on âAn evolving LAC strategy ⊠from international donors to country partnerships,â where he presented an overview of CIATâs work and strategic initiatives.
An alumnus of CIMMYT, EcheverrĂa conducted part of his Ph.D. thesis research in the mid-1980s, in the field in Mexico and Guatemala. At the seminar, he emphasized the need for research centers such as CIMMYT and CIAT to embrace the private sector and partner with agribusiness to collaborate on new potential lines of research.
EcheverrĂa also discussed the donor environment in Latin America, and the need to build stronger connections with national governments for future support. In addition to the seminar, EcheverrĂa met with CIMMYT staff and key stakeholders to discuss continued collaboration between the centers and future partnership in Colombian maize projects.
EcheverrĂa presenting a CIAT study on changing global diets, which gained media attraction, including from National Geographic (in its infographic); the study shows how national diets since 1961 have become ever more similar. Photo: CIMMYT
As a step towards modernizing and strengthening Pakistanâs national coordinated breeding programs, CIMMYT upgraded the seed storage facility of the National Agricultural Research Center (NARC) to meet international standards. The state-of-the-art facility offers a number of services such as damage control of stored wheat including avoiding both quantitative and qualitative losses, maintaining a record of incoming and outgoing seed, and tracking it until it reaches its destination.
Funded by the Wheat Productivity Enhancement Program (WPEP), the germplasm collection and distribution facility was formally inaugurated by Shahid Masood, member of the plant science division, Pakistan Agricultural Research Council (PARC), on 20 November 2015. CIMMYT Country Representative Imtiaz Muhammad, PARC Chairman Nadeem Amjad, NARC DG Muhammad Azeem Khan, and agricultural experts from national and international organizations graced the occasion with their presence.
Upon unveiling the foundation stone, Shahid spoke about the intention behind setting up the facility, which is to provide an international standard for maintaining the quality of wheat seed and seed of other crops and keep track of national and international germplasm.
Atiq Ur Rehman Rattu, National Wheat Coordinator, PARC, briefed the group on the system that will be used to stop seed mixing, fumigate, package the seed, and record services before distributing seed packets to collaborators across Pakistan.
âThis establishment will substantially improve grain quality in Pakistan. It will connect the international seed sector with national partners to conduct trials after maintaining a record of the incoming material and trace it to the end delivery points,â said Imtiaz. The attendees acknowledged the efforts of the WPEP and especially of CIMMYT in enhancing Pakistanâs national breeding facilities. Azeem highlighted the importance of quality seed for increased productivity and said that the new facility will maintain and distribute pure, high-quality seed to national collaborators.
To introduce modern agricultural machines to farmers of Jhenaidah, Bangladesh, a farmersâ field day (FFD) was held on 17 November 2015 at the M.K. High School, Kulfadanga, Maharajpur, Jhenaidah. The FFD was jointly organized by CIMMYT and IRRI under the USAID funded projects Cereal System Initiative for South AsiaÂMechanization and Irrigation (CSISA-MI) and Rice Value Chain (RVC).
Sk. Nazim Uddin, Mechanization Project Director at Bangladeshâs Department of Agricultural Extension (DAE), said that farmers need modern agricultural machinery and proper training, which is being provided by CIMMYT.
While addressing farmers, chief guest Hamidur Rahman, DAE Director General, pointed out that USAID funded agricultural projects are playing a vital role in introducing agricultural mechanization in Bangladesh and said, âOur population is increasing, whereas the cultivable land is decreasing day by day; we need to adopt complete mechanized systems in agriculture to meet the challenge of producing more food from less land. In this context, CIMMYT and IRRI are doing a great job that everybody should know about.â He also expressed his satisfaction with the public-private partnership initiated by CIMMYTâs CSISA-MI project. William J. Collis, CSISA-MI Senior Project Leader, expressed his hope that mechanization will push forward the agriculture of Bangladesh within the next 10 years and thanked the private sector for its continuous support of the countryâs agricultural machinery sector.
At the field day, participating farmers learned about modern agro-machinery and mechanized cropping systems that help reduce tillage to conserve soil health, while saving time, labor, and expenses, and maximizing profit. Detailed discussions were held on how to make tillage options accessible at a lower price, and increase the use of machines through local service providers (LSP). A significant number of farmers expressed their willingness to become LSPs and earn extra income. They also requested subsidies for purchasing the agro-machines and starting their own business.
Farmers and guests later visited field plots where they witnessed demonstrations of several machines, such as a rice transplanter and reaper, a new planter called the hand crank spreader, and the power tiller operated seeder. These demonstrations were presented by private sector companies RFL, Metal, ACI, and Janata Engineering as part of their agro-machinery promoting activities. Afterward, a feedback session was conducted where farmers and LSPs expressed their opinions of the machines, their use and profitability.
Other special guests at the field day were Muhammad Nuruzzaman, Project Management-Coordinator, Economic Growth, USAID Bangladesh; Md. Sirajul Islam, Chief Scientific Officer, RARS, Bangladesh Agricultural Research Institute, Jessore; Subrata Kumar Chakrabarty, Project Manager, CSISA-MI, CIMMYT; and Kevin Robbins, Deputy Project Manager, CSISA-MI, iDE-Bangladesh. The program was chaired by Khairul Abrar, Additional Director, DAE, Jessore. Also present were Deputy Directors of DAE from Jessore, Magura, Jhenaidah, Chuadanga, Meherpur and Kushtia districts; the Chairman and members of Kulfadanga Union Parishad, local elites, school teachers, and large numbers of farmers.
Pakistan imports more than 85% of its hybrid maize seed, which costs the country about US$ 60 million each year. Due to importation and other factors, the price of hybrid maize seed ranges from US$ 6-8 per kg, the highest in south Asia.
During a NARC-CIMMYT maize field day held on 25 November 2015, Muhammad Azeem Khan, Director General of Pakistanâs National Agricultural Research Center (NARC), said, âWe are seeing valuable and precious contributions from the AIP [Agricultural Innovation Program] maize program which will help to lessen the dependency on imported hybrid maize seeds.â In his welcoming address to about 200 participants, the NARC DG mentioned the importance of reopening the CIMMYT office and reviving its activities after a gap of more than two decades.
CIMMYTâs maize activities in Pakistan are being implemented more widely under the recently launched AIP. M. Imtiaz, CIMMYTâs Country Representative and AIP project leader, welcomed the delegates and urged stakeholders to make an all-out effort to deliver maize varieties and hybrids particularly to resource-poor farmers.
Seerat Asghar, Federal Secretary for National Food Security and Research, reminded participants about the role CIMMYT played in helping Pakistan to become self-sufficient in wheat, and described the collaboration between Norman Borlaug and Pakistani scientists. He stressed that this type of collaboration must continue in order to achieve similar results in maize. The Federal Secretary also highlighted AIPâs maize activities, which have introduced a wide range of maize germplasm to Pakistan including vitamin A enriched, biofortified maize hybrids and stem borer resistant open-pollinated varieties (OPVs), among others.
Under the AIP maize program, which started its field evaluation work in February 2014, CIMMYT has evaluated about 100 set of trials consisting of more than 1000 maize hybrids and OPVs in all provinces and regions of Pakistan. In less than two years, the national agricultural research system has identified about 50 hybrids and OPVs suitable for further validation and commercial production. âPakistan can be taken as CIMMYTâs new frontier for maize where positive impacts can be achieved sustainably,â said AbduRahman Beshir, CIMMYTâs maize improvement and seed systems specialist. âSuch fast results are not happening inadvertently; rather, they are creating strong collaborations, and developing confidence and trust in national partners will result in meeting set targets effectively.â
AIP maize is a multi-stakeholder platform consisting of 20 public and private partners who are directly involved in Pakistanâs maize evaluation and validation network. The number of stakeholders is expected to increase as the program further expands product testing and deployment in different parts of the country. During the field visit, Umar Sardar, R&D manager at Four Brothers Seed Company, noted the performance of different maize hybrids and expressed his companyâs interest in marketing white kernel varieties in KPK provinces. Similarly, Jan Masood, Director of the Cereal Crops Research Institute (CCRI), asked CIMMYT to allocate some of the entries for the benefit particularly of small-scale farmers in the mountain areas of Pakistan.
During the field day, CIMMYT principles for allocating products to partners were also announced. Ten private and public institutions have submitted applications to CIMMYTâs Global Maize Program to obtain CIMMYT maize germplasm for further validation and commercialization in Pakistan; those requests are now being reviewed by a panel of maize experts working with CIMMYT in Asia.
After visiting demonstration plots and trials, the chief guest, Federal Minister for National Food Security and Research Sikandar Hayat Khan Bosan applauded CIMMYTâs efforts to foster the production and delivery of affordable quality seed. In his concluding remarks, the Minister said, âThe country is importing a huge amount of hybrid maize seed, which contributes to the high input price for maize farmers, particularly those with limited resources. We need to strengthen our local capacity especially in hybrid maize seed production in order to enhance availability, accessibility, and affordability of quality seeds to our farmers.â Minister Bosan also noted the role of PARC, CIMMYT, and USAID under AIP.
PARC Chairman Nadeem Amjad expressed his gratitude to all the stakeholders and organizers of this national event. Former PARC Chairman Iftikhar Ahmad and Shahid Masood, former member of PARCâs plant science division, received awards from the chief guest in recognition of their contributions under the AIP program.
Representatives of local and multinational seed companies, public research institutes, relevant government institutions, and USAID, as well as progressive farmers and policymakers attended the field day.
Cheap, light, versatile⊠and locally manufactured
Direct seeding of maize using a two-wheel tractor has been made possible over the past decade or so by manufacturing companies in China, India, and Brazil (among others) that produce commercially available seeders. Several of these seeders have been tested for the past two or three years in Ethiopia, Kenya, Tanzania, and Ethiopia under the Farm Mechanization and Conservation Agriculture for Sustainable Intensification (FACASI) project supported by the Australian International Food Security Research Center (AIFSRC).
One of the best performing commercially available seeders (in terms of field capacity, precision in seed rate and planting depth, crop emergence, etc.) is manufactured by the Brazilian company Fitarelli. However, this seeder is expensive (above US$ 4,000), difficult to maneuver (especially in small fields), and lacks versatility (minimum row spacing is 80 cm).
In response, several initiatives have aimed at producing toolbar-based seeders to be manufactured locally and cheaply, that could be used in different configurations (to seed one, two, or more rows) and could perform other operations (such as forming planting beds). One such toolbar is the Gongli seeder, which is well suited to sow small grain crops such as wheat and rice in Asian fields, but not maize under typical field conditions in Africa. Two years ago, Jeff Esdaile, inventor of the original Gongli, and Joseph Mutua, from the Kenya Network for Dissemination of Agricultural Technologies, produced a modified version of the Gongli â the Gongli Africa + Â thanks to funding from CRP MAIZE (as reported in Informa No. 1862). In parallel, another toolbar using a different design was produced by Jelle Van Loon and his Smart Mechanization/Machinery and Equipment Innovation team at CIMMYT-Mexico.
Both the Gongli Africa + and the Mexican toolbar have their strengths and their weaknesses. Both have also been judged as too heavy by local service providers. Thus, CRP MAIZE and the Syngenta Foundation for Sustainable Agriculture co-funded a two-week session (8-27 October) in Zimbabwe to develop a âhybrid toolbarâ having the strengths of both the Gongli Africa + and the Mexican toolbar but weighing under 100 kg. Jeff Esdaile, Joseph Mutua, and Jelle Van Loon spent the entire two weeks manufacturing three prototypes of the hybrid at the University of Zimbabwe. The two-week session also served as hands-on training for staff of three of Zimbabweâs major manufacturing companies of agricultural equipment (Zimplow LTD, Bain LTD, and Grownet LTD) as well as representatives of the informal sector.
The hybrid toolbar is expected to sell for a quarter of the price of a Fitarelli seeder, although its performance (in terms in term of field capacity, fuel consumption, precision, and crop emergence) is expected to be equivalent. Its weight suits the needs of local service providers better and it is infinitely more versatile (several configurations are possible depending on the desired row spacing, soil conditions, the amount of mulch, etc.). The hybrid toolbar will be thoroughly tested in Zimbabwe during the coming months. A prototype will be shipped to Bangladesh and another to Mexico for further testing and to share the design.
âThe prosperous still have a strong carbon footprint. And, the worldâs billions at the bottom of the development ladder are seeking space to grow,â said Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi during his opening speech at the COP21 climate talks in Paris, where world leaders recently gathered to come to an agreement that will slow and eventually stop global emissions of greenhouse gases that threaten the survivability of our planet.
Reconciliation of the right to develop and environmental protection must move beyond global dialogue, and be put into practice in every community struggling with the effects of environmental degradation and poverty.
Seventy percent of the âbillions at the bottomâ Modi refers to live in rural areas. A majority of these people suffer from land degradation â the long-term loss of an ecosystemâs services â due to climate change in combination with unsustainable crop and livestock management practices.
Like the INDCs, landscape approaches may offer a compromise to achieve food production, natural resource conservation, and livelihood security goals, according to the reportâs chapter. âLandscape configurations exist not only to minimize tradeoffs between conservation and food security and nutrition, but also to create synergies between these two goals,â argue Baudron and his fellow authors.
âCultivated fields are not green deserts but may be part of the habitat of several species of importance for conservation,â says Baudron. âIn many human-dominated ecosystems, some species can be dependent on agricultural practices such as extensive grazing in Europe or shifting cultivation in tropical forests. Conversely, biodiversity may contribute to crop and livestock productivity through the ecosystem services it provides, such as pollination or pest control.â
âOngoing research conducted by CIMMYT and its partners in southern Ethiopiaâs maize- and wheat-based farming systems suggests that maintaining trees and forest patches in production landscapes is not only good for the environment and biodiversity, but contributes to the maintenance of farming system productivity and resilience,â according to Baudron. âFarms embedded in diverse landscape mosaics also produce much more diverse and nutritious food.â
Landscape approaches are also closely associated with the concept of food sovereignty, which promotes the right of people to define their own food production and consumption at the local, national, and global level. Community level engagement with local food and agricultural systems also creates an ideal setting to engage communities for more sustainable management of food and agricultural systems.
âUltimately, this is about acknowledging diversity as a fundamental property in the design of more sustainable farming systems,â says Baudron. âThe question is: what configurations are optimal in different contexts? Answering this question will require a much higher level of partnership between conservation organizations and agricultural agencies.â
Agronomic practices that can close the wheat yield gap in the Ethiopian highlands are well known: row planting, precise fertilizer application, timely planting, etc. But their implementation generally increases the demand for human labor and animal draft power. And the availability of farm power in the Ethiopian highlands is stagnating, or even declining. The cost of maintaining a pair of oxen is becoming prohibitive for most farmers. Also, the rural population is aging as a result of young people migrating to the fast-growing cities of Ethiopia in search of more rewarding livelihood opportunities than farming.
Precision levelers are climate-smart machines equipped with laser-guided drag buckets to level fields so water flows evenly into soil, rather than running off or collecting in uneven land. This allows much more efficient water use and saves energy through reduced irrigation pumping, compared to traditional land leveling which uses animal-powered scrapers and boards or tractors. It also facilitates uniformity in seed placement and reduces the loss of fertilizer from runoff, raising yields. (Photo: CIMMYT)
As world leaders meet in Paris this week to agree on greenhouse gas emission targets, we in the field of agricultural research have a powerful contribution to make, by producing both robust estimates of the possible effects of climate change on food security, and realistic assessments of the options available or that could be developed to reduce agricultureâs contribution to greenhouse gas emissions.
Agriculture is estimated to be responsible for about a fifth of global greenhouse gas emissions, and this share is increasing most rapidly in many developing countries; it may even increase as fossil fuels become scarcer and phased out in other sectors.
The solution being put forward today is climate-smart agriculture (CSA), which involves three components: adaptation, mitigation, and increased productivity. Adaptation is essential to cope with the impacts that cannot be avoided and to maintain and increase the global food supply in the face of resource constraints; mitigation can lessen but not prevent future climate changes.
Though CSA has been held up as an answer to the challenges presented by climate change, some would argue that it is no more than a set of agricultural best practices. Indeed, this is what lies at the heart of the approach.
In addition to making agriculture more efficient and resilient, the overall purpose remains to sustainably increase farm productivity and profitability for farmers. This is why over the last few years we have begun talking about the âtriple winâ of CSA: enhanced food security, adaptation, and mitigation. But those who dismiss CSA as mere best practice ignore the value of seeing through the climate change lens, and guiding research to respond to expected future challenges.
To begin with, crop performance simulation and modeling, in combination with experimentation, has an important role to play in developing CSA strategies for future climates.
In a publication titled âAdapting maize production to climate change in sub-Saharan Africa,â several CIMMYT scientists concluded that temperatures in sub-Saharan Africa will likely rise by 2.1°C by 2050 based on 19 climate change projections. This is anticipated to have an extreme impact for farmers in many environments. Because it takes a long time to develop and then deploy adaptation strategies on a large scale, they warned, there can be no delay in our work.
Our insights into the causes and impacts of climate change lead us to important research questions. For example, how can farmers adopt practices that reduce the greenhouse gas footprint of agriculture while improving yield and resilience?
Colleagues at CIMMYT have challenged the idea that the practice of no-till agriculture (which does not disturb the soil and allows organic matter to accumulate) contributes significantly to carbon sequestration. I think it is important that we, as scientists, explore the truth and be realistic about where opportunities for mitigation in agriculture lie, despite our desire to present major solutions. It is also important to take action where we can have the greatest impact, for example by improving the efficiency of nitrogen fertilizer use.
Nitrous oxide emissions from agriculture have a climate change potential almost 300 times greater than carbon dioxide, and account for about 7% of the total greenhouse gas emissions of China. Improved nutrient management could reduce agricultural greenhouse gas emissions by the equivalent of 325 Mt of carbon dioxide in 2030. Overall, supply-side efficiency measures could reduce total agricultural emissions by 30%.
Some practices, such as laser land leveling, fall into both the adaptation and mitigation categories. Preparing the land in this way increases yields while reducing irrigation costs, the amount of water used, nutrients leached into the environment, and emissions from diesel-powered irrigation pumps.
Findings such as this offer real hope of reducing the severity of climate change in the future, and help us build a case for more investment in critical areas of agricultural research.
For climate-smart agriculture, the challenge of feeding more people and reducing emissions and environmental impact is not a contradiction but a synergy. We are improving our ability to predict the challenges of climate change, and proving that it is possible to greatly reduce agricultural emissions and contribute to global emission goals.
To face challenges such as climate change, we need high quality multi-disciplinary science combined with approaches to address problems at the complex systems level. Since my involvement in early large-scale studies, such as Modeling the Impact of Climate Change on Rice Production in Asia (CABI/IRRI, 1993), I am pleased to see that so much progress has been made in this regard and encouraged that our research is contributing to greater awareness of this vital issue and solutions to address it.
