Blogs – Page 164

China’s wheat production critical to global food security

Written by on October 28, 2014. Posted in Features.

Zhonghu He is country representative in China for the International Maize and Wheat Improvement
Center (CIMMYT), and Qiaosheng Zhuang is a professor at the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Science (CAAS).

China’s domestic agricultural activities are vital to ensuring food security for its 1.4 billion people and – as the world’s largest wheat producer – the country plays a major role in shaping international markets.

China produces about 120 million metric tons (265 million pounds) of wheat each year – on approximately 24 million hectares (59 million acres) of land, an area similar to the size of Algeria, according to statistics from the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO).

Wheat makes up 40 percent of grain consumption in China and about 60 percent of the country’s population eats the grain daily.

Cultivated wheat, which was likely introduced to China in the late 6th to early 5th millennium B.C., is the second most important food crop in China after rice. It is the dominant staple food in the northern part of the country where it is used mainly to produce noodles and steamed bread.

In present-day China, more than 95 percent of wheat is sown in the autumn. A double cropping system is used in the Yellow River and Huai River valleys in which wheat is rotated with maize. In the Yangtze Valley it is rotated with rice.

Chinese wheat matures early, so two crops can be harvested each year.

Wheat in China is also exceptionally resistant to high temperatures during the grain filling stage, during which kernel size is determined, as well as such diseases as head scab, septoria and karnal bunt. The wheat cultivar Sumai 3, a plant selected by breeders for its desirable characteristics, is used globally as a source for improving scab resistance.

Current Challenges

Demand for wheat in China is growing due to population increase and rising living standards, but production is challenged by water scarcity, environmental contamination, rising temperatures, droughts, labor shortages and land-use shifts from grain production to cash crops.

Researchers anticipate that in the near future the consumption of homemade steamed bread and raw noodles will decrease in favor of western-style breads and pastries.

Breeding for high-yield potential remains the first priority, as the available planting area for wheat is unlikely to increase.

Overall breeding goals include increasing grain yield, while maintaining genetic gains already made by scientists in grain yield and improving the processing quality without increasing needed inputs to grow healthy crops.

Conventional breeding – in which wheat plants with desirable, or “elite” traits are selected and used as “parents” for subsequent generations – has been in use for more than a hundred years. The technique, combined with an increased application of biotechnology, will continue to play a leading role in wheat variety development.

In addition to powdery mildew and yellow rust, Fusarium head blight has migrated to the main wheat regions in northern China due to climate change and the continuous practice of wheat and maize rotation, posing a major threat to wheat production. Other diseases, such as sharp eyespot and take-all, are also becoming increasingly troublesome as scientists try to increase grain yields. Wheat in the area has a very low resistance to scab, which is creating another challenge.

Scientific Innovation

It is important that foreign germplasm – the genetic resources of an organism – from international research centers and alien genes from wild relative species be explored as potential sources of multiple-disease resistance.

In order to reduce inputs for wheat production, it is essential to breed varieties with higher water, nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (N) fertilizer use efficiencies, but this must be combined with high-yielding potential.

Drought tolerance for wheat grown in rain-fed areas must be strengthened, because varieties with drought tolerance and better water-use efficiency are already urgently needed.

Interested in this subject? Find out more information here:Zhonghu He and Alain P.A. Bonjean, 2010. Cereals in China, Mexico, D.F.: CIMMYT.

Zhonghu He, Xianchun Xia a, Shaobing Peng, Thomas Adam Lumpkin, 2014. Meeting demands for increased cereal production in China, Journal of Cereal Science, 59: 235-244.

Fahong Wang，Zhonghu He, Ken Sayre, Shengdong Li, Jisheng Si, Bo Feng, Lingan Kong,2009. Wheat cropping systems and technologies in China, Field Crop Research, 111: 181-188.

Under altered conditions driven by climate change, planting dates have been delayed by 10 days over the last 20 years, but maturity has remained basically unchanged. Climate-resilient varieties are needed.

New genes and genetic resources must be explored with novel tools to realize higher genetic gains. Gene-specific markers will play an important role in facilitating the genes for disease resistance and quality. Genetically modified wheat could offer potential tools in reducing damage from head scab and aphids.

Crop management must play an important role in increasing wheat production. Low-cost farming practices are needed so that wheat can be more competitive in the financial markets and new cropping systems must be suited to machinery operation. International collaboration has contributed significantly to improving Chinese wheat research and development capacity.

The government of China considers the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT) an important strategic partner in wheat research and continues to work closely with CIMMYT and other international partners to meet future wheat demands.

Of wheat, weight, gluten and food intolerances

Written by on October 28, 2014. Posted in Blogs.

Julie Miller Jones is a professor emerita of nutrition in the Department of Nutrition and Exercise Science at St Catherine University in St Paul, Minnesota. Any opinions expressed are her own.

A popular dietary trend involves the elimination of wheat- and gluten-containing foods inspired in part by the book “Wheat Belly” written by cardiologist William Davis.

“I’d like to make the case that foods made with wheat make you fat,” Davis wrote. “I’d go as far as saying that overly enthusiastic wheat consumption is the main cause of the obesity and diabetes crisis in the United States.”
Davis claims that wheat is addictive and suggests that a diet eliminating the grain and its relatives, rye and barley is the key to weight loss and a reduction in diabetes.

Davis states that the increase in obesity and diabetes in the United States directly correlates with the increase in the sales of wheat-based products.

There are several flaws in such an interpretation

First, it is an association – the increase in the rate of obesity also directly correlates with the sales of running shoes. Correlations simply show how things vary together. Attributing the increase in obesity to wheat prevents people from addressing the real culprit – caloric imbalance. Calories have increased and physical activity has decreased. The increase in calories does not come from a single food or food group.

“Food available for consumption increased in all major food categories from 1970 to 2008. The number of average daily calories per person in the marketplace increased approximately 600 calories,” according to the President’s Council on Fitness, Sports and Nutrition and statistics from the U.S. Census Bureau.
The general rise in calorie intake reflects increases in the overall consumption of fats and oils, sugars, cereals, meats, poultry and dairy.

At the same time, physical activity has dwindled to far below recommended levels. Thus, to suggest that wheat is the cause of obesity and that its elimination is the solution fails to address overconsumption of most food types and the under-consumption of fruits and vegetables and inadequate activity.

If wheat consumption were the culprit, Americans would have been fattest in 1880 when consumption was 250 pounds (113 kilograms) per capita. We would have weighed the least in 1960 (110 pounds of wheat per capita) and continued to gain weight up until 2000 when wheat consumption climbed to 145 pounds per capita. Since 2000, we should have been losing weight as per capita wheat consumption has dropped steadily to 133 pounds.

These data show that there is no correlation between wheat consumption trends and obesity trends.
Weight-loss diets that advocate the elimination of an entire food group such as wheat may cause initial weight loss, but – like many fad diets – rarely show long-term maintenance of weight loss.

In fact, studies confirm that the easiest diets to maintain are those that deviate least from normal eating patterns. They are also much more likely to be associated with long-term weight loss and maintenance of the loss.
Further, diets that include a balance of foods and do not have “forbidden” or excluded foods are associated with the greatest success in sustaining the weight loss.

Elimination of wheat and gluten can result in problems because wheat is a major contributor to dietary fiber, B vitamins and other nutrients.

Wheat and gluten in food products is unique among proteins. It performs its “magic” by adding elasticity and structure that holds gas to make delicious bread and baked products.

Allergies, Celiac and Gluten Sensitivity

Davis posits that the gluten in grain is toxic and not fit for human consumption. While this is true for those with an allergy to wheat and celiac disease, it is not true for the population as a whole.

Medical studies show that while 35 percent of people believe they have a food allergy, only about 3 percent actually have true food allergies. For a true allergy the offending food protein (allergen) and an antigen in the body cause an immunoglobulin E reaction.

Of the 3 percent with allergies, only 0.5 percent of children and adults have been diagnosed with an allergy to one of 27 wheat proteins.

Celiac disease, an inherited autoimmune disease, was shown in 2008 to occur in one of every 133 individuals in the United States and is higher in some other countries. This level is much higher than was previously thought. This is partly due to better diagnostic methods, recognition of many symptoms that may affect systems besides the gut, and a documented increase in incidence. Nonetheless, many of those with the disease are not diagnosed and many who do not have the disease are self-diagnosing.

Non-celiac gluten sensitivity, a situation where a group of symptoms of discomfort occur with the ingestion of gluten, has been added as a potential syndrome. However, there is much disagreement about whether or not it exists, its potential causes and incidence. If it exists, incidence has been thought to be as low as 1 percent and as high as 30 percent with a recent study suggesting it may be 3 percent of the population.

Interested in this subject? Find out more information here:

Dieting and restrained eating as prospective predictors of weight gain. Link

The prevalence of celiac disease in the United States. Link

The incidence and risk of celiac disease in a healthy US adult population. Link
(Green PH, Jabri B. Celiac disease. Annu Rev Med. 2006;57:207-21; Rubio-Tapia A, Ludvigsson JF, Brantner TL, Murray JA, Everhart JE. The prevalence of celiac disease in the United States. Am J Gastroenterol. 2012 Oct;107(10):1538-44; Riddle MS, Murray JA, Porter CK. The incidence and risk of celiac disease in a healthy US adult population. Am J Gastroenterol. 2012 Aug;107(8):1248-55. Kassem Barada, Abbas Bitar, Mohamad Abdul-Razak Mokadem, Jana Ghazi Hashash, and Peter Green. Worldwide Incidence of Celiac Disease. World J Gastroenterol. 2010 March 28; 16(12): 1449–1457.)

Worries Over Wheat

The arguments presented by Davis in “Wheat Belly” and in another book titled “Grain Brain” by neurologist David Perlmutter, which states that carbohydrates destroy the human brain, have fuelled a negative view of wheat products.

Both authors claim that the wheat we are eating has been changed by biotechnology or contains genetically modified organisms (GMO).

They also claim that wheat is different from 100 years ago and contains more gluten and that it is more toxic. The statement about GMO content is false as there is no GMO wheat commercially sold anywhere on the planet.

In terms of gluten content, similar studies comparing old and new lines of grain conducted by the United States Department of Agriculture and at the University of Saskatchewan in Canada show that the gluten amount in wheat varieties more than 150 years old and current varieties varies slightly by year but the amount remains well within biological variability. This shows that the level of gluten has not changes appreciably over time.
Wheat grain provides types of dietary fiber not widely distributed in other foods. For example, the soluble fiber found in oats and barley that has been shown to lower serum cholesterol and attenuate blood glucose is not found in fruits and vegetables to any great extent.

The recommended amount of dietary fiber is 38 grams per day for adult males and 25 grams for adult females. Getting that level of fiber only from fruits and vegetables (which have an average of 2 to 4 grams of fiber per serving), would require consumption of approximately 12 to 13 servings for adult males. That is at least three times more than the amount currently eaten.

Therefore, exclusion of cereal grains – particularly bran-rich cereals – is not only problematic to getting enough of certain fiber types, it also makes it more likely that an individual will fall far below recommended fiber intakes.

From a nutritional standpoint, this is a big concern at a time when only 4 percent of the U.S. population eats the recommended level of dietary fiber given that it is listed as a nutrient of concern by the Dietary Guidelines for Americans, 2010 issued by the U.S. Office of Disease Prevention and Health Promotion.

National Geographic examines the challenge of feeding the world

Written by on October 28, 2014. Posted in News.

“With the population expected to rise by about a third by 2050, crop production worldwide will need to double to keep up with the rising demand for grains – which are also fed to animals – as the developing world becomes prosperous enough to eat more meat” warned an article published in National Geographic on 3 October. The article, “Here’s Why We Haven’t Quite Figured Out How to Feed Billions More People” by Dennis Dilmick, addressed the growing need for investment in agricultural research while lamenting the lack of public funding and interest in such initiatives in recent years.

Dilmick praised CIMMYT and Norman Borlaug for their work that saved millions from starvation during the Green Revolution, and argued that similar action is still needed today in a world that faces rising food prices and an uncertain future climate. Advances in biotechnology can help to keep up with the demand, but must be combined with the provision of appropriate, usable information to farmers in the developing world, that can help them improve their yields and livelihoods. This cannot be done without increases in public funding for agricultural research.

A new Green Revolution is in order, Dilmick argues, but one based more on small incremental changes that can provide huge benefits to farmers in developing countries such as improved post-harvest management practices, the use of new mobile technology to communicate information and better roads and markets; rather than the research breakthroughs that characterized the original revolution. However, one element of the original revolution must stay the same: “When Norman Borlaug worked to develop high-yield ‘Green Revolution’ wheat varieties more than 50 years ago, he was driven by a sense of urgency. We could all benefit by adopting his sense of urgency in making agricultural research a priority once again.”

MasAgro-Maize partners attend maize germplasm development and evaluation course

Written by on October 27, 2014. Posted in News.

From 22-26 September, MasAgro-Maize partners and representatives from national seed companies and the University of Guadalajara (UdG) attended a Maize Germplasm Development and Evaluation course. Attendees met with CIMMYT’s maize breeders, experts and scientists, as well as invited lecturers. The course was organized by the Global Maize Program and included an exhibit of maize germplasm developed for Mexico’s different agro-climatic conditions.

Florencio Recéndiz Hurtado, UdG academic coordinator, opened the course with a presentation on the importance of improved maize germplasm and the various methods involved in its development. CIMMYT’s maize breeders José Luis Torres, Thanda Dhliwayo and Félix San Vicente presented on parental line and hybrid development methods and evaluation techniques in the highlands, subtropical and tropical lowlands respectively.

CIMMYT distinguished scientist Surinder Vasal (co-winner of the 2000 World Food Prize for his work on quality protein maize) shared his extensive experience and made some recommendations on maize hybrid breeding and evaluation. During field tours of experimental stations at El Batán, Tlaltizapán and Agua Fría, attendees also saw first-hand the results from improved materials.

Vijay Chaikam, CIMMYT doubled haploid (DH) specialist, who coordinated the training course, explained the advantages of DH technology in maize breeding. During a tour of the Maize Nutrition Quality Laboratory, Natalia Palacios, head of the laboratory, explained the process to improve maize nutrition quality, as well as the different methods to evaluate nutritional quality. Carlos De León, maize pathologist from the Colegio de Posgraduados, focused on the most important maize diseases and the more susceptible materials. Physiologist Samuel Trachsel presented on physiological approaches to maize improvement, while maize molecular breeder Gordon Huestis and maize genomic selection breeder Xuecai Zhang highlighted the importance of molecular markers and genomic selection.

Speaking about the course, Arturo Silva Hinojosa, MasAgro leader of the Strategy to Increase Maize Yields, said: “The difference between countries with low or high maize yield, is that those with high yields use a considerable percentage of hybrids.” In the Mexican states where more hybrids are sown, farmers harvest 11 million tons (50 percent of the national production). Silva Hinojosa also said, “We have to increase crop yields by convincing farmers to convert from using open-pollinated varieties to hybrids, so that we make our seed industry more competitive and give farmers access to high-quality and certified seeds. We want the hybrids produced by MasAgro to meet these specifications during their production and commercialization.”

At the end of the course, Félix San Vicente invited participants to observe a moment of silence for Dr. Alejandro Ortega and Dr. Fidel Márquez, who made great contributions to maize breeding in México and passed away this year.

Participants thanked the organizers for the opportunity to learn about the themes included in the course and said they were keen to use their knowledge in the work place.

Young researchers trained to develop resilient farming systems

Written by on October 26, 2014. Posted in News.

From 27 September to 4 October, scientists from India’s national agricultural research systems attended the “Conservation Agriculture: Developing Resilient Systems” training program at the Central Soil Salinity Research Institute (CSSRI) in Karnal, India. Participants learned about crop management technologies based on conservation agriculture (CA) and acquired skills to plan strategic CA research trials.

The training program was organized by CIMMYT’s Cereal Systems Initiative for South Asia (CSISA) project in collaboration with the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) and CSSRI. Eighteen researchers from the Division of Natural Resource Management, International Rice Research Institute and CIMMYT attended the course.

Opening the course, ICAR Assistant Director General (Seeds) Dr. J.S. Chauhan, highlighted the importanc eof CA training for improving the productivity of crops and cropping systems in different agro-ecological regions of India. Conservation agriculture can sustain the livelihood of smallholders while maintaining and improving the quality of the environment and natural resources. CSSRI Director Dr. D.K. Sharma explained that CA has the ability to slow the depletion of underground water, declining soil fertility associated with multiple nutrient deficiencies, pest outbreaks and increased concentration of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere. He also focused on how to design diversified and resilient cropping systems that use resources more efficiently, as an alternative to intensive rice-wheat systems.

Globally, the positive impact of CA-based techniques on natural resources, adaptation and mitigation of climate change effects has been widely acknowledged. In India, strategic research on CA such as precise nutrient application, water, cultivars and weed management has been initiated. However, CA still remains a relatively new concept in the country. Andrew McDonald, CSISA project leader, talked about how continuous cultivation of rice-wheat cropping systems for almost five decades in the Indo-Gangetic Plains has caused the degradation of natural resources such as water and soil, thus affecting climate and biodiversity. He said, “This training program offers a unique opportunity for members of the country’s scientific community who are working in the area of natural resource management to help address the issues of water, labor and energy through the use of advanced crop production technologies.”

The training covered basic principles of CA, included field exercises and modern CA techniques for efficient climate change mitigation and adaptation strategies, impact assessment of CA technologies and sustainable management of natural resources to ensure food security, profitability and productivity. Participants were given hands-on training on the use of different technologies including the laser land leveler, turbo seeder, multi-crop planter, limit plot planter, bed planter and mechanical transplanter. They also learned how to measure greenhouse gas emissions.

Attendees also participated in strategic research trials at Kulvehri and Taraori in Karnal. H.S. Sidhu, farm development engineer of the Borlaug Institute for South Asia (BISA) and M.L. Jat, CIMMYT Senior cropping system agronomist, talked about the longterm strategic research trial on CA for intensive cereal systems, shared their experiences and outcomes related to BISA research and commented on the development work at Ladhowal, Ludhiana. Jat also spoke about using conservation agriculture and climate-smart agriculture, to achieve food sufficiency by 2050 through input-based management systems in diverse production systems and environments.

Scale-appropriate mechanization: the intercontinental connection

Written by on October 26, 2014. Posted in Features.

CIMMYT aims to improve the livelihoods of poor farmers in the developing world by providing practical solutions for more efficient and sustainable farming. Among the options to improve efficiency, scale-appropriate and precise planting machinery is a crucial yet rarely satisfied need.

Mechanization efforts are ongoing across CIMMYT’s projects, with a strong focus on capacity building of functional small- and medium-scale engineering and manufacturing enterprises. Projects involved include ‘Farm Power and Conservation Agriculture for Sustainable Intensification’ in eastern and southern Africa, funded by the Australian Center for International AgriculturalResearch (ACIAR) and the Cereal Systems Initiative in South Asia (CSISA), funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and USAID. CSISA collaborates closely with the machinery research and development work done on the farms of the Borlaug Institute for South Asia in India, CIMMYT conservation agriculture (CA) projects funded by the Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research, the Agri-Machinery Program based in Yinchuan, Ningxia, China, and the MasAgro Take It to the Farmer machinery and intelligent mechanization unit based in Mexico.

Applied research scientists and technicians assisting these projects work specifically to tackle problems in diverse farming conditions and for varying production systems. Despite their geographically diverse target areas, this team strives to reach a common focal point from which they can learn and compare technical advancements. These advancements are achieved through mutual machine technology testing programs, exchanging machines and expertise and evaluations of best solutions for scale-appropriate mechanization to boost sustainable intensification for resource poor farmers.

Recently, this collaboration model led to the export of several units of a toolbar-based, two-wheel tractor implement for bed shaping, direct seeding of different crops and precise fertilizer application. They will be tested by CIMMYT projects in Bangladesh, Ethiopia and Nepal. This multi-purpose, multi-crop equipment was developed to be CA-compatible and has been fine-tuned in Mexico, with design priorities that kept in mind the implement’s usefulness for smallholder farmers in other parts of the world. The machinery will be tested next in Zimbabwe and possibly India and Pakistan.

The team’s goal is to help developing countries and viable business models of local enterprises in specific regions to have access to good quality implements and tools at reasonable prices. This open-source prototyping strategy is based on the free sharing of technical designs and machinery construction plans. The strategy combines patent-free, lowcost replication blueprints of promising technologies with strong agronomical testing as the ultimate ‘make or break’ criterion. This crucial interaction sets CIMMYT’s engineering platforms apart from commercial options that determine research and development priorities based mainly on sales projections and marketing objectives.

The mechanization team strongly believes in the power of cross regional collaboration – a multidisciplinary work environment, connected intercontinentally with social stewardship and the potential to bring transformative changes to farmers’ fields across the developing world.

CIMMYT Ethiopia expands its agronomy work in wheat-based systems

Written by on October 25, 2014. Posted in News.

CIMMYT Ethiopia joined the Ethiopian Highlands project of Africa RISING ‘Africa Research in Sustainable Intensification for the Next Generation’ in June. Using a strong participatory research methodology, researchers and farmers co- identify technologies and management practices for the sustainable intensification of the crop livestock systems of the Ethiopian highlands.

Wheat and barley are the dominant cereals in these farming systems. CIMMYT brings its expertise to the project in four research areas: soil and water conservation (CA and raised bed systems); small-scale mechanization (seeding, threshing and water pumping using two-wheel tractors); participatory variety selection of wheat; and community seed multiplication.

CIMMYT young agricultural scientist receives 2014 Borlaug Field Award

Written by on October 22, 2014. Posted in News.

BGovaerts_bio On 15 October, Dr. Bram Govaerts, Associate Director of the Global Conservation Agriculture Program of the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT), received the 2014 Norman Borlaug Award for Field Research and Application Endowed by the Rockefeller Foundation during the World Food Prize Borlaug Dialogue International Symposium in Des Moines, Iowa.

The 2014 Borlaug Field Award, as the prize is known, acknowledges “researchers under 40 who emulate the scientific innovation and dedication to food security demonstrated by the 1970 Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Dr. Norman Borlaug.” Bram was recognized for his leadership in developing sustainable intensification strategies in Mexico where he leads the MasAgro project and its “Take it to the Farmer” component, an innovative research and capacity building extension model that borrows its name from the late Nobel Laureate’s inspiring words.

To further celebrate this achievement, CIMMYT is making available a selection of Bram’s peer-reviewed articles. Consult the articles here.

The 2014 World Food Prize Laureate Dr. Sanjaya Rajaram, former director of CIMMYT’s Global Wheat Program, who received the “Nobel Prize of Agriculture” on 16 October, described Bram as “one of the new generation of hunger fighters who brings innovation, passion and an incredible dedication to the field.”

CIMMYT celebrates Bram’s achievement and is proud to make the most important findings of his research available to the agriculture and development community.

CIMMYT observes the International Day for the Eradication of Poverty

Written by on October 16, 2014. Posted in Features.

According to the Millennium Development Goals Report of 2013, the proportion of people living in extreme poverty (less than US $1.25 a day) has been halved at the global level, yet 1.2 billion people still live in extreme poverty. In 1992, the United Nations (UN) established the International Day for the Eradication of Poverty (IDEP), which will be observed internationally for the 22nd time on October 17, 2014, to “promote awareness of the need to eradicate poverty and destitution in all countries.”

The theme for IDEP 2014 is “leave no one behind: think, decide and act together against extreme poverty,” which “recognizes and underscores the demanding challenge of identifying and securing the participation of those experiencing extreme poverty and social exclusion in the Post-2015 Development Agenda that will replace the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).”2 The eradication of poverty was one of the chief MDGs, and remains at the forefront of the development of the post-2015 development agenda.

Agricultural development is critical in the fight to eradicate poverty, and CIMMYT has developed and designed its programs and projects to contribute to this effort. The work done at CIMMYT to improve the yields of maize and wheat, increase their tolerance to climate change, fight pests and diseases and add higher nutritional value to crops has helped to eradicate poverty by improving the livelihoods of farmers and their families as well as their nutrition and health.

The UN highlights that 17 October also serves as an important reminder to acknowledge the effort and struggle of people living in poverty as well as promoting opportunities for them to make their concerns heard. “Poor people are the first ones to fight against poverty. Participation of the poor themselves has been at the center of the Day’s celebration since its very beginning,” CIMMYT works with its donors and partners to assist smallholder farmers in developing countries, generating solutions to the issues they face with their active input and participation. The mission of CIMMYT, to “sustainably increase the productivity of maize and wheat systems to ensure global food security and reduce poverty,” cannot be realized without the efforts and cooperation of farmers, scientists, researchers and staff working together across the developing world to improve agriculture and eradicate poverty.

Celebrate World Food Day with CIMMYT on 16 October

Written by on October 15, 2014. Posted in News.

Join CIMMYT in celebrating World Food Day on 16 October!

Since 1979, World Food Day has served as a call for people around the world to come together to reduce hunger. This year the theme for World Food Day is “Family Farming: Feeding the world, caring for the earth,” as FAO celebrates 2014 as the International Year of Family Farming (IYFF). Family farmers play a significant role in eradicating hunger and poverty, providing food security and nutrition, improving livelihoods, managing natural resources and achieving sustainable development especially in rural areas.

World Food Day is especially important to CIMMYT’s mission to “sustainably increase the productivity of maize and wheat systems to ensure global food security and reduce poverty.”

According to the CIMMYT 2013 annual report, maize and wheat account for about 40 percent of the world’s food and 25 percent of the calories consumed in developing countries. Billions of people in developing countries receive more than half of their daily calories from maize- and wheat-based foods. These countries need about 700 million tons of maize and wheat to meet their food needs. Because of population increases by 2020, these countries will need an additional 368 million tons of maize and wheat to sustain their communities. By improving varieties of maize and wheat and supplying these varieties to the world, CIMMYT is fighting for and working toward the World Food Day mission daily through various programs and projects.

As one example, innovative wheat varieties from CIMMYT and its research partners have helped Ethiopia more than double its wheat production in a decade, increasing from 1.60 million tons to more than 3.92 million tons from 2003/04 to 2013/14. A 2014 nationwide study published in Food Policy involving more than 2,000 farm households in Ethiopia’s major wheat-producing areas revealed that those who adopt improved wheat varieties are able to spend more on food, are more likely to be food secure and are less likely to suffer chronic or transitory food shortages.

In addition, CIMMYT’s Hill Maize Research Project (HMRP) has been working with national research and extension partners, non-governmental organizations, private seed companies and farmers to develop, test and disseminate high-yielding maize varieties, support seed production and marketing, and test and promote resource-conserving farming practices in the mid-hills of Nepal. Maize is a vital crop in this region especially for poorer families and accounts for nearly 20 percent of all caloric intake. In Nepal, maize is typically grown on family farms; harsh climates, poor infrastructure and market access and worsening shortages of labor are just some of the challenges these families face. The HMRP is helping to address these constraints for a positive impact on farm productivity. Join CIMMYT and FAO on World Food Day by generating awareness of the 805 million people who are suffering from chronic hunger worldwide. How? Follow the conversation online on Facebook and Twitter, by using the hashtag #WFD2014, or visit the World Food Day website to discover how to take action by virtually “toasting” a farmer or even joining/hosting an event in your community.

For more information on World Food Day visit http://www.worldfooddayusa.org/.

Wheat area expansion faces a headwind requiring increased spending on R&D to raise yields

Written by on October 9, 2014. Posted in Blogs.

Photo credit: Madan Raj Bhatta

#WheatMatters

Derek Byerlee is a visiting scholar at Stanford University.
Any views expressed are his own.

Over the last 50 years or so, the big increases in agricultural production have come through improved yields largely as a result of the Green Revolution.

From 1961 to 2011, per capita cereal production increased by 40 percent, while the amount of cropland per capita fell by half. In most regions, the total area of cropland has either reached a peak or declined. However, in three tropical regions, land expansion has been and still is a significant source of agricultural growth: Southeast Asia, tropical South America and sub-Saharan Africa.

Since 1990, wheat is the only major crop to experience an overall decline in area.

Looking to the future, how much land can be expected to come into production for cropping?

Currently, about 1,500 million hectares (Mha) of land is used for crops.

I project that additional demand for land will be 6 to 12 Mha each year for a total of 120 to 240 Mha increase from 2010 to 2030.

The higher projection allows a greater role for trade and thereby production by the lowest-cost producers who are often located in land-abundant countries.

These estimates are broadly in line with a synthesis by Erik Lambin & Patrick Meyfroidt who also include projections of the loss of land due to expansion of urban settlements and infrastructure as well as losses due to land degradation. Taking these losses into account, Tony Fischer provides an estimate of total additional gross cropland demand from 2010 to 2030 of 160 Mha to 340 Mha. Global models also suggest expansion of cropland to 2050 of about 300 Mha, given projected yield growth.

Is there enough land to satisfy demand? The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations’s World Agriculture Towards 2030/2050 report estimates that some 1.4 billion hectares of currently uncultivated land that is not forested or in protected areas is suited to crop agriculture although they note that this is an optimistic estimate. A more conservative estimate of available land with at least moderate suitability for rainfed cultivation in low population-density areas – that is, non-forested, non-protected and with a population density of less than 25 people per square kilometer – is approximately 450 Mha.

At first glance, it would thus seem that projected demand for land (even under the scenarios of the higher demand estimates) over the next two decades can be accommodated by available uncultivated land.

However, most of this uncultivated land is concentrated in a few countries in Sub-Saharan Africa, Latin America, Eastern Europe and Central Asia and is often far from ports and roads.

A global analysis may also miss key constraints at the local level such as human diseases and unrecorded current land use that reduce effective land supply.

In addition, an expansion of land area of the order of 160 Mha (the lower-bound estimate of the estimated future land needs) could have significant biodiversity costs from conversion of natural ecosystems, even in the non-forested areas considered above.

Indeed, one of the sustainable development goals currently under discussion in international fora is to reduce deforestation to zero by 2030 – implying a closing of the land frontier. Finally with the exception of some areas in Russia, Ukraine and Kazakhstan, most of the available land is in the tropics and is unsuitable for wheat production.

Overall then, projections of future land availability for agriculture suggest a growing land scarcity, particularly for wheat, especially when taking into account that demand for food and feed will continue to rise with growing affluence in rapidly industrializing countries, as well as the use of land for biofuel feedstocks.

Growing scarcity together with high commodity prices have combined to stimulate global investor interest in farmland that underlies much of the recent discussion on intensification as a strategy to save land and concerns about a global ‘land grab’ by investors from land-scarce countries.

Wheat area is also being pushed out by other crops in many countries. Over the period 1993 to 2013, wheat area has fallen by 4.5 Mha, exceeded only by other winter cereals (barley, rye, and oats) that have collectively lost over 40 Mha.

During the same period, the area of oil crops (mostly soybeans, rapeseed and oil palm) has increased by an astonishing 100 Mha, maize by a hefty 53 Mha and rice by 20 Mha.

This year for example, North Dakota, a quintessential wheat-producing state in the United States, for the first time planted more soybeans than wheat.

In Argentina, soybeans rotated with maize have also displaced a significant wheat area, while in northern China, increasing maize area appears to be at the expense of spring wheat. Wheat area in the United States and China has fallen by 7 Mha and 6 Mha respectively since 1993. The major exceptions to these trends are India and Australia, where wheat area is up sharply.

All of this, of course, implies that increasing wheat yields will be especially critical to maintain its competitiveness and to save further land expansion into forests.

Norman Borlaug, the pioneer of the Green Revolution, long recognized that increased yields were not only essential to increasing global food security but also to saving forests.

This has now been enshrined in the environmental literature as the Borlaug Hypothesis. The real world is not so simple since there are situations where increasing yields may enhance crop profitability and encourage its expansion at the expense of forests. However, we found that just the CGIAR investment in germplasm is likely to have saved from 18-27 Mha of land from 1965-2000.

The bottom line is that increased spending on research and development (R&D) by national programs and CGIAR is a priority to achieving not only food security but confronting land scarcity.

None of the above considers the negative impacts of climate change, but a recent thoughtful analysis by David Lobell of Stanford University has shown that investing in R&D to adapt to climate change and maintain yields in the face of rising temperatures and increased drought is one of the most cost-effective ways to save forests and therefore mitigate climate change.

Surprisingly, wheat is the crop that faces the strongest headwind from both land scarcity and climate change. Wheat also appears to be grossly underfunded at the international level as measured by the budget provided to the WHEAT CRP – one of the lowest among the 15 CRPs. Tony Fischer, Honorary Research Fellow, at the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO), in a companion piece has shown that there are many promising avenues to higher R&D spending, both to raise yield potential and close large yield gaps.

Interested in this subject? Find out more information here:

Alexandratos, N., & Bruinsma, J. (2012). World agriculture towards 2030/2050: the 2012 revision (No. 12-03, p. 4). Rome, FAO: ESA Working paper.

Borlaug, N. 2007. “Feeding a Hungry World.” Science 318(5849):359–359.

Deininger, K.W., and D. Byerlee. 2011. Rising Global Interest in Farmland: Can it Yield Sustainable and Equitable Benefits? Washington D.C.: World Bank Publications.

Fischer RA, Byerlee D, Edmeades GL. 2014. Crop Yields and Food Security: Will Yield Increase Continue to Feed the World? Canberra: Aust. Cent. Int. Agric. Res.

Lambin, E. F. 2012. Global land availability: Malthus versus Ricardo. Global Food Security. 1; 83-87.

Lobell, D.B., U.L.C. Baldos, and T.W. Hertel. 2013. “Climate Adaptation as Mitigation: the Case of Agricultural Investments.” Environmental Research Letters 8(1):015012.

Stevenson, J.R., N. Villoria, D. Byerlee, T. Kelley, and M. Maredia. 2013. “Green Revolution Research Saved an Estimated 18 to 27 Million Hectares from Being Brought into Agricultural Production.” Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. Available at: 10.1073/pnas.1208065110 [Accessed May 13, 2013].

Go back to: Wheat Matters

CIMMYT’s 2013 Annual Report now available online

Written by on October 3, 2014. Posted in News.

The 136-page report covers the significant progress that CIMMYT, its programs and partner organizations made during 2013, as well as key events and projects.

Click to view

The 136-page report covers the significant progress that CIMMYT, its programs and partner organizations made during 2013, as well as key events and projects.

Click to view

Partnering with seed companies to disseminate fertilizer-friendly maize seed in East Africa

Written by on September 29, 2014. Posted in Features.

Watanga Chacha, CEO Meru Agro displays a bag of HB513, a fertilizer-friendly maize hybrid. Picture: Biswanath Das/CIMMYT — Watanga Chacha, CEO Meru Agro displays a bag of HB513, a fertilizer-friendly maize hybrid.
Picture: Biswanath Das/CIMMYT

Seed companies are key partners in delivering improved seed to smallholder farmers in Africa, the key beneficiaries of agricultural research. Meru Agro in Tanzania is one such partner, producing ‘fertilizer-friendly’ maize varieties with support from the Improved Maize for African Soils (IMAS) project. “We call the varieties ‘fertilizer-friendly’ because they use the small amounts of fertilizer that smallholder farmers in Africa apply more efficiently,” said Dr. Biswanath Das, CIMMYT maize breeder. Since 2013, Meru Agro has been multiplying HB513, a fertilizer-friendly and drought-tolerant hybrid. The company has produced over 1,200 metric tons of HB513 seed, which can potentially reach 50,000 smallholder farmers in the mid-elevation regions of Tanzania in the upcoming cropping season.

Promotion

The small-to-medium enterprise uses innovative methods to promote its maize varieties. The company runs extensive demonstration plots at key locations and gives away ‘promo packs’ to farmers during field days. “These are 100 gram packs that we give away through the agrodealers. The packs allow farmers to test the varieties for themselves and compare them with what they are growing,” said Watanga Chacha, the company’s chief executive officer. The company also participates in the annual NaneNane agricultural shows held in Arusha, Mbeya and Mwanza in August where they showcase their varieties. “When they plant for NaneNane, they do it at intervals to ensure that farmers can see how the hybrid performs at different growth stages,” said Dr. Mosisa Worku Regasa, CIMMYT seed systems specialist.

Meru Agro has embraced radio as a marketing tool. “We use radio advertisements to reach farmers in our target areas,” said Chacha. “We have the advertisements recorded in the local accents which help the audience identify with them.” The company also invests in extension, training farmers in good agricultural practices augmented with training for agro-dealers. “This has contributed to the expansion of our distribution network as farmers get to know the merits of the maize varieties we are selling,” adds Chacha. “The training gives farmers confidence that they are buying a good variety by knowing the merits of the varieties in advance.”

Rapid Growth

Meru Agro has grown from an agro-dealer that began operations in October 2006 and evolved into a seed and farm input supplier in 2009. “We started with three employees, we now have 34 people, eight graduates, five diploma holders and one master’s degree holder,” says the entrepreneur. “A good strategy does not automatically translate to good performance. The team you have makes the difference – their technical skills and capacity to execute the strategy makes the difference,” said Chacha, crediting his staff for contributing to the company’s success.

Seed production and breeding research done by organizations such as CIMMYT and the national agriculture institutes benefit small seed companies like Meru Agro. “We have released four maize hybrid varieties in collaboration with CIMMYT and we are producing some open-pollinated varieties (OPVs) that have been released by the national program in Tanzania,” said Chacha. The company’s product portfolio leans towards hybrid seeds; this is informed by the market response. “Most farmers in Tanzania are now shifting from OPVs to hybrids.” The company is planning to establish a breeding unit in the near future. In the meantime, it relies on public goods derived from breeding research produced by CIMMYT and the national agriculture institute.

The company is partnering with other agencies involved in seed distribution in Tanzanian including the Tanzania Agricultural Partnerships (TAP), Farm Input Promotional Services (FIPS) and the Government Farm Input Subsidy Program to distribute 400,000 two-kilogram packs of maize seed to smallholder farmers. “We are targeting smallholder farmers, some of whom have very little land, between one-quarter of an acre to three acres,” said Chacha. “In Tanzania, farmers prefer small packs of certified seed. There is a huge untapped market in Tanzania as maize is the staple crop,” said Chacha explaining the rationale behind their expansion plans.
“The IMAS program provided technical backstopping and financial support to Meru Agro for seed production of MERU HB 513 which is drought-tolerant, in addition to being nitrogen use efficient,” said Das. Meru Agro staff have participated in seed business management courses facilitated by CIMMYT, contributing to capacity building within the company. “The company has produced large volumes of certified seed,” said Regasa.

Challenges

“The seed business is challenging,” said Chacha. The CEO cites the high investment costs in machinery for seed cleaning, grading and packaging. Chacha says drought is one of the challenges that hamper their seed production as not all of it is done under irrigation. “It takes time to convince farmers,” added Chacha, citing promotion as another challenge.

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