Today, the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center will celebrate what would have been Dr. Norman E. Borlaug’s 100th birthday with the Borlaug Summit on Wheat for Food Security, which brings together wheat scientists, policymakers, and donor agencies to reflect on the successes of the Green Revolution; the new challenges we are facing in terms of wheat production, environmental sustainability, and food security; and the innovations and partnerships we are going to need to meet those challenges. At the Summit, CIMMYT and Biology Fortified will debut a brand new music video produced by John Boswell of Melodysheep featuring Norman Borlaug and some of his signature phrases, fiery outlook, and passion for using science to make the world a less hungry place.
The music video combines archival footage of Dr. Borlaug and an inspiring soundtrack to highlight his tireless fight to bring new, useful technologies to farmers. The problems that motivated Dr. Borlaug are still relevant today, and the music video highlights these issues while showing how people can work toward solving them. Boswell, who produced the popular Symphony of Science music video series, transforms the spoken words of famous scientists into music.
The Borlaug Summit on Wheat for Food Security honors the 100th anniversary of the birth and the legacy of Dr. Norman Borlaug, a legendary CIMMYT scientist who developed high-yielding, semi-dwarf wheat that is credited with saving over 1 billion people from starvation. The Summit will look back at Borlaug’s legacy as the father of the Green Revolution, which sparked key advances in food production. He was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1970 in recognition of his contributions to world peace through an increased food supply. Borlaug’s wheat varieties were grown in Mexico, Turkey, India and Pakistan, boosting harvests in those countries, avoiding famine in South Asia and sparking widespread adoption of improved crop varieties and farming practices.
In celebration of Dr. Borlaug’s centennial, throughout the year Biology Fortified will produce content – interviews, articles, blog posts, and other interactive features – about wheat and its importance around the world. Biology Fortified will aim to educate about the history and biology of the crop, and spark discussions of critical issues in its future. They will also include videos about how wheat is used in cuisines throughout the world, with recipes that people can try at home.
CIMMYT’s Conservation Agriculture Program (CAP) is addressing the lack of good quality conservation agriculture (CA) seeders and multi-crop planters in Pakistan. Under the USAID-funded Agricultural Innovation Program for Pakistan, CAP will facilitate pilot testing and refining CA-based multi-crop seeders in cereal systems. CIMMYT-Pakistan imported multi-crop happy seeders, bed planters and zero tillage drills from India with the cooperation of CIMMYT-India. This machinery arrived at the National Agriculture Research Center, Islamabad, at the end of February.
Machinery is unloaded at the NARC, Islamabad. Photos: Awais Yaqub
CIMMYT brought CA to Pakistan in the 1980s with the introduction of zero tillage drills in rice-wheat areas. The technique helped solve the issue of late planting in ricewheat cropping systems. With the mechanization of harvesting, however, the burning of crop residue has become problematic. In addition, huge amounts of standing and loose residue affect the first-generation zero tillage drill. Farmers in Punjab hand-plant hybrid maize and cotton crops on already-made ridges and wide beds; there is also need to mechanize this operation.
The pilot testing of new seeders will start this year in cropping systems such as rice-wheat, maize-wheat, cotton-wheat and rain-fed wheat. The seeders will help farmers plant different crops under different levels of residue to reduce residue burning. CIMMYT will provide CA seeders to national agriculture research system partners for use in agriculture extension and adaptive research and for demonstrations in farming communities.
The activity will also promote the refinement and production of resource-conserving seeders through public-private partnerships in the project area.
More than 25 speakers will gather with nearly 700 participants in Ciudad Obregón, Sonora, Mexico, next week for the Borlaug Summit on Wheat for Food Security, an event celebrating the life and legacy of Dr. Norman Borlaug. Top wheat scientists, policy analysts, scholars and authors will address topics ranging from the history of wheat to current agricultural innovations. Take a look at what some of our speakers have been up to and see the whole list here.
Wheat scientist Graham Farquhar was recently honored with the U.K.’s Rank Prize for his work developing a technique that led to the “emergence of new commercial wheat varieties.”
CIMMYT and USDA, in collaboration with the United States Education Foundation for Pakistan (USEFP), launched a capacity enhancement initiative in the form of a coaching course, under the Wheat Productivity Enhancement Program (WPEP).
The objective of the initiative is to ensure that promising young Pakistani wheat scientists apply for and obtain international Ph.D. scholarships. Pakistan lacks professional wheat scientists and most working wheat scientists are at the age of retirement. By 2020, Pakistan will face difficulties due to a shortage of qualified professionals in wheat research. This new initiative is a step forward to develop the country’s wheat research capacity.
Participants attend a capacity enhancement initiative with CIMMYT, USDA and USFP officials. Photos: Awais Yaqub/CIMMYT
The course recognizes that young scientists need assistance in preparing for the tests, applications and interviews required for international scholarships. CIMMYT and USEFP selected 11 Pakistani wheat scientists from across the country based on their professional skills, association with wheat research and academic potential. The course participants will go through two months of coaching for the GRE, TOEFL and other standardized tests.
CIMMYT Country Representative Imtiaz Muhammad reminded participants at the inaugural ceremony that self-motivation, dedication and devotion are required to achieve the objectives of the course. He also praised the efforts of all stakeholders, including USEFP and USDA staff members, who helped launch this program.
Ian Winborne, USDA Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service plant health advisor, welcomed the participants and said if the first phase of this initiative is successful in accomplishing its objectives, USDA will be interested in funding its continuation.
By K. Seetharam, M.T. Vinayan and P.H. Zaidi/CIMMYT
The development of maize germplasm with combined drought and water-logging tolerance and a strong product line ready for deployment in Asia’s stress-prone, rain-fed production systems are notable successes of a CIMMYT project nearing its official end date.
Participants closely watch water-logging-tolerant hybrids developed under the ATMA project. Photo: Do Van Dung
Maize production in tropical Asia is vulnerable to the effects of climate change. The erratic distribution of monsoon rains causes intermittent drought and water-logging within a single crop season, especially in eastern India, Bangladesh and other parts of South and Southeast Asia, and is the major cause of the low productivity of rain-fed maize. About 80 percent of maize in the Asian tropics is grown as a rain-fed crop.
Maize yields in irrigated systems are more than double those of rain-fed maize but the production capacity of irrigated systems in Asia is close to saturation. Rain-fed areas must play a greater role in meeting the increasing demand for maize in Asia.
The private seed sector focuses largely on irrigated systems and is not producing stress-tolerant varieties. However, small and medium seed companies and public sector institutions are beginning to show interest in abiotic stress tolerant maize germplasm from CIMMYT.
To develop this germplasm, CIMMYT, in collaboration with national partners in South and Southeast Asia, launched Abiotic Stress Tolerant Maize for Asia (ATMA) in May 2011, supported by GIZ, Germany. Partners include the Directorate of Maize Research (DMR); Maharana Pratap Agriculture University (MPUAT); Udaipur and Acharya N.G. Ranga Agriculture University (ANGRAU); the Bangladesh Agricultural Research Institute (BARI); Vietnam’s National Maize Research Institute (NMRI), the Institute of Plant Breeding, University of Philippines (UPLB); and the University of Hohenheim (UoH) in Stuttgart, Germany. CIMMYT-Hyderabad, India, hosted the final year progress review meeting during 17-18 February.
ATMA hybrids combine drought and water-logging tolerance. Photo: P.H. Zaidi
B.M. Prasanna, director of CIMMYT’s Global Maize Program, highlighted the need and importance of maize breeding for rain-fed conditions. This was followed by a talk on the power of genomic selection in breeding for polygenic traits, which was delivered by Albert Melchinger from UoH. O.P. Yadav, director of the DMR, New Delhi, spoke about the importance of abiotic stress-resilient maize hybrids and appreciated recent developments in the area. Partner institutions presented the results of trials conducted in their target environments.
P.H. Zaidi, senior maize physiologist and project coordinator, presented the across-environment results of the trials conducted in partner countries. Raman Babu, maize molecular breeder, gave an update on identifying large effect quantitative trait loci (QTL) for water-logging tolerance and progress in genomic selection. Apart from established breeding methods and a phenotypic selection approach, methods include genomewide association studies (GWAS) and rapid-cycle genomic selection (RC-GS). Results of socioeconomic studies demonstrating the high demand for water stress-resilient maize varieties with combined drought and waterlogging tolerance in eastern India and Bangladesh were presented by Surabhi Mittal, CIMMYT socioeconomist.
Participants toured ATMA trials at the CIMMYT-Hyderabad experiment station as well as the state-of-the-art phenotyping system for drought and waterlogging stress. Zaidi explained how effectively the data on growing degree days (GDD) and from the soil moisture profile probe are used in managing drought at the desired level of intensity and uniformity. “Such a well-defined phenotyping system is the key to success, which can assure breeding gains for complex traits such as drought or water-logging, whether using conventional or molecular breeding approaches,” said Dang Ngoc Ha, vice director of the NMRI.
Though the project is approaching its official end, partners aim to carry it forward by formulating a new proposal to submit to a potential donor. “In case no immediate funding is arranged, we should take the products forward using our own institutional resources, as this is much-needed type of product for our maize farmers living in stress-prone ecologies,” O.P. Yadav said.
In his concluding remarks, Prasanna praised the contributions of partnering institutions throughout the project duration, which resulted in a strong germplasm base and product pipeline for complex traits such as drought, water-logging and the new product with combined stress tolerance.
The Nutritious Maize for Ethiopia project (NuME) has launched a series of participatory radio campaigns in the country’s regional states as an innovative approach to spread messages about protein and nutrition, with a special focus on quality protein maize (QPM), to Ethiopian small-scale farmers.
A farmer shows the radio in her home (Photo: courtesy of Farm Radio International presentation).
The campaign is a major part of the NuME communications strategy, which is designed to help the project improve household income as well as food and nutritional security, especially among women and children. NuME’s focus is the adoption of QPM and crop management practices that increase farm productivity.
The programs were launched in March 2013 and are broadcast in Amharic, Oromiffa and Tigrigna – three of the major languages spoken in Ethiopia. The first series focused on giving mothers information to improve their children’s health through balanced, nutritious diets, as a lead-up to the introduction of QPM varieties. Follow-up campaigns will target male and female growers of hybrid maize and cover QPM, intercropping and other agronomic practices that will benefit small-scale farmers.
Transmitted in collaboration with three regional broadcasting stations, the 30-minute programs are aired weekly at 8:00 p.m., when families are often home and eating dinner. The success of the radio campaign is bolstered by training given to a select group of journalists on various aspects of QPM. Program content is also generated by a content advisory panel that includes NuME partner representatives and agriculture researchers focused on protein, CIMMYT staff (including a gender specialist), staff members from the Ethiopian Institute of Agricultural Research and Ministry of Agriculture, nutrition specialists from the Ethiopian Health and Nutrition Research Institute and universities, communications experts and seed enterprise representatives.
A farmer speaks about her experiences (Photo: SG 2000 staff).
Gender considerations also shape program content, and Farm Radio International (FRI), an international NGO and NuME partner, has secured female broadcasters for the NuME shows, according to Frehiwot Nadew, FRI country director in Ethiopia. Radio remains the most trusted and most utilized communication medium in rural Ethiopia, and access to radio by small-scale farmers is very high. FRI’s participatory radio campaigns help small-scale farmers learn about, evaluate and benefit from low-cost, sustainable and productive farming practices.
The methodology has already been successful in trials with 25 radio stations in 5 countries in Africa. Data from those trials demonstrate that, on average, a participatory radio campaign will result in 21 percent of all farmers trying a new technology, such as QPM maize, in the first year within the broadcast area of the radio station producing the campaign. NuME is funded by the Department of Foreign Affairs, Trade and Development of the Government of Canada (DFATD).
The Water Efficient Maize for Africa (WEMA) project is on-track to produce and distribute at least 25 drought-tolerant maize hybrids for farmers in Kenya, Mozambique, South Africa, Tanzania and Uganda during its second phase.
In 2013, the project commercially released 15 drought-tolerant maize hybrids, with 84 more nominated for national performance trials. “This is a rare feat,” said Sylvester Oikeh, WEMA project manager, during the project’s Sixth Annual Review and Planning meeting from 7 to13 February. “In the history of maize research in Africa, only one entity – WEMA – has released 15 hybrids in a single year.”
At its inception in 2008, WEMA promised to develop and deploy maize varieties that would not only tolerate moderate drought but also provide 20 to 35 percent more grain yield than currently available commercial hybrids. Buoyed by the success of the breeding pipelines in Phase I (2008-2013), the partnership set the 25-hybrid target in February 2013 for Phase II (2013-2017).
Also in 2013, WEMA helped smallholder farmers harvest the drought-tolerant maize variety WE1101, sold under the brand name DroughtTEGO™, said Denis Kyetere, executive director of the African Agricultural Technology Foundation (AATF). The hybrid recorded impressive sales in Kenya, according to Gospel Omanya, AATF’s seed systems manager and WEMA deployment team leader. From September 2013 to January 2014, farmers purchased 42.5 tons of the 72 total tons of seed distributed to seed companies. Omanya expects additional sales and adoption of the hybrid, due to its outstanding performance – an average yield of 4.5 tons per hectare (t/ha) during the short rain season, compared to Kenya’s average maize yield of 1.8 t/ha. WE1101 is one of the hybrids developed using breeding lines from the Drought Tolerant Maize for Africa (DTMA) project. Natalie DiNicola, vice president for Europe and Africa for Monsanto, lauded WEMA partners for the achievement. “Thank you for making it happen, for getting the products into the hands of farmers,” DiNicola said.
Uganda Minister of State for Agriculture Nyiira Zerubabel also praised the progress. “Your effort in addressing maize production constraints and increasing productivity levels are highly commendable,” stated Nyiira in a speech read on his behalf by Okaasai Opolot, Uganda’s director of crop resources, during the official opening of the meeting. He urged the project partners to deliver a holistic package to the farmers. “Your work should ensure that the varieties you develop achieve the expected performance that delivers high quantities and qualities by addressing these issues: good crop and post-harvest management practices and productivity, access to markets for rural farmers, efficient seed systems to boost productivity, and value addition initiatives that will improve rural incomes.”
Participants experienced the best of WEMA breeding and testing in Uganda when they visited Namulonge Research Station, where confined field trials of MON810 and other WEMA conventional hybrids are under way. Lawrence Kent, senior program officer of agriculture, science and technology for the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, urged WEMA partners to aim for higher impact over the next four years. “We must generate and reach more farmers with products. I am excited about the promising MON810 results so far and I urge you to seize the opportunity and forge ahead with commercializing it and making it available to needy farmers.”
(Seated from right) John MuMurdy, international research and biotechnology advisor, USAID; Natalie DiNicola, Monsanto’s vice president for Europe and Africa; Lawrence Kent, senior program officer, Agriculture, Science and Technology, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation; Okaasai Opolot, Uganda’s director of crop resources; and Denis Kyetere, executive director, the Africa Agricultural Technology Foundation. Speaking is B.M. Prasanna, director of CIMMYT’s global maize program. Photos: Wandera Ojanji/CIMMYT
B.M. Prasanna, director of CIMMYT’s global maize program, noted that maize lethal necrosis (MLN) disease had serious consequences on seed production and delivery and crop production in 2013. “Seed shipments were restricted,” said Prasanna, “and maize cultivation was shut down in affected areas, limiting seed production and breeding activities.” At the same time, said Prasanna, the MLN threat is an opportunity to replace old varieties on the market with higher-yielding, resistant ones. More than 2,000 maize lines were screened under natural infections of MLN in two seasons in Kenya during 2013. “We found clear-cut responses and identified some very promising resistance,” Prasanna said.
He added that the resistance would be speedily incorporated into breeding lines and populations through screening at the MLN facility in Naivasha and use of the doubled haploid facility in Kiboko, both inaugurated in March 2013. Partners are also following protocols circulated by CIMMYT to ensure the pathogen-free production and exchange of maize breeding materials. The WEMA advisory board has recommended that the project intensify the breeding of conventional maize varieties for Mozambique and Tanzania, engage large seed companies to use WEMA products, develop exclusive licensing for current products and encourage governments to facilitate trials of transgenic maize.
WEMA Phase II is funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) and the Howard G. Buffett Foundation.
The Borlaug Summit on Wheat for Food Security will celebrate the life and legacy of Dr. Norman Borlaug while addressing wheat’s role in food security today. The event will take place in Ciudad Obregón, Sonora, Mexico, on 25-28 March.
Sam Storr/CIMMYT
Wheat is the most widely cultivated cereal worldwide, providing micronutrients and up to 20 percent of dietary protein for 4.5 billion people in 94 developing countries. Changing diets and the ability of wheat to adapt to different conditions has expanded consumption. At the same time, the crop has faced new criticism, particularly from proponents of popular diets in the developed world.
A survey of the most recent academic literature addressing, “Does wheat make us fat and sick?” finds most of the accusations leveled at wheat to be misconceptions, underlining the crop’s continued importance for global nutrition. Wheat consumption is blamed for causing obesity, cardiovascular problems and diabetes.
Foto: Xochiquetzal Fonseca/ CIMMYT
However, the study finds little evidence that wheat in processed foods is directly responsible for adverse health effects. Wheat was widely consumed long before the modern obesity epidemic. In fact, the consumption of whole grains in the U.S.A. and Europe has recently been found to be associated with the reduced risk of Type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular disease and some forms of cancer.
Those with celiac disease (less than 1 percent of the population) or gluten sensitivity (estimated at between 5 and 10 percent) can suffer from eating wheat, the study authors agree, and more research is needed to understand these conditions. Study authors say that the science behind claims that wheat is unhealthy is often misinterpreted. One example is glycemic index, a measure of how blood glucose rises after a food is eaten, which is wrongly seen as evidence that wheat is bad for you.
Cardiologist W.R. Davis, author of Wheat Belly, claims that wheat contains addictive opioids that make it impossible for people to regulate their diet. Although laboratory tests have shown that the protein gliadin can break down into an opiate under certain conditions, it is impossible for it to be absorbed into the bloodstream. Humans have cultivated and bred wheat for more than 8,000 years, but plant breeding since the 1960s is accused of creating unhealthy or unnatural wheat in the search for higher yields. Gliadin is highlighted as an “unnatural” component of wheat, even though its presence dates back to ancient wheat and it is found in rye and barley as well.
CIMMYT wheat breeders have more on their minds than just yields. Dr. Norman Borlaug understood from the outset that successful breeding must produce high-quality wheat. He thus established the CIMMYT wheat quality lab in the late 1960s, now a central part of the breeding program, recalled Javier Peña, former CIMMYT wheat grain quality specialist.
Thinking about quality keeps wheat relevant to the world. Different culinary traditions require wheat with different characteristics, but the global diet is changing. “Many of the foods now popular around the world were at one time only regional favorites,” Peña said. “This has to do with lifestyles, such as greater participation of women in the work force.” The genetic diversity of wheat means that breeders can find varieties with higher levels of micronutrients such as iron and zinc, a lower glycemic index, or polysaccharides that mimic the action of fiber to make food more satisfying.
As CIMMYT scientists work to improve wheat’s characteristics to benefit global food and nutritional security, it is important to include traits that can make food more appealing and healthy.
By M.L. Jat, Tripti Agarwal, R.S. Dadarwal and Promil Kapur/ CIMMYT and CCAFS
To witness firsthand the mainstreaming of climate-smart agriculture practices and innovative community-based adaptation strategies in India, Alok K. Sikka, deputy director general of the Natural Resource Management Division of the Indian Council of Agriculture Research’s (ICAR) and leader of ICAR’s National Initiative on Climate Resilient Agriculture (NICRA), visited and interacted with farmers at a climate-smart village (CSV) in Haryana on 11 February.
AK Sikka (center) at Taraori CSV. Photo: Vikas
He was accompanied by D.K. Sharma, director of the Central Soil Salinity Research Institute, and P.C. Sharma, one of the Institute’s principal scientists, along with other scientists from ICAR and CIMMYT. Participants agreed that South Asian agriculture needs new technologies, community-based adaptation of relevant practices and the strengthening of local decision-making. The 27 CSVs being piloted in Haryana, India, will disseminate key climate-smart agricultural interventions, focusing on water, energy, carbon nutrient, weather and knowledge implemented through innovative partnerships and farmer cooperatives, according to M.L. Jat, CIMMYT senior cropping system agronomist.
The climate-smart villages are implemented through the CGIAR Research Program on Climate Change, Agriculture and Food Security (CCAFS), in close collaboration with NICRA and a range of innovative partnerships. Under CCAFS, CIMMYT in close collaboration with national agriculture research and extension systems, other CGIAR centers, farmer cooperatives, the Haryana Department of Agriculture and policy planners, have piloted several CSVs in Haryana for research and as learning sites. Sustainable intensification and conservation agriculture-based management systems are the key areas in which CIMMYT and these partners work together.
Visitors interacted with farmers and members of farmer cooperatives who are actively disseminating the practices to local communities. The model of innovation platforms for strategic participatory research and learning at CSVs was recognized as an effective method to link science with society. Sikka emphasized that the depleting water table, deteriorating soil health, escalating input costs and weather uncertainties constitute critical concerns and that current production systems are not sustainable.
Discussion regarding damage to conventional tillage based wheat crop due to excess moisture owing to heavy rains and back side a happy wheat crop under CA-Photo RS Dadarwal-CIMMYT. Photo: RS Dadarwal/CIMMYT-Karnal
He cited conservation agriculture-based sustainable intensification, supplemented by more precise use of inputs like fertilizer, as the way to achieve resilience in production and natural resource conservation. Institutions and organizations must work with emerging technologies to address climate change and provide relevant options for farmers. CCAFS and NICRA are good examples of this.
A former CIMMYT scientist recently returned to South Asia to share his expertise in conservation agriculture.
Peter Hobbs worked for CIMMYT as a regional agronomist from 1988 to 2002 and co-led the creation and management of the Rice-Wheat Consortium (RWC) for the Indo-Gangetic Plains. Hobbs now works at Cornell University, most recently as associate director of International Programs. The Cereal Systems Initiative for South Asia (CSISA) project invited Hobbs to Bihar, eastern Uttar Pradesh and the Terai region of Nepal from 18 to 24 January, where he offered perspectives on South Asia’s progress in the last decade in ricewheat systems research, and heard comments from colleagues.
Former CIMMYT scientist Peter Hobbs. Andrew McDonald/CIMMYT
“Peter Hobbs is the pioneer of zero tillage wheat in South Asia – one of CIMMYT’s best contributions in this region after Norman Borlaug,” said R.K. Malik, a member of CSISA’s senior management team who accompanied Hobbs through India. Malik was a core member of the RWC during Hobb’s time and a champion of zero tillage (ZT) for sowing wheat in rice-wheat rotations. Malik recalled CIMMYT’s early efforts to introduce conservation agriculture in India. Hobbs was integral, bringing the first ZT machine to India from New Zealand in 1989 -the Aitchison drill which was later modified, improved and widely adopted in India.
He said that Hobbs applied innovative and multi-disciplinary approaches that united the efforts of the national research programs with an array of public and private stakeholders. “This technology was dependent on identifying champions in the areas where we worked to engage innovative farmers, energize the scientists involved and link them with local machinery manufacturers and farmers, Hobbs said. Hobbs shared observations on his travels through the eastern Indo-Gangetic Plains. “After seeing the fields in Bihar and eastern Uttar Pradesh, there is no question that ZT and reduced-tillage technologies do work and do provide benefits as long as they are done properly and the enabling factors are in place,” he said.
He stressed that farmers must have access to machinery, inputs and related expertise, perhaps through a network of service providers. “That means we have to look at the way research can help farmers – having a more participatory approach and providing incentives to scientists and extension workers based on accountability and performance is critical for success,” Hobbs stated. “The RWC and legacy of pioneering scientists like Peter Hobbs, Raj Gupta and R.K. Malik established the foundation for CIMMYT’s ongoing work and impact with farmers in the region through projects like CSISA,” said Andrew McDonald, CSISA project leader. “It was a true pleasure to have Peter’s insights into where we are succeeding and where we can do better. South Asia is changing quickly, but the core lessons from where we’ve come still resonate.”
Hobbs is optimistic about the potential of these technologies in Bihar and eastern Uttar Pradesh. “It was very rewarding to see that interest in resource- conserving technologies has grown and continues to thrive in this region, and specifically in the eastern Indo-Gangetic Plains, where there is great potential to benefit farmers and also contribute to food security in a more environmentally friendly way.”
By Raj Kumar Jat, M.L. Jat, R. Valluru, Raju Singh, Nikhil Singh, Jagman Dhillon and Raj Gupta/CIMMYT
A day-long “FarmFest” hosted by the Borlaug Institute for South Asia (BISA) allowed farmers to interact directly with researchers on issues including new planting machines, cultivar choices for early, timely and late planting, weed management options and crop diversification.
During the “Take it to the Farmers – FarmFest” event on 22 February, BISA showcased innovative, farmer-friendly sustainable intensification options. The trials focus on increasing yields using timely planting and increased nutrient inputs; increasing cropping intensity by using short season cultivars, relay and inter-cropping; and mechanization and marketing by substituting highvalue commodities for those that fetch lower prices. Farmers were shown soil conservation measures such as gully plugs, check dams and temporary structures to store rainwater, which reduce negative environmental impact and contribute to natural capital of environmental services.
About 1,500 farmers came from 7 districts to collect information and see the performance of 1,500 bread and durum wheat genotypes grown through new BISA shuttle breeding efforts. The efforts include collaboration among the Indian Agricultural Research Institute (IARI)-New Delhi, Punjab Agricultural University (PAU)- Ludhiana and CIMMYT-Mexico. The Jawaharlal Nehru Krishi VishwaVidyalaya University (JNKVV) agreed to participate next season.
The BISA research farm was established in November 2011 in a cotton production region that suffers from land degradation, large yield gaps and low cropping intensity. The farm’s successful conservation agriculture (CA) platform is attracting the attention of the Madhya Pradesh farmers. Scientists grow rice, wheat, maize, Indian mustard, pigeon pea and soybean without plowing or burning crop residues. Production on the 223-hectare farm is improving every season and costs are going down with the CA practices.
Many visiting farmers said they have watched the BISA farm evolve from their “pasture backyard to a granary.” They now want BISA to train them in CA and help them procure appropriate machinery. Ramlal Vishkarma of Sonpur village, whose son is a temporary worker on the BISA farm, said CA saves him US $26 to 32 per hectare each season in planting costs. He also stated that surface mulching helps conserve soil moisture and control cracks in black soils on his farm. In collaboration with JNKVV, the Directorate of Weed Science Research (DWSR), the State Agriculture Department and the seed company JPCL, BISA is promoting resource-conserving no-till agriculture to avoid residue burning, conserve ground water aquifers and provide “seeds of needs” to resource-poor smallholder farmers.
Participants were addressed by CIMMYT director general Thomas Lumpkin; V.S. Tomar, vice chancellor of JNKVV; S.K. Rao, JNKVV dean of faculty; and B.P. Tripathi, joint director of agriculture for the Government of Madhya Pradesh. Raj Kumar Jat and the BISA team coordinated visits for stakeholders to research and production plots. JNKVV volunteers explained new farm implements while M.L. Jat, Raj Kumar, Ravi Valluru, Raju Singh, Jagman Dhillon, Nikhil Singh and others discussed significant results of their research trials.
Tomar emphasized the need to develop climate-resilient, high-yielding varieties and recommended the promotion of low-cost sustainable intensification practices to improve farmers’ economic conditions. He appreciated the efforts of BISA-CIMMYT in introducing CA-based systems. Lumpkin encouraged farmers to adopt cost-saving technologies that offset ever-increasing input costs and low profits from farm outputs, adding that CA-based management practices buffer the negative effects of climatic extremes. He urged farmers to visit BISA regularly and tell researchers what would directly benefit them. M.L. Jat, CIMMYT senior cropping systems agronomist, facilitated a question-and-answer session between farmers and experts from BISA, DSWR and JNKVV.
Farmers’ feedback will help shape future research priorities at BISA, such as the need to bridge large management yield gaps, mechanization, weed management, soil moisture conservation, improved maize and wheat cultivars, quality seeds and training on new machinery and technologies
CIMMYT’s intensive efforts in developing and deploying tropicalized haploid inducers and their potential impact on doubled haploid (DH) line development in tropical genetic backgrounds were recently praised by Thierry Rosin, global maize research head of Limagrain.
Limagrain and CIMMYT scientists observe the treated haploid plants in a D0 nursery. Photo: Vijay Chaikam
His comments came during a DH project review meeting organized by Limagrain on 4 February at Limagrain’s DH facility in Santiago de Chile, Chile. Vijay Chaikam, CIMMYT maize DH specialist, and B.M. Prasanna, director of CIMMYT’s Global Maize Program represented CIMMYT. Limagrain, an international agricultural co-operative group based in France and the world’s fourth largest seed company, has supported CIMMYT’s maize DH technology efforts since 2012, with particular emphasis on improving protocols to enhance efficiency for the benefit of the international scientific community. DH technology expedites the development and release of homozygous maize lines.
The meeting was chaired by Rosin. Participants from Limagrain included Regis Brassart, maize DH project manager, and Dominique Marc, corn research production manager, along with colleagues from Limagrain-Chile. The meeting was also attended by Gorden Mabuyaye, maize program lead of the southern Africa SeedCo company. Brassart presented Limagrain’s DH program organization and its scope of operations on different continents. Prasanna highlighted the present initiatives and impact of CIMMYT-improved maize germplasm in the tropics and the role of public-private partnerships in developing and deploying modern tools and strategies for enhancing breeding efficiency. Chaikam presented the progress achieved under a Limagrain-funded project on maize DH technology at CIMMYT-Mexico and future research plans.
Chaikam, Prasanna and the Limagrain scientists also visited Limagrain’s DH facilities, which showcased haploid induction, haploid seed germination, chromosome doubling and haploid nursery management. The lab and field visits also provided opportunities for detailed discussion on protocols at both institutions and possible improvements. On behalf of CIMMYT, Prasanna thanked Limagrain management for sharing the knowledge and technical processes associated with the maize DH technology, and expressed his hope for a stronger collaboration between the two institutions in various areas of mutual interest in global maize research for development.
Dr. Norman Borlaug’s research, the impacts of the Green Revolution and the state of food security today are garnering attention as the world prepares to celebrate what would have been Dr. Borlaug’s 100th birthday. Starting in two weeks, CIMMYT’s Borlaug Summit on Wheat for Food Security will recognize his accomplishments while asking what interventions are needed today.
Dr. Norman E. Borlaug and Dr. R.A. (Tony) Fischer, Australian wheat physiologist and a former director of the Global Wheat Program, stand in the D5 agriculture trial at CIMMYT headquarters in El Batán, Mexico in the mid-1990s. Photo submitted by Tony Fischer/CIMMYT
Want to join the conversation? Check out what other people are saying:
CIMMYT Director General Thomas Lumpkin looks at Borlaug’s life and contributions to CIMMYT in this Cosmos Magazine article.
An op-ed in Forbes Magazine addresses opposition to the Green Revolution.
This Texas A&M article looks at the upcoming dedication of Dr. Borlaug’s statue in the U.S. Capitol’s Statuary Hall.
The CIMMYT-Africa seed systems team met in Nairobi, Kenya, on 7 February to take stock of progress in 2013, identify challenges and brainstorm on turning those challenges into opportunities. Global Maize Program (GMP) Director B.M. Prasanna and members of the breeding, communications and socioeconomics teams also attended.
Starting a personal conservation agriculture plot and providing training via group theater are some of the tactics an extension development officer in Malawi is using to reach farmers.
Fredrerick Lukhere, the local extension development officer for the Mtuthama Extension Planning Area, has led by example as part of the Sustainable Intensification of Maize-Legume Systems in Eastern and Southern Africa (SIMLESA) project, which is funded by the Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research. A SIMLESA team visited fields in the Kasungu district on 12 February. The team was led by Isaiah Nyagumbo, SIMLESA Southern Africa objective 2 coordinator, and included Gift Mashango, program manager; Jefias Mataruse, research assistant; Cyprian Mwale, national coordinator; Donwell Kamalongo, national objective 2 coordinator; Keneth Chaula, assistant chief agricultural extension officer; and others from the local district office.
Fredrick Lukhere takes the time to explain maize-soybean rotations to farmers in Kasungu. Photo by Jefias Mataruse
More than 60 farmers, including 42 men and 20 women, participated in the tour. Initiated in 2010, SIMLESA activities in Malawi’s Kasungu District are in their fourth season. The project aims to improve the food security and incomes of 650,000 households in eastern and southern Africa within 10 years. Activities also aim to increase productivity by 30 percent and reduce downside risk by 30 percent through use of improved maize and legume varieties and conservation agriculture-based sustainable intensification technologies.
Lukhere has promoted SIMLESA activities using innovative techniques. He reinforces innovation platforms and partnerships founded on the Area Stakeholder Panel, a local community-based institution. He strengthens partnerships with local NGOs such as CADECOM and Total Land Care, subcontracted by SIMLESA to scale out sustainable intensification technologies. He has single-handedly trained NGO staff on how to set up and implement outscaling activities using SIMLESA’s outscaling model involving maizelegume (soybean) rotations.
Exploratory trials involving maize and soybeans are testimony to Fredrerick Lukhere’s efforts in Kasungu, Malawi. Photo by Isaiah Nyagumbo
Lukhere has also ensured the success of core exploratory trials, which were established in 2010 with six farmers in the area. The trials provide a learning platform and are also a source of research data. To increase farmer confidence in the technologies tested, Lukhere set up his own conservation agriculture plot planted with maize in 2012 and has increased the area to 0.5 hectares. The healthy and well-managed maize crop stands as a testimony to Luhkere’s efforts. He also runs a small drama group that trains farmers on SIMLESA technologies and performs to visitors and farmers during field days.
As a result of Luhkere’s efforts, at least 37 farmers are hosting outscaling trials; 84 follower or volunteer farmers are using these technologies without any support; and another 140 farmers are working through CADECOM in the surrounding extension planning areas. Total LandCare also supports farmers by providing herbicides and loans and hosts SIMLESA trials in neighboring extension planning areas.
