Blogs – Page 202

Angola to strengthen DTMA collaboration

Written by on July 6, 2012. Posted in News.

During the week of 18-22 June 2012, the Drought Tolerant Maize for Africa (DTMA) project leader Tsedeke Abate, accompanied by CIMMYT maize breeder Cosmos Magorokosho and socioeconomist Girma Tesfahun visited Angola, where they received a warm welcome from the government. Dibanzilua Nginamau, from DTMA in Angola, accompanied them on their visit. The trip provided the DTMA team an opportunity to dialogue with government officials and seed company representatives.

The DTMA team met with the permanent secretary for the Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries (MOARDF), José Rodrígues Prata Junior, on 19 June 2012. Prata Junior expressed his enthusiasm about working with CIMMYT and said that he is keenly following DTMA work with the Instituto de Investigaçao Agronómica (IIA). Maize is crucial to the Angolan economy; last year, the country imported 700,000 metric tons of maize grain. In 2011, DTMA facilitated the purchase of 14 tons of basic seed of the drought tolerant open pollinated variety ZM 523 (a CIMMYT-derived variety) from Agri Seed, a Zimbabwean company.

The team also attended the Angola National Coordinating Unit meeting at IIA-Huambo, opened by the institute’s director general Mpanzo Domingos and which brought together DTMA national partners. The team met with Antonio Faceira, the proprietor of Mundo Verde, a private company that works with DTMA in Angola.

Last year, Faceira supplied 600 tons of ZM 523 to the government at no cost for distribution to smallholder farmers. Next year, he hopes to expand this to 2,000 tons. The DTMA team visited the Mundo Verde farm which has an average yield for maize of 8 t/ha (the current national yield is about 0.7 t/ha).

IMG_016ANGOLA The CIMMYT team, accompanied by Nginamau and Faceira, had a second meeting with Prata Junior on 22 June 2012. Thanking him for the warm welcome and willingness to support DTMA work in Angola, Abate pointed out the need for favorable policies on variety release and the involvement of the private sector in developing a sustainable seed production and delivery system. Discussions during the meeting also emphasized the need for the agriculture ministry to set targets for increasing the maize yield within the next five years. Abate reiterated CIMMYT’s willingness to offer technical support towards achieving the government’s goal of accelerated maize production. Prata Junior welcomed the suggestions and asked for immediate support in capacity building. He also emphasized the need for the capacity to produce basic seed within Angola and pointed out that the country is importing an additional 20,000 tons seed for the coming season. Prata Junior said the introduction of early-maturing hybrids would be highly appreciated in light of recurrent droughts in the country. He also pledged to follow up with the MOARDF for the large-scale dissemination of DTMA varieties.

DTMA takes a closer look at gender issues

Written by on July 2, 2012. Posted in News.

Last week, the Drought Tolerant Maize in Africa (DTMA) Project hosted gender consultant Diana Pritchard in Ethiopia and Kenya. In Ethiopia, Diana met with CIMMYT project staff. In Kenya, she attended a field day hosted by One Acre Farm in Kendu Bay in Nyanza Province. She also visited the Kenya Agricultural Research Institute (KARI) Katumani Station, Dryland Seeds Limited, and four farmer groups in Machakos and Makueni Districts in Kenya’s Eastern Province. Diana has been contracted to give recommendations on what DTMA can do to mainstream a focus on gender through the project activities carried out by CIMMYT and its partners. In making the project gender friendly, she will advise the project on how to ensure its activities and those of partners enhance women’s livelihoods and, in turn, contribute to their empowerment without impacting negatively on them.

While highlighting that the work she was doing was still ongoing, Diana pointed out key strengths of the DTMA project from her assessment. “DTMA and all project personnel recognize the need to do this because it is generally acknowledged that approximately 70 percent of agricultural labor in sub-Saharan countries is provided by women,” says Diana. “Since women also play a central role in the welfare of household members and the community, understanding how drought tolerant technologies affect them is crucial to defining the impact of DTMA on poor farmers. Amongst many of the research counterparts, both public and private, there is recognition of the significance of women in agricultural systems,” she observes.

Diana indicates that there is a qualitative difference between ‘sex differentiated’ data and gender aggregated data. Whereas the former establishes the existence of differences, for example, in variety preference of men and women or different adoption rates, it is important to go beyond this differentiation and to establish why this may be the case. This involves examining the underlying issues of different access that men and women have to resources (cash and assets).

So what exactly is gender analysis? “In carrying out gender analysis, one looks at power relationships within households with regards to men, women, children and the elderly in a bid to identify and explain the reasons why there are different responses to technological adoption and how different technologies may impact on different groups.” In turn, this requires adopting methods which enable researchers to effectively identify the specific challenges and constraints that bar women from greater access to assets and resources and that inhibit them from generating income through farming. Various methods, including focus groups, participatory and action research may all have a role to ensure that research findings accurately reflect women’s realities, their perspectives and interests. In this way, such qualitative methods can complement quantitative data and provide meaningful interpretations of the data which reflect the realities of poor women. This is crucial if DTMA technologies are to effectively reach women and to shape more effective project interventions.

The gender consultant identified different obstacles at different levels. “Women face many obstacles such as cultural constraints which influence their access to resources,” says Diana. “These cultural norms inhibit their more active participation or ability to demand for greater control in decision making and resources,” she elaborates further. Cultural norms may also become institutionalized and can result in women having limited access to financial resources, credit and important inputs which impact on their potential to produce good yields and secure food for rural households.

In her interactions with the various farmer groups which consisted mainly of women farmers, Diana learned about what they gained from organizing themselves in order to overcome the challenges they all face. They said that working as a group provided them an opportunity to gain more agricultural knowledge from their peers and extension workers. It also allowed them to pool together their limited labor resources to till the land, plant, weed, harvest and build terraces. “Women are organizing across the continent to try and overcome their limitations,” says Diana. She also noted that CIMMYT, through the DTMA project and its partners, both in public institutions and private enterprises are engaging this segment of the farming population in different ways.

Two decades since her last visit to Kenya, Diana was struck at the modified landscape of the country, reflecting the increase in the country’s booming population and the intensification of agriculture and particularly the widespread use of terracing: agricultural practices adopted to retain soil and conserve moisture.

Once the assignment is complete, Diana will share a complete report with the DTMA project staff.

CIMMYT participates in Rio+20 media briefing in Nairobi

Written by on June 26, 2012. Posted in News.

In the context of current Rio+20 discussions and events, CIMMYT staff played key roles in an 08 June 2012 media briefing co-organized by ICRAF-World Agroforestry Center, International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT), the CGIAR Research Program on Climate Change, Agriculture and Food Security (CCAFS), and the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP). The event centered on efforts to address climate change challenges to agriculture. Speakers included CIMMYT scientists Tsedeke Abate, Drought Tolerant Maize for Africa (DTMA) project leader, and Stephen Mugo, Global Maize Program breeder, who highlighted DTMA and other relevant examples CIMMYT work.

“Maize is a champion crop in Africa,” said Tsedeke Abate, highlighting the crop’s role as a staple food in the region but one susceptible to changing climates. “Problems in African agriculture are complex, so they need complex solutions.” Maize varieties that can tolerate drought and heat stress constitute one such solution, according to Tsedeke Abate. About 90 drought tolerant maize varieties have been released so far under the DTMA project, working with national agriculture systems and seed companies and based on CIMMYT donor germplasm.

Abate stressed the importance of local solutions for agricultural problems. “If you want to remove the most difficult weed, use the bullock that knows the weed,” he said, citing an Ethiopian adage. Abate mentioned DTMA efforts to build capacity in the next generation of African breeders and national agricultural research systems—key CIMMYT partners. “We can make a difference with what we have now,” said Abate, emphasizing that today’s knowledge base can provide solutions to climate change and other challenges facing Africa.

“By 2050, the demand for maize in Africa is going to double,” said Stephen Mugo. This demand may not be satisfied with maize Africa’s maize crop threatened by drought and rising temperatures, according to Mugo. “A temperature increase of one degree centrigrade could reduce maize production 20 percent,” he said, referring to a recent study led by Stanford University scientist David Lobell. Mugo also highlighted the importance of conservation agriculture for addressing climate change in Africa.

Ambassador Amina Mohammed, the UNEP Assistant Secretary General and Deputy Executive Director, emphasized the importance of the media to spread news about work to address climate change and issues of water quality, food security and agriculture, and the creation of green jobs. ICRAF director general Tony Simmons and ICRISAT scientists Said Silim and Dave Harris highlighted their centers’ work and its strong relevance in helping farmers face climate change. Live tweeting at the event (hashtags #Nairobi2Rio, #Rio+20 and #Rio4ag) tracked the conversation and linked it to the global dialogue.

Rio+20 is the abbreviated name for the United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development that took place in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil in June 2012. This conference comes 20 years after the 1992 Earth Summit that was held in Rio, where countries adopted Agenda 21 —a blueprint to rethink economic growth, advance social equity and ensure environmental protection.

You can read more about this event in articles posted by ASB, ICRAF, and UNEP.

China-CIMMYT impact: celebrating 30 years of collaborations

Written by on June 25, 2012. Posted in News.

CIMMYT director general Tom Lumpkin, Global Wheat Program director Hans Braun, and Global Maize Program director B M Prasanna visited the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Science (CAAS) during 16-18 May 2012. As part of the visit, CAAS President Li Jiayang highlighted CIMMYT’s contributions to Chinese agricultural development and named CIMMYT as a CAAS strategic partner for international collaboration. An agreement was also signed between CAAS and CIMMYT to further promote collaboration on applied biotechnology in crop improvement. A workshop was held on 18 May 2012 to celebrate the 30-year China-CIMMYT collaboration. There were more than 60 participants, including Ren Wang, CAAS vice president, deputy director general Liu Zhiming from the Ministry of Science and Technology, and division director Yinglan Zhang from the National Natural Science Foundation of China. Lumpkin described CIMMYT’s new development and collaboration role with China, followed by presentations from CIMMYT liaison officer Zhonghu He and five partners from CAAS and from the provinces of Sichuan, Yunnan, Shandong, and Ningxia.

MOA As indicated in Ren Wang’s speech, CIMMYT has the largest investment in China among CGIAR centers. Five collaborative research programs led by CIMMYT scientists stationed in China have been established at CAAS, Yunnan and Sichuan. This has created a new model for CGIAR-China collaboration and increased CIMMYT’s impact in China. CIMMYT is also the first international center to establish collaborative projects with the National Natural Science Foundation of China.

CIMMYT wheat germplasm has contributed significantly to wheat production in China. More than 90,000 wheat accessions were introduced to China and 14,000 genotypes were stored in national and provincial genebanks, accounting for around 55% of introduced wheat germplasm in China. More than 260 improved varieties were released from CIMMYT germplasm, and the accumulated planting area for these varieties has reached 45 million hectares.

More than 1,000 tropical inbred lines and populations from CIMMYT were introduced to China. CIMMYT germplasm has played a significant role in subtropical maize breeding in Yunnan, Guangxi, Guizhou, and Sichuan provinces. CIMMYT tropical maize germplasm has also been used as a donor for breeding temperate maize in northern China, as occurred in the two leading temperate hybrids Nongda 108 and Zhengdan 958.

CIMMYT-China collaborations have also had an impact on the application of molecular technology. Forty functional markers were developed, validated, and used in various wheat breeding programs, and three advanced lines developed from molecular markers are expected to be released in the next few years. These markers have been widely used to characterize Chinese and CIMMYT germplasm. A novel method for mapping quantitative trait genes, the ICIM, was developed and used in many countries. Breeding simulation tools are used to optimize the complicated breeding strategies. Nine training courses have been held in China, Mexico, IRRI, and Australia to promote new tools and methods. QTL analysis through joint linkage-LD mapping was developed and used to understand molecular mechanisms for drought tolerance. The genes related to the biosynthesis of proV A have been cloned and used to develop functional markers for molecular breeding. Chip-based and sequencing-based genotyping techniques have been used for genetic diversity analysis, haplotype map construction, and association mapping in maize. More than 400 papers have been published in peer-reviewed journals, including several papers in high-impact journals such as Genetics (2007), PNAS (2010), and Nature Genetics (2010, 2012).

CHINA-CIMMYT-30years-collaboration-seminar Bed planting has produced significant impact in the provinces of Gansu, Ningxia, Sichuan, Shandong, and Henan, bringing among other benefits a 30% reduction in input use. Bed planting is particularly advantageous at saving water. Conservation agriculture techniques combined with new winter wheat varieties have been broadly extended in traditional spring wheat areas, allowing farmers to take advantage of climate change to increase yields and reduce input use.

CIMMYT trained scientists play a leading role in China. Over 800 Chinese scientists and administrators have visited CIMMYT and more than 200 scientists have participated in various training courses or visiting scientist programs and more than 60 postgraduates were trained. Among them, more than 60 serve at a research professor level or became presidents of provincial academies or directors of research institutes. As of 2012, more than 20 training courses and international conferences have been jointly organized, with more than 3,500 participants.

Great new CGIAR website

Written by on June 22, 2012. Posted in News.

Check out the new www.cgiar.org! Great new look and significant content pulled directly from the web pages of centers like CIMMYT (see, for example, the article on conservation agriculture on the front page). The new page was developed by the Consortium web team headed by Antonella Pastore, under the leadership of Enrica Porcari, Acting Director of Communications for the Consortium, with excellent contributions from center communications specialists, including CIMMYT’s Petr Kosina. Congrats to the Consortium team!

SIMLESA spills over into South Sudan

Written by on June 22, 2012. Posted in News.

South Sudan, Africa’s newest country, is set to benefit from the project “Sustainable Intensification of Maize-Legume Cropping Systems in Eastern and Southern Africa” (SIMLESA), following fruitful discussions between project representatives and South Sudan’s Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry (MoAF). Project coordinator Mulugetta Mekuria and agronomist Fred Kanampiu met with George Leju, Director General of Research, Training, and Extension Services, Cirino Oketayot, Executive Director of Research, and Luka Atwok, maize breeder, in Juba on 6 June 2012. Mekuria gave an overview of the project’s vision, focus, and accomplishments to date and explained how SIMLESA’s experiences can reach and benefit South Sudan. The opportunity for collaboration was first discussed in Rwanda in October 2011 and since then Atwok has attended a series of SIMLESA-organized trainings and workshops.

Leju welcomed the proposal and thanked CIMMYT and the Australian Center for International Agricultural Research (ACIAR, which funds the project) for considering South Sudan as a beneficiary of the work. “SIMLESA resonates well with the MoAF strategic plan as it addresses the core challenges of the country, which has emerged from war,” said Leju. Oketayot highlighted South Sudan’s research structure, current priorities, challenges, and areas that need support, including an urgent need for capacity building. He also emphasized the importance of maize and legumes in the country’s farming systems and the potential impact of SIMLESA on these systems.

“ACIAR has availed initial funding for spillover activities,” said Mekuria. “The idea is to ensure that SIMLESA research results are quickly scaled out to countries like South Sudan and improve food security there.”

South Sudan scientists will join SIMLESA capacity building activities, attending core country and regional training events. “The project will also facilitate their travel to target country sites for activities like field days, so they get first-hand experience,” said Kanampiu. The first such capacity building initiative is planned for August this year, when CIMMYT will hold a workshop on basic agricultural research design and implementation. In addition to a very productive meeting, Leju and Oketayot were also delighted to receive an information pack full of background on SIMLESA, as well as shirts and baseball caps.

ATMA annual review and planning meeting

Written by on June 18, 2012. Posted in News.

The ‘Abiotic stress tolerant maize for Asia’ (ATMA) project aims to increase incomes and food security for the poor of South and southeast Asia, with the assistance of Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ). The second phase was launched in May 2011, and on 11 June 2012, the first annual progress review and planning session took place at the University of Hohenheim (UH), Stuttgart, Germany.

India12

All the collaborating institutions were represented, including: the Directorate of Maize Research (DMR), Maharana Pratap University of Agricultural Science & Technology, India, Acharya NG Ranga Agriculture University, India, the National Maize Research Institute (NMRI), Vietnam, Bangladesh Agricultural Research Institute, the Institute of Plant Breeding, Philippines, UH, Germany, and CIMMYT.

The meeting began with a warm welcome from Albrecht E. Melchinger (UH), who highlighted the partnerships between UH and various institutions of the CGIAR, but in particular the partnership between UH and CIMMYT, which has existed for more than 20 years. In the opening session, Raman Babu, maize molecular breeder, CIMMYT, discussed recent advances in genomic selection and the genome-wide association mapping approach, focusing on its potential use in maize breeding, particularly for complex traits such as drought and water-logging.

The ATMA project country leaders, including Melchinger, R. Sai Kumar (DMR), Le Quy Kha (NMRI), and Bhagya Rani Banik, then presented the project’s progress over the past year. During this time, socio-economic studies were carried out, and these were jointly presented by T.R. Prabhakarna (CIMMYT-Delhi) and V.K. Yadav (DMR). After summarizing CIMMYT-Asia’s overall progress, CIMMYT’s senior maize physiologist and ATMA project coordinator, P.H. Zaidi, went on to outline areas that need special attention over the coming year in order to meet the project’s
milestones and commitments.

Led by MT Vinayan, post-doctoral fellow at CIMMYT-Hyderabad, the afternoon session focused on creating a detailed work-plan, assigning tasks among partners, and discussing activities for the next year. Zaidi mentioned that to date, all the multi-location trials have been conducted in India due to issues in exporting of trials to partners in other countries. However, since the export permit is now available, the ATMA trials will now be shipped to partners from Bangladesh, Philippines, and Vietnam for evaluation at their sites.

Delegates at the meeting also discussed how the ATMA project will provide opportunities for further research and learning. Among these, ATMA partners will have the opportunity to attend a capacity building workshop on “Double Haploid in Maize Breeding” to be held at UH. Details of the research project that ATMA Ph.D. scholar Do Van Dung (NMRI) will be conducting were also discussed and finalized, while two interns, one each from Bangladesh and Vietnam, have been invited to work at CIMMYT-Hyderabad. Their six-week placements will provide them with hands-on experience on key aspects of breeding for enhancing water-logging and drought tolerance in maize.

Women are the key to achieving food security: CIMMYT at the G(irls) 20 Summit

Written by on June 15, 2012. Posted in News.

From 28 to 30 May, Mexico City held the G(irls) 20 Summit, a meeting in which 20 outstanding youths aged 18 to 20 represented each of the G20 countries, the African Union, and the European Union. This year, the priority issues for discussion and analysis were the role of women in agriculture and gender-based violence. CIMMYT was represented by Karen García, executive director of MasAgro, who shared some of her thoughts with the delegates on the role that science and technology can play in the development of rural women’s productive capacity.

García spoke about agricultural policies to end discrimination and promote the access of women farmers to education, technology, productive inputs, extension services, and funding. She directed the delegates’ attention to FAO’s The State of Food and Agriculture 2010-2011 report, which predicts increases of between 2.5 and 4 per cent in agricultural production in developing countries that give women in rural areas access to the same opportunities and encouragement as men. The international organization also estimated that an increase of this nature would overcome hunger for between 100 to 150 million people.

For this reason, García urged the future leaders to make more space in ministries, research centers, community governance structures, extension services, markets, and schools. In her conclusion, she highlighted the career of former CIMMYT researcher Evangelina Villegas, whose contribution to the development of quality protein maize earned her the first World Food Prize awarded to a woman, in the year 2000.

Following the presentations, delegates reconvened to discuss initiatives to develop the skills and productive potential of women worldwide. Their public policy recommendations will be presented to the G20 heads of state at the end-of-June Summit in Los Cabos, Mexico. The G(irls) 20 Summit was inaugurated by the First Lady of Mexico, Margarita Zavala, and the Mexican Secretary of Foreign Affairs, Patricia Espinosa.

Preventing stripe rust in Sichuan, China

Written by on June 13, 2012. Posted in News.

GarryField One of the worst wheat diseases in China, stripe rust has appeared in yearly epidemics since 1950 and caused losses of more than 60 million tons. As China is among the world’s main producers of wheat, the CIMMYT China office in Chengdu, in collaboration with the Sichuan Academy of Agricultural Sciences (SAAS), organized a two-day workshop to address these issues.

On 23 April 2012, around 50 participants from Sichuan and neighboring provinces were joined at SAAS by representatives from the Sichuan Department of Science and Technology and the Foreign Expert Bureau of Sichuan Province. The purpose of the workshop, which included site visits, was to learn about breeding for durable resistance to stripe rust in wheat.

Following an introduction by SAAS vice president Liu Jianjun, the workshop began with several seminars on breeding and rust diseases. Professor Bob McIntosh from Sydney University, Australia, presented a seminar on host pathogen interactions and the current status of global rust
epidemics, followed by CIMMYT scientist Sybil Herrera who gave an update on her work with minor, durable resistance genes, marker development and their application in breeding programs. CIMMYT wheat breeder Garry Rosewarne outlined some of the work on quantitative trait locus (QTL) analysis and breeding strategies at SAAS. Ennian Yang from SAAS closed with an account of CIMMYT SAAS collaborations, outlining the early shuttle breeding between China and Mexico and related outcomes.

The rest of the workshop was dedicated to field visits, with two sites visited on the first day. At Xindu farm, the main SAAS breeding site, the participants saw demonstrations of the selected bulk methodology. At the Guanghan site there were several elite yield trials as well as seed multiplication blocks of the latest, high-yielding releases from another Sichuan based breeder, Dr Wuyun Yang. During discussions, Dr Tang, a local agronomist, also explained conservation agriculture techniques developed in collaboration with CIMMYT’s consultant Ken Sayre. In traditional Chinese fashion, the evening was spent at a banquet at the “One Duck” restaurant, with everyone enjoying excellent food and wine, and catching up with old friends.

The second day of the workshop involved a visit to the field station of the Neijiang Academy of Agricultural Sciences, hosted by their president Huang Yuecheng. Based in a mountainous region near Chengdu, there were interesting demonstrations of intercropping with high-yielding wheat and specially designed equipment for cultivation and sowing on small, hilly plots. The main purpose of this field visit however was to see the academy’s own variety, Neimai 836, which has high yield potential and good resistance to powdery mildew (Pm21) as well as stem rust resistance against Ug99.

Defining priorities for quality research in native maize

Written by on June 6, 2012. Posted in News.

In order to define the research priorities for the Seeds of Discovery initiative in maize quality of landraces (a Strategic Initiative of both CRPs MAIZE and WHEAT funded by Mexico), a diverse group of food scientists, chemists, maize breeders, genebank curators, social scientists, and representatives of research institutions such as UNAM and Chapingo, met for a workshop to discuss future research on quality characteristics within native Mexican maize.

Held during 23-24 April 2012, at Mansión del Quijote, the workshop recognized the need to preserve cultural customs and identify market niches in order to ensure the conservation and use of germplasm. Many native maize landraces are grown by farmers for specific culinary uses. Tlayudas, for example, are normally prepared using native maize from Raza bolita, whilst Pozole is only prepared with pozolero maize belonging to the ancho, cacahuacintle, and eloteros occidentales races. These culinary and cultural niches are not easily filled by standard
commercial hybrids.

The workshop was organized by Martha Willcox (Genetic Resources Program) and Natalia Palacios (Global Maize Program). “We wanted to prioritize specific uses and areas of research,” said Natalia Palacios. “By discussing state of the art research on quality, germplasm conservation
and characterization, and the uses and applications of landraces, we were able to identify some starting points for further research,” she added. Whilst a great deal of work has focused on landrace quality, much of this research has gone undocumented. Therefore, one of the key focuses for 2012 will be on data analysis, documentation, and publication.

“Overall, we hope to identify and characterize accessions with exceptional quality parameters to be used in breeding, both at the landrace level and to introgress into improved breeding lines, in order to provide an economic benefit to farmers,” stated Martha Willcox.

Pakistan and CIMMYT: The center says “Khush Aamdeed” (warm welcome) to a distinguished delegation

Written by on June 4, 2012. Posted in News.

The strength and breadth of the fruitful five-decade partnership between Pakistan and CIMMYT have grown significantly in recent years: this was one conclusion from the visit to CIMMYT on 29 May 2012 of a 12-member team of senior civil servants, ambassadors, and corporate executives from Pakistan.

The event was one leg of a foreign study tour by the group, as part of the 96th National Management Course given by the government of Pakistan’s National Management College. Designed to sensitize participants in public policy formulation and implementation, diplomacy, and external and bilateral relations, the tour’s stop at El Batán gave the visitors a broadbrush overview of Pakistan and CIMMYT’s shared history, of global challenges to food security, and how our current and future partnerships address them.

As emerged in the CIMMYT presentations, Pakistani policymakers, researchers, and farmers played a key role in the Green Revolution. In 1961 as part of his work with Norman Borlaug, Pakistani FAO trainee Manzoor Bajwa (later Director General of Pakistan’s AYUB Agricultural Research Institute) selected Mexipak, a high-yielding wheat that would eventually become the country’s most popular variety. In 1966, Pakistan imported 41,000 tons of Mexipak seed from Mexico and, only two years later, harvested 7 million tons of wheat, making it the first country in Asia to achieve self sufficiency for the crop. Sixty percent of the wheat seed to be sown in Pakistan this year comes from direct CIMMYT selections, and at least half the improved maize varieties grown are derived from joint Pakistan-CIMMYT breeding research. In the late 1990s-early 2000s, with CIMMYT support, Pakistan researchers helped launch conservation agriculture in South Asia.

From our shared history, the discussions moved to challenges to food security for humanity and for individual nations like Pakistan, as well as solutions. On the latter, the visitors learned of the global alliances MAIZE and WHEAT and—as examples of country and regional initiatives— the Sustainable Modernization of Traditional Agriculture with Mexico, including the Wheat Yield Consortium and Seeds of Discovery project, and the Borlaug Institute for South Asia (BISA). Despite having arrived in Mexico the previous day after more than 30 hours of travel, the visitors were attentive and inquisitive, with questions about CIMMYT’s policies on intellectual property, about genetically-modified crops, about small-scale farmers’ access to improved seed and the role of transnational seed companies, and about the rationale for research on wheat photosynthesis, to name a few topics.

There was an excellent presentation on legal aspects of the Pakistan-CIMMYT partnership and on the germplasm bank. Four Norman Borlaug Fellows (a program funded by USDA) from Pakistan accompanied the visitors for lunch, where talk touched upon how to improve practical aspects of the Pakistan-CIMMYT partnership. “We came here to learn,” said Ahmed Yar Khan, Director General of the National School of Public Policy, “and we have learned many things. We’ll certainly take back the messages we’ve heard to our colleagues in Pakistan.” CIMMYT also took the opportunity to thank the Embassy of Pakistan in Mexico for its typically excellent assistance in organizing the visit and arranging visas.

CIMMYT director general Thomas Lumpkin, who was traveling in South Asia at the time, was pleased to hear the visit went well and thanked everyone involved: “I am sure that Dr. Borlaug would be smiling, knowing that we are making good progress to rebuild a relationship with a country that was so important to him.”

Genetic resources information and analytical system (GRIS) for wheat and triticale

Written by on May 31, 2012. Posted in News.

20120509_120632 GRIS (http://wheatpedigree.net) is designed to study the diversity of wheat through analysis of pedigrees, and provides information services for breeding and research programs. The database contains pedigree and genetic allele information on 160,000 genotypes (varieties and breeding lines). All data are accompanied by standardized reference citations.

The author of the GRIS database, Sergey Martynov of Vavilov Research Institute, and programmer of the web application Dmitriy Dobrotvorskyi, recently met in Istanbul with a group of CIMMYT scientists involved in the development of Wheat Atlas, Rust Spore and IWIS-bib, to discuss collaboration on further development of these web-based tools. The key outputs of the meeting were agreements on (1) incorporation of the GRIS search into the Wheat Atlas and (2) further development of web-based modules to broaden the use of GRIS to conduct various genealogical and statistical analyses. Compatibility of GRIS with external statistical software (ANOVA, various algorithms of cluster analysis, etc.) is also considered essential in order to extend the opportunities for use of GRIS.

Thanks go to the CIMMYT-Turkey office, and to Alexei Morgounov in particular for facilitating this meeting.

Honing skills in scientific writing for publishing

Written by on May 29, 2012. Posted in News.

107_7608writing-workshop Have you ever wondered why the papers you have written on a piece of innovative research are rejected by your target peer-reviewed journals, or why your colleagues in similar projects are publishing with less difficulty? It could be that you are not writing in a style that is acceptable by the journals. For this reason Insect Resistant Maize for Africa (IRMA) and its sister project Water Efficient Maize for Africa (WEMA) have been conducting annual scientific writing workshops for their project scientists and students based in Nairobi. This year’s IRMA/WEMA Writing Workshop, which was attended by 15 participants, was held in Nakuru, Kenya during 07–11 May 2012.

The objectives of the workshop were to: train the participants on how to write scientific papers; demonstrate how to write technical papers in English; break down the process of journal choice, submission, reviews, and publication; provide assistance in completing manuscripts; and to draft new technical papers.

Stephen Mugo, principal scientist, Global Maize Program (GMP) and the IRMA/WEMA team leader, notes that publishing is the most effective way to disseminate research findings to fellow researchers, extension and development agents, and farmers. It is the best way to advance science and also provides an opportunity to account for resources provided by donors. GMP scientists are encouraged to publish at least one or two articles per year.

Reiterating the importance of publishing, maize breeder Biswanath Das of the Improved Maize for African Soils (IMAS) project stated, “Considering that we are working in public institutions, we have an obligation to share our research findings.” He was one of the scientists outside the IRMA and WEMA projects who were attracted to the writing workshop. There are plans to expand participation in the workshop to include more scientists from other CIMMYT projects in Kenya.

Mugo noted that the workshop is particularly important in training young professionals and students in scientific writing. This kind of retreat is a sure way of getting publications out in the shortest time possible.

Indeed, the number of papers published in peer reviewed journals is steadily increasing, from six in 2010—when the projects held their first writing workshop—to 16 in 2011. By the end of April 2012, seven papers had been published. Another six papers have been submitted to various journals, while 23 more are being drafted with authors promising to submit by the end of July this year.

For Murenga Mwimali, a PhD student, the workshop provided him with an opportunity to sharpen his skills in scientific writing. It was also an opportunity for him to consolidate data findings and to write papers based on research done within the IRMA/WEMA projects.

The workshop was facilitated by Stephen Mugo and Liz Lucas, consulting copy editor. They would like to thank Hugo De Groote for his work in compiling resources for these workshops.

Nepal farmers like rust resistant wheat

Written by on May 28, 2012. Posted in News.

On 14 May 2012, at Tikathali, Changathali Village Development Committee Centre (VDC) in Lalitpur, around 30 participants from MoA, NARC, seed companies, and CIMMYT were joined by 61 farmers (43 female, 18 male) and several graduate students and technicians. The event also saw active participation from senior district agriculture development officers from Lalitpur, Bhaktapur, and Kathmandu as well as the Crop Development Directorate of Nepal and the Seed Quality Control Center.

After a brief introduction, the farmers were led on a field tour by Maiya Maharjan Saligram, the head of the Loktantrik Integrated Pest Management Group in Changathali. Here they were shown the wheat plots and given detailed information about the characteristics of each variety, such as maturity class, yield potential, and disease resistance.They were split into four groups and asked to evaluate six varieties and two checks, which they then ranked one to eight according to individual performance.

Back at the VDC, NARC’s senior plant pathologist Sarala Sharma said that with active awareness among farmers, wheat breeders, and pathologists, Nepal is fully prepared to face the possible arrival of the stem rust race Ug99 because resistant varieties are already in farmers’ fields. She also described how positive the PVS approach has been over recent years; not only has there been a rapid increase in adoption rates of new varieties, but there has also been a remarkable reduction in yellow rust. Madan Bhatta, chief of NARC’s germplasm division, also endorsed the PVS approach, while Dilaram Bhandari from Seed Quality Control suggested that small-scale farmers should work together to develop an effective seed producers organization. The farmers were further encouraged by Suroj Pokhrel, director of the Crop Development Directorate, and Yubak Dhoj G.C. from the Plant Protection Directorate, who assured them that their suggestions are extremely important.

The farmers themselves were very happy with the event, saying that by sharing experiences with each other, they were building confidence in their own ability to manage wheat diseases, seed production, and profitability. They were particularly enthusiastic about strengthening their groups to share new technology and seed varieties, with the female farmers especially motivated. Through PVS, farmers have widened the coverage of rust resistant varieties, tested new options, and gradually replaced older, lower-yielding varieties, thus increasing production and productivity. With the new varieties, the farmers expected a 10% yield increase.

Other participants included Hira Kaji Manandhar from the plant pathology division at the National Agriculture Research Institute (NARI) of NARC, NARC scientist D.B. Thapa; NARC crops and horticulture director Yagya Prasad Giri; CIMMYT’s regional wheat breeder Arun Joshi; and lead farmer Dhana Maharjan.

CIMMYT team wins CCAFS recognition

Written by on May 25, 2012. Posted in News.

On 29 April, CIMMYT had a double reason to celebrate, picking up the award for “Best gender paper” and “Best science paper” (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 – 02 May, and was attended by various CIMMYT staff.

The best gender paper, titled ‘Adoption of Agricultural Technologies in Kenya: How Does Gender Matter?’ 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. “This recognition inspires me to put more effort to produce more quality research that will bring excellent distinction to CIMMYT and myself,” said Kassie, while Ndiritu said “it is an encouragement to a young scientist,” adding that he is looking forward to having the paper published.

The winning science paper, ‘Assessing the vulnerability of traditional maize seed systems in Mexico to climate change’, 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 – 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 Kenya’s 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.