May, 2004

Mzuzukuru and Sekuru may not be real people, but these two new faces will help teach extension workers and farmers about growing open-pollinated varieties (OPVs) in Zimbabwe.

In a brightly colored, cartoon-style booklet published in March 2004 by CIMMYT-Zimbabwe and Agricultural Research and Extension in Zimbabwe (AREX), these fictional characters examine maize and chat in the field about the benefits of OPVs.

“Young man, I’ve been watching your fields for some time,” the older Sekuru says at the beginning of the booklet. “Your maize is growing well. What’s your secret?” His query sets off a series of questions and explanations with Mzuzukuru, who relays how he grows a drought-tolerant, well-adapted OPV.

The booklet’s creators, Peter Setimela and Marianne Banziger from CIMMYT-Zimbabwe along with Xavier Mhike and Patience Nyakanda from the National Agricultural Research System in Zimbabwe (AREX), initiated the booklet after attending a workshop about successful community-based seed strategies. There they learned that many NGOs and extension workers did not know the difference between OPVs and hybrids, says Setimela.

In response to this lack of information, the group decided that a simple and entertaining picture book would be the best way to educate people about the issue. It could answer common questions in terms that are accessible for everyone.

The collaborators hope the booklet, titled “Improve Your Maize Harvests: Grow Certified Seed of Open-Pollinated Varieties,” educates extension workers, NGOs in seed distribution, and farmers in the Southern African Development Community (SADC) about seed recycling and the differences between hybrids and OPVs.

Setimela would even like children to be able to understand the booklet, which uses non-technical language, and bring it to their parents. “It provides simple scientific information that non-scientists can understand and apply,” he says. “And now extension workers can pass the information on to farmers.”

In the booklet, the younger Mzuzukuru corrects common misconceptions about differences between hybrids and OPVs. For example, although planting recycled hybrid seed causes lower yields, he says, farmers can recycle OPV seed for one or two seasons without much yield loss. He also clarifies that while hybrid seed is suitable for productive fields, OPVs are better for poorer fields.

Mzuzukuru also explains that maize varieties can mix when they grow near each other. To keep a variety pure, farmers should plant certified seed that is recommended for that area, isolate the crop from other varieties, inspect the field before flowering, and remove any dissimilar plants. He says that certified OPV seed is produced under strict guidelines to avoid contamination.

Setimela says the predominance of hybrid seed on the market in southern Africa has led to the dearth of knowledge about OPVs. Most farmers in the SADC region have limited access to improved seed and end up recycling seed that has been exhausted after many years of planting. This practice can perpetuate low yields and food insecurity. However, Setimela expects the trend to change as many NGOs and farming communities have become interested in new stress-tolerant OPVs that were developed in southern Africa.

Picture books can be very effective teaching tools, according to CIMMYT maize breeder Kevin Pixley. In Bangladesh, he saw flipcharts about activities such as seed production that paired the local language with cartoon-type drawings to use in farmer discussions. Pixley understood the message through the drawings, even though he could not understand the words.

“The temptation is to make it too complicated, and also the temptation is to do it from the scientists’ perspective,” says Pixley, who thinks the best strategies are developed with farmer input. “Unless you involve farmers in developing the messages, you’re not going to end up with something that is as good as it should be.”

The OPV booklet will soon be available in other languages. The national maize breeder in Mozambique is going to translate it into Portuguese, and the head of Zimbabwe’s crop breeding institute wants it translated into Shona and Ndebele. It may be translated into other southern African languages, as well. Feedback on the OPV booklet will help everyone revise it to improve its effectiveness.

At the booklet’s end, Mzuzukuru and Sekuru shake hands, just as they do at the beginning. Extension workers and farmers will probably share Sekuru’s final conclusion: “Thanks for your advice!”

For more information, contact Peter Setimela

Link to the booklet (in PDF format 846KB):
“Improve Your Maize Harvests: Grow Certified Seed of Open-Pollinated Varieties”

November, 2004

CIMMYT’s External Program and Management Review (EPMR) is underway. Seven members of the EPMR came to El Batán from 22-26 November to commence the meetings and evaluations, which will be continued in its main phase from 14-25 February 2005. The fifth review of this kind for CIMMYT, it is the single most important mechanism by which a CGIAR center’s science and management achievements are assessed. Under the microscope for this process are CIMMYT’s mission and strategy within the CGIAR system, its scientific significance and quality, management effectiveness, and impact of activities.

Initial discussions were on governance and began in October, when three of the review members met with the Board at their last meeting. During the November meetings, many of the reviewers met with research and discipline program members in person, over the phone or via video links. On the agenda were topics such as maize and wheat breeding, natural resource management, and economics. The results of the review will be presented to the CIMMYT Board 14-18 March 2005, and then to the Science Council from 4-8 April 2005. Panel members are:

Chair: Don Marshall (Australia) – wheat breeding and biotechnology
Peter Goertz (Germany) – maize breeding and biotechnology
Shu Fukai (Japan) – natural resources management
Eugenio Cap (Argentina) – economics
Maureen Robinson (USA) – governance
Edward Sayegh (Lebanon) – management and finances

January, 2005

In recent years, CIMMYT’s collaboration with partners in the South Africa Development Community (SADC) has flourished in scope and strength to span research, training, and shared experiences with researchers, extension workers, farmers, seed companies, and four national universities. The various parties bring their strengths to this alliance, resulting in synergy and a fluid transfer of impact-oriented technologies and knowledge to smallholder farmers.

From the Ivory Tower to Farmers’ Fields

Mick Mwala’s friends have nicknamed him “Dr Mobile.” On any given day he can be found at any of three or more places: the lecture halls and laboratories of the Department of Crop Science at the University of Zambia (UNZA), interacting with his students at the CIMMYT-Zimbabwe research station, or in the field visiting smallholder farmers who host “baby” trials in farmer-participatory maize variety evaluations (popularly known as mother-baby trials ) throughout the SADC region. Occasionally, he will also call on the offices of local seed companies to chat about the varieties being tested in the field. The only way to reach Mwala on weekdays is via his mobile phone, hence the nickname.

Mwala, a Senior Lecturer at the University of Zambia (UNZA), is among the many individuals who supply impetus to agricultural progress in the region. Since 2000, he has been allocating 30% of his time to providing regional leadership within CIMMYT’s southern African research agenda. “I advise national research and extension staff in 10 southern African countries, each of them leading a network among farmer and partner organizations to identify new maize varieties suitable to smallholder conditions,” he explains. Marianne Bänziger, director of CIMMYT’s African Livelihoods Program, sees Mwala’s secondment to CIMMYT as one approach to an extremely productive collaboration between an international agricultural research center and the present expertise of African universities, and Mwala concurs.

“Many universities had become ivory towers, with little actual connection to the development issues their research and training activities should address,” he says. His focus on CIMMYT has involved him in a highly relevant, cooperative effort allowing CIMMYT’s state-of-the-art science and technologies—such as new breeding approaches for drought tolerance, or GIS tools—to be utilized. “The experience has definitely cross-fertilized my approach to teaching at the university and equipped me with a developmental perspective towards training and research,” Mwala says. The expanse of collective knowledge is also shared among international agricultural research centers, national agricultural research systems (NARS), non-governmental and community-based organizations, church-based groups, schools, the private sector, and with individual smallholder farmers. In turn, CIMMYT has gained much from Mwala’s experience in capacity building and his intrinsic knowledge of southern Africa and its people.

New Challenges Add a New Dimension to Collaboration

For many decades, agricultural research institutions have grappled with how to design variety release systems that are more responsive to smallholder farmers’ needs. Farmers’ access to seed must be improved, especially for those who have to travel long distances. By partnering with institutions possessing broad and in-depth knowledge of the southern Africa region, its people, cropping systems, and technology transfer approaches, international centers such as CIMMYT are better able to deliver innovative science-based solutions for improved livelihoods.

A troubling phenomenon that Mwala has observed in the course of his work is the extremely high staff turnover rate in the region’s NARS. “It is not unusual for the staffing profile of an institution to completely change in a given year, and this presents a tremendous challenge to agricultural development,” he states. Bänziger estimates that half of the maize breeders in southern Africa leave their posts within three years, and she notes, “This is less time than is needed to identify a variety for release to farmers.” Staff trained in the 1980s are approaching retirement or have already done so

In addition, most staff joining NARS come only with a fresh BSc degree, and the experienced people are involved in management rather than research or have moved to greener pastures. In recent times, many succumb to illness, ranging from preventable diseases like malaria to terminal conditions like HIV/AIDs. Donor investments in graduate training have decreased to the extent that few universities in the region can maintain viable MSc programs.

To address these issues in a more coordinated fashion, Mwala, in collaboration with CIMMYT, obtained support from The Rockefeller Foundation in 2003 for MSc training of NARS scientists at the University of Zambia. Six scientists are completing their research projects at four international centers in the region—CIMMYT, ICRISAT, CIAT and IITA/SARNET —following a year’s course work at university.

Dibanzilua Nginamau, one of the Rockefeller-supported students, says, “I could never have done an MSc degree in plant breeding in Angola, because my country does not have a postgraduate program in that field. While at UNZA, I met colleagues from Zambia, Mozambique, and Tanzania who, like me, were breeders confronted with a tremendous responsibility and no postgraduate education.” The course work at UNZA coupled with his applied research at CIMMYT has equipped Nginamau with the skills, competence, and confidence to breed successfully for Angola’s needs. “I can now lead my own breeding program back home!” he says.

Gaining from this network are farmers, scientists, NARS, universities and their students, as well as organizations like CIMMYT. Building on relationships and working together is essential for smooth transfers of knowledge to the farmers. It is also more cost-effective. “Working together actually required fewer resources than if we had all gone down the path on our own,” Mwala concludes.

June, 2005

A new study reports on the extensive use and benefits of CIMMYT wheat.

The advantage is clear: the use of CIMMYT wheat creates enormous benefits for those who grow them. Even by conservative estimates, every US $1 invested in wheat research by CIMMYT generates at least US $50 for those involved in growing CIMMYT-related wheats. According to the publication, Impacts of International Wheat Breeding Research in the Developing World, 1988-2002, farmers sowed CIMMYT-improved varieties on 62 million hectares in 2002.

“This report reaffirms the major contributions of CIMMYT wheat around the world, including areas of smallholder, resource-poor farmers,” says John Dixon, director of CIMMYT’s Impacts Targeting and Assessment Program. Farmers in developing countries yield 14 million more tons of wheat per year because of international wheat breeding research. In addition, 80% of wheat grown in developing countries has CIMMYT wheat in its family tree.

Because this report documents the successful adoption of modern wheat lines, policy-makers will be able to assess progress and set priorities for future research investment. Its conclusions support those found in two earlier studies, and the coverage extends to include many countries in Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union.

In countries such as Argentina, Brazil, Chile, and Uruguay, more than 75% of wheat marketed by private companies has CIMMYT ancestry. Widespread adoption of CIMMYT lines reflects the extensive use of partnerships and networks with other breeding programs to reach farmers with relevant varieties. This adoption and the subsequent higher on-farm yields generate enormous benefits for farmers, enhancing their food security and livelihoods (see box)—a central part of CIMMYT’s mission.

Check out our website to order this publication and click here to view a research summary of this report. (PDF)

CIMMYT E-News, vol 2 no. 11, November 2005

CIMMYT-Nepal makes progress against a disease in wheat that disguises itself as drought.

CIMMYT and partners in Nepal have identified new sources of genetic resistance to a disease that makes wheat plants looks as though they have been through a drought. The symptoms of foliar blight result from fungal infections, either spot blotch or the less well-known but related tan spot. These pathogens dry the wheat plant and shrivel grain. In the warm areas of South Asia, that appearance can lead farmers to blame drought rather than an infection. By “knowing the enemy,” as CIMMYT partner Ram Sharma puts it, it is easier to win the fight against the disease.

CIMMYT pathologist Etienne Duveiller and Sharma, who have both done work on the pathogens, have found an effective method to select for resistance: finding wheat with a heavy grain weight, early maturity, and resistance to both pathogens. Wheat that carries these three traits together makes for wheat with higher resistance. Through regional collaborative trials in South Asia, they have bred and identified wheat lines that look promising. While better than anything previously seen in the area, these wheats can still suffer up to 35% yield losses—and have a huge impact on resource poor farmers who grow their wheat for food, as most do in Nepal.

When the temperature soars to 26-28°C, however, no wheat can resist the disease. This is why it is so important to find wheat that matures early to avoid the abrupt rise in temperature accompanied by hot winds in late March and April. This becomes difficult as most farmers in the region are delayed planting wheat as they wait for their rice harvest to finish and the paddies to dry up.

In addition to genetic resistance, solutions can come in the form of good management. Surface seeding, when seed is broadcast on the mud directly after the rice harvest, allows earlier planting and gives the wheat crop a jump start on the heat. Crop rotation and soil nutrients are important because healthy soils help the crop resist the disease. Also, Duveiller and Sharma have found that wheat is better able to withstand the disease with proper soil moisture.

The CIMMYT-Nepal team expects that these new sources of resistance, coupled with good management practices, will limit the destructiveness of this disease. They know it can be done—foliar blight has already been substantially reduced in areas of South Asia such as Bangladesh through better wheat varieties. The challenge is to sustain progressive control of this threat across the warm wheat growing areas of South Asia.

For further information, contact Etienne Duveiller (e.duveiller@cgiar.org) or Ram Sharma (sharmar@cimmyt.exch.cgiar.org).

June, 2004

The densely populated Eastern Indo-Gangetic Plains of South Asia is highly dependent on agriculture and extremely poor, but significant tracts of agricultural land is under-used. Can it be made productive?

In the Eastern Indo-Gangetic Plains, more than 300 million people live on less than 35 million hectares. They depend on that land for food, employment, and income. Most farm households produce rice in rotation with wheat, but to reduce the risk of losses in a region where the climate can seesaw from extreme drought to heavy flooding in the same year, they also plant a variety of other crops. A lack of tillage options and appropriate planting techniques has been a major obstacle for these under-used but potentially productive lands.

Farmer management practices and environmental and social conditions all contribute to land under-use and low productivity. Heavy rains, residual moisture from the last crop, poor drainage systems, insufficient irrigation water, alkaline or saline soils, and a lack of alternative cropping practices often make it challenging for farmers to plant winter season crops on time or plant any crops at all.. Some conditions simply exacerbate the problem. For example, in Uttar Pradesh, an estimated 1.2 million hectares are not used because of a high buildup of salts.

In India, the impoverished Ballia District in Uttar Pradesh is representative of conditions throughout the Eastern Indo-Gangetic Plains. Most land is used for the main economic activity: agriculture. The farming community comprises small-scale and marginal agricultural enterprises that support a large number of landless laborers. Ninety percent of the population lives in rural areas. Cropping systems anchored by rice and wheat occupy most arable land.

Mapping and Understanding Land Use Patterns

A recently completed study by Parvesh Chandna and colleagues used remote sensing and GIS methodology to estimate and map the area of under-used land in Ballia District. The study, “Increasing the Productivity of Underutilized Lands by Targeting Resource Conserving Technologies – a GIS / Remote Sensing Approach,” was sponsored by the Asian Development Bank as one component of the project on “Sustaining the Rice Wheat Production Systems of Asia.” It is a collaboration between CIMMYT and the Rice-Wheat Consortium.

Chandra and his colleagues incorporated satellite images from four different dates that showed land-use patterns in farmers’ fields over time. The time-series satellite data helped to identify areas sown to wheat / barley and rice and to distinguish land in different ways, such as land that was planted late, left fallow, was waterlogged, or was saline. Using GIS tools, researchers aligned the images within the same geographic coordinates to accurately overlay spatial layers such as administrative boundaries. They also looked at in situ field observations and soil samples to ensure that satellite-derived information was accurate.

Chandna and his colleagues estimated that the area of under-used land during 2001-02 was about 76,000 hectares, or 27% of the cultivable area. Late planting was a big problem, particularly with wheat. Experiments have shown that timely wheat planting could increase production by up to one ton per hectare on average, with no additional inputs or changes. In Ballia, this practice could potentially increase wheat production by as much as 75,000 tons. Using these methods, researchers accurately and cost-effectively characterized five major land types that are not reaching their full potential.

More Appropriate Practices

More efficient use of land and other resources could turn one of the poorest regions of South Asia into a granary and help meet future requirements for food and income, but only if researchers know which farmers need which kinds of technology. Information from the Ballia study will allow researchers to match land-use characteristics with agricultural technologies and make land more productive.

Traditional tillage practices often delay planting in excessively wet or waterlogged soils, and sub-optimal management practices often fail to capitalize on limited water resources. Resource-conserving technologies such as zero tillage, surface seeding, and bed planting could help increase production and reduce costs on under-used land throughout the Eastern Indo-Gangetic Plains.

Zero or reduced tillage for growing wheat after rice has been catching on fast in the region and is helping farmers increase productivity and reduce fallow land area. This crop planting system causes minimal soil disturbance by eliminating preparatory tillage such as plowing or harrowing. The reduction in land preparation time permits timely sowing of winter season crops, plus it allows optimal use of available soil moisture. There are also significant cost reductions and environmental benefits through reduced diesel consumption.

Furrow-irrigated raised bed planting technology allows farmers to intensify crops and saves costs on irrigation water. Farmers use the raised beds to grow crops and the furrows, where they sometimes plant an intercrop, for irrigation. In addition to being highly water-efficient, research has shown that bed systems offer major advantages for saline or sodic soils.

The simplest zero tillage option is surface seeding. Farmers just spread seed on excessively wet soil, on top of crop residues and without any land preparation. The practice is especially suitable for areas that have fine soils and poor drainage or where land preparation is difficult. An evaluation of soil moisture and seeding at the correct time is critical to its success. Surface seeding allows timely sowing in areas where planting machinery is not available, and it saves costs on labor, fuel, and tillage. Even the poorest farmers can adopt this practice.

These technologies could raise productivity in a sustainable manner and improve livelihoods for resource-poor farmers. However, effective promotion requires a well-organized database with information about the distribution of land types and problematic areas. Thanks to this study, scientists have a clearer picture of the problems, their location, and their relative importance. They have a much better idea of where technologies should be targeted to improve land use in a sustainable way for poor communities in the Eastern Indo Gangetic Plains. There are currently plans to scale-up the methodologies developed in this pilot study to cover an expanded area.

For information: Parvesh Chandna

In a recent New York Times article, journalist Justin Gillis reports on the planet’s looming threat of climate change, agriculture’s monumental challenge, and how CIMMYT is working diligently to mitigate these global hurdles.

The article, which appeared in the 05 June 2011 print edition, reports from CIMMYT’s Ciudad Obregón station where wheat variety testing takes priority. As one of the four staple crops that constitute most human calories, wheat production is crucial to ensuring global food security; a task that is becoming more difficult amid growing populations, a changing climate, and the depletion of natural resources, according to Gillis.

“There is just such a tremendous disconnect, with the people not understanding the highly dangerous situation we are in,” CIMMYT’s deputy chief Marianne Banzinger told Gillis.

Furthermore, food shortages do not just affect the population going to bed hungry. Gillis states that food shortages can and do lead to political unrest, citing past turmoil in Haiti and the recent political destabilization in Arab countries. But not all hope is lost, as many agricultural scientists and experts believe that sustainably increasing global agricultural production is feasible.

“It may be possible to make more productive and resilient in the face of climate change,” Gillis reports. “But how?” you might be wondering – through the introduction of new agronomical techniques and new varieties resistant to climate strains, such as heat and water stress, and new pests.

Read the entire article available on nytimes.com.