Blogs – Page 218

Francolin: Ug99-tolerant wheat variety released in Bangladesh

Written by on March 23, 2012. Posted in News.

The danger posed by the Ug99 strain of the disease stem rust to global wheat production is well recognized, and Bangladesh is no exception. Wheat is one of the major cereals in Bangladesh, ranking second after rice with a cultivated area of 0.38 m ha and average yield of 2.6 t/ha. In a major step in countering the disease threat, a new wheat variety, named Francolin, was released on 06 March 2012. Also known as BARI Gom 27 (previously BAW 1120), Francolin, first introduced to Bangladesh in 2008 from CIMMYT-Mexico, possesses good resistance to all variants of Ug99 along with an impressive agronomic performance. It yielded approximately 10% more than the most popular variety Shatabdi in three years of multi-location testing in Bangladesh.

Its performance in on-farm testing was also significantly superior to all check varieties. “Francolin is popular among the participating farmers because of its high grain yield potential and good agronomic traits,” said T.P. Tiwari, cropping systems agronomist at CIMMYT-Bangladesh, adding that it also performed better than other varieties during on-farm testing.

Francolin is already under demonstration in farmers’ fields through participatory variety selection (PVS), the multi-location testing (MLT) program of the Bangladesh Agricultural Research Institute (BARI), and a participatory seed multiplication program. These activities are being jointly implemented by BARI’s Wheat Research Centre (WRC) and CIMMYT, and are also well integrated into the Cereal Systems Initiative for South Asia (CSISA) validation and demonstration programs in Bangladesh. According to CIMMYT scientists T.P. Tiwari and Arun K. Joshi, seed multiplication of this variety is in progress on 55 ha in 23 different locations in Bangladesh during the current crop cycle. This is expected to produce around 150 tons of seed that will be available for the next planting season, meeting the needs of the Bangladesh Agricultural Development Corporation (BADC) and the Department of Agricultural Extension (DAE), the government agencies responsible for large-scale seed production and distribution. Francolin is also being disseminated through informal channels (farmer-to-farmer).

This step toward mitigating the threat of Ug99 was made possible in part by a USAID seed-multiplication famine fund program. The WRC and CIMMYT-Bangladesh are working together under this program to identify suitable Ug99-resistant varieties, and carry out seed production and delivery. Israel Hossain, Abu Zaman Sarker (WRC), T.P. Tiwari, M. Gathala, and T. Krupnik (CIMMYT) also report that Francolin is performing exceedingly well under conservation agriculture (CA) practices such as strip- and zero-tillage.

The WRC and CIMMYT are developing linkages between seed producers and traders to facilitate marketing. Additionally, information regarding the benefits of growing Ug99-resistant varieties is disseminated through media outlets such as newspapers, radio, and television. The first Ug99-resistant wheat variety to be released in Bangladesh was BARI Gom 26 (previously known as BAW, and popularly called Hashi), in 2010. The two new varieties are expected to cover just over 5% of the total wheat area in 2012/13.

Wheat scientists involved in the development of Francolin include Naresh C.D. Barma, Paritosh Kumar Malaker, Dinabandhu Pandit, Md. Abdul Hakim, and Jalal Uddin, among others. Agronomists and soil scientists from BARI and CIMMYT-Bangladesh were also involved in its validation and promotional activities.

The voice of farmers in Malawi and Mozambique: Mother-baby trials

Written by on March 21, 2012. Posted in News.

In February 2012 several CIMMYT staff working in Sustainable Intensification of Maize-Legume Cropping Systems for Food Security in Eastern and Southern Africa (SIMLESA), including project leader Mulugetta Mekuria, Peter Setimela, and Isaiah Nyagumbo, as well as the national coordinators, made field visits and met with farmers who are collaborating in participatory trials in their own fields. SIMLESA is a four year program that was launched in March 2010 and is being funded by the Australian Centre for International Agriculture Research (ACIAR). The project has adopted mother-baby trials (MBT), where farmers choose varieties that interest them from a central “mother” trial and test them out on their own farms in “baby” trials, as a way of evaluating new drought tolerant maize and legume varieties under farmer-managed conditions.

In the Manica Province of Mozambique, SIMLESA has been able to gear up its MBT activities through collaboration with farmers’ association IDEEA-CA, reaching out to more farmers through the association’s networks in and around the province. Improved varieties, appropriate use of commercial fertilizers, and the adoption of conservation agriculture (CA) practices have the potential to significantly improve the livelihoods of poor resource farmers in the region. The “yellow trial”, for example—with replications with and without fertilizer—demonstrates the advantages of using fertilizers.

The trials have provided a voice for farmers as they try out new drought tolerant maize and legume varieties in their fields and have the opportunity to influence seed companies to multiply the varieties they prefer. “It took me two seasons to appreciate the yields of the new hybrid,” said Marcello Chikukwa of Sussundenga District. “I was suspicious of the small plant size as compared to our local variety. But I realised that the local variety takes long to mature and had too much herbage, and the stem was very tall but the yields were very low.”

The testimony of farmers like Chikukwa is building momentum as farmers gain exposure to new drought tolerant maize and legumes in combination with CA practices and fertilizer use. The project also facilitates the creation of seed road maps, collaborating with diverse partners to produce certified seed and run promotion activities. Seed companies like Dengo Commercial in Mozambique are participating in seed production and promotion of new drought tolerant varieties, which are expected to produce good yields despite erratic rainfall in the region. Nine maize varieties and ten soya bean varieties are being promoted in three districts of Mozambique and six districts in Malawi.

DG meets with Tunisian Minister of Agriculture

Written by on March 21, 2012. Posted in News.

CIMMYT’s director general Thomas Lumpkin met with Mohamed Ben Salem, the Minister of Agriculture of Tunisia, on 11 February 2012 in Tunis, Tunisia, during a visit to the region focusing on fortifying CIMMYT’s presence in Africa. From CIMMYT, Lumpkin was accompanied by Wilfred Mwangi, liaison officer for Africa, and Karim Ammar, head of the durum wheat program and a Tunisian national.

Wheat is currently the number one imported crop into Africa and, at approximately 216 kilos per person per year, the North Africa region has the highest wheat consumption per capita in the world. Tunisia already imports an estimated 2 million tons of wheat per year, and with low yields and a growing population, wheat production is a major concern for the country. 61% of Tunisia’s total land area is categorized as arid, and erratic rainfall and weather patterns are the primary concern for the country’s wheat producers. In 2010, for example, an extended period of drought halved the country’s wheat production. Diseases and pests such as Hessian fly also cause problems.

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During the meeting, which aimed at re-establishing links and partnerships in the region, Lumpkin and Ben Salem discussed opportunities for activities in line with the WHEAT CGIAR Research Program (CRP) lead by CIMMYT in partnership with ICARDA. They talked about improved varieties and agronomic techniques developed at CIMMYT, and the potential for establishing a research platform in Tunisia aimed at achieving higher yields.

CIMMYT’s activities in Tunisia date back to the period 1966-1977, when a comprehensive project known as “The Wheat Project” was implemented by the Government of Tunisia, CIMMYT, USAID, the Ford Foundation, and the Rockefeller Foundation. The goals of the project were to introduce and adapt Mexican semi-dwarf high-yielding wheat varieties and to train Tunisian scientists in agricultural research and extension methods. During the project, 55 Tunisian nationals were trained at CIMMYT in Mexico, and to this day many refer to the varieties developed as “Mexican wheats”.

Lumpkin continued with his visits to the region by heading to Rabat, Morocco to meet with officials alongside Mahmoud Sohl, director general of ICARDA, to link activities in the region with the WHEAT CRP. He also joined CIMMYT’s Hans Braun, director of the global wheat program and Cheraé Robinson, director of fundraising and strategic partnerships, at the Global Food Security Forum, held in Rabat during 07-09 March 2012, where he spoke as a panelist on the subject of Investment and Innovation: Key Building Block of Food Security. Lumpkin will end his recent tour of Africa in Tanzania for the annual meetings of the Sustainable Intensification of Maize- Legume Cropping Systems for Food Security in Eastern and Southern Africa (SIMLESA) project at the end of March.

Drought tolerant maize wins UK climate prize

Written by on March 20, 2012. Posted in News.

The United Kingdom’s Department for International Development (DFID) has won Best Technological Breakthrough at the 2012 UK Climate Week Awards for its support to the Drought Tolerant Maize for Africa (DTMA) project. The awards were held in London on 12 March 2012 to celebrate the UK’s most effective and ambitious organizations, communities, and individuals and their efforts to combat climate change.

Climate-Week-award-pic DTMA has been responsible for the development and dissemination of 34 new drought-tolerant maize varieties to farmers in 13 project countries—Angola, Benin, Ethiopia, Ghana, Kenya, Malawi, Mali, Mozambique, Nigeria, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia, and Zimbabwe—between 2007 and 2011. An estimated two million smallholder farmers are already using the drought-tolerant maize varieties and have obtained higher yields, improved food security, and increased incomes.

Drought-tolerant varieties are invaluable on a continent where maize is the staple crop for over 300 million people, and nearly always relies on rainwater alone. The DTMA varieties, produced by conventional breeding, provide farmers with better yields than leading commercial varieties under moderate drought conditions, while also giving outstanding harvests when rains are good. DTMA works with a diverse network of partners to develop, market, and distribute seed, including private companies, publicly funded agricultural research and extension systems, ministries of agriculture, nongovernmental organizations, and community-based seed producers.

Jointly implemented by CIMMYT and the International Institute for Tropical Agriculture (IITA), the DTMA project is presently funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation (BMGF) and is also receiving complementary grants from the Howard G. Buffett Foundation (HGBF) and the United States Agency for International Development (USAID).

“DFID has been a highly-valued and reliable, top-ten core contributor to CIMMYT’s work,” said DTMA project leader Wilfred Mwangi. In addition, the efforts of DTMA build on long-term support from the Swiss Agency for Development Cooperation (SDC), the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ), the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), the Rockefeller Foundation, USAID, the United Nations Development Program (UNDP), and the Eiselen-Foundation.

What happens when medical doctor meets with plant physiologist? – Innovation!

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

From SciDev.Net: Root-imaging technology could improve crop resilience

By Aleida Rueda

6800735486_2dd8a72f80_m [MEXICO CITY] Mexican researchers have welcomed a breakthrough in imaging plant roots, saying it could help breeders develop new varieties of crops that can thrive in harsh conditions.

The technique uses X-ray computed tomography to build up a three-dimensional image by scanning through 360 degrees, a technology commonly used in hospitals to diagnose soft tissue damage.

Scans of plant roots in soil show the shape and branching patterns of the roots, but do not clearly distinguish between the roots and surrounding soil and organic matter.

Now scientists at the Centre for Plant Integrative Biology (CPIB) at the University of Nottingham, United Kingdom, have developed imaging software — called “RooTrak” — to analyse the scans and display the roots as a distinct three-dimensional structure. Their findings are reported in the February issue of Plant Physiology.

“This is the first time this approach has been used for this purpose and the results are very promising,” Malcolm Bennett, the project’s leader, told SciDev.Net.

As well as providing clearer imaging, the method is fast and non-invasive because roots can be analysed without having to remove the surrounding soil. The technique has passed initial tests on maize, tomato and wheat grown in a range of contrasting soil textures.

The CPIB has been awarded US$4.5 million by the European Research Council to test the technology in Australia, Europe and Mexico.

The Mexican collaboration is being coordinated by the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT), which plans to use the technology to screen wheat for a variety of traits including heat and drought tolerance, and water and nutrient use.

While the technology was welcomed by researchers contacted by SciDev.Net they all expressed concern that it might be too costly for widespread adoption in developing countries.

But the technology could benefit plant breeders, according to Matthew Reynolds, a wheat physiologist at CIMMYT in Mexico who will oversee the collaboration.

“This technique will open enormous possibilities for understanding the interaction between trees and annual crops [such as maize and beans] at the level of their root systems, particularly under conditions of drought and root competition between species,” said Antonio Turrent Fernández, of Mexico’s National Institute of Agricultural, Livestock and Forestry Research (INIFAP).

Alejandro Espinosa Calderón, also from INIFAP, said the technology “could help [researchers] select plants with favourable root architecture, shape, depth and size that could thrive in adverse conditions”.

REFERENCES: Plant Physiology 158, 569 (2012)

Wheat biofortification meeting held in India

Written by on March 12, 2012. Posted in News.

IndiaGroup Meeting was held in the Indian holy city of Varanasi during 27 February to 01 March 2012. It was organized jointly by Banaras Hindu University (BHU), HarvestPlus, and CIMMYT to discuss wheat biofortification research outputs and future plans. The meeting was attended by about 40 scientists, including Hans Braun, Ravi Singh, Kevin Pixley, Velu Govindan, Etienne Duveiller, Arun Joshi, and Iván Ortiz-Monasterio from CIMMYT, along with participants from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, HarvestPlus, the Indian national agricultural research system, the private sector, and more than 200 farmers from the eastern part of the state of Uttar Pradesh.

This meeting was inaugurated by the Honorable Vice-Chancellor of BHU, Dr Lalji Singh, which he followed by a meeting with the press. He honored CIMMYT distinguished scientist Ravi Singh as BHU’s greatest alumnus for his ongoing efforts in developing improved bread wheat varieties that are grown across the world. Standing out in a week of fruitful meetings, the highlight for many was the farmer field day on 29 February, during which more than 200 farmers participated in discussions and expressed their interest in CIMMYT-derived biofortified wheat varieties.

Improving approaches to physiological breeding: Two new manuals from CIMMYT

Written by on March 12, 2012. Posted in News.

manuals In 2001, CIMMYT published Application of Physiology in Wheat Breeding, which became one of the most highly downloaded publications from the CIMMYT website. It has been translated into Russian and Chinese and comprehensively explains approaches for using plant physiology in the genetic improvement of wheat. The success of that book has led CIMMYT’s Wheat Physiology Group to recently publish two further complimentary manuals:

These build on the knowledge and methods presented in the first book in order to provide practical information for breeders and crop researchers seeking to apply tried and tested phenotyping methods in the context of the environmental factors to which crops must adapt. “It’s productive literature for stress breeding programs,” said Digvijay Bhargav, a researcher at the Indian Agricultural Re search Institute.

According to Matthew Reynolds, Head of Wheat Physiology at CIMMYT and editor of the manuals, “all three volumes are expected to provide a valuable stock of information for those working in the area of crop improvement and who are charged by society with the responsibility for accelerating genetic gains of crops in increasingly challenging en vironments to ensure the food security of a rapidly growing population.”

Printed copies of the manuals will be available shortly, or you can download them now from the CIMMYT repository:

Physiological Breeding I: Interdisciplinary Approaches to Improve Crop Adaptation.

Physiological Breeding II: A Field Guide to Wheat Phenotyping.

CIMMYT Southern Africa Regional Office recognize long serving staff

Written by on March 11, 2012. Posted in News.

CIMMYT-Zimbabwe-offices 2012 is already proving to be big and eventful year for CIMMYT’s Southern Africa Regional Office, with half a dozen CIMMYT-Zimbabwe staff receiving honours for years of dedicated service to the organisation. At a luncheon event held on 02 March 2012 at the CIMMYT-Zimbabwe offices, Sebastian Mawere and John Chifamba each received awards for 25 years of service. The office also celebrated 20 years of dedicated service by Esau Tofa, 15 years by Nothando Moyo and Taksure Ndlovu, and 10 by Simbarashe Chisoro.

Gary Atlin (associate director of the Global Maize Program) and Mulugetta Mekuria presented the awards on behalf of CIMMYT and expressed their gratitude for the recipients’ long service and valued contributions. Mulugetta recalled that the Regional Office’s teamwork has been well recognised by CIMMYT management and thanked the staff for their perseverance during difficult and turbulent periods in Zimbabwe.

During the presentation ceremony colleagues spoke of how Sebastian and John had remained dedicated and committed to the organisation throughout their years of service. Colleagues joked that John and Sebastian knew what lay under the foundations of all the buildings at the station, as they have witnessed the office grow from a small office with a few activities to its current size, with research programs that cover most of the Southern African Development Community (SADC) member countries, as well as other parts of Africa. In their award acceptance speeches the awardees thanked their colleagues for the support they have received and dedicated their awards to all CIMMYT staff.

One voice in the fight against hunger: CGIAR Consortium gains International Organization Status

Written by on March 11, 2012. Posted in News.

On 02 March 2012 CGIAR Consortium was officially granted International Organization status. At an event in Paris, the agreement conferring the status was signed by Anne Dorte Riggelsen, Ambassador of Denmark to France, on behalf of her government. This officially ratified the agreement. Henri de Raincourt, French Minister of Cooperation, and Sem Laszlo Trocsanyi, Ambassador of Hungary to France, were the first to sign the agreement, in September 2011 in Montpellier, at the closure of the first ever G20 International Conference on Agriculture Research for Development.

The CGIAR Consortium, of which CIMMYT is a member center, represents the world’s largest global agriculture research partnership aimed at reducing rural poverty and hunger. “Achieving International Organization status and recognition is a major step towards enabling the reformed CGIAR to deliver research resulting in real impact; improved food security, health and nutrition alongside sustainable management of natural resources,” said Mr. Carlos Perez del Castillo, CGIAR Consortium Board Chair, who attended the event. “This status will allow the consortium to operate as an independent organization, speak with one voice at an international level, establish better partnerships, and raise awareness of its work at a time when agricultural research is key to the survival of a billion people.”

Since 2010, the CGIAR has been undergoing a major reform to ensure that its research delivers clear impacts. With the Consortium becoming an International Organization, this not only endorses the strategic reform, but by facilitating fundraising and co-ordination it will catalyze the impact-oriented research essential to the lives of millions of smallholder farmers.

For more information, see the full press release.

Howard G. Buffett and Patronato visit CENEB to discuss conservation agriculture in Sonora

Written by on March 9, 2012. Posted in News.

2012-02-22-VISITA-CENEB-PIEAES-CIMMYT-26 On 22 February 2012 we welcomed Howard G. Buffett and members of Sonora’s ‘Patronato’ (Patronato para la Investigación y Experimentación Agrícola del Estado de Sonora; PIEAES) to CIMMYT’s CENEB (Campo Experimental Norman E. Borlaug) station near Ciudad Obregón, Sonora, Mexico. The visit emphasized our joint concerns to improve food security and identified shared interests for improving opportunities for smallholder farmers and local entrepreneurs, and for widespread promotion of CA.

Patronato is a union of farmer organizations that has supported research by CIMMYT and partners such as INIFAP throughout the last four decades. This support has enabled greater advances in the state of Sonora, Mexico and throughout the world.

In addition to being a philanthropist, entrepreneur, and author, Howard G. Buffett is a farmer actively practicing no-till methods (a key component of CA) on his farm in Nebraska. He has strong links with Mexico; in 2000, he received the Aztec Eagle Award, the highest honor bestowed on a foreign citizen by the Government of Mexico. Currently, he acts as an Ambassador Against Hunger for the United Nations World Food Programme, and in 2011, the World Food Programme awarded him the George McGovern Leadership Award, alongside Bill Gates.

South Africa commits to building capacity

Written by on March 9, 2012. Posted in News.

During 20-25 February 2012, 16 scientists from partners of the Sustainable Intensification of Maize- Legume Cropping Systems for Food Security in Eastern and Southern Africa (SIMLESA) project and national agricultural research systems from Kenya, Tanzania, Malawi, and Mozambique, met at the Agricultural Research Council (ARC) of South Africa headquarters in Pretoria, South Africa, for a capacity building workshop.

The workshop was the first of its kind conducted under the SIMLESA project, which is supported by the Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research (ACIAR) and coordinated by CIMMYT. The week-long training covered biometry, principles of conservation agriculture and soil science, and executing the concept of innovation platforms. Practical examples, working groups, and a visit to the Institute of Soils, Climate and Water made the training interactive and interesting. Participants also developed country action plans for implementing innovation platform activities.

The CEO and President of ARC, Shadrack Moephuli, addressed the participants and reaffirmed ARC’s commitment to contributing to improved food security through initiatives such as SIMLESA. He expressed his gratitude to both ACIAR and CIMMYT, and acknowledged the collaborative research activities being undertaken. Yolisa Pakela-Jezile, Senior Manager, ARC Training services, described the forthcoming country trainings and the opportunities for post-graduate studies in South African universities for scientists from SIMLESA and national agricultural research systems.
Finally, SIMLESA Program Coordinator, Mulugetta Mekuria acknowledged ARC’s support for the capacity building objective of SIMLESA. He also briefed the ARC CEO and the Executive Directors of Research, Development, and Technology Transfer on SIMLESA’s progress to date, and extended an invitation to the 2nd SIMLESA Annual Review and Planning meeting in March.

SIMLESAvisit-at-the-ISCW-ARC-trainingEQ

Drought tolerance, conservation agriculture, and double-cropping: A recipe for success in Mozambique

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

Copy-of-IMG_1029 “Increasing Sustainable Agricultural Production in Mozambique through Drought Tolerant Maize and Conservation Agriculture” is a USAID-supported initiative bringing together two key components of CIMMYT’s work: Breeding for drought tolerance and sustainable land management to mitigate the effects of climate change.

Demonstrations in rural farming communities of Mozambique are currently exhibiting four varieties, which were selected for drought tolerance in Harare, Zimbabwe, and are currently being multiplied by two seed companies in Mozambique: Lozane Seed and Dengo Commercial. Farmers are also being shown several different cropping systems for these new varieties: conventional (burning residues and significant soil movement), conservation agriculture (CA) with seeding into previously dug planting basins, and CA seeded with a pointed stick or jab planter and retaining of crop residues. Farmers are showing significant interest in these new methods, favoring the jab planter and dibble stick as the fastest way of sowing.

During 16-24 February 2012, CIMMYT scientists, partners from the University of Tennessee, and USAID representatives travelled to project sites in the Manica and Sofala Provinces, to monitor project progress and evaluate the quality of implementation. The demonstrations also feature growing maize in full rotation with cowpeas, a technique previously unused. “We never thought of growing cowpeas as a sole crop in rotation with maize and are amazed about the good crop stand and the yield we will get. We will try this on our own fields in the coming season,” said Raimundo Luis, a farmer from Sussundenga, Manica Province.

Maize is the staple food crop for farmers in Mozambique, with most growing just one crop, during the rainy season from November to April. Average yields are generally low, often less than one ton/hectare. However, with the advent of new varieties, such as the CIMMYT-developed short season open pollinated variety (OPV), ZM309, farmers can harvest their early seeded maize crops in February, a time when many grain stores are diminished. CA systems with residue cover enable greater conservation of soil moisture, and therefore allow farmers to plant a second maize or legume crop, for harvesting in June or July.

Double cropping will assure food security for farmers in Mozambique, and by planting protein-rich legumes as the second crop, nutrition of farm families can also be increased. The use of these methods will also reduce the risk of crop failure and increase productivity of the land.

Social media workshop gets a “like” from GCP and CIMMYT

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

Peter-Casier As part of the Generation Challenge Programme’s (GCP) plan to revamp their online space, they engaged the CGIAR Consortium’s social media expert, Peter Casier, to instruct an intensive workshop on social media and optimizing web presence, during 13-17 February 2012. Staff working on CIMMYT’s web and social media sites also participated.

Casier’s vast knowledge of social media was as contagious as his good humor, and before long, GCP had launched their own Facebook page and Twitter account, and were posting, liking, tweeting, and retweeting with confidence. Already initiated in the social media sphere, the CIMMYT team took the opportunity to gain further insights to increase their online presence.

Over five days the workshop outlined social media tools and provided handson training, reviewed CIMMYT’s current online material, investigated social media and website strategies, constructed specialized workplans, identified areas for improvement, and discussed traffic analysis, search engine optimization, and web usability.

Casier’s uniquely chaotic yet focused mind took the group on a whirlwind tour from social media jokes, through stories of humanitarian crises, and back to the issues at hand, such that the group finished the course inspired and raring to use their new tools. Maria Delgadillo from CIMMYT’s web team said “we all got on so well together and learnt so much in such a short space of time. It was especially useful for me from a web CIMMYT 4 Informa usability perspective.” Antonia Okono, GCP Communications Manager, echoed this sentiment: “We learnt some invaluable skills in a fun atmosphere,” she said.

The feedback from Casier was equally positive. In a congratulatory email he praised the work of the CIMMYT staff he encountered, with a special mention for the administrative and accommodation department, and for the drivers, technicians, and housekeeping personnel. He wrote that of all the CGIAR centers he has experienced, CIMMYT ranks among the top, not least because of the number of smiles he received from staff.

We invite you to “like” GCP and CIMMYT on Facebook, and follow us on twitter: @CIMMYT and @GCProgramme.

Cultivating CIMMYT’s links with Africa: A meeting with the African Development Bank

Written by on February 27, 2012. Posted in News.

On 10 February 2012, CIMMYT’s Director General, Thomas Lumpkin, visited the headquarters of the African Development Bank (AfDB) in Tunis, Tunisia, accompanied by Wilfred Mwangi, Liaison Officer for Africa, and Karim Ammar, Head, Durum Wheat Program. In his meeting with the Bank’s President, Donald Kaberuka, Lumpkin presented CIMMYT’s major projects and activities on wheat and maize research and development in Africa, including breeding, biotechnology, agronomy, socioeconomics, seed systems, and human resources development. “The AfDB President was keenly interested in biotechnology, and we discussed examples of successful projects and the potential benefits for Africa,” said Lumpkin.

MG_4329 The group also discussed the MAIZE CRP and CIMMYT’s strong partnership with the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA). Institutional linkages such as these can be very beneficial to African smallholder farmers, as demonstrated by the major projects accomplished by CIMMYT’s Africa offices, such as Drought Tolerant Maize for Africa (DTMA), Sustainable Intensification of Maize- Legume Cropping Systems for Food Security in Eastern and Southern Africa (SIMLESA), Water Efficient Maize for Africa (WEMA), Insect Resistant Maize for Africa (IRMA), and Improved Maize for African Soils (IMAS). “CIMMYT has had an enormous impact on wheat in Africa. Most cultivars are CIMMYT derived and many wheat scientists from African NARS have been trained at CIMMYT,” said Ammar.

It is hoped that these successes can continue, given the strength of the CIMMYT cadre of researchers currently based in Africa. Of the 38 African-based IRS, 29 are African scientists from seven different countries, and the directors of both the Socioeconomics Program and the Global Maize Program are based in Nairobi. “Africa has become the nucleus for maize research and development of CIMMYT,” stated B.M. Prasanna, Director of the Global Maize Program.

Throughout the meetings, CIMMYT’s desire to assist West African countries in maize and wheat production was expressed. CIMMYT is currently leading the WHEAT CRP in conjunction with the International Center for Agricultural Research in the Dry Areas (ICARDA), an initiative with a strong focus on Africa. Lumpkin emphasized the need for this CRP to also address wheat needs in African countries which are not traditionally wheat growers, but where wheat consumption may be rapidly increasing. According to FAO, Algeria’s bread and durum wheat imports rose 41.5 percent to a record 7.42 million tons in 2011, and the continent’s most populous nation, Nigeria, imports 4 million tons of wheat per year according to the USDA, with annual per capita wheat consumption currently about 25 kg.

Follow-up activities with the AfDB will be co-ordinated by Mwangi, who has already had further meetings with the Bank’s executive staff. “It was an excellent meeting and gave us the opportunity to highlight the major investments CIMMYT is making in Africa”, said Mwangi. The meeting formed part of a series of CIMMYT activities in Tunisia, Kenya, and Nigeria, designed to strengthen ties with local partners, donor organizations, and CGIAR institutions in the region.

Revolutionizing farming in Malawi through conservation agriculture

Written by on February 24, 2012. Posted in News.

CIMMYT first introduced conservation agriculture (CA) to the Mwansambo and Zidyana communities of Nkotakhota District, Malawi, in 2005. Assisted by regional NGO Total Land Care (TLC), the project initially targeted just six farmers in each community. Currently, the project is focusing on “Understanding the Adoption and Application of Conservation Agriculture in Southern Africa”, and involves governmental extension agencies, field coordinators from TLC and researchers for Chitedze Research Station, and is funded by the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD).

Copy-of-SAM_0415 Since 2005, farmers, extension officers, and researchers have joined forces in starting a revolution from traditional farming systems in Malawi to locally adapted CA systems. The number of farmers practicing CA in the TLC communities of Central Malawi has grown from the initial 12 in 2005 to over 30,000 in 2012. This extension of CA was largely due to the development of an innovation network with different actors: Researchers assured training and quality implementation of the new technologies in target communities; the network facilitated participatory interaction and dialogue with farmers; and farmers raised social capital, subsequently boosting interest in the project within their own communities and the surrounding areas. These successful results enabled TLC and other partners to attract further funding and they linked farmers with input suppliers and a soft loan program for herbicides and improved seed. Farmers can currently access the input loan at seeding and pay back the amount for both inputs at harvest. Linking farmers to input markets was a major success, but more work needs to be done to also develop output markets for increased production from CA fields.

During 11-15 February 2012, scientists from the CIMMYT Southern Africa Regional Office visited target communities in Central Malawi, where farmers told them of the economical and environmental benefits of producing maize under CA. “Thanks to higher yields from CA and less labor, I have school fees and more spare time to bake doughnuts and sell them on the market,” said Nepiala Thope, a farmer from Chinguluwe. Other farmers are experimenting with growing maize under CA in rotation with other crops such as groundnuts, cowpeas, and cotton. This is a breakthrough for agriculture in Malawi, where maize is traditionally grown as a monocrop, attracting major pests and diseases such as striga, white grubs, cutworms, stalk and grain borers, and various blights. It is hoped that the reduction in pests and diseases, sustainable intensification of maize cropping systems, and increased income through CA will help farmers in the region to improve their food security and livelihoods, and overcome hunger and malnutrition.