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Global Futures project launched

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The Socioeconomics Program (SEP) is collaborating in a new project aimed to evaluate promising technologies, investment, and policy options for improving agricultural productivity and global food security.

The Global Futures for Agriculture project, launched in early March 2010, is led by the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) and builds upon the already existing economic model IMPACT (International Model for Policy Analysis of Agricultural Commodities and Trade). This model has been used in the past for projecting future production, consumption, and trade of key agricultural commodities while taking into account the effects of climate change, water availability, population growth, urbanization, and other major drivers of global change. The Global Futures for Agriculture project improves upon this model by including location-specific biophysical data; current and future technology options; climate risk; and the impact of potential agricultural investments on global food supply and demand, food prices, economic growth, and poverty alleviation.

The SEP will play a major role in assessing the future outlooks for maize and wheat, and will work on improving database information and creating model scenarios for these two crops. Crop and water availability simulation models will also complement modeling of climate change risks on crop yields and production. All will be important for refining and calibrating the IMPACT model.

A new associate scientist to be based in Nairobi, Kenya, will be hired to work with other scientists on this project, and will closely collaborate with CIMMYT breeders, agronomists, and economists to improve the center’s foresight on alternative futures for maize and wheat in terms of improving global food security and system sustainability. Additionally, CIMMYT will work with the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI) and the International Center for Research in Agroforestry (ICRAF) to set up a High Performance Cluster of computers able to run the IMPACT model in Nairobi.

Biotechnology: Potential boon for smallholder farmers, if prioritized

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Though not a magic bullet “cure all,” agricultural biotechnologies can and should be used in developing countries to improve smallholder farmers’ livelihoods, but farmers themselves need to be involved in decision making, according to participants at an international technical conference on agricultural biotechnologies last week.

During 01-04 March 2010, roughly 300 people from nearly 70 countries attended the International Technical Conference on Agricultural Biotechnologies in Developing Countries (ABDC-10), organized by the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations and held in Guadalajara, Mexico. Attendees included representatives from international organizations, civil society, national governments, and national agricultural research programs. Their goal in gathering was to assess the progress of biotechnologies across various agricultural sectors—crops, forestry, livestock, fisheries, and agro-industries—and to generate a forward-looking consensus on ways that biotechnologies can assist smallholder famers in developing countries.

Investment in and improvement of agriculture is vital for the more than one billion people who go to bed hungry each night, as well as for many farming families who survive on only a few dollars a day. Adoption of effective and cost-efficient agricultural biotechnologies is one way to address the food demands of a rapidly expanding and more affluent world population, while also confronting the challenges of increasing land degradation and climate variability.

“Two billion people live on small farms, about one-third of our population,” said Rodney Cooke, of the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), while addressing the general session. “Investment in agriculture is two-anda- half-to-three times more effective in increasing the income of the poor than non-agricultural investments.”

The FAO predicts that by 2050 there will be a 70% increase in food demand, requiring at least 170 million more acres of cropland. Meeting this demand looks difficult, because crop yields have slowed from an annual increase of 3-6% to only 1-2%, in the last decade.

Agricultural biotechnologies can sustainably improve food security and help smallholder farmers escape poverty. However, many of these advanced technologies are underutilized in developing countries, where a large portion of smallholder farmers live. Overcoming this will require increased investments, international cooperation, effective national policies and regulatory frameworks, and collaboration with farmers and the various value-chain actors, said ABDC-10 participants. Several farmers and farmer representatives in attendance repeatedly stressed the importance of bottom-up development in applying biotechnology.

During the conference, participants divided their time between plenary sessions in the morning and small group meetings in the afternoon. Topics included region and sector-specific issues, as well as multidisciplinary topics such as empowering public participation in decision making; prioritizing the role of the farmer; and development of genomic resources. All participants discussed successes and failures in biotechnology projects in developing countries. The CGIAR was responsible for leading several group sessions; participating CG members included the International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT), the International Center for Agricultural Research in the Dry Areas (ICARDA), CIMMYT, and the Generation Challenge Program (CGP).

CIMMYT director general Tom Lumpkin addressed the plenary session in a presentation on the use of biotechnology in the CGIAR. Tom Payne, head of CIMMYT’s wheat germplasm bank, was a panel member for a group session on the conservation and sustainable use of genetic resources. Jean-Marcel Ribaut, Carmen de Vicente, and Rajeev Varshney (ICRISAT) of the GCP also presented on accessing genetic resources, genomic applications, and molecular breeding in developing countries, respectively.

“To meet the challenges of increased food demand in a sustainable way, biotechnologies are essential for the future,” Lumpkin said, stressing as well that such technologies need to show tangible results and the efficient use of time and money.

Payne explained that the CGIAR has 11 gene banks conserving over 530,000 samples of wild and domesticated crops in public trust, but that these genetic resources are not always accessible or useful to breeders. “There are so many accessions but so little information,” he said, adding that the CGIAR is collaborating on a new portal to improve access to the genetic resources (www.global-alis.org).

Additionally, CIMMYT was represented at the ABDC-10’s knowledge share fair, providing publications and information on the center’s biotechnology work. Highlighted projects included rust resistance wheat, nitrogen use efficient maize for African soils, water-efficient maize for Africa, and the conservation and use of maize and wheat genetic resources.

Recognizing Women

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Monday 08 March is International Women’s Day (IWD). On this date, the global community takes a moment to celebrate the economic, political, and social advances women have made worldwide. It also provides an opportunity to address gender issues that are not yet fully resolved.

IWD is an official holiday in more than 15 countries and is informally celebrated in many more.  Various organizations take the day as an opportunity to increase awareness of human rights issues. This year, for example, the International Committee of the Red Cross is focusing on women who have been displaced by armed conflicts; while the United Nations’ theme is “Equal rights, equal opportunities: Progress for all.”

CIMMYT is proud of its numerous women scientists—a profession in which women are still often underrepresented—as well as its female staff and colleagues. We invite you to read our article on women in the CGIAR and to investigate what IWD events are happening near you.

Aflatoxins: the invisible enemy

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They infiltrate our food supply through staple crops and lay waste to unsuspecting consumers. Dubbed the invisible enemy, aflatoxin is one of the most potent naturally-occurring toxins. It is produced by fungi belonging to the genus Aspergillus, and is a damaging type of mycotoxin. To better protect the food supply from this threat, during 01-13 February 2010, CIMMYT-El BatĂĄn hosted a workshop on mycotoxin detection in maize for members of its maize and wheat pathology teams.

The course, led by Veera Reddy of the International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT), focused on implementing the ELISA technique to identify resistant genotypes that result in reduced mycotoxins in grain. Though several tools for assaying mycotoxins in grain exist, the ELISA technique is cheaper than other options and allows large samples to be tested.

Breeding maize resistant to mycotoxins, specifically aflatoxins and fumonisins, is vital for ensuring a safe food supply. Both are wide-spread in nature, thrive in humid conditions, and frequently inhabit fields of cereal crops, such as maize. Mycotoxins in general are extremely resilient and once grain is contaminated, which can happen in the field and during storage, they prevail through digestion, cooking, and freezing. In this way, mycotoxins can reach humans not only through grain, but also through milk or meat from livestock raised on infected feed. And once consumed by humans, mycotoxins can cause cancer, liver disorder, birth defects, weakened immune systems, and even death.

The objective of the course was to implement at CIMMYT the ELISA assay for routine screening of maize in order to detect sources of resistance and make progress in the management of mycotoxin contamination. Participants agreed that the course presented valuable information and that they are now ready to apply the ELISA technique.

“We needed a cheap, simple, and robust assay that could be used to test large numbers of samples and could easily be implemented in our breeding program,” said George Mahuku, senior maize scientist/ pathologist. “We are very happy that through this course we were able to achieve our objectives and now the pathology group is motivated and ready to go.”

A new face at CRIL

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Peter Wenzl joins CIMMYT as the new manager of the Crop Research Informatics Laboratory (CRIL), though part of his time will be dedicated to a new initiative called Seeds of Discovery.

Wenzl will primarily focus on facilitating user interaction with the Global Maize and Wheat Programs, the Genetic Resources Center, the Generation Challenge Program, and the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI). He will also oversee the strengthening of CRIL as CIMMYT increases its engagement in molecular breeding and embarks on ambitious new initiatives. His work will include crafting a CIMMYT-wide strategy for informatics, and identifying appropriate CRIL priorities that are within current staff and funding means. Wenzl will also strengthen links with other data and knowledge management units in CIMMYT, including Geographic Information Systems (GIS) and the CIMMYT website team.

As CRIL manager, Wenzl will work with Guy Davenport who continues to oversee the Crops Informatics and Computational Biology team, José Crossa who oversees the Biometrics and Statistics team, and Jiankang Wang who oversees Simulation and Modeling.

Understanding seed policies in SSA

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To better understand variety release procedures for improved maize seed in sub-Saharan Africa, the International Institute for Tropical Agriculture (IITA) and CIMMYT conducted a study of 13 countries during 2007-08. Findings from this study, which was funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation through the Drought Tolerant Maize for Africa (DTMA) project, were recently published in a report titled Variety Testing and Release Approaches in DTMA Project Countries in Sub-Saharan Africa. One of the report’s major findings is that efficient and timely variety release is hindered by variable, inconsistent, and misunderstood seed laws and procedures. Such constraints deny farmers access to and benefits from improved germplasm and damage SSA seed marketing.

Of the 13 countries surveyed, only 7 have published guidelines on how testing for distinctness, uniformity, and stability (DUS) should be conducted, and what traits are to be recorded. Such tests are important because they ensure that the varieties being released are unique and differ from all known varieties in at least one characteristic. It was also found that among polled countries expenses for DUS testing ranged from no cost at all to US $600.

The two organizations that are responsible for deciding if maize varieties are suitable for release are the National Seed Authority (NSA) and the National Variety Release Committee (NVRC). The study shows that NVRCs vary widely among SSA countries; some are dominated by the private sector while others are controlled mainly by the public sector, and the frequency of NVRC meetings differ by country. Additionally, the number of new varieties annually released varies, with South Africa releasing more than 60 while other countries may fail to release any.

This convoluted system is costly and duplicative, as the same variety must be tested in all countries where it is being targeted for marketing. This results in a low number of variety releases and delays profits expected by seed companies while they wait for their new varieties to be registered from one country to the next.

The report contains several recommendations on how to improve the rate of varietal release, and thus have more seed of improved varieties available in the market. They include regional harmonization of seed laws; promoting the use of data from other countries; simplification of variety testing; and regular NVRC meetings.

Farewell to a former CIMMYT member

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Peter-WalkerPeter Walker, who worked at CIMMYT from 1975 to 1980, died at his home in Mexico City on 17 November 2009 after a short illness. He was 77.

During his time at CIMMYT, Walker set up and managed the Statistical Services Unit, using a DG Nova 3 computer to analyze the results of large sets of international cooperative breeders’ trials, initially for maize and later for wheat, durum, barley, and triticale. In addition to managing the unit, he also worked with programming and statistics.

Walker was born in Leeds, England, in 1932. He studied mathematics and statistics at Pembroke College, Cambridge, and began a long and varied career in tropical biometrics in 1960 in Nigeria. He came to CIMMYT following work as an overseas liaison officer at the Rothamsted Experimental Station in the UK. After leaving CIMMYT, his subsequent career took him to Syria, Zimbabwe, back to Nigeria, and finally to Sri Lanka.

He retired in 1994 to live in Mexico. Walker is survived by his wife Nydia, as well as by two sons, two daughters, and five grandchildren.

Improved Maize for African Soils: better harvests and livelihoods

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On 17 February 2010 CIMMYT launched a new public- private collaborative project for improved food security in Africa. The initiative, known as Improved Maize for African Soils (IMAS), will spearhead the creation and sharing of new maize varieties that use fertilizer more efficiently and help smallholder farmers get higher yields, even where soils are poor and little commercial fertilizer is used. For this project, CIMMYT is partnering with the DuPont Business, Pioneer Hi-Bred; the Kenya Agricultural Research Institute (KARI); and the South African Agricultural Research Council (ARC). IMAS is funded with USD 19.5 million in grants from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and the United States Agency for International Development (USAID).

The launch, which followed two days of IMAS stakeholder meetings, was held at the Serena Hotel in Kenya and attended by Nairobi media. The distinguished panel of speakers was headlined by KARI Director Ephraim Mukisira, and included Shadrack Moephuli, President and Chief Executive Officer, and Mohammed Jeenah, Executive Director for Research and Development, ARC; Lloyd Le Page, Senior Manager, Technology Acceptance and Sustainable Development, Pioneer Hi-Bred; and Marianne BĂ€nziger and Wilfred Mwangi from CIMMYT. “Like many sub-Saharan African countries, Kenya must optimize the use of its soils for agriculture to increase food security, and do this while facing climate change, escalating input costs, and a deteriorating natural   resource base,” Mukisira said, as he officially announced the project to the world. “The IMAS project will apply scientific innovations to provide long-term solutions for African farmers, developing maize varieties suited to Kenya’s diverse farming ecologies.”

The stakeholder meetings brought together some 50 participants from the previously-mentioned organizations. In addition to the high-quality technical and planning discussions, the impressive enthusiasm and project “buy-in” evident among partners pleased project leader Gary Atlin, associate director of CIMMYT’s Global Maize Program. “We will succeed, and we will have impact,” Atlin said, in a wrap-up session after the first day. Former CIMMYT maize physiologist and “father” of the center’s research on drought and low-nitrogen tolerance in maize, Greg Edmeades, took part as a special consultant.

IMAS-Group-021

New Director of the Global Maize Program

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PrasannaThe CIMMYT community welcomes its new Global Maize Program Director, Boddupalli M. Prasanna, who will join us on 10 March and will be based in Nairobi, Kenya. A native of India, Prasanna holds a M.Sc. (1987) and Ph.D. (1991) in genetics from the Indian Agricultural Research Institute (IARI). In 1991 he took up a scientist appointment at IARI and, since 2005, has worked there as a National Fellow & Principal Scientist of the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR). During 1998-2005, Prasanna served as the India team leader for the Asian Maize Biotechnology Network (AMBIONET), a CIMMYT-facilitated project to foster the use of molecular markers for maize improvement.

Evaluation of promising maize materials in 20 Mexican highland locations

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Nearly 30 attendees from public and private sector institutions in Mexico gathered on 03 February 2010 to discuss hybrid maize for Mexican highlands. The meeting was part of the project “Increasing the productivity and profitability of maize in the State of Mexico,” which has been in operation since 2007 and is jointly implemented by USDA, SAGARPA, and CIMMYT. The project strives to explore and identify the best hybrids, not only for yield, but for quality properties as well.

From trials by CIMMYT, ICAMEX (an advanced research institution in Mexico State), and the Mexican National Institute of Forestry, Agriculture, and Livestock (INIFAP), the project selected three new hybrids in 2009 to promote: one from CIMMYT, one from a national program, and one from a private seed company. Discussion at the meeting focused on how these promising hybrids should be promoted in 2010. The meeting, which was coordinated by JosĂ© Luis Torres, senior researcher with the Global Maize Program, also included discussions about trials in farmers’ fields; a survey of variety preferences among farmers; trials for advanced hybrid testing; breeding and production of seed; quality analyses; and collaboration with institutions working with the genetic breeding of white, yellow, and blue grain for the Mexican highlands.

For the CIMMYT hybrid selected, ICAMEX expressed interest in releasing and promoting it. They also are preparing new farmerlevel trials to further evaluate more high-yielding hybrids with desirable characteristics, such as good grain quality, cooking time, and nixtamalizacion.

Ravi Singh receives prestigious prize

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The University of Minnesota recently announced CIMMYT distinguished scientist Ravi Singh as the recipient of its 2010 E.C. Stakman Award. Established in 1955 by plant pathologist E.C. Stakman, a pioneer in combating wheat diseases, the award is given to individuals for outstanding achievements in plant pathology. Stakman was also a former professor of Norman Borlaug.

“I feel extremely honored and humbled to receive this highly prestigious award,” Singh said. “Dr. Stakman was a mentor to Dr. Borlaug and is largely responsible for sending him to Mexico in 1944. You wonder whether Dr. Stakman knew or even guessed that this decision was going to change history and save millions of lives.”

Singh, who has been with CIMMYT for over 25 years, is world-renowned for his efforts to control wheat rusts and has trained over 400 young scientists. With this award he joins a long list of notable scientists, including I. A. Watson, who was dean of Sydney University’s College of Agriculture and a former pupil of Stakman himself, and 2007’s recipient, the late Bent Skovmand, former head of wheat genetic resources at CIMMYT, director of the Nordic Gene Bank, and key player in the development of the Svalbard International Seed Bank. Congratulations, Ravi!

GCAP scientists review the CA hub in Mexico’s Pacific zone

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A diverse group of farmers, researchers, farm machinery experts, and private and public sector representatives gathered in the Yaqui Valley of Sonora, Mexico, on 18 January 2010 to discuss conservation agriculture (CA), with a focus on CA hub activities for irrigated systems in the Pacific zone of Mexico.

“To be able to implement CA, you have to be a real farmer and be totally immersed in the system,” said Mayo FĂ©lix, a local farmer who hosts a CA plot on his land. FĂ©lix, who has extensive experience with CA, spoke to farmers from the states of Sonora and Sinaloa about the advantages of the system, and also about the problems that may arise and how to solve them.

Another innovative CA leader, Mexican farmer RomĂĄn Portela, spoke of the relevance of CA for improving sustainability and crop competitiveness, as well as the importance of incorporating other new technologies, such as the GreenSeeker sensor. GreenSeeker allows farmers to apply just the right amount of nitrogen to the crop, a process that was further explained IvĂĄn Ortiz-Monasterio, fertilization expert.

In addition to Mexican-based CA users—and those interested in adopting CA practices—the event included several agronomy experts from other countries. Enamul Haque, an agronomist based in Bangladesh, talked about the good results they’ve had with bed planting in different Asian countries and expressed his appreciation for Mexico’s support, which has enabled him to bring CA to farmers in his country. Ravi Gopal, Indian hub manager for the Cereal System Initiative for South Asia (CSISA), gave a presentation on weed control in the CA system.

Bram Govaerts, a CA specialist who has extensive experience with CA in Mexico and in other parts of the world, also shared his experiences. “To get the system off to a good start, beds must be evenly spaced, you must have good furrows and effective land leveling, because, once formed, the beds will never be moved. All this will avoid problems later on.”

The event was proof that CA is a platform for achieving sustainable agriculture that can be combined with other technologies and agronomic practices, and that together they can produce an efficient and functional system.

Maize forum at El BatĂĄn

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During 13-14 January, a maize forum was held at CIMMYT-El Batán with participation of principal actors in Mexico’s maize production, marketing, and processing chain, as well as the research sector. This event was one of the training activities carried out by the SAGARPA-CIMMYT maize, wheat, and conservation agriculture research project.

The forum, coordinated by Petr Kosina, knowledge, information, and training manager, and Natalia Palacios, maize nutrition quality expert, brought together more than 40 specialists from each sector, including those from livestock industries. Participants gave a general overview of maize production systems (marginal, intermediate, and commercial), the restrictions they face, and opportunities for improvement.

The use of maize diversity, training, and dissemination of conservation agriculture practices, along with development of drought tolerant and disease resistant maize were some of the topics discussed. To ensure an impact from these technologies, technology transfer programs need to be revised and strengthened, and training and support to farmers needs to be continuously provided, not only in crop management and the use of new germplasm, but also in the area of agribusiness.

“In Mexico we continue to manage maize as a single product, without paying attention to its real importance in the domestic market,” said RaĂșl Navarro, Director General of Bufete Profesional de Servicios a Agroindustrias, S.A. de C.V. “The farmer needs to be taught to be more business-minded and more aware of what the market requires.”

The industrial sector put forth proposals such as opportunities for producing and marketing yellow and forage maize for the livestock sector, and the development of value-added maize such as certified organic maize and nutritionally enhanced maize. The sector also emphasized the need to think in terms of consumer demand and agreed that one of the biggest restrictions for maize production in the country is access to seed. Public policies and the commitment of actors in the sector need to be revised in order to identify new ways of ensuring seed production and distribution.

“We are aware of CIMMYT’s importance, not only at the national level, but worldwide; therefore, I think the contributions and results coming out of this forum are very relevant and should reach people in both the government and private sectors,” Navarro said.

Conclusions from the forum will be summarized and sent to SAGARPA and forum participants. The four main presentations given were as follows: “Factors affecting sustainable maize production in Mexico,” by Noel GĂłmez of the Mexican National Institute of Forestry, Agriculture, and Livestock Research (INIFAP); “Opportunities for contract agriculture in maize in Mexico,” by RaĂșl Navarro; “Factors determining the acceptability of Mexican maize by the livestock sector,” by Rosario Tovar, INIFAP and Navarro; and, “Factors determining the acceptability of Mexican maize by the food industry,” by Guillermo Arteaga, Grupo Maseca.

Agricultural award opportunities for women

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A new award for female wheat researchers is now accepting applications. Established in 2010, the Jeanie Borlaug Laube Women in Triticum (WIT) Award provides professional development opportunities for early-career women working with wheat. The award is named after Norman Borlaug’s daughter, who has served as chair of the Borlaug Global Rust Initiative (BGRI) since October 2009. Submissions should be sent to WIT@globalrust.org by 01 March 2010.

The CGIAR’s Gender & Diversity Program is now accepting applications for its 2010 African Women in Agriculture Research and Development (AWARD) fellowships. African women who are studying agricultural sciences are invited to apply for this twoyear fellowship program; 60-70 women will be selected. Applicants must have completed their bachelor’s degree and be a national of one of the following countries: Ethiopia, Ghana, Kenya, Malawi, Mozambique, Nigeria, Rwanda, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia. Submissions should be sent to AWARDFellows@cgiar.org by 22 March 2010.

Science journalism workshop

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Recognizing the importance of accurate and engaging science reporting, CIMMYT co-organized a science journalism workshop in Kenya during 12-14 January in Nairobi, Kenya. Both science and mainstream journalists in print, TV, and radio from Kenya, Uganda, and Tanzania attended the event, which was held with support from the African Agricultural Technology Foundation and ScienceAfrica, a Kenyan science communications firm.

The workshop focused on science, agricultural biotechnology, and climate change reporting, as well as the Water Efficient Maize for Africa (WEMA) project and the Drought Tolerant Maize for Africa (DTMA) Initiative. It included lectures, interactive discussions, and visits to two local agricultural science facilities: Biosciences East and Central Africa Hub (BeCA), and the Kenya Agricultural Research Institute’s Biotechnology Center.

To address the common misconception among journalists and the public that all biotechnology is genetic modification, CIMMYT molecular biologist Kassa Semagn presented on molecular breeding for drought tolerance in Africa, with a focus on the use of genetic markers. Anne Wangalachi explained the DTMA objectives, key achievements, and its relevance for East Africa. To ensure this information was transmitted to as many people as possible, especially rural farmers in Kenya and Tanzania, Wangalachi repeated the information in two radio interviews broadcast in Swahili. In addition to gaining scientific knowledge, journalists received tips on how to interest others in the media and the public in science stories, while scientists who attended the event learned how to package their research findings in an accessible and appealing manner.

“For practicing journalists, the workshop was useful not only for knowledge gathering, but also for upgrading our reporting skills for the constantly changing world of science and communications,” said attendee Zephania Ubwani, senior science writer at the Citizen Daily, a paper in Tanzania. “We hope this program will continue.”

As one practical outcome, following the workshop several regional media outlets published science-related stories based on information gathered from the course.