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Afghanistan Minister may visit CIMMYT-Mexico

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Global Wheat Program Director, Hans Braun, recently visited the Minister of Agriculture, Irrigation and Livestock (MAIL) of Afghanistan, O. Ramin. Braun was accompanied by Afghanistan Country Coordinator for CIMMYT, Mahmood Osmanzai.

During the discussions the Minister welcomed Braun and expressed his pleasure at the work CIMMYT is doing in Afghanistan through its office in Kabul. He said he was very pleased to have Osmanzai as the Country Coordinator. Braun extended an invitation to the Minister to visit CIMMYT in Mexico in the near future and the Minister responded positively, saying he would combine it with a visit he was making to Europe.

Mexican maize landraces: eroding, but not lost

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The fates of farmers and maize landraces in the central highlands of Mexico hinge on complex interactions between global and local economies

Researchers, the media, and members of civil society organizations from many quarters have expressed a concern for the perceived loss of native Mexican maize diversity, either through its replacement by scientifically improved varieties or simply the out-migration of the peasant farmers who created and often serve as custodians of this diversity. The number of landraces grown has declined as a result of these phenomena, according to CIMMYT research, but native diversity is still valued and conserved by local farmers.

The intertwined fates of farmers and native maize in the Valley of Toluca, in the Central Mexican Highlands, illustrate the complexity of the forces at work. There, challenges of international competition are balanced by specialized opportunities from large urban markets. Surprisingly, the native races sometimes still hold sway over improved maize varieties.

Farmers seek options in a shifting economy

Ricardo Becerril is a relatively young man, but speaks with the quiet authority of an elder. When asked if the maize varieties grown by generations of farmers in the Toluca Valley are in danger of extinction, he furrows his brow and seems to pull the response up from a well of experience on his father’s farm. “No, not here,” he says. “They’ve worked for us, even without being improved—or at least having had only minimal, empirical selection.”

Today Becerril is hosting a group of some 20 farmers from his home community, Taborda, who came to hear a presentation on organic agriculture. Like nearly all Valley farmers, he is continually seeking new and better options, as the Mexican economy and climate around them shift rapidly. These farmers are large-scale and prosperous by developing country standards, with average holdings of 10 hectares or more and the swelling urban markets of Toluca and Mexico City nearby. They express longing for times past, when they could still live off sales of the maize they grew. That livelihood began to fade in 1994, when the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) opened Mexico’s borders to a flood of subsidized maize from the USA. Now, even with dramatic hikes in maize prices from the biofuels boom, farmers barely cover production costs with grain sales. So, adding value to their traditional skill of maize farming, soon after NAFTA they found a new use for their harvests. “We can’t profitably sell the maize, so we feed it to sheep and cattle,” says Becerril, whose family’s homesteads fatten some 300 to 400 head a year.

When biomass beats grain

Becerril and the other Toluca Valley farmers grow a range of crops, including wheat, oats, and sorghum, but maize is their mainstay. Their local varieties, “criollo blanco” and “criollo amarillo”—essentially, indigenous white and yellow—have previously walked the knife-edge of extinction, according to Dagoberto Flores, research assistant in CIMMYT’s Impacts Targeting and Assessment Unit. “The farmers told me they once replaced their native landraces with improved varieties a number of years ago,” says Flores. “They didn’t like the improved maize, because it was shorter and produced less forage, so they went back to the native varieties. I asked them if they hadn’t lost the seed of the landraces. They said, ‘certainly not—some of the older farmers were still growing the old seed on small plots, so we were able to get it back.’ ”

Flores has talked to farmers in Taborda and other communities in the Toluca Valley as part of CIMMYT studies on the value of maize residues for forage and on local markets for this commodity. The Center is promoting zero-tillage and other resource-conserving practices that normally require farmers to leave stalks and leaves from the previous crop on the soil surface, rather than feeding them all to farm animals. In either case, where forage production brings a premium, a plant type like that of the native maize, with more above-ground biomass, might be advantageous.

Becerril grows an assortment of maize hybrids, but still sows and trusts the native maize. Among other things, he likes the criollos’ yields and the fact that their seed is cheap or free and available locally. “If we can’t make ends meet with our local varieties, how are we going to do it with the hybrids?” he says. “You buy it one year and there’s good seed, and the next year it’s not available. I strongly believe that we should conserve our locals—the hybrids or transgenics will never perform the way as our criollos do.”

The value of diversity

In the maize germplasm bank of CIMMYT, there are 23,000 unique samples of native maize seed, including the Toluca Valley landraces, kept against the day humanity may require it. Much of this maize is no longer grown in farmers’ fields. “Among other things, this diversity represents a hedge against new crop diseases or pests,” explains Suketoshi Taba, head of maize genetic resources at CIMMYT. He cites a recent example of CIMMYT researchers in eastern Africa developing new maize varieties that resist larger grain borer. The pest can chew through a third of a farmer’s grain store in six months. “That resistance came from Caribbean maize seed collected 40 or 50 years ago and enhanced through breeding programs,” Taba says. He and his team also regularly provide researchers or farmers with seed from older collections of native maize to “enhance” the more recent versions, thereby making it more likely that farmers will benefit from growing them.

If farmers stay on the land, so will the maize

Pedro León Peredo’s spry leap from a roaring tractor totally belies his 73 years of age. Native of Los Reyes village in the Toluca Valley, he grows about 20 hectares of maize, oats, and pasture to fatten some 200-300 head of sheep and calves a year. He uses maize hybrids, but also raises considerable stands of the criollo maize. He fertilizes his land with manure, plows in some residues, and rotates crops—especially the local and hybrid maize types: “We’ve tested the hybrids, and after growing them for several seasons in one place, they take up all the nutrients and then don’t grow or yield well,” he says. León also tells Flores of a rainy, windy year where the heavier native maize fell over but the hybrids gave good yields.

Most of the farmers Flores interviewed are 40 years old or more, reflecting the demographics of out-migration. “They are the ones who really appreciate the criollos, saying they make tortillas that are sweeter and store better than those from hybrid grain,” according to Flores. “They say even the animals prefer forage from the native maize.”

Mexican farmers see conservation agriculture in the highland tropics

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Faced with rapidly degrading soils and dwindling water supplies, Mexican farmers and researchers have sought with renewed vigor in recent years to apply conservation agriculture principles—reduced tillage, retention of crop residues, and relevant rotations. CIMMYT has long supported Mexico’s efforts in conservation agriculture, both in basic research and in its applications.

As part of a traveling seminar organized by the “Asociación para la Agricultura Sostenible en base a Siembra Directa” (the Association for Sustainable Agriculture based on Direct Seeding, ASOSID), headquartered in Mexico’s El Bajío region, 32 farmer members and 7 researcher/extensionists visited CIMMYT’s Toluca and El Batán research stations during 6- 7 September 2007 to learn how conservation agriculture can be pursued in rainfed, highland environments.

At Toluca the group saw first-hand the work of superintendent Fernando Delgado, who is applying zero-tillage with residue retention on the station and assisting maize farmers of the Toluca Valley in adopting the practices. Early the following morning the group visited the long-term conservation agriculture trial begun at El Batán in 1991, for a presentation and discussion with Nele Verhulst, PhD student from the KULeuven, Belgium, and Chilean student Andrea Chocobar Guerra, working at CIMMYT on her MSc thesis.

The Association was launched in 2002, with support from CIMMYT and several Mexican organizations working in conservation agriculture at the time. According to ASOSID Technical Coordinator, Óscar Contreras Mejía (photo inset above), early efforts to disseminate conservation agriculture in El Bajío went fast, trying to reach as many farmers as possible.

“Things are going a bit slower now—we’re consolidating the technical side,” he says. Now roughly 80% of the area of participating farmers is under zero-tillage.”

Contreras cites as two major technical challenges the introduction of crop rotations in El Bajío, a central Mexico breadbasket where irrigated monoculture has dominated, and managing the large amounts of crop residues that are produced.

“Those could easily be sold for forage, but because we have problems of diminishing soil organic matter, we want to keep residues on the field,” Contreras explains.

Reflecting emerging circumstances in many intensive, irrigated cropping regions of the developing world, Mexico’s El Bajío is facing mounting problems relating, among other things, to improper use of agrochemicals and water. A recent report in the Mexican daily “El Sol de México” said the water table in the state of Guanajuato, in El Bajío, is falling at a rate of 1-3 meters per year. Conservation agriculture provides one avenue for addressing these problems.

DTMA meeting

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The Drought Tolerant Maize for Africa (DTMA) team held its first project review and planning meeting from 3-7 September in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. During the first three days, staff from CIMMYT and the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA), together with the project’s advisory board and representatives from the donor, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, documented work completed during the first 9 months of the project. The reports covered everything from breeding trials to molecular techniques, seed systems, and livelihoods surveys.

Maize is arguably sub-Saharan Africa’s most important food crop. Erratic and unpredictable rains in many maize-growing regions of Africa have resulted in major crop failures. The DTMA project is working to improve the performance of maize in low-rainfall seasons, giving resource-poor maize farmers a better chance during times of drought.

National project partners joined for the last two days of the meeting to discuss their accomplishments and help set future priorities. In total nearly 60 researchers from Africa and Mexico participated in the meeting. One thing that was clear was the close cooperation and coordination between the CIMMYT and IITA maize programs. In fact Paula Bramel, Deputy DG, Research for Development (shown in photo, left), thanked CIMMYT for inviting IITA to be a project partner and praised how well the partnership was working.

David Bergvinson, from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, called the DTMA a flagship project for the new agricultural development initiative of the Foundation.

Fieldbook and MaizeFinder training

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Twenty-five maize scientists and information management specialists gathered in Nairobi this week for a special workshop on the CIMMYT Fieldbook and MaizeFinder software. In addition to CIMMYT global maize program staff, colleagues from IITA and some national programs participated. The training workshop, designed to illustrate the use of the two programs in managing field trials and pedigrees, also aimed to find ways to improve the software itself. There was special emphasis on how to link this software with the International Crop Information System (ICIS) that CIMMYT and IRRI are jointly developing.

The workshop was led by CIMMYT-Zimbabwe breeder Bindiganavile Vivek, with help from Eduardo Hernández of the Crop Research Informatics Laboratory (CRIL). Fieldbook is an application for Microsoft Excel originally written by Marianne Bänziger and enhanced by Vivek. The MaizeFinder program was developed by CRIL staff, integrates evaluation data from different breeding programs, and allows structured queries across multiple studies. Both applications are freely available to any maize breeder in the world.

A pioneer passes: Bernice “Bernie” Hanson

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We have received word that Mrs. Bernie Hanson, wife of Haldore Hanson, CIMMYT’s second director general, died on April 4, 2007 at the age of 91. She would have been 92 on Sunday, August 19th.

Hal and Bernie were important “pioneers” in CIMMYT’s history. Shortly after arriving in Mexico in 1971, and with no desire to undergo a daily commute to Mexico City, Bernie set out to find property near Texcoco to build a home. She found a series of eight terraces that had probably been farmed since before the arrival of the Spaniards in San Nicolás Tlaminca. They sat at the base of Tezcotzingo, on top of which the Texcoco king, Nezahualcóyotl, had built a summer place. It was love at first sight. With her powers of persuasion, Bernie then convinced Arq. Pedro Ramírez Vázquez, one of Mexico’s most accomplished architects, to design and build their dream home. The house completed in 1972, became Hal and Bernie’s home for the next two decades.

Even with the CIMMYT director general living in the Texcoco area, the lack of a bilingual school discouraged many international staff from relocating closer to El Batán. So Bernie founded the Columbia School and recruited a number of expatriate women whose spouses were associated with CIMMYT and Chapingo, to teach there.

Bernie also played an important economic development role in San Nicolás. She was instrumental in encouraging greenhouse flower cultivation and helped to create a microfinance organization to support the smallholder growers. She is remembered with great fondness by many.

After Haldore’s death in 1992 Bernie returned to their farm near Leesburg, Virginia. Before leaving Mexico, she gifted the San Nicolás property to CIMMYT (two houses and 4 ha). Her condition was that all revenue derived from the property be deposited in a special fund, called the Hanson Fund, to provide educational scholarships for national CIMMYT staff.

CIMMYT extends its condolences to the two Hanson children, Signe and Eric, and thanks them for the many contributions that their parents made to international agriculture and development, to CIMMYT and to the larger Texcoco community.

Pride and pragmatism sustain a giant Mexican maize

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Long as a man’s forearm, the biggest maize ears in the world are found in Jala, in the state of Nayarit, on the Pacific coast of Mexico. The traditional variety of this community is at risk, but a maize festival and the variety’s value in local culture and dishes keep farmers growing it, while researchers work to restore and improve its potential.

At the annual competition for the longest maize ear in the world, beauty queens and dignitaries wait in obscurity at the back of the stage, while the spotlight is on the bundles of ears lined up at the front. As darkness falls over the main square of the Mexican village of Jala on the evening of August 14, 2007, the 30 participating farmers are called onto the stage one by one, carrying their precious ears of maize. Each ear is systematically stripped of its husks and measured, and the data are recorded under the watchful eye of its grower. Many reach more than 30 cm (12 inches), and the first place goes to an ear 36 cm long.

At the height of the rainy season, lush, green fields and mountains surround Jala. The valley is overlooked by the active volcano Ceboruco, which last erupted in the 1870s and whose mineral-rich ash is believed by locals to make the giant Jala maize grow so well—indeed, it does not reach its full size when grown outside the valley. The variety is intimately adapted to its environment and an integral part of the identity and traditions of the people who grow it. Despite this, like many traditional varieties throughout Mexico, the Jala maize and the genetic diversity it carries are under threat of extinction, as improved varieties take over and young people leave the land looking for a better life. The competition for the biggest ear was established in 1981 in an attempt to ensure the preservation of Jala maize by encouraging farmers to grow it. It is held every year as part of the village’s two-week Feria del Elote, or green maize ear festival.

The Jala maize is a landrace—a traditional variety specific to a particular place that has been grown by farmers over generations. A number of other, regular-sized, landraces originating from other parts of Mexico are also grown in Jala. Collectively they are known as maíz de húmedo, as they have long growing seasons of around seven to eight months and are planted in April to take advantage of residual soil moisture before the summer rains begin.

Key ingredient in rich traditions and dishes

Jala maize grains contain a lot of flour. They are therefore prized for making boiled or roasted green ears, the Mexican flat-bread tortilla, pozole (a kind of pork and maize stew), gorditas (a sweet breadcake), and many other traditional dishes. But their flouriness also means the kernels are less dense and thus fetch a lower price on external markets, where maize is sold by weight.

Improved varieties of maize are inexorably supplanting the Jala landrace. They are shorter, which makes them easier to manage and less prone to falling over (lodging) in high winds, and yield much more (around 7-8 tons of grain per hectare, compared to around 3 tons per hectare for maíz de húmedo). Even more importantly, the improved varieties grown in Jala give relatively high yields of husks, which are exported to the USA and the rest of Mexico for wrapping tamales, a popular Mexican dish. The valley’s climate is changing, and the reduced rainfall also favors improved varieties, which reach maturity in around four to five months and thus can be sown in drier soils, after the rains begin. As a result less than 5% of the Jala’s maize-growing area is currently sown to the landrace. Furthermore, maize itself is being replaced by cash crops, predominantly blue agave for tequila and tobacco.

Recovering lost length

Because it has outcrossed with improved varieties, Jala maize’s prodigious height, ear length, ear thickness, and growing season have all diminished over the last century. In 1907 a visiting scientist recorded ears 60 cm long, whereas the longest in recent times have measured a mere 45 cm. Working to reverse these trends is J. Arahón Hernández Guzmán, research professor at the Colegio de Postgraduados, a Mexican agricultural institution. Hernández is growing landrace seed from 22 farmers in a plot in the valley to recombine the genetic variation. The seed will be redistributed to interested farmers, safeguarded in CIMMYT’s germplasm bank, and re-sown next year to begin selection for longer ears. He is also growing out Jala landrace samples from CIMMYT’s bank for selection and combination with current landrace materials. In addition to recovery and conservation, Hernández aims to develop varieties with added value; for example, dual-purpose maize providing good grain and husk yields, as well as specialized varieties for green ears or pozole. “This is important for me because, as a genetic resource, it’s unique in the world,” he says. “Not only that: if we lose this maize we lose our traditions, culture, and identity.”

Suketoshi Taba, Head of CIMMYT’s Maize Germplasm Collection, agrees the landrace is a unique expression of Jala’s culture, and will have value as long as people there choose to grow it. “CIMMYT holds Jala maize seed in trust, not just as a genetic resource for the world, but also for the people of Jala,” he says. “It’s important for us to preserve it on a permanent basis ex situ in the CIMMYT germplasm bank, and this complements its conservation in the field.” The Center holds 22,600 unique collections of Mexican and other maize landraces, and has provided seed and technical support to numerous researchers and farmers interested in their conservation and use.

Many reasons to grow Jala maize

But even if Jala maize can be restored and improved, will farmers continue growing it? Looking to stem the massive yearly flow of migrants out of the valley, local officials are tending to support the use of other, more profitable varieties and crops. “Maize is economically not very important,” says Jala mayor, Juan José Jacobo Solis.

Jala farmers talk of why they grow the landrace with a mixture of pride and pragmatism. They take pride in growing the biggest maize in the world, but also in their long tradition of caring for the seed. Pragmatically, they grow Jala maize for its high quality, because they enjoy eating it and because it can fetch high prices locally. The competition offers both—prizes and prestige.

Farmers will continue to grow more profitable and reliable improved varieties to sell the husks and grain. However, particularly with improved seed and supportive policies, it is likely that farmers will also continue to grow small plots of Jala maize for their own consumption and local sale, and for the competition. Their different purposes are complementary. Ultimately, the conservation of Jala maize in farmers’ fields is in the hands of farmers, and depends on the value they place on it.

As such, Jala is relevant to the conservation of other maize landraces: where people take pride in their local maize and value it for local needs such as traditional foods, it will be preserved. “I will always grow it,” says farmer José Elias Partida, “and now my son grows it too, and participates in the competition.”

Wheat agronomy student in the Bell Medal finals

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CIMMYT wheat agronomist Bram Govaerts has informed the editors that Sarah Chambers, a student with CIMMYT’s wheat agronomy team in summer 2005, was one of the finalists of the 2006 Bell Medal of the University of Queensland, Australia. During her internship, Sarah collected data from the long-term sustainability trial at El Batán and interviewed farmers. Her honors project, “An economic comparison of conservation agriculture technologies with traditional farm practices in rain-fed cropping systems of central Mexico,” received special mention from the Bell Medal judges.

Says wheat agronomist Ken Sayre: “Sarah was an undergraduate exchange student at the Technológico de Monterrey and contacted me about doing a project with us. We’d always wanted to put an economic foundation on our research with the long-term trial, so we sent her out with Dagoberto Flores to interview rainfed maize farmers. The data they obtained on production costs and returns went into a spreadsheet model created by Bram, and showed that Mexican maize farmers lose money using conventional practices but can improve earnings significantly by using zero-tillage and leaving residues on the soil.”

Sayre cautions that the study was based on market costs for labor and residues, and should be fine-tuned by taking into account the use of family for fieldwork or the returns to feeding residues to farm animals, rather than selling the residues. The Bell Medal was created in 1985 in honor of Arthur F. Bell, who was a pathologist, Director of the Bureau of Sugar Experiment Stations, and the first scientist to hold the position of Under- Secretary of the then State Department of Agriculture and Stock in Queensland.

Tony Fischer awarded the Order of Australia

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Former CIMMYT wheat program director and retired program manager at the Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research (ACIAR), Tony Fischer, was awarded the Order of Australia as part of the Queen’s 2007 Birthday Honours List.

Instituted by the Queen in 1975, the Order was established to accord recognition to Australian citizens and other persons for achievement or meritorious service.

In his congratulatory statement, ACIAR Director Peter Core said that Fischer’s close connection with CIMMYT had provided “…immense benefits to the Australian wheat industry.” Congratulations, Tony!

Global public goods workshops at CIMMYT

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During August 15-23 CIMMYT El Batán is hosting two workshops attended by scientists from CGIAR centers and other organizations involved in genetic resource management —including CIMMYT Mexico and Kenya, CIAT, CIP, ICARDA, IITA, IRRI, ICRISAT, Bioversity, the Danish Seed Health Centre for Developing Countries, the International Seed Federation and the Mexican National Commission for Biodiversity (CONABIO).

The first workshop developed draft guidelines for germplasm banks’ management of the inadvertent presence of transgenes and the maintenance of transgene-free germplasm. The second, which begins on Monday, will deal with best practices in safe germplasm movement. The meetings have been organized by Tom Payne, Monica Mezzalama, and Etienne Duveiller. They are part of phase two of the World Bank’s project on Collective Action for the Rehabilitation of Global Public Goods in the CGIAR Genetic Resources System, involving all 11 CGIAR germplasm banks.

Visitors at Agua Fría

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On Friday July 27, our colleagues at Agua Fría were visited by two students from Instituto Tecnológico de Huejutla, Hidalgo, and two farmers from the same location. The visitors were given an introduction to CIMMYT, and gained a greater understanding of the center’s work in the areas of physiology, entomology, genetic resources, and tropical maize research. They learned how and when the agronomic data from trials—for example on flowering, plant height, ear size, lodging, etc—are collected during the breeding cycle. They toured the work areas, and at the end of the tour their hosts presented them with free training material on the collection of data in the field, and field identification of maize plagues, diseases and other problems.

Out of the seminar room

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The Genetic Resources and Enhancement Unit (GREU) broke with tradition this week when instead of the usual seminar with a PowerPoint presentation it moved the talk to the screen houses at El Batán. Maria Zaharieva discussed a project dealing with phenotypic and taxonomic (physical characteristics and classification) characterization of wheat species and in particular wild relatives of wheat from the Wellhausen-Anderson Plant Genetic Resources Center. Her work also involves a Generation Challenge Program Project aimed at evaluating genetic diversity within these species. She showed participants the different species of wheat, how to identify them in the field, and indicated their value for bread and durum wheat breeding.

Generation Challenge Programme meets CIMMYT

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This week, during August 6-8, the Generation Challenge Programme (GCP) held the kick-off meeting for its current round of six two-year projects at CIMMYT’s El Batán headquarters, bringing together 31 scientists from around the world.

Each project focuses on aspects of using genomic science to explore and harness crop genetic diversity, and employing useful genes to generate improved varieties. CIMMYT’s Matthew Reynolds is leading a project looking for genetic markers for drought tolerance in wheat that can be used in breeding programs.

The teams worked on detailed delivery plans, focusing on end users, their needs, and how to ensure project products reach them. “It’s a new way of thinking, taking our philosophy into concrete targets,” says Carmen de Vicente, GCP Sub-programme Leader in capacity building. “It’s a big motivator, and I think everyone’s worked very hard and learned a lot.”

It was also “a great opportunity to get to know our collaborators,” says Reynolds. The teams included scientists from CGIAR and other advanced research institutes, and also from national programs. “It’s important that everyone is engaged,” says de Vicente. “By integrating delivery into the planning, our national partners share in the feeling of ownership of the project and its outcomes.”

Award for Ravi Singh

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CIMMYT Distinguished Scientist Ravi Singh has yet another honor to add to his growing collection. He has been awarded the 2007 International Service in Crop Science Award, given by the Crop Science Society of America. The focus of this award is on creativity and innovation in bringing about specific changes in practices, products, and/or programs in the crops area at the international level. The award will be presented on November 6 at a ceremony during the Crop Science Society of America awards program in New Orleans. Congratulations Ravi.

Developing CG guidelines for safe germplasm exchange

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Meetings under phase two of the World Bank’s project on Collective Action for the Rehabilitation of Global Public Goods in the CGIAR Genetic Resources System continued at El Batán this week, as participants learned from each other concerning the ways in which individual centers deal with specific pathogens for mandate crops.

“A key part of this involves prioritizing pathogens of quarantine relevance for the transfer of germplasm and protection of genetic resources,” says Etienne Duveiller, CIMMYT wheat pathologist. “We need to make sure that we are harmonizing our approaches in addressing the safe exchange of germplasm; for example, procedures for checking new introductions and sending materials to our clients.”

Among other outcomes, it is expected the workshop, which ended 23 August 2007, will provide a platform for collaborative efforts in support of genebanks, with extension to partners’ systems in the development of a crop-based global system. In addition to Duveiller, participants in this week’s workshop were Thomas Payne, Head of the Wheat Genetic Resources, CIMMYT; Monica Mezzalama, Head of the CIMMYT Seed Inspection and Distribution Unit; Suketoshi Taba, Head of Maize Genetic Resources, CIMMYT; Ehsan Dulloo, of Bioversity’s Understanding and Managing Biodiversity Programme; Maritza Cuervo, Coordinator of CIAT’s Germplasm Health Laboratory; Cecilia Ynouye, of CIP’s Genetic Resource Conservation and Characterization Division; Siham Asaad, Head of ICARDA’s Seed Health Laboratory; Maria Ayodele, Head of IITA’s Germplasm Health Unit; and Patria G. Gonzales, Manager of IRRI’s Seed Health Unit.