The wheat curl mite, a pesky wheat pest which can cause up to 100% yield losses, is a significant threat to wheat crops worldwide. The pest has been confirmed in Asia, Australia, Europe, North America and parts of South America. Almost invisible to the naked eye, the microscopic pest is one of the most difficult pests to manage in wheat due to its ability to evade insecticides.
We caught up with Punya Nachappa, an assistant professor at Colorado State University, at this yearâs International Plant Resistance to Insects (IPRI) Workshop to discuss wheat curl mites and how to fight them. She explains how the mite cleverly avoids insecticides, how climate change is leading to increasing populations and why breeding for host plant resistance is the main defense against outbreaks.
When asked to picture a food made of whole grains, your first thought might be a loaf of brown, whole-wheat bread. But wholegrain dishes come in all forms.
Take a virtual journey around the world to see the popular or surprising ways in which whole grains are eaten from Mexico to Bangladesh.
Popcorn, a wholegrain food and source of high-quality carbohydrates eaten across the world. (Photo: Alfonso Cortes/CIMMYT)
Roasted and boiled maize ears on sale in Xochimilco, in the south of Mexico City.
(Photo: M. DeFreese/CIMMYT)
Insect resistance in plants is needed now more than ever. The UN, which has named 2020 as the International Year of Plant Health, estimates that almost 40% of food crops are lost annually due to plant pests and diseases.
Earlier this month, a group of wheat breeders and entomologists came together for the 24th Biannual International Plant Resistance to Insects (IPRI) Workshop, held at the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT).
We caught up with Mustapha El-Bouhssini, principal scientist at the International Center for Agricultural Research in the Dry Areas (ICARDA) to discuss insect pests and climate change. He explains how pests such as the Hessian fly â a destructive wheat pest which resembles a mosquito â and the chickpea pod borer are extending their geographical ranges in response to rising temperatures.
Nepalâs National Seed Vision 2013-2025 identified the critical skills and knowledge gaps in the seed sector, across the value chain. Seed companies often struggle to find skilled human resources in hybrid product development, improved seed production technology and seed business management. One of the reasons is that graduates from agricultural universities might be missing on recent advancements in seed science and technology, required by the seed industry.
Researchers from the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT) have been collaborating with Agriculture and Forestry University (AFU) to review and update the existing curriculum on seed science and technology, for both undergraduate and postgraduate students. This work is part of the Nepal Seed and Fertilizer (NSAF) project, funded by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) through the Feed the Future initiative.
Realizing the need to increase trained human resources in improved seed technologies, CIMMYT researchers held discussions with representatives from the Department of Agronomy at AFU, to begin revising the curriculum on seed science and technology. Developed four years ago, the current curriculum does not encompass emerging developments in the seed industry. These include, for example, research and product development initiated by local private seed companies engaged in hybrid seed production of various crops, who want to be more competitive in the existing market.
Each year, approximately 200 bachelorâs and 10 masterâs students graduate from AFU. In collaboration with CIMMYT, the university identified critical areas that need to be included in the existing curriculum and drafted new courses for endorsement by the academic council. AFU also developed short-term certificate and diploma courses in the subject of seed science and technology.
AbduRahman Beshir, CIMMYT, discusses the importance of linking academic courses with the emerging trends of the seed industry. (Photo: Bandana Pradhan/CIMMYT)
Shared knowledge
On November 20, 2019, CIMMYT, AFU and Catholic Relief Services (CRS) organized a consultation workshop with seed stakeholders from the public and private sectors, civil society and academia. Participants discussed emerging needs within Nepalâs seed industry and charted out how higher education can support demand, through a dynamic and responsive program.
Sabry G. Elias, professor at Oregon State University (OSU), discussed recent advances in seed science and technology, and how to improve productivity of smallholder farmers in Nepal. He is supporting the curriculum revision by taking relevant lessons from OSU and adapting them to Nepalâs context. Sabry shared the courses that are to be included in the new program and outlined the importance of linking graduate research with the challenges of the industry. He also stressed the importance of building innovation and the continuous evolution of academic programs.
Sabry Elias, Oregon State University, talks about the importance of critical thinking to bring innovations to the seed sector. (Photo: Bandana Pradhan/CIMMYT)
Professors from AFU, Nepal Polytechnic Institute, Tribhuvan University, and several private colleges introduced the current courses in seed science and technology at their institutions. Santosh Marahatta, head of the Department of Agronomy at AFU, discussed the limitations of the current masterâs and doctoral degree programs, and proposed a draft curriculum with integrated courses across the seed value chain. J.P. Dutta, dean of the Faculty of Agriculture at AFU, shared plans to create a curriculum that would reflect advanced practices and experiences in seed science and technology.
Scientists and researchers from Nepal Agricultural Research Council (NARC) presented their activities and suggested key areas to address some of the challenges in the countryâs seed sector.
âOur aim is to strengthen local capacity to produce, multiply and manage adequate quality seeds that will help improve domestic seed production and seed self-sufficiency,â said Mitraraj Dawadi, a representative from the Seed Entrepreneurs Association of Nepal (SEAN). âTherefore, we encourage all graduates to get hands-on experience with private companies and become competent future scientists and researchers.â
AbduRahmann Beshir, Seed Systems Lead for the NSAF project at CIMMYT, shared this sentiment. According to him, most current graduates lack practical experience on hybrid seed development, inbred line maintenance and knowledge on the general requirements of a robust seed industry. âIt is important that universities can link their students to private seed companies and work together towards a common goal,â he explained. âThis human resource development drive is part of CIMMYTâs efforts to help Nepal on its journey to self-reliance.â
Organizers of the stakeholder consultation workshop to enhance the role of higher learning institutions in the Nepal seed sector at AFU, Chitwan. (Photo: Bandana Pradhan/CIMMYT)
Women play a crucial role in Ethiopian agriculture. A significant portion of their time is spent in the field helping their male counterparts with land preparation, planting, weeding and harvesting. Despite this, women face barriers in accessing productive resources and gaining financial benefits.
In 2015 and 2016, there was a 9.8% gap in farming plot productivity between woman- and man- managed farms in Ethiopia, which translated to a $203.5 million loss in the countryâs GDP. Access to mechanization services though service provision could contribute to decreasing this gap.
The International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT) and the German development agency GIZ have been testing service provision models in different areas of Ethiopia to expand small-scale agricultural mechanization that would benefit both men and women.
Zewdu Tesfaye, a smallholder farmer and mother of two, lives in the Amba Alaje district of the Tigray region. Two years ago, she paid $8 to become a member of the Dellet Agricultural Mechanization Youth Association (DAMYA), established to provide agricultural mechanization services in the area.
Zewdu Tesfaye drives a two-wheel tractor to the irrigation area. (Photo: Simret Yasabu/CIMMYT)
Along with other members, Tesfaye provides various services to farmers in her area that need assistance. âI take part in every assignment the group is tasked with. I drive the two-wheel tractor and I support during threshing and irrigation,â she says.
Tesfaye has now secured a job providing these services and has started earning income. In November 2019, she received $72 from the associationâs threshing services, which she saved in the bank. If women are given equal opportunities and equal access to resources, she says, they have the capacity to do anything that will empower themselves and change their familiesâ lives.
DAMYA currently has 12 members â eight men and four women â and all responsibilities are shared, with benefits divided equally. âAgricultural mechanization is an area less accessible to women,â explains group chair Alemayehu Abreha. âThus, we highly encourage and motivate our women members to maximize their potential and invite other women to witness that everything is possible.â
Belay Tadesse, regional advisor for GIZâs Integrated Soil Fertility Management project, explained that the initiative aims to benefit both women and men as service providers and recipients. Various trainings are provided for women, so that they are well acquainted with the machinery, as well as with the business aspects of each model. Events and other activities are also helping spread awareness, to attract and encourage more women to get involved in similar jobs, adds Tadesse.
Belay Tadesse shows young women from Dellet how the water should flow. (Photo: Simret Yasabu/CIMMYT)
In the Gudiya Billa district, located about 220 kilometers away from Addis Ababa, the introduction of the two-wheel tractor has been a blessing for many farmers in the area, especially women. For Kidane Mengistu, farmer and mother of six, harvesting season used to bring an added strain to her already existing chores. Now everything has changed. Through the new service provision model, Mengistu is able to get help with her daily tasks from Habtamu, a farmer professionally trained in agricultural mechanization. âWe now hire Habtamu, a service provider, to get different services like threshing,â she says. âHe does the job in few hours with reasonable amount of payment. This has given me ample time to spend on other household chores.â
Kidane Mengistu is much happier with the threshing service she gets from the service provider. (Photo: Simret Yasabu/CIMMYT)
Maize, sorghum and teff are the three main crops grown on Mengistuâs eight hectares of land. With the introduction of the two-wheel tractor and service provision model, she and Habtamu have been able to begin potato irrigation on two hectares â Mengistu provides the land while Habtamu provides and operates the water pump â and together they share costs and income. Mengistu says she and her family have seen firsthand the benefits of the two-wheel tractor and plan to purchase their own someday.
The most recent dietary guidelines provided by the World Health Organization and other international food and nutrition authorities recommend that half our daily intake of grains should come from whole grains. But what are whole grains, what are their health benefits, and where can they be found?
What are whole grains?
The grain or kernel of any cereal is made up of three edible parts: the bran, the germ and the endosperm.
Each part of the grain contains different types of nutrients.
The bran is the multi-layered outer skin of the edible kernel. It is fiber-rich and also supplies antioxidants, B vitamins, minerals like zinc, iron, magnesium, and phytochemicals â natural chemical compounds found in plants that have been linked to disease prevention.
The germ is the core of the seed where growth occurs. It is rich in lipids and contains vitamin E, as well as B vitamins, phytochemicals and antioxidants.
The largest portion of the kernel is the endosperm, an interior layer that holds carbohydrates, protein and smaller amounts of vitamins and minerals.
The grain or kernel of maize and wheat is made up of three edible parts: the bran, the germ and the endosperm. (Graphic: Nancy Valtierra/CIMMYT)
A whole grain is not necessarily an entire grain.
The concept is mainly associated with food products â which are not often made using intact grains â but there is no single, accepted definition of what constitutes a whole grain once parts of it have been removed.
Generally speaking, however, a processed grain is considered âwholeâ when each of the three original parts â the bran, germ and endosperm â are still present in the same proportions as when the original one. This definition applies to all cereals in the Poaceae family such as maize, wheat, barley and rice, and some pseudocereals including amaranth, buckwheat and quinoa.
Wholegrain vs. refined and enriched grain products
Refined grain products differ from whole grains in that some or all of the outer bran layers are removed by milling, pearling, polishing, or degerming processes and are missing one or more of their three key parts.
For example, white wheat flour is prepared with refined grains that have had their bran and germ removed, leaving only the endosperm. Similarly, if a maize kernel is degermed or decorticated â where both the bran and germ are removed â it becomes a refined grain.
The main purpose of removing the bran and germ is technological, to ensure finer textures in final food products and to improve their shelf life. The refining process removes the variety of nutrients that are found in the bran and germ, so many refined flours end up being enriched â or fortified â with additional, mostly synthetic, nutrients. However, some components such as phytochemicals cannot be replaced.
A hand holds grains of wheat. (Photo: Thomas Lumpkin/CIMMYT)
Are wholegrain products healthier than refined ones?
There is a growing body of research indicating that whole grains offer a number of health benefits which refined grains do not.
Bran and fiber slow the breakdown of starch into glucose, allowing the body to maintain a steady blood sugar level instead of causing sharp spikes. Fibers positively affect bowel movement and also help to reduce the incidence of cardiovascular diseases, the incidence of type 2 diabetes, the risk of stroke, and to maintain an overall better colorectal and digestive health. There is also some evidence to suggest that phytochemicals and essential minerals â such as copper and magnesium â found in the bran and germ may also help protect against some cancers.
Despite the purported benefits, consumption of some wholegrain foods may be limited by consumer perception of tastes and textures. The bran in particular contains intensely flavored compounds that reduce the softness of the final product and may be perceived to negatively affect overall taste and texture. However, these preferences vary greatly between regions. For example, while wheat noodles in China are made from refined flour, in South Asia most wheat is consumed wholegrain in the form of chapatis.
Popcorn is another example of a highly popular wholegrain food. It is a high-quality carbohydrate source that, consumed naturally, is not only low in calories and cholesterol, but also a good source of fiber and essential vitamins including folate, niacin, riboflavin, thiamin, pantothenic acid and vitamins B6, A, E and K. One serving of popcorn contains about 8% of the daily iron requirement, with lesser amounts of calcium, copper, magnesium, manganese, phosphorus, potassium and zinc.
Boiled and roasted maize commonly consumed in Africa, Asia and Latin America are other sources of wholegrain maize, as is maize which has been soaked in lime solution, or ânixtamalized.â Depending on the steeping time and method of washing the nixtamalized kernels, a portion of the grains used for milling could still be classed as whole.
Identifying wholegrain products
Whole grains are relatively easy to identify when dealing with unprocessed foods such as brown rice or oats. It becomes more complicated, however, when a product is made up of both whole and refined or enriched grains, especially as color is not an indicator. Whole wheat bread made using whole grains can appear white in color, for example, while multi-grain brown bread can be made primarily using refined flour.
In a bid to address this issue, US-based nonprofit consumer advocacy group the Whole Grains Council created a stamp designed to help consumers identify and select wholegrain products more easily. As of 2019, this stamp is used on over 13,000 products in 61 diïŹerent countries.
However, whether a product is considered wholegrain or not varies widely between countries and individual agencies, with a lack of industry standardization meaning that products are labelled inconsistently. Words such as âfiber,â âmultigrainâ and even âwholegrainâ are often used on packaging for products which are not 100% wholegrain. The easiest way to check a productâs wholegrain content is to look at the list of ingredients and see if the flours used are explicitly designated as wholegrain. These are ordered by weight, so the first items listed are those contained more heavily in the product.
As a next step, an ad-hoc committee led by the Whole Grain Initiative is due to propose specific whole grain quantity thresholds to help establish a set of common criteria for food labelling. These are likely to be applied worldwide in the event that national definitions and regulations are not standardized.
Getting a good maize harvest, or just enough to feed the family, has always been a challenge for maize small farmers in developing countries. Faced with variable rainfall, heat waves, insect attacks or diseases, they rarely yield more than two tons of maize per hectare, and sometimes lose their crops altogether. Climate change, invasive pests like fall armyworm or new diseases like maize lethal necrosis could jeopardize even further the livelihoods of maize farmers and trigger severe food crises.
In this scenario, the lives and income of maize farmers rely on good seeds: seeds that are climate-resilient, pest- and disease-resistant, and that grow and yield well under local conditions, often with minimum inputs.
âThat is where the maize improvement research at the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT) plays a crucial role in this challenge of food security. You need to develop the right location-specific varieties that farmers want, that partner seed companies are willing to produce, in a cost- and time-efficient way,â says Aparna Das. She joined CIMMYTâs Global Maize research program in August 2018 as Technical Program Manager.
âMy role is to work with and guide the Breeding and Seed Systems team, so that our research is more client- and product-oriented, efficient, and so that there is a better coordination and monitoring, aligned with the available resources and skills within CIMMYT, and with our numerous public and private partners,â she explains.
Value-for-money farmer impact
An important activity Das coordinated recently is a series of collaborative product profiling workshops with CIMMYTâs partners. Integrating the priorities of the national agricultural research systems and partner seed companies, this exercise reviewed and redefined what maize traits and attributes research should focus on in years to come. After this consultation, partners not only pick up CIMMYT germplasm based on trial data, but they can also verify if it fits with their own profile, to make sure that the traits they want are there. It makes breeding much more targeted and efficient.
âProduct profiling has already influenced our research. For instance, all partners mentioned husk cover as a âmust-haveâ trait, because you have less insect attacks and grain spoilage,â Das explains. âAlthough it was considered a base trait, the breeders did not consider it systematically during their maize line selection and product advancement. Now it is integrated,â she notes.
âOur impact should not be limited to the number of varieties released or the number of papers published, but also how many varieties are picked up by partners, adopted by farmers and scaled up,â Das points out.
Breeders and seed systems specialists have worked together to estimate and track the costs of delivering products. Teams responsible for product profiles can now, through simulation, test different solutions and see what costs could be reduced or adjusted to develop the hybrid.
Das enjoys this type of collaboration. âManaging behavioral change is a key part of my role, being able to work with different teams and cultures, which makes my job so interesting,â she says.
Plates of boiled and roasted maize are displayed for tasting during a farmer participatory varietal selection exercise in Embu, Kenya, in August 2019. Flavors of varieties are very distinct and could explain why some old varieties are still preferably grown by farmers. (Photo: S. Palmas/CIMMYT)
An out-of-the-book thinker in a menâs world
Plant breeding is a male-dominated world but Das is used to fitting in as a minority. Originally from West Bengal, she grew up in Ludhiana, another Indian state and a different culture. She learned genetics and plant breeding at Punjab Agricultural University (PAU) in Ludhiana. Discovering the new field of molecular breeding, at its infancy twenty-five years ago, was an exciting challenge.
At PAU, Das pursued crop improvement research, first in wheat and potato, and later in rice genetics. She received an award from Indiaâs Department of Science and Technology under the Young Scientist Program for her work on jumping genes in basmati rice, aimed at creating shorter and more productive basmati varieties while maintaining the basmati aroma.
Later she joined the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) to work on the development of Golden Rice, a provitamin A-rich variety, through genetic engineering.
âBeing a woman in plant breeding, especially as a breeder, is not that common. Women are not expected to do plant breeding fieldwork, away from the lab and offices. But I did not back off. I did my rice fieldwork in the paddy fields, at 40 degrees, all on my own. I believe that women bring a level of precision that is very important in breeding.â
Bridging public and private sectors
After ten years of public research, she moved to the private seed sector, to learn how seed companies integrate farmersâ needs to their research pipeline, and then channel this research to deliver to millions of farmers. âA big lesson from corporations is the value for money at each stage of their research, and that market research is instrumental to really understand farmersâ needs and guide breeding,â she notes.
After a decade in the private sector, Das was keen to move on and use her experience in the nonprofit sector. Then she joined CIMMYT. âThis opportunity of technical program manager was timely. I knew the strengths of CGIAR, having highly educated scientists and the great potential outreach of the research. I knew where crop research could be improved, in converting basic research into demand-driven research.â
âSince my time at IRRI a decade ago, I realized things had moved on in the CGIAR system. Seed systems, product profiling and value chain research are now fully integrated in the Global Maize program. It is a crucial time to be here at CIMMYT. With the CGIAR reform, with the climate emergency, and emerging pests and diseases, we have to be even more inventive and reactive to continue to deliver greater impact,â she concludes.
In crop research fields, it is now a common sight to see drones or other high-tech sensing tools collecting high-resolution data on a wide range of traits â from simple measurement of canopy temperature to complex 3D reconstruction of photosynthetic canopies.
This technological approach to collecting precise plant trait information, known as phenotyping, is becoming ubiquitous, but according to experts at the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT) and other research institutions, breeders can profit much more from these tools, when used judiciously.
In a new article in the journal Plant Science, CIMMYT researchers outline the different ways in which phenotyping can assist breeding â from large-scale screening to detailed physiological characterization of key traits â and why this methodology is crucial for crop improvement.
âWhile having been the subject of debate in the past, extra investment for phenotyping is becoming more accepted to capitalize on recent developments in crop genomics and prediction models,â explain the authors.
Their review considers different contexts for phenotyping, including breeding, exploration of genetic resources, parent building and translations research to deliver other new breeding resources, and how these different categories of phenotyping apply to each. Some of the same tools and rules of thumb apply equally well to phenotyping for genetic analysis of complex traits and gene discovery.
The authors make the case for breeders to invest in phenotyping, particularly in light of the imperative to breed crops for warmer and harsher climates. However, wide scale adoption of sophisticated phenotyping methods will only occur if new techniques add efficiency and effectiveness.
In this sense, âbreeder-friendlyâ phenotyping should complement existing breeding approaches by cost-effectively increasing throughput during segregant selection and adding new sources of validated complex traits to crossing blocks. With this in mind, stringent criteria need to be applied before new traits or phenotyping protocols are incorporated into mainstream breeding pipelines.
Following the spread of fall armyworm, crowdsourced data is powering a web-based application to help farmers in Bangladesh stay ahead of the crop pest.
The Fall Armyworm Monitor collects population, incidence and severity data, and guides pest management decisions. The web tool relies on information gathered by farmers using smartphones in their fields.
It was developed by the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT) in cooperation with Bangladeshâs Department of Agricultural Extension, through the Fighting Back Against Fall Armyworm project, supported by USAID and Michigan State University.
When a foreign caterpillar first munched through Muhammad Hasan Aliâs maize field during the winter 2018-2019 season, he was stumped as to what it was or how to manage it. All he knew was his harvest and the investment he made in growing his crop was at risk.
âIâd never seen this type of insect in previous seasons, but I soon learned from government extension workers it was the fall armyworm,â explained Hasan Ali, a farmer from rural Chuadanga, in western Bangladesh. When poorly managed, fall armyworm can significantly reduce maize productivity.
Hasan Ali asked to join a training program, where he learned how to identify, monitor and control the spread of the invasive and voracious crop pest. The training, mainly tailored to extension staff, was facilitated by CIMMYT and Bangladeshâs Department of Agricultural Extension.
Participants of the Fighting Back Against Fall Armyworm trainings learning to collect field data through the Fall Armyworm Monitor web app in a farmer’s field in Chauadanga, Bangladesh. (Photo: Uttam Kumar/CIMMYT)
Participants of the Fighting Back Against Fall Armyworm trainings learning to collect field data through the Fall Armyworm Monitor web app in a farmer’s field in Chauadanga, Bangladesh. (Photo: Uttam Kumar/CIMMYT)
Participants and instructors of the Fighting Back Against Fall Armyworm trainings participate in a field session to work with the Fall Armyworm Monitor web app in Chauadanga, Bangladesh. (Photo: Uttam Kumar/CIMMYT)
Equipped to fight the pest
Extension staff and farmers gained valuable insights into different methods of control, including management of small and large patches of insect attack.
âI learned to identify fall armyworms in my field â and how to use hand picking methods and appropriate application of insecticide for control,â said Hasan Ali.
Farmers also learned how to set up pheromone traps to monitor pest populations and to use smartphones to make data-driven integrated pest management decisions using a cloud-based monitoring platform.
Crowdsourced information on the movement of fall armyworm is essential for effectively monitoring its spread and is a pivotal step in its management, said CIMMYT Senior Scientist and Systems Agronomist Timothy Krupnik.
âFarmers in top maize growing regions are working with extension officers to monitor traps and report findings weekly by entering data into smartphones,â Krupnik said.
Pheromones are natural compounds emitted by female moths to attract males for mating. Synthetic compounds that mimic natural fall armyworm pheromones are placed in traps to lure and capture male moths, after which extension agents count moths, enter, and upload data in their districts. At the time of writing, 649 staff from the Department of Agricultural Extension are reporting weekly moth count and pest damage data.
âPest management practices are best when they are data-driven,â Krupnik explained. âHaving information on the geographical location, plant growth stage and severity of infestation provides an informed base from which appropriate decisions can be made, with the ultimate goal of reducing pesticide misuse.â
âWe are also excited as the data are open-access, and we are working to share them with FAO and other partners crucial in fall armyworm response,â he added.
The Fall Armyworm Monitor gives moth count and other data at the division, district and upazilla levels. (Photo: CIMMYT)
Data for better decisions
âThe website hosts real-time data and depicts them graphically and in maps depending on userâs preferences. This information â which was core to the training extension agents participated in â is key for integrated pest management strategies,â explained Mutasim Billah, CIMMYT Data Specialist and the lead developer of the application.
âThe department of extension services have employed 253 officers to visit fields with handheld smart devices in 25 districts to upload data,â said Billah. âThe online tool stores data entries in its server and calculates the aggregated value for division, district and sub-district level on a weekly basis, and shows the estimated values through charts and in tabular format.â
The Fall Armyworm Monitor has become an essential tool for government officials to aid farmers in managing the pest which so far has been successful, said Bijoy Krishna Halder, additional Deputy Director of Plant Protection with the Bangladesh government.
âCIMMYT’s web portal is a very efficient way to collect data from the field. Anyone can access the page to see the overall condition of infestation across the country,âsaid Krishna Halder. âI check the portal every week about the fall armyworm condition and now it shows that the infestation is low with the overall field conditions good.â
The pest native to the Americas has become a global menace as it has spread attacking crops through Africa, and Asia, threatening the food and economic security of smallholder farmers.
The Fall Armyworm Monitor was created as part of the new Fighting Back Against Fall Armyworm in Bangladesh project is aligned with Michigan State Universityâs Borlaug Higher Education for Agricultural Research and Development (BHEARD) program, which supports the long-term training of agricultural researchers in USAIDâs Feed the Future priority countries.
A farmer checks the drip irrigation system at his rice field in India. (Photo: Hamish John Appleby/IWMI)
In 2009, state governments in Northwest India implemented a policy designed to reduce groundwater extraction by prohibiting the usual practice of planting rice in May and moving it to June, nearer the start of monsoon rains.
Although the policy did succeed in alleviating pressure on groundwater, it also had the unexpected effect of worsening already severe air pollution. The reason for this, according to a recent study published in Nature Sustainability, is that the delay in rice planting narrowed the window between rice harvest and sowing of the subsequent crop â mainly wheat â leaving farmers little time to remove rice straw from the field and compelling them to burn it instead.
Even though burning crop residues is prohibited in India, uncertainty about the implementation of government policy and a perceived lack of alternatives have perpetuated the practice in Haryana and Punjab states, near the nationâs capital, New Delhi, where air pollution poses a major health threat.
Land preparation on a rice field with a two-wheel tractor. (Photo: Vedachalam Dakshinamurthy/CIMMYT)
A farmer uses a tractor fitted with a Happy Seeder. (Photo: Vedachalam Dakshinamurthy/CIMMYT)
A farmer checks the drip irrigation system at his rice field in India. (Photo: Hamish John Appleby/IWMI)
Wheat crop in conservation agriculture. (Photo: Vedachalam Dakshinamurthy/CIMMYT)
A farmer ploughs a rice field with a water buffalo. (Photo: Licensed from Digitalpress – Dreamstime.com; Image 11205929)
Decades of research for development have enabled researchers at the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT), the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) and other partners to identify potential solutions to this problem.
One particularly viable option focuses on the practice of zero tillage, in which wheat seed is sown immediately after rice harvest through the rice straw directly into untilled soil with a single tractor pass.
In a new blog published as part of the Chicago Council on Global Affairsâ Field Notes series, CIMMYT scientists Hans Braun and Bruno Gerard discuss the combination of agronomic and breeding conditions required to make zero tillage work, and propose a fundamental shift away from current incentives to maximize the regionÂŽs cereal production.
Reduced water availability for irrigation and increasing temperatures are of great concern. These two factors can considerably affect wheat production and reduce grain yields.
Watch CIMMYT Wheat Breeder Suchismita Mondal explain â in just one minute â how breeders are developing wheat varieties that have stable grain yield under low water availability and high temperatures.
Last year, droughts devastated staple food crops across the developing world, cutting production by about half in some countries. A stream of reports from Central America, Eastern and Southern Africa as well as the Asia-Pacific region painted a grim picture of suffering and upheaval.
Extreme weather, with its appalling consequences, demands an extraordinary response. Redoubled efforts must focus on building resilience into the developing worldÂŽs major food systems.
Behind every farmer dealing with a crop pest is a scientist who has supported them by developing better seeds, crop protection methods and apps to identify weeds.
On March 8, the world celebrates International Womenâs Day, and the 25th anniversary of the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action, the most progressive roadmap for the empowerment of women and girls, everywhere. In an op-ed in The Independent, Claudia Sadoff, CGIAR Gender Champion and Director General of the International Water Management Institute (IWMI), declares that our climate change-ravaged food systems cannot wait for the gradual progress of gender quality.
From locust swarms, hurricanes, wildfires and emerging famines, climate-related disasters are taking place around the world and our fragile food systems are on the front line.
Our food systems are in need of urgent support, and rural women play a critical role in reversing the problem. Research has found that rural women are disproportionately impacted by the effects of climate change, yet their significant contributions to food systems receive only a fraction of the focus they deserve.
Rural women are hamstrung by gender bias in food systems, home life, economics and culture. Barriers to accessing finance, insurance, high-quality seed, fertilizer, additional labor and markets result in women producing 20-30% less per hectare than men.
Womenâs unpaid daily household tasks are often backbreaking and time-consuming. Women are responsible for collecting water and fuel for cooking and tending kitchen gardens and family-owned livestock. With African women producing up to 80% of food for their household, these women have less opportunity to grow and sell foods at market to improve their financial position.
Breaking free of this gender bias requires a rethink on how rural women are reflected in, and participate in, society at large, says Sadoff in her op-ed, published in The Independent on March 7, 2020.
So, what does this rethink look like? How can we enable women and, in the process, strengthen our food systems?
Sadoff has summarized this huge undertaking into three key steps: (1) Ensure rural women can invest in productivity in their farms, (2) ease the burden of daily household tasks, and (3) build research systems and cultures to be more gender equitable in the long run.
Through One CGIAR and the Generating Evidence and New Directors for Equitable Results (GENDER) Platform, we are proud to say that we are working together to achieve these three objectives. Closing the gender gap completely will not happen in a generation but taking steps towards achieving greater gender equality will help to build the resilience of our food systems, bolster rural economies and improve rural livelihoods.
With UN Women, One CGIAR supports #GenerationEquality, for the benefit of all.
Sixteen years of consistent learning and practice of climate-smart agriculture, led by the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT), are paying off for Luganu Mwangonde. Together with her husband Kenson, she has established herself as a successful smallholder farmer in Malawiâs Balaka district. She enjoys the multiple benefits of high yields from diverse crops, surplus to sell at the markets and improved soil quality.
âI started practicing the farming that does not demand too much labor back in 2004,â she explains at her 2.5-acre farm. âOver the years the process has become easier, because I have a full understanding of the benefits of techniques introduced through the project.â
In Malawiâs family farms, women often carry the burden of land preparation and weeding  in the fields while juggling household responsibilities, contributing to widen gender differences already prevalent in the community.
Mwangonde observes that learning climate-smart techniques â such as minimum tillage, mulching and planting on flat land surfaces â has given her an advantage over other farmers practicing conventional agriculture.
Better off
At the beginning, like other farmers in the area, Mwangonde thought conservation agriculture and climate-smart techniques required a lot of work, or even hiring extra labor. As she tried this new approach, however, weed pressure in her plot decreased gradually, with the help of mulching and other techniques, and the labor required to maintain the fields reduced significantly. This allowed her to have extra time to add value to her products and sell them on the markets â and to rest.
The best gain for her is knowing that her family always has enough to eat. âI have enough grain to last until the next harvest,â she says. âMy husband and I can provide for our seven children and four grandchildren.â During the 2018/19 season, Mwangondeâs family harvested six bags of maize, two bags of pigeon pea and four bags of groundnuts. The surplus from the harvest is reserved for later, when prices are more competitive.
âI am an equal partner in the farming activities. That means I can make decisions about how we work on our plot, distribute crops and apply everything that I have learnt about conservation agriculture,â Mwangonde explains. She has participated in CIMMYT activities where she could share her experiences on climate-smart agriculture with other women. As a lead farmer, she notes, she can confidently inspire the next generation of smallholders because of the empowering knowledge she has acquired.
Out of the 3,538 smallholder farmers from Balaka, Machinga and Zomba districts, up to 2,218 are women smallholder farmers who have successfully adopted climate-smart technologies.
Mwangonde is one of the beneficiaries of the Africa Research in Sustainable Intensification for the Next Generation (Africa RISING) project. She also benefitted from the support of the German Development Agency (GIZ), the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), Total Land Care (TLC) and the United States Agency for International Development (USAID).
