As part of the Cereal Systems Initiative for South Asia (CSISA), the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT) has created a series of infographics explaining key information about fall armyworm.
These infographics will be translated and used to reach out to farmers in Bangladesh, through agrodealers and public sector partners. The principles and concepts presented in them — which champion the use of integrated pest management strategies — are relevant to countries across the region.
If you would like to use these infographics in other countries or translate them to other languages, please contact Tim Krupnik.
Fall armyworm is an invasive insect pest that can eat 80 different types of plants, but prefers maize. It spread throughout Africa in just two years, and was found in India in late 2018. Since then it has spread across South and South East Asia, where it presents a serious threat to food and income security for millions of smallholder farmers.
The infographics are designed to be printed as foldable cards that farmers can carry in their pocket for easy reference. The graphics provide an overview of fall armyworm biology as well as the insect’s ecology and lifecycle. They also describe how to identify and scout maize fields for fall armyworm and provide easy-to-follow recommendations for what to do if thresholds for damage are found. One of the infographics provides farmers with ideas on how to manage fall armyworm in their field and village, including recommendations for agronomic, agroecological, mechanical and biological pest management. In addition, chemical pest management is presented in a way that informs farmers about appropriate safety precautions if insecticide use is justified.
In India’s state of West Bengal, the success of men and women farmers and agri-entrepreneurs is paving the way for the out-scaling of climate-smart conservation agriculture practices for sustainable intensification across the region.
Through the Sustainable and Resilient Farming Systems Intensification in the Eastern Gangetic Plains (SRFSI) project, the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT) is improving productivity, profitability and sustainability across the Eastern Gangetic Plains.
For more than 50 years, CIMMYT has been dedicated to safeguarding and using maize and wheat genetic diversity for the betterment of millions of peoples’ lives around the globe. To accomplish this mission, CIMMYT relies on the diversity of its staff.
Just as there is no future for our food security and health of ecosystems without plant and animal biodiversity, an organization can only go so far without diversity and inclusion. These are no longer trendy keywords, they ensure success. According to recent studies, as organizations become more inclusive — in terms of age, gender, sexual orientation, race — the performance of their staff can skyrocket by 30% or more.
On the occasion of the International Day for Biological Diversity, we sat down with CIMMYT’s Director of Human Resources, Monika Altmaier, to discuss what organizations can do to become better, more resilient and efficient through investing in the diversity of staff.
Q: How do you see CIMMYT using diversity to support its growth and goals?
Monika Altmaier: As a research organization, we need to be innovative to stay relevant. Hiring diversity fosters just that. Different backgrounds provide different approaches, therefore speeding up the process of locating the best solution. According to experts, inclusive organizations are 1.7 times more likely to be innovation leaders in their market. Combining peoples’ diverse perspectives opens doors to innovation.
Employing diverse staff allows us to be more creative, competitive and improves our best practices. It provides a fresh pair of eyes. For me, diversity is an asset that enables us to learn about ourselves and others and grow, as people and professionals. Figuring out how people think and why is so interesting.
Q: What is CIMMYT doing to attract and retain more diverse talent?
MA: We have just finished sharpening our Gender and Diversity in Research and the Workplace policy. This document outlines how CIMMYT integrates gender and social inclusiveness in its research and innovation for development. Also, it describes what needs to be done to promote gender equality and diversity at all stages of employment, from securing new talent to retaining it.
Creating a 360-degree induction in multiple languages for all of our staff has been high on our agenda ever since hearing opinions of staff from 46 countries that gathered at our Science Week last year. This induction course will outline what is expected from everyone at CIMMYT: respect and dignity for all colleagues and stakeholders, regardless of gender identity and expression, disability or health status.
On a monthly basis, when doing outreach, HR post vacancy announcements that are attractive to people from different countries, that use gender-sensitive language and invite everyone, especially women to apply. We include colleagues of different genders, nationalities, and from various research and administration units in the selection and interview process. We scrutinize shortlists and make sure we are giving everyone the same opportunity.
One thing that is harder to change is the market. Still today, in some countries women do not get the same opportunities as men, not to talk about people from marginalized communities and members from the LGBTQ community. I hope that this will change because equality not only helps companies, but also countries, to have a happier population. CIMMYT works closely with universities across the world to make sure that more and more talent trickles where it is most needed: into research for development.
Monika Altmaier (center) takes a selfie with CIMMYT scientists during CIMMYT’s Science Week 2018. (Photo: Alfredo Saenz for CIMMYT)
Q: In line with hiring diversity, how is CIMMYT attracting millennial talent (people who are mainly born between 1980 and 2000)?
MA: Millennials are a vast workforce. In just a couple years they will reach the peak of representation in the labor force. There is no issue with attracting millennials: thankfully, our mission resonates with them and they are already working for us across all of our offices.
With this Millennial-centric shift, however, the key thing is to meet the needs that they express. Studies say, and I see this in all of our offices, that young people want a more collaborative approach to work. They want to embrace relationships, transparency, dialogue and creativity.
At CIMMYT’s HR, we are exploring different approaches to talent management and succession planning. Traditionally, one progresses hierarchically. But the world, even the research world, is moving too fast to be satisfied with that. We are currently putting our focus on training, which helps with functional evolution. We are exploring the geographic mobility of staff both within the organization and outside, within our vast network of partners, including those within CGIAR. We are also putting more emphasis on work-life balance, which is said to improve employee retention by more than 50%. In the future, we plan to explore functional mobility, too, and encourage young people to think outside the box they may have preselected for themselves at the beginning of their careers.
Q: What do you think about investing in cognitive diversity?
MA:Cognitive diversity helps teams solve problems faster because it unites people with diverse perspective or information processing styles. Basically, how people think about or engage with new uncertain and complex situations.
It’s not easy to surface cognitive diversity and equally complex to harness its benefits. At CIMMYT, we started with doing psychometric testing when hiring team leaders. These tests are designed to measure candidates’ personality characteristics and cognitive abilities. They show if people would fit in a team. Since then we have expanded to testing research and admin teams. In my experience, such tests are highly trustworthy and interesting, and can help team building.
While increasing yields will be necessary to feed the 9.8 billion people expected by 2050, Natalia Palacios — head of the maize nutritional quality laboratory at CIMMYT — says that’s only part of the challenge. She argues we must also strive for higher-quality, more nutritious crops. According to the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization, over 800 million people are considered undernourished. That’s about one out of every nine people in the world. Find out how Palacios’ research helps CIMMYT and its partners close the gap and support better health and nutrition.
For more information on Palacios’ research linking provitamin A orange maize and reduced aflatoxin contamination, read the publication here.
Women have the potential to be drivers of agricultural transformation in Africa, holding the key to improving their families’ livelihoods and food security. However, constraints such as lack of access to initial capital, machinery, reliable markets, and knowledge and training are difficult to overcome, leading to restricted participation by women and young people in agricultural systems in Africa.
A new video from the Sustainable Intensification of Maize-Legume Systems for Food Security in Eastern and Southern Africa (SIMLESA) project highlights the importance of gender equity and social inclusion to achieving project impacts and outcomes, helping to drive transformative change towards securing a food-secure future for Africa. Case studies and interviews with women and men farmers — including young people — detail how SIMLESA’s approach has re-shaped their maize-based farming lives.
The video is aligned with the theme for International Women’s Day 2019, “Think Equal, Build Smart, Innovate for Change,” which places the spotlight on innovative ways in which we can advance gender equality and the empowerment of women.
“This video is intended to educate the agricultural community and wider public on the importance of applying sustainable intensification agricultural practices and technologies in order to bridge the gender gap in agricultural productivity and achieve agricultural transformation for smallholder farmers in Africa,” said Rahma Adam, Gender and Development Specialist with CIMMYT in Kenya. “We hope stakeholders will be able to see the benefits of these practices and technologies, and work towards finding ways to implement them into their agricultural practices or programs.”
SIMLESA lead farmer Agnes Sendeza harvests maize cobs from a stook on her farm in Tembwe, Salima district, Malawi. (Photo: Peter Lowe/CIMMYT)
Putting equal opportunities at the center
Following a participatory research for development approach, the SIMLESA team works alongside farmers and partner organizations to achieve increased food production while minimizing pressure on the environment by using smallholder farmers’ resources more efficiently and empowering women, men and young people to make decisions.
The SIMLESA project achieves impact by integrating gender sensitivity into all project activities and developing a deep understanding of social contexts and factors that constrain access to, and adoption of, improved technologies. Initiatives are able to reach all individuals in the project’s target communities, leaving no one out.
“The benefits of fostering equal opportunities for women, men and young people through SIMLESA’s work are enormous,” said Adam. Equal opportunities mean better access to information, markets, and improved varieties of seeds; participation in field trials, demonstrations and training; and the provision of leadership opportunities in local innovation platforms.
Central to the success of the SIMLESA project is the concept of Agricultural Innovation Platforms. “Being members of these platforms, farmers can access credits, which they can use to purchase farm inputs,” explained Adam. “They are able to take part in collective marketing and get a better price for their crops. The Agricultural Innovation Platforms also facilitate training on better agribusiness management practices and the sharing of ideas about other productive investment opportunities to better farmers’ lives. All these benefits were hard to come by when the women and youth farmers were farming on their own without being associated to the SIMLESA project or part of the platforms.”
The words of Rukaya Hasani Mtambo, a farmer from Tanzania, are a testimony to the power of this idea. “As a woman, I am leader of our group and head of my household. I always encourage my fellow women, convincing them we are capable. We should not underestimate what we can do.”
Women applying required fertilizer along the tracks of seed drill. (Photo: Wasim Iftikar)
Maize is a staple crop that requires a limited amount of water and inputs, and earns farmers a profit, thanks to its growing demand as food and feed for livestock. Adivasi women farmers in India’s Odisha state are increasing their yields by applying improved maize intensification technologies.
The Cereal Systems Initiative for South Asia (CSISA), led by the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT), is providing technical support to the Association for Development Initiatives, which implements the Odisha Primitive Tribal Group Empowerment and Livelihood Improvement Program (OPELIP) and the Odisha State Department of Agriculture at Gudugudia in Mayurbhanj.
“CSISA’s technical support to the women, focusing on improved maize cultivation techniques, helped the women improve their understanding, their capacity and their yields,” said Wasim Iftikar, Research Associate at CIMMYT. Improved maize hybrids, precision nutrient management techniques and improved weed management practices have helped the women increase their yields. This year the group harvested more than 3,300 kg from seven acres of land.
“We never thought we could earn money and support our families through maize cultivation. This is an eye-opener for us. We are planning to increase the area of cultivation for maize and will convince our family members and other women to join us,” says farmer Joubani Dehuri.
To view a photo essay recognizing these women and their work in honor of International Women’s Day 2019, please click here: https://adobe.ly/2ED9sns
The Cereal Systems Initiative for South Asia (CSISA) is a regional initiative to sustainably increase the productivity of cereal-based cropping systems, thus improving food security and farmers’ livelihoods in Bangladesh, India and Nepal. CSISA works with public and private partners to support the widespread adoption of resource-conserving and climate-resilient farming technologies and practices. The initiative is led by the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT), implemented jointly with the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) and the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI). It is funded by the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.
Wheat blast is a fast-acting and devastating fungal disease that threatens food safety and security in the Americas and South Asia.
First officially identified in Brazil in 1984, the disease is widespread in South American wheat fields, affecting as much as 3 million hectares in the early 1990s.
In 2016, it crossed the Atlantic Ocean, and Bangladesh suffered a severe outbreak. Bangladesh released a blast-resistant wheat variety — developed with breeding lines from the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT) — in 2017, but the country and region remain extremely vulnerable.
The continued spread of blast in South Asia — where more than 100 million tons of wheat are consumed each year — could be devastating.
Researchers with the CIMMYT-led and USAID-supported Cereal Systems Initiative for South Asia (CSISA) and Climate Services for Resilient Development (CSRD) projects partner with national researchers and meteorological agencies on ways to work towards solutions to mitigate the threat of wheat blast and increase the resilience of smallholder farmers in the region. These include agronomic methods and early warning systems so farmers can prepare for and reduce the impact of wheat blast.
This series of infographics shows how wheat blast spreads, its potential effect on wheat production in South Asia and ways farmers can manage it.
This work is funded by the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. CSISA partners include CIMMYT, the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) and the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI).
Haiti has the lowest maize yields in Latin America and the Caribbean, and around half of the population is undernourished. Five hurricanes in the past decade and a magnitude 7.0 earthquake in 2010 have only exacerbated these issues. In 2017, CIMMYT sent 150 tons of new and improved maize seed to the Caribbean nation to jump-start its maize seed sector, improve food security and decrease malnutrition. It was the largest seed shipment to any country in CIMMYT’s history.
In this episode, CIMMYT’s Seed Systems Lead for Africa and Latin America, Arturo Silva Hinojosa, discusses why CIMMYT sent this seed and organized trainings, how they overcame major roadblocks, and what’s in store for the future.
Learn more about the project by reading “Seeds of Hope” from the CIMMYT 2017 Annual Report.
For small-scale farmers, mechanization and other appropriate technologies have a big impact in agricultural production and yield. However, they might lack the resources to buy these tools. Hello Tractor is trying to improve this.
Dubbed the “Uber for the farm”, the company’s app easily allows tractor owners to rent their machinery to farmers and includes features that can help enhance a tractor owner’s business and operations. In this episode, we’re talking to Martha Haile, Chief Operations Officer at Hello Tractor, about the company’s success and social innovation in agriculture.
Farmers around the world are at the front lines of climate change. They are directly affected by more frequent and severe droughts, rising temperatures, variable rainfall, and emerging pests and crop diseases. In low-and middle income countries, where farming is the main source of income for some of the poorest and more vulnerable people, agriculture must urgently adapt to new climate-induced stresses.
With agriculture on the agenda at this week’s UN climate talks in Katowice, Poland, we highlight some encouraging innovations for improving resilience and productivity for agriculture under climate change. The photo story from the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT) shows the advantages of joint action by farmers, researchers, governments, not-for-profits and businesses.
Nitrogen is essential to life, and almost 80% of the atmosphere is made up of this element. But mostly living organisms can’t access it in this form. On this episode, we’re going to explore the natural process of nitrogen fixation, which transforms atmospheric nitrogen into a form our bodies can use. We’ll also look at a scientific breakthrough that made it possible to create synthetic nitrogen fertilizer. It supported the Green Revolution and our current global population of 7.2 billion people. However, there are some negative effects that come with overuse and misuse of these fertilizers. Join us for this short science explainer.
Maize is currently grown on 35 million hectares of land in Africa and is easily the most important staple food crop in the continent, feeding more than 200-300 million people and providing income security to millions of smallholder farmers. Nonetheless, African maize growers face many challenges, including lower than average yields, crop susceptibility to pests and diseases, and abiotic stresses such as droughts. They generally lack access to high yielding improved seed and other farming innovations that could help them overcome those challenges.
SIMLESA is led by the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT) and funded by the Australian Center for International Agricultural Research (ACIAR). It is implemented by national agricultural research systems, agribusinesses and farmers in partner countries: Ethiopia, Kenya, Malawi, Mozambique, Rwanda, Tanzania and Uganda.
A new video highlights the outcomes and achievements of the SIMLESA project and it features interviews with farmers and scientists.
Among the outstanding achievements of the SIMLESA project are the release of 40 new maize varieties, the selection of more than 50 legume varieties for official release in partner countries, yield increases of 10 to 30 percent and enhanced adoption of innovative technologies that will aid sustainable intensification of agriculture in sub-Saharan Africa. Over 230,000 farmers have adopted sustainable intensification technologies and the project has helped nurture future scientists by supporting more than 40 students pursuing MSc degrees and more than 20 PhD students.
“The SIMLESA project has successfully adapted and disseminated many scalable technologies to smallholder farmers that will help them achieve higher yields with reduced resource use,” said CIMMYT scientist Paswel Marenya, the coordinator of the project. “We have also sought to understand and improve the entire farming system so that farmers are supported through enabling policies, markets and institutional frameworks.”
The SIMLESA project will be coming to an end in 2019. “The lessons learned from SIMLESA can be used by national and international decision makers to help guide their policy, programming and investment priorities in support of achieving sustainable and resilient agricultural systems in Africa,” Marenya said.
To watch a playlist of SIMLESA videos, click here.
Blue maize is a ubiquitous aspect of Mexico’s food culture, especially in the central highlands. Most of it is grown by small-scale farmers for local consumers who value it for its rich flavor and texture. But it’s also catching the attention of some food processing companies who are interested in its health benefits, as well as high-end culinary markets seeking authentic Mexican cuisine. Find out how CIMMYT researchers are helping Mexican farmers tap into two emerging markets that could boost incomes while conserving culture and biodiversity.
This week the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT) launched a new podcast: Cobs & Spikes. This is a space where we’re going to break down complex science into bite-sized, audio-rich explainers. We’re going to have real conversations with experts from around the world who are innovating in the fields of agriculture, food security and nutrition. We’re also going to listen to stories that link CIMMYT’s research with real-world applications.
In this episode, we are celebrating World Food Day, October 16. Also this week, food experts and leaders from around the world are gathering in Iowa for the 2018 Borlaug Dialogue and the World Food Prize Laureate Award Ceremony.
Today we’re talking to the recipient of the World Food Prize 2018 Norman Borlaug Award for Field Research and Application.
Matthew Rouse is a researcher with the Agricultural Research Service of the United States Department of Agriculture. Rouse works on developing wheat varieties that are resistant to diseases, and he’s being recognized for his work on Ug99 — a devastating race of stem rust disease. Throughout his career, Rouse has collaborated with the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT).
Cobs & Spikes is a new podcast from the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT). This is a space where we’re going to break down complex science into bite-sized, audio-rich explainers, and listen to stories that link CIMMYT’s research with real-world applications and farmers. We’re also going to have real conversations with experts from around the world who are innovating in the fields of agriculture, food security and nutrition.
Stay tuned for the first episode. We will be talking to Matthew Rouse, a researcher with the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) Agricultural Research Service (ARS), who has been named the winner of the 2018 Norman Borlaug Award for Field Research and Application.
Fall armyworm is an invasive insect pest that can eat 80 different types of plants, but prefers maize. It spread throughout Africa in just two years, and was found in India in late 2018. Since then it has spread across South and South East Asia, where it presents a serious threat to food and income security for millions of smallholder farmers.
Download the infographics:
