Anjuara Begum is 40 years old. Hailing from Jashore, Bangladesh, she works at Abdur Rahman Foundry as a grinding operator. In Bangladesh, it is rare to be a woman and work in a skilled job in engineering. Anjuara’s journey shows it is possible to break through gender stereotypes ascribed by Bangladeshi society.
Growing up in Jashore, Anjuara was married before the age of 15. About a year after giving birth to a son, her husband died leaving her to take on the sole responsibility of raising a child. She started working as a cleaner at Talukder Light Casting. Soon, she found her interest lay in sand molding and grinding which were considered to be skilled tasks traditionally carried out by the male employees. Over time, Anjuara graduated to working as an assistant in different sections of the foundry: casting, the furnace, and operating the grinding machine. For six years, she continued as an assistant with no formal training, often learning from the machine operators and supervisors around her.
Anjuara Begum operates a grinding machine at the foundry in Jashore, Bangladesh. (Photo: Asmaul Husna/CIMMYT)
In 2019, Anjuara joined the nearby Abdur Rahman Foundry, where for the first time she attended a formal skill enhancement training for women in the light engineering sector. She was able to access this opportunity through the USAID-funded Cereal Systems Initiative for South Asia–Mechanization Extension Activity (CSISA–MEA) as Abdur Rahman Foundry is part of CSISA–MEA’s agriculture-based light engineering activity. The training provided her with hands-on experience in grinding, drilling, sand molding, and painting. It not only imparted the technical skills she needed for her current job, but also the confidence to excel in a field where women are traditionally under-represented.
“The training was an eye-opener,” Anjuara said. “I was so happy to get a certificate–a first for me!” She shared how her confidence at work increased and about her promotion to the position of grinding machine operator–the first woman in the Jashore region to work in this role. There were other benefits to the new position–a more formal position than her former place of work where she was only a temporary employee; paid holiday and sick leave; and festival bonuses. Currently, she earns around US$ 80 a month–the same as the men in the foundry working at a similar skill level. Before the training, her salary was around US$ 55.
Anjuara tells us that the best part about the job is the respect she gets from family and the cooperation from her co-workers. As she continued to break barriers and excel in her profession, her success began to resonate within her community. Women in the neighborhood now view her as an inspiration. She is an example of how societal norms can be challenged when provided with equal opportunities and the right kind of support. Her success has ignited a spark of hope among women who had long been relegated to the sidelines.
CSISA–MEA’s light engineering training for the female workforce as part of its gender inclusive activities has not only transformed Anjuara’s life but has also catalyzed a shift in the perception of women’s capabilities within Bangladeshi society.
In the heart of Itumbula village in the Songwe district of Tanzania lives Venansia Swale, a farmer, mother, and community champion, who is turning the tide against food insecurity through the power of quality seeds. Swale has taken on the role of promoting improved seed in her community after experiencing firsthand the benefits of growing sorghum on her own farm with different seed.
“As a mother of five children, my biggest challenge is food shortage, and sorghum is our staple food,” said Swale. “Normally, I would harvest 450 kg from my three-acre farm, which isn’t enough for my family’s needs and leaves little surplus for selling. However, using quality seed this season, I harvested 990 kg. I’ve seen the benefits–not only can I feed my children for a year, but I can also earn income from the surplus.”
Swale positively impacts her village’s crop yields by championing delivery of quality seed. (Photo: CIMMYT)
Swale’s efforts began to extend beyond her own farm as she championed demand creation and consolidation in her village of Itumbula. She successfully created a demand of 574 kg, becoming her community’s sole distributor of quality sorghum seed. In the 2022-2023 season, she facilitated the supply of 134 kg of quality sorghum seed and 50 kg of quality maize seed.
So far, she has reached 300 farmers in partnership with CIMMYT and the Tanzania Agricultural Research Institute (TARI), sparking a transformative movement. One local farmer said, “As a community, we have come together to embrace quality seed, and Venansia has been at the forefront of this movement. Her dedication has significantly impacted food security.”
Despite being pregnant during the 2022 “Kizazi cha Mabadiliko” (the generation that will bring change) campaign, Swale remained unwavering in her determination and passion. She exemplifies the success of the Social and Behaviour Change interventions implemented by the Centre for Behaviour Change and Communication (CBCC).
The “Kizazi Cha Mabadiliko” campaign was developed and launched by CBCC in the Mbozi and Momba districts of Tanzania, aiming to increase awareness of the benefits of improved seeds. It was also designed to challenge negative perceptions and enhance motivation for participating in agricultural activities. The campaign underscores the importance of using improved seeds as a foundational element for a prosperous future in agriculture. The strategic design of the campaign ensures the efficient distribution of behavior change tools and materials, further demonstrating its impact through Swale’s inspiring example.
Sprouting new opportunities
Swale stands with some of her fellow choir members during the establishment of a demo plot at Itumbula. (Photo: CIMMYT)
Despite her impressive achievements, Swale remains forward-thinking. The village extension officer notes that while farmers have adopted improved seeds, poor farming practices persist, impacting yields. Inspired and invigorated, Swale plans to revolutionize her farming practices in the upcoming season, aiming for an even more significant impact.
Besides her role as a community champion, Swale is a member of the Sifa choir in her church. Leveraging her influence, she convinced nine fellow choir members to join the intervention, where they established and managed sorghum demonstration plots in their locality. The performance of quality seed inspired the choir to enlist as seed producers, and they secured two acres of land for seed production in the 2023- 2024 season.
Venansia’s vision goes beyond her own farm; she plans to produce seeds as part of the choir group and individually, allocating an acre for seed production and two acres for grain production. Hers is a story of personal triumph, showing the impact one person can have on an entire village, and a testament to the transformative power of community-led initiatives.
“The seeds we plant today will grow into a better tomorrow for all of us,” asserts Swale.
CIMMYT’s women in science are shaping the future of agriculture. (Photo: CIMMYT)
Much has changed since many CIMMYT scientists attended university. In the past decades, the STEM field was predominantly male, with far less representation from marginalized groups and communities. Challenged by societal prejudices, only a handful of young women pursued STEM subjects, which further influenced career choices made by them, reinforcing the gender gap.
The gender gap in STEM is still significant, but times are changing. “At CIMMYT, we are deeply committed to promoting the voice of youth, marginalized communities, and women to improve the rigor of science for sustainable development. This includes investment in mentorship, learning from champions and pioneers, and appropriate performance assessment guidelines,” said Program Director of CIMMYT’s Sustainable Agrifood Systems, Sieglinde Snapp. “It is a long journey with bumps along the way, but I am proud to be in solidarity with the Global South, where we champion gender and social inclusion every day.”
On International Day of Women and Girls in Science 2024, five CIMMYT scientists who inspire, support, and open doors for many young women and underrepresented groups with their scientific work and pay-it-forward commitment share their motivation behind charting a career in STEM and encourage more young women and make the field more inclusive.
Beyhan Akin, winter wheat breeding lead
Beyhan Akin stands with wheat plants. (Photo: Beyhan Akin)
Hailing from a farming family, Beyhan Akin was always surrounded by the beauty and potential of agriculture. She wished to contribute to her farming community, so 35 years ago, she joined CIMMYT’s wheat research program. Akin reminisced about her early days, how there were few women scientists, and the realization that if she succeeded, she could motivate more to follow in her footsteps.
“Agriculture science is expanding beyond core crop science with huge potential for interdisciplinary research and innovation. I hope young women students and scientists get the opportunity to pursue and excel in these fields. Increased advocacy and investment—grants, fellowships—at an institutional level is crucial to motivating and supporting the aspirations of women in science,” said Akin. “It might have taken a long time for women scientists like us to be in positions of influence, but I hope we can ensure the path is far less challenging today for these young women pursuing agriculture science/STEM.”
Alison Laing, agroecology specialist
Alison Laing stands with women farmers. (Photo: Alison Laing)
“Search out mentors. Don’t be afraid to either ask for help when you need it or to promote your achievements. And build networks,” advises Alison Laing to young women scientists starting in the field. Based in Bangladesh and working across South and Southeast Asia for over 15 years, Laing hopes that girls have opportunities to choose science education and become women with rewarding careers in fields that interest them, especially in non-traditional STEM disciplines.
Laing remembers how her mentor early in her career, the late John Schiller, a rice agronomist at the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI), encouraged her enthusiasm for learning and research. “He taught me so much about doing research in Southeast Asia, and I am indebted to him for his motivation and support in showing me how rewarding and interesting a scientific career can be.” She hopes other young students and scientists will have such mentors in their lives.
Sabina Tiwari, assistant research associate
Sabina Tiwari speaks at a NSAF planning meeting. (Photo: Sabina Tiwari)
Fascinated by nature, plants, and how they thrive in diverse environments, Sabina Tiwari’s journey in science led her to become a plant breeder. “The indefinite potential of agriculture to improve lives made me realize how powerful agricultural science can be. This led to the motivation that I could create a positive difference in the world by being part of crop science and technology while working alongside great scientific minds, both men and women. Today, to young girls aspiring to make a difference in the world, I recommend they empower their cause through science and innovations.”
According to Tiwari, mentorship programs, internships, and job-shadowing experiences that helped her career must be extended to young women to gain practical exposure and knowledge of the possibilities in agriculture science.
Mazvita Chiduwa, associate scientist
Mazvita Chiduwa speaks with a farmer. (Photo: Mazvita Chiduwa)
For Mazvita Chiduwa, a career in agriculture science has been rewarding. “I love the adventure involved in discovery in agriculture. I am inquisitive, and this career allows me to ask questions and seek answers,” said Mazvita.
Chiduwa believes society needs to embrace the participation of women and girls in STEM education and careers and that stereotypes about women not being cut out for STEM, prevalent even today, must be done away with.
To young girls and women aspiring for a career in STEM, Chiduwa says, “Go for it. There is a need for your uniqueness to contribute a wholesome solution to our world’s challenges.”
Luisa Cabrera Soto, research associate
Luisa Cabrera conducts an analysis at a CIMMYT laboratory. (Photo: CIMMYT)
“A feminine perspective and approach are needed to enrich research,” reminds Luisa Cabrera Soto. “In a society where almost half of the members are female, I hope equity and inclusion will help improve under-representation in STEM.”
According to Cabrera, it is essential that women in science continue to challenge the gender prejudices and stereotypes that still exist. “Don’t let the spark of your curiosity go out. As a food science professional, I can say that there are still discoveries to be made and, through it, the probability of finding innovative solutions to global challenges such as food security.”
Quality seed is a crucial agricultural input for enhancing crop production and productivity per unit of land. However, in many developing countries, including Bhutan, ensuring the availability, affordability, and accessibility of quality seed, especially of preferred varieties, remains a significant challenge for farmers. Maize is the second most important cereal in Bhutan after rice. However, the total area dedicated to cereal cultivation in Bhutan has been decreasing due to factors such as rural-urban migration, urban expansion, and the effects of climate change.
Between 2016 and 2021, the areas under rice and maize cultivation have contracted by 55% and 64%, respectively (FAOSTAT, 2022). This huge reduction in cereal cultivation, combined with relatively low productivity, has led Bhutan to rely on imports to bridge the gap and meet the demand for essential food crops, including maize. The Bhutanese government is committed to enhancing domestic capacity and fostering self-sufficiency in major food crops and discourages the import of seed, especially of hybrid maize.
AbduRahman Beshir, seed systems specialist at CIMMYT, displays incomplete fertilization of maize cobs. (Photo: Passang Wangmo/ARDC-Wengkhar)
Hybrid maize seed to offset deficit
Recognizing the significance of improving maize productivity, the Agriculture Research & Development Center (ARDC) in Bhutan is working on the development and deployment of hybrid maize that has the potential to double yields compared to non-hybrid varieties. In 2020, Bhutan officially released its first hybrid maize variety, Wengkhar Hybrid Maize-1 (WHM-1), which was sourced from CIMMYT. Furthermore, several other hybrid maize varieties from CIMMYT are currently in the pipeline for release and evaluation, including those tolerant to fall armyworm (Spodoptera frugiperda), the most important maize pest in Bhutan.
Despite the testing and release of hybrid maize varieties, the production of high-quality seed—vital for realizing the benefits of hybrid maize for Bhutanese farmers—has yet to take place. The seed industry in Bhutan is primarily informal, with the majority of farmers relying on farm-saved seed of often inferior quality. The absence of a formalized seed system, coupled with a lack of the necessary skills and technical expertise across the seed value chain, presents considerable challenges in building a competitive and vibrant seed sector in Bhutan.
Training workshop emphasizes the strengthening of seed systems
To ensure a consistent supply of high-quality maize seed to Bhutanese farmers, which is essential for seed and food security and improved productivity, ARDC in collaboration with CIMMYT, under the CGIAR Seed Equal Initiative, carried out an international training workshop on quality seed production and distribution, with the main focus on hybrid maize, from 13–15 November 2023 at ARDC-Wengkhar, Mongar.
The three-day workshop involved 30 participants from diverse organizations, including the National Seed Centre, the College of Natural Resources, extensions agents from the eastern region, the Bhutan Food and Drug Authority, and agriculture research and development centers. The workshop aimed to enhance participants’ technical skills in understanding and applying the principles and practices of quality hybrid maize seed production; to promote synergistic partnerships among various seed sector stakeholders for initiating and scaling up quality hybrid maize seed production in Bhutan; and to exchange experiences and lessons to be learned from South Asian countries that can be applied to strengthening Bhutan’s seed system.
Participants discuss during the workshop. (Photo: AbduRahman Beshir/CIMMYT)
“This is the first kind of training I have received on hybrid maize seed production, and it was very relevant, action-oriented and applicable to our condition in Bhutan,” says Kinley Sithup, a researcher at ARDC-Wengkhar, Mongar, and adds that the training workshop was a useful forum for identifying key challenges and the role of stakeholders across the seed value chain, which were discussed in detail during the group work in the training.
Recently, the Bhutanese government has restricted the import of hybrid maize seed in order to promote import substitution and enhance local seed production. “In light of the unavailability of imported hybrid seeds, it’s crucial for us to intensify our efforts in scaling up local seed production,” says Dorji Wangchuk, project director of the Commercial Agriculture and Resilient Livelihood Enhancement Program (CARLEP), while addressing the participants during the opening.
The training workshop covered courses on seed system components, maize breeding concepts, hybrid seed production principles, the development of a seed roadmap on production and marketing, hybrid seed pricing and marketing approaches, seed quality control and certification, among others. A field visit along with hands-on training at ARDSC Lingmethang enriched the learning experience. In addition, experiences from other South Asian countries on hybrid seed production and marketing were shared during the training.
A group photo with the participants of the seed systems training workshop in Bhutan. (Photo: ARDC)
Team up for seed production
A significant outcome is the planned initiation of the inaugural hybrid maize seed production group in Udzorong, Trashigang, scheduled for January 2024 in collaboration with extension, the National Seed Center, and the Bhutan Food and Drug Authority. This initiative, supported by CARLEP-IFAD and CIMMYT, reflects a dedicated effort to strengthen Bhutan’s seed sector and enhance maize production for the benefit of local farmers. Fast-track variety release and seed deployment are important to Bhutanese smallholder farmers to mitigate the challenges of lower productivity. “CIMMYT is ready to continue working with partners in Bhutan,” says Program Director of the Global Maize Program at CIMMYT and the One CGIAR Plant Health Initiative lead, BM Prasanna, while delivering his messages online. Prasanna added that CIMMYT has licensed three fall armyworm-tolerant hybrids for Bhutan, and partners need to team up for the release and seed-scaling of the hybrids.
The training workshop on hybrid maize seed was the first of its kind to be held in Bhutan and was conducted under the CGIAR Seed Equal Initiative in collaboration with ARDC and CARLEP. AbduRahman Beshir, seed systems specialist at CIMMYT, delivered the main courses, with additional virtual presentations from CIMMYT staff from India and Kenya.
After years of struggles, a group of women farmers in a remote rural area of Tanzania are finally profiting and forging an enterprise based on local farmers’ high demand for certified seed of sorghum, a dryland crop first domesticated in Africa and used in food and drink, livestock feed and even building materials.
Based in Usoche village, Momba District, Songwe Region, Tanzania, the Jitegemee womens group formed in 2018 to improve their livelihoods through sorghum production. In 2022 the group produced and marketed over 3 tons of certified seed, benefiting from access to foundation and certified seed with support from project partnerships and linkages to global and local initiatives.
“Through us, many women are now educated and motivated to engage in seed production,” said Rodha Daudi Tuja, a representative of the Jitegemee group. “I think in the next season we are going to have many women seed entrepreneurs.”
Based on seed companies’ inability to fully satisfy farmers’ high demand for quality seed of sorghum, the social and behavior change interventions component of the Dryland Crops program of CIMMYT, an international research organization with longstanding partnerships and impacts in eastern and southern Africa, worked with Tanzania’s Centre for Behaviour Change and Communication (CBCC) to encourage youth and women to engage in the seed business, including marketing. Banking on previous experience, the initiative helped the women raise awareness among farmers about the value of quality, improved seed, using fliers, posters, t-shirts and caps.
“The CIMMYT behavior change interventions and CBCC reached us through youth champions who trained us on the features and benefits of improved sorghum seed,” explained Tuja.
Jitegemee women’s group members proudly showcase the sorghum seeds they offer for sale. (Photo: CBCC)
Especially important was training the women received to grow “quality declared seed” (QDS) at an event for 18 women and youth in Mbozi district conducted by The Tanzania Official Seed Certification Institute (TOSCI). QDS offers reliable quality in seed at an affordable price to farmers but is not formally inspected by official seed certification systems.
Immediately after the training, the group purchased 12 kilograms of foundation seed—genetically uniform seed that, when grown under controlled results, produces seed of ensured genetic purity and varietal identity—of the popular Macia sorghum variety from the Tanzania Agricultural Research Institute (TARI) at Hombolo. They multiplied that seed following meticulous quality protocols on a leased, 1.6-hectare farm.
A previous arrangement to grow seed for a local company had fallen through after one cropping season, and the Jitegemee group ended up recycling the seed and growing it for grain for sale. Still, the group realized that selling seed could be a lucrative business, if they could only gain access to foundation seed or certified seed. As part of growing pains during that period, the group lost half its members.
“Before our contact with the CIMMYT project we had a lot of challenges,” Tuja said. “First, we did not know about improved seed, we couldn’t access information about new farming technologies, and we were doing subsistence agriculture. However, after the project we were able to access seed and information at the Youth Quality Centres and through radio programs.”
“I advise youth and my fellow women to join us because, before, we had no hope in sorghum production but now we are prospering. The demand for sorghum seed is very high, a lot of farmers are now demanding improved seeds, and our group alone cannot meet the growing demand for seed.”
We gratefully acknowledge Florian Ndyamukama, Centre for Behaviour Change and Communication (CBCC), Tanzania, for contributing this story.
India can applaud a hallmark in national food production: in 2023, the harvest of wheat—India’s second most important food crop—will surpass 110 million tons for the first time.
This maintains India as the world’s number-two wheat producer after China, as has been the case since the early 2000s. It also extends the wheat productivity jumpstart that begun in the Green Revolution—the modernization of India’s agriculture during the 1960s-70s that allowed the country to put behind it the recurrent grain shortages and extreme hunger of preceding decades.
“Newer and superior wheat varieties in India continually provide higher yields and genetic resistance to the rusts and other deadly diseases,” said Distinguished Scientist Emeritus at CIMMYT, Ravi Singh. “More than 90 percent of spring bread wheat varieties released in South Asia in the last three decades carry CIMMYT breeding contributions for those or other valued traits, selected directly from the Center’s international yield trials and nurseries or developed locally using CIMMYT parents.”
Wheat grain yield in Indian farmers’ fields rose yearly by more than 1.8 percent—some 54 kilograms per hectare—in the last decade, a remarkable achievement and significantly above the global average of 1.3 percent. New and better wheat varieties also reach farmers much sooner, due to better policies and strategies that speed seed multiplication, along with greater involvement of private seed producers.
“The emergence of Ug99 stem rust disease from eastern Africa in the early 2000s and its ability to overcome the genetic resistance of older varieties drove major global and national initiatives to quickly spread the seed of newer, resistant wheat and to encourage farmers to grow it,” Singh explained. “This both protected their crops and delivered breeding gains for yield and climate resilience.”
CIMMYT has recently adopted an accelerated breeding approach that has reduced the breeding cycle to three years and is expected to fast-track genetic gains in breeding populations and hasten delivery of improvements to farmers. The scheme builds on strong field selection and testing in Mexico, integrates genomic selection, and features expanded yield assays with partner institutions. To stimulate adoption of newer varieties, the Indian Institute of Wheat and Barley Research (IIWBR, of the Indian Council of Agricultural Research, ICAR) operates a seed portal that offers farmers advanced booking for seed of recently released and other wheat varieties.
Private providers constitute another key seed source. In particular, small-scale seed producers linked to the IIWBR/ICAR network have found a profitable business in multiplying and marketing new wheat seed, thus supporting the replacement of older, less productive or disease susceptible varieties.
Farm innovations for changing climates and resource scarcities
Following findings from longstanding CIMMYT and national studies, more Indian wheat farmers are sowing their crops weeks earlier so that the plants mature before the extreme high temperatures that precede the monsoon season, thus ensuring better yields.
New varieties DBW187, DBW303, DBW327, DBW332 and WH1270 can be planted as early as the last half of October, in the northwestern plain zone. Recent research by Indian and CIMMYT scientists has identified well-adapted wheat lines for use in breeding additional varieties for early sowing.
Resource-conserving practices promoted by CIMMYT and partners, such as planting wheat seed directly into the unplowed fields and residues from a preceding rice crop, shave off as much as two weeks of laborious plowing and planking.
Weeds in zero-tillage wheat in India. (Photo: Petr Kosina/CIMMYT)
“This ‘zero tillage’ and other forms of reduced tillage, as well as straw management systems, save the time, labor, irrigation water and fuel needed to plant wheat, which in traditional plowing and sowing requires many tractor passes,” said Arun Joshi, CIMMYT wheat breeder and regional representative for Asia and managing director of the Borlaug Institute for South Asia (BISA). “Also, letting rice residues decompose on the surface, rather than burning them, enriches the soil and reduces seasonal air pollution that harms human health in farm communities and cities such as New Delhi.”
Sustainable practices include precision levelling of farmland for more efficient irrigation and the precise use of nitrogen fertilizer to save money and the environment.
Science and policies ensure future wheat harvests and better nutrition
Joshi mentioned that increased use of combines has sped up wheat harvesting and cut post-harvest grain losses from untimely rains caused by climate change. “Added to this, policies such as guaranteed purchase prices for grain and subsidies for fertilizers have boosted productivity, and recent high market prices for wheat are convincing farmers to invest in their operations and adopt improved practices.”
To safeguard India’s wheat crops from the fearsome disease wheat blast, native to the Americas but which struck Bangladesh’s wheat fields in 2016, CIMMYT and partners from Bangladesh and Bolivia have quickly identified and cross-bred resistance genes into wheat and launched wheat disease monitoring and early warning systems in South Asia.
“More than a dozen wheat blast resistant varieties have been deployed in eastern India to block the disease’s entry and farmers in areas adjoining Bangladesh have temporarily stopped growing wheat,” said Pawan Singh, head of wheat pathology at CIMMYT.
Building on wheat’s use in many Indian foods, under the HarvestPlus program CIMMYT and Indian researchers applied cross-breeding and specialized selection to develop improved wheats featuring grain with enhanced levels of zinc, a micronutrient whose lack in Indian diets can stunt the growth of young children and make them more vulnerable to diarrhea and pneumonia.
“At least 10 such ‘biofortified’ wheat varieties have been released and are grown on over 2 million hectares in India,” said Velu Govindan, CIMMYT breeder who leads the Center’s wheat biofortification research. “It is now standard practice to label all new varieties for biofortified traits to raise awareness and adoption, and CIMMYT has included high grain zinc content among its primary breeding objectives, so we expect that nearly all wheat lines distributed by CIMMYT in the next 5-8 years will have this trait.”
A rigorous study published in 2018 showed that, when vulnerable young children in India ate foods prepared with such zinc-biofortified wheat, they experienced significantly fewer days of pneumonia and vomiting than would normally be the case.
Celebrating joint achievements and committing for continued success
The April-June 2018 edition of the “ICAR Reporter” newsletter called the five-decade ICAR-CIMMYT partnership in agricultural research “…one of the longest and most productive in the world…” and mentioned mutually beneficial research in the development and delivery of stress resilient and nutritionally enriched wheat, impact-oriented sustainable and climate-smart farming practices, socioeconomic analyses, and policy recommendations.
Speaking during an August 2022 visit to India by CIMMYT Director General Bram Govaerts, Himanshu Pathak, secretary of the Department of Agricultural Research and Education (DARE) of India’s Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare and Director General of ICAR, “reaffirmed the commitment to closely work with CIMMYT and BISA to address the current challenges in the field of agricultural research, education and extension in the country.”
“The ICAR-CIMMYT collaboration is revolutionizing wheat research and technology deployment for global food security,” said Gyanendra Singh, director, ICAR-IIWBR. “This in turn advances global peace and prosperity.”
India and CIMMYT wheat transformers meet in India in February, 2023. From left to right: Two students from the Indian Agricultural Research Institute (IARI); Arun Joshi, CIMMYT regional representative for Asia; Rajbir Yadav, former Head of Genetics, IARI; Gyanendra Singh, Director General, Indian Institute of Wheat and Barley Research (IIWBR); Bram Govaerts, CIMMYT director general; Harikrishna, Senior Scientist, IARI. (Photo: CIMMYT)
According to Govaerts, CIMMYT has concentrated on strategies that foster collaboration to deliver greater value for the communities both ICAR and the Center serve. “The way forward to the next milestone — say, harvesting 125 million tons of wheat from the same or less land area — is through our jointly developing and making available new, cost effective, sustainable technologies for smallholder farmers,” he said.
Wheat research and development results to date, challenges, and future initiatives occupied the table at the 28th All India Wheat & Barley Research Workers’ Meeting, which took place in Udaipur, state of Rajasthan, August 28-30, 2023, and which ICAR and CIMMYT wheat scientists attended.
Generous funding from various agencies, including the following, have supported the work described: The Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research (ACIAR), the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development of Germany (BMZ), the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office of UK’s Government (FCDO), the Foundation for Food & Agricultural Research (FFAR), HarvestPlus, ICAR, the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), funders of the One CGIAR Accelerated Breeding Initiative (ABI), and the Plant Health Initiative (PHI).
Bhumi Shara Khadka is a 35-year-old community business facilitator who has made significant strides in agriculture and community development. Her journey began after completing training in sales skill development and technical capacity building for community business facilitators (CBF) organized by the Cereal Systems Initiative for South Asia (CSISA) in June 2022 and April 2023, respectively. This training opened up new opportunities, and she soon secured a job as a CBF. However, her ambitions didn’t stop there.
In February 2022, the Cereal Systems Initiative for South Asia (CSISA) recognized her potential and recommended her for a role as a community business facilitator with Laxmi Agrovet, a local agribusiness. To prepare for her new position, Ms. Khadka underwent additional training in various areas, including running sales meetings, farm mechanization, post-harvest handling and the fundamentals of sales and marketing. With these tools in hand, she set out to make a difference in the lives of farmers and the broader community.
To date, Khadka has conducted 97 sales meetings with farmer groups where she explains improved production methods, plant protection, post-harvest handling and how to market agriculture products effectively. She also demonstrates and sells Laxmi Agrovet agri-inputs such as seeds, fertilizer and tools. She gets a 20% commission on sales, bringing her an average net monthly income of NPR3,375 (US$26). Her role as community business facilitator also involves linking farmers with the local government agriculture program. As a result of her efforts, three farmers have each acquired a mini power tiller at a 50% subsidy.
Bhumi Shara Khadka at her vegetable farm in Surkhet district, Nepal. (Photo: Nabin Maharjan/CIMMYT)
Inspired by Khadka’s example, Chitra Bahadur Rokaya, acting director of the Agricultural Regional Directorate in Surkhet, Nepal, has expressed his desire to visit farmers and learn more about the activities of community business facilitators like Khadka during the technical capacity-building training to CBF in April 2023. Rokaya has expressed gratitude to trainees who attended the IPM training organized by CSISA and would visit the field sites of the trainees, if possible.
Khadka has also used her knowledge as a business facilitator and IPM trainee to establish her commercial vegetable farm, which, with her investment and CSISA’s technical support, now occupies five ropani (0.01 hectares). Her husband helps out and Bhumi sells the produce at local markets in Melkuna and Badichour, Surkhet, with traders often coming to the farm to buy from her directly. Last year, she earned NPR227,000 (US$1,733) of which her net income was NPR63,500 (US$485). Since starting the farm, the family’s food habits and those of her neighbors have changed for the better. Last year, the family kept a quarter of the vegetables she produced for their consumption, and she gave about 10% to neighbors.
Last year, under Khadka’s facilitation, 48 farmers cultivated vegetables on an average of 0.02 hectares each, each achieving an average net profit of NPR63,500 (US$485). Khadka also owns a power tiller, which she rents out for others to use, earning NPR35,000 (US$267) last year from this service provision activity.
In addition to her business and professional success, Khadka completed high school in 2014, underlining the significance of her accomplishments. Khadka’s remarkable journey is an inspiring agriculture success story, showcasing the transformative power of women empowerment in rural communities. Her dedication, knowledge and entrepreneurial spirit have improved farmers’ lives and elevated the entire community’s access to nutritious food. Her unwavering commitment to her work has brought her well-deserved recognition, and she is a beacon of hope for others in similar fields of endeavor.
Millions of rural Indians, mostly farmers, are at the mercy of changing weather and climate change. Rising temperature and heat stress, unpredictable rainfall patterns, increasing drought-like situations, soil erosion and depleting water tables are leading to poorer yields and reduced income for farmers. While the agricultural sector and farmers are most affected by the adverse impacts of climate change, it is also one of the sectors significantly responsible for greenhouse gas emissions, contributing about 14% of the total greenhouse gas emissions in the country.
Farmer Rahul Rai prepares his field for wheat plantation with zero tillage – Buxar, Bihar (photo: Deepak K. Singh/CIMMYT)
Good agronomy and soil management through conservation agriculture practices such as no-till farming, crop rotation, and in-situ crop harvest residue management are resource efficient and help reduce greenhouse gas emissions significantly. The intensification of these conservation agriculture practices by the Cereal Systems Initiative for South Asia (CSISA)—a regional project led by CIMMYT to sustainably enhance cereal crop productivity and improve smallholder farmers’ livelihoods in Bangladesh, India, and Nepal—and partners is helping smallholder farmers to improve their yield and income with less input costs.
Climate smart agriculture
Over 70% of Bihar’s population is engaged in agriculture production, with wheat and rice as the two major crops grown in the state. Bordering Uttar Pradesh, Buxar, is one of the many rural districts in Bihar, with over 108,000 hectares of land used for agriculture. The area is plain, fertile and has good irrigation facilities. The rice-wheat cropping system forms the dominant practice here, and pulses and other non-cereal crops are grown additionally during winters.
CSISA began promoting zero tillage in wheat cultivation in the area in 2010. Along with Krishi Vigyan Kendras (KVKs), and local agriculture departments, awareness and frontline demonstrations on different best management practices were conducted to inform farmers of alternative approaches to cultivating wheat and rice sustainably. Farmers were used to conventional farming methods, with more input costs and labor-intensive practices. In addition, as farmers were growing long-duration rice varieties, they typically sowed wheat in late November to early December, which meant harvesting in late April/May. Harvesting wheat this late caused yield losses due to terminal heat stress at the grain filling stage. With increasingly hot temperatures in recent years due to climate change, yield loss in wheat is imminent.
To help curb these yield losses, researchers and officials began promoting early sowing of wheat through a technology called zero tillage in the region, with sowing recommended before mid-November. As expected, this helped farmers to escape high temperature stress at the time of the dough stage, thus, saving grain shrinkage and yield loss at harvest. Zero tillage technology is a tested method with the potential to increase crop productivity through better time management and reduced input cost.
Deepak Kumar Singh, scientist at CSISA who has been supporting agri-extension efforts in the region for nearly a decade recalled how CSISA and partners were able to get more farmers on board with zero tillage and early wheat sowing:
“The best practices of zero till technology and early wheat sowing were encouraged widely through exposure visits, demonstration trials on progressive farmers’ fields, and providing support from local KVKs for machines and quality seeds, including the promotion of private service providers,” he said.
As more farmers were reached through field events, with visible on-field results during public harvest activities held at demonstration fields by CSISA and KVKs, the region gradually adopted early wheat sowing, zero tillage and direct seeded rice technologies. Currently, in the district, it is estimated that over 40% of wheat cultivation under the rice-wheat system is through zero till, helping farmers obtain better yield and profits.
Rice-wheat cropping systems, resilient and sustainable in increasingly changing climate
Rajapur, a small village in Buxar district, boasts 100% adoption of zero tillage in wheat cropping. We met farmer Rahul Rai whose family has been involved in farming for generations. The family owns over thirty acres of land with agriculture as the primary source of income. His father and his siblings were used to conventional farming methods. The produce from their farm was sufficient for household consumption and with the little extra left, they sold and made some income. On the significance of agriculture and farming for his family, Rahul Rai says, “this farmland has been feeding and supporting 17 members in our joint household.”
When young Rahul Rai got down to work in the family fields in the early 2000s, he was keen to explore possibilities to improve the income generated from the farm. Initially, like many others, he was engaged in intensive farming. According to Rai, “with the input costs rising daily, including scarce labor and soil health deterioration, bringing in some extra income seemed unsustainable”.
He first met researchers from the CSISA project and local KVK scientists in early 2011 in the neighboring village. The team was there to inform farmers about conservation agriculture practices and how to better manage yield and maintain soil health. Rai soon became more curious about the benefits of adopting these new methods over conventional practices. He started with a few acres with zero tillage and began sowing wheat by early November, as recommended by the scientists. In Rabi 2022-23, his wheat fields were sown by November 11, compared to the early years when the sowing date was around December.
Wheat yield data gathered meticulously over a decade from Rahul Rai’s fields (Data: CSISA MEL team)
With more participation and engagement with CSISA, in 2017, he joined other farmers from the region on an exposure visit to Patna organized by the CSISA-KVK network. In Patna, at the Indian Council of Agri Research – Research Complex for Eastern Region (ICAR-RCER), Rai and the visiting farmers were introduced to conservation agri-technologies for rice-wheat and other cropping systems. During the visit, they were informed about crop rotation and diversification, new seed varieties that are resilient and adaptable to changing climates, efficient use of plant protection chemicals and fertilizer and various subsidies from the center/state government to farmers. He later accompanied other progressive farmers on a CSISA-led travel seminar to Gorakhpur in 2017, where he observed acres and acres of wheat fields cultivated through zero tillage and early sowing that had yielded 6-7 tons per hectare (t/ha) on average.
At present, Rai’s family cultivates only zero till wheat in their fields and direct seeded rice on a few acres where irrigation facilities are well established. Rai asserts that until 2014, the wheat yield was about 10-15 quintals per acre (3.5-4 t/ha), rising to around 20-25 quintals per acre on average (5.5 t/ha in 2023) in recent years, thanks to conservation agriculture practices.
Today, the CSISA team has system optimization and demonstration trials on fields owned by Rai’s family where they conduct trials to demonstrate the importance and feasibility of different agri-practices and compare yields at harvest. Rai, a champion farmer who has been involved with CSISA for nearly a decade, said, “I am a collaborator with CSISA now. The data gathered from my fields on the compounding benefits of conservation agriculture technologies is used to promote the best practices and technology adoption across our district and state.”
One village at a time
Presently, Rajapur village has 100% zero tillage adoption. Despite most farmers being smallholders, this level of zero tillage adoption in wheat is impressive. Zero-till-based crop establishment, with appropriate diversification in crops grown, is economically beneficial and improves soil health. All these practices and technologies ensure lower greenhouse emissions and support climate change mitigation efforts. Above all, smallholder farmers are food secure and contributing in their small way to national and global food security.
To scale the adoption of conservation agriculture practices, CSISA and partners are collaborating with farmers in the district/state – many of whom are already 50-80% in zero tillage adoption. The team on the ground are conducting system optimization trials on farmers’ fields to generate data and evidence to support and strengthen policies and assist in integrating market intelligence to support access and availability of technology to all smallholders. Every year steadily, through a smallholder farmer, a village, a district, the effort is to slowly expand the area under conservation agriculture across the state and region and ensure increased system productivity and sustainability of agriculture.
Nepal is an agricultural country, where the sector provides the major source of income for half the population. Despite this, the sad reality is that the country is not able to produce enough crops to meet its needs, and major grains like rice, maize, and cereals are mostly imported.
One factor influencing this is an aging population of farmers, alongside decreasing interest in agriculture among the country’s youth. Many young people do not see agriculture as a viable option for employment, opting instead for work opportunities outside the country. However, there are still some youth who see agriculture as a profitable business, like Pradeep Morya.
“It is better to work hard in your home country rather than going abroad and working tirelessly every minute and hour,” says Morya, a 24-year-old farmer from Banke, Nepal, who finds happiness in living close to his family and helping to support national food security. “I love being in the field,” he explains. “I have cultivated spring maize on one hectare. My day-to-day business is to provide care to the spring maize along with pumpkins and beans that I have added for additional income on a small plot of land.”
Morya grows spring maize, pumpkin, and beans (Photo: CIMMYT)
Working alongside his eldest brother, Morya has cultivated 30 kattha of land (equivalent to 0.36 hectares) using the spring maize varieties Pioneer 1899 and DK 9108. His brother, a member of Mahatarkari cooperative in Duduwa, western Nepal, has been providing him with the knowledge and expertise needed for maize cultivation.
Mahatarkari is one among 50 cooperatives working in partnership with the Nepal Seed and Fertilizer project (NSAF), which is implemented by CIMMYT. NSAF works with the cooperatives to provide technical knowledge and training to farmers, to hone their potential and support them in the adoption of modern technologies which can improve their livelihoods. After participating in programs organized by NSAF, Morya makes sure that the suggestions he receives — on soil preparation, weed management, harvesting, and more — are implemented in his field.
Returning to the family farm
A few years back, the situation was different. Like many youths in the country, Morya also went abroad to try his luck on the international job market. He worked hard for two years in Malaysia but was forced to return to Nepal during the COVID-19 pandemic.
“I had imagined my shining future abroad. However, when I reached there, the reality was different,” recalls Morya. “I returned to my own country just before the lockdown in April 2021 with some small savings. Upon my arrival in Nepal, I was clueless about my future. I dropped my education after grade five. With no educational qualifications and skills in hand, it was difficult to get a decent job.”
Agriculture has provided Morya with a sustainable source of income in his home country. (Photo: CIMMYT)
Since the country was in lockdown, Morya chose to stay at home and support his family on the farm. It was here that his eldest brother guided him into farming, and Morya soon learned the knowledge needed to run the farm and began earning money from it. This attracted him towards farming as a longer-term career option, and he has now discovered a prosperous future in agriculture.
“Agriculture needs continuous effort,” he says. “With the support of technology, it is easy and efficient to work. I work every day so that I can reap crops on a large scale to make a profit. I manage weeds, irrigation, and control pests.”
“I also have livestock. I get adequate fodder for my cows and buffalo from weeds and from the spring maize. I sell milk in the market. In addition to this, I also make sure to produce off-season vegetables so that I receive a decent price for additional income.” With the support of his family, Morya has recently purchased an e-rickshaw, which he uses to transport and sell his produce.
To further support his endeavors, Morya has also been participating in Nepal’s Maize Commercialization Network and using the Geo Krishi mobile app to learn about current market prices. “Before knowing about the commercialization of crops, it was hard to receive good amounts from buyers,” he explains. “Now, I make a call to the local retailers and buyers to learn the best value of my grain. Sometimes I also explore the market. Then, I analyze the rate and sell my maize.” He uses a similar system for his off-season vegetables, selling either in the local market or directly to consumers for a premium price. “I make a saving of around 1500 Nepalese rupees (approximately US$ 11) per day,” he says.
A prosperous life
With the profits from his agricultural business, Morya has been able to fulfill his dream of purchasing a bike, as well as contributing to the construction of a new eight-room house, where his family is now living comfortably. “I love to roam on my bike with my friends in the evening. I also take my mother for a ride,” says Morya with a bright smile. “Now, I have a dream to live a prosperous life with my family.”
Morya fulfilled his dream of buying a bike. (Photo: CIMMYT)
Thanks to the support provided by the NSAF project with generous funding from USAID, young people like Morya can pursue a better life for themselves and their families. Agricultural training programs have not only helped young people fulfill their basic needs, but also to achieve their dreams. It is hoped that ongoing efforts to empower farmers through science and innovation will continue helping young farmers like Morya break the chain of unemployment, for both their own benefit and that of Nepal.
The world’s food systems are under threat by escalating armed conflicts, economic stagnation, the effects of the climate crisis and natural resource degradation. Against this backdrop, the next seven years are crucial in meeting the challenges of keeping the world’s growing population fed and secure.
Recognizing that business as usual will not be sufficient, CIMMYT has embarked on a journey to proactively face the new challenges of the 21st century. This novel approach to agrifood systems is the core of CIMMYT’s 2030 Strategy, which has the potential to shape the future of agriculture.
Ethiopian Seed Enterprise maize crop for multiplying seedlings of DT maize. (Photo: Peter Lowe/CIMMYT)
“We understand that the challenges facing food security are complex, varied and rapidly changing. For instance, the effects of COVID-19 and Ukraine-Russia conflict on food systems are still being felt today. With that in mind, we set out to develop a strategy that is both robust and nimble. The best way to create a sustainable and inclusive strategy was to engage directly with CIMMYT scientists and staff, the people on the front lines of this effort to deliver food and nutrition security to the world,” said CIMMYT Director General Bram Govaerts.
Looking back to move forward
The first step in crafting the 2030 Strategy was looking at where does CIMMYT want the world to be in 2100. In answering this question, CIMMYT crafted a long-term vision of how it wants to engage in a changing world and achieve the transformation to a food and nutrition secure world within planetary boundaries. CIMMYT has integrated the use of foresight and specifically a set of 2030 Food and Agriculture scenarios to explore potential changes in intervention areas over the strategic period and help prepare engagements in different contexts across the globe. These scenarios are a decision-making tool that has underpinned the development of the strategy to ensure that it is context-driven and focused on the most pressing challenges facing the agrifood systems in which CIMMYT operates.
From the future CIMMYT looks back at its history and examines how its core business has evolved over the years to proactively meet ever-changing needs across the world.
At each stage of CIMMYT’s evolution, it has taken its strengths and the skills it has built and added to its experience, and expanded on what it delivers while maintaining the core strengths.
Norman Borlaug teaching trainees. (Photo: CIMMYT)
In CIMMYT’s earliest days, the mission was developing and improving germplasm and agronomic practices, then CIMMYT began working more closely with farmers (1980s), broadened emphasis in genetic improvements (2000), embarked on sustainable multidisciplinary projects (2010s), and most recently, advancing technologies in participatory innovation systems (2015-2022). All leading to the mission codified in the 2030 Strategy: accelerating food systems transformation by using the power of collective action.
Now, in 2023, CIMMYT’s progress is being shaped by the CGIAR mission statement: “To deliver science and innovation that advance the transformation of food, land, and water systems in a climate crisis.”
Building the Strategy
To define the 2030 Strategy, CIMMYT responded to the following core questions:
What does success look like?
Where can CIMMYT deliver the most value?
How can CIMMYT deliver value for communities?
“As an organization, we have concentrated on strategies that foster collaboration and adapt them for a non-profit international organization whose vision is not to grow as an institution but to deliver greater value for the communities they serve, to innovate for the end users of their products and to ensure a better future for our global community,” said Govaerts.
The tools used to develop the elements of this strategic plan leveraged the framework provided in the CGIAR Research and Innovation Strategy to guide the process. Staff from across the Center engaged in a consultative process to develop the objectives for following strategic components: Excellence in Science and Innovation, Excellence in Operations, Talent Management, Resource Mobilization, Partnership, and Influence.
Developing the Excellence in Science and Innovation component serves as an example of this collaborative, bottom-up approach. Planning was led by the Emerging Thought Leaders Group, made up of 24 early and mid-career scientists across the breadth of CIMMYT’s global and program portfolio. The group worked collaboratively with CIMMYT researchers and staff to first delineate the challenges facing agri-food systems and then workshopped solutions which now serve as the foundation of the 2030 Strategy.
Workshop participants study seed samples in CIMMYT’s Seed Health Laboratory. (Photo: Xochiquetzal Fonseca/CIMMYT)
“Each component complements the others,” said Govaerts. “This is our answer to the core questions. Only by working collectively can we initiate sustainable solutions that reach everyone.”
Together, the components create a network to support CIMMYT’s three pillars: Discovery (research and innovation), SystemDev (working collaboratively to innovate foundational systems), and Inc. (incubating startups and new ways of doing business in the agri-food system space).
CIMMYT is leading the way in shaping a sustainable and prosperous agricultural landscape
The goal to facilitate food security where sustainable agriculture is part of the solution to the climate crisis and agriculture provides an avenue to build household resilience and enables communities to pull themselves out of poverty requires the strategic use of resources. CIMMYT’s 2030 Strategy, built from the bottom up on a foundation over 50 years’ experience and the expertise of scientists, staff, and farmers maximizes resources, enhances dynamic partnerships, and both retains and recruits a world-class staff in a world of growing challenges to food security.
Wheat is critical to millions of households in Pakistan as it serves a dual role as a foundational part of nutritional security and as an important part of the country’s economy. Pakistan’s goal to achieve self-sufficiency in wheat production is more attainable with the release of 31 wheat varieties since 2021.
These new seeds will help the country’s 9 million hectares of cultivated wheat fields become more productive, climate resilient, and disease resistant—a welcome development in a region where climate change scenarios threaten sustained wheat production.
The varieties, a selection of 30 bread wheat and 1 durum wheat, 26 of which developed from wheat germplasm provided by the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT) were selected after rigorous testing of international nurseries and field trials by partners across Pakistan. During this period, three bread wheat varieties were also developed from local breeding programs and two varieties (one each of durum and bread wheat) were also developed from the germplasm provided by the ICARDA. These efforts are moving Pakistan closer to its goal of improving food and nutrition security through wheat production, as outlined in the Pakistan Vision 2025 and Vision for Agriculture 2030.
Harvesting wheat in Tandojam, Pakistan (Photo: CIMMYT)
Over multiple years and locations, the new varieties have exhibited a yield potential of 5-20% higher than current popular varieties for their respective regions and also feature excellent grain quality and attainable yields of over seven tons per hectare.
The new crop of varieties exhibit impressive resistance to leaf and yellow rusts, compatibility with wheat-rice and wheat-cotton farming systems, and resilience to stressors such as drought and heat.
Battling malnutrition
Malnutrition is rampant in Pakistan and the release of biofortified wheat varieties with higher zinc content will help mitigate its deleterious effects, especially among children and women. Akbar-2019, a biofortified variety released in 2019, is now cultivated on nearly 3.25 million hectares. Farmers like Akbar-2019 because of its 8-10% higher yields, rust resistance, and consumers report its good chapati (an unleavened flatbread) quality.
“It is gratifying seeing these new varieties resulting from collaborative projects between Pakistani wheat breeding programs and CIMMYT along with funding support from various donors (USAID, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, HarvestPlus, and FCDO) and the government of Pakistan,” said Ravi Singh, wheat expert and senior advisor.
Closing the yield gap between research fields and smallholder fields
Releasing a new variety is only the first step in changing the course of Pakistan’s wheat crop. The next step is delivering these new, quality seeds to markets quickly so farmers can realize the benefits as soon as possible.
Increasing evidence suggests the public sector cannot disseminate enough seeds alone; new policies must create an attractive environment for private sector partners and entrepreneurs.
Field monitoring wheat fields (Photo: CIMMYT)
“Pakistan has developed a fast-track seed multiplication program which engages both public and private sectors so the new varieties can be provided to seed companies for multiplication and provided to farmers in the shortest time,” said Javed Ahmad, Wheat Research Institute chief scientist.
Strengthening and diversifying seed production of newly released varieties can be done by decentralizing seed marketing and distribution systems and engaging both public and private sector actors. Marketing and training efforts need to be improved for women, who are mostly responsible for household level seed production and seed care.
A concerted effort to disseminate the improved seed is required, along with implementing conservation agriculture based sustainable intensification, to help Pakistan’s journey to self-sufficiency in wheat production.
In the Indo-Gangetic Plains of northern India, nearly 70% of the population is involved in agriculture and extension services. Despite the abundantly fertile soil and farmers’ resilience, the adoption of agricultural innovations and productivity in the region has been slow.
This slow progress is often attributed to comparatively low levels of agricultural mechanization in the region and small land holdings of individual farmers, which often makes them risk averse to new technologies. However, times are changing.
Farmer Gangesh Pathak, in his recently harvested field using combine harvester machine, discuss Kharif – summer crops – schedule with CIMMYT Agronomist Ajay K Pundir. (Photo: Vijay K. Srivastava/CIMMYT)
Through the Cereal Systems Initiative for South Asia (CSISA) project, researchers from the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT), working closely with the local Krishi Vigyan Kendra (KVK) and partners, have led the transition from traditional farming to sustainable intensification agricultural practices in the region, helping the region slowly but steadily realize its full potential. Over the years, working extensively with progressive farmers, CSISA scientists have helped optimize the cost of inputs and increase productivity through new technology adoption and capacity building for these farmers.
Krishnamohan Pathak, a farmer in his early sixties from the village of Patkhaoli, first learned about conservation agriculture practices when he attended a field event in Nonkhar village in Deoria district, Uttar Pradesh. CSISA researchers invited farmers from Nonkhar and neighbouring villages to attend a field day event, an exposure activity, on zero tillage wheat and direct seeded rice (DSR) technologies. Zero tillage allows farmers to plant directly without plowing or preparing the soil, minimizing soil movement. Pathak was one of the farmers who got to see first-hand the advantages of these sustainable agricultural practices.
Seeing merit in these practices, Pathak continued to engage with CSISA scientists and in 2013-2014, adopted zero tillage, and directly seeded rice in his family-owned fields.
“The CSISA field team encouraged me to buy a rice planter which has helped manage paddy transplantation on time, and wheat after that through zero till,” Pathak said.
Pathak later participated in other agri-technology events and CSISA field trial activities. In 2018, he joined other progressive farmers from the region who attended a training at ISARC (IRRI South Asia Regional Centre) in Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh on direct seeded rice, organized by CSISA researchers to build capacity and raise awareness of the conservation agriculture method.
The next generation leads the way
Today, Pathak is one of the key influential farming members in the region. He has now, however, passed the baton to his 37-year-old son Gangesh Pathak. “I have occupied myself with other local leadership activities after my son has been active in the fields. I am not so skilled at using these machines, their maintenance and their services. The younger generation seems much better at adapting,” he said.
Gangesh has been involved actively in farming ever since he finished his graduation, trying to make it lucrative. He has enjoyed recent success growing wheat and rice through new technology and practices. Standing in the fields recently harvested with the new improved wheat variety DBW 187, grown through early sowing – a method which goes against the traditional practice of planting after November – and zero tillage, he is happy with his 5.5 ton per hectare yield.
He spoke enthusiastically about the farming machinery he has procured to reduce drudgery in his farms and the hiring services provided to smallholder farmers in the region. After his father bought the transplanter in 2014, the family added larger machines such as the Happy Seeder, Super Seeder, Laser Land Leveller, Straw Reaper, and Direct Seeded Rice machine.
Farmer Gangesh Pathak explains the use of machinery that has enabled conservation agriculture practices in his fields and helped improve yields and income. (Photo: Nima Chodon/CIMMYT)
According to Gangesh, this has been possible thanks to the support from the local agriculture authorities and guidance from the CSISA team, who told his father about the various schemes offered by the central and state government to support farmers to adopt more productive and sustainable agricultural technologies.
Ajay Kumar Pundir, CIMMYT agronomist, based in Uttar Pradesh and leading CSISA’s efforts, stressed the importance of access to agricultural mechanization and support.
“Our job just does not end at informing and training farmers about better-bet agricultural practices. Along with other public and private stakeholders, we must support and ensure their availability and access – machines, quality seeds, timely information – for farmers to adopt it,” he said.
Custom hiring center help scale mechanization
With so much farm machinery, the Pathaks soon began extending hiring services. Custom hiring is a promising enterprise opportunity for farmers as they can use the machinery on their farms and earn extra income by extending services to other farmers at a reasonable cost, which helps cover diesel and maintenance costs. Gangesh made about 2.5 lakhs (USD $3,033.76) in profit during the 2022-2023 Rabi (winter crops) through hay machine hiring services, where around 250 farmers used these services.
Once the word spread, demand for hiring services by smallholder farmers, challenged by scarce labor for sowing and harvesting, started growing. Gangesh was encouraged by the good profits and was keen to share the benefits of such hiring services to as many farmers as possible, and he helped establish a Farmer Producer Organization (FPO) with his father, Krishnamohan. FPO is a group made up of farmer-producers who are entitled to a host of benefits, including quality seeds, technical support, market access, under the Department of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare (DA&FW).
The FPO, started by the Pathaks in 2020, with 75 members (farmers) initially, currently boasts of around 300 farmers. Almost all FPO members have availed the custom hiring services for all farming purposes and various crops. Farmers, “particularly smallholders who cannot afford to purchase these machines for less than a few acres of land, are happy with the custom hiring services. It helps reduce their input cost by almost 50% along with other FPO member benefits,” Gangesh said.
Community-based technology demonstrations by CSISA and KVK and partners are ongoing to scale-out proven technologies and practices like early wheat sowing, zero tillage, and direct seeded rice. Gangesh is hopeful that farmers in the region, despite the emerging climate crisis concerns – already being felt in the region – can produce more and improve their income. He reckons that diversifying between rice-wheat cropping systems, mechanizing and system optimization through better advisories, and improved access to technologies as recommended by agronomists, will help farmers stay ahead of the curve.
About CSISA
Established in 2009, the Cereal Systems Initiative for South Asia (CSISA) is a science-driven and impacts-oriented regional initiative for increasing the productivity of cereal-based cropping systems. CSISA works in Bangladesh, India, and Nepal. CSISA activities in India focus on the eastern Indo-Gangetic Plains, dominated by small farm sizes, low incomes, and comparatively low agricultural mechanization, irrigation, and productivity levels. Learn about CSISA (India) Phase 4.0
In August 2022, the arrival of a container ship at the port in Cotonou, Benin signaled a major milestone in a developing South-South business relationship that holds the potential to produce a massive change in agricultural practices and output in Benin and across West Africa.
The delivery of six-row seeder planters from India marks the initial fruit of a collaboration between Indian manufacturer Rohitkrishi Industries and Beninese machinery fabricator and distributor Techno Agro Industrie (TAI) that has been two years in the making.
Connecting partners in the Global South
A major area of focus for the Green Innovation Centers for the Agriculture and Food Sector (GIC) projects launched in 15 countries by Germany’s Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development’s special initiative One World No Hunger is fostering cooperation between nations in the Global South.
Krishna Chandra Yadav laser levels land for rice planting in Sirkohiya, Bardiya, Nepal (Photo: Peter Lowe/CIMMYT)
This story began through the partnership between the Green Innovation Centers for the Agriculture and Food Sector and The International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT) to increase agricultural mechanization in 14 countries in Africa and 2 in Asia.
GIC in India has been working with Rohitkrishi to develop appropriate mechanization solutions for smallholding farmers in India since 2017.
Under this new cross-border goal, GIC India discussed with Rohitkrishi the opportunity to adapt machines to the agroecological and socio-economic systems of African countries where continued use of traditional farming methods was drastically limiting efficiency, productivity, and yield. Rohitkrishi assessed the need and pursued this opportunity for long-term business expansion.
Small machines for smallholders
Before connecting with farmers and manufacturers in Benin, Rohitkrishi was busy solving problems for smallholding farmers in India, where large manufacturers focus on agricultural machinery designed and produced to meet the needs of the bigger, commercial farms. Sameer Valdiya of GIC India and Sachin Kawade of Rohitkrishi put their heads together to develop a plan for producing machines that could make a difference—and then convince smallholding farmers to try them.
A farmer pulls a row seeder, Maharashtra, India. (Photo: Green Innovation Center-India)
By adapting an existing machine and incorporating continuous feedback from farmers, they created a semi-automatic planter. This unique, co-creative process was accompanied by an equally important change in farmer mindset and behavior—from skepticism to the demonstrated impact and cost-benefit of the planter that was clear to each farmer.
These farmers were the first to adopt the technology and promoted it to their peers. Their feedback also drove continued improvements—a fertilizer applicator, new shaft and drive, safety features, night-lights and (perhaps most importantly) a multi-crop feature to make it useful for planting potatoes, ginger, and turmeric.
Today, Rohitkrishi has distributed 52 semi-automatic planters across India, and these machines are being used by up to 100 farmers each. Users are seeing a 17-20 percent increase in productivity, with an accompanying increase in income, and 30 percent of users are women.
The seeders are a roaring success, but Rohitkrishi is focused on continued improvement and expansion. As they continue to respond to adjustments needed by farmers, the company plans to sell 1000 semi-automatic planters per year by 2025. Reaching that goal will require both domestic and foreign sales.
Market opportunity meets technological need
Thanks to the active partnership of CIMMYT and Programme Centres d’Innovations Vertes pour le secteur agro-alimentaire (ProCIVA), TAI in Benin emerged as a promising early adopter of Rohitkrishi’s planters outside India. Seeing a remarkable opportunity to establish a foothold that could open the entire West African market to their products, Rohitkrishi began the painstaking process of redesigning their machine for a new context.
This ambitious project faced numerous challenges–from language barriers, to the definition of roles amongst major players, to major COVID-19 and supply chain delays. The arrival of the seeders, however, is a major accomplishment. Now Rohitkrishi and TAI will begin working with government representatives and farmer-based organizations to ensure the equipment performs well on the ground and meets Benin’s agroecological requirements.
Once final testing is completed in the coming months, Rohitkrishi’s seeders will have the chance to demonstrate what a difference they can make for soy and rice production in Benin.
“When developing countries with similar contexts and challenges forge alliances and business connections to share their knowledge, expertise, and problem-solving skills with each other, this kind of direct South-South collaboration produces the most sustainable advances in agricultural production, food security, and job creation,” said Rabe Yahaya, agricultural mechanization specialist at CIMMYT.
Scale mechanization through a starter pack that comprises a two-wheel tractor – a double row planter as well as a trailer and sheller (Photo: CIMMYT)
Meanwhile, CIMMYT is studying this pilot project to identify opportunities for reproducing and expanding its success. Through the Scaling Scan–a web-based, user-friendly tool to assess ten core ingredients necessary to scale-up any innovation–CIMMYT is helping Rohitkrishi and TAI set ambitious and reachable goals for scalability.
Most importantly, the Scaling Scan results will identify areas for course correction and help Rohitkrishi and its partners continue to be sensitive to farmer feedback and produce equipment better suited to needs on the ground.
Public and private crop research organizations worldwide have worked behind the scenes for decades, bolstering the resilience of staple crops like maize and wheat to fight what is shaping up to be the battle of our time: feeding humanity in a biosphere increasingly hostile to crop farming.
In the case of wheat — which provides some 20% of carbohydrates and 20% of protein in human diets, not to mention 40% of total cereal exports — harvests spoiled by heat waves, droughts, and crop disease outbreaks can send food prices skyrocketing, driving world hunger, poverty, instability, human migration, political instability, and conflict.
Century-high temperature extremes and the early onset of summer in South Asia in 2022, for example, reduced wheat yields as much as 15% in parts of the Indo-Gangetic Plains, a breadbasket that yearly produces over 100 million tons of wheat from 30 million hectares of crop land.
Around half the world’s wheat crop suffers from heat stress, and each 1 °C increase in temperature reduces wheat yields by an average 6%, according to a 2021 review paper “Harnessing translational research in wheat for climate resilience,” published in the Journal of Experimental Botany, which also outlines nine goals to improve the climate resilience of wheat.
Simulating heat shocks in the field using portable plot-sized ‘heating tents’ (Photo: G Molero/CIMMYT)
Droughts and shrinking aquifers pose equally worrying threats for wheat, said Matthew Reynolds, a wheat physiologist at the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT) and lead author of the study. “Water availability is the biggest factor influencing potential yield in a majority of wheat environments globally,” Reynolds explained. “Studies predict severe water scarcity events for up to 60% of the world’s wheat-growing areas by the end of this century.”
Science and sources to toughen wheat
Along with modernized, more diverse cropping systems and better farm policies, more resilient varieties are crucial for sustainable wheat production, according to Reynolds and a wheat breeder colleague at CIMMYT, Leo Crespo, who added that breeders have been working for decades to stiffen wheat’s heat and drought tolerance, long before climate change became a buzzword.
“Breeding and selection in diverse environments and at targeted test sites characterized by heat and natural or simulated drought has brought farmers wheat varieties that perform well under both optimal and stressed conditions and we’re implementing new technologies to speed progress and lower costs,” said Crespo, mentioning that the Center’s wheat nurseries SAWYT and HTWYT target semi-arid and heat-stressed environments respectively and are sent yearly to hundreds of public and private breeders worldwide through the International Wheat Improvement Network (IWIN). “Retrospective analysis of IWIN data has shown that heat tolerance has been increasing in recent years, according to a 2021 CIMMYT study.”
“Climate change is a serious driver of potential disease epidemics, since changeable weather can increase selection pressure for new virulent pathotypes to evolve,” said Pawan Singh, a CIMMYT wheat pathologist. “We must be ever vigilant, and the IWIN is an invaluable source of feedback on potential new disease threats and changes in the virulence patterns of wheat pathogens.”
In the quest to improve climate resilience in wheat, CIMMYT “pre-breeding” — accessing desired genetic traits from sources like wheat’s grassy relatives and introducing them into breeding lines that can be crossed with elite varieties — focuses on specific traits. These include strong and healthy roots, early vigor, a cool canopy under stress, and storage of water-soluble carbohydrates in stems that can be used as stress intensifies to complement supplies from photosynthesis, as well as an array of traits that protect photosynthesis including ‘stay-green’ leaves and spikes and pigments that protect the delicate photosynthetic machinery from oxidative damage caused by excess light.
Screening highly diverse lines – identified by DNA fingerprinting – from the World Wheat Collection under heat stress. (Photo: Matthew Reynolds/CIMMYT)
Though elite breeding lines may contain genetic variation for such traits, in pre-breeding researchers look further afield for new and better sources of resilience. The vast wheat seed collections of CIMMYT and other organizations, particularly seed samples of farmer-bred heirloom varieties known as “landraces,” are one potential source of useful diversity that cutting-edge genetic analyses promise to help unlock.
Rich diversity for wheat is still found in farmers’ fields in India, in the northern states of the Himalayan region, the hill regions, and the semi-arid region of Rajasthan, Gujarat, Karnataka. The landraces there show tolerance to drought, heat, and saline soils.
The so-called “synthetic wheats” represent another plentiful source of resilience genes. Synthetics are the progeny of crosses of tetraploid wheat (having four chromosomes, like the durum wheat used for pasta) with wild grass species. CIMMYT and other organizations have been creating these since the 1980s and using them as bridges to transfer wild genes to bread wheat, often for traits such as disease resistance and heat and drought tolerance.
Lines with new sources of heat- and drought-tolerance from CIMMYT’s pre-breeding are also distributed to public and private breeders worldwide via the IWIN for testing as the Stress Adapted Trait Yield Nurseries (SATYNs), according to the paper. These special nurseries are grown by national and private breeders throughout South Asia, for example in Afghanistan, Bangladesh, India, Iran, Nepal, and Pakistan. Lines from the nursery have on occasion been released directly as varieties for use by farmers in Afghanistan, Egypt, and Pakistan.
A critical challenge in pre-breeding is to identify and keep desirable wild genes while culling the undesirable ones that are also transferred in crosses of elite breeding lines with landraces and synthetics. One approach is through physiological pre-breeding, where complementary crosses are made to improve the crop performance under drought and heat stress. The second approach is using genomic prediction, on the basis of seeds, or accessions, in the gene bank collection that have gone through genomic and phenotyping analysis for target traits such as heat and drought tolerance. These approaches can also be combined to boost the speed and effectiveness of selecting strong varieties.
Breeding revolutions
Wheat breeding is being revolutionized by advances in “high-throughput phenotyping.” This refers to rapid and cost-effective ways to measure wheat performance and specific traits in the field, particularly remote sensing — that is, crop images taken from vehicles, drones, or even satellites. Depending on the wavelength of light used, such images can show plant physiochemical and structural properties, such as pigment content, hydration status, photosynthetic area, and vegetative biomass. Similarly, canopy temperature images from infrared photography allow detection for crop water status and plant stomatal conductance. “Such traits tend to show better association with yield under stress than under favorable conditions”, said Francisco Pinto, a CIMMYT wheat physiologist who is developing methods to measure roots using remote sensing. “A remotely sensed ‘root index’ could potentially revolutionize our ability to breed for root traits, which are critical under heat and drought stress but have not been directly accessible in breeding.”
Innovative statistical analysis has greatly increased the value of field trials and emphasized the power of direct selection for yield and yield stability under diverse environments.
Initial results from genomic selection programs, particularly where combined with improved phenotyping techniques, also show great promise. The potential benefits of combining a range of new technologies constitute a valuable international public good.
New initiatives
Launched in 2012, the Heat and Drought Wheat Improvement Consortium (HeDWIC) facilitates global coordination of wheat research to adapt to a future with more severe weather extremes, specifically heat and drought. It delivers new technologies — especially novel wheat lines to wheat breeders worldwide via the International Wheat Improvement Network (IWIN), coordinated for more than half a century by CIMMYT.
HeDWIC is supported by the Foundation for Food and Agriculture Research (FFAR) and is part of the Alliance for Wheat Adaption to Heat and Drought (AHEAD), an international umbrella organization set up by the Wheat Initiative to bring the wheat research community together and to exchange new germplasm, technologies and ideas for enhancing tolerance to heat and drought.
Cover photo: Night heaters to increase night temperature in the field, as increasingly warmer nights are diminishing yield in many cropping systems. (Photo: Enrico Yepez/CIMMYT)
Through decades-long Asian and global partnerships, the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT) is refining and spreading a suite of resource-conserving, climate-smart innovations for highly diverse maize- and wheat-based cropping systems, including more precise and efficient use of water and fertilizer, as well as conservation agriculture, which blends reduced or zero-tillage, use of crop residues or mulches as soil covers, and more diverse intercrops and rotations.
“Zero-tillage and residue management for cereals — that is, sowing the seed directly into unplowed soils and residues from the preceding rice crop — has been adopted on a significant area in the transact of Indo-Gangetic Plain, with positive impacts on crop yields, profitability, and resource-use efficiencies,” said Tek Sapkota, senior scientist in agricultural systems/climate change, CIMMYT.
Continuous maize plot in El Batán, Mexico (Photo: CIMMYT)
The paper “Conservation agriculture for sustainable intensification in South Asia,” published in the science journal Nature Sustainability reported that, compared to the conventional practice, conservation agriculture resulted overall in a 4.6% higher grain yield, a 14.6% improvement in water use efficiency, and a 25.6% greater net economic return. The net economic return was 40.5% higher for full conservation agriculture but, given the benefits of partial adoption of the practices, rigid adherence to an “all or nothing” approach to spread conservation agriculture in South Asia does not seem warranted.
Conservation agriculture also offers several ecosystem services. In the study data, global warming potential was reduced by as much as 33.5% in rice-wheat systems, values that are consistent with other research. Moreover, conservation agriculture-based practices provide an economically feasible alternative to burning rice residues, a serious public health threat in northwestern India given the roughly 23 million tons of residues that are burned each year in the region.
“More widespread adoption of zero-tillage in India has been made possible with the development of next-generation tractor-drawn implements that allow direct seeding into heavy residues, as well as business models whereby implement owners contract out with neighboring farmers to sow their crops and provide other services,” said Sapkota. “National governments in South Asia are actively promoting conservation agriculture to address residue burning and other farming sustainability problems.”
Aerial view of maize and wheat breeding plots (Photo: CIMMYT)
Fitting conservation agriculture to maize farming in Mexico
Efforts to adapt conservation agriculture and promote its adoption by farmers operating highly-diverse, mostly rainfed maize-based cropping systems in Mexico have had mixed results. A recent study assessed soil health in 20 trials in starting between 1991 and 2016 in agro-ecologies ranging from handplanted traditional systems to intensive irrigated systems, contrasting conservation agriculture effects with those of local conventional practices, which commonly involve tillage, residue removal, and continuous maize production.
As reported in the 2021 paper “Effects of conservation agriculture on physicochemical soil health in 20 maize-based trials in different agro-ecological regions across Mexico,” published in the science journal Land Degradation and Development, conservation agriculture increased maize yields at most sites by 0.85 tons per hectare, on average. Organic matter and nitrates were higher in topsoils under conservation agriculture and soil aggregate stability was greater, meaning the soil more effectively moved air and water to plant roots. For other soil health parameters, such as nutrient content, pH, or compaction, most values were determined more by local soil type than by crop management.
Maize plot in El Batán, Mexico (Photo: CIMMYT)
“Given the significant variation across agro-ecologies, local adaptive trials are important to assess the effects of conservation agriculture on soil health and fit it to local conditions,” said Simon Fonteyne, a CIMMYT cropping systems agronomist and first author of the paper.
Emissions control
Several recent studies have assessed the costs and potential of various sustainable intensification technologies for reducing greenhouse gas emissions in India, Bangladesh and Mexico. Their findings can help inform national policies on food security, economic development and environment, including those relating to the Paris Agreement.
In the 2019 study “Cost-effective opportunities for climate change mitigation in Indian agriculture,” published in the journal Science of the Total Environment, CIMMYT and partners found that estimated total emissions from Indian agriculture were 481 tons of CO2 equivalent (MtCO2e) in 2012, with crops contributing over 40% and livestock nearly 60%. Under a business-as-usual scenario, agricultural greenhouse gas emissions in India would be 515 MtCO2e by 2030. This annual emissions could be reduced by 85.5 MtCO2e through adoption of mitigation practices and about 80% of that reduction could be achieved through measures that would actually save money and, in many cases, could be implemented with current technology. The efficient use of fertilizer, zero-tillage, and rice-water management could deliver more than 50% of the technical abatement potential.
“Realization of this mitigation potential will depend largely on the extent adoption by farmers,” said Sapkota, who was lead author of the study. “Large-scale adoption of apparently win-win options is not happening, so the government of India will need to apply appropriate policy measures and incentives, consistent with its food security and emission reduction goals.
A similar study in Bangladesh, reported in the 2021 paper “Quantifying opportunities for greenhouse gas emissions mitigation using big data from smallholder crop and livestock farmers across Bangladesh,” published in the journal Science of the Total Environment, found greenhouse gas emissions from agriculture in Bangladesh of 76.8 MtCO2e for 2014–15. Yearly emissions by 2030 under a business-as-usual approach would approximate 86.9 MtCO2e and, by 2050, about 100 MtCO2e. Adoption of realistic, climate-smart crop and livestock management options to reduce emissions offer mitigation opportunities of 9.51 MtCO2e per year by 2030 and 14.21 MtCO2e by 2050. As much as 75% of this potential can be achieved through cost-saving options that benefit smallholder farmers. As is the case for India, realization of this potential largely depends on the degree to which supportive policies and measures can encourage farmer adoption.
The Walmart Foundation and CIMMYT promote crop diversification in Oaxaca, Chiapas, and Campeche, Mexico. (Photo: CIMMYT)
A similar rapid assessment of costs for to mitigate greenhouse gas emissions from crops, livestock, and forestry in Mexico found a national mitigation potential of 87.9 MtCO2eq per year, fully 72.3 MtCO2eq from livestock. As reported in the 2022 paper, “Quantification of economically feasible mitigation potential from agriculture, forestry and other land uses in Mexico,” published in the science journal Carbon Management, implementing mitigation potential on Mexican cropland could bring net benefits, compared to livestock and forestry options, which involve net costs. In the 2021 paper “Reduced Water Use in Barley and Maize Production Through Conservation Agriculture and Drip Irrigation” a reduction of emissions caused by lower fuel use in conservation agriculture of 192 kg CO2 ha−1 was measured in farmers fields, as well as an increase in soil carbon and a reduction in water use.
