It looks and tastes like any other maize, but hidden inside each bite of quality protein maize (QPM) are specialized natural molecules waiting to give the diner an extra boost. A new study evaluates the nutritional impact of QPM on target populations.

Eating quality protein maize (QPM) increases the growth rate of moderately malnourished children who survive on a maize-dominated diet, according to a new study co-authored by five scientists, including two CIMMYT maize experts.

QPM grain is a biofortified, non-transgenic food that provides improved protein quality to consumers. It looks and tastes like normal maize, but QPM contains a naturally-occurring mutant maize gene that increases the amount of two amino acids—lysine and tryptophan—necessary for protein synthesis in humans. The total amount of protein in QPM is not actually increased, but rather the protein is enhanced so that it delivers a higher benefit when consumed by monogastric beings, like humans and pigs. Drawing on three decades of previous studies on QPM and using sophisticated statistical analysis, the paper “A meta-analysis of community-based studies on quality protein maize,” published in Food Policy, shows that when children suffering from malnutrition in maize-dependent areas consume QPM instead of conventional maize, they benefit from a 12% increased growth rate for weight and a 9% increased growth rate for height.

“We tried to bring together all the relevant work we could find on QPM and analyze and discuss it as transparently as possible,” said Nilupa Gunaratna, statistician at the International Nutrition Foundation and the paper’s lead author. “We discussed all the strengths and weaknesses of past studies, and took these into account in our evaluation. We also proceeded very conservatively, trying different methods, studying the effects of individual studies and outliers. In every approach, we came to the same conclusion: QPM has a positive effect on the growth of undernourished infants and young children for whom maize is a staple food.”

Give the people what they eat
Maize is the third-most important cereal crop for direct consumption (after rice and wheat), and is particularly significant in developing areas, such as Africa, where it is the main food source for more than 300 million people. In 12 developing countries, it accounts for more than 30% of total dietary protein. And though maize alone cannot provide all the nutrients needed for a healthy diet, maize with extra essential nutrients can go a long way toward helping the nearly 200 million children in poor nations who suffer stunted growth from malnutrition and for whom a diversified diet is currently unattainable.

“Staple foods are the cheapest foods, and the poorer you are, the more you depend on them, which often does not provide a balanced diet,” said co-author Kevin Pixley, who divides his time between CIMMYT and HarvestPlus. “We would all prefer to see each and every person eating a healthy and balanced diet, but that isn’t always possible. Biofortification is one part of the strategy to help combat malnutrition.”

QPM complexities
Though QPM is more nutritious than conventional maize and many of its varieties yield as well as or better than popular conventional maize varieties, widespread acceptance of QPM remains elusive. Of the 90 million hectares of maize grown in Mexico, Central America, sub-Saharan Africa, and Asia, only an estimated 1% or less is QPM.

Many seed companies lack interest in QPM because of the research costs and challenges of assuring its superior nutritional quality. If QPM is grown next to fields of conventional maize, cross-pollination will dilute the QPM trait, and QPM also requires separate storage and quality testing/monitoring. This and the fact that the enhanced maize brings no market premium—largely because its quality trait is not visibly distinguishable—have often deterred seed companies from marketing QPM altogether.

Yet in areas where there has been a substantial effort to promote it and make quality seed available, QPM has gained ground. For example, in 1992 Ghana released its first QPM variety, Obatanpa. Obatanpa is an open-pollinated variety, meaning its grain can be saved by farmers and re-sown as seed without any major decline in yield. In 2005, it was calculated that Obatanpa accounted for over 90% of improved seed sales in Ghana. In 2008, Wayne Haag of the Sasakawa Africa Association estimated that 350,000 hectares of QPM were grown in Ghana, making it the world’s largest QPM grower. Strong support and effort by multidisciplinary institutions, including the Ghanaian government, made this possible. Four of the QPM studies used in the meta-analysis were based in Ghana. Obatanpa’s high and stable yields and end-use quality have made it popular not only in Ghana but in several other sub-Saharan African countries, where it has been released under other names.

Fortifying future research

The authors of the QPM meta-analysis—two statisticians, an economist, a nutritionist, and a plant breeder—hope its clear results will finally dissuade QPM critics, many of whom have questioned whether QPM offers nutritional benefits for humans, and that the paper will lead to renewed efforts to explore improved nutrition through biofortified crops. “While there is still interesting and important nutritional research to be done on QPM, I hope the focus will start to shift from whether QPM has a benefit to how QPM can be promoted, disseminated, and used by farmers and consumers to have the most impact,” said Gunaratna. CIMMYT is currently involved in several QPM projects, including the QPM Development (QPMD) project in Africa, which is funded by the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA). Launched in 2003, the project uses QPM as a key tool for improving food security, nutrition, and the incomes of resource-poor farming families in four countries (Ethiopia, Kenya, Tanzania, and Uganda). In the project’s first five years, seven new QPM varieties were released (bringing the total in the region to 12) and education efforts resulted in 270 field days attended by over 37,000 farmers, roughly 40% of whom were women. CIDA also funds AgroSalud, a five-year project that started in 2005 to extend the benefits of nutritionally improved staple crops to Latin America and the Caribbean. In 2002, two CIMMYT scientists received the World Food Prize for their work to develop QPM.

Farmers in Yunnan Province are increasingly reacting to climate change by using maize seed for drought conditions developed by CIMMYT in collaboration with the Yunnan Academy of Agricultural Sciences.

Forming part of southwest China’s rugged terrain, the Yunnan Province mountain chains create spectacular vistas in every direction. Unfortunately, the scenic landscapes also make life tough for farmers. Only 5% of the province is cultivated land. Still, agriculture is a pillar of the provincial economy, and maize is the most commonly grown crop.

Faced with a mean elevation of over 2,000 meters and average slopes as steep as 19 degrees, Yunnan farmers have adapted by growing maize on the hills and mountains. This so-called “down-slope cultivation” has fed Yunnan for generations, but it has drawbacks, like increased erosion. Yunnan is one of the areas in China most seriously affected by erosion.

Missing the monsoon?
Besides their tremendous ability to adapt, farmers have one other ally in the continual struggle to grow maize in this unlikely environment: the monsoon. Yunnan Province has a subtropical climate and an average annual rainfall of more than a meter—very generous for maize—and most of which normally falls during the growing season, May to October.

But today’s farmers in Yunnan have a new concern: what happens when the monsoon fails to appear? It’s not a hypothetical question. In 2010, severe weather in southwest China resulted in the region’s worst drought in a century. In the months prior, large swaths of Yunnan hadn’t received adequate rainfall. Then the rainy season ended early, temperatures rose, and drought set in, ultimately affecting more than 60 million people and destroying billions of dollars worth of crops. In 2011, drought re-occurred in eastern Yunnan, affecting a large area of maize.

Now farmers are left wondering if these phenomena are flukes or part of a larger trend. In fact, climate change models suggest the fluctuations in rainfall will continue and increase in intensity. Yunnan’s maize farmers may no longer be able to count on the monsoon.

Better maize: Part of the answer
The solution, put simply, is to change. And helping farmers to change from the only thing they’ve ever known takes patient expertise. Some of that has come from a team led by Dr. Fan Xingming, Director General, Institute of Food Crops, Yunnan Academy of Agricultural Sciences (YAAS), in partnership with CIMMYT.

Drawing on sources from CIMMYT’s maize and wheat seed bank—which conserves 27,000 unique collections of maize seed—Fan and his group have developed 22 hybrids, several of which possess improved performance under drought and multiple disease resistance. Because they produce consistently higher yields and better incomes for Yunnan farmers, the hybrids have been a hit. Today they cover approximately 200,000 hectares—15% of Yunnan’s annual maize area—and have increased farmers’ incomes by approximately USD 200 million between 2000 to 2010. One of those developed, Yunrui 47, is drought tolerant and performed well in 2011 in severely droughted areas in Yunnan, including Zhaotong, Wenshan, Xuanwei, and Huize.

Some are more resistant to insect infestation and rot than older maize varieties. Because of this, their grain can be stored longer. Instead of selling their harvest in January when prices are low, farmers can keep it until June, when prices are better. The hybrid Yunrui 88 is high-yielding and resistant to several of the region’s most damaging maize diseases, according to Dan Jeffers, a CIMMYT maize breeder based in Kunming. “Yunrui 88 has been highly resistant to maize dwarf mosaic, resistant to leaf blights, and shows intermediate resistance to ear rot,” he says. “In addition, it yields an average of around 9 tons per hectare of grain.”

Another of the hybrids, Yunrui 8, is an example of quality protein maize, a high-lysine and high-oil hybrid that is more nutritious for humans and farm animals, as well as being highly resistant to ear rots. Yunrui 8 has been recommended by the Ministry of Agriculture of China as the leading national variety in 2010. It is the most popular hybrid in Yunnan, with a cumulative coverage of 0.5 million hectares in the province.

Farmers have testified to the nutritional quality of the hybrid grain. Huan Yuanmin and her husband grew Yunrui 8 on 4.6 hectares for 3 years. Utilizing the profits from their surplus harvests, they bought 200 pigs and fed them hybrid maize grain. “We noticed that with the hybrid maize, our animals grew faster and were more robust,” says Huan. “The sows gave more milk, so suckling pigs could be weaned three-to-five days ahead of the normal of 28 days.” This in turn raised the family’s profits. “Even the skin and hair of the pigs became shinier,” she added.

International partnerships bring benefits for farmers
Staff of YAAS began collaborating with CIMMYT in 1976. Over the decades, that relationship was strengthened by the personal visits of CIMMYT regional maize staff and the late Nobel Peace Prize Laureate and wheat breeder, Dr. Norman Borlaug. According to Fan, CIMMYT germplasm was the basis for Yunnan’s strong maize production and breeding program. “CIMMYT experts have helped Yunnan in many ways, including training and sharing expertise,” he said. “I really appreciate this and sincerely hope we can continue cooperating, progressing in maize breeding, and developing more hybrids that will allow farmers to contribute to the food security of people in less developed areas.”

For more information: Dan Jeffers, maize breeder (d.jeffers@cgiar.org)

Related story:

• HarvestPlus-China field day exhibits maize hybrids in southwestern China

CIMMYT E-News, vol 5 no. 10, October 2008

Senior policy makers from sub-Saharan Africa have recently made recommendations for policy actions to reform operations in the maize seed sector. At stake is better access for millions of small-scale farmers to affordable, quality seed of maize, the region’s food staple. CIMMYT is closely involved.

In the 2006-07 cropping season, 82 registered maize seed companies produced the bulk of just over 100,000 tons of improved maize seed that were marketed in the major maize producing countries of eastern and southern Africa (excluding South Africa) — enough to sow 35% of the maize land in those countries.

A recent CIMMYT study found that restrictive national policies, lack of credit opportunities, inadequate seed production capacities, insufficient numbers of recently released public sector varieties, and challenging marketing situations were the main reasons why maize seed sector growth is slow in many African countries. Worse, this situation contributes significantly to Africa’s poor food security and farm incomes.

“The good news is that we have today four times more seed companies than ten years ago and they have increased seed provision from 26% to 35% of the total planted maize area,” says CIMMYT socioeconomist Augustine Langyintuo. “Yet there is still a significant, unmet demand for seed, and this underscores the need for new policies that support efficient seed production, processing, and marketing.”

In 2007 Langyintuo led the above-mentioned study to characterize seed providers and bottlenecks to seed supplies in eastern and southern Africa. A total of 117 representatives from seed companies, national research programs, and CBOs/NGOs participated, and information was gathered on the seed sectors in Angola, Ethiopia, Kenya, Malawi, Mozambique, South Africa, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia, and Zimbabwe.

In July 2008, more than 60 senior policy makers from agriculture ministries, private seed companies, seed trade associations, and regional trade blocs from 13 sub-Saharan African countries met in Nairobi, Kenya and recommended ways to improve farmers’ access to seed of improved drought tolerant maize varieties through specific policy actions to enhance the production, release, and marketing of these varieties. They agreed with the findings of the 2007 seed sector study.

Understanding the hurdles

The main findings were that investment capital requirements and a shortage of qualified staff hinder the growth of small, local seed companies that have emerged over the past decade, according to Langyintuo. “The costs of setting up and running an office, recruiting and retaining qualified personnel, and procuring and operating production, processing, and storage facilities are beyond what many local businesses can afford, and access to operational credit is limited or nil,” he says.

Up to 60% of a seed company’s operational budget goes into seed production. Seed companies, therefore, need affordable credit over the mid-to-long term to produce enough seed to meet farmers’ needs. Marketing seed is also costly. “Most companies rely on third-party agents such as agro-dealers, large retail stores, NGOs, or the government to retail most of their seed,” says Langyintuo. “The majority of the agro-dealers lack funds to purchase seed, and so must take it on consignment, forcing companies to retrieve unsold seed at cost. The dealers are normally not knowledgeable enough about the seed they sell to promote it effectively, and some of them have also been known to adulterate seed with mere grain.”

Other hurdles identified include cumbersome varietal release, registration, and seed certification regulations, as well as a weak producer base, slow access to the best germplasm, uncompetitive prices in local grain markets, low adoption rates of improved varieties, restrictions on cross-border trade in seed, and poor infrastructure (such as bad roads and inadequate storage facilities).

Policy actions needed

To get farmers the seed they want will involve a range of players in the maize seed sector and calls for specific policy actions. Participants in the July 2008 meeting identified ways in which governments and international centers like CIMMYT and the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA) can assist and support current seed companies to improve their seed outputs and profits.

“The government is supporting the maize seed sector through initiatives such as increasing investments in agricultural research and extension, training of agro-dealers, and developing the National Seed Industry Policy,” confirms Kenya’s Assistant Minister of Agriculture, Japheth Mbiuki.

“Seed companies would benefit from access to a wider range of improved maize varieties, good seed production sites, affordable inputs, and training in effective business practices,” adds Langyintuo. CIMMYT normally distributes its experimental varieties freely to everyone, but granting companies some degree of exclusivity in their use would facilitate branding and promote sales. This would have to be tailored to specific country and company contexts, according to Langyintuo.

Maize seed without borders

No country is an island, and with increasing regional integration of economies around the world, it makes sense that the region should move as one in developing its maize seed sector. Regional trade blocs such as the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA) are key. “Specific actions and commitments by national governments include dedicating increased funds (at least 10% of their national budgets) for agricultural development and harmonization of regional seed regulations,” says Ambassador Nagla El-Hussainy, COMESA Assistant Secretary General. “This will improve rates of variety release, lower costs in dealing with regulatory authorities, increase trade in seed of improved varieties and, ultimately, adoption by farmers.” In East Africa, for instance, the national seed policies of Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania are at various stages of development and are set to be harmonized soon.

“Effective trade and risk management strategies that buffer seed supply within countries are needed to stabilize and increase maize production in the region,” says Marianne Bänziger, CIMMYT Global Maize Program Director. “These will mitigate the impact of drought and national production fluctuations, which are some of the harsh realities that farmers and consumers face.”

“Where applicable, carrying out the distinctness, uniformity and stability (DUS) tests alongside national performance trials (NPT) could speed up varietal releases,” adds Langyintuo. “Farmers’ awareness of the usefulness and availability of new varieties can be raised through improved extension message delivery, widespread demonstrations, and better retail networks.”

According to Richard Amoussou, an Assistant Secretary in the Ministry of Agriculture in Benin: “The links between (community-based) seed producers and seed companies should be strengthened through contracts. This will ensure that quality seed is produced and sold to seed companies, who must finally distribute the seed to the farmers, thus improving their access.”

“Streamlining the seed sector will directly benefit the productivity and incomes of small-scale farmers and result in more and more affordable food for consumers – significant in the current global food crisis,” concludes Bänziger. She says this is crucial, given the twin challenges of the global food price crisis and more frequent droughts due to climate change.

For more information: Augustine Langyintuo, socioeconomist (a.langyintuo@cgiar.org)

CIMMYT E-News, vol 4 no. 2, February 2007

Breeding knowledge combined with cutting-edge laboratory analysis will produce maize rich in vital nutrients.

“The link between agriculture and nutrition is surprisingly under-explored,” says Kevin Pixley, who manages the Biofortified Maize for Improved Human Nutrition project at CIMMYT. “Agricultural approaches can contribute to alleviate micronutrient deficiencies, more cheaply and sustainably than food supplements.” The effect is potentially far-reaching: maize is the preferred staple food of more than 1.2 billion people in Sub-Saharan Africa and Latin America. However, maize-based diets, particularly those of the very poor, often lack essential vitamins and minerals. Over 50 million people in these regions are vitamin A deficient, which can lead to visual impairments, blindness and increased child mortality.

Pixley’s project aims to develop varieties of maize that combine high provitamins A, iron and zinc contents with superior agronomic qualities, and disseminate them in partner countries in Africa and Latin America. It is part of HarvestPlus, an international, interdisciplinary program to alleviate nutritional deficiency through breeding micronutrient-enriched staple foods.

The white maize eaten in much of sub-Saharan Africa contains no provitamins A, while standard yellow maize varieties contain about 2 micrograms per gram (µg/g)—still insufficient in a diet dominated by maize. The good news is that there is substantial genetic variation in maize for concentrations of provitamins A. The project has been screening hundreds of maize samples, looking for and then using those with the best provitamins A content. The team has now reached the HarvestPlus program’s intermediate target for maize of 8 µg/g with its current best experimental materials; scientists anticipate producing materials with the ultimate target of 15 µg/g within the next few years by using cutting edge lab tools to help select the best materials for breeding.

The breeding work at CIMMYT is focusing on increasing the concentration of provitamins A in maize. Open-pollinated varieties (OPVs) are being developed using popular varieties grown in partner countries and source materials high in provitamins A. In addition, the project team is developing inbred lines and hybrids with high provitamins A content, based on elite African and Mexican germplasm, which will be freely available to partners for use in producing their own enriched hybrids or OPVs. Providing source materials to other programs is a key part of the project, particularly to key partners Brazil, Ethiopia, Ghana, Guatemala and Zambia, where their performance is tested in local agro-environments.

This work to generate enhanced maize lines relies on accurate measurements of the micronutrient contents of breeding materials at every stage. Therefore, a major aspect of the project has been experimenting with techniques for analyzing carotenoids (which include provitamins A), iron, and zinc.

Carotenoids are a particular challenge to work with, as they are very sensitive to both light and oxygen, making samples vulnerable and difficult to store. Maize scientist Natalia Palacios and her team have adapted and implemented protocols for analyzing carotenoid content using high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC), in collaboration with others in the HarvestPlus network. HPLC is very precise, but it is also expensive and time-consuming.

The team has therefore taken delivery this month of new equipment to measure near-infrared reflectance (NIR). This infrared technique is both accurate and rapid. Collaboration with the International Potato Centre (CIP) has shown that different carotenoid compounds can successfully be differentiated using NIR. The next step for the team is a big push to build on this work. “For us it is a great challenge, and an opportunity to support and enhance the breeding work by providing more and faster information at a lower cost,” says Palacios. The team believes that NIR will multiply their screening potential dramatically: last year they worked at full capacity to analyze 2,000 samples, but with NIR they hope to analyze up to 10,000 per year.

The team will also explore the potential of NIR to measure iron and zinc. Unfortunately, natural variability for iron content in maize is very limited and may be insufficient to breed iron-rich lines, and to an extent the same is true for zinc. However, iron deficiency is an extremely important global problem: it is estimated that nearly three billion people are iron deficient. The team will therefore focus on increasing the bioavailability of iron in maize—i.e. selecting maize with greater amount of iron that can be absorbed by human consumers, rather than with greater absolute amount of iron.

The ultimate goal is to reduce micronutrient malnutrition among maize consumers by providing micronutrient-rich maize varieties that farmers will want to grow and consumers will want to eat.

We’re breaking new ground working on the biofortification of maize,” says Pixley. “This is exciting science.”

For more information, Kevin Pixley, Associate Director, Global Maize Program (k.pixley@cgiar.org)

CIMMYT E-News, vol 3 no. 10, October 2006

Global Rust Initiative tackles a clearly present danger.

When wheat scientists and policy makers convened in Alexandria, Egypt earlier this month, one might have been forgiven for thinking that a war was afoot. And it is. Scientists are launching an offensive against wheat stem rust, an old foe of farmers that is threatening resurgence.

Words like ‘emergency’, ‘disaster’, ‘catastrophe’, and ‘devastation’, were used at the meeting to paint a picture of the havoc that epidemics of the fungal disease, also known as black rust, could precipitate on the world’s food security and economy. “This is a global threat…,” CIMMYT Director General Masa Iwanaga told the First International Workshop of the Global Rust Initiative (GRI), 9-11 October. “The risk of a stem rust epidemic in wheat in Africa, Asia and the Americas is real, and must be averted before untold damage and human suffering is caused,” said Mahmoud Solh, Director General of the International Center for Agricultural Research in the Dry Areas (ICARDA). Preliminary field evidence from Kenya indicated that many more varieties of wheat could be threatened by rust than previously thought.

The GRI—a consortium coordinated by CIMMYT and ICARDA that involves agricultural research institutes from 30-plus countries—will use scientific knowledge and global cooperation as its primary ammunition to fight the disease. Tactics will include worldwide surveillance for virulent strains of the stem rust fungus Puccinia graminis (‘trap nurseries’—small fields where wheat known to be susceptible to the new disease has been planted) have been positioned in at-risk countries in Africa, the Middle East and South Asia); zeroing in on resistance genes and using these in breeding programs; and accelerated seed multiplication and dissemination of the new, resistant breeds. “We basically have to replace all the wheat in the world,” says GRI Coordinator, CIMMYT wheat scientist Rick Ward.

It is no mean task; farmers and breeders select wheat varieties for their high yield, robustness against pests and diseases, but also properties such as grain color, maturity period, and bread making quality, and the GRI’s work will have to keep these in mind. Furthermore, preferences vary by region, often depending on the form in which the wheat arrives at the table. Seed delivery will also need to be addressed.

Infection with the fungal disease first appears as deep orange pustules on young wheat stems, and without prompt intervention with fungicides, farmers’ fields are converted into a tangled mass of black stems with shriveled grain. Severe infections can lead to total crop failure. A new variant of the fungus, Ug99, has established itself in bread wheat farmers’ fields in Kenya and Ethiopia, and resource-poor smallholders who cannot afford fungicides are quickly losing the battle against stem rust.

Until new, resistant varieties are in the hands of farmers, Ward says part of the GRI’s resources will be directed towards an aggressive regimen of fungicides to suppress stem rust hot spots before they spread. “A stem rust epidemic is much like a bush fire; if it’s not contained, it becomes exceedingly difficult to stop,” he says.

Researchers at the Alexandria meeting were relieved to hear that GRI-coordinated screening of twelve thousand wheat cultivars has yielded a handful of potential Ug99-resistant candidates. This positive news came from researchers at Njoro, a high-altitude research station of the Kenya Agricultural Research Institute (KARI), and the Melkasa station of the Ethiopian Institute of Agricultural Research (EIAR). The promising varieties are being fast-tracked for multiplication and release to farmers. Ward announced that the GRI will now use molecular breeding, which reduces the breeding process by several years, as a routine.

Even with modern breeding and communication technologies, the GRI’s success will hinge on the spirit of global cooperation to overcome blights that threaten the world’s food security.

For more information contact r.ward@cgiar.org
www.globalrust.org

March, 2005

In March, CIMMYT scientists continued their pursuit of drought tolerant wheat with the second field trial of transgenic lines carrying the DREB gene, given to CIMMYT by Japan International Research Center for Agricultural Sciences (JIRCAS). The gene, obtained from Arabidopsis thaliana, a relative of wild mustard, exhibited considerable promise in its initial field trial in 2004, and in earlier greenhouse trials (see September 2004 E-news). The project is funded by Australia’s Cooperative Research Centre (CRC) and is led by CIMMYT cell biologist Alessandro Pellegrineschi.

This second trial narrows the focus of investigation to four transgenic lines and uses a larger plot to ensure better control and analysis. It will also expose the experimental lines and control plants to both watered and drought conditions to determine their respective performance.

“In a few months when we get the results, we will follow the physiologists’ lead and see if this might be useful for producing hardy wheat for farmers in climates prone to drought,” says Pellegrineschi. He is particularly interested in identifying the promoter gene that switches on the drought response.

For further information, contact Alessandro Pellegrineschi (a.pellegrineschi@cgiar.org).

CIMMYT E-News, vol 2 no. 9, September 2005

CIMMYT maize helps villagers quadruple their yields.

The excitement was palpable—and with good reason. “The last time we saw maize like this was in the 1970s!” said Euniah Akinyi Ogola, holding her freshly harvested maize cobs—each as long as her forearm—as the 5,000 residents of Bar Sauri village in western Kenya celebrated their maize harvest.

Euniah is a villager in the world’s first ‘millennium village’ of the UN’s Millennium Project. The village hopes to show that with modest investment and support, it is entirely possible to pull people out of hunger and poverty and set them on the road to prosperity. One of the first steps in the five-year process is to end hunger by improving the village’s agriculture.

With the drying up of state subsidies for small farmers in the 1980s and changes in agricultural programs in the 1990s, many Kenyan villages suffered a downward spiral in maize production. When the village project started in 2004, most farmers in Sauri were harvesting well under a ton of maize per hectare, insufficient to see a household from one crop to the next. The shortage of maize—the main staple food—coupled with malaria and HIV-Aids, effectively stymied Sauri villagers’ chances for a better life.

To address the biting hunger Pedro Sanchez, co-chair of the UN Millennium Project Hunger Task Force, and his team introduced two maize hybrids to the village. Planted on all 300 hectares of village, both varieties were developed by CIMMYT’s Africa Maize Stress (AMS) project funded by IFAD, SIDA, BMZ, and the Rockefeller Foundation.

“We were looking for the best maize varieties available in Kenya,” says Sanchez, who did not want to take any chances when selecting the maize for the village. In addition to the new maize seed, the villagers received fertilizer and were shown the proper way to plant and tend their maize. Hard work and good rains completed the picture, leading to a bumper crop of four tons per hectare that astonished the villagers, project staff, and observers worldwide.

At the recent harvest festival, UNICEF Executive Director Anne Veneman and Professor Jeffry Sachs, UN Special Envoy on the millennium development goals (MDGs), both praised the success of the village. Sachs said the project would now work with the villagers to construct safe storage facilities for their current and future harvests and start planting more vegetables and other high-value crops.

Alpha Diallo, leader of the AMS project, says he was thrilled that the CIMMYT varieties met the MDG challenge: “The hybrids are high yielding, but are also able to resist diseases and other environmental stresses, thanks to our targeted, long-term breeding efforts,” he says.

For further information, contact Alpha Diallo (a.diallo@cgiar.org).

March, 2004

Denmark’s Minister for the Environment, Hans Chr. Schmidt, and members of the Environment Committee of the Danish Parliament came to CIMMYT on 4 March for a briefing on the role of agriculture and research in development, the conservation and study of genetic diversity, the potential of biotechnology, and biosafety issues. They were accompanied by Søren Haslund, Ambassador of the Government of Denmark to Mexico. During their visit they were joined by Lisa Covantes, representative of Greenpeace-Mexico.

The briefing ended with a short tour of CIMMYT’s laboratory, greenhouse, and genebank facilities. In the laboratory, researchers described how biotechnology tools increasingly facilitate the study and use of genetic resources. As one example, they presented a “maize family tree” developed on the basis of genetic analyses that assess the extent to which maize varieties and races from throughout the world are genetically similar or quite distinct. The visitors saw transformed maize and wheat plants growing in the biosafety greenhouse. In CIMMYT’s genebank, where some of the world’s largest collections of maize, wheat, and related species are held in trust for humanity, the visitors learned how these genetic resources are used to develop new varieties. They heard about CIMMYT’s work in Mexico to understand how traditional farmers manage maize diversity on the farm, and then visited one of the cold storage vaults where seed is kept.

Denmark is a world leader in its strong and thoughtful commitment to reducing poverty in developing countries through economic growth and environmentally sustainable development. The visit of the Danish delegation provided a welcome opportunity to exchange views on the role of public agricultural research for development.

The visiting members of the Environment Committee of the Danish Parliament included Eyvind Vesselbo, Mogens Nørgård Pedersen, Torben Hansen, Jørn Dohrmann, Elsebeth Gerner Nielsen, Keld Albrechtsen, Helge Mortensen, Lone Møller, Jacob Buksti, Inger Bierbaum, Jens Vibjerg, Helga Moos, Søren Gade, Gudrun Laub, Freddie H. Madsen, and Inger Støjberg.

1) From left to right: Eyvind Vesselbo, Minister Schmidt, and Director General Iwanaga
2) Minister Schmidt and Eyvind Vesselbo in the briefing room
3) Visiting the biotech lab
4) Visiting the genebank

August, 2004

Every 1990-term US dollar invested in CIMMYT’s wheat genetic improvement over the past 40 years has generated at least 27 times its value in benefits from leaf rust resistance breeding in spring bread wheat alone, according to a recent CIMMYT study entitled “The Economic Impact in Developing Countries of Leaf Rust Resistance Breeding in CIMMYT–Related Spring Bread Wheat.”

Spring bread wheat covers about two-thirds of the developing world’s wheat area, and almost 80% of that area was sown to CIMMYT-related semidwarf varieties in 1997. Using the data on the composition of varieties sown that year, the study estimated the economic impact of CIMMYT’s efforts to develop leaf rust resistant spring bread wheat varieties since 1973.

Puccinia triticina is currently the most widespread rust in the world. The development of durable genetic resistance to this rust has been a plant breeding objective since the early 1900s and a priority of CIMMYT’s wheat breeding program since its inception. Although gene manipulation has brought about more stable patterns of resistance, rust still causes yield losses in many wheat-producing areas.

The rust pathogen can mutate into new races and then infect previously resistant varieties. Researchers cannot estimate productivity maintenance by yield gains, as they do with productivity improvement. Instead, they must estimate the yield losses that would have occurred without the resistant varieties and research investment.

C.N. Marasas, working at the Agricultural Research Council in South Africa at the time of the study, and M. Smale from the International Plant Genetic Resources Institute and the International Food Policy Research Institute conducted the research along with CIMMYT wheat geneticist and pathologist R.P. Singh.

They applied an economic surplus approach adjusted for maintenance research and a capital investment analysis to estimate the returns on CIMMYT’s investment in wheat genetic improvement. The results suggest an internal rate of return of 41%. Allowing for discount factors, the net present value was US$ 5.36 billion (in 1990 dollars), and the benefit-cost ratio was 27:1.

The study emphasizes the importance of maintenance research in crop breeding programs. CIMMYT’s work in leaf rust resistance has made substantial economic impacts in developing countries, where farmers use mainly resistant varieties, not fungicide, to control leaf rust. Findings show that wheat yield increases over the years have been due in part to yield potential protection through disease resistance breeding.

For more information: Dr. Ravi Singh

CIMMYT has entered into a collaborative research program to increase household and regional food security and incomes, as well as economic development, in eastern and southern Africa, through improved productivity from more resilient and sustainable maize-legume farming systems. Known as “Sustainable intensification of maize-legume cropping systems for food security in eastern and southern Africa” (SIMLESA), the program aims to increase productivity by 30% and reduce downside risk by 30% within a decade for at least 0.5 million farm households in those countries, with spill-over benefits throughout the region. In addition to CIMMYT, the program involves the Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research (ACIAR), the Association for Strengthening Agricultural Research in Eastern and Central Africa (ASARECA), the national agricultural research systems of Ethiopia, Kenya, Malawi, Mozambique, and Tanzania, as well as the International Center for Research for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT), the Agricultural Research Council (ARC) of South Africa, the Department of Employment, Economic Development and Innovation Queensland, and Murdoch University in Western Australia. “The demand for maize in the region is expected to increase by at least 40% over the next ten years; and the demand for legumes by 50%,” says CIMMYT socioeconomist, Mulugetta Mekuria, who is leading the center’s efforts under the program. “Seasonal variability causes wide swings in food crop yields, including maize and legumes. This program will play a crucial role in reducing farmers’ risk and the vulnerability of farm households.” Work is being funded with Aus$ 20 million from the Australian Government, and forms part of the Government’s new, four-year Food Security through Rural Development Initiative.

For more information: Mulugetta Mekuria, socioeconomist (m.mekuria@cgiar.org)
For interviews and media support: Mike Listman, corporate communications (m.listman@cgiar.org)

See also official announcements from ACIAR and AusAid

Many of us often underestimate the importance of water on our daily lives – that is until the taps run out of water or the well runs dry. For farmers, their lives are intimately connected to the abundance or lack of water. Many farmers in the developing world produce crops which are dependent on unpredictable patterns of rainfall. For these farmers, water is not only a resource, but truly the source of life.

Many of us often underestimate the importance of water on our daily lives – that is until the taps run out of water or the well runs dry. For farmers, their lives are intimately connected to the abundance or lack of water. Many farmers in the developing world produce crops which are dependent on unpredictable patterns of rainfall. For these farmers, water is not only a resource, but truly the source of life.

When there is a lack of rain, it’s not only the crops that suffer, but farmers’ livestock, incomes, and livelihoods are put in jeopardy. In periods of drought, children are often the most vulnerable segment of the population. Children often suffer from malnutrition, stunting, and starvation as the result of drought, causing long-term effects on their health and well-being.

Episodes of drought have occurred with increasing intensity and frequency in recent months. The drought in the Horn of Africa – which began in July 2011 – has been called the worst drought in the region in over 60 years. The lack of food and grain has resulted in the tripling of prices in some areas. Millions of people continue to suffer from extreme hunger, starvation, and in some areas, famine. The current drought in Mexico has been called the worst drought in 70 years. As a result, farmers have lost over a billion dollars worth of crops since the drought began in October 2011. The effect of these severe droughts will be seen for years to come.

As we reflect on World Water Day, let us not only recognize how important water is to our everyday lives, but also acknowledge those who are developing more efficient solutions for water usage. Today, over 70 percent of the water used globally goes towards agriculture. How we use water for farming is one of the most important issues to address in the management of global water consumption.

In response to this challenge, our scientists are working to develop crops that can produce higher yields with less water. Our agronomists are working to develop systems which conserve water through the management of soils. Our researchers are developing systems which better utilize and apply agricultural inputs – such as pesticides and fertilizer – so that fewer chemicals enter our water sources.

We are all interconnected. Lack of water in one area also impacts other regions through the elevation of food prices, availability of staple foods, and competition for resources. As the world’s population expands to 9 billion – each of us have to take responsibility to address and reflect on how we utilize water. Today, let’s remember just how vitally important water is to our lives, to our planet, and to our future.

Seed is the lifeblood of CIMMYT research and partnerships. Behind the scenes at CIMMYT, many thousands of seeds are on the move. Constantly arriving and departing as seed is shared with partners, they may journey through rigorous health testing in the laboratory, planting in the soils of the center’s research stations, or storage in the icy vaults of the germplasm bank.

No man is an island, and CIMMYT, as the world center for maize and wheat research, certainly isn’t. The center’s lifeblood is genetic variability: it is preserved in the germplasm bank; useful genes derived from it are incorporated in new varieties and shared with partners. These genes come packaged up in seeds, and countless seeds enter and leave CIMMYT every year, traveling to and from far-flung destinations including breeding programs of national agricultural research systems and private seed companies, CIMMYT’s global network of offices, and its research stations within Mexico.

Seed arriving at CIMMYT-Mexico must pass through strict testing procedures in the Seed Health Laboratory (SHL), part of the Seed Inspection and Distribution Unit (SIDU). “For Mexico we represent a risk—we’re unique in importing seed from all over the world,” says Monica Mezzalama, seed health expert and plant pathologist in charge of the SHL. “We have a duty towards Mexico and our collaborators in other countries to make sure we are not distributing seed with diseases. It’s also important for seed quality—we send people our best material.”

Staff in the SHL test seed for insects, weeds, fungi, bacteria, and viruses (see photo slideshow). The lab routinely checks for pathogens under quarantine for Mexico and for partner countries. Seed that gets a clean bill of health—a “seed release”—moves on, often going to a breeder, whereby its potentially useful traits may enter improved varieties. Alternatively, it may be headed for another lab and more testing by scientists working on seed quality or micronutrient content. Finally, many seed samples are destined for storage in the seed bank.

Entering the vaults

On behalf of humankind, present and future, CIMMYT holds enormous collections of seed of wheat and maize, as well as of the crops’ wild and cultivated relatives. For Tom Payne, head of the wheat germplasm bank (seed bank), the focus is on useful diversity, particularly from materials that have already undergone some breeding. “The most valuable germplasm (genetic material or seeds) is the germplasm we know the most about. It lets you look for the traits you’re interested in,” he says. Nonetheless, Payne says that breeders also recognize the value of landraces—traditional farmer varieties—and wild relatives: “When Ug99 (a new, highly-virulent form of stem rust) broke out in Africa, we sent 4,000 randomly-selected landraces for screening and found new sources of resistance.”

In the case of wheat, once cleared by the SHL, seed of new samples for the germplasm bank goes into several packets with different destinations. At least 200 grams will enter the “active” collection, from which external requests for seed are met. Additional packets are prepared for long-term storage at CIMMYT and, finally, three partner banks as back-ups. Because the center normally receives small amounts of seed, it has to be grown out, or “multiplied,” to harvest enough for research, storage, and back-up purposes. Seed is also multiplied for distribution. Again, quarantine precautions require that new wheat seed first be grown at the center’s headquarters and then vetted by the SHL, after which it travels 2,500 kilometers north to be re-sown at a Mexican desert location certified as free from the diseases. The final product is shipped back to CIMMYT headquarters and once more inspected by the SHL.

Regenerating germplasm bank collections

Eventually seed in the germplasm bank ages and begins to lose its ability to germinate. Also, supplies of frequently-requested samples eventually run short. When either occurs, viable seed from the sample is sown to replenish the collection—a process known as “regeneration.” “In 2008, the germplasm bank regenerated a record 18,000 wheat lines,” says Bibiana Espinosa, the principal research assistant who manages CIMMYT’s wheat germplasm collection. “That’s 45% more than in typical years.”

Pollen from a single maize plant can fertilize seed of many neighboring plants, so regeneration of maize seed is more costly and complex than for wheat plants, which are self-fertilizing. Maize crosses must be carefully mapped out and controlled to ensure that the diversity from the original sample is as closely replicated as possible. “Regenerating and storing one sample of maize costs around USD 250 or more—maybe 20 times more than a sample of wheat,” says Payne. “On a single hectare of land you can regenerate thousands of wheat lines, but because individual maize populations or landraces may embody tremendous genetic diversity, they require far more space to regenerate properly.”

Keeping track of hundreds of thousands of seed collections poses a serious challenge for germplasm bank staff. CIMMYT has recently begun marking seed packets with a barcode linked to crop database systems for physical and molecular traits. “The goal is to internet-enable all these databases and link to specific seed collections in the bank, helping people make selections,” says Payne.

Seed collections and genetically modified crops

“CIMMYT’s internal policy is to avoid the involuntary presence of transgenes in its germplasm,” says Mezzalama, referring to genes from other species that are introduced into crop plants like maize using genetic engineering. This means strict monitoring of maize seed that the center introduces from abroad, either for storage in the bank or for breeding purposes. As a further measure, regeneration plantings are surrounded by “sentinel plots” from which seed is harvested and tested in the laboratory to check for the possible arrival of foreign pollen.

On the road again

All seed in the germplasm bank has been certified as clean by the SHL, so it is always ready to be planted in the field or sent to anyone who requests it. However, like any traveler, it must carry a passport—an international phytosanitary certificate—to move between countries. In addition, CIMMYT seed travels only if prospective recipients accept the “Standard Material Transfer Agreement”—which stipulates among other things that the seed may not be sold or patented, and was adopted in the first session of the Governing Body of the International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture.

Every year, SIDU receives hundreds of requests for samples of bank or breeding seed. CIMMYT also ships annual international nurseries (for wheat) and international trials (for maize). These are collections of the center’s best materials, grouped into sets for specific aims: high yield, heat tolerance, disease resistance, to name a few. Partners request sets, grow out and evaluate the experimental seed, and return data on the results to CIMMYT. The center collates and analyzes the data from all sources, publishes and distributes the results to partners, and uses the information to guide subsequent breeding efforts. Partners who grow the trials may keep and use seed of the varieties that interest them, or request additional seed.

Efrén Rodríguez, who is responsible for seed distribution, estimates that public research organizations make up around two-thirds of CIMMYT seed recipients; the rest are private sector seed companies. “In many countries requests from small seed companies are increasing as the sector grows, for example in Mexico and India,” he says. In wheat, 70–80% of requests are for international nursery material, whereas in maize about 70% are requests for materials from the germplasm bank. “We have around 500 CIMMYT inbred maize lines, and all the seed companies want a sample of these lines to use in their breeding programs,” says Rodríguez. His team can count partners in around 150 countries, and in a year meets around 800 requests for seed.

Most of this work by SIDU and the germplasm bank goes unnoticed by the casual visitor, but, says Mezzalama, “…the daily contact with people around the world who really need CIMMYT seed makes me feel very confident that I’m doing something valuable.”

For more information:

Tom Payne, Head, Wheat Genetic Resources (t.payne@cgiar.org);
Monica Mezzalama, Head, Seed Health Laboratory (m.mezzalama@cgiar.org)

CIMMYT Director General, Masa Iwanaga, ends his appointment at CIMMYT today,14 March 2008, after a six-year tenure that included a redirection in center strategy, confronting extreme financial difficulties, establishing important new alliances and partnerships, and through it all, continuing scientific achievements and recognition. At a dinner last Friday to say goodbye to Masa and welcome new DG, Tom Lumpkin, speakers emphasized Masa’s fortitude and thanked him for carrying CIMMYT through—as the words on the plaque he received state— “…the most challenging period of its history.” Lumpkin thanked Masa for leaving a healthy, scientifically-vibrant organization. Masa himself expressed his gratitude to CIMMYT staff for their support and outstanding efforts during his administration. “I firmly believe that the best days of CIMMYT are still ahead,” he said. We thank you, Masa, wish you and Kumiko the best, hope you carry fond memories of CIMMYT and Mexico, and look forward to continued contact with you as a member of the CIMMYT family at-large!

Thank-you message from Masa (abridged)

The CG system has given me wonderful opportunities to grow professionally and personally, going from postdoc to scientist, deputy director general, director general, and board member, and even part of a donor delegation from 2000 to 2002. The most important asset that I have gained during the last 30 years is an international network of friends: this represents the most fortunate gift for my life.

I began my appointment as CIMMYT Director General in mid-2002, and encountered numerous unexpected challenges, including a financial crisis.… The greatest challenge was not financial per se, but rather that of maintaining the center’s scientific excellence, relevance, and strong partnerships, ensuring that CIMMYT continued to deliver on its humanitarian mission and development impact in the difficult times and with a reduced number of staff. I’m extremely pleased to see CIMMYT back on track again, as evidenced by its receiving the last two King Baudouin Awards in collaboration with many partners and being rated “Outstanding” in the World Bank Performance Measurement system the last two years. Competent and committed staff, Board support and effective partnerships have been instrumental for the recovery.

I will be leaving CIMMYT with a strong sense of relief and sincere appreciation for the kind support the center enjoyed from many investors and partners. Dr. Thomas Lumpkin has been selected as my successor and I am confident he will lead the institute to even higher levels of performance. The center has a proud history of success and delivery, but I firmly believe the best times of CIMMYT are yet to come for delivering development impacts.

Thank you, and see you again,

Masa

Maize breeders in the Mexican highlands are increasingly looking to farmers for input on how to improve crops, after decades of having little impact in these areas. It is estimated that only 7-15% of maize seed planted in the highlands of Mexico State is of improved varieties. “Considering that the Mexican highlands represent 10% of the 6.3 million hectares of highland maize grown globally, this constitutes a glaring discrepancy between those who have benefited from maize breeding programs and those who have not,” says Brian Love, a consultant working with CIMMYT’s global maize program.

Now CIMMYT’s highland maize breeding program is turning to farmers in the state of Mexico for their input. As part of a joint project involving CIMMYT and the US and Mexican Departments of Agriculture, farmers are being asked to give their opinion about improved varieties currently available. Farmers from La Purificación and Tepetlaoxtoc, two villages near CIMMYT’s El Batán research station in Mexico, came to the station and voted on improved maize varieties provided by CIMMYT and other maize breeding programs in the region, including the Mexican national agricultural research program (INIFAP) and the Colegio de Postgraduados. A CIMMYT yellow maize under development and H-40 of INIFAP were clear winners. Farmers explained their desire for materials that perform well under rainfed conditions, resist ear rots, escape frosts, and have small cobs.

“One of the easiest ways for everyone to have their say is to put it to a vote,” says Love. “Democracy is allowed to rule and a CIMMYT staff member facilitates a discussion aimed at learning why selected varieties were preferred. The process allows farmers to experience new maize varieties and researchers to better understand farmers’ circumstances and preferences, both of which should help promote the adoption of improved materials.”

CIMMYT entomology lab technician, Carlos Muñoz, was instrumental in organizing the event, and INIFAP plant breeders Gustavo Valázquez and José Luis Arellano participated. Velázquez, who conducts nearly all of his trials with farmers, felt the voting technique (originally developed by researchers at IRRI  in the Philippines for use with upland rice growers in Laos) was effective in highland maize trials, and that INIFAP could apply it.

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

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

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

Farmers seek options in a shifting economy

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

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

When biomass beats grain

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

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

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

The value of diversity

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

If farmers stay on the land, so will the maize

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

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