Direct seeding of rice with a multicrop direct-seeded rice planter in Sheikhupura, Punjab. Photo: Abdul Khaliq
ISLAMABAD (CIMMYT) – Farmers and research partners are praising innovative, locally manufactured farm implements that support conservation agriculture, with costs savings and soil and water conservation benefits, in rice-wheat farming rotation that cover more than 2.2 million hectares in Pakistan.
In a meeting in May 2017 at the Rice Research Institute Kala Shah Kaku, Punjab Province, Pakistan, farmers expressed satisfaction with the performance of nearly 200 locally-produced implements they received to test during 2016-2017, which allow seed of rice, wheat and other crops to be sown directly into unplowed and unflooded fields, including the stubble and other residues from preceding crops.
In traditional practices, rice plantlets are transplanted by hand into puddled fields, after 4 to 6 weeks of being grown in nurseries on the borders of the paddies.
“This requires enormous amounts of water and labor, both of which are expensive and in short supply,” said Muhammad Akhter, Director of Pakistan’s Rice Research Institute. “Moreover, puddling every season degrades the soil structure and depletes fertility, and flooded rice fields emit significant amounts of methane, a major greenhouse gas.”
After rice harvest, farmers typically burn rice residues, generating large noxious clouds, and drive tractor-drawn plows repeated over fields to prepare seed bed. They then sow wheat through broadcasting of the seed.
Since the 1990s, public research programs in South Asia have been working with the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT) and advanced research institutes to test and promote a suite of innovative practices, including reduced or zero tillage, which allow rice-wheat farmers to save money, better steward soil and water resources, cut greenhouse gas emissions and stop the burning of crop residues.
Locally manufactures direct-seeded rice planter and zero-till Happy Seeder. Photo: Abdul Khaliq
Direct seeding of rice in unplowed, unpuddled fields can provide improved plant density and productivity of irrigation water, saving in the end a quarter of the water used in flooding rice crops.
In 2014, the CIMMYT-led Agricultural Innovation Program (AIP), supported by the United States Agency for Development (USAID), imported a multicrop zero tillage planter for rice and several zero tillage “Happy Seeders” to Pakistan from India for wheat, to be tested on farmers’ fields in five districts of Punjab by experts from the Punjab Agriculture Research and Extension Department, Engro Fertilizer and machinery manufacturers.
All tests were successful, and the following year CIMMYT worked with private machinery manufactures who produced the first locally-modified versions of both seeding implements.
Greenland Engineering Daska, a leading zero tillage drill manufacturer in Pakistan, collaborated with CIMMYT to adapt the rice planter’s inclined plate seeding system, offering an optimum planting density and thereby providing 10 percent higher rice yields than with the previous design.
Sharif Engineering, a zero tillage seed drill manufacturer of the Faisalabad region, modified the Happy Seeder so that farmers were able to sow wheat directly into heavy rice residue field and thus avoid burning the residues.
Sharif Engineering manufactured 13 Happy Seeders with AIP support; these were sold to farmers on 52:48 cost sharing basis in 2016, according to Mirza Ghazanfar, country representative for the company. Irfan Iqbal of Greenland Engineering said that company had produced and marketed 185 rice planters to farmers during 2016-17.
Akhter praised the efforts of USAID and CIMMYT to spread environmentally-friendly rice-wheat farming technologies to farmers of rice-wheat region.
The sixth International Winter Wheat Travelling Seminar was recently held in Krasnodar, Russia, to improve wheat breeding across West and Central Asia. Photo: CIMMYT
KRASNODAR, Russia (CIMMYT) – The sixth International Winter Wheat Travelling Seminar was recently held in Krasnodar, Russia, to improve wheat breeding across West and Central Asia.
Wheat is a staple in Central and West Asia and is critical to food security in the region. The biannual traveling seminar allows breeders from across the region to tackle challenges like climate change’s impact on wheat production, the spread of rust disease and improving grain quality.
The seminar was first launched in 2007 by the International Winter Wheat Improvement Program (IWWIP), a partnership between Turkey’s Ministry of Food, Agriculture and Livestock, the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center and the International Center for Agricultural Research in the Dry Areas to bringing together IWWIP members from Central and West Asia to share the results, discuss challenges and develop future plans for cooperation. Previous seminars were held in Azerbaijan, Bulgaria, Georgia, Romania, Turkey, Ukraine and Uzbekistan.
Through IWWIP, improved wheat varieties are annually distributed from the Facultative and Winter Wheat Observation Nursery in Turkey to more than 100 partners in 50 countries. To date, more than 70 varieties have been released in Central and West Asia by IWWIP, covering up to 20 percent of all wheat grown in the region.
The seminar was held at the Krasnodar Agricultural Research Institute and Agricultural Research Center, attracting 74 participants from 17 countries in Central and West Asia, as well as Eastern and Western Europe.
Participants were shown wheat breeding and research plots, as well as multiplication of new barley and wheat varieties. The group was highly impressed by the level of breeding and research activities, the diversity of the germplasm and its yield potential. Varieties from the Krasnodar Institute are grown on several million hectares in Russia and other countries, contributing to regional and global food security. In the afternoon, several presentations were made from hosts and guests reviewing the current status of winter wheat improvement and regional collaboration. Participants also focused on breeding and agronomy activities.
Sixth International Winter Wheat Travelling Seminar participants. Photo: CIMMYT
The group also traveled to a farm in Rostov, Russia, that was demonstrating different winter wheat varieties and saw two seed production state farms that multiply the varieties from the Krasnodar Institute. All the fields visited were very well maintained, clean and with yield expectations exceeding 7-8 tons per hectare. More than two million hectares of wheat is grown in Rostov, providing about 8 percent of Russia’s total wheat.
Winter wheat varieties from Russian public breeding programs dominate about 95 percent of the country’s production area, though local and multinational private companies are increasingly emerging as key players in the sector.
A wrap up meeting was held with several presentations by the participants and the IWWIP strategy was presented and endorsed. Participants also stated their appreciation for the organizers, Krasnodar Agricultural Research Institute, and for IWWIP’s activities in developing and distributing germplasm. The event was supported by the Turkish government, the CGIAR Research Program on WHEAT and the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations.
Breaking Ground is a regular series featuring staff at CIMMYT
EL BATAN, Mexico (CIMMYT) – Social inequality, including gender discrimination, hinders the potential for economic development, a key focus of the agriculture for development community.
Women in developing countries make up more than 40 percent of waged farmworkers, a percentage that is even higher if unwaged farm work is included, according to the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization. Despite their significant representation in the sector, women often experience acute poverty due to unequal access to seeds, fertilizer, land and other agricultural necessities.
The challenges are great, but the aim of achieving gender equality and empowering all women and girls everywhere by 2030 is entrenched in the international development framework by the U.N. Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
Spurred on by the SDGs, gender has become a key agricultural research and policy focus for the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT) and the CGIAR system research programs in recent years.
“Despite improvement, there are still several opportunities which could significantly decrease inequality between men and women,” said CIMMYT gender researcher Anya Umantseva. “Little data exists on gender roles in rural communities and most importantly, a systematic integration of social components like gender into scientific, data-based research could really help expand outcomes and impacts to more women as well as men.
“Women in rural communities often face very strict gender norms,” said Umantseva, referring to local women’s and men’s expected roles and behaviors. “What we’re trying to do is see how these norms influence the way men and women adopt agricultural innovations, and how adoption of different innovations affects gender norms across different communities.”
Umantseva is one of many researchers working on GENNOVATE – a global comparative research initiative, which addresses the question of how gender norms influence men, women and youth to adopt innovation in agriculture and natural resource management.
Gender norms include restricted access to land and financial resources, or even the social taboo of walking alone as a woman, can make it difficult to have equal access to agricultural trainings and other farming inputs, she explained.
Umantseva grew up in Yurga, Russia during the country’s economic transition to capitalism after the fall of the Soviet Union. “Witnessing the abrupt change of political-economic regimes, and the impact it had on society, shaped my interest in social sciences and anthropology,” she said. “I decided that I wanted to study how social norms and culture are historically constructed.”
“Gender in agricultural research for development is not an isolated topic; it is deeply intertwined with social inclusion of disadvantaged groups in general,” Umantseva said. “Gender is not just about men and women, but who these men and women are. Through GENNOVATE we want to go deep into their stories, their socio-economic status, religion, position in the family and more.”
Around 8,000 rural study participants of different ages and socioeconomic backgrounds reflected on gender norms and how these social rules affect their ability to access, adapt and benefit from innovations in agricultural and natural resource management.
“GENNOVATE is the first attempt of this scale providing this type of gender-based data for agricultural research for development initiatives,” said Umantseva. “But most importantly, we want to convince the research for development community of the important opportunities, that insights from this kind of data, can bring. It might not always be easy to integrate gender into research, and may require us to do certain things a little differently, but it is necessary if we want to have inclusive development impact.”
Along with other researchers, Umantseva is analyzing GENNOVATE data to produce a series of reports, journal articles and other products so researchers and project managers can begin incorporating GENNOVATE’s findings into their work.
“Right now we’re looking at men and women who have successfully adopted agricultural innovations and what factors their success might have in common, and how men and women differ in adoption. We hope to produce a paper on these findings sometime this year,” said Umantseva.
Umantseva received her bachelor’s degree in linguistics and translation from Russia’s Tomsk State University. She then went on to pursue a master’s at the Catholic University of Leuven in Belgium, where she studied minority policies, ethnic relations and gender norms.
Before she joined CIMMYT in 2016, she worked at the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, focusing on human trafficking and migration. She currently lives in Mexico City and is based at CIMMYT’s Headquarters in El Batan, outside Mexico City.
A farmer prepares maize porridge using Provitamin A maize. Photo: R.Lunduka/CIMMYT
Vitamin A deficiency is considered a major public health problem in Tanzania affecting over 30 percent of the population, mostly children in preschool and women of reproductive age. It can result in morbidity, loss of vision or blindness and even death.
Provitamin A maize (PVA) is a special type of biofortified maize that contains high levels of beta-carotene. Beta-Carotene is an organic, red-orange pigment abundant in plants and fruits and gives PVA maize an orange color. It is converted to vitamin A in the body after consumption to provide additional nutritional benefits.
Biofortification enhances the nutritional value of staple food crops by increasing the density of vitamins and minerals in a crop through either conventional plant breeding, agronomic practices or biotechnology. This can significantly reduce the prevalence of “hidden hunger” due to micronutrient deficiency.
Maize – a staple food in Tanzania – can serve as a cheap and sustainable source of vitamin A, especially for vulnerable populations. Stores of vitamin A in 5 to 7 year old children improved when they ate PVA maize, according to HarvestPlus research.
PVA maize was recently introduced in Tanzania through the Building Nutritious Food Baskets Project (BNFB), a joint effort by the Government of Tanzania, Tanzania Official Seed Certification Institute, the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center and national seed companies. Two Provitamin A maize varieties – Meru VAH517 and Meru VAH519 – were released for commercial production by Meru Agro Tours and Consultants in September 2016.
To catalyze efforts to increase planting and consumption of PVA maize, different actors along the maize value chain launched a PVA maize platform for Tanzania. The platform will serve as an information and knowledge center on PVA maize in the country by linking different stakeholders to relevant authorities on matters relating to PVA maize, as well as provide capacity development opportunities for members on critical gaps relating to PVA maize knowledge and biofortification in general.
Membership of the platform is expected to become multi-sectoral and multi-disciplinary and include actors such as the ministry of health, school feeding programs and academic institutions. The platform will be led by national partners.
The International Potato Center is collaborating with a consortium of CGIAR research centers, the governments of Nigeria and Tanzania and national partners on BNFB, which is addressing hidden hunger by catalyzing sustainable investments for the production and utilization of biofortified crops. The project mainly targets rural populations, especially young children under the age of five and women of reproductive age, in Nigeria and Tanzania.
Village headman Boyd Jimba and his family harvest maize on their farm in Mwalimo village, Lundazi district, Zambia. Photo: P. Lowe/CIMMYT
MEXICO CITY (CIMMY) – New evidence shows that not only do improved maize varieties increase crop productivity and farmer income, they can also decrease child malnutrition.
Malnutrition is the largest single factor contributing to the global disease and accounts for about 30 percent of infant deaths. Malnutrition is particularly widespread among children in Zambia, and is one of the leading contributors to the high burden of disease in the country. Around half of all Zambian children under the age of five are stunted, or too short for their age, indicating chronic malnutrition.
A recent Food Securitystudy published by scientists at the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT) found that adoption of improved maize varieties significantly reduces the probability of stunting by an average of 26 percent in Zambian children.
The paper evaluated the impact of improved maize varieties with traits such as higher yields, early maturation and resistance to disease, on stunting in more than 800 households across eastern Zambia using an endogenous switching probit model to identify the determinants of child nutritional status and impact of improved maize varieties.
Researchers found that adoption of improved maize varieties held a key role in improving the income earning opportunities for rural households through increased maize yields. More maize – a staple of the Zambian diet – coupled with more money to spend on high calorie and protein foods led to a decline in malnutrition.
However, realizing the full benefits new technologies like improved maize can have on communities requires increased investment and policy support aimed at enhancing adoption by farmers, according to the study. Social dynamics and increasing education, especially among women, are particularly critical for promoting nutrition-enhancing child care practices, given that the probability of stunting was reduced by 16 percent with each additional year of schooling for the most educated female household member among adopters in the study.
Determinants of child nutritional status in the eastern province of Zambia: the role of improved maize varieties. 2016. Manda, J., Gardebroek, C., Khonje, M. G., Alene, A.D., Mutenje, M., Kassie, M. In: Food Security, vol. 8, no. 1, p. 239–253.
Determinants of Crop Residue use along an intensification gradient in West Africa’s Savannah zones. 2016. Akinola, A. A., Abdoulaye, T., Valbuena, D., Erenstein, O., Amare Haileslassie, Germaine, I., Shehu, M., Ayedun, B. In: Tropicultura, vol. 34, no. 4, p. 396-410.
Development and deployment of a portable field phenotyping platform. 2016. Crain, J.L., Yong Wei, Barker, J., Thompson, S.M., Alderman, P.D., Reynolds, M.P., Naiqian Zhang, Poland, J. In: Crop Science, vol. 56, p. 1-11.
Development and Feasibility of innovative relay seeders for seeding wheat into standing cotton using a high clearance tractor in cotton-wheat system. 2016. Singh, M., Mahal, J.S., Sidhu, H.S., Manes, G.S., Jat, M.L., Singh, Y. In: Applied Engineering in Agriculture, vol. 32, no. 4, p. 341-352.
Development and validation of KASP assays for genes underpinning key economic traits in bread wheat. 2016. Rasheed, A., Weie Wen, Fengmei Gao, Shengnan Zhai, Hui Jin, Jindong Liu, Qi Guo, Yingjun Zhang, Dreisigacker, S., Xianchun Xia, He Zhonghu. In: Theoretical and Applied Genetics, vol. 129, p. 1843-1860.
The role of Hyalomma Truncatum on the dynamics of Rift Valley fever: insights from a mathematical epidemic model. 2017. Pedro, S.A., Abelman, S., Fisher, M., Tonnang, H., Mmbando, F., Friesen, D. In: Acta biotheoretica, vol.65, no.1, p.1-36.
Use of genomic estimated breeding values results in rapid genetic gains for drought tolerance in maize. 2017. Vivek, B., Krishna, G., Vengadessan, V., Babu, R., Zaidi, P.H., Le Quy Kha, Mandal, S.S., Grudloyma, P., Takalkar, S., Krothapalli, K., Singh, I.S., Ocampo, E.T.M., Fan Xingming, Burgueño, J., Azrai, M., Singh, R.P., Crossa, J. In: The Plant Genome, vol. 10, no. 1, p. 1-8.
Response to climate risks among smallholder farmers in Malawi: a multivariate probit assessment of the role of information, household demographics, and farm characteristics. 2017. Mulwa, C., Marenya, P.. Dil Bahadur Rahut. Kassie, M. In: Climate Risk Management, vol. 16, p. 208-221.
Breaking Ground is a regular series featuring staff at CIMMYT
EL BATAN, Mexico (CIMMYT) – In Pakistan, maize is the third most important cereal crop after wheat and rice and it is the first in productivity among all the cereals. However, Pakistan imports about 90 percent of the hybrid seeds used to produce the crop, costing the country as much as $60 million annually. Furthermore, the genetic diversity of the currently available maize varieties is not diverse enough to adapt to the varied agro ecologies of Pakistan.
“Pakistan can be considered as a new frontier for CIMMYT’s maize impacts,” Beshir said. “Except for some limited maize activities in the early 1980s, there were no coordinated research activities in the past 32 years. I am glad to revitalize and breathe new life into Pakistan’s maize sector.”
Almost half of children under age 5 are reportedly malnourished, Beshir said, adding that protein, vitamin A, and other micronutrient deficiencies in Pakistan are rampant, while the mortality rate is among the highest in South Asia.
Beshir’s work targets these underprivileged groups and in the foreseeable future, he hopes to see nutritional benefits improve significantly.
Throughout his life, Beshir has witnessed how small scale farmers are often unable to fulfill their basic needs as they struggle to get fair market prices for produce, in part due to middlemen and a lack of information in the market.
He grew up in Ethiopia, a country where agriculture is the mainstay of the economy, accounting for 80 percent of employment, according to UNDP. The livelihoods of Beshir’s grandparents and most of his relatives were dependent on agriculture, but his parents switched to a sideline business selling agricultural and food related products.
“I was brought up observing my parents’ entrepreneurial skills and efforts, but they wanted their children to pursue a career in science,” Beshir said, explaining how his parents encouraged him to attend university. “My father used to call me ‘doctor’ when I was a fourth grade pupil to inspire me in my education.”
Earning an undergraduate degree in agriculture and plant sciences was a life changing experience for Beshir, serving as an eye opener to the dire need for educated agricultural professionals to transform the livelihoods of rural farmers.
“Since then, I developed a passion on how to increase profits for rural farmers through technology promotion and targeted intervention.”
Beshir earned a Ph.D. in plant breeding from the University of the Free State, Bloemfontein, in South Africa, and was awarded a gold medal for his research project highlighting the severity of malnutrition in parts of sub-Saharan Africa and the ways quality protein maize seeks to address the issue.
Before joining CIMMYT in 2013, Beshir was the national partner in Ethiopia for a CIMMYT-led project on quality protein maize development and drought-tolerant maize for Africa.
“My involvement in these projects gave me a good grasp of how CIMMYT’s impact-oriented interventions practically change the life of farmers and brought a maize revolution in my country, in partnership with local institutions,” he said.
His current work in Pakistan mainly involves extensive testing of various maize products sourced from CIMMYT breeding hubs in Colombia, Mexico, Zimbabwe and the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA). Since 2014, more than 2,200 maize entries have been tested through the project.
Test samples consist of biofortified maize, as well as maize varieties that can tolerate major biotic and abiotic stresses, and they have been evaluated on more than 300 different sites in Pakistan. Such large scale testing is unprecedented in the history of maize in Pakistan.
Beshir’s led efforts resulted in the allocation of 49 market ready maize products (hybrids and OPVs) to partners in less than three years, a process that would otherwise have taken eight to 10 years to develop even a single product. The allocation of the new maize products has also given partners access to CIMMYT’s parental lines and breeder seeds, so that they can continue to lead sustainable seed businesses even after the project ends.
The facility will help national programs develop maize germplasm tolerant to maize stem borer attacks.
“As imported hybrid seeds are simply unaffordable to millions of small scale maize farmers, our research will enable local companies to provide affordable options to farmers,” he said.
A new variety in the market must have significant value to the farmer, such as higher tolerance to stresses, or added nutritional value. Photo: K. Kaimenyi/CIMMYT
NAIROBI, Kenya (CIMMYT) – For over 50 years, CIMMYT has led the research and development of quality, improved seed, designed to help farmers mitigate the effects of climate change while improving livelihoods.
Every new variety released is driven by farmer needs and preferences, with desirable traits such as pest and disease resistance, drought and heat tolerance as well as water and nutrient use efficiency. With improved maize seed, farmers not only benefit from increased stress tolerance, they also enjoy higher yields, increased nutritional value and improved income from grain sales.
To ensure that quality seed standards are maintained, CIMMYT supports partners such as national agricultural research institutions and seed producers in acquisition and production of pure early generation seed, which is then tested by national quality assurance and certification agencies before certification and release.
Seed certification process
Seed certification is a rigorous process of testing new maize varieties before they are made available to farmers and follows an often lengthy three-step process.
The first step – value for cultivation and use, or national performance trials in some countries, – compares traits of the new variety to others already in the market to determine its value. For a new variety to enter the market it must have significant value to the farmer, such as higher tolerance to stress, or added nutritional value. It is at the end of this valuation process that a variety is registered, which takes about 2-3 years.
Next, a distinctiveness, uniformity and stability test (DUS) is performed on the seed sample provided to ensure that it is unique, uniform and will not deteriorate over time after its release. The DUS also helps to determine if an identical variety already exists and is registered, in order to avoid conflict among companies that are responsible for variety commercialization. The characteristics used to compare these materials are developed by breeders, and help distinguish different varieties. The length of time for DUS test varies by country, but on average the minimum is two planting seasons, about two years in most countries, or one year in others.
Finally, the government approves the variety for release and commercialization. In some countries, such as Tanzania, there is an extra classification of seed know as quality declared seed which is certified seed that has been through fewer steps of certification. It is perceived to be of a lower quality than regular certified seeds, and is therefore cheaper. Seed certification protects farmers from unscrupulous traders who would otherwise sell poor quality seed or grain packaged as seed.
Seed certification and commercialization can take 6-11 years, depending on how efficient a country’s system is. This lengthy and costly process can sometimes create backlogs, slowing release and commercialization of new varieties. This can discourage some seed companies from producing improved varieties, thus sticking to tried, tested and profitable varieties no matter how old they are. Commercializing a new variety is a huge investment in terms of cost, expertise, promotion and labor, so the longer certification process draws out, the more costs a company incurs. Farmers in turn continue to purchase the varieties that are always available, keeping them in demand.
Expecting seed companies to replace an old variety for an improved one is somewhat complicated, since this is a purely business decision where profits are priority. In some cases, dropping a popular variety to promote a new one could jeopardize a company’s market share, brand recognition and potentially put them out of business. This is why old varieties like Matuba in Mozambique, SC513 in Zimbabwe and H614 D in Kenya remain popular, despite being decades old.
Older seed dominating the market causes both farmers and seed companies to miss out on potential benefits and profits higher-performing seed can bring. Several strategies to retire old maize varieties and build demand for improved ones can be used, including demonstrating old and new varieties side by side in areas where target markets exist. This way, farmers themselves drive the process and start the switch to new varieties. Seed producers can emphasize a specific characteristic in the variety that will benefit the farmer. For instance, farmers in an area prone to maize lethal necrosis (MLN) are more likely to adopt a resistant variety, and eventually make a permanent switch once this characteristic is proven to be true.
Government policies can also encourage the retirement of old varieties, for instance through subsidies on seed production with requirements to only include new materials. CIMMYT, through its various projects, gives competitive financial grants only to companies that produce improved maize seed. An extreme and potentially detrimental option would be to cut off funding and other support to seed companies that refuse to phase out old varieties.
The Drought Tolerant Maize for Africa Seed Scaling (DTMASS) project works in six countries in eastern and southern Africa to produce and deploy affordable drought tolerant, stress resilient, and high-yielding maize varieties for smallholder farmers. DTMASS employs innovative and impactful strategies to promote uptake and adoption of these improved seed varieties, as well as sharing agronomy and other agricultural information directly with farmers to improve crop management.
Led by CIMMYT and funded by the United States Agency for International Development, DTMASS is implemented through strategic partnerships with national agricultural research systems, as well as public and private seed producers.
Surinder K. Vasal, former CIMMYT maize scientist and World Food Prize laureate, with Natalia Palacios, head of the CIMMYT maize quality laboratory, and Martin Kropff, CIMMYT director general, helped unveil the plaque in honor of Dr. Evangelina Villegas. (Photo: A. Cortés/CIMMYT)
El BATAN, Mexico, (CIMMYT) – To celebrate and expand the legacy of the late Evangelina Villegas Moreno, a pioneering Mexican cereal chemist who won the 2000 World Food Prize for co-developing quality protein maize, the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT) has named its maize quality laboratory in her honor.
A memorial plaque was unveiled on 6 June by Martin Kropff, CIMMYT’s director general, at the entrance of the CIMMYT lab that generates crucial grain quality data for the center’s global maize breeding efforts.
“What better way to honor Dr. Villegas’ accomplishments than to have a CIMMYT maize quality lab named after her?” Kropff said. “The center is proud to have counted among its ranks a professional like Dr. Villegas, a pioneering Mexican scientist whose contributions to nutrition and food security will continue to resonate in impoverished regions.”
Breeding lines and populations from CIMMYT’s maize program are used in 100 countries and result in high-yielding, resilient varieties and hybrids grown on at least 20 million hectares throughout the tropics and subtropics.
One derivative of that work, known as quality protein maize (QPM), was developed by Villegas and Surinder K. Vasal, another former CIMMYT maize breeder and distinguished scientist, with whom she shared the 2000 World Food Prize.
Maize grain is rich in carbohydrates but poor in protein. In particular, it is lacking in the amino acids lysine and tryptophan, which are key protein building blocks in human diets. QPM grain contains more of those amino acids and so offers better nutrition for people with heavily maize-based diets, as is the case in parts of Latin America and sub-Saharan Africa.
A 2009 study in the science journal Food Policy found that eating QPM instead of conventional maize resulted in respective 12 and 9 percent increases in growth rates for weight and height, in infants and young children with mild-to-moderate undernutrition and where maize constituted the major staple food.
“Today, almost 30 years after Villegas retired from CIMMYT, the chemical and analytical approaches she developed still underpin work to monitor protein quality in QPM,” said Natalia Palacios, CIMMYT maize nutrition quality specialist and current head of the renamed lab. Together with Kropff, Vasal and Villegas’ sister, Juana Villegas Moreno, Palacios helped unveil the new plaque in a ceremony attended by 100 current and former CIMMYT personnel and Villegas’ family members.
Groundbreaker in science and society
Known as “Eva” to colleagues, Villegas, who passed away in April 2017, was born in Mexico City in 1924 and earned a Bachelor of Science degree in chemistry and biology at Mexico’s National Polytechnic Institute, at a time when higher education for women was still a novelty.
In 1950, she began her career as a chemist and researcher at Mexico’s National Institute of Nutrition and at the Office of Special Studies, an initiative funded by the Rockefeller Foundation and the Mexican government that was CIMMYT’s precursor.
She returned to CIMMYT in 1967, after earning a Master of Science degree in cereal technology from Kansas State University and a doctoral degree in cereal chemistry and breeding from North Dakota State University.
Villegas worked with Vasal in CIMMYT’s QPM breeding program, which operated from 1970 to 1985. Requiring the capacity to select for intricate gene combinations before the advent of DNA markers or genetic engineering, the program could not have succeeded without the support of Villegas’ lab and science, according to Vasal.
“I would call it exemplary interdisciplinary work (for) a breeder and a biochemist,” said Vasal. “Her lab analyzed 26,000 grain samples or more a year and provided the data in time for us to sow or pollinate experimental lines. Eva also furnished valuable critical suggestions that improved our breeding work.”
In a message read at the unveiling, Sanjaya Rajaram, 2014 World Food Prize recipient and former CIMMYT wheat scientist and program director, recalled Villegas’s significant contributions to the center’s wheat breeding research, which included establishing the center’s wheat industrial quality lab.
An inspiration in science to improve nutrition
Villegas’ prizes and professional recognitions include the 2000 Woman of the Year award of the Mexican Women’s Association, presented to her by former Mexican President Ernesto Zedillo. In 2001 Villegas was named to Alpha Delta Kappa’s prestigious list of International Women of Distinction and received the Lazaro Cardenas Medal from the National Polytechnic Institute. In 2013 Kansas State University (KSU) honored Villegas with an Outstanding Alumni Award.
“As a scientist, as a woman and as a Mexican, Villegas will continue to inspire future generations working to enhance food security and nutrition for the disadvantaged,” said Palacios.
Farmers are beginning to transform agriculture in Mexico’s Yucatán peninsula through techniques that allow them to grow more on less land, reducing deforestation and greenhouse gas emissions. Above, slash and burn agriculture (right) compared to a non-burn strategy in a milpa system. Photo: J. Van Loon/CIMMYT
TEXCOCO, Mexico (CIMMYT) – Farmers in Mexico’s ecologically-fragile Yucatán Peninsula are beginning to adopt innovative practices to manage traditional mixed-cropping systems called “milpas” that can slow or even stop deforestation and soil degradation.
Agriculture is the second largest emitter of global greenhouse gas emissions and largest driver of deforestation, making the sector one of the top contributors to climate change and biodiversity loss.
Fifteen percent of global emissions is due mostly to agricultural expansion into tropical forests. Rising populations and changes in dietary preferences for more energy intense foods, like beef and soy bean, are expected to boost agricultural emissions a further 15 percent by 2030.
Agricultural expansion and resulting deforestation of tropical areas also threatens more than half of all the world’s plant and animal species, contributing significantly to what many scientists say is Earth’s sixth mass extinction.
“Sustainable agriculture can bring large benefits to tropical areas by optimizing land use while improving farm management and techniques for farmers,” said Jelle Van Loon, a mechanization expert at the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT) who is working with farming communities in Mexico’s Yucatán Peninsula – an area compromising much of the largest remaining tropical rainforest in the Americas after the Amazon.
Nearly 80 percent of vegetation has been deforested or degraded in the peninsula, with more than 80,000 hectares being cut down annually.
“Agriculture in the Yucatán Peninsula is extremely diverse – there’s everything from industrial farms that operate around forest areas to small community farmers practicing the traditional milpa system in the interior,” said Van Loon.
Milpa farming – a traditional mixed-cropping system in which maize, beans and squash are grown – contributes to about 16 percent of deforestation in the region, and is typically practiced by subsistence farmers through slash and burn agriculture.
“Milpa systems vary across communities in the region,” said Van Loon. “Sometimes plots are burned, farmed and left within two to three years for a new plot, and others are more permanent.”
A technician learns how to operate a two-wheeled tractor. Technicians working with CIMMYT will perform field trials evaluating the efficiency of equipment like this in their work areas. Photo: J. Van Loon/CIMMYT
Van Loon is working with a team of CIMMYT scientists and other partners in the region to see how farmers can apply sustainable technologies and practices across the peninsula’s milpa systems, as well as larger-scale mechanized farms that operate in the area.
“It’s extremely important that the unique circumstances of each community are taken into account when new technologies are being promoted,” said Van Loon, citing that many programs exist to support local communities, but is often challenging to organize support in an integrated fashion that’s adjusted to local conditions.
“Milpa provides more than crops for food – the slash and burn system also provides game and timber for these communities, so there are many factors that need to be taken into account when we try and promote sustainable practices.”
Two years ago CIMMYT successfully trialed a sustainable agriculture initiative with farmers in Hopelchén, a small community in Campeche where indigenous and Mennonite farmers grow maize following traditional farming practices.
Decades of soil degradation had forced farmers to convert rainforest areas into growing fields to continue farming, but when the farmers adopted sustainable intensification methods such as minimal soil movement, surface cover of crop residues and crop rotations, they were able to achieve higher yields even after two months of drought.
The Hopelchén farmers prove the dual benefits of sustainable agriculture in forest areas – forests that would otherwise have been cut down for farmland are preserved, acting as a ‘carbon sink’ by absorbing carbon dioxide that would have been free in the atmosphere, further contributing to climate change. These practices also help farmers adapt to the effects of climate change, like drought and erratic rainfall.
“In order to get adoption right, we are really taking a system-wide approach,” said Van Loon. “We want to integrate mechanization, soil quality, planting density and other approaches like inter-planting with trees to improve biodiversity to get the most efficient system possible.” Van Loon will specifically work with communities to explore mechanization opportunities, from improved hand tools to light weight motorized equipment like two-wheel tractors.
“The goal is to optimize the benefits from the land that farmers are working, find ways to reduce pressure on opening new land and as such slow the rate of deforestation, preserve biodiversity and provide farmers with techniques for improved and more sustainable practices,” said Van Loon. “Ultimately, we’d like to see these practices adopted across the peninsula.”
CIMMYT is leading sustainable intensification efforts in the Yucatan through the Sustainable Modernization of Traditional Agriculture (MasAgro) program, along with CitiBanamex, Fundación Haciendas del Mundo Maya, local partners, non-governmental organizations and the Mexican government.
The recent appearance of the fall armyworm, an insect-pest that causes damage to more than 80 crop species in 14 countries in sub-Saharan Africa, poses a serious challenge and significant risk to the region’s food security.
In a recent interview, B.M. Prasanna, director of theGlobal Maize Program at International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT) and the CGIAR Research Program on MAIZE, who is working at the forefront of CGIAR’s response, highlights the potential impact of the pest and how CGIAR researchers are contributing to a quick and coordinated response across the region.
Q: What is the fall armyworm and why is it so destructive?
The fall armyworm (Spodoptera frugiperda) is an insect-pest which causes major damage to more than 80 crop species, including economically important crops, such as maize, rice, sorghum, wheat, sugarcane, several other vegetable crops and cotton.
It was first officially reported in Nigeria in early 2016 and has been officially confirmed in 11 and suspected in at least 14 other African countries, as of April 2017.
Q: What are the potential impacts of the pest in sub-Saharan Africa?
The fall armyworm poses a serious challenge and a significant, ongoing risk to Africa’s food security.
The pest’s ability to feed on a range of crop species means that smallholder farming systems in Africa, which are based on intercropping, are particularly vulnerable. Also, the rapid damage and migratory capacity of the pest, combined with its capacity to reproduce quickly in the right environmental conditions and its ability to rapidly evolve resistance to synthetic pesticides increase the region’s vulnerability.
In sub-Saharan Africa, where fall armyworm is currently devastating maize crops, estimates indicate 13.5 million tons of maize valued at $3 billion are at risk in 2017-2018, which is equivalent to over 20 percent of total production for the region (based on data from CABI, April 2017).
Q: What are the key challenges that countries in sub-Saharan Africa will face?
There is no doubt that smallholder farmers, particularly maize farmers, in sub-Saharan Africa will face a significant and ongoing risk from the fall armyworm. In particular, resource-poor smallholders will be severely affected due to their inability to control the pest using synthetic pesticides, currently the only way to effectively respond, which are very costly.
Q: What are three ways that countries in sub-Saharan African can strengthen resilience of food and agricultural systems to the potential effects of Fall Armyworm?
Working groups need to be established quickly to develop and implement strategies to respond to the issue. In particular, we need to develop a comprehensive, regional response centered on: Monitoring and early warning; Social and economic assessments of impacts, and forecasting; Integrated Pest Management (IPM); Development and dissemination of low-cost, effective and sustainable solutions and development of appropriate regulatory tools and policies to support the response.
As this process unfolds, gaps, challenges and successes will need to be documented to inform capacity-building needs with a focus on understanding the capacity of individual countries to respond. While fall armyworm outbreaks across Africa is an emergency situation, it should also be an opportunity to review and understand regional food production and food security issues and as an opportunity to improve on systematic approaches to build capacity to prevent and respond to future threats of transboundary pests and pathogens in Africa.
Strong coordination across different levels of government is required: “political coordination” (among the local governments, NPPOs, and sub-regional organizations), and “technical coordination” (fast-tracked testing and deployment of relevant technologies).
Q: What role do CIMMYT and CGIAR have in building capacity in the region’s ability to respond to Fall Armyworm?
CGIAR institutions, including CIMMYT and the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA), have significant strengths in building the region’s ability to respond to trans-boundary pathogens (e.g., previous examples include Maize Lethal Necrosis, wheat rust and insect-pests, such as fall armyworm.
Specific examples of CGIAR/CIMMYT expertise that will be important in the fall armyworm response include:
Development and dissemination of crowd-source based tools and digital surveillance systems and analysis of the data collected across countries for a strong monitoring and early warning system.
Systematic and large-scale assessment of the present and potential socio-economic impact of fall armyworm in Africa, and the development of forecasting tools to understand potential losses
Review of the efficacy of different fall armyworm management options (learning from experiences of the United States, Brazil and Mexico), and adapting this information to the African context
Determining the efficacy of cultural control options against fall armyworm, including early versus late planting of crops like maize, handpicking, soil and habitat management, crop hygiene, etc.
Evaluating the impacts on-going integrated pest management (IPM) initiatives and the impacts of the fall armyworm invasion on the effectiveness of these interventions
Developing and implementing appropriate insect resistance monitoring and management strategy in fall armyworm affected countries
Analysis of the effects of conservation agriculture on fall armyworm management and the influence of fall armyworm incidence on diverse cropping systems
Testing and introgression of conventionally-derived resistance (from identified CIMMYT and U.S. Department of Agriculture-Agricultural Research Service [USDA-ARS] germplasm sources) into Africa-adapted maize germplasm, followed by fast-tracked varietal release, seed scale-up and delivery of improved maize hybrids/varieties through public-private partnerships (e.g., MLN is a great example of this).
Developing a “Fall Armyworm Information Portal”, similar to the MLN Information Portal and Wheat Rust Tracker (led by CIMMYT), as a one-stop portal for relevant information.
Q: CIMMYT recently co-hosted an emergency meeting on the strategy for effective management of fall armyworm in Africa. What were the key outcomes and next steps for the response to this issue?
The emergency meeting was an opportunity to assess the present and potential damage due to fall armyworm and to devise a holistic control strategy.
CIMMYT, Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA) and the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) jointly hosted a Stakeholders Consultation Meeting in Nairobi, Kenya (April 27-28, 2017). About 150 experts and stakeholders from 24 countries in Africa, and five outside Africa (Italy, Spain, Switzerland, Britain and the United States) participated, with participants from government, national plant protection agency, national agricultural research systems in Africa, as well as scientists from international agricultural research organizations, and representatives of service providers, non-governmental organizations, development partners, donor agencies and the media.
Discussions covered the present status of the pest in Africa as well as contingency plans to manage the pest, assessment of current control options being used. Experts from the U.S. and U.K. provided expertise and insight on the response to fall armyworm in the U.S. and Brazil.
Action points and recommendations on four key areas were developed to ensure an effective, coordinated response:
Contingency planning and awareness generation;
Fall armyworm monitoring and early warning;
Socio-economic impact assessments and modeling of potential losses;
Development and Dissemination of fall armyworm management options;
Coordination of Institutional Interventions for fall armyworm management in Africa.
FAO is expected to convene a regional workshop in early June to engage and coordinate with relevant regional organizations who will be involved in the response.
As climate change threatens to increase the incidence of plant pests and diseases, action must be taken to protect smallholder farmers and global food security.
At this year’s UN Climate Talks, CIMMYT is highlighting innovations in wheat and maize that can help farmers overcome climate change. Follow @CIMMYT on Twitter and Facebook for the latest updates.
The quality assurance and control workshop was held from May 17 to 19, 2017. Photo: CIMMYT
NAIROBI, Kenya (CIMMYT)- Representatives from across the maize production and breeding sectors in eastern and southern Africa gathered to discuss how maize seed systems in Africa can be strengthened through quality assurance (QA) and quality control (QC) measures.
The workshop conducted by the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT) in Nairobi, Kenya, from May 17 to 19, 2017, explored CIMMYT’s efforts to strengthen maize seed systems in Africa, with an emphasis on critical QA and QC basics such as maintaining parental inbred lines, maintaining seed free from pathogens, pests and implementing molecular marker based seed testing to achieve the highest seed quality at minimal cost.
QA and control are processes used to measure the quality of products, ensuring they meet consumer expectations. High quality seeds are genetically and physically pure, properly mature, free from insect-pests and pathogens, uniform in size, have high germination potential, optimum moisture content, viable and vigorous.
QA and QC also helps establish trait based purity, particularly in nutrient-enriched maize varieties such as quality protein maize and Provitamin A-enriched maize. Trait based purity ensures that the product delivered by breeders to seed companies and the product delivered by seed companies to farmers contain the required nutritional quality.
“The concept and effect of seed quality is a simple, yet hugely impactful one that cannot be ignored,” said Mosisa Worku, seed systems specialist at CIMMYT. “Production and supply of poor quality products means businesses collapse and farmer productivity plummets, often leading to food insecurity and compromised livelihoods when food shortages occur.”
B.M. Prasanna, director of CIMMYT’s Global Maize Program, stressed the need to adopt more modern and cost effective methods of analyzing the genetic purity and identity of breeders’ material. Thousands of inbred lines are available to maize breeders at any given time, so effectively distinguishing them on the basis of phenotypes alone is impossible.
“While the importance of phenotypic analysis in QA and QC cannot be undervalued, molecular markers which are robust and environmentally insensitive are more effective in determining genetic purity and identity of parental inbred lines and hybrid seed lots at a relatively low cost,” Prasanna said, explaining that the cost of genotyping is now significantly lower than growing and evaluating a row of sample seed in the field.
The workshop was designed for scientific and technical personnel involved in maize breeding, seed production and seed certification from both public and private sector institutes in eastern and southern Africa. A total of 38 participants learned about theoretical and practical sessions covering topics such as the importance of QA and QC for maize seed value chains, advanced QA and QC tools in maize breeding and commercial seed production, QA and QC of nutritional quality traits in seed and grain, molecular data analyses and interpretation for QA and QC and MLN-free commercial seed production.
Capacity building efforts like the workshop help ensure national seed certification agencies and that seed companies have the necessary skills to conduct molecular marker-based seed testing and phenotypic based methods for QA and QC in commercial maize seed value chains to build Africa’s seed systems.
Farmer weeding maize field in Bihar, India. Photo: CIMMYT/M. DeFreese
EL BATAN, Mexico (CIMMYT) — In northwestern India, growing maize is being advocated as an alternative to rice to address resource degradation challenges such as declining water tables and climate change induced variability in rainfall and temperature.
Sustainable agriculture practices have proven to increase farmer income, improve irrigation productivity and reduce greenhouse gas emissions in the cereal systems of the Indo-Gangetic plains (IGP), a fertile area extending over 2.5 million square kilometers across Bangladesh, India, Nepal and Pakistan.
The IGP currently abstracts 25 percent of global groundwater withdrawals, sustaining agricultural productivity across the region. However, aquifers are being depleted at rates faster than they can recharge, threatening food security for more than 500 million people.
In response, researchers from the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT) observed the impact of sustainable conservation agriculture practices like zero-tillage (ZT) and permanent bed planting (PB) in irrigated maize-based systems integrated with legumes in the IGP of northwestern India.
ZT and PB practices reduced irrigation water requirement by up to 65 and 98 hectares per millimeter, respectively, compared to conventional tillage systems, resulting in a water productivity boost of nearly 20 percent. Net profit from maize-based systems under ZT was over 30 percent higher than conventional systems.
The study concludes that by adopting sustainable practices like ZT and PB, farmers can sustainably increase productivity throughout the IGP region.
Comparative performance of top-cross maize hybrids under managed drought stress and variable rainfed environments. 2016. Menkir, A., Meseka, S., Bossey, B. Ado, S., Obengantiwi, K., Yallou, C., Coulibaly, N., Olaoye, G., Alidu, H., Crossa, J. In: Euphytica, vol.212, p.455-472.
Conservation agriculture in irrigated intensive maize-based systems of north-western India: effects on crop yields, water productivity and economic profitability. 2016. Parihar, C.M., Jat, S.L., Singh, A.K., Kumar, B., Singh, Y., Pradhan, S., Pooniya, V., Dhauja, A., Chaudhary, V., Jat, M.L., Jat, R.K., Yadav, O.P. In: Field Crops Research, vol.193, p.104-116.
Control of Helminthosporium leaf blight of spring wheat using seed treatments and single foliar spray in Indo-Gangetic Plains of Nepal. 2016. Sharma-Poudyal, D., Sharma, R.C., Duveiller, E. In: Crop Protection, vol.88, p.161-166.
Dairy farm households, processor linkages and household income: the case of dairy hub linkages in East Africa. 2016. Rao, E.J.O., Omondi, I., Karimov, A., Baltenweck, I. In: The International Food and Agribusiness Management Review, vol. 19, no. 4, p. 95-108.
Detection of wheat stem rust races TTHSK and PTKTK in the Ug99 race group in Kenya in 2014. 2016. Fetch, T.G., Zegeye, T., Park, R.F., Hodson, D.P., Wanyera, R. In: Plant Disease, vol. 100, no. 7, p. 1495.
Occurrence and population dynamics of the root lesion nematode Pratylenchus thornei (Sher and Allen) on wheat in Bolu, Turkey. 2017. Imren, M., Ciftci, V., Senol Yildiz, Kutuk, H., Dababat, A.A. In: Turkish Journal of Agriculture and Forestry, vol. 41, no. 1, p. 35-41.
Population structure and genetic diversity analysis of germplasm from the Winter Wheat Eastern European Regional Yield Trial (WWEERYT). 2017. Beil, C. T., Manmathan, H. K., Anderson, V. A., Morgounov, A.I., Haley, S. D. In: Crop Science, vol. 57, p. 1-9.
QTL mapping for grain zinc and iron concentrations and zinc efficiency in a tetraploid and hexaploid wheat mapping populations. 2017. Velu, G., Yusuf Tutus, Gomez-Becerra, H.F., Yuanfeng Hao, Demir, L., Kara, R., Crespo-Herrera, L.A., Orhan, S., Yazici, A., Singh, R.P., Cakmak, I. In: Plant and Soil, vol. 411, no. 1, p. 81–99.
Ratooning pigeonpea in maize-pigeonpea intercropping: productivity and seed cost reduction in eastern Tanzania. 2017. Rusinamhodzi, L., Makoko, B. Sariah, J. In: Field Crops Research, vol.203, p.24-32.
Agricultural scientists are calling for support to make zinc-biofortification a core trait in the world’s largest wheat breeding program. Photo: CIMMYT/ Peter Lowe
EL BATAN, Mexico (CIMMYT) – In an effort to stamp out hidden hunger, scientists are calling for support to make zinc-biofortification a core trait in the world’s largest wheat breeding program.
At least 2 billion people around the world suffer from micronutrient deficiency, or hidden hunger, which is characterized by iron-deficiency anemia, vitamin A and zinc deficiency.
Zinc deficiency remains a crucial health issue in sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia. As a key nutrient in red meat, it is prevalent in areas of high cereal and low animal food consumption.
It is vital in times of rapid human growth such as pregnancy, infancy and puberty. Compared to adults, children, adolescents as well as pregnant and lactating women have an increased need for zinc. Deficiency harms growth and development and can cause respiratory infections, diarrheal disease and a general weakening of the immune system.
One way to tackle hidden hunger is through biofortified crops, which have been bred to contain higher amounts of minerals and vitamins. These crops help to improve health in poor communities where other nutritional options are unavailable, limited or unaffordable.
As a key staple, wheat provides 20 percent of the world’s dietary energy and protein, therefore it’s an ideal vehicle for biofortification, said Velu Govindan, a wheat breeder at the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT).
“In wheat breeding, including zinc as core trait – as done with high and stable yield, drought and heat tolerance and disease resistance – would have huge health benefits in South Asia and sub-Saharan Africa,” said Ravi Singh, who leads CIMMYT’s wheat improvement program. “Around 70 percent of the wheat varieties grown in these regions derive from CIMMYT breeding research.”
In the early 2000s, scientists conducted large-scale screening for high zinc content in traditional wheat and their wild relatives from CIMMYT’s wheat germplasm bank. The search was successful, revealing diverse genetic resources with traits that became the building blocks for zinc-enriched wheat.
CIMMYT initiated biofortification breeding in 2006 and four biofortified wheat varieties have been released in South Asia. Promotion of zinc-biofortified wheat varieties in India and Pakistan is in the early stages and further testing and scaling out to other countries like Bangladesh, Nepal, Afghanistan and Ethiopia is underway, the scientists confirmed.
Studies in India have shown that regular consumption of zinc-enriched wheat improves the overall health of women and children, said Govindan.
Extensive global presence of CIMMYT-derived varieties means that, once the program adds enhanced grain zinc levels as a core trait, many wheat farmers and consumers throughout the developing world will automatically reap the benefits of better nutrition.
However, increased funding is needed to make the jump to full inclusion of high zinc content, according to Hans Braun, director of CIMMYT’s Global Wheat Program and CGIAR’s research program on wheat.
“Each added trait in a breeding program requires a significant increase in the number of breeding lines grown and evaluated, adding significant costs” Braun said.
CIMMYT’s wheat breeding program is currently funded at around $15 million per annum. In 2016, it distributed 14.5 tons of seed of experimental wheat lines in more than 500,000 small envelopes to nearly 300 partners in 83 countries. Globally, this makes CIMMYT the most important wheat germplasm provider together with the International Center for Agricultural Research in the Dry Areas (ICARDA).
For more information on zinc-biofortified wheat visit this science brief.
AgriSeed Director Ambonesigwe Mbwaga visits AgriSeed’s production farm in Mbozi, southern Tanzania. This field features AgriSeed H12, the first hybrid the company sold. Photo: K. Kaimenyi/CIMMYT
MBEYA, Tanzania (CIMMYT) – To achieve its objective of sustainably increasing the availability of new drought tolerant maize varieties in eastern and southern Africa, the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT) supports seed company partners in enhancing their capacity to produce foundation and certified seed.
AgriSeed began as a small seed company in Tanzania in 2010, producing seed using donor grants to get established, and selling seed through a government subsidy program. When the program closed in 2013, collapse of the business was a real threat. However, in 2015 AgriSeed received its first grant from the CIMMYT-led Drought Tolerant Maize for Africa Seed Scaling (DTMASS) project to produce early generation seed of a new hybrid called WE2112, and are now on their way to sustainability.
“When the African Agricultural Technology Foundation announced licensing of this variety, we jumped at the opportunity,” said Ambonesigwe Mbwaga, Director of AgriSeed. “We wanted something we could call our own, since all our other products are public and can be produced by another company.”
WE2112, marketed as AgriSeed H12, is the first hybrid sold by the company, with CIMMYT supporting the transition from open pollinated varieties to improved hybrids. Profitable sales of improved maize varieties are key to sustained and scaled production by the private sector to ensure access in the long run. Being among the few seed companies producing this particular hybrid gives AgriSeed an edge in the market.
“With AgriSeed, we started from scratch: increasing the parents, increasing the inbred lines, single crosses, and so on,” said James Gethi, maize breeder and DTMASS technical lead for Tanzania. “My main excitement this year is to see the product of that support coming to fruition. They now have a certified crop, from zero, and have something to sell.”
According to Mbwaga, the product is “flying off the shelves.” While only three tons of AgriSeed H12 were produced and sold in 2016, AgriSeed expects this figure to rise to over 50 tons in 2017 due to increased production capacity, and the huge demand created from the minimal sales. Also of note is the AgriSeed H12 packaging, whose smallest pack is five kilograms, much larger than the one and two kilogram bags often sold of new products to smallholder farmers. This is a strong indicator of demand and confidence in the product, since it costs more to purchase the bigger bag.
To promote sales, the company has set up over 100 demonstration plots for 2017 with DTMASS support, most of them in the southern Tanzania towns of Mbeya, Mbozi and Mlonge. Unlike the traditional highway setups, AgriSeed is concentrating demos along roads in villages, increasing access to farmers away from major roads. This aims to boost sales but also helps the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), the project’s funder, reach its Feed the Future goals to reach remote smallholder farmers.
Through technical and financial support and capacity building initiatives, DTMASS works closely with AgriSeed and other partners in eastern and southern Africa to bring affordable, improved maize seed to 2.5 million people. With funding from the USAID, DTMASS aims to meet demand and improve access to good-quality maize through production of improved drought-tolerant, stress-resilient, and high yielding maize varieties for smallholder farmers.
Breaking Ground is a regular series featuring staff at CIMMYT
EL BATAN, Mexico (CIMMYT) – Balwinder Singh uses crop simulation models to help smallholder farmers in South Asia prepare for future climates and unexpected challenges.
Despite improvements in agricultural technology in the past few decades, crop yield gaps persist globally. As climate patterns change, farmers are at risk of crop loss and reduced yields due to unforeseen weather events such as drought, heat or extreme rains.
Singh, a cropping system simulation modeler at the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT) based in New Delhi, India, uses crop simulation models—software that can estimate crop yield as a function of weather conditions, soil conditions, and choice of crop management practices—to develop future climate predictions that can help farmers reduce risk, overcome labor and resource constraints, intensify productivity and boost profitability.
“Using future climate data, simulation modelling allows researchers to develop hypotheses about future agricultural systems,” said Singh. “This can help predict and proactively mitigate potentially catastrophic scenarios from challenges such as shrinking natural resources, climate change and the increasing cost of agricultural production.”
A specific focus is on how to best quantify, map and diagnose the causes of the gap between potential yields and actual yields achieved by cereal farmers in the Indo-Gangetic Plain. “My research combines field experimentation, participatory engagement, and cropping systems modelling and spatial data to identify promising technologies for increasing crop productivity and appropriate geographical areas for out scaling,” he said.
For example, Singh and a team of scientists have used simulation tools to find out why wheat productivity is low in the Eastern Gangetic Plains, for example, late sowing, suboptimal crop mangement and terminal heat stress. This process identified various potential techniques to raise wheat productivity, such as early sowing, zero tillage, or short duration rice varieties to facilitate early harvest and field vacation. Geospatial data and tools were used to identify the potential target zones for deployment of these promising technologies.
“The research is helping farmers increase agricultural productivity and to manage climate-related crop production risk and increase the use of agricultural decision support systems,” Singh said. “My research towards improving cereal production systems in South Asia contributes to the knowledge, process understanding and modelling tools needed to underpin recommendations for more productive and sustainable production systems.”
Growing up in rural India in a farming family, Singh viewed firsthand the uncertainty that smallholder farmers can face.
“I was brought up and studied in northwestern India – the region where the green revolution occurred known as the food basket of India,” Singh said.
“I grew up playing in wheat and cotton fields, watching the sowing, growing and harvesting of crops, so an interest in agricultural science came naturally to me and I have never regretted choosing agriculture as a career.”
While studying for his bachelor’s and master’s degrees in agronomy at Punjab Agricultural University (PAU) in Ludhiana, India, a chance encounter helped shape his career.
“Dr. Norman Borlaug came to PAU in 2005 and he happened to visit my field experiment on bed planting wheat. I had a very inspiring conversation with him which made me decide to pursue a career in agricultural research and work for the farming community.”
Since 2014, Singh has led the CIMMYT participation in the Agricultural Model Intercomparison and Improvement Project (AgMIP) as part of the Indo-Gangetic Basin team, conducting integrated assessments of the effects of climate change on global and regional food production and security, analyzing adaptation and mitigation measures.
Apart from collaborating with CIMMYT colleagues and other advanced research institutes from across the world to build weather and soil databases or working on simulation models, Singh enjoys interacting with farmers in their own fields and collecting data for crop simulation models to generate useable information for research and extension.
He also holds training sessions to aid in developing the capacity of CIMMYT’s national agricultural partners in system simulation modelling to create awareness of the proper use of simulation tools for research and extension.
“The most rewarding aspect of my work is to see my simulation results working in farmers’ fields,” Singh said. “There’s a proverb that says: ‘When a person is full they have a thousand wishes, but a hungry person has only one.’ There is no nobler task than that of being able to feed people. Some of us are not even aware of how many people are starving every day,” he said.
“It gives me great satisfaction to be a part of CIMMYT, an organization that works beyond political boundaries to safeguard future food security, improve livelihoods and carry on the legacy of Dr. Borlaug who fed billions.”
