News – Page 109

New Publications: Successful agricultural interventions require social shifts, not just technological

Written by on March 23, 2017. Posted in Publications.

Wheat harvest in Juchitepec, Estado de México. Photo: P.Lowe/CIMMYT

MEXICO CITY (CIMMYT) – Traditionally, agricultural research organizations measured impact by the number of technologies developed, with less attention given to whether or not these technologies were adopted by farmers and the impact they had in communities.

Today organizations must clearly demonstrate impact in farmers’ fields. Research and extension approaches based on agricultural innovation systems, or networks of organizations within an economic system that are directly involved in the creation, diffusion and use of scientific and technological knowledge, as well as the organizations responsible for the coordination and support of these processes.

This shift represents a new focus on innovation as a social process, as opposed to a research-driven process of technology transfer.

Despite growing interest in agricultural innovation system, little is still known about the most effective ways to operationalize these systems, especially within short and medium timeframes, according to researchers from the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT) in a new paper “Agricultural research organisations’ role in the emergence of agricultural innovation systems.”

The study claims that external input is often needed to generate an agricultural innovation system, and that network brokers – actors like NGOs and others, who catalyze collective action by enhancing farmers’ access to information and technical assistance – play a crucial role.

The authors conclude that while scientific research is an important component of the development of an agricultural innovation system, it is not enough; more emphasis has to be directed at extension and education of different actors to achieve a genuine paradigm shift in agricultural innovation.

Read the full study here and check out other recent publications from CIMMYT staff below.

Agricultural research organisations’ role in the emergence of agricultural innovation systems. 2017. Hellin, J.; Camacho Villa, T.C. Development in Practice 27 (1) ; 111-115.
Evaluation of the APSIM model in cropping systems of Asia. 2017. Gaydon, D.S.; Singh, B.; Wang, E.; Poulton, P.L.; Ahmad, B.; Ahmed, F.; Akhter, S.; Ali, I.; Amarasingha, R.; Chaki, A.K.; Chen, C.; Choudhury, B.U.; Darai, R.; Das, A.; Hochman, Z.; Horan, H.; Hosang, E.Y.; Vijaya Kumar, P.; Khan, A.S.M.M.R.; Laing, A.M.; Liu, L.; Malaviachichi, M.A.P.W.K.; Mohapatra, K.P.; Muttaleb, M.A.; Power, B.; Radanielson, A.M.; Rai, G.S.; Rashid, M.H.; Rathanayake, W.M.U.K.; Sarker, M.M.R.; Sena, D.R.; Shamim, M.; Subash, N.; Suriadi, A.; Suriyagoda, L.D.B.; Wang, G.; Wang, J.; Yadav, R.K.; Roth, C.H. Field Crops Research 204 : 52-75.
Forward genetics by sequencing EMS variation induced inbred lines. 2017. Addo-Quaye, C.; Buescher, E.; Best, N.; Chaikam, V.; Baxter, I.; Dilkes, B.P. G3 7 (2) : 413-425.
Genetic analysis and mapping of adult plant resistance loci to leaf rust in durum wheat cultivar Bairds. 2017. Caixia Lan; Basnet, B.R.; Singh, R.P.; Huerta-Espino, J.; Herrera-Foessel, S.; Yong Ren; Randhawa, M.S. Theoretical and Applied Genetics 130 (3) : 609–619.
Genotype by trait biplot analysis to study associations and profiles of Ethiopian white lupin (Lupinus albus) landraces. 2017. Atnaf, M.; Kassahun Tesfaye; Kifle Dagne; Dagne Wegary Gissa. Australian Journal of Crop Science 11 (1) : 55-62.
Application of remote sensing to identify adult plant resistance loci to stripe rust in two bread wheat mapping populations. 2016. Pretorius, Z.A.; Caixia Lan; Prins, R.; Knight, V.; McLaren, N.W.; Singh, R.P.; Bender, C.; Kloppers, F.J. Precision Agriculture. Online First.
Genomic prediction models for grain yield of spring bread wheat in diverse agro-ecological zones. 2016. Saint Pierre, C.; Burgueño, J.; Crossa, J.; Fuentes Dávila, G.; Figueroa López, P.; Solís Moya, E.; Ireta Moreno, J.; Hernández Muela, V.M.; Zamora Villa, V.; Vikram, P.; Mathews, K.; Sansaloni, C.P.; Sehgal, D.; Jarquín, D.; Wenzl, P.; Sukhwinder-Singh. Nature Scientific reports 6 : 27312.
Genomic prediction using phenotypes from pedigreed lines with no marker data. 2016. Ashraf, B.; Edriss, V.; Akdemir, D.; Autrique, E.; Bonnett, D.G.; Crossa, J.; Janss, L.; Singh, R.P.; Jannink, J.L. Crop Science 56 (3) : 957-964.
Identification of genomic associations for adult plant resistance in the background of popular South Asian wheat cultivar, PBW343. 2016. Huihui Li; Sukhwinder-Singh; Bhavani, S.; Singh, R.P.; Sehgal, D.; Basnet, B.R.; Vikram, P.; Burgueño, J.; Huerta-Espino, J. Frontiers in Plant Science 7 (1674) : 1-18.
Mapping of spot blotch disease resistance using NDVI as a substitute to visual observation in wheat (Triticum aestivum L.). 2016. Suneel Kumar; Roder, M.S.; Singh, R.P.; Kumar, S.; Ramesh Chand; Joshi, A.K.; Kumar, U. Molecular Breeding 36 (95) : 1-11.

New maize hybrid shows resistance to stem borers in South Africa

Written by on March 22, 2017. Posted in News.

Nontoko Mgudlwa, a smallholder farmer who planted TELA maize for the first time since its release in South Africa. Photo: B.Wawa/CIMMYT

Eastern Cape, SOUTH AFRICA (CIMMYT) – Smallholder farmers in South Africa can now access and grow new maize varieties with transgenic resistance to stem borers, the most damaging insect pest of maize.

Partners in Water Efficient Maize for Africa (WEMA) – a public-private crop breeding initiative that helps farmers manage the risk of drought and stem borers infestation in Africa –developed the genetically modified maize seed branded as “TELA,” which has been released and licensed royalty-free to South Africa seed companies for sale to farmers at affordable prices.

TELA – derived from a Latin word Tutela meaning “protection” – contains a gene from Bacillus thurigiensis (Bt) that helps the maize to resist damage from major stem borers to give farmers better yields. Five seed companies – Capstone, Jermat, Monsanto, SeedCo and Klein Karoo – are marketing the seed to smallholders.

The WEMA project is helping smallholder farmers face two of their chief menaces through the new insect protected and drought tolerant maize hybrids. Led by the African Agricultural Technology Foundation (AATF), WEMA brings together public and private partners including the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT), Monsanto and the national agricultural research organizations of Kenya, Mozambique, South Africa, Tanzania and Uganda.

Stem borers affect maize production on about 30 million hectares in developing countries, feeding aggressively on leaves, stems and ears and significantly reducing grain yield.

In eastern and southern Africa, two stem borers – Busseola fusca and Chilo partellus – are the most damaging pests. In South Africa, reported annual yield losses in maize range between 10 and 75 percent. Yield losses in maize and sorghum as a result of Chilo partellus have exceeded 50 percent.

During the last 2016 planting season, Nontoko Mgudlwa was one among the selected smallholders to host a trial for TELA maize hybrid.

“I received a small packet of TELA from our extension officer, and planted it in this small portion of land on December 9, 2016,” said Mgudlwa. “The land was not enough to add my indigenous maize, but I’m very happy to see how the crop is performing despite the very visible attack on the border crop by stem borers,” continued Mgudlwa, pointing out the severely damaged border crops that were planted with refuge seed as a control group alongside TELA.

TELA maize (left) in Mgudlwa’s farm showed good resistance to stem borer infestation, whereas plants in the refuge plot of non-TELA maize on the same farm show the shot holes typical of stem borer feeding. Photo: B.Wawa/CIMMYT

The farmers who hosted trials were given a 2 kilogram packet of TELA maize as part of demonstrations to raise awareness about the variety and help farmers see its performance. The packet also contained a small pack of seed of non-Bt maize called “refuge” seed to sow at the border of the main plot. This non-Bt maize allows the survival of susceptible borers and thus delays the emergence or spread in borer populations of individuals able to overcome the Bt maize resistance.

Mgudlwa’s home in Nqatu Great Palace suffers frequent borer infestations, which most farmers control using insecticides. As part of the trial, Mgudlwa did not use chemicals despite a heavy invasion of the pests on her farm and evidence of significant damage in the refuge crop.

“It is critically important for farmers to understand the requirement and procedure of planting TELA maize and the refuge seed found in a small bag inside the TELA seed pack,” said Kingston Mashagaidze, WEMA project coordinator in South Africa. “The extension officers have been trained on how to plant TELA and the refuge seed, so they can help farmers to plant the crop the right way.”

Recently, Mozambique joined Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda to successfully conduct confined field trials (CFT) for genetically modified maize. The CFTs are important to generate data on the performance of the Bt maize and commercial conventional hybrids infested by stem borers to support the application for the release of TELA hybrids in the remaining four WEMA countries.

Obstacles to gender-smart fertilizer use hurt livelihoods, scientists say

Written by on March 21, 2017. Posted in News.

Farmers head for home after harvesting maize in Chipata district, Zambia. CIMMYT/Peter Lowe — Farmers head home after harvesting maize in Chipata district, Zambia. CIMMYT/Peter Lowe

EL BATAN, Mexico (CIMMYT) – Compiling gender-inclusive data could help scientists understand how to help smallholder farmers improve nitrogen fertilizer application practices, according to a new research paper.

Smallholder maize and wheat farmers need to make use of inorganic nitrogen fertilizer alongside other good agronomic practices to produce healthy and productive crops, but nitrogen can be misapplied.

Fertilizer overuse can be harmful to plants and soil, contaminate drinking water and kill off fish species. Additionally, nitrogen fertilizer produces nitrous oxide, a potent greenhouse gas, which contributes to climate change.

“Gender and environmentally-blind fertilizer policies have been the norm in many regions, leading to negative effects in both high and low nitrogen fertilizer use scenarios that impact most strongly on women and children”, said Clare Stirling, a senior scientist with the Sustainable Intensification Program at the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT).

“Our study shows that moving towards a more balanced and efficient use of nitrogen fertilizer will significantly improve gender and social equity outcomes,” Stirling said, adding that such outcomes can only be brought about by significant socio-economic and cultural changes influencing gender and social norms.

“Agriculture needs to function within a ‘safe operating space’ for nitrogen,” she said. “We need to make sure that nitrogen use efficiency is neither too high nor too low. If it’s too high, soils are at risk of being mined and become degraded, if it’s too low, large amounts of reactive nitrogen are released to the environment.”

In developing countries, women make up about 43 percent of the agricultural labor force, but in comparison to men, they have access to only a fraction of the land, credit, inputs – such as improved seeds and fertilizers, agricultural training and information, according to the Farming First coalition

The lack of resource access puts women heads of household at a disadvantage. Even if they are primary decision makers, in general they are hampered by weaker socio-economic status, lower availability of male labor, lower access to markets, agricultural technologies, machinery, credit, collateral and advice, including on how to mitigate and adapt to climate change. As a result of unequal access, women use less fertilizer. They may also forgo food to ensure that children and other family members eat nutritious food, putting their own health at risk.

“Even with training, women may find it more difficult to apply practical knowledge than men due to socio-economic constraints,” said Simon Attwood, an agroecology scientist with Bioversity International, who collaborated on the new study, titled “Gender and inorganic nitrogen: what are the implications of moving towards a more balanced use of nitrogen fertilizer in the tropics?”

“There’s a growing consensus that gender gaps in access to inputs are in part behind differences in productivity and on-farm practices,” he said.

Women farmers who use too little nitrogen fertilizer are trapped in a negative cycle of lower crop yields and income, leading to a greater risk of household food and nutrition insecurity, the scientists said. On the other hand, where too much nitrogen fertilizer is used woman and children are likely to be the most vulnerable to suffering ill-health consequences.

Despite their significant role in agricultural production, particularly in the developing world, women are neglected in most development initiatives, suggesting that the returns on targeting women farmers in relation to promoting best practice fertilizer use, may be very high with respect to increasing production and incomes, according to the authors.

Due to their central role regarding child health, nutrition and education, women should be key beneficiaries of development efforts, the scientists argue.

“These factors make the case that the social returns on agricultural investments are higher when targeted to women,” Attwood said.

The scientists took several case studies from India and sub-Saharan Africa, confirming their theory that imbalanced nitrogen fertilizer use has a greater impact on women and children.

The first case study revealed clear connections between negative health outcomes for poor rural women and their infants and the timing of nitrogen fertilizer applications in India. The study showed that morbidity of the babies of poor rural women appears to be negatively affected through their mother’s work in rice paddy fields, where they absorb fertilizer-derived toxins.

The second case study suggests that applying nitrogen fertilizer to cash crops rather than staple food crops such as maize may contribute towards less food availability and poorer nutrition outcomes for families in some sub-Saharan African countries.

The third case study in Lake Victoria connects the dots between insufficient fertilizer use, soil degradation leading to soil erosion and runoff into the lake and health problems for both men and women. The presence of high levels of nitrogen in the lake due to poor land management is changing its ecology, affecting the lives of artisanal fisher communities and leading to higher rates of HIV/AIDS.

“As long as the majority of policy-makers and planners remain frozen into a conceptual lock-in oblivious to the gendered implications of technically balanced and socially balanced fertilizer use, women smallholder farmers will not reach their potential,” said Cathy Farnworth, a gender specialist working with the CGIAR Research Program on Climate Change, Agriculture and Food Security (CCAFS) and lead author on the research paper.

“We need gender awareness in research studies and rural advisory services to develop appropriate strategies to reach and empower women in different households to help them act independently.”

The project was funded by CCAFS, Bioversity, CIMMYT, and the CGIAR Research Programs on wheat and maize.

Bangladesh urges $500 million in funds to intensify surface water irrigation

Written by on March 20, 2017. Posted in News.

TwitterWWD3 — Designed by Bose Zhou/CIMMYT

EL BATAN, Mexico (CIMMYT) – Most current food security projections show that staple crop production must double by 2050 to keep up with global need, which will continue to expand due to population growth and changing dietary demands.

In South Asia, where population pressures pose a significant food security challenge, yields of major cereal crops have not changed dramatically since the Green Revolution of the 1970s and 1980s. This has prompted regional governments and development practitioners to focus instead on efforts to expand double cropping – the practice of growing at least two crops per year on the same piece of land – in order to boost productivity on an annual basis.

This approach is in line with sustainable intensification techniques, which aim to boost production, rather than encroach on natural ecosystems and harm the environment by expanding farmland into limited natural areas.

Scientists with the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT) are researching how best to increase double cropping in Bangladesh, which, as South Asia’s most densely populated country, poses unique food security challenges.

In the northwest of the country, farmers already rotate at least two crops in the same field each year using groundwater irrigation to overcome drought risks during the dry winter season.

“Most development initiatives favor the use of groundwater resources for irrigation, although in Bangladesh, ground water extraction can result in high energy costs and in some areas can present a health risk due to natural arsenic contamination of groundwater,” said Timothy Krupnik, systems agronomist at CIMMYT.

“In support of government programs recommending the conjunctive use of surface water as an irrigation alternative, we investigated the available land in Bangladesh that could be reliably cropped to wheat, maize, or rice in double cropping patterns,” Krupnik said, adding that the effort resulted in a new online geospatial tool that can be used by water resource planners and policymakers to target the use of surface water in support of sustainable intensification. It helps identify surface water irrigation resources and land area most suited for double cropping and sustainable intensification.

“Using satellite data for irrigation technology targeting in Bangladesh enabled us to identify areas that are under low input and output crop production in a region with abundant surface water,” said Urs Schulthess, CIMMYT’s remote sensing scientist involved in developing the geospatial tool. “This is an example of sustainable intensification that does not deplete water resources.”

Instead of extracting water from underground aquifers, surface water irrigation involves deploying water through low-lift irrigation pumps and canal distribution networks managed by water sellers who direct water to farmers’ fields. Although Bangladesh is likely to remain largely reliant on groundwater irrigation, use of available surface water presents a low-energy and low-carbon emissions alternative in select areas of the country, Krupnik said.

The research conducted by scientists funded by the CIMMYT-led Cereal Systems Initiative for South Asia (CSISA) project, provides initial evidence to support a government of Bangladesh policy aimed at stimulating a $500 million investment in development aid from donors to help farmers transition from rice-fallow or rainfed systems to surface water irrigation and double cropping. The funds form part of an overall request for investment of over $7 billion to support agricultural development in southern Bangladesh.

After mapping rivers and freshwater canals in southern Bangladesh with the new tool, the scientists conservatively estimate that at least 20,800 of fallow and 103,000 hectares of rainfed cropland could be intensified through surface water irrigation to substantially increase cereal crop production through double cropping. These figures account for land set into non-crop reserves to limit risks of nitrate or phosphorous contamination of rivers and canals.

Groundwater irrigation techniques have been difficult to implement in the south of the country due to high energy pumping costs for groundwater, and additional challenges posed by saline shallow water tables. Currently, about 1.7 million farming households in Bangladesh simply leave cropland fallow and unproductive after the monsoon season, according to the World Bank.

By integrating the use of groundwater with lower-cost surface water irrigation, farmers could benefit from increased cropping intensity.

To evaluate potential land productivity resulting from conversion from fallow or rainfed crops to surface water irrigated maize, wheat, and rice, CIMMYT scientists measured yields produced by farmers on their own farms and in farmer-managed demonstrations implemented by the CSISA project.

The three crops are among the most important cereals grown in Bangladesh for food security and income.

Based on analysis, CIMMYT’s scientists estimate that if 25 to 75 percent of fallow or low-intensity land is converted to irrigated maize, production could increase from 10 to 14 percent or from 29 to 42 percent, respectively. Conversion to wheat could increase production from 9 percent to 10 percent or from 26 percent to 31 percent. On the other hand, rice is projected to increase only about 3 percent under such conditions.

Overall, increasing maize and wheat production through double cropping could generate revenues from $36 to $108 million each year for farmers, Krupnik said.

Breaking Ground: Akhter Ali helps transform agriculture sector in Pakistan

Written by on March 9, 2017. Posted in Features.

Breaking Ground is a regular series featuring staff at CIMMYT

EL BATAN, Mexico (CIMMYT) – Akhter Ali always knew he wanted to have an impact on the livelihoods of farmers in Pakistan.

“I come from a farmer family – the poverty and inequality of rural communities always disturbed me,” said Ali, who was born in Multan district, Pakistan. “I knew from a young age I wanted to do something to help my community and the rural poor throughout my country.”

Ali, an agricultural economist at the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT), is working to sustainably increase agricultural productivity and incomes for farmers through the Agricultural Innovation Program (AIP), an initiative funded by the U.S. Agency for International Development to build up the country’s agriculture sector through the development and dissemination of new agriculture technologies.

“Agriculture supports nearly half of Pakistan’s population – more than two thirds for those living in rural areas – and accounts for over 20 percent of Pakistan’s gross domestic product” Ali said. “Strengthening this sector by connecting and addressing the needs of different actors in rural markets is key to poverty reduction and achieving food security.”

Despite the significant role of agriculture to the economy, the sector has only grown 2.8 percent in recent years due to weak market structures, resource depletion and other challenges. Ali, along with other researchers, is analyzing how maize and wheat farmers can access the best seed, technology and practices to sustainably increase crop yields across the country.

“If we want to boost farmer livelihoods, we need to change how farmers work by ensuring they know how to sustainably manage their land, water and other resources,” Ali said. “We then need to ensure that the markets in which these farmers operate are stable so that they have easier access to agricultural inputs like seed.”

Ali’s research over the past four years at CIMMYT has focused on making these goals a reality, from conducting comprehensive surveys, which are expected to help develop the durum wheat market in Pakistan, to adoption and impact studies of such sustainable technology as zero tillage machines and precision land levelers, now used by thousands of farmers throughout Pakistan.

“There are 80,000 farmers – 20 percent of which are women, whose numbers are growing – working with AIP who have adopted these new, sustainable technologies,” said Ali. In the future, Ali hopes to see his work continue to be used as a tool by policy makers, extension workers and others.

“We still face challenges with farmer access to seed, from engaging women to market constraints, so it’s critical we create policies that facilitate sustainable development in rural communities,” Ali said.

Shifting trends in Pakistan from urbanization to climate change will make it even more necessary to understand how rural communities operate in the coming years, he said, adding that policies supporting its development will be key to feeding the country and alleviating rural poverty.

New Publications: Wheat stem rust resistance identified in Kazakhstan and Russia

Written by on March 9, 2017. Posted in Publications.

Examining Ug99 stem rust symptoms on wheat. Photo: Petr Kosina/CIMMYT

EL BATAN, Mexico (CIMMYT) – Stem rusts have proven to be a challenge to wheat farmers in Kazakhstan and Russia, particularly with higher rainfall in recent years.

Western Siberia in Russia and northern Kazakhstan grow more than 15 million hectares (ha) of wheat, and is expected to have an important impact on global food security as part of the “Eurasian wheat belt” – the only region in the world with a significant amount of uncultivated arable land that is at the same time experiencing rising agricultural productivity.

Wheat stem rust disease is highly mobile and has the capacity to turn a healthy looking crop, only weeks away from harvest, into nothing more than a tangle of black stems and shriveled grains at harvest. Stem rust was not considered a threat until 2015, when a local epidemic occurred in Russia and neighboring areas of Kazakhstan, affecting more than 1 million ha. It occurred again in 2016 though the spread, severity and losses were less.

In response, scientists at the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT) with partners characterized a set of 146 spring wheat varieties and breeding lines identified as stem rust resistant in Kenya and the Kazakhstan–Siberia region for the presence of major genes. Over nine genes with resistance were identified, and adult plant resistance to stem rust was observed in 26 genotypes.

Learn more about the study “Genetic diversity of spring wheat from Kazakhstan and Russia for resistance to stem rust Ug99” and check out other new publications from CIMMYT staff, below.

Bio-energy, water-use efficiency and economics of maize-wheat-mungbean system under precision-conservation agriculture in semi-arid agro-ecosystem. 2017. Parihar, C.M.; Jat, S.L.; Singh, A.K.; Majumdar, K.; Jat, M.L.; Saharawat, Y.S.; Pradhan, S.; Kuri, B.R. Energy 119 : 245-256.
From stakeholders’ narratives to modelling plausible future agricultural systems. Integrated assessment of scenarios for Camargue, Southern France. 2017. Delmotte, S.; Couderc, V.; Mouret, J.C.; Lopez-Ridaura, S.; Barbier, J.M.; Hossard, L. European Journal of Agronomy 82 : 292-307.
Is production intensification likely to make farm households food-adequate? A simple food availability analysis across smallholder farming systems from East and West Africa. 2017. Ritzema, R.S.; Frelat, R.; Douxchamps, S.; Silvestri, S.; Rufino, M.C.; Herrero, M.; Giller, K.E.; Lopez-Ridaura, S.; Teufel, N.; Paul, B. ; Wijk, M.T. van. Food Security 9 (1) : 115–131.
Planting date and yield benefits from conservation agriculture practices across Southern Africa. 2017. Nyagumbo, I.; Mkuhlani, S.; Mupangwa, W.; Rodriguez, D. Agricultural Systems 150 : 21-33.
Sustainable crop intensification through surface water irrigation in Bangladesh? A geospatial assessment of landscape-scale production potential. 2017. Krupnik, T.J.; Schulthess, U.; Zia Ahmed; McDonald, A. Land Use Policy 60 : 206-222.
Adult plant resistance to Puccinia triticina in a geographically diverse collection of Aegilops tauschii. 2016. Kalia, B.; Wilson, D.L.; Bowden, R.L.; Singh, R.P.; Gill, B. Genetic Resources and Crop Evolution. Online First.
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. Plant Disease 100 (7) : 1495.
Disease impact on wheat yield potential and prospects of genetic control. 2016. Singh, R.P.; Singh, P.K.; Rutkoski, J.; Hodson, D.P.; Xinyao He; Jorgensen, L.N.; Hovmoller, M.S.; Huerta-Espino, J. Annual Review of Phytopathology 54 : 303-322.
Genetic diversity of spring wheat from Kazakhstan and Russia for resistance to stem rust Ug99. 2016. Shamanin, V.; Salina, E.; Wanyera, R.; Zelenskiy, Y.; Olivera, P.; Morgounov, A.I. Euphytica 212 (2) 287-296.
Genome-wide association study in wheat identifies resistance to the cereal cyst nematode Heterodera Filipjevi. 2016. Pariyar, S.R.; Dababat, A.A.; Sannemann, W.; Erginbas-Orakci, G.; Elashry, A.; Siddique, S.; Morgounov, A.I.; Leon, J.; Grundler, F. Phytopathology 106 (10) : 1128-1138.

CIMMYT launches new program to promote gender equity in agricultural research

Written by on March 7, 2017. Posted in News.

CIMMYT set to implement a series of training courses to sharpen gender skills in agricultural research for development. Photo: CIMMYT/P. Lowe — CIMMYT is set to implement a series of training courses to sharpen skills in gender and agricultural research for development. Photo: CIMMYT/P. Lowe

EL BATAN, Mexico (CIMMYT) – In a move to bolster gender equity in agriculture, the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT) will launch a series of training courses promoting the integration of gender awareness and analysis in research for development.

“Gender is a defining factor in farming and influences many areas, for example, resource ownership and adoption of new technologies,” said Marion Büttner, a gender specialist at CIMMYT. “These courses will help researchers understand the importance of gender roles, relations and norms in agriculture and integrate gender analysis into their work, strengthening agricultural research for development outcomes.”

Although women account for 43 percent of the agricultural labor force in developing countries, they are 30 percent less productive than men, according to the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO). This is due mainly to unequal access to extension services and resources, such as land and improved seed.

Despite such trends, agricultural research often fails to include gender analysis in projects, opting instead for a gender-unaware approach that neglects women’s and men’s important roles and their different needs and opportunities in agriculture, Büttner said. “The trainings are an important step to address this gap,” she said.

The Gender Capacity Strengthening Program was developed in partnership with the Royal Tropical Institute (KIT in its Dutch acronym) gender training team and Cultural Practice, LLC. The sessions will be rolled out from April for researchers and support staff at CIMMYT offices in Africa, Asia and Latin America.

The main focus of agriculture for development is to research the biophysical aspects of introducing new agriculture technologies and management practices. This often diverts attention from the social analysis that reveals the human context in which new technologies and practices are introduced, said Franz Wong, a senior gender advisor at KIT who will be one of the training facilitators.

Failing to understand gender issues in a specific local context may cause contrary results to what researchers set out to accomplish, Büttner said. For example, the mechanization of an agricultural activity may lead to reduced drudgery for women. However, the same process may also result in men taking over these now successful activities, which could shift power dynamics between men and women and potentially increase already existing inequalities between genders.

“To gain the most knowledge and impact from agriculture for development initiatives, researchers should consider what impact interventions will have on both men and women,” Büttner said. “The concept of gender is often confused with simply adding women to strategy development, but it’s not that straightforward. It’s about addressing the needs and constraints of both men and women and changing relations to improve the situation for all.”

Büttner refers to gender-responsive research, which is designed to ensure that both women and men benefit from research interventions. It analyzes and takes into account how gender relations influence men and women’s ability to access and adopt improved agricultural technologies, including new knowledge and practices, as well as how policies and other interventions affect women and men differently.

Large donors like the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the United Stated Agency for International Development (USAID) and German Corporation for International Cooperation (GIZ, for its acronyms in German) require gender-responsive research, which is part of the reason why gender analysis must become a standard process for researchers, Büttner added.

The program aims to position gender analysis as a routine process at all stages of the research cycle. Different training modules offer insight into gender-responsive research, including developing and implementing projects with gender integration and setting indicators to measure gender outcomes.

“Raising awareness of the benefits gender analysis has on the impact of agriculture for development projects is the best promoter of its inclusion in research,” said Maitrayee Mukhopadhyay, a senior gender advisor at KIT who aided in the development of the program.

“Many agriculture for development researchers do not see the relevance of gender for their work because they lack adequate training and exposure to gender analysis and knowledge,” she added.

Pilot workshops of the program were delivered last October at CIMMYT’s headquarters and gained strong reviews, with participants reporting increased gender awareness and knowledge of practical methods to integrate gender into projects.

Researchers are keen to integrate gender once they become aware of how gender-responsive research helps to make an assessment of how agriculture is organized in a community, and how it aids the design and delivery of relevant agricultural technologies that complement gender roles or transform them to increase equality, Wong added.

Both Büttner and Wong said the gender training was purposely designed to be practical and interactive so that participants could apply methods to their areas of expertise.

The program will begin in April in Ethiopia, followed by sessions in other CIMMYT offices in Kenya, Zimbabwe, Bangladesh, India, Nepal and Mexico.

Büttner is one of five experts working at CIMMYT as part of the GIZ sponsored CIM Integrated Experts program. The CIM program aims to strategically place managers and technical experts in public and private organizations in the developing world to pass on their professional knowledge and contribute to capacity building.

Small machinery provides affordable options for women farmers in Nepal

Written by on March 2, 2017. Posted in Features.

EL BATAN, Mexico (CIMMYT) – Small-scale mechanization is becoming more important on smallholder farms in Nepal as young people, particularly men, migrate away from rural areas in large numbers, leaving women to take on even bigger responsibilities.

Some 13 million people – about 50 percent of Nepal’s population – live in the hills and mountains where most subsistence farming takes place. Women traditionally contribute more agricultural labor than men in these rural areas, typically undertaking time-consuming tasks such as weeding, harvesting, threshing and milling in addition to household chores. Two-thirds of women in Nepal are self-employed or engaged in unpaid family labor.

Nepal has the lowest ratio of men to women in all of South Asia and the proportion of rural households headed by women jumped from 15 to 25 percent between 2001 and 2011. As a result, rural women face many challenges, their potential curtailed in part due to the difficulty accessing credit. Despite a 2002 amendment to the country’s Land Act, the practice of male succession means that women only own property in a fifth of rural households.

“Almost everywhere there are changes, but maybe particularly so in the mountains,” said Scott Justice, a rural mechanization specialist with the Cereal Systems Initiative for South Asia project in Nepal (CSISA-NP), who works with smallholders as part of efforts to help improve livelihoods. “Tasks like the upkeep of terraces, plowing or service hiring are getting delayed or passed on to women, at the same time as the prices of hiring are going up.”

Following the April 2015 earthquake in Nepal, CSISA-NP was contracted by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) to help affected farming communities recover by providing grain storage tools, farm machinery and training, reaching 33,150 earthquake-affected households.

CSISA-NP, a project led by the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT) with the International Rice Research Institute and the International Food Policy Research Institute and funded by USAID, aims to address the gender imbalance by increasing access to affordable machinery options to increase farm income while reducing drudgery for women.

An as yet unpublished study on the spread of mini-tillers has shown approximately 7,000 mini-tillers sold in hill districts, Justice said.

“A key priority for the government and projects like ours is getting owners to use the [mini-tiller] engine to power other machinery like wheat and rice threshers, mini-maize shellers, pumps and maybe even reapers and planter-seeder attachments,” said Justice.

“A small cadre of machinery importers who, along with CIMMYT’s market development efforts, are increasingly attuned to small farmers’ needs, bringing in a new generation of small and inexpensive machinery ideas and products emerging from China,” he said. “These qualities make it easier for women and their households to access and use such technologies.”

One of the technologies identified by CSISA-NP is a small, lightweight, precision hand cranked fertilizer spreader, which is growing in popularity because it can increase rice and wheat yields by 5 to 10 percent while cutting labor by half or more. CSISA has trained 150 service providers to use the fertilizer spreader, while cooperating private sector partners have imported over 500 of these spreaders in advance of the 2016-2017 wheat season.

CSISA focuses on the creation of a sustainable private machinery and service sector that serves farmers’ needs. A core group of approximately 15 to 20 (mostly) small businesses are constantly traveling and scouring the markets in China for new machinery and new ideas. One challenge is to encourage them to look more broadly in Asia for innovative scale appropriate technologies that meet the needs of both women and men in Nepal.

“Our activities are based on more than two decades of CIMMYT experience of small-scale mechanization in Nepal’s Terai area – rather than joining farmers’ experiments, we join in small and mid-sized machinery importers’ marketing experiments,” explained Justice.

CSISA is led by CIMMYT with the International Rice Research Institute and the International Food Policy Research Institute and funded by USAID. It was established in 2009 to promote durable change at scale in South Asia’s cereal-based cropping systems.

Breaking Ground: Xuecai Zhang prepares future generation of crop breeders

Written by on February 28, 2017. Posted in Features.

Breaking Ground is a regular series featuring staff at CIMMYT

EL BATAN (CIMMYT) — Xuecai Zhang wants to merge traditional maize breeding methods with new software and other tools to help improve farmers’ yields faster than ever.

“In the next three decades we need to increase agricultural production by 70 percent to meet projected food demand,” said Zhang, a maize genomic selection breeder at the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT). “However, crop yields, while improving, are not increasing quickly enough to meet this challenge. We must explore new methods and technologies that can speed up our crop breeding processes if we hope to feed a world with over 2.3 billion more people by 2050.”

Growing up in Henan province, China, Zhang’s mother was a teacher who instilled a love of science in him from a young age.

“I loved exploring outside and seeing how plants grew — I always wanted to know how they worked,” said Zhang. “Maize was naturally interesting to me because it’s the second most grown crop in Henan, and is becoming a very important crop in China overall.”

Zhang first arrived at CIMMYT in 2009 while completing a doctorate in applied quantitative genetics. He subsequently returned as a postdoctoral fellow in 2011 to undertake molecular breeding and coordinate CIMMYT’s maize genomic selection program.

Since his return, he has focused mainly on helping breeders and statisticians work together to create new tools that can help accelerate the breeding process through genomic selection.

“It’s crucial that as breeders, we’re able to use genomic selection in our work,” Zhang said. “Not only does it speed up the breeding process to deliver better, faster results to farmers in the field, applied well it’s also a more cost-effective option.”

Conventional plant breeding is dependent on a researcher going into the field, observing the characteristics of a plant based on how its genotype interacts with the environment, then painstakingly selecting and combining those materials that show such favorable traits such as high yield or drought resistance. This process is repeated again and again to develop new varieties.

Genomic selection adds DNA markers to the breeder’s toolkit. After initial field evaluation breeders are able to use DNA markers and advanced computing applications to select the best plants and predict the best combinations of plants without having to wait to evaluate every generation in the field. This speeds up the development of new varieties as more cycles of selection and recombination can be conducted in a year compared with field selection alone.

The cost of hiring a human to go and collect phenotypic data for conventional breeding is increasing, while conversely the costs associated with genomic selection are getting lower as genotyping and computing technology becomes more affordable, according to Zhang.

“Breeders need to think about where the technology is pushing our field,” he said. “They will increasingly have to be versed statisticians and computer scientists to effectively apply genomic selection to their work, and I want to help ensure they have the skills and tools to make the most of the technology.”

Zhang has helped demonstrate to breeders in Latin America, Africa and Asia of the value of genomic selection by showing that the technique can improve the prediction accuracy of successful varieties in comparison to conventional breeding. He also credits joint efforts like the GOBII project, a large-scale public-sector effort supported by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, to apply genomic selection techniques to crop breeding programs across the developing world, as key towards curating the necessary data for genomic breeding programs.

“In the future, I hope to continue to help build better tools for breeders to move towards genomic selection,” Zhang said. “I chose to breed maize because of the potential impact it has to help smallholder farmers globally. Compared with other crops the yield potential of maize is very high, so I want to ensure we are using the best resources available that will help maize reach its full potential.”

Velu Govindan, a wheat breeder who has advanced the development of nutrient-rich millet and wheat varieties with higher yield potential, disease resistance and improved agronomic traits, has won the 2016 Young Scientist Award for Agriculture presented by India’s Society for Plant Research. (Photo: Xochiquetzal Fonseca/CIMMYT)

“Young Scientist Award” winner fights hidden hunger with high zinc wheat

Written by on February 27, 2017. Posted in News.

EL BATAN, Mexico (CIMMYT) – A scientist who has advanced the development of nutrient-rich millet and wheat varieties with higher yield potential, disease resistance and improved agronomic traits has won the 2016 Young Scientist Award for Agriculture presented by India’s Society for Plant Research.

Velu Govindan, a wheat breeder from India working with the HarvestPlus project at the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT), received the award last week for high-yielding, nutritious wheat varieties tolerant to rust diseases and climate change-induced heat and drought stress.

“I’m so honored,” said Govindan. “It’s a terrific vote of confidence for the work we’re doing at CIMMYT and through HarvestPlus to develop nutritious staple crops that significantly reduce hidden hunger and help millions of people lead better, more productive lives in the global south.”

CIMMYT scientists tackle micronutrient deficiency or “hidden hunger” by biofortifying crops to boost nutrition in poor communities where nutritional options are unavailable, limited or unaffordable. About 2 billion people worldwide suffer from hidden hunger, which is characterized by iron-deficiency anemia, vitamin A and zinc deficiency.

The wheat component of HarvestPlus, which is part of the Agriculture for Nutrition and Health program managed by the CGIAR global agricultural research project, involves developing and distributing wheat varieties with high zinc levels.

Govindan has been actively involved in the recently released wheat variety Zinc Shakthi – meaning “more power” – which has been adopted by some 50,000 smallholder farmers in India. In addition, two new varieties are projected soon to be widely adopted throughout the fertile northwestern Indo-Gangetic Plains of India.

“We’ve released ‘best bet’ varieties in India and Pakistan to ensure fast-track adoption of high zinc wheat,” Govindan said. “Farmers are adopting it, not only for its nutritional benefit, but also for its superior agronomic features like competitive yield, rust resistance and other farmer preferred traits.”

Before joining CIMMYT eight years ago, Govindan worked at the International Crops Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT), where he initiated the development of an iron-rich pearl millet called Dhanashakti – meaning “prosperity and strength” – which was commercialized in 2012 in the Indian state of Maharashtra, where it is now used by more than 100,000 smallholder farmers.

In addition to his primary responsibility of breeding nutrient-rich wheat varieties, Govindan works with the Global Wheat Program’s spring wheat breeding team at CIMMYT. The spring bread wheat program develops high yielding and climate resilient varieties, which are distributed to more than 80 countries in the wheat growing regions of the developing world.

Through its annual awards ceremony, the Society for Plant Research, which has also produced the international journal Vegetos since 1988, recognizes individual contributions from across a broad spectrum of plant-based research, including agriculture, biotechnology, industrial botany and basic plant sciences.

Stronger African seed sector to benefit smallholder farmers and economy

Written by on February 23, 2017. Posted in Features.

Good road networks to facilitate smallholders to access agricultural and seed markets is critical for higher food production both for consumption and investment. Source: CIMMYT — Good road networks to facilitate smallholders to access agricultural and seed markets is critical for higher food production both for consumption and investment. Above, the distance that it takes for most smallholder farmers in Mozambique to access different supply chain services. Source: CIMMYT

NAIROBI, Kenya (CIMMYT) – Africa’s agriculture sector is driven by smallholder farmers who also account for 70 percent of people directly reliant on agriculture for their livelihoods. Despite its large-scale impact across the continent, smallholder farming largely remains a low technology, subsistence activity.

Constructively engaging smallholders as investors as well as producers can help attract better investment into the sector, engaging farmers to produce bigger crops for sale rather than only for consumption at the household level. To achieve this goal, bigger financial investments are required to raise the standard of engagement and consequently that of Africa’s agricultural sector, according to Paswel Marenya, a social scientist who works with the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT),

Three recent studies conducted by CIMMYT scientists and their collaborators in eastern and southern Africa assessed potential interventions to address current inefficiencies in seed supply chains. They also explored how low purchasing power has hobbled smallholders trying to gain access to maize and legume seed markets. Even though these markets have recently expanded as more private companies invest in maize and legume businesses, smallholders have not benefited despite their significant role in the sector.

A key component of improving agricultural practices is to bolster seed systems to give smallholders better access to high-yielding, stress tolerant seeds. For example, in Tanzania, a weak seed supply chain led to smallholders recycling hybrid maize seeds up to three years in a row in some cases. The main source of legume seeds was often from seed saved from previous harvest.

Elsewhere, in Mozambique, smallholders surveyed were accessing only three improved varieties in 2014 despite the release of over 30 improved maize and legume varieties that year. In a country where 95 percent of the population is dependent on maize and legumes, which particularly for rural families provide the most important source of proteins, deep changes are needed to facilitate access to improved seeds.

The studies determined that ineffective seed distribution contributed significantly to limiting smallholder access to improved varieties. Additionally, low seed production from the few approved seed companies in the country has worsened the situation due to soaring costs, putting improved seed beyond the reach of millions of smallholders.

As a result, approximately 70 percent of Mozambican farmers use local maize varieties with poor resistance to pests and diseases and low productivity potential.

To address these issues, the studies unanimously recommend investments in rural roads to connect isolated communities with agricultural and seed markets and to make it more cost effective for seed distributors to reach far flung communities. Secondly, investments in storage facilities in Mozambique and a more effective national seed system are needed to facilitate adequate foundation seed for seed companies. In addition to favorable policies that attract more private seed and fertilizer companies, a stronger public agricultural extension system is required.

On a broader scale, government policymakers must take advantage of the burgeoning seed sector and mushrooming interest from private sector players.

“Regulatory agencies in the seed sector should take up a bigger role to facilitate and encourage competition that will widen seed access and bring down seed costs,” Marenya said. “This is the most sustainable solution that ensures the private sector is involved, farmers drive seed demand, and profit prospects are good.”

Rising food demand and projected growth of African food markets present a real opportunity for African farmers, Marenya added. In 2011, for example, sub-Saharan Africa imported $43 billion worth of such basic agricultural commodities as wheat, rice, maize, vegetable oil and sugar. Additionally, research estimates from Germany’s Deutsche Bank show that urban food markets will quadruple and that food and beverage markets are projected to grow to about $1 trillion by 2030 leading to bigger economic benefits overall.

While staple crop markets in the eastern and southern Africa region are relatively vibrant, many farmers gain access to these markets through informal links. Structured value chains, which include dependable and transparent information systems, quality storage facilities and supportive financial or credit services would enhance farmers’ role in the markets.

“Real change will occur when efforts be made to enable farmers and traders to profitably invest in superior pre- and post-harvest quality management as well as engage in contract-based supply chains to exploit opportunities brought about by increasing urbanization and trade,” Marenya said.

Scientists tackle deadly fall armyworm infestation devastating maize in southern Africa

Written by on February 23, 2017. Posted in News.

A stakeholders consultation meeting co-organized by the Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa, The FAO Subregional Office for Southern Africa and CIMMYT on the Fall Armyworm in Africa will be held April 27 and 28, 2017 in Nairobi, Kenya. Delegates will discuss status and strategy for effective management.

NAIROBI, Kenya (CIMMYT) – Smallholder farmers in eastern and southern Africa are facing a new threat as a plague of intrepid fall armyworms creeps across the region, so far damaging an estimated 287,000 hectares of maize.

Since mid-2016, scientists with the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT) and national agricultural research partners have been monitoring reports of sightings of the fall armyworm in Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda. Surveys conducted in farmers’ fields last year confirmed its presence in Kenya. The threat of the pest spreading into other eastern Africa countries is a significant risk due to similar planting seasons across the region.

To date, Zambia has confirmed reports that almost 90,000 hectares of maize have been affected, Malawi reports some 17,000 hectares have been hit, Zimbabwe reports a potential 130,000 hectares affected, while in Namibia, approximately 50,000 hectares of maize and millet have been damaged, according to the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) of the United Nations.

FAO hosted an emergency meeting in Harare, Zimbabwe, last week to determine the best possible ways to manage the pest, which is native to the Americas and was first reported in Africa in January 2016.

In consultation and closely aligned with national partners in eastern and southern Africa, CIMMYT advises that Integrated Pest Management (IPM) is the best possible solution to effectively tackle the pest in both the short and long term.

A range of measures, including host plant resistance, chemical control, pheromone traps, biological control, habitat management, intercropping with legumes and diversification of farming systems can be effective. Fall armyworm infestations have been reduced by 20 to 30 percent on maize intercropped with beans compared to maize alone, research shows.

Maize plants damaged by fall armyworm in a farmer's field in southern Malawi in Balaka District. CIMMYT/Christian Thierfelder — Maize plants damaged by fall armyworm in a farmer’s field in southern Malawi in Balaka District. CIMMYT/Christian Thierfelder

“Urgent collaborative efforts from CGIAR centers, national research partners and other research and development institutions in Africa must be deployed to design and develop an integrated pest management strategy, which can provide sustainable solutions to effectively tackle the adverse effects of the fall armyworm,” said Martin Kropff, CIMMYT’s director general. “The strategy should also include early warning systems that track the movements of the pest.”

“Scientists at CIMMYT are currently researching available breeding resources characterized with potential resistance to fall armyworm and screening elite maize germplasm to identify possible sources of resistance,” said B.M. Prasanna, director of CIMMYT’s Global Maize Program and the CGIAR Research Program MAIZE. “Maize lines with partial resistance to fall armyworm were developed in the past, but the work was not scaled-up given the need to focus breeding programs on other high priority traits, including drought tolerance, heat tolerance, and resistance to major diseases, such as maize lethal necrosis (MLN).”

“Breeding for fall armyworm resistant elite maize hybrids adapted to sub-Saharan Africa would require intensive germplasm screening and collaborative work with public and private sector partners,” Prasanna added, explaining that CIMMYT can mobilize its vast germplasm resources as well as modern breeding tools to speed up the breeding process, in a similar manner to the efforts being undertaken to tackle the menace of MLN in eastern Africa.

ArmywormImage — Graphic designed by Gerardo Mejia/CIMMYT

Why is the Fall Armyworm so destructive?

The fall armyworm – Spodoptera frugiperda – was first reported on the African continent in Nigeria. It subsequently appeared across parts of West and Central Africa, before extensively invading farmers’ fields in southern Africa in December 2016. The destructive activities of the fall armyworm have only served to add to devastation caused by the native African armyworm (Spodoptera exempta) and severe drought caused by an El Nino weather system in 2015-2016.

The larvae of the pest proliferate mainly due to wind dispersal and on host plants from eggs laid by moths. The pest can cause crop losses of up to 73 percent and once it is at an advanced larval development stage can become difficult to control with pesticides.

In the United States, the fall armyworm ranks second among seven of the most damaging agricultural pests leading to significant economic losses both on crops and wild plant species. A study estimates that total losses in the United States range from $39 million to $297 million annually and that related annual maize yield loss is 2 percent.

How the pest was introduced in Africa from its native habitat in the Americas is unclear. However, such invasive pests as the fall armyworm are known to cross continents either through infested commercial grain or through jet streams across oceans. Many fall armyworm moths have been collected in the Gulf of Mexico as far as 250 km from land, indicating the possibility of seasonal trans-Gulf migration between the United States and the tropics.

“We need to understand better the behavioral ecology of the fall armyworm in the Africa context. How it breeds, travels and feeds on crops, as this is critical for effectively managing the devastation this pest can cause and its major risk to food security,” Martin Kropff cautioned.

It is particularly hard to control, as the moths are strong flyers, breed at an exponential rate, and the larvae can feed on a wide variety of plant species. In addition, it can quickly develop resistance to pesticides if they are not used judiciously. The larvae burrow into the growing point of the maize plants and destroy the growth potential of plants or clip the leaves. They also burrow into the ear and feed on kernels.

CIMMYT scientists respond to some Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) regarding fall armyworm:

Q: Is the presence of fall armyworm confirmed in Kenya?

A: Yes. A survey carried out from June to August 2016 in Embu and Kisii counties showed fall armyworm infestation. Although the infestation is still low in comparison to other parts of the region, the situation could change. Scientists from the University of Nairobi also reported sightings of fall armyworm maize damage in Machakos County. Anani Bruce, CIMMYT Maize Entomologist, Nairobi, Kenya

Q: Does CIMMYT have fall armyworm-resistant maize varieties?

A: We do have a few CIMMYT maize inbred lines that can potentially offer partial resistance to the fall armyworm, but intensive breeding efforts are needed to identify more sources of resistance and to develop Africa-adapted improved maize hybrids with resistance to fall armyworm, including other relevant traits required by smallholders in the continent. B.M Prasanna, director of CIMMYT’s Global Maize Program & CGIAR Research Program MAIZE.

Q: There are reports of transgenic maize with resistance to fall armyworm; has this been confirmed?

A: A transgenic maize trial (under Confined Field Trials) was attacked by the fall armyworm in Namulonge and Kassesse (Uganda) during the first and second cropping seasons in 2016. The MON810 Bt maize entries showed resistance to the fall armyworm compared to non-transgenic maize materials. This however, needs to be further confirmed through additional experiments. Anani Bruce, CIMMYT Maize Entomologist

(Editing by Julie Mollins)

New Publications: Study shows benefits and trade-offs of conservation agriculture in southern Africa

Written by on February 23, 2017. Posted in Publications.

Farmers inspect a demonstration plot during a conservation agriculture field day near Songani in Zomba district, Malawi. Photo: P. Lowe/CIMMYT

Smallholder farmers throughout southern Africa continue to be constrained by high rainfall variability and lack of access to agricultural inputs, resulting in poor harvests and challenges from food shortages to malnutrition.

Conservation agriculture (CA) practices such as minimal soil disturbance, permanent soil cover and the use of crop rotation have been promoted as a useful set of tools that could improve farmer resilience to these challenges. However, matching CA practices to agro-ecological and socioeconomic conditions remain contentious.

In a recent study conducted by scientists at the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT) with other partners, empirical data and results from a cropping system model were combined to quantify benefits and trade-offs, in terms of sowing opportunity, yield, and yield variability, from adopting CA practices in southern Africa.

Simulated results in the study showed that some practices like direct seeding and farming in a basin planting system prepared late and at the onset of the rains improved timeliness of operations, and enabled earlier planting across all locations compared to conventional systems. Mechanized CA systems also offered farmers potential flexibility on when to plant.

However, timely planting of CA systems did not translate into higher yields when carried out during periods of high rainfall variability. Yield benefits of early plantings in CA were only apparent in Zimbabwe.

The authors conclude that draught power mechanized CA systems offer farmers the capacity to plant closer to optimum dates, and that model-generated optimum planting dates could be used to provide farmers with site-specific planting date recommendations.

Learn more about the study “Planting date and yield benefits from conservation agriculture practices across Southern Africa” here and more new publications from CIMMYT staff below.

Breeding value of primary synthetic wheat genotypes for grain yield. 2016. Jafarzadeh, J.; Bonnett, D.G.; Jannink, J.L.; Akdemir, D.; Dreisigacker, S.; Sorrells, M.E. PLoS One 11 (9): e0162860.
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. Crop Protection 88: 161-166.
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. Theoretical and Applied Genetics 129: 1843-1860.
Dwarfing genes Rht-B1b and Rht-D1b are associated with both type I FHB susceptibility and low anther extrusion in two bread wheat populations. 2016. Xinyao He; Singh, P.K.; Dreisigacker, S.; Sukhwinder-Singh; Lillemo, M.; Duveiller, E. PLoS One 11 (9): e0162499.
Genome-wide association study in wheat identifies resistance to the cereal cyst nematode Heterodera Filipjevi. 2016. Pariyar, S.R.; Dababat, A.A.; Sannemann, W.; Erginbas-Orakci, G.; Elashry, A.; Siddique, S.; Morgounov, A.I.; Leon, J.; Grundler, F. Phytopathology 106 (10): 1128-1138.
Genomic regions associated with root traits under drought stress in tropical maize (Zea mays L.). 2016. Zaidi, P.H.; Seetharam, K.; Krishna, G.; Krishnamurthy, S.L.; Gajanan Saykhedkar; Babu, R.; Zerka, M.; Vinayan, M.T.; Vivek, B. PLoS One 11 (10): e0164340.
Pm55, a developmental-stage and tissue-specific powdery mildew resistance gene introgressed from Dasypyrum villosum into common wheat. 2016. Ruiqi Zhang; Bingxiao Sun; Chen, J.; Aizhong Cao; Liping Xing; Yigao Feng; Caixia Lan; Peidu Chen. Theoretical and Applied Genetics 129: 1975-1984.
Stem rust resistance in a geographically diverse collection of spring wheat lines collected from across Africa. 2016. Prins, R.; Dreisigacker, S.; Pretorius, Z.A.; Schalkwyk, H. van.; Wessels, E.; Smit, C.; Bender, C.; Singh, D.; Boyd, L.A. Frontiers in Plant Science 7 (973): 1-15.
Wheat quality improvement at CIMMYT and the use of genomic selection on it. 2016. Guzman, C.; Peña-Bautista, R.J.; Singh, R.P.; Autrique, E.; Dreisigacker, S.; Crossa, J.; Rutkoski, J.; Poland, J.; Battenfield, S.D. Applied and Translational Genomics 11: 3-8.

Pakistan releases first quality protein maize varieties

Written by on February 23, 2017. Posted in News.

Field evaluation of QPM hybrids by team of experts in Harappa, Punjab. Photo: M. Waheed Anwar

ISLAMABAD (CIMMYT) – For the first time, Pakistan will release quality protein maize (QPM) varieties for commercial consumption, which could help boost nutrition across the country where nearly half of all children are chronically malnourished.

In January 2017, Pakistan’s maize variety evaluation committee approved QPHM200 and QPHM300, two QPM hybrids, for large-scale cultivation in Pakistan. Developed by the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT) in Colombia and evaluated and selected in Pakistan by the National Agricultural Research Center (NARC), these QPM hybrids can potentially yield up to 15 tons per hectare (ha) – over three times the national average – and can be provided to farmers for less than half the price of currently imported hybrid seeds.

Field evaluation of QPHM200 at Rawalakot, AJK, Pakistan. Photo: Muhammad Ashraf/NARC — Muhammad Hafiz (left) inside his QPHM300 field. Photo: M. Waheed Anwar

Maize is Pakistan’s third most important cereal following wheat and rice, producing one of the highest average grain yields in South Asia. While the majority of Pakistan’s maize is used for poultry feed, it is a major food source in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Gilgit Baltistan and the territories of Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK). These areas experience some of the highest rates of child malnutrition.

Normal maize is deficient in essential amino acids lysine and tryptophan, key protein building blocks that can’t be synthesized by human body and must be acquired from food sources. As a result, when human diets are comprised mainly of maize, consumers face a risk of malnutrition, particularly those with high protein requirements like young children, pregnant or lactating women. Conventionally bred QPM grain, which has been shown to improve nutritional status, has enhanced levels of lysine and tryptophan while the kernels have a favorable texture and flavor.

QPM was recently introduced to Pakistan through the CIMMYT-led Agricultural Innovation Program (AIP) in collaboration with national partners with support from the United States Agency for International Development. The commercialization of the two QPM hybrids was aimed at boosting nutrition by alleviating protein deficiency, particularly for low income communities where affording protein rich diets is difficult.

In addition, providing low cost feed like QPM to the poultry industry can also enhance the nutritional status of the country, an industry that is growing 8 to 10 percent annually.

“The taste of the cob is unique, it’s good quality,” said Muhammad Hafiz, a QPM grower from Pindi Bhattain area in central Punjab who participated in pre-commercialization trials of the hybrids.

The QPM hybrids were primarily selected based on their yield advantage. Farmers were open to adopting them since they performed better in many locations than normal commercial hybrids. The added benefit of quality protein will also help promote the hybrids while combating malnutrition.

The continued production of quality seed through retention of protein quality complemented by effective delivery mechanisms to farmers are important steps to scale up use of the hybrids. An active role by NARC and other value chain actors in Pakistan can help make seeds more easily accessible and available.

Breaking Ground: Monica Mezzalama keeps vital check on seed health and biosafety

Written by on February 22, 2017. Posted in Features.

Monica Mezzalama, head of CIMMYT's Seed. Photo: Xochiquetzal Fonseca/CIMMYT. — Monica Mezzalama, head of CIMMYT’s Seed Health Laboratory. Photo: Xochiquetzal Fonseca/CIMMYT.

Breaking Ground is a regular series featuring staff at CIMMYT

EL BATAN, Mexico (CIMMYT) — At the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT) it all starts with a seed. Each year, the non-profit receives requests and sends more than 700,000 packets of seed to researchers, agricultural organizations and farmers around the world from its headquarters near Mexico City. These seeds stand up to climate change, produce higher yields with fewer resources and provide the nutrition a growing global population needs.

However, before each seed travels across an international border, it is essential to ensure that each one has a clean bill of health, free from virus, fungus and bacteria pathogens. Infected seeds must be controlled or there is a risk that plant pathogens will spread, affecting crop health and potentially threatening food security.

That is where plant pathology expert Monica Mezzalama, head of CIMMYT’s Seed Health Laboratory, gets involved.

“Seed movement around the world is regulated to limit the spread of pathogens across international borders,” said the senior scientist. “I coordinate and supervise seed health testing to ensure all seeds that pass through CIMMYT meet these international standards and do not pose a risk.”

Securing the health of seeds ensures that researchers, breeders and partner organizations don’t encounter infected seed and is essential to maintaining efficient agricultural research that has impact, she added.

Since taking the helm of the Seed Health Laboratory 15 years ago, all seed that has been inspected on its way out of CIMMYT must meet certification. If unhealthy seed is found it must be quarantined and destroyed under the law, explained Mezzalama.

Seeds arriving from partner organizations, researchers or farmers are also tested for disease and granted a “seed release” by Mezzalama and her team. Authorized seed then moves on to CIMMYT researchers to be studied for disease resistance, heat tolerance and micronutrient content and added into international breeding programs. Others are placed in the maize and wheat germplasm bank, where over 175,000 different varieties are preserved on behalf of humanity and are freely available to all upon request.

A curiosity for disease and a passion to cure led Mezzalama to a career as a plant pathologist. While studying for an undergraduate degree in agronomy in her hometown of Turin, Italy, she visited nearby vineyards to study plant pathogens for the first time.

“It was working in the vineyards where I first saw plant pathogens at work and where I saw the impact they have on farmers, and what it means for their livelihoods,” she said.

After graduating in 1986, Mezzalama began her first job at CIMMYT working alongside virologist Peter Burnett on a project dedicated to barley yellow dwarf (BYD) virus, which effects barley, wheat, maize, rice and other grasses worldwide. The experience opened her mind to a new world where she learned the inner workings of plant pathogens and started to study for a doctoral degree in plant pathology in Italy.

Since returning to CIMMYT in 2001, Mezzalama has led the Seed Health Laboratory, set institutional biosafety protocols to protect against harmful incidents, which include regular reviews of the biosafety in laboratory settings, as well as well as guidelines to follow, and participated in several research projects. Most recently, she joined a project to control the spread of Maize Lethal Necrosis (MLN), a devastating virus that poses a severe risk to food security in eastern Africa.

The complex disease results from the infection of two deadly viruses, maize chlorotic mottle virus and sugar cane mosaic virus. It spreads through infected maize seed and insect pests. Mezzalama’s skill in plant pathology detection was called upon to organize the opening of seed health laboratories in Kenya and Zimbabwe and also train staff on how to detect seed infected with MLN or the two associated viruses.

Currently, Mezzalama is in the final stages of developing a standard of detection protocol, providing the agriculture industry with knowledge of best practices and affordable tools to detect MLN infected maize seed.

“There are several products and methods that may be used for MLN detection in seed, these must be tested to see which obtain the most accurate results efficiently while taking into price into account,” she said.

Accuracy, time and cost are important factors when developing MLN detection protocols as common practice, implemented by partners in Kenya and other impacted countries, she explained.

Key donors to CIMMYT’s efforts in controlling MLN include the CGIAR Research Program on Maize (MAIZE), the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation (BMGF), Syngenta Foundation for Sustainable Agriculture (SFSA), the Association for Strengthening Agricultural Research in Eastern and Central Africa (ASARECA), the Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA), the Kenya Agriculture and Livestock Research Organization (KALRO), and the Rwanda Agriculture Board (RAB), CGIAR Fund Donors and other generous contributors to CIMMYT maize research.