News – Page 113

Combating spread of MLN in Africa poses unique but surmountable challenges, seed health specialist says

Written by on November 14, 2016. Posted in Features.

Anne Wangui, a seed health technician at CIMMYT demonstrate DAS–ELISA method used for detecting MLN-causing viruses. B.Wawa/CIMMYT

NAIROBI, Kenya (CIMMYT) – The maize lethal necrosis (MLN) disease poses a major concern to researchers, seed companies and farmers in sub-Saharan Africa. The impact of MLN is massive in the affected countries, especially at the household level for smallholder farmers who can experience up to 100 percent yield loss.

Concerted regional efforts through a project funded by the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) over the past year have helped in prioritizing and targeting efforts to stop the spread of the disease from the endemic to the non-endemic countries in sub-Saharan Africa. The project target countries are Ethiopia, Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania and Uganda (currently MLN endemic), while Malawi, Zambia and Zimbabwe are MLN non-endemic but important commercial maize seed producing countries where the project implemented extensive MLN surveillance efforts.

Determining exactly how the MLN causing viruses, which include maize chlorotic mottle virus (MCMV) and sugarcane mosaic virus, are transmitted in the field through insect-vectors, infected plants and seed lots, has made diagnosis a key element in the efforts to halt the spread of the disease. If the viruses, in particular MCMV, the major causative agent, are introduced into a new area through contaminated seed and infected plants and not diagnosed and destroyed immediately, MLN can spread rapidly. Insect vectors in the field can play a significant role in transmitting viruses to the neighboring healthy maize fields.

In order to manage MLN at a regional level, partners in the project are developing harmonized diagnostic protocols to test, detect and prevent its spread through available mitigation measures. These were highlighted during the MLN Diagnostics and Management Project Review and Planning Meeting held in October, 2016 in Nairobi.

Monica Mezzalama, head of the CIMMYT Seed Health Laboratory in Mexico and a plant pathologist, shared her views on MLN testing and diagnostic methods that can be adopted to test maize plants and seed lots in the following interview.

Q: What is the role of diagnostics in managing MLN in Africa?

A: The role of sensitive, reliable, reproducible, affordable and standardized diagnostic tools is fundamental to the management of MLN in Africa. Only with an appropriate diagnosis tool, we can effectively detect and prevent further dispersal of the disease to the non-endemic areas through seed.

Q: What is the progress for detecting MLN in seed lots?

A: At the moment, detection in seed lots is still a weak link in the MLN management chain, although detection methods are available, such as ELISA and several versions of PCR, which are serological and molecular based, respectively, for the detection of MLN viruses. Extracting the pathogen from seed is more difficult than extracting it from leaf tissue, making it more time consuming to obtain clear and reliable results. Additionally, scientists are on the verge of resolving the significant issue of “sampling intensity,” which refers to the proportion of the seed sampled from the presented seed lots.

Q: What are some of the practices CIMMYT has adopted to ensure MLN-free seed production across regional centers in Africa?

A: Since 2013, CIMMYT has implemented several effective measures to ensure healthy MLN-free seed production and exchange. An aggressive strategy against the disease has been adopted at the main maize breeding station at Kenya Agricultural Livestock and Research Organization in Kiboko, by introducing a maize-free period of two months annually on the station as well as in the surrounding areas in close interaction with the farming communities in the neighboring villages. All this was possible thanks to the great collaboration between KALRO staff, CIMMYT colleagues, and the local farmers. This action taken for two consecutive years reduced drastically the incidence of MLN infected plants. In addition, a very thoughtful sensitization campaign was carried out, explaining how to effectively apply insecticide to control vectors, how to avoid the spread of the pathogen from one field to another by advising workers to change their clothes and shoes after working in an infected field. Also, management of planting dates has been implemented to avoid peaks of vectors populations or physically avoiding the arrival of the insects by planting according to the wind stream direction. In Zimbabwe, CIMMYT has also invested significant resources by establishing an MLN Quarantine Facility at Mazowe, near Harare to enable safe exchange of MLN virus-free breeding materials in southern Africa.

Q: Based on your experience with various diagnostic tools, what options would work for Africa’s seed companies and regulatory agencies to help detect MLN-causing viruses?

A: For detection of MLN viruses in green leaf tissue, I think immunostrips, ELISA and PCR techniques work very well and they can be adopted according to the level of specialization of the operator, infrastructure and financial resources available. As far as detection in dry seed is concerned, I think that at the moment the ELISA technique is the most reliable and affordable. PCR methods are available, but still some improvement needs to be done in the extraction of the viral RNA from the seed matrix.

Q: What factors do the relevant actors need to consider in the process of harmonizing diagnostic protocols across MLN-endemic and non-endemic countries?

A: Harmonization of protocols and procedures are needed not only for MLN, but also for effective design and implementation of phytosanitary aspects related to the exchange of commercial seed and vegetative material across borders. Unfortunately, it is not an easy task because of the number of actors involved, including national plant protection organizations, seed companies, seed traders, farmers, and policy makers. Nevertheless, the most important factors that, in my opinion, should be taken into consideration for consensus on harmonized protocols and where the efforts should focus on are: avoid the spread of the disease from country to country, and from the endemic to non-endemic areas within the same country; implement a well-coordinated and integrated package of practices for effective management of MLN in the endemic countries; reduce as much as possible economic losses due to the restriction on seed exchange; implement serious and effective seed testing and field inspections of the seed multiplication plots to prevent the incidence of MLN and for timely detection and elimination of infected plants.

View Meeting presentations here

MLN Pathogen Diagnosis, MLN-free Seed Production and Safe Exchange to Non-Endemic Countries Brochure

Visit the MLN website for more information

The CIMMYT-led MLN Diagnostics and Management Project, funded by USAID East Africa Mission is coordinating the above work with objectives to: a) prevent the spread of MLN, especially Maize Chlorotic Mottle Virus (MCMV), from the MLN-endemic countries in eastern Africa to non-endemic countries in sub-Saharan Africa; b) support the commercial seed sector in the MLN-endemic countries in producing MCMV-free commercial seed and promote the use of clean hybrid seed by the farmers; and c) to establish and operate a MLN Phytosanitary Community of Practice in Africa, for sharing of learning, MLN diagnostic and surveillance protocols, and best management practices for MLN control in Africa.

Partners invited to apply for allocation of new CIMMYT pre-commercial hybrids

Written by on November 11, 2016. Posted in News.

The International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT) is offering a new set of improved maize hybrids to partners in southern Africa and similar agroecological zones, to scale up production for farmers in these areas.

National agricultural research systems and seed companies are invited to apply for the allocation of these pre-commercial hybrids, after which they will be able to register, produce and offer the improved seed to farming communities.

The deadline for applications is 30 November 2016. The application form can be downloaded here.

The full announcement can be found here.

New Publications: With climate change, pests likely to spread to new agricultural areas

Written by on November 9, 2016. Posted in Publications.

Wheat showing the "white head" condition typically produced by stem-boring insects, in this case caused by wheat stem maggot (Meromyza americana). Photo: CIMMYT — Wheat showing the “white head” condition typically produced by stem-boring insects, in this case caused by wheat stem maggot (Meromyza americana). Photo: CIMMYT

EL BATAN, Mexico – Agriculture faces many threats from climate change – drought, heat, irregular weather among other environmental challenges. However, the spread of insects to new regions as the world’s climate changes is an additional threat to farmers globally, especially in Africa where climate-change effects are projected to be some of the most severe in the world.

Most agricultural pests are expected to respond to climate change. To predict what areas will face the greatest threat of the spread of pests, scientists from The International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT) modeled the current and future habitat suitability under changing climatic conditions for Tuta absoluta, Ceratitis cosyra and Bactrocera invadens, three important insect pests that are common across some parts of Africa and responsible for immense agricultural losses.

The scientists found that habitat suitability for the three insect pests is partially increasing across the continent, especially in those areas already overlapping with or close to most suitable sites under current climate conditions. The three pests are likely to have an impact on productive agricultural areas under future climatic conditions.

Read the full study “Future risks of pest species under changing climatic conditions,” and check out the other latest publications from CIMMYT scientists, below.

Evaluation of grain yield and quality traits of bread wheat genotypes cultivated in Northwest Turkey. 2016. Bilgin, O.; Guzman, C.; Baser, I.; Crossa, J.; Kayıhan Zahit Korkut; Balkan, A. Crop Science 56 (1): 73-84.
Harnessing diversity in wheat to enhance grain yield, climate resilience, disease and insect pest resistance and nutrition through conventional and modern breeding approaches. 2016. Mondal, S.; Rutkoski, J.; Velu, G.; Singh, P.K.; Crespo-Herrera, L.A.; Guzman, C.; Bhavani, S.; Caixia Lan; Xinyao He; Singh, R.P. Frontiers in Plant Science 7 (991): 1-15.
Sources of the highly expressed wheat bread making (wbm) gene in CIMMYT spring wheat germplasm and its effect on processing and bread-making quality. 2016. Guzman, C.; Yonggui Xiao; Crossa, J.; González-Santoyo, H.; Huerta-Espino, J.; Singh, R.P.; Dreisigacker, S. Euphytica 209: 689-692.
Unlocking the genetic diversity of Creole wheats. 2016. Vikram, P.; Franco-Barrera, J.; Burgueño, J.; Huihui Li; Sehgal, D.; Saint Pierre, C.; Ortiz, C.; Sneller, C.; Tattaris, M.; Guzman, C.; Sansaloni, C.P.; Fuentes Dávila, G.; Reynolds, M.P.; Sonder, K.; Singh, P.K.; Payne, T.S.; Wenzl, P.; Sharma, A.; Bains, N.; Gyanendra Pratap Singh; Crossa, J.; Sukhwinder-Singh. Nature Scientific Reports 6: No. 23092
Wheat waxy proteins: polymorphism, molecular characterization and effects on starch properties. 2016. Guzman, C.; Alvarez, J.B. Theoretical and Applied Genetics 129 (1): 1-16.
Climate change impacts and potential benefits of heat-tolerant maize in South Asia. 2016. Kindie Tesfaye Fantaye; Zaidi, P.H.; Gbegbelegbe, S.D.; Bober, C.; Dil Bahadur Rahut; Getaneh, F.; Seetharam, K.; Erenstein, O.; Stirling, C. Theoretical and Applied Climatology. In press.
Diversity of phenotypic (plant and grain morphological) and genotypic (glutenin alleles in Glu-1 and Glu-3 loci) traits of wheat landraces (Triticum aestivum) from Andalusia (Southern Spain). 2016. Ayala, M.; Guzman, C.; Peña-Bautista, R.J.; Alvarez, J.B. Genetic Resources and Crop Evolution 63: 465-475.
Future risks of pest species under changing climatic conditions. 2016. iber-Freudenberger, L.; Ziemacki, J.; Tonnang, H.; Borgemeister, C. PLoS One 11 (4): e0153237.
Genomic selection for processing and end-use quality traits in the CIMMYT spring bread wheat breeding program. 2016. Battenfield, S.D.; Guzman, C.; Gaynor, C.; Singh, R.P.; Peña-Bautista, R.J.; Dreisigacker, S.; Fritz, A.K.; Poland, J. The Plant Genome 9 (2): 1-12.
Participation in rural land rental markets in Sub-Saharan Africa: who benefits and by how much? evidence from Malawi and Zambia. 2016. Chamberlin, J.; Ricker-Gilbert, J. American Journal of Agricultural Economics 98 (5): 1507-1528.

Improved drought tolerant maize varieties: a sustainable solution to climate change

Written by on November 8, 2016. Posted in News.

Rodney Lunduka speaking at the AFSC. Photo: K. Kaimenyi/CIMMYT — Rodney Lunduka, CIMMYT socioeconomist, speaking at the AFSC. Photo: K. Kaimenyi/CIMMYT

NAIROBI, Kenya (CIMMYT) — Is there too much talk and not enough action regarding food security in Africa? For two days, stakeholders in the agricultural sector met in Nairobi, Kenya, for the 4^th Africa Food Security Conference (AFSC), held at the Crowne Plaza Hotel on 12 and 13 October 2016. Experts in crop production, nutrition, agricultural inputs, global development and even microfinance, chimed in on the seemingly endless task of making Africa food secure. Speakers at the event called for a lasting solution to this challenge, citing low crop productivity, food loss, and wastage from under-developed food value chains as some of the biggest impediments to food security. However, climate change and variability remain the most devastating occurrences to farmers across the globe, and sub-Sahara Africa in particular.

According to a FAO report on global food losses and food waste, the food currently lost in Africa could feed 300 million people. The report also mentions that food waste and losses in developing countries occur at early stages of the food value chain, where constraints in harvesting techniques, finances and technical know-how exist. Further, 40 percent of losses in developing countries occur at post-harvest and processing levels, translating into lost income for small farmers and higher prices for poor consumers.

While infrastructure investments in the food value chain can help reduce the amount of food lost or wasted, and in effect feed more people, achieving a truly food secure Africa means building resilience to climate change. To do so, it is critical that production technologies are developed to adapt to the changing climate, natural resources such as land and water are properly utilized, and the environment left intact.

In the last decade, the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT) has responded swiftly to the ravages of climate change, developing responses that are accessible and affordable to smallholder farmers in sub-Sahara Africa, in whose farms the bulk of food consumed is grown.

In his presentation at the AFSC, Rodney Lunduka, socioeconomist at CIMMYT, shared that in addition to loss of yield in moderate drought, maize yield losses double when temperatures exceed 30°C, severely affecting farmers’ productivity.

The CIMMYT booth at AFSC. Photo: K. Kaimenyi/CIMMYT

“CIMMYT’s two major solutions to building farmers’ resilience to climate change are a combination of drought tolerant (DT) maize varieties, and good agronomic practices, which our studies show are being quickly adopted,” Lunduka says, adding: “this combined approach has the potential to double farmers’ yields, translating to more food and income at household level.”

Preliminary results from a household survey on the impact of DT maize in southern Africa reveal that a simple switch from non-DT maize varieties to DT maize varieties can increase farmers’ total maize production by 0.7 tons per hectare (ha) on average. The study spanned 4,700 households in Angola, Malawi, Mozambique, Zambia and Zimbabwe between 2013 and 2015. In Zimbabwe, farmers would produce 0.6 tons more yield/ha with DT maize, where the average is about 0.8 to one ton per hectare (t/ha) with non-DT maize. In Malawi, farmers were able to produce one ton more per ha – on average 1.3 to 1.5 t/ha – when DT varieties and good agronomic practices were combined.

“Good farm practices such as residue retention and intercropping with legumes are popular, the former for its simplicity, and the latter for its income potential,” says Lunduka on adopting good agronomic practices. “It is common to see maize intercropped with soya beans, cow peas, groundnuts, or pigeon peas, which most farmers can afford and have the skills to plant.”

While uptake of DT maize varieties is gradually increasing in sub-Sahara Africa, there still exist some barriers to total adoption, notably unfavorable government policies, and production and purchase of old varieties by seed producers and farmers respectively. Government policies can encourage replacement of old varieties, for instance, by offering subsidies on seed production to companies that produce improved varieties.

Read Lunduka’s presentation at the AFSC here.

Taking aim at climate change

Written by on November 7, 2016. Posted in News.

cimmyt-responding-to-climate-change — Learn how CIMMYT is responding to climate change

Climate change is already happening. Without taking immediate action to deliver innovative research findings to farmers, climate change will be devastating to food security, particularly in the developing world.

Such organizations as CIMMYT are here to help. Over 90 percent of our work is dedicated to overcoming the challenges associated with climate change in Africa, Asia and Latin America.

Working with hundreds of partners, CIMMYT develops combined packages of solutions, including developing improved seeds and introducing new practices that allow smallholder farmers to adapt to climate change, mitigating environmental impact, while increasing food production.

Our research and experience working with farmers sends a clear message to policymakers: it is possible to create advanced farming systems in the developing world that meet global challenges, but only with further investment in research and by adopting new approaches on a vast scale.

Learn how CIMMYT is responding to climate change

First drought tolerant and insect resistant “stacked” transgenic maize harvested in Kenya

Written by on November 4, 2016. Posted in Features.

A maize stem infested by the African stem borer that is predominant in the highlands. B.Wawa/CIMMYT

NAIROBI, Kenya (CIMMYT) – Life has become more difficult in Kenya for the intrepid stem borer. For the first time, transgenic maize hybrids that combine insect resistance and drought tolerance have been harvested from confined field trials, as part of a public-private partnership to combat the insect, which costs Kenya $90 million dollars in maize crop losses a year.

Conducted at the Kenya Agricultural and Livestock Research Organization (KALRO) centers in Kitale and Kiboko in April and May, the experiments were managed by the Water Efficient Maize for Africa (WEMA) project, a collaboration led by the African Agricultural Technology Foundation (AATF). The test crop successfully weathered intense, researcher-controlled infestations of two highly-aggressive Kenyan insect pests— the spotted stem borer and African stem borer.

The maize is referred to as “stacked” because it carries more than one inserted gene for resilience; in this case, genes from the common soil microbe Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) that confers resistance to certain species of stem borer, and another from Bacillus subtilis that enhances drought tolerance.

Bt hybrid maize showed better resistance to the stem borer compared to the conventional commercial maize. F. Maritim/KALRO

First time maize resists two-pest attack

WEMA partners from KALRO, the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT), U.S. seeds company Monsanto and the African Agricultural Technology Foundation (AATF) hope that, given the successful results of this experiment, they will soon be able to test the new maize in national trials.

“This is the first planting season of the stacked materials and, from the initial data, there was a clear difference between the plants containing the stem borer resistance traits and the conventional commercial maize grown for comparison, which showed a lot of damage,” said Murenga Mwimali, WEMA coordinator at KALRO.

The maize in the Kiboko experiment was infested with the spotted stem borer (Chilo partellus, by its scientific name), a pest found mostly in the lowlands. At Kitale, the scientists besieged the crops with the African stem borer (Busseola fusca), the predominant maize pest in the highlands. This was the first time that Bt maize had been tested in the field against Busseola fusca, according to Stephen Mugo, regional representative for CIMMYT in Africa and leader of the center’s WEMA team.

“From our observations, this is the first time that stacked Bt genes provided control for both Chilo partellus and Busseola fusca in maize,” Mugo said, adding that stem borers annually chew their way through 13.5 percent of Kenya’s maize, representing a loss of 0.4 million tons of grain.

“Losses can reach 80 percent in drought years, when maize stands are weakened from a lack of water and insect infestation,” he explained. Although the impact of the stem borer in the field often goes unnoticed because the insects sometimes destroy the plant from the root, the loss is significant for a country that depends on maize for food.

The new maize was developed using lines from Monsanto and CIMMYT-led conventional breeding for drought tolerance.

A Bt hybrid maize with resistance to the African stem borer and tolerant to drought harvested at Kitale research center, Kenya. B.Wawa/CIMMYT

Seeking approval for widespread testing and use

Trial harvesting took place under close supervision by inspectors from the Kenya Plant Health Inspectorate Services (KEPHIS) and the National Biosafety Authority (NBA), strictly in line with regulatory requirements for handling genetically modified crops in Kenya.

The NBA has given partial approval to KALRO and AATF for open cultivation of the stacked transgenic hybrid maize. Once full approval is given, the varieties can be grown in non-restricted field conditions like any other variety and the Bt maize can be tested in the official national performance trials organized by KEPHIS to test and certify varieties for eventual use by farmers.

“The data we are generating in this trial will support further applications for transgenic work in Kenya, particularly for open cultivation,” Mwimali said.

Public initiatives key to harnessing genetic diversity for food security, says genetic resources expert

Written by on November 3, 2016. Posted in News.

Maize collections held at the CIMMYT genebank in Mexico. Photo: CIMMYT

EL BATAN, Mexico (CIMMYT) – Public initiatives to facilitate the use of genetic resources must be promoted to demonstrate the value they add to agriculture for development and food security research, says Kevin Pixley, director of the Genetic Resources Program at the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT).

Pixley heads the Seeds of Discovery (SeeD) initiative at CIMMYT through which scientists are working to unlock novel, or new, genetic diversity held in germplasm banks – often popularly known as gene banks – to accelerate the development of maize and wheat varieties that grow better under environmental pressures like erratic weather and water scarcity, as well as provide increased nutritional value. CIMMYT scientists do this by identifying crop varieties that display valuable traits like drought and heat-stress tolerance that allow them to flourish despite these stresses.

Greater accessibility can also increase the breadth of impact due to research results being freely available to all, said Pixley who will speak at the International Agrobiodiversity Congress on Nov. 7, in New Delhi.

“By characterizing the genetic makeup of maize and wheat collections, SeeD has generated ‘fingerprints’ describing the diversity of two of humanity’s major food crops,” Pixley said. “To multiply the impacts of these results, SeeD has created a genetic resources utilization platform for breeders and researchers, made up of publicly available data and software tools.”

Since the project began in 2012, it has detailed the genetic makeup of over 110,000 maize and wheat samples, sharing information with institutions in Africa, Latin America and South Asia to aid in developing disease resistant, drought tolerant germplasm with improved nutritional and quality traits.

Pixley, who will discuss the importance of public initiatives in the conservation and facilitation of genetic resources in, shared some insights on the role of agrobiodiversity in the effort to achieve food security in the following interview.

Q: What do you hope to contribute by your talk?

We’ll present the SeeD initiative as a unique example and model of a public initiative to characterize and facilitate the use of genetic diversity to address agricultural production challenges of today and the future. There is tremendous value in executing such a project in the public domain; for example, 1) the benefits from a one-time investment are shared, thus saving the costs of multiple individual efforts, 2) the knowledge gained is freely available, thus reducing the likelihood that individuals will seek exclusive rights to any discovery, and 3) equitable access to the benefits of genetic diversity is actively promoted by sharing results, tools and methods with individuals and institutions large and small.

Q: What is the importance of protecting genetic resources for global food security and health?

Dozens of instances are known in which crop wild relatives or landraces have provided essential genes for disease or pest resistance, abiotic stress tolerance or quality traits in such crops as wheat, rice, tomato, potato, sunflower and maize. As world climate is changing and resources available for agriculture – such as arable land and water for irrigation – are declining, crops will be challenged by predictable – such as heat and drought – and unpredictable – such as new diseases and pests – stresses. Our future food security will undoubtedly be enhanced by, and may indeed be dependent on the use of genetic diversity conserved and made available through germplasm banks.

Q: What would you like to see come out of the conference?

I’d like to see the advancement of the conversation about the importance of conservation, sustainable and equitable use of genetic resources. There are diverse views about how humanity should share the responsibilities, costs and benefits of conserving and using genetic resources. This is a complex conversation with scientific, social, cultural, economic, and ethical dimensions. This is a conversation that may determine the very survival of future generations, and it is therefore of vital importance to society.

Promoting drought tolerant maize seed in southern Africa

Written by on November 2, 2016. Posted in Features.

The orange maize was showcased at a seed fair in Mutoko district, Zimbabwe. In addition to high yielding, disease resistant and drought-tolerant, the maize variety reduces farmers’ vulnerability to the effects of drought and other stresses, such as heat. Photo: J. Siamachira/CIMMYT.

HARARE (CIMMYT) — In its continuing efforts to increase the productivity of maize systems in southern Africa, CIMMYT held seed fairs in two districts of Zimbabwe in September to promote the sharing of information and knowledge about new seed options for farmers and to encourage farmer-to-farmer information exchange.

At the seed fairs, which are like trade fairs, farmers, seed companies, government agencies and non-governmental organizations displayed seed and technological products. The idea of the seed fairs arose out of the problem of suitable dryland crop varieties for the climate in most parts of Zimbabwe.

The main aim of the seed fairs, held in Mutoko and Murewa districts in Mashonaland East Province, was to help smallholder farmers access information that would help them make informed decisions in coping with drought and climate change adaptation. This included awareness on various drought tolerant seeds, and a new variety of nutritious pro-vitamin A maize seed available on the market. Another focus of the seed fairs was to promote good agricultural practices, including sustainable intensification practices such as conservation agriculture.

Funded by the Technical Centre for Agricultural and Rural Cooperation (CTA), the seed fairs were attended by more than 1,400 smallholder farmers from the two districts, eight seed companies, traditional leaders, local government officials, non-governmental organizations and policy makers, as well as CIMMYT’s regional partners from Malawi, South Africa and Zambia. Regional participation is an important component of CIMMYT’s information exchange initiative.

The seed fairs helped establish linkages among farmers, seed companies, researchers, extension agents and agro-dealers. In addition, the seed fairs provided an important avenue for stakeholders to share critical information for informed decision-making at different levels. This has boosted the farmers’ confidence and increased the sense of ownership of their own activities.

“By bringing multiple stakeholders together, the fairs helped stimulate information sharing networks that are beneficial to all stakeholders,” said Peter Setimela, CIMMYT senior seed systems specialist. He added: “Planting wrong seeds lowers harvests and threatens food and nutritional security of the smallholder farmers. In our breeding for stress tolerance, we have tested and evaluated maize varieties from different areas of Zimbabwe under local conditions, incorporated various desirable traits and developed suitable varieties for local climatic conditions.”

Mutoko and Murewa districts were selected as the first beneficiaries of this information dissemination initiative. The fairs sought to build on progress achieved in the CIMMYT on-farm trials conducted in the two districts under a different project – Drought Tolerant Maize for Africa.

Although the main focus was drought tolerant and pro-vitamin A maize, other crop seeds such as finger millet, pearl millet, sorghum, beans, Bambara nuts, pumpkin and ground nut, were also exhibited by farmers.

International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI) research officer Irenie Chakoma (extreme right) and CIMMYT research associate Angeline Mujeyi are inundated by requests for information from smallholder farmers at the Mutoko seed fair. Photo: J. Siamachira/CIMMYT.

The farmers were given space to exhibit their own seeds. This was critical in providing an avenue for farmers to exchange seeds that are not marketed through the formal systems but which farmers like. The objective of these demonstrations was to revive local seed varieties, share information on them and acknowledge that these crops thrive in local conditions, and that they could contribute to food and nutritional security.

Mutoko smallholder farmer Anna Chirere, who actively participated in the seed fair, said: “We now know that knowledge is power. So we are going to copy this knowledge from our fellow farmers and seed houses here present.”

CIMMYT plans to make the seed fairs an annual event. This would help the farmers to continue learning from one another and enhance cooperation among the community members. Maize seed on exhibition was drought-tolerant and also included the newly released pro-vitamin A maize that is orange in color, hence the name ‘orange maize’.

In Zimbabwe, nearly one in five children under the age of five is vitamin A deficient. This deficiency can lead to lower IQ, stunting, blindness, increased susceptibility to diseases and higher health risks to mothers – and their infants – during childbirth. According to the World Bank, malnourished children are more likely to drop out of school, and have lower incomes as adults, reducing overall economic growth.

Thokhozile Ndhlela, CIMMYT maize breeder, said many people in rural Zimbabwe cannot afford expensive vitamin A-rich foods such as yellow, orange and red pigmented fruits, dark leafy vegetables, or animal products such as milk, eggs, liver and cheese.

Pro-vitamin A maize, when eaten as a staple, could provide half of the average daily requirement of vitamin A for women and children. In addition to its nutritional benefits, pro-vitamin A maize is bred to yield higher than conventional varieties and is disease resistant and drought tolerant.

Ndhlela said there were 11 varieties of the pro-vitamin A maize in southern African, six of which were already in commercial production in Zambia after a successful launch of an initial three hybrids in 2012.

About The Centre for Agricultural and Rural Cooperation (CTA)

The Technical Centre for Agricultural and Rural Cooperation (CTA) is a joint international institution of the African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) Group of States and the European Union (EU). The organization also works with a wide network of ACP-EU public and private sector bodies as well as international organizations around the world. CTA’s mission is to advance food and nutritional security, increase prosperity and support sound natural resource management through information, communication and knowledge management, multi-stakeholder engagement, capacity-building and empowerment of agricultural and rural development organizations and networks in ACP countries.

Conference highlights urgent need to harness genetic resources for future food security

Written by on November 1, 2016. Posted in News.

Climate change is likely to have a huge impact on cereal farmers in India. CIMMYT/Emma Quilligan

NEW DELHI (CIMMYT) — The International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT) will participate in the first International Agrobiodiversity Congress (IAC) from November 6 to 9, 2016 in New Delhi. The IAC aims to provide a common platform for stakeholders, including farmers, scientists, policymakers and industry leaders to share their experiences and knowledge in agrobiodiversity management and genetic resource conservation. The Congress is being hosted by the Indian Society of Plant Genetic Resources and Bioversity International, and co-organized by CIMMYT and the Borlaug Institute for South Asia.

“Multiple challenges in future wheat production – including heat stress, changes in rainfall and a growing threat of increased virulent diseases – will increase the demand for new varieties that can cope with stress and changing environment,” said Arun Joshi, CIMMYT’s regional representative in Asia. “This congress will focus on advances that can be made through increased diversity and targeted use of genetic resources to produce improved varieties.”

Martin Kropff, director general of CIMMYT, will give a keynote address on why effective partnerships and agrobiodiversity are needed to feed nine billion people. He will also chair a plenary session on “Agrobiodiversity for Sustainable Development Goals.” Other key themes for plenaries include agrobiodiversity for adaptation to and mitigation of climate change, intellectual property rights, access and benefit sharing, farmers’ rights, quarantine, biosafety and biosecurity and science-led innovation for agrobiodiversity management and sustainable use.

CIMMYT is also organizing a satellite session titled “Harnessing Biodiversity for Food Security and Sustainable Development.” This session will bring together numerous partners of the SeeD initiative, which seeks to unlock the genetic potential of maize and wheat genetic resources by providing breeders with a toolkit to improve targeted use in the development of high-yielding, climate-ready and resource-efficient cultivars. The session will also cover the importance of enhancing the use of genetic resources for improved agriculture, and how doing so can help meet several of the 17 U.N. Sustainable Development Goals by 2030. SeeD is a pioneering partner in the Diversity Seek initiative, which seeks synergies among projects to harness the diversity of crop species to feed humankind.

In addition to Kropff, CIMMYT speakers at the conference include Ravi Singh, distinguished scientist and head of bread wheat improvement and Kevin Pixley, director of CIMMYT’s genetic resources program. Other researchers working to improve the genetic potential of maize and wheat will also participate. CIMMYT will also host an evening reception on Nov. 7 to mark CIMMYT’s achievements over the last 50 years.

Check out the IAC program here and list of keynote speakers here.

National maize stem borer mass rearing laboratory inaugurated in Pakistan

Written by on October 30, 2016. Posted in News.

Islamabad (CIMMYT) — CIMMYT, in partnership with the Pakistan Agricultural Research Council (PARC), inaugurated the first national maize stem borer (Chilo partellus) mass rearing laboratory at the National Agricultural Research Center in Islamabad on 25 October 2016.

Unveiling the inaugural plaque of the first national maize stem borer mass rearing laboratory in Pakistan. Photo: CIMMYT

Maize stem borer (Chilo partellus) is a destructive insect pest of maize in Pakistan. Yield losses because of this pest are estimated to reach 10-40% and in some severe incidences up to 60% losses have been reported. Application of insecticides is one of the practices mostly used by resource-rich farmers. However, cash-trapped small scale farmers have to face the yield losses unless they apply cultural practices which vary from place to place. The other alternative, perhaps the better option, is the use of tolerant varieties. Maize germplasms that have inherent resistance/tolerance to maize stem borer not only save farmers money from the lower use of pesticides, but also help to have a greener agriculture by reducing greenhouse gas emissions.

Ribbon cutting ceremony by Nadeem Amjad, acting Chairman of PARC. Photo: CIMMYT

Identification of host-plant resistance in maize is part of the commissioned projects under the Agricultural Innovation Program (AIP) for Pakistan. Under AIP, stem borer resistance maize varieties sourced from the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA) are being screened to identify the varieties best adapted to Pakistan’s maize growing ecology.

Habib Iqbal, maize entomologist, explaining about the maize stem borer mass rearing facility. Photo: CIMMYT

To accelerate this screening process, it was necessary to have a stem borer mass rearing facility where larvae could be produced in mass and thereafter released in maize varieties as a form of artificial infestation. “Until recently, it was not possible to conduct such activities in Pakistan due to the non-availability of such a facility. Thanks to the collaboration of PARC and CIMMYT and the generous support from USAID, we are now officially opening the first stem borer mass rearing laboratory in Pakistan,” said M. Imtiaz, CIMMYT’s Country Representative and AIP Project Leader, during his inaugural speech.

Opening address by Md. Imtiaz, CIMMYT’s country representative in Pakistan. Photo: CIMMYT

Nadeem Amjad, acting Chairman of PARC, said: “During the last couple of years, we have seen very promising results under the AIP maize program. The introduction of high yielding climate resilient maize germplasm, the distribution of protein enriched maize seeds to farmers, testing of pro-vitamin A and zinc enriched maize hybrids and the introduction of biotic stress tolerant maize varieties are among the unique interventions which were not well addressed by Pakistan’s maize sector for long.” During his concluding remarks, Amjad also added that the inauguration of the laboratory will further cement PARC’s decade’s long collaborations with CIMMYT. He thanked CIMMYT and USAID for their generous support.

Nadeem Amjad, acting chairman of PARC, delivering his closing speech. Photo: CIMMYT

The field screening under artificial infestation is showing encouraging results where some entries show more than 90% survival rate by resisting the pest attack. “We need to document the results and further check in upcoming seasons to confirm these preliminary results so that tolerant germplasm can be available to end users in the shortest time possible,” says AbduRahman Beshir, CIMMYT’s Maize Improvement and Seed Systems Specialist. The inauguration ceremony was attended by scientists and stakeholders from the public and private sector and USAID. During the inauguration, it was announced that the national laboratory will serve as a training and research center for students and researchers from the public and private sector of Pakistan.

World Food Prize presentation updates delegates on key contributions of MasAgro

Written by on October 27, 2016. Posted in News.

judith-and-bram-2 — L-R: Judith Rodin, president of the Rockefeller Foundation; Bram Govaerts, CIMMYT Latin America Regional Representative at the World Food Prize. CIMMYT/Ricardo Curiel

DES MOINES, Iowa (CIMMYT) – Transforming subsistence agriculture and unsustainable farming systems into productive and sustainable operations has been the key focus of scientist Bram Govaerts, 2014 recipient of the Norman Borlaug Award for Field Research and Application at the World Food Prize

Govaerts manages the Sustainable Modernization of Traditional Agriculture (MasAgro) program at the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT), which aims to enable farmers to produce high quality staple grains in sufficient quantities to meet the needs of the Mexican market.

“Starting five years ago, MasAgro and, in particular, its work on technological innovation in farmers’ fields, have been acting upon the infamous instructions of Dr. Norman Borlaug, founder of CIMMYT and of the World Food Prize,” said Govaerts, Latin America Regional Representative of the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT) while participating in the Borlaug Dialogue panel “Borlaug–Rockefeller: Inspiring a new generation,” coordinated by the World Food Prize Foundation.

“Borlaug told his acolytes to ‘take it to the farmer,’ which is exactly what we have been doing through MasAgro,” Govaerts said.

On the panel hosted by Rockefeller Foundation President Judith Rodin, which included three other young researchers who are also Norman Borlaug Award for Field Research and Application laureates, Govaerts added that MasAgro has produced successful results because its applied field research and capacity building activities transfer technologies to the farm sector through decision-making processes based on reliable and objective data.

“We demand scientific excellence of ourselves because agriculture can only be transformed through innovation networks, mechanisms and smart tools that enable farmers to realize their full potential,” Govaerts said.

Each year, more than 1,000 private and public sector leaders from the international community meet in Des Moines, the state capital of Iowa in the United States, to participate in the Borlaug Dialogue. The conference precedes the presentation of the World Food Prize, which was established by Borlaug, who reached the pinnacle of his career when he was awarded the 1970 Nobel Peace Prize, in recognition of exceptional leaders who have contributed to the fight against world hunger.

Previously, three CIMMYT researchers—Evangelina Villegas, Surinder Vasal and Sanjaya Rajaram—have been awarded this important prize. This year, the World Food Prize Foundation recognized Maria Andrade from Cape Verde, Robert Mwanga from Uganda, and Jan Low and Howarth Bouis, both from the United States, for their work developing and disseminating micronutrient-rich crops, including the biofortified, vitamin A-enriched orange-fleshed sweet potato.

Andrew Mude received the 2016 Norman Borlaug Award for Field Research and Application for developing an insurance program for previously uninsured communities whose livelihoods depend on herding cattle, goats, sheep and camels in the remote, arid and drought-prone lowlands of the Horn of Africa. The field award is sponsored by the Rockefeller Foundation.

New Publications: How to better breed maize for future climates in Latin America

Written by on October 25, 2016. Posted in Publications.

A CIMMYT staff member at work in the maize active collection in the Wellhausen-Anderson Plant Genetic Resources Center. CIMMYT/Xochiquetzal Fonseca — A CIMMYT staff member at work in the maize active collection in the Wellhausen-Anderson Plant Genetic Resources Center.
CIMMYT/Xochiquetzal Fonseca

EL BATAN, Mexico (CIMMYT) — A new study from The International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT) evaluates how elite lines of maize in tropical conditions throughout Latin America perform under abiotic stresses like drought, nitrogen (N) deficiency and combined heat and drought stress.

By 2050, demand for maize is predicted to double in the developing world, and cereal production will need to greatly rise to meet this demand. However, drought and N deficiency are common detrimental factors towards achieving this goal throughout the developing world. The development of new maize germplasm able to tolerate these stresses is crucial if productivity in maize-based farming systems is to be sustained or increased in tropical lowlands in Latin America and elsewhere.

The authors found that only a few lines were tolerant across these conditions, which re-emphasizes the need to separately screen germplasm under each abiotic stress to improve tolerance. Based on high best linear unbiased predicted general combining ability, they found it will be possible to develop hybrids tolerant to multiple abiotic stresses without incurring any yield penalty under non-stressed conditions using these inbred lines. These elite lines can immediately be used in tropical breeding programs in Mexico, Central and South America, and sub-Saharan Africa to improve tolerance to abiotic stress to ensure food security in a changing climate.

Read more about the study “Identification of Tropical Maize Germplasm with Tolerance to Drought, Nitrogen Deficiency, and Combined Heat and Drought Stresses” here and check out other new publications from CIMMYT staff below.

AlphaSim : software for breeding program simulation. 2016. Faux, A.M.; Gorjanc, G.; Gaynor, C.; Battagin, M.; Edwards, S.M.; Wilson, D.L.; Hearne, S.; Gonen, S.; Hickey, J.M. The Plant Genome 9 (3) : 1-14.
Conservation agriculture-based wheat production better copes with extreme climate events than conventional tillage-based systems: a case of untimely excess rainfall in Haryana, India. 2016. Aryal, J.P.; Sapkota, T.B.; Stirling, C.; Jat, M.L.; Jat, H.S.; Munmun Rai; Mittal, S.; Jhabar Mal Sutaliya. Agriculture, Ecosystems and Environment 233 : 325-335.
Grain yield performance and flowering synchrony of CIMMYT’s tropical maize (Zea mays L.) parental inbred lines and single crosses. 2016. Worku, M.; Makumbi, D.; Beyene, Y.; Das, B;. Mugo, S.N.; Pixley, K.V.; Banziger, M.; Owino, F.; Olsen, M.; Asea, G.; Prasanna, B.M. Euphytica 211 (3) : 395-409.
Growing the service economy for sustainable wheat intensification in the Eastern Indo-Gangetic Plains: lessons from custom hiring services for zero-tillage. 2016. Keil, A.; D’souza, A.; McDonald, A. Food Security 8 (5) : 1011-1028.
Wheat landraces currently grown in Turkey : distribution, diversity, and use. 2016. Morgounov, A.I.; Keser, M.; Kan, M.; Kucukcongar, M.; Ozdemir, F.; Gummadov, N.; Muminjanov, H.; Zuev, E.; Qualset, C. Crop Science 56 (6) : 3112-3124.
First report of sugar beet nematode, Heterodera schachtii Schmidt, 1871 (Nemata: Heteroderidae) in sugar beet growing areas of Sanliurfa, Turkey. 2016. Jiang-Kuan Cui; Erginbas-Orakci, G.; Huan Peng; Wen-Kun Huang; Shiming Liu; Fen Qiao; Elekcioglu, I.H.; Imren, M.; Dababat, A.A.; De-Liang Peng. Turkish Journal of Entomology 40 (3) : 303-314.
Identification of tropical maize germplasm with tolerance to drought, nitrogen deficiency, and combined heat and drought stresses. 2016. Trachsel, S.; Leyva, M.; Lopez, M.; Suarez, E.A.; Mendoza, A.; Gomez, N.; Sierra-Macias, M.; Burgueño, J.; San Vicente, F.M. Crop Science 56 : 1-15.
Performance and sensitivity of the DSSAT crop growth model in simulating maize yield under conservation agriculture. 2016. Corbeels, M.; Chirat, G.; Messad, S.; Thierfelder, C. European Journal of Agronomy 76 : 41-53.
The bacterial community structure and dynamics of carbon and nitrogen when maize (Zea mays L.) and its neutral detergent fibre were added to soil from Zimbabwe with contrasting management practices. 2016. Cruz-Barrón, M. de la.; Cruz-Mendoza, A.; Navarro–Noya, Y.E.; Ruiz-Valdiviezo, V.M.; Ortiz-Gutierrez, D.; Ramirez Villanueva, D.A.; Luna Guido, M.; Thierfelder, C.; Wall, P.C.; Verhulst, N.; Govaerts, B.; Dendooven, L. Microbial Ecology. Online First.
Genetic diversity and molecular characterization of puroindoline genes (Pina-D1 and Pinb-D1) in bread wheat landraces from Andalusia (Southern Spain). 2016. Ayala, M.; Guzman, C.; Peña-Bautista, R.J.; Alvarez, J.B. Journal of Cereal Science 71 : 61-65.

Growing more with less: Improving productivity, resilience and sustainability in Africa

Written by on October 24, 2016. Posted in Features.

HARARE, Zimbabwe (CIMMYT) – “Rain patterns have changed tremendously,” says Dyless Kasawala, a smallholder farmer in Kasungu district, Malawi. “It’s different from the old days when you would be sure of a great harvest after the rains.”

For more than three decades now, life has not been easy for Kasawala and thousands of other smallholder farmers in this harsh, dry environment. Kasawala’s story is common throughout eastern and southern Africa. Observations by smallholder farmers confirm scientific evidence that shows climate change is occurring at an alarming rate, and could leave 50 million people in the region hungry by 2050.

CIMMYT technician Herbert Chipara inspects maize devastated by drought in Mutoko district, Zimbabwe. Photo: P. Lowe/CIMMYT — CIMMYT technician Herbert Chipara inspects maize devastated by drought in Mutoko district, Zimbabwe. CIMMYT/P. Lowe

From 1900 to 2013, droughts killed close to one million people in Africa, with economic damages of about $3 billion affecting over 360 million people. Such droughts are a clear sign of the high yield variability that impedes escape from poverty and hunger for millions of Africans. Climate change could also result in a 40 percent increase in the number of malnourished people in sub-Saharan Africa by 2050, according to the Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa.

Sub-Saharan Africa must become resilient to climate change effects like variable and severe drought and rainfall to ensure future food security. Practicing sustainable farming techniques can help small-scale farmers adapt to these challenges.

Across the world, more farmers are beginning to practice sustainable intensification (SI), which offers the potential to simultaneously adapt farming systems to climate change, sustainably manage land, soil, nutrient and water resources, improve food and nutrition security, and ultimately reduce rural poverty.

In practice, SI involves such conservation agriculture (CA) practices as minimal soil disturbance, permanent soil cover and the use of crop rotation to simultaneously maintain and boost yields, increase profits and protect the environment. It contributes to improved soil function and quality, which can improve resilience to climate variability. The cropping systems CIMMYT promotes can be labelled as climate-resilient, according to the U.N. Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.

Husband and wife farmers Elphas Chinyanga (right) and Rita Gatsi tend their conservation agriculture demonstration plot in Pindukai village, Shamva district, Zimbabwe. Photo: P. Lowe/CIMMYT — Husband and wife farmers Elphas Chinyanga (right) and Rita Gatsi tend their conservation agriculture demonstration plot in Pindukai village, Shamva district, Zimbabwe. CIMMYT/P. Lowe

“We received little rain this year, but we’ll still have enough food,” says Kasawala, who is participating in a project led by the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT), which aims to increase farm-level food security and productivity through SI.

Kasawala was one of the first farmers to practice sustainable intensification in her district in 2010. She has managed to improve soil fertility in her fields, increase her maize yield and improve her household food security.

“Farmers have a number of technological options, but ultimately they have to make informed decisions on which technologies to adopt,” said Eric Craswell, co-chair of CIMMYT’s Sustainable Intensification of Maize-Legume Cropping Systems for Food Security in Eastern and Southern Africa (SIMLESA) project steering committee. Such farmers as Kasawala who practice CA through SIMLESA participate in on-farm trials, which compare CA to conventional farming practices, test different levels of herbicide use and maize-legume crop rotations.

Maize farmers participating in SIMLESA are increasing yields and profits through sustainable intensification by increasing rotating and intercropping their maize with legumes. Above, smallholder farmer Lughano Mwangonde and sustainable intensification farmer in her conservation agriculture demonstration plot in Balaka district, Malawi. Photo: J. Siamachira/CIMMYT — Maize farmers participating in SIMLESA are increasing yields and profits through sustainable intensification by increasing rotating and intercropping their maize with legumes. Above, smallholder farmer Lughano Mwangonde and sustainable intensification farmer in her conservation agriculture demonstration plot in Balaka district, Malawi. CIMMYT/J. Siamachira

According to SIMLESA’s project leader Mulugetta Mekuria, there is evidence that shows new drought-tolerant maize varieties when coupled with SI bring even greater benefits to farmers. For example, combining elite drought-tolerant maize with direct seeding systems can improve the performance of maize by more than 80 percent. Now, nearly 650 maize and legume varieties, approved by farmers and selected by over 40 local seed companies, are being commercially distributed in the five SIMLESA countries (Ethiopia, Kenya, Malawi, Mozambique and Tanzania).

Zero tillage – a CA practice that directly sows seeds into unplowed soil and the residues of previous crops – has helped farmers cut planting time in half, allowing them to engage in other economic activities.

“Sustainable intensification is the only option to feed the extra two billion people by 2050, when resources are limited,” said John Dixon, principal advisor/research and program manager for the Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research (ACIAR)’s Cropping Systems and Economics program. ‘’Now is the time to scale-up by taking our research to farmers through extension, non-governmental organizations and farmers’ associations.”

Through 2018, CIMMYT will focus on bringing sustainable intensification to even more farmers throughout eastern and southern Africa. Collaborative work with farmers, extension agencies, non-governmental organizations, universities and agribusiness is expected to improve maize and legume productivity by 30 percent and reduce expected yield risk by 30 percent in about 650,000 rural households over a period of 10 years.

CIMMYT’s Sustainable Intensification of Maize-Legume Cropping Systems for Food Security in Eastern and Southern Africa (SIMLESA) project is funded by the Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research (ACIAR) with strong collaboration from National Agricultural Research Systems (NARS) and a wide range of private, university, public sector and non-governmental organizations. It aims at increasing farm-level food security and productivity in the context of climate risk and change.

Changing the conversation surrounding food and agriculture with Tamar Haspel

Written by on October 19, 2016. Posted in Features.

MEXICO CITY (CIMMYT) — A few hands jabbed into the air. Tamar Haspel, a columnist for the Washington Post, had asked a room of more than 1,000 scientists, researchers, economists and agriculture experts a simple question: “Who here has changed their mind on an issue in the past year?”

SAMSUNG CSC — Tamar Haspel, Washington Post columnist, addresses the crowd during her keynote speech at the CIMMYT 50 conference.

Haspel, author of “Unearthed,” a column in the Washington Post newspaper that focuses thematically on the intersection between food and science, was delivering a keynote address at a three-day conference hosted by the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT) to celebrate the nonprofit’s 50^th anniversary.

Haspel’s speech urged those in the science-agricultural industry to take a closer look at opinions unlike their own and to have constructive conversations in hopes to improve and change the current public conversation about agriculture.

Q: When did you first start writing about food, science and agriculture?

I’ve been writing about food for 20 years, really focusing on nutrition and health, but about five years ago my husband and I moved from New York City to Cape Cod (Massachusetts) and we started raising livestock, growing food and fishing. We even started a commercialized farm and because of that I know what it’s like to lose 80 percent of a crop. It behooves anybody who writes about growing food to stay connected to the idea that it has to come from somewhere and to understand the hard work and risk.

Q: What is the key message you try to push at conferences?

The thing that I increasingly believe to be most important and really push is to get people who disagree in the same room. The best thing in the world is to be proven wrong – it means you won’t make the same mistake again. In agriculture there are so many issues people disagree on. Take the green revolution, for example, it is widely discussed within the scientific community with people on both sides of the argument giving compelling statements. Both sides may not have equal truth to them, but certainly there is some truth on both sides. I think we have to engage with people who don’t see the world the way we do, especially in the agricultural community. We have an urgent problem right now trying to feed a growing population. It’s very important we get past these stupid disagreements.

Q: Why do you think your message is received so well by scientists?

I personally think that scientists are in the business of trying to find out what’s true. If you present something that resonates with them and they think they haven’t thought about it before it brings them some happiness. I know that for me, coming to grips with the fact that I’m an imperfect decision maker helped me and I thought that this message would resonate well within the scientific community.

Q: When did you first realize you were an imperfect decision maker?

I read “The Righteous Mind” five years ago and it was very compelling and persuasive. It completely changed the way I think about my opinions. It made me extremely careful when canvassing information and made me much more tolerant of opinions I disagree with, even if they are beyond the scientific pale.

I don’t think you can go out in the world and credibly say that genetically modified crops are dangerous to eat. But I do think the people going out in the world saying that are among the most concerned about our food system. I would love to have a constructive conversation with those people. We need people who care because honestly the road to an environmentally unfriendly food system is consumers who do not care.

We seek sources of information that share our values and confirm our views. So I say find the smartest person who disagrees with you and listen.

View Haspel’s presentation delivered at CIMMYT’s 50^th anniversary conference here.

Weeding out the losses: Striga challenges in Kenya

Written by on October 18, 2016. Posted in Features.

Striga at root, and germinating. Photo: K. Kaimenyi/CIMMYT

SIAYA, Kenya (CIMMYT) — Every planting season presents a different kind of challenge for smallholder farmers, and for those in Siaya’s Alego sub-county in Western Kenya, the nightmare of a recurring crop-killing weed is all too real. Known by its local name kayongo, the Striga weed is one of the leading causes of crop loss, a significant dent to farmers’ livelihoods and major hindrance to food security in the area.

Over 20 million hectares (ha) of crop land in sub-Saharan Africa is Striga-infested, resulting in a whopping $ 1 billion in annual yield loss, affecting more than 100 million people. Over 1.4 million ha of East Africa’s farmland is affected by Striga, with over 340,000 ha of farmland affected in Kenya alone.

Striga, also referred to as “witch weed,” damages the crop long before it appears above ground, adding to its destructive qualities, further complicating its management. This parasitic weed attaches itself to the roots of host plants – usually cereals like maize and sorghum – then extracts essential nutrients and moisture meant for growth, causing stunted growth and crop loss. Once above ground, the Striga flower produces between 50,000-200,000 seeds, which are released into the soil and triggered to germinate when close to potential host crop roots. In the absence of host crops, the seeds remain dormant in the soil for over 20 years, only to attack in subsequent maize planting seasons when conditions become favorable.

Early signs of Striga infestation in maize include folded leaves and wilting, even when there is sufficient soil moisture. Ironically, the appearance of Striga’s beautiful purple flowers at full bloom signals the impending death of the affected maize plant.

Striga is especially prevalent in low soil fertility environments where insufficient use of agricultural inputs such as fertilizer, and cereal mono-cropping is evident. Kenya’s lake region is most affected, with at least nine species of Striga been reported in the country and Striga hermonthica – considered the most lethal of them all – is widespread in densely populated regions.

For decades, hand weeding or pulling has been practiced as a method for Striga control, however this is very labor intensive, translating to huge costs for the farmer, and is not minimally effective since damage is caused at the root of the plant.

“I learned about intercropping from an extension agent and decided to try it out on a small plot, before planting in the larger plot,” Hellen Owino shares, adding, “I think I’m now ready to plant on the larger piece of land. Even though some Striga plants emerge, I’m able to weed them out before they flower, and my yield is not severely affected.” Photo: K. Kaimenyi/CIMMYT

So, what hope is there for farmers in Striga-prone areas?

Inter-cropping, which is the simultaneous planting of two or more crops in the same field, is one of the most widely practiced Striga control measures.

“Unlike cereal roots, legume roots do not stimulate weed growth, so even though Striga seeds will remain in the soil, growth will not occur,” according to Leonard Rusinamhodzi, an agronomist with The International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT), who says that growing legumes alongside maize reduces the emergence of Striga.

“On the other hand, legumes like cowpea are called trap crops because they stimulate growth of Striga, but the weed has no roots to attach to, and subsequently dies. Legumes also fix nitrogen into soils, a deterrent for Striga, which thrives in low nitrogen environments,” says Rusinamhodzi.

Two years ago, Hellen Akinyi Owino, a farmer and mother of six had given up on maize farming following consistent poor yields from her Striga-stricken farm. Even when the rains stopped mid-season, she expected to harvest up to eight 90-kilogram bags from her 0.8 ha plot, but with Striga choking up her crop, she just harvested just one bag. With her family’s livelihood in jeopardy, Owino was forced to seek alternative income generating activities. She stripped her plot of all maize and Striga plants, and put up a tree nursery instead, from which she makes money selling seedlings.

“I am a maize farmer first, so I had to figure out a way to get back to it while reducing losses from Striga,” Owino shares, adding, “I learned about intercropping from an extension agent and decided to try it out on a small plot, before planting in the larger plot.” For two years now she has planted beans alongside maize, consistently applying organic fertilizer, and stuck to a regular weeding schedule.

Striga flowered. Photo: CIMMYT/ James Njeru — Striga flowered. Photo: J. Njeru/CIMMYT

Another even more effective solution to Striga is planting herbicide-resistant maize.

StrigAway™, or Ua Kayongo as it is known in Western Kenya, is described on Feed the Future’s Partnering for Innovation website as an Imidazolinone-Resistance (IR) maize technology package, comprising conventionally bred herbicide resistant maize varieties and Imazapyr seed treatment, an herbicide seed coating.

Since herbicide is applied to the seed coat, the recommended eﬀective dose for controlling Striga is low, which is both environmentally friendly and aﬀordable. Moreover, the herbicide dissipates easily from the soil before the next planting season, without any eﬀect on subsequent crops.

However, if farmers were to recycle the seed, they would need to coat it again with the herbicide to control Striga, a practice which is neither feasible nor advisable at the farm level. Another challenge to uptake is that the IR maize starts off poorly, often looking as if it is nitrogen deficient, and may discourage farmers from taking up IR technology.

CIMMYT and partners’ efforts towards Striga management include both good agronomic practices and promotion of herbicide-resistant maize. So far, 12 herbicide resistant varieties have been released in East Africa, and seven hybrids released in Kenya and Tanzania. On-farm experimental trials give farmers first-hand experience of how these varieties perform, and hope that the lethal weed will be contained.