To strengthen functional linkages between private seed companies and public sector institutions in Pakistan, CIMMYT and its national partners jointly organized four training sessions, one each in Punjab and Sindh and two in Khyber Pakhtunkhaw during March and April, 2015. Participants included 45 staff members from 10 private seed companies from those provinces.

Although private seed companies have a major share of Pakistan’s wheat seed market, they rely almost completely on public sector wheat breeding institutes for pre-basic and basic seeds. However, the public sector has limited capacity for producing adequate amounts of pre-basic and basic seed to support the deployment of new wheat varieties. In addition, a recent study on the private wheat seed sector in Pakistan suggests that around two-thirds of seed companies do not obtain the amounts of pre-basic/basic seed they require from public seed corporations.

Currently, only a few private seed companies obtain pre-basic or basic seeds from wheat research institutes based on personal relationships, but functional and institutional linkages between public and private sector organizations have yet to be established. CIMMYT identified this gap and is now working towards bridging it by engaging important actors from both sectors. The first step was to convince the public sector to provide pre-basic and basic seeds to private seed companies, particularly small companies in rural areas. Several of the public sector wheat breeding institutes responded positively to this call. Another important step is to develop the capacity of private seed companies to produce quality basic and certified seed by building trust between them and public sector institutions.

The training sessions had an innovative curriculum focusing on the technical aspects of producing high quality basic seed and enhancing marketing skills and networking to develop profitable, sustainable seed companies able to produce seed of new varieties. Experts from public sector research institutions addressed subjects such as rouging, isolation distances, crop and varietal mixtures, weed management, post-harvest technologies, quality control procedures, and conservation agriculture. They also showed how contract growers and seed companies can reduce their production costs and improve their profit margins.

Representatives of the Federal Seed Certification and Registration Department (FSC&RD) highlighted protocols for pre-basic/basic and certified seed production and multiplication. The training sessions enhanced participants’ understanding of various aspects of the seed business, such as business plan development, market assessment, product pricing and using proper marketing channels.

The expectation is that 14 private seed companies will produce around 1,000 tons of basic seed of 12 wheat varieties, enough to plant more than 8,000 ha of seed plots. This would enable the production of more than 24,000 tons of certified seed for the rural areas of the three provinces, thus paving the way for decentralized production and marketing of basic wheat seed in Pakistan.

A new project in Ethiopia aims to improve the livelihoods of wheat farmers by encouraging the development and multiplication of high-yielding, rust-resistant bread and durum wheat varieties.

High-quality seed is the key entry point for elevating farmer productivity in Ethiopia. As Norman Borlaug, the late Nobel Peace Prize laureate and wheat breeder who worked for many years with the International Center for Maize and Wheat Improvement (CIMMYT) wrote: “Rust never sleeps.”

Stem, leaf and yellow rusts choke nutrients and devastate wheat crops without recognition of political boundaries, making it essential that global action is taken to control all virulent strains of these devastating diseases to ensure food security.

At a recent workshop hosted by the Ethiopian Institute of Agricultural Research (EIAR) in the capital, Addis Ababa, 150 participants from 24 organizations discussed the project, which builds upon the successes of a previous EIAR and International Center for Agricultural Research in the Dry Areas (ICARDA) program funded by the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID).

The purpose of the March workshop titled “Seed Multiplication and Delivery of High-Yielding Rust-Resistant Bread and Durum Wheat Varieties to Ethiopian Farmers” was to launch the three-year seed project, which has a budget of $4.75 million, and strengthen the involvement of stakeholders and key partners.

Aims include enhancing rust disease surveillance, early warning and phenotyping; fast-track variety testing and pre-release seed multiplication; accelerating seed multiplication of durable rust-resistant wheat varieties; demonstrating and scaling up improved wheat varieties; and improving the linkages between small-scale durum wheat producers and agro-industries.

To achieve these goals EIAR, CIMMYT and the University of Minnesota will implement project activities in collaboration with other key Ethiopian stakeholders, including agricultural research centers, public and private seed enterprises, the Ethiopian Agricultural Transformation Agency, the Ethio-Italian Development Cooperation “Agricultural Value Chains Project in Oromia” and the Ethiopia Seed Producers Association.

The project covers 51 districts in four major wheat-growing regions of Ethiopia. Milestones include the following: reaching 164,000 households with direct access to the new technology and having more than 2 million households benefiting from indirect access to high-yielding rust resistant cultivars; wheat yield increases of 25 percent for farmers with access to rust-resistant seed varieties; training for about 5,000 agricultural experts, development agents, seed producers and model farmers; more than 50 percent of the wheat area being sown to cultivars with durable resistance to current rust threats; an increased number of seed growers and associations participating in accelerated seed multiplication; and the increased participation of women farmers to lead accelerated seed multiplication and scaling up.

All partners will be involved in close monitoring and working groups related to the project.

At the workshop, a key topic was emphasizing to farmers that they must avoid susceptible rust suckers as they are pumping more spores on cultivars under production, which is one reason for the recurrent epidemics of wheat rusts and break down of resistant genes.

Delegates also engaged in discussions on the importance of cropping systems and variety diversifications. Fruitful deliberations and interactions occurred and important feedback was captured for project implementation and to ensure successful results.

A previous workshop on the surveillance, early warning and phenotyping component of the project was held at the Cereal Disease Laboratory in Minnesota.

Bekele Abeyo is a CIMMYT senior scientist based in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. He will lead the seed improvement project.

Maize, one of Africa’s most important food crops, is under real threat because of maize lethal necrosis (MLN). The disease has adversely affected maize fields in Kenya and its neighbors (DR Congo, Ethiopia, Tanzania, Uganda, Rwanda and South Sudan). There are fears that it is spreading rapidly across most maize-growing areas in the region, causing massive losses to both farmers and seed companies. Unless urgent measures are taken, it could get out of control and lead to a major food crisis in the region.

But what are the implications for farmers and seed companies currently bearing the brunt of MLN? This is a question that scientists, policy makers, regulators and seed companies tried to answer during the recently concluded International Conference on MLN Diagnostics and Management in Africa, held in Nairobi on 12-14 May 2015.

As you will see in this video, despite the grim realities of MLN, the ringing message to farmers from B.M. Prasanna, Global Maize Program Director, is “Hope, hope, hope!”

This message of optimism that a solution will be found was mirrored by others. “We will be successful; we should not feel defeated,” said Joe DeVries, Director of the Program for Africa Seed Systems in Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA).

Other key speakers at the conference included Stephen Mugo, CIMMYT’s Regional Representative for Africa, Gary Atlin, Senior Program Officer at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, George Bigirwa, AGRA’s Head of the Regional Team for East and Southern Africa, and Felister Makini, Deputy Director of Kenya Agricultural and Livestock Research in charge of cropping systems.

View the full video of key speakers above or here.

Peter Masaku walks through his farm with a far-away nostalgic look as if reminiscing about some distant good old days. His maize fields are strewn with rich residue, which to the eye indicates a possible bountiful harvest. That is until Peter, a father of six, tells of a huge loss in yields he and many other farmers in a village called Kambi Mawe, a Kiswahili name, which loosely translates into ‘Rocky Camp’, in sun-scorched eastern Kenya’s Makueni County have suffered in the just-ended long rains. “I harvested maize just enough to fill one wheel-barrow from my one-acre farm,” Peter laments, as he leads the way to show his meagre yield drying outside his store. “This maize cannot even feed my family for a month,” he adds.

A few meters away, another farmer, Jane Ndawa, observes that Kambi Mawe has not received a good harvest for two consecutive years due to very low and poorly distributed rains. However, she is yet to meet a single household in her village that does not eat maize in one form or another. “And when things are bad like this season, we have to buy maize and maize flour for our daily food,” asserts Jane. Farmers normally take some of their maize to the local mill to be processed into flour for home use. Jane adds, “Any help farmers can get to harvest more maize is most welcome, since we will keep planting it regardless of the yield because we need maize.”

Disturbingly, the trouble faced by these two farmers is all too common in most drought-prone areas in Kenya. However, the bigger problem is that farmers are not benefiting from improved drought-tolerant (DT) maize varieties that have been developed – and are in the market – for such ecological areas to help them get better yields in a bid to beat drought.

Through the Drought Tolerant Maize for Africa (DTMA) Project, the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT, by its Spanish acronym) and its partners have released 14 high-yielding drought-tolerant maize varieties in Kenya alone. These include hybrids that yield on average 49 percent more grain than open pollinated varieties on-farm, and 15 percent more than current commercial hybrids. However, these varieties are not reaching farmers in need. “It is not enough to just develop improved varieties, we have to go beyond this and work to promote and distribute widely the released varieties to ensure farmers know, access and cultivate the seeds,” says Tsedeke Abate, DTMA Project Leader.

Ngila Kimotho is the Managing Director of Dryland Seed Limited, – a major supplier of DT seeds in the eastern region. Mr Kimotho agrees that farmers are yet to fully adopt the available varieties stocked by the company. “It takes time to wean farmers off the local seeds they are used to, despite poor yields. Though some farmers are aware of the existence of the improved DT varieties, they are yet to start planting them, and one reason they give for this is that the improved seeds are too expensive,” observes Mr Kimotho.

CIMMYT’s new project, Drought Tolerant Maize for Africa Seed Scaling (DTMASS), is working with seed companies in seven target countries across eastern and southern Africa to increase awareness on DT maize varieties, and thereby increase both seed supply and demand by reaching as many farmers as possible. “CIMMYT has developed and tested excellent DT varieties over the last decade, but the seed alone is not enough. Our goal now is to get production up and running through local seed companies, raise awareness among farmers and help them find and afford these new seeds,” says Kate Fehlenberg, DTMASS Project Manager.

BMI Research, a UK-based agency that provides global markets analyses, estimates that Kenya’s maize production in 2014–2015 will be 2.9 million metric tonnes, while consumption is expected to be 3.8 million tonnes. Consequently, the expected demand for imports is 900,000 tonnes. These grim statistics will most likely remain static in the coming years if concerted efforts are not made to sensitize farmers and increase adoption of the DT maize varieties in drought-prone regions.

Such efforts will change the lot and lives of farmers such as Jane and Peter, who represent a large proportion of farmers in Kenya’s drylands, which are a large swathe of the country’s farmlands.

Even in the best years, significant swathes of sub-Saharan Africa suffer from recurrent drought. Drought wreaks havoc on the livelihoods of millions of Africans – livelihoods heavily leaning on rain-dependent agriculture without irrigation, and with maize as a key staple. And that is not all: drought makes a bad situation worse. It compounds crop failure because its dry conditions amplify the susceptibility of maize in farmers’ fields to disease-causing pests, whose populations soar during drought.

Providing maize farmers with context-specific solutions to combat low yields and chronic crop failure is a key priority for CIMMYT and its partners, such as those in the Water Efficient Maize for Africa (WEMA) Project.

“Our main focus is to give famers durable solutions,” remarks Dr. Stephen Mugo, CIMMYT Regional Representative for Africa and a maize breeder, who also coordinates CIMMYT’s work in WEMA. “These seeds are bred with important traits that meet the needs of the farmers, with ability to give higher yields within specific environments.”

Farmers in Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania and South Africa will soon access WEMA’s high-yielding drought-tolerant maize hybrids. In total, 13 hybrids were approved for commercial production by relevant authorities in these countries. These approvals were spread between October 2014 and March 2015 in the various countries.

Kenya’s National Variety Release Committee (NVRC) approved four hybrids in February 2015 (WE2109, WE2111, WE2110 and WE2106), while neighboring Uganda’s NVRC also approved four hybrids at the end of 2014 (WE2101, WE2103, WE2104 and WE2106). Across Uganda’s southern border, in March 2015, the Tanzania Official Seed Certification Institute approved for commercial release WE3117, WE3102 and WE3117. Still further south, South Africa’s Department for Agriculture registered two hybrids (WE3127 and WE3128) in October 2014.

In each country, all the hybrids successfully underwent the mandatory National Performance Trials (NPTs) and the Distinctness, Uniformity and Stability (DUS) tests to ascertain their qualities and suitability for use by farmers.

Varieties that pack a punch
In Kenya, these new WEMA varieties boast significantly better yields when compared to varieties currently on the market as well as to farmer varieties in drought-prone areas of upper and lower eastern, coastal, central and western Kenya.

And that is not all: across them, the new hybrids also have resistance to rampant leaf diseases like maize streak virus, turcicum leaf spot and gray leaf spot.

Dr. Murenga Mwimali of the Kenya Agricultural and Livestock Research Organization, who is also WEMA’s Country Coordinator in Kenya, explains: “These hybrids are expected to give farmers an average yield of three tonnes per hectare in moderate drought and eight tonnes in good seasons. These are better seeds that will help Kenyans fight hunger through increased productivity.” According to the UN Food and Agricultural Organization, Kenya’s national average productivity in 2013 was a meager 1.6 tonnes per hectare. This compares poorly with South Africa’s 6 tonnes, Egypt’s 9 tonnes and USA’s 9–12 tonnes, as generally reported in other statistics.

Where to find them
The seed of these new varieties should be available in the market once selected seed companies in Uganda and Tanzania produce certified seeds by end of August 2015.

Dr. Allois Kullaya, WEMA Country Coordinator in Tanzania, applauded this achievement and the partnership that has made it possible. “Through the WEMA partnership, we have been able to access improved seed and breeding techniques. The hybrids so far released were bred by our partner CIMMYT and evaluated across different locations. Without this collaboration, it would not have been possible to see these achievements.” said Dr. Kullaya.

In South Africa, close to 10,000 half-kilo seed packs of WE3127 were distributed to smallholder farmers to create awareness and product demand through demonstrations to farmers and seed companies.

This seed-pack distribution was through local extension services in the provinces of Eastern Cape, Free State, KwaZulu–Natal, Limpopo, Mpumalanga and North-West.

Three seed companies also received the hybrid seed to plant and increase certified seed for the market.

Where it all begins – the CIMMYT ‘cradle’, crucible and seal for quality assurance
“In the WEMA partnership, CIMMYT’s role as the breeding partner has been to develop, test and identify the best hybrids for yield, drought tolerance, disease resistance and adaptability to local conditions,” says Dr. Yoseph Beyene, a maize breeder at CIMMYT and WEMA Product Development Co-leader.

To do this, more than 10, 000 new hybrids combinations are evaluated each year to identify new hybrids that will perform most consistently in various conditions. Hybrids that look promising are subjected to a rigorous WEMA-wide area testing. Only those that pass the test get the CIMMYT nod and ‘seal of approval’. But the tests do not end there: for independent and objevhe verfication, the final test  is that these select few advance to  – and are submitted for – country NPTs.

Dr. Beyene explains: “Because of these rigorous testing, hybrids that are adapted in two or three countries have been identified and released for commercial production to be done by regional and multinational seed companies which market hybrids in different countries. This eases the logistics for seed production, distribution and marketing.”

How to recognize the new varieties – distinctive shield against drought
All the hybrids released under the WEMA project will be sold to farmers under the trade-name DroughtTEGO™. ‘Tego’ is Latin for cover, protect or defend. The African Agricultural Technology Foundation (AATF), which coordinates the WEMA Project, has sub-licensed 22 seed companies from the four countries to produce DroughtTEGO™ seeds for farmers to buy.

WEMA’s achievements are premised on a powerful partnership of scientists from CIMMYT, national agricultural research institutes from the five WEMA target countries (Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, Mozambique and South Africa), AATF and Monsanto.

WEMA is funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the United States Agency for International Development and the Howard G. Buffet Foundation.

Links: More on WEMA | WEMA 2015 annual meeting in Mozambique | Insect Resistant Maize in Africa Project (completed in 2014)

Farmers in Chuadanga District of Bangladesh have been using a unique local method to store their maize: the gola.

Golas are large rectangular or cylindrical containers used to store seed and animal feed. In Bangladesh, golas are traditionally used to store paddy rice. They are made locally using bamboo for the sides and tin for the roof, can last up to 80 years and hold from 2 to 20 tons of grain.

Many Bangladeshi farmers believe that, unlike rice, maize grain cannot be stored in golas due to its high susceptibility to insects and pests. To keep its quality from deteriorating, farmers normally sell maize grain at a minimum price as quickly as possible after harvest.

Unlike most of the country’s farmers, Chuadanga farmers use golas to store maize grain until its market price goes up, which results in higher profits. According to a recent CIMMYT-Bangladesh survey, the longer they store the seed, the higher the profit. “The profit earned by the Chuadanga farmers through maize grain storage helps to increase the national per capita income, allowing Bangladesh to become a middle income country,” said Prodip Hajong, Senior Officer in Agricultural Economics at the Bangladesh Agricultural Research Institute (BARI).

Eighty percent of all maize grain produced in Chuadanga is stored anywhere from 4 to 43 weeks and sold for a higher price. According to the survey, golas were the preferred storage for maize and used by over 60% of respondent households. Each household earned a profit of approximately USD $389.68 in 2012, USD $315.64 in 2013 and USD $130.19 in 2014. During 2014, the overall market price of maize grain was low compared to previous years; that is why farmers’ profit margin was comparatively small.

“High temperatures inside the gola help maintain grain quality by killing insects, their larvae and eggs,” said Abdul Momin, CIMMYT Cropping Systems Agronomist. With assistance from the Cereal Systems Initiative in South Asia in Bangladesh (CSISA-BD) project, Chuadanga farmers have been modifying their golas – for example, by reinforcing the floors with tin to prevent post-harvest losses from rodents and insects – so that they can store maize for longer periods.

The CIMMYT-Bangladesh survey was conducted by CIMMYT researchers Frederick Rossi, Agricultural Economist; Elahi Baksh, Applied Agricultural Economist; Abdul Momin, Cropping System Agronomist; Thakur P. Tiwari, Country Representative in Bangladesh and Prodip Hajong, Senior Officer in Agricultural Economics at BARI. They recommended making an action plan in collaboration with the Department of Agricultural Extension, BARI and local NGOs, to demonstrate and disseminate this low cost technology throughout the country.

Littri Gaun is a characteristic remote, hilly village in Dadeldhura district of Nepal. Relatively low agricultural yields, soil erosion and labor out-migration are major challenges for monsoon-dependent agriculture in this region. During the kharif season, farmers mostly grow the dominant staple crops – unbunded upland rice and maize. Some farmers also practice maize-soybean mixed cropping because soybean fetches a good price in the market. Finger millet is also grown for home consumption in some areas during kharif.

Farmers in Littri Gaun believe that chemical fertilizer can destroy soil, and use only farmyard manure and plant litter to enrich their soil. Low nutrient levels — particularly for Nitrogen – have led to consistently low crop productivity. Moreover, farmers grow traditional local varieties for which seeds may have been saved for several years, as seed replacement rates are low. With men migrating outside for work, women are left responsible for the agricultural production, as well as household duties, resulting in high levels of drudgery for women and high labor constraints during peak agricultural times.

CIMMYT led Cereal Systems Initiative for South Asia in Nepal (CSISA-NP) began working with farmers in Littri Gaun in 2012 and facilitated farmers in the village to form a group called “Ugratara Agriculture Group.” CSISA works with Ugratara to introduce new, suitable crop varieties, better-bet agronomic practices and small-scale machinery that women can use.

CSISA and Ugratara have conducted several maize trials to screen and grow different registered hybrids, to evaluate different crop establishment methods and to experiment with different methods of fertilizer management. Trials showed that hybrid maize yields were more than double to those of the local varieties under the same management conditions. With hybrids, Ugratara has even harvested up to three times the yield of the local maize varieties. Among the genotypes tested, group members preferred Kanchan-101 (hybrid) because of the high and early yields. Trials also showed that the local maize variety produced higher yields when fertilizer was applied, demonstrating the importance of good nutrient management.

During a farmers’ field day, Ugratara group members expressed that improved varieties like the maize variety Kanchan 101 (hybrid), introduced by CSISA, are more productive than their local maize. Ugratara group member, Naresh Khadka said, “We are producing more than double using the hybrid Kanchan-101 and it’s ready early than the local variety.” For upland rice, trials also showed that the appropriate use of chemical fertilizers nearly doubled yields of local rice varieties and that chemical fertilizer increased yields over those achieved through the application of farmyard manure.

CSISA also introduced improved varieties of lentil, which has increased the number of farmers producing lentil, lentil yields, and household lentil consumption. Farmers have also been able to sell their surplus lentil production in the market for NRs. 150/kg. “After seeing the benefits of improved lentil variety, more farmers are now expanding their area under lentil cultivation,” said Khadka.

Finally, CSISA introduced small machines like the mini tiller and the jab planter, which helped women to prepare and cultivate land, making them more self-sufficient, saving their time and helping them to adapt better to labor shortages. Women in Littri Gaun are not allowed to plough land with bullocks, as it is considered to be men’s work. Saru Khadka, a lady member of Ugratara group, said, “By using minitiller for preparing our fields, we don’t have to depend on men for labor and bullocks.” Participation in Ugratara has helped the group’s women members to feel empowered. Khadka acknowledged that women in Ugratara have learned to confidently express their views and problems to relevant authorities and they feel more capable and assertive now.