EL BATAN, Mexico (CIMMYT) – A social media crowd sourcing campaign initiated to celebrate the achievements of women has led to more than a dozen published blog story contributions about women in the maize and wheat sectors.
Each year, International Women’s Day gives the world a chance to inspire women and celebrate their achievements. This year, the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT) put out a call asking for blog contributions from the social media community.
CIMMYT asked readers to submit stories about women who have made a difference in the maize and wheat sectors, including women involved in conservation agriculture, genetic resources, research, technology and related socio-economics.
The “Who is Your Maize or Wheat Super Woman?” stories are featured on the CIMMYT website from Monday, March 2, 2015 in the lead up to International Women’s Day on Sunday, March 8, 2015.
Contributions include blog stories about women from Britain, Canada, Guatemala, India, Indonesia, Kenya, Mexico, and the United States. Their stories will also be made available in Spanish-language.
A nutritionist who is outspoken about the negative consequences of gluten-free diets said in a recent interview that she wants to dispel myths generated by claims that the protein found in wheat is unhealthy.
Photo: Xochiquetzal Fonseca/CIMMYT
“Wheat has recently been under attack by people who’ve made claims about it that simply can’t be verified by science,” said Julie Miller Jones, professor emeritus of nutrition at St. Catherine University in St. Paul, Minnesota.
“Gluten-free” has become a big money maker for the food industry. Sales have soared 63 percent since 2012, with almost 4,600 products introduced last year, according to the January 2015 issue of Consumer Reports magazine.
Retail sales of gluten-free foods in the United States were estimated at $12.2 billion in 2014, and by 2020 the market is projected to be valued at $23.9 billion, Statistica reports.
The popularity of gluten- and wheat-free diets has grown in part due to claims published in such books as “Wheat Belly” by William Davis and “Brain Grain” by David Perlmutter. These publications say that wheat products are the cause of most health problems, views rebutted by Miller Jones.
“Apart from the approximately 1 percent of people who suffer from celiac disease, the fewer than 1 percent of people who suffer from wheat allergies and the few who suffer from non-celiac gluten sensitivity, prominent celiac experts and health professionals discount the many supposed benefits of going gluten-free, urging those who do not have these conditions not to adopt such a diet,” Miller Jones said.
As a food staple, wheat plays a vital role in global food security, providing 20 percent of the overall total amount of calories and protein consumed worldwide.
Miller Jones, who delivered a talk at CIMMYT in Mexico, shared her views on the controversy surrounding fad diets that urge the elimination of wheat and its protein complex, gluten, in the following interview.
Q: What worries you about negative attacks on wheat consumption?
A: I’m very concerned about it. One of the attacks is based on the fact that wheat has been bred by people – that this breeding somehow has done something very evil to the grain. I really want to dispel the myth that wheat is somehow bad for you and that modern wheat is somehow different from the wheat that existed years ago. It’s different because we can grow more of it, it’s higher yielding, but it’s not different in terms of the nutrition that it delivers. In fact, we get more nutrition per acre, which I think is a good thing rather than a bad thing.
Q: Critics have suggested that scientists are creating new proteins in wheat. Is this true?
A: You can’t create a new protein without creating a mutation, and plant breeding doesn’t normally create new mutations. There are hundreds of varieties of wheat that exist in the world – what Norman Borlaug (the late CIMMYT wheat breeder and Nobel Peace Prize winner, known as the father of the Green Revolution) did was cross these wheats to develop grains that would grow under a variety of conditions. The glutenins and gliadins that were there have been there ever since wheat has been grown as a crop. He claims that new, modern wheat has more gluten than it did before. A lot of research is showing that the level has not changed. In fact, in his book, Dr. Davis suggests that gliadin is a new toxic protein. That is patently false because you can go back into the early chemical literature – that mentions gliadin early in the 1800s.
Q: Critics have also said that gluten-free fad diets are marketed towards a more western, wealthy culture. If so, what are the implications for the developing world?
A: Obviously, these doctors are trying to sell books in affluent countries where obesity is a big problem. We would all love to find a solution to obesity. All the simplistic solutions like eliminate a particular food or food group or eat in the ancient way – all of those solutions are really quite simplistic. There are a number of things that we need to do in order to address obesity. They are aimed at an obese population concerned about chronic disease and diseases that are associated with obesity. The tragedy in that is that if, as we’ve seen with other issues, when developed nations say that they are not going to eat something because of a particular issue with that food then that food has been rejected as food aid in some developing countries. So this has some really amazingly potentially harmful results that no one really initially intended – these unintended consequences are really problematic. It could also mean that people switch their diets to foods that are less sustainable. We’re really facing a problem with feeding the additional two-and-a-half billion people that will exist on this planet in 2050. Clearly, it’s not a viable or sustainable strategy for feeding the world. I’m very concerned about it and these sort of second-order consequences.
Q: How credible are reports that wheat consumption is bad?
A: Dr. Davis suggests that if we didn’t eat wheat we would cure diabetes. Well, the data simply say completely the opposite. We have studies of large populations from all over the world where people who ate about three servings of whole-grain cereals and bread a day had a 25 percent reduced risk of diabetes. They have a 25 percent reduced risk of coronary heart disease. A study just published at Harvard University in January of this year showed that the people who ate whole grains had reduced mortality for age. So the idea that taking wheat and grains out of the diet makes you healthier simply flies in the face of the scientific literature.
Q: Is there a simple goal you want to achieve?
A: I think that what we do know about healthy diets is that healthy diets are ones that are balanced. If we look at those diets, which support brain health, heart health, help prevent diabetes – they’re the ones such as the Mediterranean diet, which has breads and cereals as a base. It includes meat, poultry, fish but relatively small amounts of meat. It asks you to eat some legumes. The dietary approach to stop hypertension called the DASH diet has been studied on a large cohort of men and women who initially had high blood pressure. What they showed was that when people ate this diet, which has lots of fruits and vegetables, servings of whole grain, low-fat dairy – this mix that we need – those people had a lower risk of cancer and coronary disease. We actually have data on brain health, and diets such as the Mediterranean and the DASH diet showed the least loss of cognitive functioning in the elderly.
Q: In general, should people avoid specific food groups?
A: Instead of eliminating a food group, what we ought to do is eat it in the right amounts. That does not give you the excuse to eat large numbers of servings of what I call doodles, dingdongs and doughnuts. What we need to think about is those kinds of staple foods that have nourished the Aztecs in the past, nourished the pioneers coming across to the New World and that will nourish us today – eat those in the right amount. I’d also like to say exercise would be a good idea, too.
CIMMYT Gender Specialist Lone Badstue attended a CGIAR Gender Network meeting in the Philippines during 19-23 January. Participants discussed CGIAR’s progress and results in gender research, along with plans for collective, cross-program activities that contribute to CGIAR innovation.
Q: How do you think we can inspire project leaders, farmers, scientists, and others to view gender as an integral part of CGIAR projects?
A: When you want to introduce something different and new, you’re going to have varying levels of acceptance and pushback. Integrating gender is a change process, and it isn’t something that happens fast.
Ultimately we want to help as many people as we can, everyone agrees on that. We should bring forward our gender agenda as something that will help us reach that common goal, with the end benefit being worth the change and investment. This is why evidence is so important – if there’s anything researchers and scientists respect it’s evidence, and that is why gender researchers from 12 different CGIAR Research Programs (CRP) have embarked on a global study of gender norms to increase the development impact of research programs.
Q: Speaking of the CGIAR Global Study on Gender, could you discuss the goals and outcomes?
A: This study will provide real life examples of processes on the ground.
The information will really help CGIAR Research Programs to hone their impact pathways — models of how projects see themselves achieving impact — because right now those pathways involve many theoretical assumptions. We want to show the value of qualitative research and how this complements quantitative research and reveals processes that the latter can’t. We’ll also learn how these processes matter in diverse locations and circumstances worldwide.
Q: The characteristics of a proposal where gender is mainstreamed were also discussed to see how they can make an integral part of project rsearch and activities. What would a gender-mainstreamed research proposal look like?
A: A gender mainstreamed, or gender responsive research proposal, reflects explicitly on the characteristics of its target beneficiaries and addresses their concerns and experiences as an integral dimension in the research design. This means knowing the context and ensuring that research outputs address the needs of the different groups you want to serve. To help scientists and research teams think about how to begin to address these issues when designing a new proposal, the CIMMYT gender unit has developed a brief guidebook.
Q: What are some overall conclusions that came out of the CGIAR Gender Network meeting?
A: We have a moment of opportunity. The meeting allowed us to share our experiences, identify key tools to promote gender mainstreaming (gender mainstreaming is a globally accepted approach to achieving gender equality) in CRP research and establish a collective vision of our gender research. We need to leverage this momentum and focus on the goal of establishing a solid evidence-base for gender research, thus integrating a gender-framework in all CGAR projects where it is relevant.
The Feed the Future initiative of the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) featured CIMMYT’s Heat Tolerant Maize for Asia (HTMA) project in a recent newsletter, highlighting it as an exemplary public-private partnership. Launched in 2013, the project is developing heat-resilient hybrid maize for resource-poor smallholder farmers in South Asia whose livelihoods are threatened by climate change.
The damaging effects of climate change on agriculture have already been felt throughout much of South Asia, and climate model studies predict that this trend will not end anytime soon. According to a 2009 report from the Asian Development Bank, maize production capacity in South Asia could decrease by 17 percent by the year 2050 if current climate trends continue. Due to the temperature sensitivity of key crops such as maize, farmers in the region urgently need access to seed of varieties that can withstand temperature stress. As climate change-related weather extremes threaten agriculture in South Asia, research and development partners are seeking solutions.
The HTMA “…balances up-stream and down-stream research-for-development by leveraging CIMMYT germplasm with the research capacity and expertise of partners such as Purdue University, Pioneer-Asia and national programs in Bangladesh, Pakistan, Nepal and Bhutan,” said P.H. Zaidi, the project leader. HTMA private partners such as DuPont Pioneer and the regional seed companies Kaveri Seeds and Ajeet Seeds have direct ties to local markets and farming communities that will foster the widespread availability and use of the new hybrids, according to Zaidi.
Outputs of this partnership include new breeding lines with enhanced levels of heat tolerance. The first generation of heat-tolerant hybrids from those lines became available after the second year of the project, and a new set of elite, stress-resilient hybrid varieties will be released by the project every two years. Apart from this, early-generation lines are being shared for use in partners’ breeding programs, strengthening their germplasm base and ensuring the continued development and delivery of heat-stress-resilient maize after the project ends, Zaidi said. According to the Feed the Future report: “The new varieties…show great promise to be taken to scale and deployed in tropical climates beyond South Asia.”
A sign indicates what conservation practices are being employed in a demonstration plot in Malawi. Photo : T. Samson/CIMMYT.
CIMMYT, Washington State University and Total Land Care (TLC) recently published a series of extension bulletins to spread awareness of the potential benefits of conservation agriculture (CA) techniques for farmers in Malawi.
The study, “Sustainable Intensification and Diversification on Maize-based Agroecosystems in Malawi,” took place over three years in the districts of Nkhotakota and Dowa, and was sponsored by the CGIAR Research Program on Maize through a Competitive Grants Initiative.
Over the study period, three different cropping systems — zero-tillage, conservation agriculture, and conventional tillage — were applied to smallholder farms. The three extension bulletins detail their respective impacts on crop yields and residue production, soil-water relations and the economic impacts for smallholder households.
The bulletins have been printed for distribution to Malawian extension agents and non-governmental organizations and, ultimately, to share with farmers.
The Findings
In the study, the zero-tilled maize plots incorporated only two of the three principles of CA – no tillage and residue retention – but not crop rotations, while conservation agriculture and conventional tillage incorporated diverse cropping systems.
It was found that crop rotations had the greatest impact on maize yields, leading to higher yields in conservation agriculture and conventional tillage than in continuous no-till maize.
Water infiltration was greatest in no-till maize and conservation agriculture, with 90 percent of applied water infiltrating into soils in the no-till plot and 60 percent under conservation agriculture, in Nkhotakota District. Sediment runoff was greatest in conventional tillage in both districts.
The study found that conservation agriculture used labor more efficiently than conventional tillage in smallholder plots, although variable costs were lowest in conventional tillage.
The authors of the bulletins are Dan TerAvest (Washington State University), John Reganold (Washington State University), and Christian Thierfelder (CIMMYT).
The bulletins are available in PDF format and can be downloaded here.
Heat and drought are a major cause of wheat yield losses worldwide, problems that scientists predict will worsen due to climate change.
As a wheat physiologist, Matthew Reynolds works to bolster crop yields and improve the capacity of wheat to survive stressful conditions, particularly in developing countries.
Wheat physiologist Matthew Reynolds“Climate change puts farmer livelihoods at risk and can lead to vast food-crop losses in vulnerable environments,” said Reynolds, who was recently named a distinguished scientist at the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT).
Reynolds, who plays a leading role in several international wheat initiatives, including the Heat and Drought Wheat Improvement Consortium (HeDWIC) and the International Wheat Yield Partnership (IWYP), has developed new wheat lines based on combining complementary physiological traits.
In addition to improving wheat drought resilience, Reynolds, who also serves as a consultant for Bayer Crop Science, has developed physiological approaches for improving the yield potential of wheat, work that will underpin the new IWYP initiative, which has so far attracted more than US $50 million in funding.
He shared his views in the following interview after being named distinguished scientist.
Q: What provides inspiration for your work?
What inspires me about working for CIMMYT is how we apply science to real life problems by participating in a very exciting chain of events that preferentially benefits many of the least privileged members of society. Because of CIMMYT’s multicultural character and because we’re a focal point of applied wheat and maize research in the world, scientists at CIMMYT understand the agricultural problems of the developing world in quite a unique way.
Q. What is your most significant achievement?
The achievement I’m most satisfied about is that we’ve been delivering improved wheat technologies to national governments using a physiological approach – that’s something that 25 years ago nobody would have believed was possible. Our first intervention was to show the value of measuring wheat canopy temperature and now it’s a tool that everyone is adopting. Thermal imaging is an offshoot – it’s a very robust tool for measuring plant temperature. It helps us determine whether a plant is adapted when it is “cool” or if there’s something wrong with it when it’s too “warm.” It’s a wonderful diagnostic tool, kind of like a doctor’s stethoscope, except we can even measure it remotely now from the air on thousands of plots at once.
Q: What role does agriculture play in poverty alleviation?
While we can do something about the fact that almost one billion people go hungry globally, agriculture is only a small part of that equation. There are a lot of other elements that we have no control over – market forces, foreign policy and natural phenomena like climate instability – all of which can neutralize our efforts. The overarching incentive for our work was defined by the late CIMMYT wheat breeder and Nobel Peace Prize winner Norman Borlaug, who famously said: “I cannot sit idly by in the midst of abject poverty and hunger and human misery.”
Q: What is the biggest challenge the world faces?
I think the challenge the world at large faces is to work towards greater unity and equality of opportunity. CIMMYT is in a sense the Red Cross of resources for farmers, but we try to pre-empt their problems and make an investment in their future. It’s been reaffirmed recently that the fundamental basis for sustainable economic growth is a vibrant agricultural sector. Our overarching aim is food security for all, focusing especially on resource-poor consumers and farmers. As a society, we expend enormous effort on controlling natural resources such as land, water, and minerals – irrespective of the cost and conflict that this causes, while, ironically, sustaining the planet’s resource base is secondary at best. That was perhaps justifiable before the advent of good communication and international cooperation, but it makes no sense anymore, especially with a crowded planet. I suppose it’s always much harder to get people to unite – something Borlaug was good at, although not without considerable effort.
Q: What is Borlaug’s legacy?
His main legacy in my opinion is making people conscious of humanitarian problems and implementing real solutions with absolute dedication. This is something most politicians and leaders only pay lip service to, to avoid upsetting the status quo, which is basically a massive and growing inequality in the world. While I was not raised a Catholic, I read a wonderful quote recently from Pope Francis that relates very much to CIMMYT’s mission. He said at his inauguration: “While the income of a minority is increasing exponentially, that of the majority is crumbling. This imbalance results from ideologies which uphold the absolute autonomy of markets and financial speculation, and thus deny the right of control to states, which are charged with providing for the common good.” At CIMMYT we are still — at least for now – charged with providing for the common good; let’s hope we can maintain that legacy.
Born out of the Drought Tolerant Maize for Africa (DTMA) Initiative and other CIMMYT-Africa maize projects, the Drought Tolerant Maize for Africa Seed Scaling (DTMASS) project will improve the demand for and availability of high-quality, affordable, certified seed of drought-tolerant maize varieties for small-scale farmers across eastern and southern Africa.
“DTMASS aims to produce close to 12,000 tons of certified seed of drought-tolerant maize varieties by the end of its fifth year,” said Tsedeke Abate, DTMA project leader who will also lead DTMASS, speaking at the Uganda launch of the project in Kampala on 4 February. “This will benefit approximately 2.5 million people through the increased production and productivity of maize and the adoption of improved certified seed.”
According to Abate, DTMASS will strengthen the formal seed system, thereby reducing counterfeit seed use, lowering the risk of seed-borne maize diseases and helping to maintain productivity as climates change.
Working in Ethiopia, Kenya, Malawi, Mozambique, Tanzania, Uganda and Zambia, DTMASS will encourage cross-country learning and collaboration, Abate explained: “We have the knowledge and technology – what remains is translating knowledge to action.”
DTMASS countries account for 41 percent of maize area and production, and over 252 million people in sub-Saharan Africa.
A pillar of the project will be its strong partnerships with private and public seed companies, community-based organizations, non-governmental organizations and national extension systems. Fifty-three seed companies have already agreed to produce seed of 71 drought-tolerant varieties.
These partnerships enable increased and improved certified seed to reach small-scale farmers, increase farm production and enhance productivity, according to Dr. Imelda Kashaija, deputy director at Uganda’s National Agricultural Research Organization (NARO). “This project is at the right place at the right time,” she said.
DTMASS launched officially on 17-18 November 2014 in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. The goal for Uganda in 2015 is to produce 1,800 tons of improved maize seed.
Of the 1 billion food insecure people in the world, more than 30 percent are in South Asia. By 2030 it will be one of the most vulnerable regions to climate change-related food shortages, with maize, rice and wheat prices predicted to double in the next 20 years. Photo: M. DeFreese/CIMMYT
The Chief Minister of Bihar, India, Shri Jitan Ram Manjhi, affirmed his support for the Borlaug Institute for South Asia (BISA) and its efforts to ensure food security, in a meeting with Thomas A. Lumpkin, director general of CIMMYT, and with government, BISA and CIMMYT representatives on 3 February. As part of this, Manjhi agreed to support development of model villages in every district of Bihar, one of the fastest-growing and developing states in India.
“Ever-increasing energy prices, declining natural resources and variable climates have left farmers with diminishing returns,” Lumpkin said. “Bihar farmers need technologies that increase their profits under changing climates and economies.”
Launched in 2011 as a collaborative effort between CIMMYT and the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR), BISA is a non- profit international research institute dedicated to food, nutrition, livelihood security and environmental rehabilitation in South Asia, a region that is home to more than 300 million undernourished people.
During the meeting, Lumpkin emphasized the need for the quick transfer to Bihar farmers of technologies such as direct-seeded rice and zero-tilled wheat, to reduce production costs and labor and energy use.
Direct seeding of rice eliminates the need for transplanting seedlings from bund nurseries, and sowing wheat with zero tillage allows earlier planting so the crop can mature and fill grain before pre- monsoon high temperatures.
Lumpkin highlighted BISA’s critical capacity-building role, to support farmers and extension workers who test and promote innovative agriculture technologies.
Government representatives from Bihar included Shri Amrit Lal Meena, principal secretary to the chief minister; Shri Tripurari Sharan, principal secretary of agriculture; Shri Dharmendra Singh, director of agriculture; and Shri Gopal Singh, officer on special duty to the chief minister. CIMMYT and BISA attendees included John Snape, CIMMYT board chair; Hari Shanker Gupta, BISA Director General; Nicolle Birrell, CIMMYT board member; Etienne Duveiller, CIMMYT director of research- South Asia; M.L. Jat and Raj Kumar Jat, CIMMYT cropping systems agronomists; and Kumar Ashwani Yadav, senior advisor for India country relations.
From left to right: Raj Kumar Jat, Hari Shanker Gupta, Nicolle Birrell, Shri Amrit Lal Meena, Shri Jitan Ram Manjhi, Thomas A. Lumpkin, Etienne Duveiller and M.L. Jat. Photo: Fabiola Meza/CIMMYT
In work to help farmers in South Asia tackle changing climates and markets through resilient and productive cropping systems, scientists are now using a leading and longstanding model, the Agricultural Production System Simulator (APSIM).
To foster better use of soil and water through conservation agriculture and other resource- conserving practices, the Sustainable and Resilient Farming System Intensification in the Eastern Gangetic Plains (SRFSI) project held an APSIM workshop for nine researchers from Bangladesh, India and Nepal at Bihar Agricultural University (BAU), Bihar, India during 27-29 January. The workshop was inaugurated by the Honourable Vice Chancellor, Dr. M.L. Choudhary, accompanied by Research Director Dr. Ravi Gopal Singh.
The Vice Chancellor of Bihar Agricultural University, Dr. M.L. Choudhary, opens the APSIM Exposure Workshop. L-R: Ms. Alison Laing (CSIRO), Dr. Don Gaydon (CSIRO), Mr. Ashraf Ali (CIMMYT-Bangladesh), Dr. Ravi Gopal Singh (BAU) and Dr. Choudhary. Photos: Alison Laing (CSIRO) and Ashraf Ali (CIMMYT).
“The aim was to introduce these colleagues to the model and help them explore its adaptation and use,” said Md. Ashraf Ali, CIMMYT scientist and manager of SRFSI, which was launched in 2014 and is funded by the Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research (ACIAR).
“Our research targets rice-based systems in eight districts across those three countries, where wheat is often a key part of the rotation and climate change is already constraining crop yields.”
– Mahesh Kumar Gathala
CIMMYT cropping systems agronomist
According to SRFSI lead scientist, Mahesh Kumar Gathala, a CIMMYT cropping systems agronomist based in Bangladesh, SERFI works in Bangladesh, SERFI works in northwestern Bangladesh, West Bengal and Bihar in India, and the eastern Terai region of Nepal. “Our research targets rice-based systems in eight districts across those three countries, where wheat is often a key part of the rotation and climate change is already constraining crop yields.”
Ved Prakash (L) and Swaraj Dutta (R) work on modeling exercises.
One response to climate change – conservation agriculture – involves a complex, knowledge-intensive suite of practices including reduced tillage, keeping crop residues on the soil surface and careful use of rotations. A model like APSIM can speed the design and adoption of approaches tailored to specific locations, Singh explained. “But to provide reliable results, the model has to be adapted for the soil, climate and other conditions of each area,” he said.
Led by Don Gaydon and Alison Laing from Australia’s Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO) and with practical assistance from Dr. Sanjay Kumar, BAU, and Ali, the course provided theory and practice on the APSIM user interface and how to manage data on soils, weather and soil dynamics such as residue decomposition and moisture levels. “We also looked at how to model direct-seeded rice and wheat crops, long-term crop rotations and cropping simulations under climate-change,” Ali said.
Once assembled, a project modelling team with members from Bangladesh, India, Nepal and CSIRO will identify relevant parameters, calibrate the model and test it for diverse locations. Ultimately they will analyze scenarios for diverse crop management options, both current and proposed.
“With APSIM we can virtually ‘extend’ SRFSI field trials into the future by twenty years or more, gaining insight on long-term system variability,” Gathala said. “We can also explore likely impacts of the region-wide outscaling of new management options from one farm or village, including effects of different options on sustainability or greenhouse gas emissions, which can be difficult or expensive to measure in the field.”
Ved Prakash (L) and Swaraj Dutta (R) work on modeling exercises.
The Cereal Systems Initiative for South Asia (CSISA) has collaborated with Digital Green (DG), the Department of Agriculture (DOA), Government of Odisha, Krishi Vigyan Kendras (KVKs) and Orissa University of Agriculture & Technology (OUAT) for a pilot project integrating information and communication technology (ICT)-based video-led dissemination models in 20 villages of Puri district in Odisha, India.
Farmers watch a video on disease control at a community video screening in Puri district, Odisha. Photo credit: Ashok Rai/CIMMYT
How the pilot works: DG trains and builds the skills of state agents to shoot and create videos with farmers on improved farming practices and then holds screenings for small groups of farmers using small-sized, low-cost, battery-run pico projectors. CSISA provides its technical inputs in video topic selection, content planning and story boarding. During the video screening, state agents keep track of the questions asked and have follow-up meetings with the farmers to check on the adoption of farming practices.
This CSISA–DG initiative has resulted in the production of videos on 10 technical themes reflecting the needs of local farming communities. Topics included the demonstration of new paddy, post-harvest and livestock management technologies and relevant successes by local farmers. So far, six videos on CSISA- promoted technologies have been produced. Ninety-one group screenings were held, with nearly 500 farmers in Puri district attending at least one of the video screenings. “Each video requires good planning, a good script and technical understanding of the subject,” said Sudhir Yadav, IRRI Irrigated Systems Agronomist and the CSISA Odisha Hub Manager.
“We aim at both increasing participation of the community and creating a two-way flow between research and extension,” said Rikin Gandhi, CEO of DG, during a presentation at the Borlaug 100 event organized by CIMMYT.
These videos inspire farmers to learn about and adopt new technologies and management practices. A video on the benefits of chopped straw as fodder in dairy management has helped farmers to enhance milk production, commented Suresh Parida, a farmer from one of the pilot villages. Farmers have also found it easier to identify pests and diseases in their crop after seeing a video of pest and disease management in paddies.
“As the actors in the video are local farmers from the area, it generates trust among the viewers to adopt a demonstrated practice,” said Avinash Upadhaya, Regional Manager of DG for Odisha, at a recent participatory stakeholder’s workshop in Puri. Farmers, mediators from KVK and project coordinators from DOA, CSISA and DG met to discuss the changes that the ICT model has brought and challenges in integrating it with traditional training methods. Ashok Lakra, a village agricultural worker of a pilot village highlighted the advantages of DG’s approach, stating “At a demonstration, we might miss some important information, but these videos deliver the entire package and cover all the points.”
“The best language that the farmer understands is the language of other farmers. This works as a good communication model to help in creating awareness and dissemination of improved technologies,” said Yadav.
Aye Aye Win, Senior Researcher at Zaloke Research Farm in Mongwa, was the last CIMMYT GWP trainee from Myanmar in Mexico (2002) and is currently the only wheat breeder in the country. Photos: Fabiola Meza/CIMMYT
Given growing demand for maize and wheat in Myanmar and the increasing challenges to produce both crops, officials of the Myanmar Ministry of Agriculture and Irrigation’s (MOAI) Department of Agricultural Research (DAR) and CIMMYT representatives met at DAR headquarters at Yezin during 24-27 January, to strengthen collaboration, with a focus on increasing farm productivity and training a new generation of Myanmar scientists.
Maize area, output and demand are growing with increased use of the grain in poultry and livestock feeds. Nine-tenths of the 450,000-hectare (ha) national maize area is rain-fed and grown with few inputs. It suffers from erratic precipitation among other things. Nearly one-third is sown to hybrid seed imported from Thailand. Small- and medium-scale local seed producers need stimulation and support.
Wheat is important for subsistence farmers in the eastern hills but also to meet the rising demand of a growing population with more urban inhabitants. National consumption yearly exceeds 0.5 million tons, only 0.18 million of which is produced in Myanmar (the rest is imported from Australia). Yields are low due to lack of inputs or new seed varieties. Farmers particularly need heat tolerant, rust resistant wheat varieties and resource-conserving cropping technologies.
Drying maize in Myanmar.
CIMMYT germplasm and other support are crucial for both crops in the country, but interactions have grown less frequent. The last Myanmar maize researcher to participate in training courses in Mexico came in 1999; the last wheat trainee, in 2002.
Participating in discussions were Dr. Tin Htut, director general, MOAI Department of Agricultural Planning, and DAR senior staff including Dr. Ye Tint Tun, DAR director general and U. Thant Lwin Oo, director for Maize & Other Cereals, Oil Seeds and Legumes.
CIMMYT was represented by Thomas A. Lumpkin, director general; Etienne Duveiller, regional representative for Asia; and administrative assistant Fabiola Meza. In addition to taking part in high-level discussions, they visited Dr. Win Win New, Director of the Aung Ban Agricultural Research Farm and Maize Breeder who conducts maize and wheat trials in southern Shan State and accompanied the team for field tours.
Collaboration discussion with DAR officials in Yezin.
These interactions grew out of visits in 2014 to Myanmar by Duveiller and Dan Jeffers, a CIMMYT maize breeder based in Yunnan, China.
Opportunities to address Myanmar’s concerns include regional collaboration with CIMMYT maize research in Yunnan and Hyderabad and training at BISA farms in India, for conservation agriculture and small-scale mechanization. CIMMYT and DAR are developing an agreement to facilitate collaboration.
In 2014, the work of The Machinery and Equipment Innovation Group began activities after signing of four contracts with four Mexican workshops. The local entrepreneurs will partner with the Farmer component of the Sustainable Modernization of Traditional Agriculture program that CIMMYT develops in collaboration with Mexico’s Secretariat of Agriculture, Livestock, Rural Development, Fisheries and Food (SAGARPA). This platform aims to establish a space for technological collaboration where CIMMYT and small and medium local manufacturers will improve or refine prototypes, and develop new ones to respond to the needs of Mexican farmers more effectively.
This objective will be met by transferring technology, giving access to existing machinery and equipment prototypes for improvement, and by offering technical support for the development of new models to the small and medium local workshops that join The Machinery and Equipment Innovation Group. The new Platform will operate across the country with the support of MasAgro’s hubs.
This innovation platform will develop multipurpose and multi-cropping machinery and equipment to reduce tillage, the cost of adopting the new technology, fuel consumption and manual labor.
In 2014, the Sustainable Modernization of Traditional Agriculture (MasAgro) program expanded its rural development and innovation networks to 10 Mexican regions through 50 research platforms and 233 demonstration modules of MasAgro technologies and sustainable agronomic practices.
The project developed by the Mexican Secretary of Agriculture (SAGARPA) and CIMMYT provides a framework that can be replicated to take advantage of research and innovation achievements and which secures returns on investments.
In 2014, SAGARPA invested nearly US $40 million in its partnership with CIMMYT to offer better opportunities to Mexican farmers. Six thousand Mexican farmers participated in over 170 training events across the country. MasAgro also offered more than 40 workshops on the adoption of different technologies and conservation agriculture practices to more than 1,300 farmers actively engaged in the program.
These workshops are adapted to the capacity building needs detected through hubs and cover subjects that include adoption of improved maize, wheat and barley varieties, fertilization diagnosis tools, precision machinery, access to new markets and postharvest technologies.
MasAgro also develops basic maize seed and pre-commercial hybrids. So far the program has delivered more than 15 tons of basic seed to Mexican seed companies. Once multiplied and marketed, this seed will be enough to sow two million hectares.
Bram Govaerts, MasAgro leader, explained that in 2014 the initiative established 21 postharvest trials across Chiapas, the State of Mexico, Guanajuato, Michoacán, Oaxaca and Tlaxcala. These trials were designed to offer local solutions to farmers, including accessible options to store harvested grain and to prevent losses that in some cases can exceed 30 percent of their annual harvest.
He added that MasAgro adapts machinery to the needs of the communities where the program operates and operates and develops multiuse-multicrop implements to reduce production and storage costs for farmers. Last year four “smart” machinery protoypes were developed.
“MasAgro works with farmers who have one or two hectares of land, where they can im-prove their efficiency by using manual seeder-fertilizers, but also with farmers who own larger plots who need precision technology to estimate optimal nitrogen fertilizer doses,” Govaerts explained.
In addition, MasAgro successfully developed 44 integral fertility research protocols to improve soil quality in different production zones, in line with the United Nations Organiza-tion for Food and Agriculture (FAO) Year of Soil for 2015.
The program uses remote sensors to estimate exact doses of nitrogen fertilizer for maize and wheat on some 8,000 hectares throughout Mexico.
The arm that strengthens MasAgro is its conservation agriculture agronomy technicians certified by CIMMYT. Finally, by late 2014, MasAgro-Móvil information service had more than 2,700 users who receive weather and agronomic recommendations from technical experts.
Crop residues burning in a farmer’s field, Chiapas. Photo: Rodolfo Vilchis
“To increase my production, I don’t burn residues; I use them. I practice conservation agriculture.” This slogan was promoted by CIMMYT’s Global Conservation Agriculture Program (GCAP) from March to May 2015 through a communications campaign in the state of Chiapas, Mexico. The campaign aimed to inform farmers and agronomists of the devastating effects of residue burning and its potential risks. It also focused on topics such as the benefits of residue retention, sustainable alternatives to conventional practices, and how burning contributes to global warming.
According to Mexico’s National Forestry Commission, 40% of forest fires start in farm plots, due mainly to residue burning and burning to clear land for farming. Forest fires release large amounts of carbon dioxide and other pollutants that contribute to global warming and climate change. Global warming has already affected several agricultural areas in Mexico. For example, in 2014, there was a severe drought in Chiapas that lasted 45 days and caused all agricultural production to be lost, reinforcing the importance of MasAgro’s mission to promote environmentally friendly agronomic practices.
MasAgro was able to interact with its users through its mobile information service, MasAgro Movil, to carry out a scoping exercise. The exercise helped MasAgro identify farmers’ problems concerning residue and agricultural burning. With input from several farmers, MasAgro crafted key messages directed at solving issues such as reducing weed incidence, fertilizer use and soil erosion and conserving soil moisture.
Residue burning contributes to global warming by increasing the greenhouse gases released into the atmosphere.
The campaign also dealt with topics such as the perceived benefits of burning versus sustainable alternatives that generate long-term benefits; the benefits of retaining residues in farm plots; residue burning and its contribution to global warming, and technical tips for handling residues. Finally, testimonials were gathered from farmers who have already experienced the benefits of retaining residues in their plots.
These key messages were transmitted through MasAgro’s communication outlets, such as using the hashtag #ChiapasNoQuema and MasAgro Movil in social media. In addition, four farmer interviews were broadcast on the regional radio station of the National Commission for the Development of Indigenous Peoples, and a series of articles were published in MasAgro’s online magazine EnlACe.
The campaign reached farmers in all corners of the state of Chiapas thanks to the strong support of many institutions, organizations, regional offices and service providers. Through the No Burning in Chiapas campaign, CIMMYT spearheaded the drive to promote sustainable practices while providing relevant information and technical assistance.
“We’ve got the germplasm and improved varieties, but what can we do to overcome the hurdle of farmer adoption of these technologies?” Jon Hellin, value chain and poverty specialist for CIMMYT’s Socioeconomics Program presented this challenge and how crop-index insurance may be part of the solution, at a high-level Climate Change, Agriculture and Food Security (CCAFS) webcast event Wednesday, 28 January in London. The event covered innovations in index insurance and how Nigeria can implement them, as part of a plan to safeguard its farmers from climate change effects.
“Unfortunately, threats like drought – the very reason for adopting climate-smart practices – also represent a huge risk that makes farmers reluctant to invest in new technologies”
– Jon Hellin
CIMMYT’s Socioeconomics Program
Benefits of Index Insurance
“Unfortunately, threats like drought – the very reason for adopting climate-smart practices – also represent a huge risk that makes farmers reluctant to invest in new technologies,” said Hellin. Traditional crop insurance gives payouts that are explicitly determined on measured loss for a specific client. Index insurance allows farmers to purchase coverage based on an index that is correlated with those losses, such as average yield losses over a larger area or a well-defined climate risk, e.g. erratic rainfall, that significantly influences crop yields.
This approach can address many of the problems that limit the application of traditional crop insurance, including lower transaction costs and eliminating the need for in-field assessments. In addition, because the insurance product is based on an objective index it can also be reinsured, allowing insurance companies to efficiently transfer part of their risk to international markets. This makes index insurance financially viable for private-sector insurers and affordable for small-scale farmers.
CIMMYT is involved in a CCAFS-supported crop index insurance project. One focus is to determine how crop index insurance can enhance adoption of drought tolerant maize varieties. CIMMYT, along with international partners and scientists, has been developing many such varieties under the Drought Tolerant Maize for Africa (DTMA) initiative. “When it comes to these varieties and exciting initiatives like crop index insurance, that’s where we can come together and get great win-wins,” Hellin stated.
Challenges and Opportunities
Scientifically-validated crop-index insurance schemes need indices that are affordable and attractive to stakeholders, particularly farmers and the insurance industry and other refinements. However, as demonstrated by examples from Ethiopia, Kenya, Rwanda and Senegal, if implemented correctly index insurance can build resilience for smallholder farmers not only by ensuring a payout in the event of a climate shock, but also by giving farmers the freedom to invest in new technology and inputs, such as seed.
“The Nigerian government’s interest in crop insurance will allow us to test different approaches for bundling insurance with technologies, making it attractive to farmers and private sector actors,” Hellin proposed.
EL BATAN, Mexico (CIMMYT) – A social media crowd sourcing campaign initiated to celebrate the achievements of women has led to more than a dozen published blog story contributions about women in the maize and wheat sectors.
In 2014, the Sustainable Modernization of Traditional Agriculture (MasAgro) program expanded its rural development and innovation networks to 10 Mexican regions through 50 research platforms and 233 demonstration modules of MasAgro technologies and sustainable agronomic practices.