News – Page 140

CSISA hosts regional cross-learning event on sustainable intensification

Written by on February 10, 2015. Posted in News.

Irmgard Hoeschle-Zeledon, International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA) from Africa RISING speaks at the event.

Developing a global ‘community of practice’ for sustainable intensification (SI) and the need to define indicators for measuring SI activities were highlighted at the cross-learning SI event hosted by Cereal Systems Initiative for South Asia (CSISA) on 28 January in New Delhi, India.

A group of 50 participants from USAID, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation (BMGF), Africa RISING, USAID’s Sustainable Intensification Innovation Lab, the Innovation Lab for Small-scale Irrigation, CIMMYT, the International Food Policy Research Institute, International Livestock Research Institute and International Rice Research Institute attended the event and shared perspectives on SI in African and South Asian contexts.

Applying principles of SI in mixed crop-livestock systems is key to achieving better food security and improved livelihoods, while minimizing negative impacts on the environment. The full-day program looked at the approaches taken by SI projects of CSISA and Africa RISING, collaborative research opportunities by the Sustainable Intensification Innovation Lab and the Innovation Lab for Small-scale Irrigation and the perspectives of donors who fund SI projects.

Andrew McDonald, CSISA Project Leader, outlines South Asia agricultural systems and the CSISA initiative.

“We need broad systems programs to make impacts truly happen,” said Thomas Lumpkin, Director General, CIMMYT, talking about CSISA’s cropping systems approach at the start of the event. He added, “We should get more value chains involved and look at regional and global levels to extract maximum value from our R4D projects.” Andrew McDonald, CSISA Project Leader, talked about the history and context of CSISA, highlighting its 10-year vision of success that aims to significantly increase the incomes and staple crop productivity of 6 million farm families by 2018.

Christian Witt, Senior Program Officer at BMGF, gave a brief overview of the Foundation’s global and regional strategies in SI, which highlighted significant investments in digital soil mapping in Africa and work with CIMMYT to merge soil data with agronomic research. “We are also enhancing communication within farming communities through informal methods. A good example is our partnership with Digital Green,” he added.

Christian Witt, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, talks about emerging agricultural R4D priorities at the foundation.

The event provided CSISA an opportunity to discuss its current status in India and Bangladesh and to outline the potential future direction of CSISA as a regional initiative, now that CSISA Phase II is being renewed. A series of presentations also outlined the project’s progress and emerging priorities in strategic agronomic, livestock, socio-economic and policy research and rice and wheat breeding.

Following the event, a group of 13 representatives accompanied members of CSISA’s leadership team on a tour of CSISA sites in Bihar and Odisha over the course of a week in January and February. The tour was designed to enable cross-learning among the flagship SI investments of USAID.

Seed Company Management in Africa

Written by on February 10, 2015. Posted in News.

We are happy to announce the online publication of the French and Portuguese translations (Gestion des entreprises semencières en Afrique and Gestão da Indústria de Sementes em África) of a book on seed company management authored by John MacRobert, former CIMMYT researcher and seed systems expert, and first published in English and Spanish.

Given the growing importance of the seed sector around the world, MacRobert shares decades of experience in maize seed production and management in Africa. These books are practical guides for emerging seed companies that want to explore new markets.

Index insurance to safeguard farmers from climate change

Written by on February 10, 2015. Posted in Features.

“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.

Zero tillage for smallholder wheat farmers in Balochistan, Pakistan

Written by on February 10, 2015. Posted in News.

Participants in zero tillage wheat field. Photos: Naveed Ahmed Sheikh from Balochistan.

Under the Agricultural Innovation Program (AIP) for Pakistan and in collaboration with Balochistan Agriculture Research, CIMMYT has begun testing and spreading with farmers the practice known as “zero tillage” to sow wheat in Balochistan, a province in southwest Pakistan that accounts for more than 40 percent of the country’s land area but only five percent of the population.

Jaffarabad and Nasirabad are major rice- and wheat-growing districts in Balochistan. The predominant cropping systems are either fallow or rice, followed by a crop of wheat. Soils after rice are poorly-drained and hamper tilling for wheat, so wheat is not sown soon enough to avoid the high temperatures that arrive in spring, when the crop is filling grain. This seriously reduces yields.

Participants in field day at Usta Muhammad.

On 10 January, more than 100 participants gathered for a field day organized by AIP in Balochistan province to promote zero tillage for wheat. Involving the direct sowing of wheat seed into residues of the preceding rice crop, with no plowing, the practice has multiple benefits for farmers, soils and water use. These include more timely wheat planting, reduced land preparation costs, higher wheat yields and increased cropping system intensity (hence, productivity), according to agricultural experts Mr. Asmatullah Taran and Mr. Mehdi Hassan.

Intended for smallholder farmers, the event also drew progressive farmers, agricultural extension specialists and researchers from the Directorate of Agriculture Research Usta Muhammad Farm, Jaffarabad District, as well as renowned parliamentarians Mr. Khan Muhammad Khan Jamali, Mr. Changaiz Khan Jamali and Mr. Mir Jan Muhammad Jamali, Speaker, Balochistan Provincial Assembly.

Mir Jan Muhammad Jamali addressing the farmers.

Dr. Muhammad Javaid Tareen, Director General of Balochistan Agriculture Research, praised AIP and partners’ efforts to promote conservation agriculture practices such as zero tillage, said the practices would improve farmers’ livelihoods in the Nasirabad Zone and called on scientists to address the Province’s crop productivity constraints. Mr. Changaiz Khan Jamali, former Federal Minister for Science & Technology, said that agricultural research must address small farmers’ concerns and provide new techniques to the farming community.

Mr. Jamali was grateful for the efforts of USAID and CIMMYT to improve smallholder famers’ incomes and assured the farmers and agricultural professionals that efforts would be made to improve research facilities and access to new technologies in Balochistan.

Pakistan wheat farmers call for quality seed of the right varieties

Written by Mike Listman on February 10, 2015. Posted in Features.

A Pakistani farmer carries seed of a new wheat variety for on-farm testing. Photo: Anju Joshi/CIMMYT

Lack of good seed of appropriate varieties is holding back harvests of smallholder wheat farmers in rugged, rain-fed areas of Punjab, Pakistan, said a group of farmers to some 50 representatives of seed companies, input dealers, and research, extension and development organizations, at a workshop in Chakwal, Punjab, on 18 September 2014.

“Ninety-five percent of farmers in Pothwar, a semi-arid region of bare and broken terrain, use farm-saved seed of obsolete varieties, invariably with limited use of modern agricultural technologies and inputs, resulting in poor crop establishment and low yields,” said Krishna Dev Joshi, CIMMYT wheat improvement specialist based in Pakistan. “Their yields average only 0.6 tons per hectare, whereas progressive farmers in irrigated areas get ten times that much.”

Joshi said only three varieties cover 83 percent of the region’s wheat area and the same cultivars have been used for an average of 24 years. “One of these, C591, is a variety that was recommended in 1934 and is still grown on about 14 percent of the region’s nearly 0.6 million hectares of wheat area.”

According to Akhlaq Hussain, ex-Director General, Pakistan Department of Federal Seed Certification and Registration, one problem is that, despite their low yields, the older varieties have many traits that the farmers like. For example, they give stable yields under low inputs and harsh growing conditions and provide the preferred flavor and long-lasting good texture in chapattis.

Muhammad Tariq, Director of the Barani Agricultural Research Institute (BARI), Chakwal, Punjab, said there are few producers or suppliers of suitable, quality seed, fertilizer or other farm inputs for such marginal areas. They may be considered unattractive markets, but more than 70 percent of Pakistani wheat farmers are smallholders, cultivating between one and five hectares of land, according to Tariq.

Such farmers harvest on average only 1.5 tons per hectare and urgently need better seed and technology to raise their yields, said Joshi. “Farmers at the workshop complained they could not get access to high-yielding varieties of their choice,” he explained. “They also criticized the long time — typically three years — required to obtain seed of new varieties, once the varieties are officially released.”

Given this need and the lack of legitimate suppliers, fraudulent seed dealers and middlemen often market inferior or false products. “Last year I bought a bag of seed labelled ‘Galaxy,’ a new, high-yielding variety,” said Haji Muhammad Aslam Ochallee, a farmer from Khushab District, “but the seed inside was of an entirely different variety.”

Some seed dealers may mix seed or sell grain in bags labelled ‘certified seed’ at low prices to lure smallholders, and big landlords may sell cheap seed illegally to neighbors, said Qaiser Rasheed, Managing Director of the company Robert Cotton Association. “All these practices cheat farmers, distort markets and erode farmers’ trust in the formal seed sector,” Rasheed observed.

Pothwar’s problems reflect Pakistan’s overall food security challenge, according to Joshi. “A 2014 bulletin by the World Food Program shows that more than 27 million people in Pakistan are highly-to-severely food insecure,” he said. “The big concern is that most smallholders and vulnerable people live in districts that will need special attention to improve food security.”

Activating the Wheat Seed Value Chain

As a part of the Agricultural Innovation Program (AIP) for Pakistan, a project funded by the US Agency for International Development (USAID), CIMMYT is working with the Pakistan Agricultural Research Council (PARC), BARI in Punjab, seed companies and farmers to close gaps in the wheat seed value chain for rain-fed Punjab.

Workshop participants cited the need for better communication and coordination of research and extension agencies with commercial input suppliers sector and, especially, better marketing of new wheat varieties to farmers. “If stakeholders don’t integrate and coordinate, small-scale farmers will remain deprived of modern technologies and innovations, such as wheat varieties that resist new and virulent disease strains,” said Joshi.

“If stakeholders don’t integrate and coordinate, small-scale farmers will remain deprived of modern technologies and innovations, such as wheat varieties that resist new and virulent disease strains”

– Krishna Dev Joshi

CIMMYT Wheat Improvement Specialist

Farmers recommended establishing village committees to choose and access seed of new varieties and help foster truth in labeling. They particularly called for strict punishment for those selling fake seed.

For their part, seed companies said the lack of reliable irrigation or storage facilities hinders seed production in Pothwar. “Because of this, seed must be transported over long distances, raising costs, which in turn discourages buyers and cuts profits,” said one company representative.

The workshop forged an agreement to allow private seed companies to produce pre-basic and basic seed, supervised by concerned breeders and with support from Federal Seed Certification and Registration Department, to speed the marketing of new varieties. One result was that Robert Cotton Association has received pre-basic and basic seeds of two wheat varieties, Chakwal50 and Dharabi11, originally developed and released by BARI, which will provide technical backstopping.

Other action points agreed on at the workshop included the following:

On-farm trials and demonstrations that allow farmers to learn about and choose from new, high-yielding wheat varieties. To address this, AIP-wheat has already launched participatory varietal selection trials in which farmers and researchers jointly evaluate 14 new, high-yielding, disease resistant wheat varieties of diverse genetic backgrounds on the farms of 65 smallholders across Pothwar. In addition, to help farmers assess and improve crop management practices, the project is conducting 20 on-farm, participatory experiments on fertilizer use and 107 trials on pre-soaking seed, a practice that improves germination and crop establishment.
Community-based seed production linked with private companies and supported by proper equipment and training in quality seed production. Achievements to date include seed of 9 new varieties being multiplied directly with 52 Pothwar farmers on more than 42 hectares.
Group. Photo: CIMMYT

Letter from the field

Written by on February 9, 2015. Posted in Features.

World Food Prize Borlaug-Ruan Intern Describes Experience with CIMMYT in Turkey

The prestigious Borlaug-Ruan International Internship provides high school students an all-expenses-paid, eight-week hands-on experience, working with world-renowned scientists and policymakers at leading international research centers.

Adam Willman, a Borlaug-Ruan International Intern from Iowa, USA, spent last summer working for CIMMYT’s Soil Borne Pathogens (SBP) Division in Eskişehir, Turkey, working and studying root lesion nematodes under Dr. Abdelfattah “Amer” Dababat and Dr. Gül Erginbas Orakcı.

Willman said “Everyone I worked with had something different and interesting to teach me. I experienced a wide variety of the work that is ongoing at CIMMYT-Turkey. These experiments focused on the overall goals of reducing food loss from disease and pests that can plague farm fields across the globe.”

Willman’s work also included assisting Elfinesh Shikur Gebremariam from Ankara University with Fusarium fungus, Fateh Toumi from Ghent University and Jiang Kuan Cui from China’s Ministry of Agriculture with cereal cyst nematodes. “I was exposed to both the threat that plant diseases pose to food security and the cutting-edge research to combat this” he added.

Willman also commented on the unique opportunity to experience Turkey’s people and culture, saying “I witnessed the amazing kindness, generosity and hospitality of everyone from the director of the research institute, to CIMMYT researchers and workers, to everyday strangers. I am very thankful for my time and experience at CIMMYT-Turkey.”

In a final message he thanked Dr. Dababat, Dr. Erginbas and all of the workers and researchers at SBP.

“Working with SBP for eight weeks truly changed my life and gave me the perspective on my education that I am still utilizing today. I hope to in the future become a plant pathologist and continue researching the many diseases and pests that affect the crops that we, as a planet, depend on. Global food security is within reach, and the scientists and workers at SBP are helping us obtain this goal,” Willman concluded.

Adam Willman (5th from the left) with the SBP pathogens division, students, visitors and Global Wheat Program Director Dr. Hans Braun during a field day in Eskişehir. This photo was taken in the field of the Transitional Zone Agriculture Research Institute (TZARI) in Eskisehir, Turkey.

Gates Foundation predicts agricultural extension will have a big impact on Africa

Written by on February 9, 2015. Posted in Features.

In their seventh annual letter Bill & Melinda Gates look 15 years into the future to predict the steps needed to improve the lives of poor people faster than in any other time in history. Technology advancements in agriculture, education and global health are key to this vision, with particular reference to the importance of new vaccines, mobile phone technology and online education. “Poverty has been halved because of innovation,” Bill Gates emphasized at the Davos World Economic Forum last week. “Economic miracles start with agriculture, education and then [countries] can participate in the world economy.”

The Gates Foundation has placed their agricultural bets on Africa being able to feed itself in 15 years. This will be achieved through training in crop rotation, no-till farming, fertilizer use and planting techniques. “Investing in extension…is the only way to reap the full benefit of innovation,” Bill and Melinda Gates emphasized. It is predicted this will lead to a 50 percent yield increase across Africa, reducing famines through more nutritious crops and a reduced dependence on imports. Mobile phones will also be a game-changer, giving farmers access to information on improved seed and fertilizer, proper techniques, daily weather reports and market prices.

The notion that scientists should work closely with farmers is central to CIMMYT’s approach. There is a great deal of information out there today and farmers have choices to make. Selecting the right seed varieties and technologies alone is not enough. It is also crucial to combine this knowledge with an understanding of how to develop an integrative agronomic system that connects farmers to a working value chain. In this respect agricultural extension can help farmers achieve their agricultural goals.

Nonetheless, agricultural extension alone will not be sufficient to help African farmers increase agricultural productivity. Extension must go hand in hand with developing new varieties – why use an Altair Basic if you can get a Surface Pro 3? Tanzanian farmer Joyce Sandiya’s success with new drought tolerant maize seed is featured in the annual letter. “That seed made the difference between hunger and prosperity,” she said, eloquently reflecting on the importance of a single seed.

CIMMYT projects in Africa that are funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation show how to develop and deploy new seed varieties. In eastern and southern Africa, up to 2 million farming households have benefited from improved drought tolerant maize seed emerging from joint work by CIMMYT scientists and seed companies, government exten-sion programs and national research organizations.

Research alone is academic, unless it is informed by awareness of problems on-farm and supported by extension. Agricultural research is essential to develop new seed varieties, technologies and innovations, while extension is crucial to ensure that farmers can use these technologies.

The International Maize Improvement Consortium for Asia (IMIC-Asia): partnership for targeted impacts

Written by on February 4, 2015. Posted in News.

This is business unusual. IMIC-Asia is a partnership of over 40 institutions (seed companies, national programs and foundations) formed by CIMMYT to develop and share improved maize inbreds and hybrids for targeted impacts on the hybrid maize scenario in Asia. This is all done through a shared research investment. Modelled on ICRISAT’s successful consortium on pearl millet, IMIC-Asia, which was established in 2010, has so far developed and distributed over 1,500 improved inbred lines developed by CIMMYT to members for use in new inbred line development or in heterotic hybrid combinations of the partners. IMIC germplasm incorporates trait priorities jointly identified by members while still maintaining the typical vast genetic diversity of CIMMYT germplasm. Through the germplasm selected at field days, members have also sampled the diversity in terms of tolerance to major abiotic stresses (drought and heat) and biotic stresses, a key strength in CIMMYT’s tropical maize germplasm base.

Whether it is training on maize breeding, field based phenotyping for abiotic stresses, statistical and genomic data management imparted through this consortium or evaluation of pre-release hybrid combinations of partners, IMIC-Asia has added value to the research portfolio of member companies. The consortium members helped in establishing a strong collaborative testing network for identifying best-bet pre-release products, which now serves as a precursor for such products to be further evaluated at the national or state level as a part of the varietal release process. CIMMYT hybrid combinations are in the process of being allocated to interested members, especially small and medium enterprises for commercialization and deployment. In 2014 alone, 10 new members were inducted into IMIC-Asia.

Riding on this success, the consortium will be entering its second phase in mid-2015, all with renewed vigor, member strength and innovative research ideas/activities.

For membership in IMIC-Asia or for more details, please contact: BS Vivek (bvivek@cgiar.org) or AR Sadananda (a.r.sadananda@cgiar.org), CIMMYT-Hyderabad, India.

Boosting yields while staving off the spread of wheat diseases

Written by on January 30, 2015. Posted in Features.

El Dr. Julio Huerta, patólogo experto en royas y científico adjunto (asignado por el Instituto Nacional de Investigaciones Forestales y Agropecuarias (INIFAP)/Investigador de Trigo y Avena INIFAP CIRCE CEVAMEX).

Wheat provides about 20 percent of the world’s food calories. Growing wheat to maturity can be complicated by fast-spreading virulent diseases, which threaten production and land-shortage pressures.

Two among many wheat scientists in the wheat breeding program with the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT) near Mexico City, work to develop and fine-tune high-yielding, disease-resistant wheat varieties.

Ravi Singh head of CIMMYT’s Global Spring Wheat Improvement Program and Julio Huerta, a rust pathologist, select the most desirable traits suitable for about 60 percent of the developing world’s wheat growing area across various climates, environments and at risk of threats from diseases and pests.

Their understanding of the selection process evolved from nearly four decades of research, which began as they worked under the mentorship of Sanjaya Rajaram, the winner of the 2014 World Food Prize, at CIMMYT research stations in El Batan, Obregon and Toluca.

“As a teacher, Dr. Rajaram led us through the Socratic method of questioning to help young scientists observe, articulate and learn from what they saw in the wheat fields,” Huerta said.

Inspired by what he refers to as the “freedom to flourish,” through the process of asking and receiving answers to questions which inspired him, Huerta developed an eye for wheat selection and judicial elimination in wheat breeding ultimately becoming one of the top wheat curators in the world.

Over the years, as their skills developed, Huerta and Singh tested the theoretical basis for wheat improvement to help form an applied regime approach whereby the “laws” of science are evaluated in practice – in fields across the globe. This work led to their capacity to produce germplasm – or wheat material – which is ultimately distributed to government-run National Agriculture Research Systems (NARS).

“We develop a set of germplasm that is distributed globally,” Singh said. “However, as we make distribution decisions, we evaluate the locations where these seeds will be grown prior to selecting appropriate traits suitable for specific contexts such as high-heat or early frost.”

After receiving germplasm from CIMMYT, NARS work with local seed nurseries to consider which varieties would be best to grow, adapting recommended varieties to their local environment.

Scientists Singh and Huerta offer vital contributions to the ability of farmers to generate profits while strengthening food security by improving wheat productivity. A key part of this work involves replacing varieties susceptible to disease with durable resistant varieties that mitigate losses.

Over many years, CIMMYT has worked with hundreds of partner organizations and thousands of individuals; seed from CIMMYT’s International Wheat Improvement Network has been delivered to 121 countries.

The perilous life of aphids fascinates South Asian crop scientists

Written by Mike Listman on January 27, 2015. Posted in News.

The wheat plant protection group attend interactive group meeting at IIWBR, Karnal, India. Photo: CIMMYT

Among the world’s most destructive and hated crop pests, the sap-sucking insects known as aphids are engaged in dramatic evolutionary battles with predators that include wasps whose larvae hatch and pupate in aphid bodies, devouring them from inside.

Rather than a new science fiction/horror film, this scenario is actually the basis for innovative pest control, as described by topic experts at two presentations of their interactive program “Aphids and their biological control on wheat, barley and maize” for wheat scientists in India and Nepal on 24 and 26 November 2014.

“The 34 participants, including 26 in Nepal and 8 in India, heard short lectures on maize and wheat aphids and other insect pests, followed by videos on aphid biology and their biological control,” said Arun Joshi, CIMMYT wheat breeder based in Nepal who helped organize the programs, in conjunction with the Indian Institute of Wheat and Barely Research (IIWBR) of the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) at Karnal and the Nepal Agricultural Research Council (NARC). “They learned about the special traits of the biological control agents that can be used in South Asia, as well as how to rear and spread them in crop fields, with the idea of training farmers in these skills.”

The main presenter, Prof. Urs Wyss, Institute of Phytopathology, University of Kiel, Germany, has produced over 70 films on insect pest biology and bio-control. Prof. Chandra Prakash Srivastava, Head, Department of Entomology, Banaras Hindu University, India, spoke to both groups about maize and wheat insect pests and their management.

“This is the first program on wheat insect pest management and biological control at IIWBR (former DWR, Karnal) in two decades,” said Dr. Indu Sharma, IIWBR project director. Joshi said that NARC colleagues made similar comments in praise of the program.

The training program was organized in response to mounting evidence of crop damage from aphids in Peninsular and northwestern India and the Terai and Midhills of Nepal. It was conducted at IIWBR, Karnal, through Dr. Indu Sharma and Dr. M.S. Saharan and in Nepal through Dr. Yagya Prasad Giri, Head, Entomology, NARC.

Other institutions represented in India included:

Chandra Shekhar Azad University of Agriculture and
Technology, Kanpu.
Agriculture Research Station, Niphad, Maharashtra.
Agriculture Research Station, Durgapura, Rajasthan.
Centre of Excellence for Research on Wheat, S.D.
Agriculture University, Vijapur, Gujrat.
Punjab Agriculture University, Ludhiana.
G.B. Pant Univ. of Agriculture and Technology,
Pantnagar.
Assam Agricultural University, Shillongani, Nagoan.
Uttar Banga Agriculture University, West Bengal.

In Nepal participants came from:

The Department of Entomology, National Agriculture
Research Institute, Khumaltar.
National Wheat Research Program (NWRP),
Bhairahwa.
National Maize Research Program (NMRP), Rampur.

‘Gluten-free’ diets put food security, human health at risk – nutritionist

Written by on January 26, 2015. Posted in Features.

Hans Braun, director of the Global Wheat Program at CIMMYT examines wheat with nutritionist Julie Miller Jones in a greenhouse at CIMMYT headquarters near Mexico City. Jones presented a talk on nutrition and wheat at CIMMYT. Photo: Xochiquetzal Fonseca/CIMMYT

EL BATAN, Mexico (CIMMYT) — Eliminating wheat consumption to avoid ingesting gluten is at best unnecessary for most people and at worst means that diets could lack cereal fiber and other valuable health benefits provided by grains, according to a top nutritionist.

Complete removal of wheat from the human diet would further cripple global efforts to feed the current global population of 7.2 billion, said Julie Miller Jones during a presentation delivered to scientists at CIMMYT on Tuesday.

Despite providing 20 percent of calories consumed globally, wheat and its protein complex, gluten, are often criticized in books and news stories as the cause of many human ailments. However, wheat and grain-based staples provide an array of nutritional and health benefits.

The claim that such non-cereal fibers as those found in fruit, vegetables and legumes can replace cereal fibers has been shown to be untrue, said Miller Jones, who is professor emeritus of nutrition at St. Catherine University in St. Paul, Minnesota.

Eating fibers from a variety of sources plays a role in maintaining healthy cholesterol and blood sugar levels, she said, adding that they also reduce the risk of gut disorders, help maintain healthy gut bacteria and keep unhealthy bacteria at bay.

Abandoning wheat consumption altogether could lead to a reliance on more costly foods, in short supply or impossible to produce on a global scale to meet the dietary needs of a population expected to increase to more than 9 billion by 2050, said Miller Jones.

“Even if we did decide to abandon wheat as a dietary staple, we don’t have the turnaround time, the availability or the quantity of foods that have been recommended as alternatives in anti-gluten fad diets,” she said.

The popularity of gluten-and wheat-free diets has grown largely due to claims published in such books as “Wheat Belly” by William Davis, “Grain Brain” by David Perlmutter and in the news media, asserting that wheat products are the cause of most health problems. Such claims counter current medical and nutritional advice in international dietary guidelines established in conjunction with the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and the World Health Organization (WHO).

Javier Peña, wheat quality specialist CIMMYT examines bread with nutritionist Julie Miller Jones in the wheat quality laboratory at CIMMYT. Jones presented a talk on nutrition and wheat at the Center. Photo: CIMMYT

“Gluten-free” is a burgeoning industry. Sales have risen 63 percent since 2012, with almost 4,600 products introduced last year, according to “Consumer Reports” magazine.

This is an alarming trend for such nutritionists as Miller Jones, who was also at CIMMYT to discuss the outline for a series of research papers on the various aspects of grain carbohydrates, gluten and health.

“‘Gluten-free’ is actually just another low-carb diet with a hook – any diet that suggests abandoning an entire food group is unhealthy,” said Miller Jones who recommends the DASH diet, which is rich in fruits, vegetables, low fat or non-fat dairy products, whole grains, lean meats, fish, poultry, nuts and beans.

Read the full story here.

Further reading
CIMMYT Review Paper:
Anti-Wheat Fad Diets Undermine Global Food Security Efforts

MasAgro offers tortillas made of maize hybrids in highlands workshop

Written by on January 21, 2015. Posted in News.

On 11 November 2014, representatives of Mexico’s highland maize value chain attended a workshop at CIMMYT headquarters in El Batán, Mexico. MasAgro-Maize Network partners, a representative from the milling industry and members of the MasAgro-Farmer team tested hybrid grains from the CIMMYT highlands maize genetic improvement program. Participants also analyzed parent lines of hybrids and measured the grain quality of two CIMMYT hybrids for dough and tortillas.

Natalia Palacios (green hat, right), maize nutrition quality specialist, explained the process for defining grain quality and outlined dough and tortilla industry requirements.

The workshop was organized by Arturo Silva, leader of the MasAgro-Maize component, and Alberto Chassaigne, responsible for CIMMYT seed systems.

Principal researcher José Luis Torres and his colleague Carmen Bretón led a tour of trial plots, where workshop participants could see CIMMYT hybri and synthetic varieties for Mexico’s highlands. Breeding experts explained the origins of each material while participants examined the aspect of ears.

Ubaldo Marcos, CIMMYT maize seed production manager, presented seed production technology for six hybrids, as well as the differences between ear size and female parental seed, which are grown at densities of 65,000 and 75,000 plants per hectare.

Afterwards, there was a demonstration of artisanal nixtamalization to obtain dough from two CIMMYT hybrids. Natalia Palacios, maize nutrition quality specialist, explained grain quality and outlined dough and tortilla industry requirements. Tortillas were then made from the nixtamalized dough. A positive opinion from the representative of the dough industry was much appreciated.

The participants also estimated yields of the white and yellow hybrids evaluated as part of the MasAgro Highlands Network under low nitrogen, rain-fed and irrigated systems and the estimates were compared to real yield values. At the end, workshop participants concluded that MasAgro-Maize takes advantage of the crop’s genetic potential to boost maize yields in the highlands.

Dr. Sanjaya Rajaram presented with the Pravasi Bharatiya Samman 2015 Award, the highest honor conferred on overseas Indians

Written by on January 20, 2015. Posted in News.

Dr. Sanjaya Rajaram is pictured on the far right, with Prime Minister Mr. Narendra Modi in the center of photo.

On 9 January 2015, Dr. Sanjaya Rajaram, the India-born plant scientist who led wheat breeding research at the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT) based in Mexico for more than three decades, received the Pravasi Bharatiya Samman award in Gandhinagar, India. The award, presented by Honorable H.E. Hamid Ansari, Vice President of India, is the highest honor conferred on overseas Indians.

India’s Prime Minister, Mr. Narendra Modi, praised the diaspora for putting India on the global map. “The whole world admires the Indian community not due to the money but the values they live with,” he said.

The event marks the 100th anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi’s return to India from South Africa. Only one other Mexican citizen of Indian ancestry received the award in the past decade: Dr. Rasik Vihari Joshi, who received the award for his contributions to literature in 2013.

The Union Home Minister Mr. Rajnath Singh attended the event. He praised the contributions of the Indian diaspora at the award celebration, saying India is proud of them and they are an example of India’s indomitable spirit.

Last year, Dr. Rajaram received the World Food Prize for his contribution in increasing global wheat production by more than 200 million tons in the years following the Green Revolution. His improved varieties increased the yield potential of wheat by 20 to 25 percent. Today, Rajaram’s wheats are grown on some 58 million hectares worldwide.

Dr. Rajaram is renowned for his generosity in sharing his expertise to support research and the development of technologies that have improved food security in India and globally. His accomplishments include training or mentoring more than 700 scientists from dozens of developing countries. This enabled Indian farmers to grow improved wheat varieties on some 8 million hectares, including India’s most popular wheat variety, PBW 343. He also led CIMMYT efforts to apply the concept of durable resistance to rust–the most damaging wheat disease worldwide

Pakistan marks Borlaug’s 100th birthday with commemorative stamp

Written by Mike Listman on January 19, 2015. Posted in News.

Pakistan’s National Philatelic Bureau issued a commemorative postage stamp to honor the 100th birthday, last 25 March, of late wheat scientist and Nobel Peace Laureate, Dr. Norman E. Borlaug.

Pakistani researchers and policymakers were instrumental to the work of Borlaug and the Green Revolution in South Asia, said Imtiaz Muhammad, CIMMYT wheat scientist and country representative in Pakistan, speaking at a 22 December unveiling ceremony.

Mr. Sikhandar Hayat Khan Bossan, Federal Minister for Food Security and Research, Pakistan, unveils a new stamp to commemorate the 100th birthday in 2014 of late wheat scientist and Nobel Peace Prize Laureate, Dr. Norman E. Borlaug. Photo: Amina Khan/CIMMYT

Pakistan breeders have sown and returned data on CIMMYT international maize and wheat trials for more than four decades, and over 150 Pakistani wheat specialists have participated in training courses at CIMMYT.

Held at the National Agricultural Research Center (NARC), Islamabad, the unveiling was organized by CIMMYT, the Pakistan Agriculture Research Council (PARC) and the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) and drew more than 50 participants, including agricultural scientists, media representatives and staff of Pakistan’s Ministry of National Food Security and Research (MNFSR).

The Federal Minister for Food Security and Research, Mr. Sikhandar Hayat Khan Bossan, formally unveiled the stamp. Speakers included Dr. Iftikhar Ahmed, Chairman of PARC, Dr. Shahid Masood, PARC plant scientist,and Mr. Seerat Asghar, Federal Secretary for National Food Security and Research. Thomas A. Lumpkin, CIMMYT director general, and Ronnie Coffman, vice-chair of the Borlaug Global Rust Initiative (BGRI), addressed the audience through video messages.

Through a personal message read during the ceremony, Jeanie Borlaug Laube, daughter of Norman Borlaug and BGRI chair, thanked the Pakistan government. “I know my father would be very proud to be on a stamp in Pakistan,” she said.

Safeguarding seeds against agricultural risks

Written by on January 13, 2015. Posted in Features.

Jill Cairns Photo credit: FarmD — Jill Cairns
Photo credit: FarmD

A webinar on Strengthening and Enhancing Seed Systems to Better Manage Agricultural Risk, was presented by Dr Jill Cairns (pictured), Crop Physiologist at the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT) based in Harare, Zimbabwe.

We caught up with Jill today, a day before her webinar.

Whom would you really like to see at this seminar?
Mainly people working – or interested – in agriculture, climate change and risk management in sub-Saharan Africa.

What would you like the take-home message to be?
That inadequate rainfall depresses and destabilises yields in sub-Saharan Africa. One could say that is a truism. However, beyond this doom and gloom there is good news. CIMMYT in collaboration with IITA and partners in participating countries has developed drought-tolerant seed which is already having impact in farmers’ fields.

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What inspired the idea for this webinar?
A global connection actually. The World Bank has a forum called FARMD – Forum for Agriculture and Risk Management in Development. They approached Marianne Bänziger, CIMMYT’s Deputy Director General for Research and Partnerships, to present at a November 2014 FARMD conference on Managing Agricultural Risks in a Changing Climate in sub-Saharan Africa. The idea was to understand climate change and its implications for agricultural risk management. CIMMYT was approached because of its considerable experience in seed systems and conservation agriculture to reduce production vulnerability for maize in Africa.

And how and when did you – Jill – come into the picture then?
I represented Marianne at that World Bank conference. The presentation led to a lively discussion on the potential of drought-tolerant seed to reduce maize yield variability in Africa. There is a misconception that drought-tolerant maize yield lower in non-drought years and thus has negative production and economic consequences for farmers. However this is not true. The fact is that drought-tolerant maize yields as much as commercial varieties in farmers’ fields. And in many cases, it in fact yields more than current commercial varieties. FARMD approached me after the conference to present again to a wider audience, so here I am!

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