When traveling from Chimoio to Tete along one of the main roads in central Mozambique, one inevitably passes through Malomue, a small rural village in Báruè District. Since 2008, conservation agriculture (CA) technologies and improved drought-tolerant maize varieties have been promoted to farmers through various donor-funded projects, including a USAID-funded Feed the Future initiative.
In the past, farmers in the area would cultivate their land, clear the surface of all protective cover and burn the residue from the previous cropping season. The main food security crop in the area is maize, and due to lack of access to improved seed, lowyielding landraces were often planted. The introduction of improved agriculture technologies developed and tested by the Platform of Agriculture Research and Innovation (PARTI) and the Collaborative Research Support Program (CRSP) of the Sustainable Agriculture and Natural Resource Management Lab (SANREM) at Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University (Virginia Tech) implemented in collaboration with the University of Tennessee, have brought significant change to Malomue. Farmers have been exposed to improved seed, fertilizers, improved weed management practices and more sustainable planting techniques based on conservation agriculture principles and practices.
Josè Leuane Dicane, a rural farmer from the community with approximately 15 hectares of cultivated land, said, “The first lesson I learned is that no fire should enter my plots, and I have managed to avoid burning grass from my neighbors.” Dicane also appreciates the reduced labor required when chemical weed control options and direct seeding techniques are used, as well as the increased moisture retention and fertility increases when legume crops are rotated and crop residues are kept on the soil surface. Improved drought-tolerant maize varieties, developed by CIMMYT and extended through Mozambican private seed companies, have further increased the yields on the fields of farmers such as Dicane. Dicane and his large family have become food self-sufficient. He has planted a garden where he produces higher value horticulture crops under small-scale irrigation, and has become an emerging commercial farmer by successfully selling his produce at a profit in the nearby town of Catandica.
The project has identified him as one of the most visionary and successful farmers in central Mozambique, worthy of sharing his experiences with others in the world. With support from USAID, Dicane and his wife were invited to go to the United States to attend a meeting of SANREM/CRSP. On 16 May, Dicane and his wife Judisse boarded an airplane on their way to the U.S. Neither had ever flown, stayed in a hotel or seen the world outside of Mozambique. This was the experience of a lifetime for them. During the SANREM/CRSP meeting on 20 May, they shared their new farming expertise with other participants and farmers. They spoke as if they had presented to an audience many times. Their very impressive report on the lives of rural farmers from Mozambique made a difference to many of the participants. The farmers from Malomue have been given a voice and the opportunity to describe the gradual changes in their lives. The changes might be small, but viewed through another lens, they are also groundbreaking.
A study funded by the Climate Change, Agriculture and Food Security (CCAFS) CRP involving three CIMMYT staff and an international team of scientists has just been published in the journal Nature Climate Change.
The authors of “Limited Potential of No- Till Agriculture for Climate Change Mitigation” conclude that claims relating to no-till agriculture’s role in slowing climate change may be overstated. No-till and reduced tillage are methods of establishing crops with minimum soil disturbance, in contrast to conventional tillage involving plowing or other cultivation practices.
No-till agriculture can deliver benefits in many, though not all, situations; these benefits include improved soil quality and retention of water in soil for use by crops. Therefore the technologies have a clear advantage in dry regions of the world. No-till usually leads to an increase in the concentration of organic matter near the soil surface. This is often interpreted as an absolute accumulation or “locking up” of carbon in soil, termed carbon sequestration; this has led to no-till being promoted as a form of climate change mitigation. This claim was recently restated in the 2013 Emissions Gap Report of the United Nations Environmental Programme (UNEP).
Contrast between maize grown in rotation with wheat, with zero tillage on the flat, and retention of all residues (left), with maize grown without rotation, with conventional tillage and removal of all residues (right), on long-term conservation agriculture (CA) trial plot D5 at CIMMYT’s headquarters, El Batán, Mexico. Photo: CIMMYT
The review found that there was sometimes a genuine, but small, net accumulation of organic carbon in soil under no-till conditions compared with conventional tillage. However, much of the observed effects result from a redistribution of organic carbon with depth – extra organic carbon near the surface but less carbon in deeper soil. In addition, the soil sampling methods normally used tend to exaggerate the effect. Consequently the climate change mitigation achievable from converting to no-till agriculture is likely to be overstated. The authors of the new paper conclude that no-till agriculture has a role to play as one of the strategies contributing to global food security and the protection of soils, and thus to climate change adaptation (through building agricultural systems that are more resilient to climate and weather variability).
In regions where no-till or reduced tillage is agriculturally appropriate it should be promoted on these grounds, but not on the basis of equivocal evidence for climate change mitigation. Climate change mitigation is a small, but useful, additional benefit, not the key policy driver for its adoption. The review also states that those who promote no-till as a means of combating climate change frequently refer to the potential amount of additional carbon that may be stored, or sequestered, in soil. However, in the UNEP report and elsewhere, the barriers to adoption of no-till tend to be ignored.
The authors argue that there are numerous social, practical and infrastructural factors that can make its adoption difficult for farmers, particularly smallholder and resource-poor farmers in developing countries. These issues are being addressed by CIMMYT and others but progress in overcoming the barriers is often slow. Thus, even where there is a real potential for mitigating climate change, it is often difficult to achieve in practice.
Clare Stirling, CIMMYT-CCAFS Project Leader, said, “Overstating the climate change mitigation benefits of no-till is serious because it gives a falsely optimistic message of the potential to reduce climate change through altered agricultural practices.” She added, “Given that the climate change mitigation achievable through adoption of no-till is likely to be far less than claimed, there is even more pressure to decrease greenhouse gas emissions from other agricultural areas. In regard to wheat and maize – the two staple crops CIMMYT focuses on – improved nitrogen management is the key to low-carbon development.”
In late June, while the great majority of the conservation agriculture community converged on Winnipeg, Canada, in the Northern Hemisphere, Dr. Francelino Rodrigues, a CIMMYT post-doctoral fellow in precision agriculture in the Biometric and Statistics Unit of the Genetic Resources Program, and Dr. Jack McHugh, a CIMMYT cropping systems agronomist in the Global Conservation Agriculture Program, ventured into the much colder Southern Hemisphere to take part in the Digital Rural Futures Conference at the University of Southern Queensland (USQ) in Toowoomba, Queensland, Australia.
Although the conference itself held considerable incentive to visit Australia, it was the National Centre for Engineering in Agriculture (NCEA) at USQ that was of greater interest, because of the possibilities for future collaborations in precision farming research and development (R&D). The NCEA was established in 1994 and specializes in engineering research relevant to the agribusiness sector and the natural resource base it utilizes. The center promotes research through extension, training and commercialization. Having worked at NCEA prior to CIMMYT, McHugh thought there were benefits in closer collaboration between CIMMYT and NCEA to take advantage of the precision agriculture R&D being conducted there.
Prior to the conference, Rodrigues and McHugh presented their work from Mexico and China, respectively, to NCEA staff. The discussion highlighted the complementary nature of the two organizations in the areas of precision agriculture, field monitoring, smart technologies and remote sensing. A tour of the NCEA ‘smart farms’ was the highlight of the conference for McHugh, who was able to see that much of his earlier work had been developed into significant applied instrumentation.
Rodrigues commented on the versitile multi-proximal sensor platform developed by McHugh at the NCEA: “The platform [on a motorbike] allows simultaneously on-the-go measurements of apparent soil electro-conductivity and the normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI), which gives a tremendous advantage compared with stop-and-go measurements. It’s something we started to do with a wood sled in the past year at CIMMYT’s experiment station in Obregón, but the motorbike would definitely create a new opportunity for fast and efficient measurements during crop growth.”
According to the NCEA, the farming system of the future will have robotic sensing systems and decision support tools that interface seamlessly with commercial on-farm operations to optimize resource usage. The NCEA is working on components of this, but much of what the CIMMYT researchers saw could be applied immediately to current farming systems and already includes considerable integration. Some of the systems displayed were controlled remotely by tablets and interfaced on large screen monitors that displayed real-time feedback of sensors, machinery and field activities including the following: smart weed spot sprayers that are able to differentiate crops from weeds based on reflectance and leaf shape; aerial vehicles with multispectral and thermal sensors; and irrigation monitoring for water scheduling.
Smart weed spot sprayer working with reflectance and leaf shapes to differentiate crops from weeds.
Other sensors on display included NDVI sensor platforms, automated cone penetrometers, sensor-equipped bee traps and automated adaptive control of furrow irrigation systems. Of particular note was the augmented reality (AR) for real-time interactivity with on-farm devices and information. AR automatically filters information from online sources based on the user’s current location and viewing perspective, using the camera in a tablet or smartphone. AR markers in the ‘real-world’ (e.g., weather stations, pumps, field sensors, crops and more) can be discovered and online information can be retrieved. The data is merged into the device’s real-world observation, and the user can interact with the content to control and configure machinery. The next step is to build collaboration between both institutes. McHugh and Rodrigues are looking forward to the identification and application of the NCEA technology through future research exchanges and project development.
Hari S. Gupta was selected as the second Director General (DG) of the Borlaug Institute for South Asia (BISA) in India and assumed his new position on August 7th. BISA, named to honor Dr. Norman E. Borlaug (1914-2009), world-renowned agricultural scientist and 1970 Nobel Peace Prize Laureate, is helping to meet food security and sustainable productivity growth in both irrigated and rain-fed production areas by adapting wheat and maize systems to the emerging challenges of climate change, natural resource scarcity and market demands. While working at CIMMYT and its predecessor organization, Borlaug’s development of high-yielding, dwarf varieties of wheat helped trigger the Green Revolution in the 1960s. BISA was established in 2011 to catalyze agricultural research for development (AR4D) in South Asia and is a non-profit international agricultural research institute founded by the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) and CIMMYT, and managed by the latter.
According to Thomas A. Lumpkin, CIMMYT Director General, who also served concurrently as the first DG of BISA, “The challenge today is to increase yields of staple crops in South Asia despite the fact that climate change, population growth, dietary changes and natural resource degradation all pose enormous challenges to agriculture.” BISA was created to “address the challenges head on,” added Lumpkin. Providing food and nutritional security is “a daunting task” and the region needs “a dedicated, world-class effort focused entirely on these problems.” Lumpkin stated, “To lead BISA’s work on those problems, Dr. Gupta was chosen from a field of very qualified candidates. We anticipate that he will be a very strong DG for BISA and will lead it into its next phase.”
Photo: Courtesy of Indian Agricultural Research Institute
Prior to joining BISA, Gupta served for almost five and one-half years as Director and Vice Chancellor of the Indian Agricultural Research Institute (IARI), one of the largest agricultural research institutes in Asia. With 10 centers spread across India, IARI is the flagship research institute of ICAR and is known globally as the institution that was instrumental in spreading the Green Revolution across India. During the Green Revolution, Borlaug and regional scientists, policymakers and farmers in South Asia took India and Pakistan from near-famine in 1965-1966 to food self-sufficiency. Dr. Borlaug’s work in AR4D is credited with saving 1 billion people from hunger and malnutrition, and many were in South Asia. However, Borlaug correctly predicted that the Green Revolution boost in food production could not last, and was only a reprieve for humanity to adapt more sustainable systems and policies for managing population growth and use of natural resources.
Describing the goals he will focus on as DG of BISA, Gupta stated, “In order to usher a second Green Revolution in South Asia, improving crop productivity in conjunction with efficient use of natural resources – especially of soil and water – will be my top priority. In addition, reducing the vulnerability of South Asian agriculture to climate change will be addressed with an emphasis on reducing greenhouse gas emissions.” Climate change, ever-increasing population, persistent poverty, chronic malnutrition and declining annual crop yield gains are retarding human development across South Asia.
Despite notable progress over the past several decades, South Asia is still home to more than 300 million undernourished people (35 percent of the global total). Food price spikes exacerbate these issues and make the lives of South Asia’s poorest even more difficult. Because of these issues, Gupta said, “Increasing the system productivity per unit area and time with conservation of natural resources is BISA’s guiding principle. Development of technology for rain-fed areas will receive priority whereas sustaining the gains made in irrigated areas will help in meeting the region’s short-term needs for food and feed.” He continued, stating, “In order to make agriculture more efficient in South Asia, mechanization – particularly using renewable sources of energy in farm operations – will be pursued vigorously. My experience at IARI will help me to work with others to implement the programs rapidly and efficiently.” Prior to joining IARI, Gupta worked for a number of agricultural research organizations, including serving as: director, Vivekanand Institute of Hill Agriculture, or VPKAS (2000-09); principal scientist and head of the Division of Plant Breeding, ICAR Research Complex for NEH Region (1989-99); senior scientist, ICAR Research Complex for NEH Region (1983-89); and scientist, Central Potato Research Institute (1978-83). Gupta earned his M.Sc. in genetics at GB Pant University of Agriculture & Technology in Pant Nagar, India. He earned his Ph.D. at the Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur, West Bengal.
Among the highlights of his post-doctoral research are: Rockefeller Foundation Career Fellow in 2003 and 2006 at Washington State University (WSU) on the genetic engineering of rice for increasing starch biosynthesis; visiting scientist at WSU, working on the induction of early flowering in crop plants in 1993-94; and Commonwealth Scholar in the Department of Life Science at the University of Nottingham (UK) on plant regeneration from protoplast and protoplast-mediated genetic manipulation in rice in 1987-88. Among the honors and recognition that Gupta has received during his career are: President, Indian Society of Genetics and Plant Breeding (2011-13); Sardar Patel Outstanding Institution Award to IARI during his tenure (2011); ICAR’s Team Award for Outstanding Multidisciplinary Research (2010, 2008 and 1997); Dr. AS Cheema Award for Outstanding Contribution to Indian Agriculture (2010); Outstanding Institution Award to VPKAS (2008 and 2001) during his tenure as director; ICAR “Hari Om Ashram” Trust Award (2007); NRDC’s Meritorious Invention award (2006); ICAR National Professor (2006); Dr. Rajendra Prasad Award for Best Book in Crop Sciences (2004); and Rockefeller Foundation Career Fellowship (2000). Gupta belongs to numerous professional societies, including: Indian Society of Genetics and Plant Breeding; Fellow, National Academy of Agricultural Sciences; Fellow, Indian Society of Genetics and Plant Breeding; Fellow, Indian Society of Agricultural Biochemists; founding member, Society for Plant Biochemistry and Biotechnology; and life member of the Indian Societies of the Biological Chemists, Genetics and Plant Breeding, Hill Agriculture and Seed Science.
About BISA
BISA is developing a state-of-theart agricultural research platform, technology transfer centers and training facilities. BISA’s focus is on holistic, interdisciplinary and collaborative approaches to breeding, conservation agriculture and socioeconomics for wheat- and maizebased cropping and food systems. BISA’s facilities and formal institutional partnerships can create a world-class research infrastructure and lead to strategic collaborations among regional and international scientists, as well as public and private stakeholders across the region’s agricultural value chains.
The Institute closely coordinates and synergizes with CIMMYT and other international centers such as the International Rice Research Institute and the International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics, with national institutions such as ICAR, the Pakistan Agriculture Research Council and the Nepal Agriculture Research Council and the private sector within the region. BISA currently has three sites in India – Ludhiana in Punjab State, Pusa in Bihar State and Jabalpur in Madhya Pradesh State. Each of the states contains varied agro-ecological zones allowing BISA and its partners to test a variety of maize and wheat cultivars suited to the equally varied environments of South Asia. BISA also has site commitments from Nepal and Pakistan and is in discussion with Afghanistan and Bangladesh for sites in those countries. Through BISA, CIMMYT and several national agricultural research systems (NARS) have taken a key step towards sustainable food and nutritional security.
CIMMYT has a long, successful history of partnerships in South Asia, playing an important role with regional partners in catalyzing the Green Revolution. The NARS have demonstrated their commitment to regional food and nutritional security, and recognized the contribution that BISA, an independent, non-profit organization with broad international backing, can make to strengthen existing efforts in the region. BISA’s role in strengthening South Asia’s food and nutritional security focuses on leveraging and accelerating efforts rather than duplicating or competing with existing institutions. BISA fills the most critical gap in present efforts in South Asia – an impartial coordinating platform for discovery and sharing information and technologies.
BISA’s primary focus is to strengthen capability-sharing through the collaborative execution of AR4D projects. This increase in resource productivity should increase food and nutritional security, environmental protection and economic development. BISA is also strengthening the links between national and international efforts, building capacity in the region’s scientific community and introducing the best seed, agricultural technologies and information to improve the productivity and profitability of the region’s smallholder farmers and agricultural value chains.
The Sasakawa Africa Association (SAA) recently joined numerous countries and organizations around the world that have taken time this year to pay tribute to the life and achievements of Dr. Norman Borlaug, holding a series of events from 8-12 July in Uganda to celebrate what would have been his 100th birthday. The theme of the celebration was “Take it to the farmer,” in honor of Dr . Borlaug’s inspiring final words.
The SAA/Sasakawa Global 2000 (SG2000) was founded in 1986 by Japanese philanthropist Ryoichi Sasakawa, former U.S. President Jimmy Carter and Borlaug, who was the president of SAA until his death in 2009.
The Sasakawa Africa Association was named Best Overall Exhibitor at the Nile Agricultural and Trade Show, one of the events organized as part of the Borlaug centenary celebration. Photo: Adefris Teklewold/CIMMYT
Celebration events were attended by numerous dignitaries, including Yohei Sasakawa, son of the founder and Chairman of the Nippon Foundation; Professor Ruth Oniang’o, Chairperson of SAA and the Sasakawa Africa Fund for Extension Education (SAFE); Rhoda Peace Tumusiime, African Union Commissioner of Rural Economy and Agriculture; Dr. John Hardman, President and Chief Executive Officer of the Carter Center (representing President Carter); Nicéphore Dieudonné Soglo, former President of Benin, SAA Board member and former Executive Director of the World Bank; Dr. Amit Roy, President and CEO of the International Fertilizer Development Center, or IFDC (Borlaug served on the IFDC board for 11 years); and Ambassador Kenneth Quinn, President of the World Food Prize Foundation (which was founded by Borlaug). The Borlaug family was represented at the ceremony by his daughter Jeanie Borlaug Laube and his granddaughter Julie Borlaug. CIMMYT was represented by Adefris Teklewold, project leader of the Nutritious Maize in Ethiopia project, which is implemented in partnership with SG2000. Key members of the Ugandan government also took part, including Edward Ssekandi, Vice President of the Republic of Uganda; Gen. Moses Ali, Second Prime Minister of the Republic of Uganda; and Tress Bucyanayandi, Minister of Agriculture, Animal Industry and Fisheries of the Republic of Uganda.
The celebration began with a National Symposium on Training and Research for Agricultural Development at Makerere University, organized by SAA in collaboration with the university’s College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences. The topic of the symposium was Extension and Training for Agricultural Transformation and recognized the partnership between SAA and Makerere University in executing SAFE for many years through the Department of Extension and Innovation Studies. Topics included: extension for agricultural modernization; strengthening agricultural extension through mid-career training; how to attract youth in agriculture; the relevance of universities in agricultural transformation: going beyond the rhetoric of gender in agriculture; and more. Oniang’o chaired the symposium’s opening session about Borlaug’s legacy and said, “Dr. Borlaug believed in young people as future farmers and as advocates against hunger.”
Students and faculty from schools around the country took part in debate, drama, essay and dance competitions. Prizes were awarded to the winners at the closing ceremony. Photo: Adefris Teklewold/CIMMYT
A special video tribute to Borlaug – “Play it hard – the Borlaug Way” – was shown during the opening session, with words of acknowledgment for CIMMYT. This was followed by a video message from Carter. Representatives of organizations that had links to Borlaug through SAA honored his legacy.
Sasakawa recounted the story of how his father approached Borlaug to establish the SAA and persuaded him to be SAA president. Sasakawa described Borlaug as a “fearless fighter” and said that through SAA, he “not only helped farmers to increase their yield, but he also succeeded in planting the seed of confidence in their hearts.”
Another major event organized in connection with the centenary celebration was the Nile Agricultural and Trade Show at Jinja Town, which is located at the headwaters of the White Nile. The trade fair wasorganized by the Uganda National Farmers’ Federation in collaboration with SAA. The main objective of the trade show was to create a platform whereby different stakeholders – farmers, researchers, manufacturers, consumers, traders, policy makers, students and financial institutions – could meet to identify advances, challenges and comparisons related to Uganda’s agriculture sector. Schoolchildren also staged colorful drama and dance performances at the trade fair to pay tribute to Borlaug for his work with smallholder farmers around the world. Different agricultural technologies and inputs available for adoption were also displayed.
The main event of the commemoration was a two-day symposium held in Jinja, “Take it to the Farmer: The Borlaug Legacy for Uganda.” The symposium was attended by senior Ugandan governmental officials and focused on the enduring results of the Borlaug legacy for both Uganda and Africa. During the symposium, Ssekandi said of Borlaug, “His achievements and contribution to humanity is a long narrative of one man’s love for other people, as exhibited by his contribution to the eradication of hunger in Africa and Uganda.”
As part of the commemoration to honor Borlaug, competitions were held in schools around the country in areas where SAA is working. Students and faculty held debates on agricultural issues, drama and dance performances, and an essay challenge on the status and future of agriculture in Uganda.
The Ethiopian government has embarked on a new initiative to improve nutritional security in the country through the widespread demonstration and use of quality protein maize (QPM), a type of maize that contains enhanced levels of protein. The new government initiative is a high-level endorsement of CIMMYT’s five-year Nutritious Maize for Ethiopia (NuME) project.
One of NuME’s goals is to promote the delivery and use of QPM seeds. Photo: NuME staff
The principal goal of NuME is to improve the food and nutritional security of Ethiopians through the widespread application and use of QPM and improved agronomic practices that increase productivity. NuME project leader Adefris Teklewold said, “The new government initiative will play a major role in making the QPM technology and inputs available to a larger number of maize farmers living beyond NuME target woredas (districts).”
The key aspects of NuME are in the government QPM scale-out plan, “Strengthening Quality Protein Maize Promotion and Seed Supply Systems in Ethiopia.” The plan sets a target to increase the area producing QPM in Ethiopia to 200,000 hectares in 2015-2017, roughly 10 percent of the total land currently devoted to maize production in the country.
After critical review and enrichment by key stakeholders, the initiative was approved by Ato Wondirad Mandfero, State Minister of Agriculture, as “an initiative that links agriculture and nutrition.” Mandfero issued directives for the initiative’s immediate implementation in high-potential maize growing areas in the country, as well as the inclusion of QPM technology dissemination in the regular government extension program starting this year. The Ethiopian government’s agricultural extension program focuses primarily on assisting small-scale farmers to improve their productivity by disseminating research-generated information and technologies.
Many Ethiopian families depend on maize as their staple food source, but ordinary maize lacks essential amino acids and a maize-based diet can leave children at risk for protein deficiency. Photo: NuME staff
An alliance of key government institutions engaged in the agriculture sector, including the Ethiopian Agricultural Transformation Agency, the Ethiopian Ministry of Agriculture (MoA), other key development partners and CIMMYT support the scale-out plan and will work together to help execute a variety of initiatives to fulfill the food and nutritional security of Ethiopians.
The government initiative will create synergies with NuME and expand QPM through more field demonstrations and field days. NuME is achieving success with these methods, but the government expansion will make the QPM technology and inputs available to a larger number of maize farmers living beyond NuME project woredas. The government initiative will also create opportunities for more collaborators to participate in the effort and thus for more experience-sharing and impact on the ground. According to Teklewold, “The ultimate winner will be small-scale Ethiopian farmers who will have access to the technology through a wide variety of outlets and extension services.”
A sizable number of Ethiopian families depend on maize as their staple food source. However, a maize-based diet is generally deficient in the essential amino acids lysine and tryptophan. This can leave families — and particularly children — at risk for protein deficiency, especially in circumstances where intake of alternative protein sources is limited.
NuME promotes QPM, maize varieties developed by CIMMYT scientists through conventional breeding that contains enhanced levels of protein compared to common maize varieties. Two CIMMYT scientists (Dr. Evangelina Villegas and Dr. Surinder Vasal) who worked to develop QPM in the 1980s and 1990s were awarded the World Food Prize in 2000 for their work. QPM helps to fill the lysine intake gap in circumstances where maize is the dominant source of calories and protein and intake of alternative protein sources is limited. This analysis is strongly supported by various studies conducted in West Africa, Latin America and Asia, which concluded that children in vulnerable environments could benefit nutritionally from QPM consumption1.
Key objectives outlined in the scale-out proposal include:
Identifying options to enhance seed businesses and impact pathways by identifying constraints and opportunities in the seed value chain.
Enhancing the capacity of regulatory agencies and developing systems to track improved seed use and impact.
Demonstrating and creating awareness of seed companies and farmers regarding the performance and nutritional superiority of QPM varieties.
Providing sufficient quantities of quality of QPM varieties to farmers in a sustainable manner.
Supporting seed companies and community-based organizations to improve their capacity in seed production skills, post-harvest seed handling and seed business management to enable them to absorb available QPM varieties and increase quality seed.
The government initiative notes that five QPM varieties have already been officially released by Ambo, Bako and Melkassa Research Centers. Basic and adaptive research activities are being conducted concurrently by different centers of the Ethiopian Institute of Agricultural Research (EIAR) in collaboration with CIMMYT, to develop new improved QPM varieties adapted to different maize production environments and evolving stresses in the country.
As part of the initiative, a strategy will be developed to start QPM adoption by ensuring a sufficient QPM seed supply by: improving access to credit and coordinated production of all seed categories (breeder, pre-basic, basic and certified) along the value chain; testing and demonstrating a stockist distribution plan for more efficient seed distribution; and providing seed business management and production training to emerging seed producers.
Target areas selected under the initiative include Agricultural Growth Program (AGP) woredas, most of which are in high-potential maize growing areas. An estimated 2.4 million people, comprising some 400,000 households in AGP woredas in Amhara, Oromia, SNNPR and Tigray regions, are expected to benefit from this initiative.
The NuME project is implemented by CIMMYT and funded by Canada’s Department of Foreign Affairs, Trade and Development (DFATD). Among CIMMYT’s partners helping to implement NuME are EIAR, the Sasakawa Africa Association/ Sasakawa Global 2000; MoA; the Ethiopian Ministry of Health; the Ethiopian Health and Nutrition Research Institute; Farm Radio International; Harvard School of Public Health; universities; agricultural, technical, vocational and educational training centers; and numerous seed companies.
Thomson Reuters, a media and information firm, recently released the 2014 list of Highly Cited Researchers, updated for the first time since 2001. Dr. Rajeev Varshney, Research Program Director, Grain Legumes and Director, Center for Excellence in Genomics (CEG), was recognized for his work with the International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT). Varshney was associated with CIMMYT from 2007-2013 through the CGIAR Generation Challenge Programme, and so his research papers are associated with both ICRISAT and CIMMYT.
The list was formerly based on total citations, a system which favored senior researchers and could also be skewed by a single popular paper. This year, Thomson Reuters analyzed papers published in science journals between 2002-2012 and ranked them field-by-field using Essential Science Indicators (ESI). Analyzing papers in the top 1 percent by both field and year removed the advantage of older papers that have more time to accrue citations. Researchers who ranked in the top 1 percent by total citations in each ESI field were included in the final list of Highly Cited Researchers. Varshney is recognized in the category of Plant & Animal Science.
The total list of 3,215 researchers can be reviewed and searched by field at HighlyCited.com.
CIMMYT scientists working on the CGIAR Research Program on Climate Change, Agriculture and Food Security (CCAFS) are exploring novel ways to conduct research on gender and climate change. “Household methodologies offer a potentially innovative entry point for climate-smart interventions,” said CIMMYT-CCAFS project leader Dr. Clare Stirling, explaining the project’s interest in doing in-depth gender research. “In the past, most agricultural interventions have focused on men, even though women provide most of the workforce and day-to-day management and knowledge on farms.”
Photo: Florence Sipalla/CIMMYT
CIMMYT-CCAFS is keen on tapping into women’s knowledge of farming practices. “Studies show that involving and empowering women in decision-making can have a significant impact on production,” said Stirling. “Evidence suggests that household methodologies can offer a very effective route to increasing the impact of work by CIMMYT-CCAFS.” The CIMMYT-CCAFS team’s commitment to gender research has not gone unnoticed. “At the last CCAFS annual meeting, we won the gender award in recognition of the progress that we have made in our gender activities and outputs,” said Stirling.
The scientists, drawn from multi-disciplinary backgrounds in conservation agriculture, maize and socioeconomics programs, recently held a workshop on gender research methodologies that have been successful in other settings. The workshop was facilitated by gender consultants Cathy Farnworth and Helena Zefanias Lowe, and its purpose was to increase awareness about new approaches. Participants also discussed ways to improve the welfare of women in farming communities by ensuring they are part of the actionable implementation of research at farm level.
One of the methodologies discussed was the Gender Action Learning System (GALS), which allows researchers to use visual tools to gather more nuanced information from farming communities during household studies. “GALS creates opportunities for both men and women. It starts with individuals and grows to collective action,” said Lowe. Sharing examples from Sierra Leone, where GALS was implemented by the International Fund for Agricultural Development, Lowe demonstrated how the method enabled researchers to generate information on how men and women shared resources and decision-making power in the household.
CIMMYT-CCAFS scientists held a workshop in Nairobi, Kenya, on gender research methodologies that have been successful in other settings. Photo: Florence Sipalla/CIMMYT
“When we talk about gender, the tendency is to think of it solely as women’s issues, but the GALS method brings other relationships into the picture such as co-wives, older men and younger women,” said Lowe. The use of this methodology resulted in some successes within the community, such as an increased number of women in farmers’ associations and leadership positions, as well as improved negotiation skills for both men and women. Through participation in GALS, some members of the farming community also became trainers and are now able to share their knowledge with others.
Farnworth indicated that the household methodologies discussed at the workshop were not just about women’s empowerment. “The idea is that everybody changes and becomes empowered because men are also disempowered by some of the roles they play,” she said. In discussing household methodologies, Farnworth noted that a great deal of extension work focuses on the household as a unit and does not examine intra-household dynamics, hence the need to consider new methodologies.
CIMMYT socio-economist Dr. Sika Gbegbelegbe gained new knowledge from the workshop. “The method goes beyond the science to bring about transformational change,” she said, adding that learning how GALS had been successful in the West African context was indicative that it could be applied elsewhere. “However, it takes time to implement, to see the change happening in people’s lives,” she added.
CIMMYT’s previous director general had strong praise for the organization’s current working environment and leadership after a tour of the headquarters office at El Batán on 24 July.
(Left to right): Akira Endo, director of International Research and Cooperation Division, Japanese Ministry of Agriculture, Forests and Fisheries; Masa Iwanaga, president of JIRCAS; Thomas Lumpkin, CIMMYT Director General; Hans-Joachim Braun, CIMMYT Global Wheat Program director; and Masahiro Kishii, CIMMYT scientist in wheat cytogenetics/wide crossing. Foto: Xochiquetzal Fonseca/CIMMYT
“I’m pleased to see the energy of the staff, the new facilities and how Tom has built on CIMMYT’s strengths,” Dr. Masa Iwanaga said. “It gives me professional satisfaction; the six years I devoted here have paid off handsomely.”
Masa, now president of the Japan International Research Center for Agricultural Sciences (JIRCAS), came to CIMMYT to sign a new memorandum of understanding (MOU) between the two organizations.
“Our previous agreement was signed in 1998,” Masa said after the signing ceremony. “I wanted to refresh and strengthen our relationship, and ensure more opportunities for scientific collaboration.”
He said the alliance is valuable because CIMMYT can translate the basic science conducted by his agency into practical applications for farmers. JIRCAS, part of Japan’s Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries, plays a core role in international collaborations for research in Japan.
Masa Iwanaga, CIMMYT’s former director general, paid a visit 24 July to headquarters, where he toured the gene bank and renewed the memorandum of understanding between CIMMYT and his current organization. Photo: Xochiquetzal Fonseca/CIMMYT
The MOU calls for both organizations to cooperate on research projects that promote “agricultural technologies which will contribute to the increased production of agricultural commodities and improved natural resource management in developing countries in the world.” Masa and his successor, Dr. Thomas A. Lumpkin, discussed holding a conference in Japan this year, and Masa said he anticipates JIRCAS having a much stronger influence in the Global Wheat Program under the new MOU.
Dr. Marianne Bänziger, deputy director general for research and partnerships, said the collaboration with Japan on biological denitrification inhibition could support the next Green Revolution, as earlier Japanese technologies have done.
Masa was DG of CIMMYT from 2002 to 2008, a period of extreme financial difficulties for the organization. Lumpkin credited him with keeping CIMMYT afloat and bringing it back to profitability, establishing important new partnerships and continuing the Center’s record of scientific achievements and recognition.
“I appreciate all the staff who worked very hard with me to survive and make CIMMYT better,” Masa said. “It’s a stronger institution now.”
A CIMMYT-led project was named as a finalist for the 2014 mBillionth Award South Asia thanks to its mobile platform that helps farmers adapt to changing climate conditions.
“Dissemination of climate-smart agro-advisories to farmers in CCAFS benchmark sites of India” was launched in August 2013 under the leadership of Dr. Surabhi Mittal, a senior agricultural economist based in India, in cooperation with the CGIAR Research Program on Climate Change, Agriculture and Food Security (CCAFS). In the past 10 months, the project has helped 1,200 male and female farmers in eight Indian villages to gain more knowledge about climate-smart technology and adopt technologies to lessen their risks from climate fluctuations. The project also measured how receiving information on mobile telephones will affect farmers.
More than 300 entries were submitted for the award, which honors the most influential and leading practices in the mobile and telecommunications industry in South Asia. It was presented 18 July by the Digital Empowerment Foundation and Vodafone in a ceremony at the India Habitat Center. The CIMMYT project received acknowledgment for its impact on small farmers from Sanjeev Gupta, joint secretary of the Indian Ministry of Agriculture, and M.V. Ashok, chief general manager of the National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development.
CIMMYT’S director general, Dr. Thomas A. Lumpkin, congratulated everyone involved with the project. “This shows your technological leadership,” he said in a staff email announcing the award. “Use this to energize your activities.”
There is a growing need for drought-tolerant maize cultivars among smallholder farmers in developing countries, particularly in Asia where the cultivars’ development is a technical reality and outputs are achievable. Public-private partnership projects such as the Affordable, Accessible, Asian Drought-Tolerant Maize (AAA) project attempt to address smallholder farmers’ urgent and long-lasting need to access available and affordable new crop varieties that are robust, drought-tolerant and high-yielding.
Participants mark the field during the practical segment of the training session.
Picture: Titus Kosgei/CIMMYT
By Florence Sipalla
Ten members of the technical staff from the Improved Maize for African Soils (IMAS) project joined their counterparts from the Water Efficient Maize for Africa (WEMA) project for training in managing risks during confined field trials (CFTs). Participants learned how to minimize the risk of disseminating materials under analysis into feed and food pathways. Emphasis was placed on spatial and temporal separation of the flowering parts of plants, to ensure they do not move outside the CFT. Incinerating all materials after the collection of trial results was also emphasized. IMAS staff participated in the course to help them prepare for the mock trials that will be carried out later this year at IMAS CFTs in Kiboko and Kitale, Kenya.
The training served as a refresher course in the standard operating procedures and protocols outlined by the National Biosafety Authority (NBA). Dr. Joseph Gichuki, head of biotechnology at the Kenya Agricultural Research Institute (KARI), explained the key steps in operating a CFT: the application process, conducting an experiment, the NBA review process, receiving trial material and storage. He also stressed the importance of closely monitoring the movement of trial materials, storage of materials and disposal facilities.
Participants learned the importance of record-keeping of all activities in the CFT: planting, storage, special isolation, flowering, whether the crop should be destroyed after flowering and early destruction once the data required has been collected. Post-harvest data collection was also discussed, including the need to record if there are volunteer crops after harvest and when they are removed.
The workshop ended with a practical session. Participants planted an event that is under trial by the WEMA team being led by Regina Tende, a senior research scientist at KARI-Katumani. “It was very educational for all staff members who participated,” said Titus Kosgei, IMAS research technician. “We are ready to plant our first mock trials now that our team has been trained on CFT management,” said Dr. Biswanath Das, CIMMYT maize breeder and co-leader of the IMAS project.
Dr. Stephen Mugo, CIMMYT maize breeder and WEMA project leader, was one of the course facilitators. The training was coordinated by KARI maize breeder Murenga Mwimali, in collaboration with CIMMYT and partners from the African Agricultural Technology Foundation (AATF), Kenya Plant Health Inspectorate Services, Monsanto and the NBA.
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Participants mark the field during the practical segment of the training session.
Picture: Titus Kosgei/CIMMYT
By Florence Sipalla
Ten members of the technical staff from the Improved Maize for African Soils (IMAS) project joined their counterparts from the Water Efficient Maize for Africa (WEMA) project for training in managing risks during confined field trials (CFTs). Participants learned how to minimize the risk of disseminating materials under analysis into feed and food pathways. Emphasis was placed on spatial and temporal separation of the flowering parts of plants, to ensure they do not move outside the CFT. Incinerating all materials after the collection of trial results was also emphasized. IMAS staff participated in the course to help them prepare for the mock trials that will be carried out later this year at IMAS CFTs in Kiboko and Kitale, Kenya.
The training served as a refresher course in the standard operating procedures and protocols outlined by the National Biosafety Authority (NBA). Dr. Joseph Gichuki, head of biotechnology at the Kenya Agricultural Research Institute (KARI), explained the key steps in operating a CFT: the application process, conducting an experiment, the NBA review process, receiving trial material and storage. He also stressed the importance of closely monitoring the movement of trial materials, storage of materials and disposal facilities.
Participants learned the importance of record-keeping of all activities in the CFT: planting, storage, special isolation, flowering, whether the crop should be destroyed after flowering and early destruction once the data required has been collected. Post-harvest data collection was also discussed, including the need to record if there are volunteer crops after harvest and when they are removed.
The workshop ended with a practical session. Participants planted an event that is under trial by the WEMA team being led by Regina Tende, a senior research scientist at KARI-Katumani. “It was very educational for all staff members who participated,” said Titus Kosgei, IMAS research technician. “We are ready to plant our first mock trials now that our team has been trained on CFT management,” said Dr. Biswanath Das, CIMMYT maize breeder and co-leader of the IMAS project.
Dr. Stephen Mugo, CIMMYT maize breeder and WEMA project leader, was one of the course facilitators. The training was coordinated by KARI maize breeder Murenga Mwimali, in collaboration with CIMMYT and partners from the African Agricultural Technology Foundation (AATF), Kenya Plant Health Inspectorate Services, Monsanto and the NBA.
ByJM Sutaliya, Parvinder Singh, Tripti Agarwal, ML Jat/CIMMYT and Anil Bana/Department of Agriculture, Government of Punjab, India
Punjab agriculture officers and farmers met in June to discuss the climate-smart villages that CIMMYT is testing, and they agreed that the CSVs offer one of the best strategies for making farming resilient and sustainable in the state.
CIMMYT, with financial support from the CCAFS South Asia regional program, recently initiated climate-smart village (CSV) pilots in Punjab State, India. On 16 June, Dr. IPS Sandhu, chief agriculture officer of Patiala District, and several other officers visited Aluna, one of the CSVs being piloted in close collaboration with the Punjab Department of Agriculture and several innovative farmers. The on-site stakeholder discussions on the emerging challenges of climate change included topics such as the El Niño effect during the current monsoon season and extended rains during the maturity period of winter crops.
The participants agreed that climate-smart agricultural practices being undertaken in the CSVs are some of the best for making farming resilient and sustainable in the Punjab. CIMMYT’s JM Sutaliya and Punjab’s Vimalpreet Singh gave briefings on the climate-smart agriculture practices being undertaken in the CSVs, including direct-seeded rice (DSR), precision water management using Punjab Agricultural University-designed tensiometers, precision nutrient management using the Nutrient ExpertTM tool, GreenSeeker, energy saving technologies, introduction of maize to diversify rice mono-cropping and efficient weed management in DSR. Farmers were given demonstrations of the GreenSeeker tool for nitrogen management and spraying techniques for weed control on DSR. The proposed Weather Smart weather forecasting services for farmers were also discussed.
Sandhu praised the CSV initiatives and shared his suggestions to strengthen and expand the CSV program in Punjab’s Patiala District. Additionally, he proposed a baseline socioeconomic survey of Aluna, formation of a farmers’ group, a women farmers’ club and other strategies to encourage more farmer contact. Looking to the future, he advocated integration with allied agriculture departments. Highlighting community-supported agriculture interventions for residue management, Sandhu spoke about the importance of advance planning and utilizing a spreader with a combine harvester. He also shared his personal experience using a Turbo Happy seeder to avoid burning straw in subsequent wheat crop.
Sandhu assured CIMMYT of close collaboration from the Department of Agriculture in the future, including extended support to scale up and expand the climate-smart agriculture initiatives in the CSVs with the goals of combating the adverse effects of climate change and addressing food security.
Schoolchildren singing a song they composed about climate change and agriculture at a field day in Gokwe, Zimbabwe.
CIMMYT scientists working on the CGIAR Research Program on Climate Change, Agriculture and Food Security (CCAFS) have identified the most suitable maize varieties for high temperature and drought-prone environments in Zimbabwe. The scientists have been conducting research on drought- and heat-tolerant maize varieties in areas that are vulnerable to climate variability and climate change in Zimbabwe. Working in collaboration with Sustainable Agriculture Technology (SAT), a local NGO, the scientists are testing the suitability of drought- and heat-tolerant varieties as a solution to challenges farmers face in “climate hotspots.”
These farmers are vulnerable to climate change due to erratic and limited rainfall, a situation that is worsened by increasing temperatures. “To identify these areas, we looked at climate change patterns across Zimbabwe which allowed us to identify five wards: Bikita, Gokwe, Gutu, Mutare and Zaka,” said CIMMYT physiologist Dr. Jill Cairns. The scientists then downscaled projections of monthly changes in rainfall and temperature in these wards to confirm their vulnerability and get a better understanding of the seasonal changes likely to occur by 2050.
In this maize demonstration plot, crop management was done using hand weeding.
In partnership with SAT, scientists are screening drought- and heat-tolerant maize varieties in demonstration plots using different farmer-managed practices that are accessible to local communities. “SAT has very good links to extension leaders, which has helped us reach the community,” said Cairns. “It holds field days at each demonstration location and has managed to engage locally.” During these events, farmers are provided with information on climate change, improved maize varieties and modern agricultural practices. Cairns said highlights from field days she has attended included seeing schoolchildren sing about climate change and agriculture, and a group of HIV-positive women singing about agriculture and improved seed. The drought-tolerant maize varieties used in this study are from the Drought Tolerant Maize for Africa (DTMA) project breeding pipeline, which is funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. The research on heat is a component of DTMA being funded by the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID).
Ten members of the technical staff from the Improved Maize for African Soils (IMAS) project joined their counterparts from the Water Efficient Maize for Africa (WEMA) project for training in managing risks during confined field trials (CFTs) —both projects funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. Participants learned how to minimize the risk of disseminating materials under analysis into feed and food pathways. Emphasis was placed on spatial and temporal separation of the flowering parts of plants, to ensure they do not move outside the CFT. Incinerating all materials after the collection of trial results was also emphasized. IMAS staff participated in the course to help them prepare for the mock trials that will be carried out later this year at IMAS CFTs in Kiboko and Kitale, Kenya.
Ten members of the technical staff from the Improved Maize for African Soils project joined their counterparts from the Water Efficient Maize for Africa project for training in managing risks during confined field trials.
The training served as a refresher course in the standard operating procedures and protocols outlined by the National Biosafety Authority (NBA). Dr. Joseph Gichuki, head of biotechnology at the Kenya Agricultural Research Institute (KARI), explained the key steps in operating a CFT: the application process, conducting an experiment, the NBA review process, receiving trial material and storage. He also stressed the importance of closely monitoring the movement of trial materials, storage of materials and disposal facilities.
Participants learned the importance of record keeping of all activities in the CFT: planting, storage, special isolation, flowering, whether the crop should be destroyed after flowering and early destruction once the data required has been collected. Postharvest data collection was also discussed, including the need to record if there are volunteer crops after harvest and when they are removed.
Participants marked the field during the practical segment of the training session.
The workshop ended with a practical session. Participants planted an event that is under trial by the WEMA team being led by Regina Tende, a senior research scientist at KARI-Katumani. “It was very educational for all staff members who participated,” said Titus Kosgei, IMAS research technician. “We are ready to plant our first mock trials now that our team has been trained on CFT management,” said Dr. Biswanath Das, CIMMYT maize breeder and co-leader of the IMAS project.
Dr. Stephen Mugo, CIMMYT maize breeder and WEMA project leader, was one of the course facilitators. The training was coordinated by KARI maize breeder Murenga Mwimali, in collaboration with CIMMYT and partners from the African Agricultural Technology Foundation (AATF), Kenya Plant Health Inspectorate Services, Monsanto and the NBA.
Improved Maize for African Soils(IMAS) was created to improve food security and livelihoods in sub-Saharan Africa by creating and sharing new maize varieties that use fertilizer more efficiently and help smallholder farmers get higher yields, even where soils are poor and little commercial fertilizer is used. To learn more about this project and IMAS visit the project website here.
