On 27-28 May, representatives from CIMMYT, USAID, the Pakistan Agricultural Research Council (PARC), ILRI, IRRI, AVRDC, and UC Davis met with colleagues from several Pakistan universities, agricultural secretaries of the provinces, development sector organizations, private sector representatives, and farmer organizations, to discuss and plan the next stage of the USAID-supported Agricultural Innovation Program for Pakistan (AIP).

In his opening address, Randy Chester, USAID’s Deputy Office Chief for Agriculture, stated that “AIP represents a unique and unprecedented collaboration, in that it will bring together the expertise and resources of all of these organizations, including USAID, to increase the income of farmers across Pakistan.” By using the Global Conference on Agricultural Research for Development (GCARD) approach of agricultural research for development (AR4D), AIP “will foster a demand-driven, results-oriented, science research community, and enhance linkages between Pakistan’s agricultural research and innovation communities, the wider global community of agricultural scientists, and the private and civil society sectors,” he concluded.

AIP is a unique program for CIMMYT, aiming to address not only cereals and cereal systems, but also livestock, vegetables, and fruit trees, through a combination of commissioned projects, a competitive grants system, and human resource development. The program will draw on the expertise and resources of the five international partners, but many other Pakistan partners will be brought on as the program develops. PARC Chairman, Iftikhar Ahmad, highlighted the role that Pakistan organizations have to play: “We need a new kind of collaboration,” he said. “It must be a two-way process in that Pakistan must also contribute to international science. Pakistani scientists must play a crucial role in paying back what we get from the outside. Other economies can benefit from Pakistani science as well,” he added.

It would not be the first time that Pakistan has positively impacted worldwide agricultural development. Its national agricultural research system was instrumental in identifying two high-yielding wheat mega-varieties, ‘Mexi-Pak’ and ‘Pak81’, also known as ‘Siete Cerros’ and ‘Seri’, respectively, recalled Hans Braun, Director of CIMMYT’s Global Wheat Program.

During spirited working groups, participants put forward their suggestions for project priorities that will enable AIP to increase the incomes of tens of thousands of farmers, through increased agricultural productivity, in the shortest time frame possible. There will be a strong focus on adapting and up-scaling existing technologies present elsewhere in the region, such as Greenseeker sensors for improved nutrient management.

Closing the meetings, Jonathon Conly, USAID Mission Director, Pakistan, praised the group in their collaboration to revolutionize Pakistan’s agricultural sector. “If we care about driving economic growth, it has to be done by increasing farm productivity, by increasing adoption of technologies, and human capacity,” he said; concluding: “I believe that AIP will lead to the desperately-needed increases in agricultural productivity in this country.”

From 29 April to 10 May, 16 agricultural engineers, agronomists, machinery importers, and machinery manufacturers from Ethiopia, Kenya, Tanzania, and Zimbabwe took part in a study tour in India organized by CIMMYT, the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR), the Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research (ACIAR), and the Australian International Food Security Centre (AIFSC). The tour was organized as part of the “Farm Mechanization and Conservation Agriculture for Sustainable Intensification” (FACASI) project to identify opportunities for exchange of technologies and expertise between India and Africa and strengthen South-South collaborations in the area of farm mechanization. The project is funded by AIFSC and managed by ACIAR.

India is the world’s largest producer of pulses, and the second largest producer of wheat, rice, potatoes, and groundnuts. But would India’s agricultural performance be that high if the number of tractors in the country was divided by six and the number of draught animals by three? Such a reduction in farm power would bring Indian agriculture close to the current situation of Kenya and Tanzania. In India, most agricultural operations are mechanized, including planting, harvesting, threshing, shelling, and transportation to the market; in Africa, these are generally accomplished manually. Bringing African agriculture closer to the situation in India is the goal of the FACASI project. This tour was designed as the first step in the construction of an enduring trilateral partnership between Africa, India, and Australia, consolidated by CIMMYT, to facilitate exchange of research and development results in the area of farm mechanization.

During his opening speech, S. Ayyapan, ICAR director general, stressed the importance of farm mechanization for agricultural intensification, pointed at the commonalities between the circumstances of Indian and African smallholders, and invited the group to develop concrete country-specific proposals regarding possible partnerships with India. The participants then spent five days at the Central Institute of Agricultural Engineering (CIAE) in Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh state, where they were exposed to various low-cost gender-friendly technologies for post-harvest operations and weeding; sowing, fertilizing, spraying, and harvesting technologies adapted to animal traction; two-wheel and four-wheel tractors; as well as conservation agriculture based technologies. Through calibration exercises and other field activities, participants gained hands-on experience with these machines. The group also visited the Central Farm Machinery Training and Testing Institute in Budni.

The second part of the study tour took place in the states of Punjab and Haryana, where the group interacted with scientists from the Punjab Agricultural University (PAU) and the Borlaug Institute for South Asia (BISA), and was exposed to various Indian innovations including laser land levelers operated by two-wheel tractors, relay direct seeders, multi-crop planters, crop threshers, and rotary weeders. They also participated in a discussion session organized by a farmer cooperative society at Noorpur-Bet focusing on institutional innovations encouraging farmer access to mechanization, and interacted intensively with Indian agribusinesses such as National Agro-Industry, Dashmesh Mechanical Engineering, Amar Agro Industries, and All India Machinery Manufacturers Association.

The study tour was concluded by a visit of the Central Soil and Salinity Research Institute (CSSRI) in Karnal to observe the role of conservation agriculture in reclaiming degraded land, and a visit to the Indian Wheat Research Centre in Karnal.

The lessons learnt in India will be put in practice in Ethiopia, Kenya, Tanzania, and Zimbabwe through the FACASI project. The study tour has generated several ideas for the development of new machines by African engineers and created contacts between Indian manufacturers and African machinery importers which may materialize into business opportunities.

Last week CIMMYT obtained a new hyperspectral camera and thus significantly expanded its remote sensing capabilities. Pablo J. Zarco-Tejada, director of QuantaLab remote sensing laboratory, Instituto de Agricultura Sostenible (IAS), Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (CSIC), Córdoba, Spain, and his team spent 13-17 May 2013 at the Campo Experimental Norman E. Borlaug (CENEB) in Ciudad Obregon, Mexico, installing the new camera on the remote sensing platform they delivered during their last visit in February 2013.

Zarco-Tejada and his team also trained a pilot and CIMMYT staff on the use of the hyperspectral remote sensing equipment, which was obtained through a capacity building project between CIMMYT’s Global Conservation Agriculture Program and QuantaLab-IAS-CSIC, funded by MAIZE and WHEAT CRPs under Strategic Initiative 3.

Hyperspectral technology uses the most advanced remote sensing cameras that are sensitive to the visible and near infrared spectral regions. This allows for acquisition of hundreds of images at once, each of them covering a different and narrow spectral region in a continuous mode. While multispectral cameras widely used for crop monitoring through remote sensing methods can acquire only five or six spectral bands at once, the new hyperspectral imager owned and operated by CIMMYT obtains 250 spectral bands at the same time, covering the entire electromagnetic spectrum between the visible and the near infrared regions. This opens up tremendous new and powerful avenues for research on early crop stress detection, physiological assessment, conservation agriculture, plant breeding, disease detection, etc.

The thermal, multispectral, and hyperspectral cameras are installed on the same aircraft which allows researchers to obtain both thermal and multi/hyperspectral images concurrently. With resolutions ranging between 20 and 50 centimeters, it is possible to target single experimental plots as well as within-field spatial variability in commercial fields. The cameras acquire 250 bands of 6.4-nanometer width in the 400-885 nanometer region, scanning swaths of 500 meters at 30-50 centimeter pixel resolution.

This makes it possible to calculate several new spectral indices related to photosynthetic pigments, such as chlorophyll content, carotenoids, xanthophylls, and anthocyanins, as well as measure physiological and structural indicators, which can be used to map nitrogen status and derive nitrogen recommendations to improve wheat quality. Most importantly, the new hyperspectral imager allows for early detection of stress using narrow-band indices related to light-use efficiency, as well as for quantifying chlorophyll fluorescence emissions by the plant, which is the focus of current cutting-edge international research on canopy photosynthesis. This has proved to be a better physiological indicator than other traditional vegetation indices.

The hyperspectral camera was tested over an area near CENEB and is now fully operational for phenotyping and physiological and agronomic research. Image processing methods and hyperspectral analysis procedures were used for signature extraction from the imagery and observation of the spectral differences between healthy and stressed vegetation pixels.

Configuration of the new hyperspectral camera for different operation modes and the identification of successful remote sensing indices will continue through research collaboration between CIMMYT and QuantaLab-IASCSIC. The algorithms and state-of-the-art methods for the processing of the imagery, as well as field instrumentation required for the flights, are now available at CENEB. The same instruments are planned to be used during the upcoming cropping season in El Batán and Toluca.

Breeding of durable resistance to stripe rust —the greatest biotic threat to wheat production in the largest wheat producer and consumer in the world, China— was the major theme of a workshop jointly organized by the CIMMYT-Sichuan office and the Sichuan Academy of Agricultural Sciences (SAAS) at the SAAS Plant Breeding Institute in Chengdu, Sichuan province, China, on 18 May 2013. The workshop aimed to promote the adoption of second-generation parents and slow-rusting breeding strategies in spring wheat-producing areas of China and to facilitate collaborative breeding strategies between SAAS and its sister organizations in neighboring provinces. The workshop consisted of a seminar and a discussion session on germplasm and breeding strategies led by Gary Rosewarne (CIMMYT Global Wheat Program senior scientist) and Bob McIntosh (Emeritus Professor at the University of Sydney), and followed by a field visit to the Southern China Field Station at Xindu.

China has the largest area prone to stripe rust epidemics in the world. Traditionally, the disease has been controlled through genetic strategies focused on incorporating major seedling resistance genes to provide immunity. However, this method places strong pressure on the fungus to evolve and overcome these genes. Since the 1950s, the development of virulent pathotypes to widely used resistance genes has caused numerous serious stripe rust epidemics, with the major ones in 1990 and 2002 resulting in the loss of 2.65 and 1 million tons of grain, respectively. Given China’s importance in the world’s wheat production and consumption, any threat to the country’s wheat production has implications for global food security.

CIMMYT has pioneered breeding of durable resistance to stripe rust through the incorporation of multiple, slow-rusting loci, a breeding strategy well established at SAAS but largely ignored by most other wheat breeders in China who still focus on major seedling resistance. At the beginning of this century, SAAS and CIMMYT established a shuttle breeding system to introduce slowrusting loci into Sichuan germplasm. Five high-yielding but susceptible Sichuan lines were sent to Mexico each year for three years; Ravi Singh, CIMMYT distinguished scientist and head of Bread Wheat Improvement, then made single backcrosses with several CIMMYT donor lines. The resulting lines were advanced in Toluca and Obregón, Mexico, and large populations of early generation materials were sent back to Sichuan for further advancement and final selection. Fixed lines from these first generation crosses have shown good levels of resistance in China, along with yields comparable to those of the check varieties. There is currently a range of second generation parental lines with slow-rusting loci in Chinese backgrounds; it is expected that with these as donors, researchers should be able to raise yield potential further while maintaining resistance.

The workshop resulted in a proposed collaborative strategy which would allow breeders representing different regions of China to receive several lines of second generation Chinese slow-rusting donors and to conduct single backcrosses with some of their elite germplasm that has become susceptible. Chinese scientists involved in the process will be invited to help select early generation materials using the bulk selection methodology. After selection, large early generation populations will be sent back to the regions for further selection and advancement under local conditions. “We anticipate that through this mentoring process, breeders will feel comfortable adopting new breeding strategies that can increase their efficiencies and ensure that durable stripe rust resistant lines are released throughout China,” explained Rosewarne.

The Ambassador of Switzerland to Angola, Malawi, Zambia, and Zimbabwe, Luciano Lavizzari, accompanied by the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC) Food Security program officer for Zimbabwe Mkhululi Ngwenya, visited the CIMMYT Regional office for Southern Africa in Harare, Zimbabwe, on 23 April 2013. The CIMMYT-Harare staff provided a tour around the facilities and briefed them on CIMMYT’s work on food security geared towards finding solutions to challenges faced by farmers.

In the beginning of the visit, CIMMYT physiologist Jill Cairns discussed the issue of climate change. “As a result of climate change, the seasons are going to be much shorter,” explained Cairns, adding that in a region with the lowest maize yields globally, a lot more effort is required to deploy germplasm and farming systems adapted to respond to constraints in the region. Cairns discussed the work done by CIMMYT scientists in countering stresses such as low nitrogen, drought, and heat stress along the maize breeding pipeline from population development, pedigree breeding, to regional and on-farm trials in over 100 diverse locations. She also covered the phenotyping tools used in the research work and highlighted research gains in maize yields, many of which result from highly drought-tolerant maize lines and improved efficiencies of maize breeding pipeline in Eastern and Southern Africa.

John MacRobert, seed systems specialist, highlighted the importance of harmonizing seed systems in the region. “Some countries, like Zimbabwe, have very well developed seed sectors, while others are largely informal,” MacRobert said, stressing the negative consequences this may have on farmers. He then explained the importance of on-farm trials in incorporating farmer preferences such as grain texture in breeding work, using the example of SDC-funded New Seed Initiative for Maize in Southern Africa (NSIMA), a project whose acronym is fashioned after a popular maize staple dish in Zambia and Malawi known as nsima: “NSIMA targets a subset of smallholder farmers who consume the maize that they grow.” MacRobert also highlighted collaboration with other SDC projects whose seed systems encourage community-based seed companies targeting smallholder farmers.

Next on the agenda was conservation agriculture covered by agronomist Christian Thierfelder. “It is crucial to link improved varieties with the best management practices to ensure the sustainability of the cropping system,” stressed Thierfelder who then went on to demonstrate a range of sowing equipment from a stick to animal traction planters used in conservation agriculture.

Socioeconomist Girma T. Kassie turned attention to the consequences of lack of funding for smallholder farmers. For example, lack of funding programs to help the smallholder farmers acquire equipment limits uptake of improved planting practices. “Research on the impact of improved technologies aimed at improving livelihoods of smallholder farmers can help identify the gaps in technology transfer,” he added. Afterwards, the visitors toured CIMMYT trials where they observed the discussed technologies in the field.

CIMMYT has had a long-standing relationship with Switzerland through SDC, which currently funds several CIMMYT projects geared towards improving food security of smallholder farmers in East and Southern Africa. The projects, focusing on post-harvest losses reduction, conservation agriculture, and improved seed systems, include the Effective Grain Storage Project (EGSP), Seeds and Markets Project (SAMP), Harmonized Seed Security Project (HaSSP), and NSIMA. In addition, the SDC funds the ‘SDC-Junior Professional Officer’ supporting agronomist Stephanie Cheesman at the Global Conservation Agriculture Program team. CIMMYT highly appreciates the continued support from the Swiss government through SDC.

One-week course on genetic analysis and plant breeding

Drs. Jiankang Wang and Huihui Li, Genetic Resources Program, CIMMYT

Objectives of the workshop

Through lectures, practices and discussions, you will learn:

• Plant breeding methodology
• Applied quantitative genetics
• Estimation of recombination between two linked loci
• Construction of genetic linkage maps
• Principles of QTL mapping and statistical comparison of diff erent mapping methods
• Identifi cation of quantitative trait genes with additive (and dominance) effects
• Identification of quantitative trait genes with epistasis eff ects
• QTL by environment analysis
• Modeling of plant breeding
• Comparison and optimization of plant breeding strategies
• Integration of known gene information into conventional plant breeding

Who should attend?

CIMMYT’s partners who are interested in applied quantitative genetics, linkage analysis, linkage map construction, QTL mapping, simulation and optimization of breeding strategies will benefi t from this course. Participants should be familiar with basic methods in plant genetics, plant breeding and statistics.

Computers: Each participant must bring a laptop computer that can run Microsoft Windows applications. A USB memory stick will be distributed to all participants at the beginning of the course. This contains the lecture presentations, the QTL IciMapping integrated software V3.3, QU-GENE simulation tools, exercises and answers, etc.

Tentative program

Day 1: Introduction of quantitative genetics

Genetic population and population structure, additive and dominance genetic model, mating designs and estimation of genetic variance and heritability, prediction of genetic gain, correlated selection and index selection etc.

Tentative program

Day 2: Genetic linkage analysis

in biparental genetic populations, genetic interference and mapping function, linkage map construction, handling redundant markers, integration of multiple linkage maps to generate a consensus map.

Day 3: Mapping additive (and dominance) QTL

Principle of QTL mapping, conventional Interval Mapping, Inclusive Composite Interval Mapping (ICIM) of QTLs, QTL by Environmental Interactions

Day 4: Mapping epistatic QTL and segregation distortion Loci (SDL)

Two-dimensional scanning for additive by additive interactions, two-dimensional scanning for additive by additive, additive by dominance, dominance by additive, and dominance by dominance interactions, segregation distortion loci mapping, QTL mapping with chromosome segment substitution (CSS) lines, other QTL mapping methods, QTL mapping in nested association mapping (NAM) populations, and frequently asked questions in QTL mapping studies

Day 5: Modeling and simulation of plant breeding programs

Principles of breeding simulation, defi ning genetic models in QU-GENE, defi ning breeding methods in QuLine, comparing breeding methods through simulation, and use of know genes in plant breeding

Generation, analysis and interpretation of experimental and genetic designs applied to plant breeding

General objectives of the course

Through lectures, practicals and discussion, you will learn:

• Basic experimental designs theory
• Randomized complete blocks, incomplete blocks, augmented and partially-replicated designs
• Analysis of variance, fi xed and mixed models
• Design and analysis of multi-environment trials, including modeling genotype-by-environment interaction
• Spatial analysis of individual and combined experiments
• Genetic designs, selection indices and genomic breeding values (GEBVs)
• Use of statistical software including SAS, GenStat, R, and ASReml

Primary lecturers

Dr. Mateo Vargas, Genetic Resources Program, CIMMYT;
E-mail: vargas_mateo@hotmail.com
Dr. Gregorio Alvarado, Genetic Resources Program, CIMMYT;
E-mail: G.Alvarado@cgiar.org

Program

I. Randomized complete blocks designs (RCBD) and multiple comparison procedures

Objectives:

1. Identify the basic components of variation in a randomized complete blocks design.
2. Analyze information generated from fi eld experiments using RCBD and interpret the results of analysis

Contents:

1. Advantages and disadvantages, fixed effect models
2. Generation of designs using SAS
3. Statistical model and Analysis of Variance
4. Example of analysis and interpretation using SAS, GENSTAT, R
5. Multiple Comparison Tests: Least Signifi cant Diff erence(LSD), Honest Signifi cant Diff erence (Tukey), Scheffé

II. Incomplete blocks designs or lattices

Objectives:

• Identify the basic components of variation in an incomplete blocks design (IBD), recovery of intrablock and interblock information
• Increase the precision of experiments using covariance structures with the purpose of extract correlation sources between experimental plots
• Analyze information generated from experiments in agree with the former designs and interpret the results

Contents:

1. Incomplete Block Designs (BIBDs) or Lattices
2. Advantages of Linear Mixed Models
3. Alpha Lattice Designs: Generation using AlphaWin, DiGGer
4. Statistical modeling with and without covariate(s)
5. Example of analysis and interpretation using SAS, GENSTAT, R
6. Best Linear Unbiased Estimators (BLUEs), LSD, Grand Mean and Coeffi cient of Variation using the Standard Errors of Diff erences (SED)
7. Best Linear Unbiased Predictors (BLUPs), Heritability in Broad Sense (H2) and Genetic Correlations

III. Augmented designs and spatial analysis

Objectives:

1. Identify the basic characteristics and evaluate the advantages of the Augmented Designs and the Spatial Analysis
2. Analyze information generated from experiments based on Augmented Designs and Spatial Analysis, interpretation of the results

Contents:

1. Basic concepts and properties of augmented designs
2. Basic concepts and properties of spatial analysis
3. Generation of augmented designs using DiGGer, GENSTAT and ASREML
4. Analysis and Interpretation of augmented designs and spatial analysis using SAS, GENSTAT and ASREML
5. Analysis and Interpretation of augmented designs and spatial analysis using SAS, GENSTAT and ASREML

IV. Multi Environment trials

Objectives:

1. Increase validation space of conclusions by mean of evaluating trials among various locations, years or combinations between them and make a best selection of genotypes
2. Estimate and interpret the genetic parameters of evaluated populations at multi-environment trials
3. Model and interpret the Genotype by Environment interaction using diff erent strategies
4. Introduce external information of environmental and/ or genotypic covariates for assist in the interpretation of genotype by environment interaction
5. Analyze information generated from multienvironment trials using diff erent software and make the interpetation of analysis outputs

Contents:

1. Combined analysis across multi trials:
   • Statistical models
   • Estimation of BLUEs and BLUPs with and without covariate(s)
   • LSD, Grand Mean and Coeffi cient of Variation using the Standard Errors of diff erences (SED)
   • Heritability in Broad Sense (H² ) and Genetic Correlations among locations
   • Dendrogram and PCA Biplot of genetic correlations matrix among locations
2. Demo of the META: Suite of SAS programs which performs everyone of the all before trials under diff erent conditions: Randomized Complete Blocks Designs, Incomplete Block Designs with and without covariate(s), Individual and Combined Analyses
3. Statistical models for the interpretation of the genotype by environment interaction: AMMI, SREG, GREG, SHMM
4. Statistical models incorporating environmental and/ or genotypic covariates
   • Partial least Squares regression (PLS)
   • Factorial regression (FR)
   • Modelling with structural equations
5. Practical using SAS, GENSTAT, R

V. Genetic designs, selection indices and genomic breeding values (GEBVs)

A. Genetic designs

Objectives:

1. Increase the knowledge of basic issues of genetic plant breeding using statistical software
2. Strategies for comprehension of genetic plant breeding using genetic designs

Contents:

1. Importance of genetic plant breeding
2. A genetic plant breeding defi nition
3. Challenges and needs of the plant breeders
4. Genetic designs
5. How to design a genetic mating scheme, commonly mating designs
   • Single-Pair mating
   • North Carolina I
   • North Carolina II
   • Line by Tester
   • Diallel designs
   • Use of statistical software for analysis of genetic designs
   • Recent advances in genetic designs

B. Phenotypic selection indices: Smith, ESIM, Kempthorne and Nordskog, RESIM

C. Genomic selection indices: Lande and Thompson, Lange and Whitaker

D. Genomic breeding values (GEBVs)

On 8 May 2013, US ambassador Richard Olson reaffirmed the United States government’s long-term support to farming communities in Pakistan during his visit to the National Agricultural Research Center (NARC) in Islamabad. The visit, organized by CIMMYT in collaboration with US embassy in Pakistan and Pakistan Agricultural research Council (PARC)/NARC, was to recognize the success of the Wheat Productivity Enhancement Project (WPEP), a USDA program implemented by CIMMYT in collaboration with national and provincial research partners, and to inaugurate the harvesting ceremony for the Ug99 resistant wheat variety called NARC 2011. “Since the 1950s, the United States has been working to support agriculture in Pakistan,” stated Olson. “Wheat accounts for approximately 60% of the daily caloric intake of the average Pakistani, so our joint efforts to combat this disease are critical.”

Muhammad Imtiaz, CIMMYT country liaison officer and wheat breeder, briefed the ambassador on CIMMYT’s mission to sustainably increase productivity of wheat and maize systems to ensure global food security and reduce poverty. “CIMMYT collaboration on sustainable agricultural research with national and provincial research institutes in Pakistan began when Dr. Manzoor Bajwa and Dr. Norman Borlaug worked together to develop ‘Mexi-Pak,’ the wheat variety that started the Green Revolution in Pakistan and helped to double Pakistan’s wheat production between 1965 and 1970,” Imtiaz commented on the long-lasting importance of the partnership for Pakistani farmers. The work is not over as the need for disease resistant wheat varieties continues: experts estimate that Pakistan’s annual wheat harvest could be reduced by as much as 50% if and when Ug99 arrives. “Agriculture contributes 21% to the GDP of Pakistan and employs 45% of the labor force, making it one of the most significant economic drivers of Pakistan,” Imtiaz explained the importance of the sector. Pakistani farmers grew about 24 million tons of wheat on 8 million hectares last year, accounting for about 2.4% of the GDP.

Abdul Basit Khan, Additional Secretary at the Ministry of National Food Security and Research, and Iftikar Ahmed, PARC Chairman, appreciated CIMMYT’s effective role in wheat improvement through technical support and implementation of international funded projects, and reiterated its importance for enhancement of the research efficiency and capacity of Handing over of Wintersteiger key to Chairman PARC Pakistani national institutes.

The Nutritious Maize for Ethiopia (NuME) aims to develop and promote quality protein maize (QPM) in the major maize growing areas of Ethiopia, including the highlands and the dry lands, to improve nutritional status of children. The project has a strong gender component, ensuring women’s full participation in all activities and equal share of benefits, which was discussed during a Gender Analysis and Strategy workshop at the ILRI campus in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, on 16 April 2013. The purpose of the event was to present gender analysis and gender strategy developed by Kidist Gebreselasie, NuME gender consultant, to implementation partners, receive partners’ input, agree on strategy, and discuss future developments. The workshop was attended by representatives from the Ethiopian Institute of Agricultural Research (EIAR), ministries of health and agriculture, the Ethiopian Health and Nutrition Research Institute (EHNRI), SG2000, FRI, the Ethiopian Seed Enterprise, other seed companies, Hawassa University, Harvard Institute of Public Health, and CIDA (the project’s funder). CIMMYT was represented by Dagne Wegary (interim project coordinator), Dennis Friesen (project advisor/consultant), Vongai Kandiwa (gender specialist), and Hugo De Groote (agricultural economist).

In the opening session of the workshop, Gebreselasie presented her synthesis developed in collaboration with CIMMYT scientists and based on literature review, analysis of a baseline survey (both men and women were interviewed), and an indepth study of two target areas (including focus group discussions and key informant interviews). Gebreselasie found that while men are responsible for plowing and purchase of inputs, including seed, women are responsible for household chores such as cooking and child care. However, both men and women contribute to harvesting and weeding. Planting is either a shared activity, or one done by men. Children are also involved in agricultural activities as they play an important role in herding animals and providing feed and water. Dairy and poultry production management is largely a women’s responsibility; although women receive a substantial part of the income resulting from these activities, their access to resources, as compared to men’s, is largely limited, particularly when it comes to extension services. The agricultural extension system focuses on men and female-headed households; wives are expected to learn from their husbands. Women are also rarely invited to agricultural trainings, especially when they take place outside of their own farm. It is much easier for women to access health extension than agricultural extension workers.

Gebreselasie then outlined a gender strategy to address the above listed constraints and to improve women’s participation in project activities. This involves increasing women’s attendance at QPM demonstrations by inviting them directly and by organizing separate sessions for women during field days, ensuring that the time and place is convenient for them. Gebreselasie suggested involvement of health extension workers in QPM promotion and higher level of women’s involvement in farm radio activities (targeting women). Furthermore, partners should be given incentives to involve women more, and they should also be provided gender training at all levels.

After the presentation, the workshop participants reviewed their organizations’ experiences in gender activities and their responses to the analysis, and discussed ways to incorporate the strategy in their activities.

The NuME gender strategy was later presented and discussed during a meeting of the Project Steering Committee on 23 May at ILRI. CIDA representative Stefna Pacquette emphasized that the strategy needs to involve women in a meaningful way beyond simple participation in project activities. “While focusing on nutrition, NuME can provide a vehicle for strengthening women’s role in the household,” Pacquette noted. “It can also get men to feel more comfortable with women’s presence and participation in traditional male roles.” The next necessary step for NuME is the recruitment of a gender specialist to aid implementation of the strategy.

On 26-27 April 2013, the FONTAGRO “Generation and validation
of drought tolerant maize varieties to stabilize and reduce mycotoxin damage resulting from climate change” project held its end-of-project meeting in La Ceiba, Honduras, along with the Central American Cooperative Program for the Improvement of Crops and Animals (PCCMCA) meeting (21-26 April). The event highlighted the advances to date, the project’s products, and recommendations for follow-up to ensure that the products reach farmers.

Since 2009, the project generated 5,000 doubled haploid (DH) lines which are currently being evaluated by CIMMYT. The populations were developed from inbred lines identified for drought tolerance, ear rot resistance, and reduced mycotoxin accumulation. The project also identified a set of inbred lines with high levels of ear rot and mycotoxin resistance. The information has been shared with project partners and other breeders for wide use, and CIMMYT will distribute these lines to interested parties. CIMMYT maize breeder Luis Narro commented on the research on diseases, ear rots in particular. “Ear rot is increasing in incidence and severity in South America. Evaluation of 18 commercial hybrids in Peru revealed ear rot incidences as high as 42% on susceptible hybrids in some locations,” he said. “Ear rot tolerant hybrids identified in this project will play an important role in mitigating the detrimental effects posed by ear rots and mycotoxin contamination. These need to be promoted to reach farmers rapidly.” As far as mycotoxins are concerned, the team also identified promising hybrids from validation trials documenting the natural incidence of mycotoxins in Peru, Colombia, and Mexico. This study showed that fumonisins are the most prevalent mycotoxin in South America (compared to aflatoxin and deoxynivalenol).

“The project has generated many products and validated some that are now being released in several countries,” said the project leader George Mahuku. Among those are four varieties released in Honduras (three white and one yellow); one white variety in Colombia; two varieties (one yellow, one white) and a yellow hybrid in Nicaragua, and three varieties (two yellow and one white) in Panama. Three hybrids outperforming the local commercial checks are under validation in Peru. Furthermore, two varieties showing the stability and rustic nature of CIMMYT-generated varieties were released in Colombia, Honduras, and Nicaragua. All the released cultivars are moderately tolerant to the tar spot complex disease which is becoming more common in Latin America.
CIMMYT maize breeder Felix San Vicente presented on the advances that have been made in breeding for drought tolerance and ear rot resistance. “We need to establish and maintain a regional network to test our products in marginal areas,” he noted. “We hope that we will be able to leverage funding from the CRP [MAIZE] to continue the validation and dissemination of these important and promising products in the region.” During the meeting, scientists presented 29 papers, 5 of which contained results from the FONTAGRO project. The papers of CIMMYT colleagues Román Gordon and Oscar Cruz were awarded for their contributions to the maize section of the project: Gordon received the first prize for his paper “Selection of maize varieties for tolerance to water stress in Panama 2010-2012,” and Cruz received the second prize for his paper on “Participatory validation of white and yellow maize varieties in two regions of Honduras.”

The project has generally been considered very successful. “We now know which mycotoxins are important in the region and we have the products to potentially minimize the risk,” commented Mahuku. “What we need is to widely test and disseminate the products so that they reach as many farmers as possible. With a little infusion of resources, the dedication demonstrated by this group, and support from policy makers, I have no doubt that we will get there.”

During 23-25 July, FONTAGRO will hold its annual meeting (VIII Taller de Seguimiento Técnico de Proyectos FONTAGRO) in Uruguay. The “Generation and validation of drought tolerant maize varieties to stabilize and reduce mycotoxin damage resulting from climate change” is one of five projects finishing this year; its representatives were invited to present their results and compete for a financial award given to the best project. If the project wins, the financial resources could help with continued and wider validation of products generated by this project.

The Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences (CAAS)
and Murdoch University, Australia, with financial support from the Chinese Ministry of Science and Technology and the Australian government, officially opened the Australia-China Joint Center for Wheat Improvement in Beijing, China, on 9 April 2013. The center is one of six approved jointly by the two governments. It was opened in the presence of the Prime Minister of Australia Honorable Julia Gillard, CAAS President Jiayang Li, CIMMYT distinguished scientist and liaison officer for China Zhonghu He, and Rudi Appels from Murdoch University. The establishment of the center builds upon more than 10 years of successful wheat quality improvement collaboration between the CAAS-CIMMYT wheat program and Murdoch University.

During 15-17 April, over 50 participants from Murdoch and 8 Chinese institutes attended a workshop for the Australia-China Joint Center for Wheat Improvement held in Beijing. They focused on discovery of new genes, development of elite germplasm, and development of gene specific markers by genomic approach for important traits such as yield, drought resistance, and quality. Ten scholarships, each for 12 months, are available for Chinese postgraduate students to work on thesis research at Murdoch University.

Conservation agriculture methods enable producers to sustainably intensify production, improve soil health, and minimize or avoid negative externalities. However, these practices have not yet taken off in most Central Asian countries. The FAO Sub-Regional Office for Central Asia, in cooperation with CIMMYT, ICARDA, and the national counterparts, conducted a study on the status of conservation agriculture in Central Asia to develop policy recommendations for its promotion. The document titled “Conservation Agriculture in Central Asia: Status, Policy, Institutional Support, and Strategic Framework for its Promotion” presents the existing opportunities for adoption and uptake of conservation agriculture techniques, as well as the conditions that need to be taken into account in designing and promoting policy and institutional support strategies for its up-scaling.

The challenges facing the dissemination and adoption of conservation agriculture practices in the region include development of enabling government policies and institutional environment to mainstream conservation agriculture, changing the farmers’ tillage mind-set, training to operate conservation agriculture equipment, and availability and accessibility of suitable implements. However, the authors believe that there is a great potential to revitalize the withered economies of Central Asian countries via improved productivity and higher total output through conservation agriculture based agricultural development. Kazakhstan, the only country that has actively embraced conservation agriculture, provides great evidence for such claims. With the support of CIMMYT, FAO, ICARDA, the World Bank, the Ministry of Agriculture of Kazakhstan, and other international organizations and donors, Kazakhstan began adoption of conservation agriculture practices in 2000; by 2012 there were 2 million hectares —13% of the country’s wheat growing area— under conservation agriculture. According to the FAO Investment Center mission to Kazakhstan, the adoption of zero tillage and conservation agriculture had raised domestic wheat production by almost 2 million tons, which equals some US$ 0.58 billion more income over 2010-12, enough grain to satisfy the annual cereal requirements of almost 5 million people, and the sequestering of about 1.8 million additional tons of CO2 per year. CIMMYT’s work in Kazakhstan demonstrates that the challenges facing Central Asia regarding conservation agriculture can be overcome. “The main achievement of CIMMYT in Kazakhstan has been the changing of the minds of farmers and scientists,” observes Bayan Alimgazinova, head of the Crop Production Department of KazAgroInnovation. Auyezkhan K. Darinov, president-chairman of the Republic Public Union of Farmers of Kazakhstan adds: “Kazakhstan is now the most experienced in conservation agriculture in Central Asia.” Hopefully, the practices and experience will spread to other Central Asian countries seeking to ensure food security.

For the full FAO report: Conservation Agriculture in Central Asia: Status, Policy, Institutional Support, and Strategic Framework for its Promotion.

For more information on conservation agriculture in Kazakhstan: Water-saving techniques salvage wheat in drought-stricken Kazakhstan.

The value of CIMMYT’s research work is enhanced through partnerships supporting the development and dissemination of new maize production technologies. To encourage this collaboration, the CIMMYT Southern Africa regional office in Harare, Zimbabwe, holds an annual event during which stakeholders from the ministries of agriculture, academic institutions, seed companies, and donor representatives tour field trials and get acquainted with the station’s research outputs.

On 05 April 2013, the Australian ambassador Matthew Neuhaus together with donor representatives from the European Union, AusAID, and the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation joined stakeholders from Zimbabwe, Mozambique, Lesotho, Swaziland, South Africa, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo for a successful partners’ day. Over 200 visitors explored CIMMYT fields, observed various products on the maize breeding pipeline such as trials on drought tolerance, nitrogen use efficiency, and demonstrations on conservation agriculture. Visitors also learned about small-scale farm mechanization for conservation agriculture and management of post-harvest losses through the use of metal silos.

During the field tour, it was evident that CIMMYT is incorporating legumes into maize production systems. This not only includes cover crop that contributes to nitrogen fixing but also grain legumes to improve diversity in the farming households’ nutrition. “CIMMYT is keen to see farmers gain more yield per unit area as opposed to having them increase the acreage under maize,” explained Mulugetta Mekuria, regional liaison officer for southern Africa. “When the maize yield is increased on a small portion of the land, the family can then use the rest of the land to grow high value crops such as pigeon peas that are being successfully exported to India from Mozambique and Tanzania,” he added.

Nutrition was a topic of other parts of the partners’ day as well. Farmers in most of the African continent prefer white maize but where diets are predominantly based on maize, especially with weaned infants, nutritional deficiencies may arise. Two exciting options for overcoming such nutritional deficiencies are quality protein maize (QPM) and vitamin A maize (also called orange maize). The QPM varieties have increased amounts of the essential amino acids lysine and tryptophan thereby enhancing the protein quality of maize and contribute to reducing malnutrition that is often seen in children under five years of age who are commonly weaned on maize porridge. “The mothers may not be able to ensure their children’s nutrition needs with the food they currently have,” said seed systems specialist John MacRobert, as he explained the benefits of QPM varieties. The orange maize has improved levels of pro-vitamin A and may help in alleviating vitamin A deficiency. Two varieties have been released in Zambia and two are in pre-release in Zimbabwe. During the tour, seed company representatives were encouraged to identify pre-release materials in which they may be interested.

The tour elicited a lot of interest from the participants who engaged the scientists in discussions, asked questions, and commented on the benefits of new technologies. Kgotso Madisa, an extension officer from Botswana’s Ministry of Agriculture, highlighted the value of nitrogen use efficient maize for farmers who cannot afford to apply the recommended fertilizer doses. “Most of our smallholder farmers are resource poor, these varieties would be of benefit to them,” said Madisa with reference to the hybrids developed under the Improved Maize for African Soils (IMAS) project.

Arsénio Mutatisse from Mozambique’s Higher Polytechnic Institute of Manica confessed that he had been skeptical about conservation agriculture before the event. However, after hearing agronomist Christian Thierfelder explain how to implement conservation agriculture successfully and after observing the trial, Mutatisse said he was convinced about its benefits. “This event was really helpful for us to see how the varieties perform in trials as we work closely with CIMMYT to ensure they get to the farmers,” said Helene Dinova Nsolani, leader of a group of community seed producers in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

The partners’ day was made possible through the help of CIMMYT’s national staff and intern students working at the station. Thanks to training provided by the regional office, the students have all the necessary knowledge and were thus instrumental in explaining the technologies on display. “We do capacity building to ensure that whenever we move on, we have people to continue with the breeding work,” explained maize breeder Cosmos Magorokosho.

The field day was followed by a feedback session and a technical seminar on the maize lethal necrosis (MLN) disease that has emerged recently in East Africa. During the seminar presented by Magorokosho and MacRobert, principal director of the Department of Agriculture Research Services Danisile Hikwa expressed her appreciation to CIMMYT for its efforts to develop MLN resistant varieties.

As traditional storage methods are proving less efficient, especially when faced with pests, a team of scientists from CIMMYT and the Kenya Agricultural Research Institute researched the effectiveness of hermetic systems in controlling maize storage pests in Kenya. To identify the most effective system, CIMMYT’s Hugo De Groote, Simon C. Kimenju, Fred Kanampiu, Tadele Tefera, and Jon Hellin, and KARI’s Paddy Likhayo, tested metal silos and super grain bags at three sites in Kenya and concluded that it is technically feasible to control storage insects without insecticides in Africa by using hermetic storage. However, several unanswered questions remain:

• While metal silos are very effective, they are also expensive. An economic analysis is necessary to determine the size at which silos become economical. Similarly, if super grain bags get perforated during the storage period, they can be used only once. If that is the case, what is their cost compared to other methods in the long run?
• The speed of oxygen depletion needs to be measured. Is oxygen depleting slowly in the super grain bags, thus allowing some insects to survive and perforate the bags from inside? Or did the larger grain borer found in the bags perforate the bag from outside? Answers to these questions are crucial for further steps in grain protection: if the insects survive slow oxygen depletion, it is necessary to find measures to speed up the process; if the insects perforate the bags from outside, additional protection is needed.
• Considering the pros (effective) and cons (costly) of metal silos, and the potential onetime- use-only quality of super grain bags, the authors considered the use of plastic rainwater tanks, which are very popular in Kenya and substantially cheaper than metal silos. Further research is needed to determine whether the larger grain borer would drill through the plastic.