News – Page 178

Representing CIMMYT at the ICAE in Brazil

Written by on September 11, 2012. Posted in News.

ICAE-socioeconomics1 A team of scientists from CIMMYT’s socioeconomics program participated in the 28th triennial International Conference of Agricultural Economists (ICAE) in Foz do Iguaçu, Brazil, during 18-24 August 2012. ICAE, which is considered the key platform for the preservation of international agricultural and development economics research, brought together over 700 researchers and provided an opportunity to share new research ideas, methods, and tools.

The CIMMYT team presented more than 20 papers and posters and organized symposia in various sessions. Hugo de Groote and Bekele Shiferaw presented during a preconference workshop on ‘Innovations in Impact Assessment of Agricultural Research: Theory and Practice’ organized by the CGIAR Standing Panel on Impact Assessment. Several externally reviewed papers contributed by the CIMMYT team were accepted for oral and poster presentations during the conference. The presenters included Bekele Shiferaw, Menale Kassie, Olaf Erenstein, Hugo De Groote, Zachary Gitonga, Asfaw Negassa, Moti Jaleta, Sika Gbegbelegbe, Mulugetta Mekuria, and Surabhi Mittal. CIMMYT PhD students also presented their work, which is supported by CIMMYT projects.

CIMMYT and partners organized symposia on the Impact Pathway of Modern ICT on Agricultural Growth in South Asia and Africa (Mittal); Challenges in Assessing and Developing Seed Systems in Emerging Markets (Erenstein); Experimental Methods for Propoor Value Chain Development (De Groote and Matty Demont of Africa Rice Centre); Understanding the Drivers of Sustainable Intensification of Smallholder Agriculture (Mekuria); Challenges in Assessing and Valuing Drought Tolerance in Risk-prone Agricultural Systems (Erenstein); Bio-economic Modeling for Analysis of Food Security and Climate Change (Gbegbelegbe and Shiferaw); and Emerging Role of Grain Marketing Boards (GMBs) in Africa (Shiferaw with Michigan State University partners).

The conference also provided an opportunity to socialize and network with colleagues old and new. The current socioeconomics team enjoyed meeting with former directors Derek Byerlee, Prabhu Pingali, and John Dixon, and former colleague Greg Traxler, for some informative and enlightening discussions.

GreenSeeker pocket sensor now available

Written by on September 5, 2012. Posted in News.

The GreenSeeker handheld crop sensor, an easy-to-use measurement device designed to assess the health of a crop, was introduced by Trimble on 6 August 2012. By positioning the sensor over a plant and pulling the trigger, the GreenSeeker instantly calculates the Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI), which represents the health of the plant. Users can better determine the overall health and needs of a crop by gathering several readings from plants throughout a field. This can result in a more efficient use of fertilizer, which benefits both the farmer’s bottom line and the environment. Before farmers and farm advisers can apply this technology, it needs to be calibrated locally. Through the MasAgro project, the calibration of the GreenSeeker is conducted by national collaborators in 18 states in Mexico for its use in wheat and maize. CIMMYT is also involved in the calibration of the sensor in Asia and Africa.

For more information, visit the product’s website.

CIMMYT student awarded best poster at the National Biosafety Conference, Kenya

Written by on September 4, 2012. Posted in News.

Murenga Mwimali, a PhD student in plant breeding at the University of Kwazulu Natal, South Africa, currently hosted at CIMMYT-Kenya, was awarded the best student poster at the first National Biosafety Conference in Nairobi, Kenya, during 6-9 August 2012. Mwimali represented the Insect Resistant Maize for Africa (IRMA) and Water Efficient Maize for Africa (WEMA) projects with his poster presentation titled ‘Experiences with postharvest monitoring of volunteer crops at the Kiboko GM Maize confined field trial’. In addition to the award, the poster resulted in a policy recommendation to shorten the post-harvest monitoring period to one month, for GM trials, reduced from the original 52 weeks previously stipulated by Kenyan regulations. The results reported in the poster suggested that longer monitoring time was not necessary, because volunteer plants (which sprout from dropped seed) would likely not appear after two weeks.

The conference focused on the introduction of a biotechnology and biosafety framework in Kenya, the Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety to the Convention on Biological Diversity, the global status of biotech crops (cotton and maize in Kenya), the role of media and communication networks in disseminating biosafety issues, and the management of public concerns and perception on GMOs.

Congratulations to Mwimali and the IRMA and WEMA teams!

SIMLESA embraces innovation platforms and partnerships in Mozambique

Written by on September 3, 2012. Posted in News.

IPmeetint_Mozam For the past three years the SIMLESA project has been working towards its target of improving maize/legume productivity by 30 percent and reducing downside risk by 30 percent. Over a ten-year span, the project hopes to impact 100,000 farmers with conservation agriculture (CA) and maize/legume technologies.

One of SIMLESA’s key objectives is to increase the uptake of CA and maize/legume technologies amongst smallholder farmers in Mozambique. Mozambique remains one of the countries in southern Africa with low average maize yields (0.73 t/ha) due to low uptake of fertilizer (<4%) and improved maize varieties (<10%), impacting both food security and incomes.

To address these issues, key private sector stakeholders and NGOs met in Chimoio, Mozambique, on 20 August 2012. Among the topics discussed was how best to strengthen innovation platforms and partnerships to further disseminate SIMLESA activities among smallholder farmers, a subject highlighted in the opening speech by David Mariote, Central Region Director of the Instituto de Investigação Agrária de Moçambique (IIAM).

SIMLESA highlights to date were expounded by Isaiah Nyagumbo, Cropping Systems Agronomist, and Munyaradzi Mutenje, Agricultural Economist, from CIMMYT’s Southern Africa Regional Office, and Domingos Dias, Senior Agronomist and SIMLESA Coordinator at IIAM. Achievements include CA trials and treatments established in the provinces of Manica (Manica and Sussundenga districts), Sofala (Gorongosa district), and Tete (Angonia district). The trials focus on testing CA-based rotations/ intercrops of maize with common beans or cowpea. Different crop establishment methods using CA equipment such as animal traction direct seeders and rippers, and manual traction seeders, such as jab planters, are also being tested. Work on seed development has been accelerated through the seed road map via seed multiplication and participatory variety selection activities that actively involve farmers’ associations such as IDEAA-CA.

The meeting was attended by 25 participants from 15 institutions. Stakeholders included agrodealers (seed houses and fertilizer suppliers), NGOs (International Fertilizer Development Centre and Total Land Care), and financial and academic institutions.

The participating institutions expressed great interest in providing a platform for SIMLESA’s current and future objectives in new communities. Most of the planned joint initiatives are expected to be formally launched during the next SIMLESA Annual Review and Planning Meeting scheduled for 3-4 September 2012 in Chimoio, Mozambique.

Alan Roelfs visits CIMMYT to teach about rust

Written by on August 29, 2012. Posted in News.

CIMMYT-El Batán had the privilege to host Alan Roelfs, an expert on rust research, as a visitor to the wheat program. Roelfs assisted with training as part of the “Advanced Wheat Improvement Course: Pathology Module” during 25 July – 15 August 2012. “Alan Roelfs equals rust,” said CIMMYT wheat pathologist Amor Yahyaoui, summarizing the significance of Roelfs’ expertise and fame.

Roelfs began working on wheat leaf rust as research aide for the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) at Kansas State University, and later transferred to the Cooperative Rust Lab in Minnesota. At USDA he studied stem rust resistance, helped to modernize the stem rust race survey, and monitored spore and disease movement from Mexico to Canada. Roelfs first visited CIMMYT while at Minnesota. “CIMMYT was very different. The wheat and corn programs are now more blended,” he said about his first experiences in Mexico. Roelfs commended the role of CIMMYT in helping Mexico achieve self-sufficiency in wheat production: “Back then it was about improving the crop or not eating.”

A part of Roelfs’ work in Mexico was to track diseases and compare them to CIMMYT’s collection. “Field monitoring of leaf and stem rust populations was significantly different from what it is now,” says Roelfs. “Rust research is also now more like playing with genetics―trying to find out how to turn a trait on or off, depending on what we need it to do.”

Roelfs has visited CIMMYT frequently to attend scientific meetings or offer information on rust lines, and played a key role in the beginning of rust research at CIMMYT. For training, he draws on his vast experience with students with different abilities and backgrounds: “CIMMYT trainings are a very challenging task from the instructor’s perspective because the group is very diverse. There are people with PhD degrees and little field experience, along with people with purely practical experience. Furthermore, there are language barriers, as participants come from different countries.”

Besides training and scientific meetings, Roelfs is also working with CIMMYT scientists on a new edition of Rust Diseases of Wheat: Concepts and Methods of Disease Management, which was first published by CIMMYT in 1992. The new edition will include discoveries from the last 20 years.

DTMA strengthens research and extension links in Southern Africa

Written by on August 28, 2012. Posted in News.

Largely because commercial farmers have shifted to cash crops such as tobacco and horticulture, smallholder farmers now account for 70-80% of food production in Zimbabwe, and they have little access to credit, according to Danisile Hikwa, Principal Director of the Department of Research and Specialist Services in the Ministry of Agriculture, Mechanization and Irrigation Development. “There is simply no money,” said Hikwa, explaining that the lack of credit schemes for small homesteads hinders food growers’ access to inputs such as seed and fertilizer.

Discussions on this and other important topics emerged as part of recent interactions with researchers, government officials, and representatives from seed companies and non-governmental organizations in Malawi, Zimbabwe, and Zambia by Drought Tolerant Maize in Africa (DTMA) project leader Tsedeke Abate. “Government officials in the three countries appreciated the role that CIMMYT is playing to improve maize production in the region,” said Abate.

In the company of CIMMYT maize breeder Cosmos Magorokosho, maize physiologist Jill Cairns, and seed systems specialist Peter Setimela, in Zimbabwe Abate visited the extension department, Ministry of Agriculture Mechanization and Irrigation Development, and met with acting Technical Director Kennedy Mabehla and the acting Deputy Director and Training Specialist Godfrey Tore. Touring field experiments in Save Valley and Chiredzi, the CIMMYT group complimented technical assistant Stanley Gokoma and his team on how well managed the sites were. They also identified droughtprone Chisumbanje and Zaka as potential areas to pilot DTMA varieties. The team visited CIMMYT partner and leading seed producer Seed Co Limited, hosted at the Rattray Arnold Research Centre. “Zimbabwe has an important history in maize seed production,” said Abate. “They introduced maize hybrids on a commercial scale in 1932—the second country to do so after the USA.”

During a National Coordination Unit meeting in Zambia, Abate joined stakeholders who discussed holistic approaches for addressing livelihood and development challenges in the maize value chain. One topic was the low levels of fertilizer use in Africa—on average only 9 kilograms per hectare, due to the high price of this input and national and farm-level resource constraints. An MSc student from the University of Zambia demonstrated a coating material (Agrotain) for fertilizer applications which increases the efficiency of fertilizer use by 50%.

The DTMA team visited government officials and representatives of seed companies and of World Vision in Malawi, where the drought tolerant open pollinated maize varieties ZM309 and ZM523 are available to farmers and drought tolerant hybrids are in the pipeline. Alfred Mtukuso, Director of the Department of Agricultural Research Services (DARS), expressed his appreciation for CIMMYT’s partnership, which benefits smallholder farmers in Malawi. “Research capacity building efforts by CIMMYT have also contributed to the professional growth of young scientists,” he added.

Also praising DTMA contributions in Malawi, Principal Secretary of Agriculture Jeffrey Luhanga said the government is pursuing a subsidy scheme whereby farmers will receive seed and fertilizer coupons and the opportunity to select varieties, including ZM309 (farmers’ favorite as green mealie) and ZM523. The scheme is expected to benefit an estimated 1.5 million households initially and will be scaled up to reach 100,000 more through President Joyce Banda’s Initiative on Poverty and Hunger Reduction. As part of its support for agriculture, the government provides free airtime for radio and television broadcasts of agricultural technology promotions.

Drought tolerant wheat in Kazakhstan

Written by on August 27, 2012. Posted in News.

“This year has been terrible for wheat production,” said Yuriy Zelenskiy, CIMMYT wheat breeder in Kazakhstan. “Since planting, there have been 60 days without rain, and the temperature has been on average between three and five degrees higher than normal,” he added. Drought and heat-tolerant wheat varieties were among the major topics during the 10th International Meeting at the Kazakhstan-Siberian Network on Wheat Improvement (KASIB) held during 6-9 August 2012 at Kostanay and Karabalyk Agricultural Experimental Station in Kazakhstan. The meeting was attended by 35 leading breeders and agricultural specialists from Kazakhstan and Russia, as well as experts from CIMMYT, JSC “KazAgroInnovation”, and representatives of the Ministry of Agriculture of Kazakhstan.

KASIB was established by CIMMYT in 2000 to foster international collaboration in the region. The network currently includes 19 breeding programs in Kazakhstan and Russia, representing an area of over 20 million hectares of spring wheat production. Each of the breeding programs provides three lines for testing by each partner, and the 50 best lines are then selected and distributed throughout the network to increase efficiency and speed up the process of wheat breeding.

Kazakhstan is among the top ten wheat producers in the world. This year, the crop was sown on 16 million hectares, though it was estimated that over 7 thousand hectares of wheat were destroyed as a result of severe drought. Kazakhstan’s grain harvest is expected to reach 14 million tons, 50% less than last year. While this output is still above the yearly average (about 13 million tons), last year’s record yield of almost 23 million tons showed the potential with the use of drought-tolerant wheat varieties. The situation is similar in the rest of the region: wheat production in Russia, Ukraine, and Kazakhstan is estimated to be 30% less than 2011 yields.

Over 15,000 lines have been exchanged and tested through KASIB network since its inception. KASIB materials are tested for 20 traits, such as resistance to diseases and drought and heat tolerance, and include high-yielding varieties best suited for this agro-ecological zone. “This kind of international cooperation is the best way to introduce new varieties,” stated Muratbek Karabayev, CIMMYT representative in Kazakhstan.

Australia’s Grains Research & Development Corporation praises CIMMYT

Written by on August 22, 2012. Posted in News.

In a recent interview on Ground Cover TV, John Harvey, Managing Director of Australia’s Grains Research & Development Corporation (GRDC), described CIMMYT’s high value to the global wheat research community, calling it among other things “…a Mecca for wheat researchers.”

An Australian statutory corporation founded in 1990, GRDC is one of the world’s leading grains research organisations, responsible for planning, investing and overseeing research and development, delivering improvements in production, sustainability and profitability across Australia’s grains industry. As of 1994, GRDC has supported CIMMYT with a focus on targeting, importing, and evaluating CIMMYT wheat germplasm for use in Australia. More than 90% of the wheat grown in Australia is descended from varieties contained in CIMMYT’s genebank, yielding a net benefit to Australian farmers of nearly A$ 150 million per year. By the same token Australia, which has been renowned for wheat breeding for more than a century, has contributed high-quality germplasm and crucial technical expertise to CIMMYT in numerous areas of our work. The last minute of the video is devoted to CIMMYT .

Achievements for drought tolerant maize breeding in southern Africa

Written by on August 21, 2012. Posted in News.

Breeding-Award-Zimbabwe-2012 Maize plays a pivotal role in the livelihoods of people in southern Africa: its annual per capita consumption is around 85 kg. In the past season, however, farmers in Angola, Botswana, Lesotho, Swaziland, and much of Zimbabwe experienced a severe drought that significantly reduced their harvests.

Despite the negative effects for many farmers in the region, the drought has allowed CIMMYT breeders to assess the real value of new maize varieties and to improve crop productivity and resilience in the face of variable climate. To present the results of their research, partners in the southern Africa maize seed value chain gathered for an annual collaborators meeting in August. The meeting was attended by stakeholders from national maize working groups of 10 countries, including scientists from the national agricultural research organizations, seed companies, and NGOs. During his opening speech, Ngoni Masoka, Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Agriculture, Mechanization and Irrigation Development of the Government of Zimbabwe, acknowledged and commended CIMMYT for its long and sustained support of maize research in southern Africa, and Zimbabwe in particular.

Prasanna-Masoka-2 Participants discussed some of their notable achievements from 2011-12. Angola began its first commercial-scale production of the drought tolerant hybrid seed with Agropequária Kambondo and produced significant quantities of the drought tolerant openpollinated variety (OPV) ZM523. Farmers in the Democratic Republic of the Congo produced 80 tons of the drought tolerant OPV ZM623 through community-based seed schemes. Lesotho released a quality protein maize variety, and Zambia’s national program made significant progress in breeding for drought tolerance. Local emerging seed companies in Mozambique have begun production of one drought tolerant OPV and three drought tolerant hybrids.

The annual meeting also provided an opportunity to recognize the national programs that have excelled in breeding and seed dissemination in 2011/12. Zimbawbe was awarded Best Drought Tolerance Breeding Team for maintaining an excellent track record in developing and releasing improved drought tolerant varieties. The Runner-up Breeding Team Award went to Angola for the significant invigoration and improvement of breeding efforts at Huambo. The Best Drought Tolerance Dissemination Team Award went to Malawi for the great increase in drought tolerant OPV seed production and uptake amongst small-holder farmers, and the Runner-up Award in this category was presented to Mozambique for notable efforts and new initiatives in promotion and production of drought tolerant varieties.

Southern-Africa-ACM-2012

MasAgro to offer farmers advice and information through cell phones

Written by on August 17, 2012. Posted in News.

masagromovil On 1 and 2 August 2012, representatives of public and private organizations interested in developing information technologies for the agricultural sector met at CIMMYT to participate in the MasAgro Movil Think Tank.

The objective of the meeting was to present the work that has been done by MasAgro partners to develop and promote Mexican farmers’ adoption of information services provided through mobile phones.

MasAgro Movil is a communications tool being used by “Take It to the Farmer”, MasAgro’s extension strategy, which is still at the pilot stage. According to Philippa Zamora, who is in charge of developing this project at CIMMYT, MasAgro Movil is a platform that can be used to send market recommendations and weather information to farmers using SMS messages.

“By giving farmers easy access to the information produced by MasAgro’s five innovation hubs, cell phones are expected to help increase farmers’ productivity and generate higher returns on the money they invest in production inputs,” said Bram Govaerts, leader of “Take It to the Farmer.”

CIMMYT Director General Thomas Lumpkin pointed out that because researchers involved in MasAgro understand how the different links in Mexico’s agri-food value chain operate, they can work with the private sector on developing business opportunities that will boost the productivity of Mexican farmers.

The business meetings of the MasAgro Movil Think Tank were inaugurated by Francisco Mayorga Castañeda, Mexico’s Secretary of Agriculture, Livestock, Rural Development, Fisheries, and Food. He congratulated CIMMYT for promoting, through MasAgro, public-private partnerships that foster sustainable rural development.

Mayorga Castañeda also emphasized that right from the beginning, MasAgro Movil will have access to 80,000 farmers who will receive advice from 2,000 technicians belonging to the Strategic Program in Support of the Production Chain of Mexico’s Maize and Bean Farmers (PROMAF). For this reason, he is confident the project will be a great success.

Gender integration in CGIAR Research Programs

Written by on August 16, 2012. Posted in News.

The move to integrate gender in the organizational and research agenda of the CGIAR Research Programs (CRPs) and Centers is gaining speed, also due to the formation of the ‘CGIAR Gender and Agriculture Research Network’ earlier this year. The network consists of Lead Gender Specialists from each of the 15 CRPs, as well as other social and biological scientists committed to the integration of gender in agricultural research for development.

This network of highly energetic women and men reunited at a workshop hosted by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation during 25-27 July 2012 in Seattle, USA. The objective was to discuss how CGIAR research can contribute to closing the gender gap in agriculture and to explore opportunities for collaboration in gender-responsive research across CRPs. Lone Badstue, CIMMYT Gender Specialist, represented the MAIZE and WHEAT CRPs, and CIMMYT Socioeconomist Tina Beuchelt also participated.

“The workshop was a great opportunity to share ideas and lessons learned, to exchange concepts of different gender strategies, as well as to discuss the latest gender-related research methods,” said Beuchelt. The workshop identified four themes for cross-program research on gender and agriculture: (1) engendering agricultural value chains; (2) gender-transformative approaches; (3) gender and technology adoption and diffusion; and (4) gender and nutrition. The participants also agreed upon a shared set of gender-responsive research outcomes that can be jointly monitored to assess progress towards CGIAR System Level Outcomes. Furthermore, they discussed how to measure these outcomes and agreed to continue collaboration on the development and measurement of a shared set of genderresponsive indicators.

An inspiring presentation by Eve Crowley, Deputy Director of the Food and Agriculture Organization´s Gender, Equity and Rural Development Division, provided valuable insights on critical success factors for mainstreaming gender in the CRPs and identified good practices that promote mainstreaming.

Topics to work on were many and time flew by in the workshop. As a follow-up to the workshop, a set of joint CRP concept papers on the integration of gender in the CGIAR research agenda will be developed. The group parted sharing the spirit of working together on this topic highly relevant to all CRPs.

Capacity building in gender mainstreaming for SIMLESA

Written by on August 15, 2012. Posted in News.

The Sustainable Intensification of Maize-Legume Systems for Food Security in Eastern and Southern Africa (SIMLESA) initiative held its third workshop on gender mainstreaming at the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI) campus, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, during 24-27 July 2012. Following recommendations from the previous meeting in Tanzania, this workshop aimed to compile field-related case studies on gender mainstreaming activities, and to harmonize gender mainstreaming action plans for five SIMLESA countries: Ethiopia, Kenya, Malawi, Mozambique, and Tanzania. Twenty participants from these five countries attended, and, for the first time, extension officers from SIMLESA sites in each of the five countries also participated. The workshop was opened by Dagne Wegary on behalf of SIMLESA Program Coordinator Mulugetta Mekuria, and facilitated by Forough Olinga, Gender Expert at the Association for Strengthening Agricultural Research in Eastern and Central Africa (ASARECA), Enock Warinda, Monitoring and Evaluation Unit leader at ASARECA, Daisy Namono, Consultant, and Ruth Nankinga, Administrative Assistant at ASARECA. Bekele Shiferaw, CIMMYT Socioeconomics Program Director, and Menale Kassie, Socioeconomist and SIMLESA Objective 1 Coordinator, also contributed encouragement and insight on mainstreaming gender within SIMLESA. The extension officers shared their field experiences which were then used to identify good practices and potential case studies for further development. At the end of the workshop, the participants developed country gender mainstreaming action plans to be funded and implemented, created a format for the case studies, and agreed to submit at least eight case studies to Olinga and Namono for evaluation by 26 August 2012. To follow up, Namono will visit SIMLESA countries to finalize the case studies for publication before the end of the year.

Scientists from SIMLESA Spillover countries visit Kenya

Written by on August 14, 2012. Posted in News.

A delegation of scientists from South Sudan, Rwanda, and Uganda —the spillover countries of the Sustainable Intensification of Maize-Legume Systems for Food Security in Eastern and Southern Africa (SIMLESA) initiative— visited Embu, Kenya, during 18-20 July 2012, to gain hands-on experience in implementing the program and to learn about its impact on livelihoods of smallholder farmers.

The delegation comprised Leonidas Dusengemungu, Albert Ruhakana, and Alphonse Nyobanyire from Rwanda; Luka Atwok, Anna Itwari, and Cirino Oketayoyt from South Sudan; and Drake N. Mubiru, William Nanyenya, and Godfrey Otim from Uganda. The scientists found the visit very educative and informative. They learned about the implementation of SIMLESA in Kenya and the role of national agricultural research institutions, the Kenya Agricultural Research Institute (KARI) in particular, in the process. They also gained insights into the innovation platform establishment and arising challenges, maize-beans intercropping and timing, challenges and coping strategies for the implementation of SIMLESA, and the level of adaptation of SIMLESA technologies in Kenya.

In his introductory remarks, Stephen Njoka, KARI-Embu Center Director, explained the Center’s mandate, activities, opportunities, and challenges in conducting agricultural research in Kenya. He noted that research programs at KARI-Embu range from food crops and crop health, natural resource management, horticultural and industrial crops, animal production and health research, outreach and partnerships, to cross-cutting programs, such as socioeconomics and applied statistics. The Center also offers advisory services, such as technical support for partners and capacity development for other service providers, including extension service providers and NGOs. Alfred Micheni, KARI Agronomist and SIMLESA Site Coordinator for eastern Kenya, explained that the western and eastern sites in Kenya had been selected because of their potential for the highest impact. This was determined by their agricultural production constraints: low soil fertility, erratic rainfall, high cost of farm inputs, high incidences of pests and diseases, high cost of credit, and small land sizes.

The scientists had a chance to interact with farmers participating in SIMLESA during a farmers’ field day in Kyeni Division, Embu County, on 20 July 2012. The field day was hosted by the Kyeni Innovation Platform and showcased various treatments under conservation agriculture (CA): maize-legume intercrop, minimum tillage, furrows and ridges, use of herbicides, residue retention, and variety selection. The scientists also had the opportunity to compare the robust crops under CA with those under conventional agricultural practices which were unable to cope with the prolonged drought in the region.

Charles Nkonge, SIMLESA National Coordinator, stressed the importance of the innovation platforms used by the program to evaluate and scale out maizelegume intensification technologies and knowledge in a participatory manner. Other strategies for scaling out include farmer exchange visits and participatory exploratory demonstrations. Nkonge stressed the importance of the participatory nature of the evaluations; through cooperation between the farmers and other collaborators, experimental designs of some of the treatments were adjusted to achieve more efficiency. For instance, the design of maize-pigeon pea intercropping trial was changed from intercropping of one pigeon-pea row between two rows of maize, giving one crop of maize and pigeon pea per season, to five rows of maize between two rows of pigeon pea and one row of common beans between two rows of maize. With the new design, two crops of maize, two crops of beans, and one crop of pigeon pea are harvested every year. This demonstration of successful practices allowed the representatives from SIMLESA Spillover countries to leave Kenya feeling optimistic about the new partnership.

“Save More, Grow More, Earn More” – CIMMYT in Bangladesh

Written by on August 13, 2012. Posted in News.

Prices for irrigation, fertilizers, fuel, and labor are rising. Fresh water supplies are decreasing, and many farmers find it increasingly difficult to plant their crop on time to assure good yields and return on their investments. The CIMMYT team in Bangladesh created an inspiring video showing how farmers in South Asia are innovating to overcome these problems by using small-scale appropriate machinery and crop management practices that reduce tillage to save time, soil moisture, and money. The video, “Save More, Grow More, Earn More”, has been released in English and Bangla and features the work of the Cereal Systems Initiative for South Asia in Bangladesh (CSISA-BD).

The video shows case studies from two distinct environments in Bangladesh. In the coastal region, soil salinity and insufficient irrigation present serious constraints keeping farmers from growing a dry season crop. However, by using simple machinery that reduces tillage to allow earlier planting and keeping crop residues on the soil surface to conserve soil moisture and reduce salinity, a group of women in southern Bangladesh managed to forgo the fallow and grow a profitable maize crop. In central Bangladesh, where the cost of irrigation and farm labor is skyrocketing, farmers and local service providers teamed up to demonstrate the benefits of planting wheat, maize, and legumes on raised beds to reduce labor and irrigation requirements. The crop management principles used by both groups of farmers can be applied anywhere –it is possible to grow more, while saving time, water, and money!

“Save More, Grow More, Earn More” is being shown in villages across Bangladesh through traveling outdoor roadshows led by CIMMYT’s partner Agricultural Advisory Services (AAS). Thousands of DVDs have been produced, and the film will be featured on national television in Bangladesh. Furthermore, “Save More, Grow More, Earn More” has been re-released on a CSISA-BD training DVD entitled “Strengthening Cereal Systems in Bangladesh”, which also features four films on rice seed health.

“Save More, Grow More, Earn More” was developed in partnership with the Regional Wheat Research Consortium of the Bangladesh Agricultural Research Institute (BARI) and with the guidance of Timothy J. Krupnik, CIMMYT Cropping Systems Agronomist, and Agro-Insight. Funding for video development and field activities was supplied by the Feed the Future Initiative of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, and Cornell University’s Food for Progress Project funded by the Unites States Department of Agriculture.

SIMLESA farmers from western and eastern Kenya share their experiences

Written by on August 8, 2012. Posted in News.

A delegation of 20 farmers, research technicians, and Ministry of Agriculture officials from western Kenya visited their counterparts in eastern Kenya during 12-13 June 2012 to learn and share their experiences with implementing Sustainable Intensification of Maize- Legume based Cropping Systems for Food Security in Eastern and Southern Africa (SIMLESA) project. Before meeting their counterparts, the visiting farmers toured on-station SIMLESA trials at the Kenya Agricultural Research Institute (KARI-Embu) where Charles Mugo, KARI technician, took them through the various trials and treatments: maize and beans under minimum tillage, bean under conventional tillage, bean under minimum tillage, bean under furrow and ridge tillage, and maize and bean under furrows and ridges.

The farmers had a chance to see trials addressing the livestockresidue retention conflict among the mixed farming communities. SIMLESA has partnered with the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) to try out alternative fodder species. Treatments under these trials include retaining all, half, or a quarter of the residues on each plot, and intercropping the maize with Desmodium to fix nitrogen in the soil and provide animal feed.

The performance of the on-station trials and a visit to the Kyeni Innovation Platform in Embu County encouraged the farmers to scale out conservation agriculture (CA). “They are able to conserve water, especially in this area characterized by low, scarce and erratic rainfall. It has not rained for almost one and a half month in the area,” said Teresa Maitha Njiru, a member of the Kyeni Innovation Platform, explaining why her crops were robust, particularly those under furrows and ridges. Njiru, who has been practicing CA for the last four cropping seasons, hailed the practice for its productivity, environmental friendliness, and cost effectiveness. Above all, she appreciated that it is not labor-intensive. “Hakuna Kazi hapa, there is no work here,” she said, referring to the little time required to prepare and manage a CA plot. “And I only spray three days after planting for weed control,” she added.

The furrows and ridges technology stood out also for Titus Miriti from Chuka. “Ridges and furrows technology has the greatest and best effect on crop performance and the greatest benefit because this area is arid. It is very good in water retention,” Miriti pointed out, stating that CA is much more rewarding than the conventional practice.

Benson Nyakundi, technician at KARI-Kakemega and trip coordinator, noted that the CA technologies were important in boosting food security in Kenya. “New technologies like these being implemented by SIMLESA are critical in fighting food insecurity that is rampant in the country.” Lorna Oketch, Siaya County agricultural officer, praised SIMLESA for making extension services and providers a part of the project implementation team. “This will go a long way in sustaining the project even beyond the project timeframe.” The exchange visit was organized and facilitated by John Achieng and Alfred Micheni, SIMLESA site coordinators for western and eastern Kenya, respectively.