Expanding SIMLESA to the Kalahari
With plans to expand to more countries in the region, the Sustainable Intensification of Maize-Legume cropping systems for food security in Eastern and Southern Africa (SIMLESA) program has included Botswana as a spill-over country, reflecting its recognition of the importance of crop-livestock interaction in the farming system. To initiate the spill-over activities, the Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research (ACIAR) has allocated a research grant to Botswana through the CIMMYT-SIMLESA project.
During 23-25 July 2012, SIMLESA project coordinator Mulugetta Mekuria and cropping systems agronomist Isaiah Nyagumbo visited Gaborone, Botswana, to introduce SIMLESA to the Botswana National Agriculture Research System officials and to develop a work plan for the newly funded Spillover project. The project seeks to draw lessons from five core SIMLESA countries and share these with Botswana, Rwanda, Uganda, and South Sudan. It will also carry farming systems characterization studies on sites to be identified for subsequent SIMLESA activities. In Botswana, the primary activities will include exchange visits by Botswana scientists to core SIMLESA countries, surveys and characterization studies, and capacity building through short-term training.
The meeting was attended by more than 20 participants from different research stations in Botswana. Mekuria highlighted the SIMLESA project rationale, objectives, impact pathways, and partnership modalities, and outlined the linkages and synergies between SIMLESA and other CIMMYT projects and programs, including Drought Tolerant Maize for Africa (DTMA), New Seed Initiative for Maize in Southern Africa (NSIMA), and Conservation Agriculture (CA). Nyagumbo then facilitated discussions on the anticipated outcomes of the Spillover project, focusing on the following objectives: developing an understanding of SIMLESA in Botswana, identifying kick-start investigatory activities leading to larger action plans linked to the SIMLESA program, and integrating Botswana scientists into SIMLESA capacity building activities.
The group work and plenary discussions resulted in a draft workplan which will be finalized shortly. According to this plan, the project will focus on CA, crop-livestock linkages, fodder crops production, and multiplication of suitable maize varieties for Botswanaâs arid to semi-arid environment. The Botswana team showed a high level of interest in the project, and Stephen Chite, Chief Agricultural Research Officer and Head of arable crops research, expressed his appreciation to CIMMYT for its continued support for the national maize research program and to ACIAR for its financial support.
Maize is one of the major staples in Bhutan and is cultivated by about 70 percent of households throughout the country. Poor farmers sustain their families by consuming maize as a staple food, using it as animal feed, and selling it for further income. Thus, the 2007 outbreak of Gray Leaf Spot (GLS), a new disease caused by Cercospora zeae-maydis, posed a major challenge to the Bhutanese maize program and maize farmers, many of whom lost over 70 percent of their production.
The replacement of seeds has been facilitated through Community Based Seed Producers (CBSP) groups. In 2011 and 2012, over eight tons of seed was supplied to GLS-affected farmers in 10 districts. The average yield recorded under farmers management was 3.73 t/ ha for S03TLYQAB05, and 4.43 t/ ha for ICAV305. Production of basic and foundation seeds has started at research farms and will serve as seed source for the CBSP groups. By 2013, the National Maize Program aims to replace 80 percent of the seeds for GLSaffected farmers cultivating maize above 1,500 masl. The program cooperates with the National Seed Center and CBSP groups to achieve higher efficiency in seed replacement.
RDA is a central government organization responsible for agricultural research and services. Since its foundation, it has helped South Korea to achieve self-sufficiency in rice and other staple food production through dissemination and promotion of high-yielding cultivars and improved cropping technologies, and contributed to the improvement of the rural environment.
After a formal introduction, Zaidi gave an overview of the research program and priorities of the CIMMYT-Asia maize program, and the ongoing collaborations with various public and private institutions in the region, including the International Maize Improvement Consortium (IMIC-Asia). He emphasized CIMMYTâs initiatives towards purposeful partnerships, which offer a big opportunity for pro-poor agricultural investment and innovations (such as IMIC-Asia and MAIZE), the global alliance for food security, and the livelihood of resource-poor in the developing world.
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The Philippine uplands are home to the poorest farmers and minority groups, for whom arable land is scarce and hunger a constant threat. The average family includes at least five children, and must survive on a farm homestead of only one hectare. Antonio Rodriguez is a 46-year-old farmer in Jose V. Dayao village outside of Naga City. He struggles to put food on the table for a family that includes
Wilma Hurtada, Food Science Professor at the University of the Philippines, Los Baños, has studied QPM and nutrition in children. âFor families with limited land, limited resources, and a large family, the quality of the food they grow is very important,â she says.
To test and promote the white QPM with farmers and distribute seed, Salazar relies on the extension support of experts from diverse Philippine institutions. One is Efren E. Magulama, a maize breeder at the University of Southern Mindanao. âWe work with about 20 farmers in Region XII Province of North Cotabato, Magpet Municipality, to introduce QPM into communitiesâmostly in the mountainous regions, which are difficult to reach,â says Magulama.
