The Gwanda Provincial Veterinary Laboratory, now renovated as part of the Livestock Production Systems in Zimbabwe (LIPS-ZIM) project, will help detect and control livestock diseases. CIMMYT is working with ILRI and other partners to improve livestock productivity and support smallholder farmers.
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CIMMYT hosted the 6th instalment of its online seminar series â Catalysts of Change: Women Leaders in Science â featuring Diane Holdorf, executive vice president and a member of the Senior Management Team at the World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD).
Drawing on varied experiences from a diverse career in sustainability, Holdorf used her talk to emphasize the importance of saying âyesâ in the face of big changes, identifying what energizes you, being present at home and at work, and supporting others to succeed with their objectives.
Translating science
As the daughter of a geologist, Holdorf spent much of her childhood outside looking at rocks, an experience she credits with giving her an affinity for nature. âI found it was a way that really connected me and grounded me in my surroundings. What are we looking at? What are we looking for? Whatâs in the patterns and shapes of what we see?â
After deciding that she didnât want to go into science, Holdorf opted to study public communications at university and was promptly recruited by an advertising agency upon graduating. âIt was the first time that something big came up where I just said: âYes. Yes, Iâll try it. Why not?â And that theme of saying yes in the face of these big changes is one thatâs proven to be incredibly helpful.â
However, having moved halfway across the country for the job, Holdorf quickly found that she disliked the role. âIt was a really important lesson in learning what I didnât value and what I didnât want to do,â she said. âThat came really early in my career, the idea that I needed to be way clearer in my convictions. What matters to me? What do I want to be working in? And that led me to go into environmental consulting.â
âMaybe not an obvious path, but my dad had been an environmental consultant,â she explained. âSo, in some ways Iâd fallen back into something that was a bit familiar, but that I could make my own.â
In this new role, Holdorf found she could put her communications skills to use in a way she found energizing, translating scientific and technical solutions into words that clients could understand or that project managers could frame and create workplans around. âWithout realizing it, it grew into this role of being the translator between âwhat does the science and engineering tell usâ and âwhat are the business solutions that we need to use that information to solve for.ââ
âIâve learned that what really drives me and what gives me the most energy is working together with people to create the biggest impact and change we possibly can,â she explained. âWhat motivates me the most is trying to drive action on these extremely urgent challenges of climate, nature, equity, and in our food systems.â
Helping others succeed
âLeading with clear objectives and clear boundaries is really important,â said Holdorf. âAnd I donât mean that in a rigid way. I mean knowing what I can accept when engaging with others, and what I will not go past. What areas of acceptance are needed for my integrity in a role.â
She noted that one of the things that has been particularly useful throughout her career â especially during the first 15 years, when she was often the only woman in the room â are the male colleagues who stood up for her, coached her and provided feedback on her work.
“And I listened hard,â she explained. âI asked for that feedback and really worked to incorporate it because I could tell that what they were telling me was meant to help make my role easier. That was a hugely valuable lesson because it taught me that if it was that important for me, it meant that I could in fact play that same role for others.â
As a result, she now encourages not only learning how to seek out mentorship, but also reflecting at every stage of a career, identifying opportunities to mentor others, and creating a stream of development and gift-giving.
âHow do we ensure that our work helps others to succeed?â she asked. âBecause often when weâre working in these spaces, we can only achieve our objectives by leading with and influencing others. Itâs not very often that we have full control. But learning how our work can help others deliver on the goals that theyâve been tasked with actually creates totally different types of breakthroughs.â
Holdorfâs presentation was followed by a Q&A session led by Pauline Muindi, research support specialist at CIMMYT.
In 2023, India reached a record wheat harvest of over 110 million tons. A partnership between CIMMYT and the Indian Institute of Wheat and Barley Research (IIWBR) now allows farmers to pre-order advanced wheat varieties, transforming the nation’s agriculture.
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How the living shapes markets: accounting for the action of biological entities in market agencing. Authors: Quentin Chance, Frédéric Goulet and Ronan Le Velly
This article uses research into the organic food market in France to show that biological factors can play an important part in influencing the structure and organization of markets. The authors use this to point out that while many studies of market agencing discuss in detail the role played by social and material agents, biological agents should be an equally important part of such research.
Over the last four decades, there has been considerable research into Actor-Network Theory (ANT), which looks at the effect of various agents on markets. However, in the majority of cases, the agents discussed have been material (for example, shopping trolleys) or social (human habits or economic motives). The research which forms the basis of this article was originally carried out as a study of how French organic-produce collectives tried to influence markets to suit their needs and ideals. On reviewing the data, it appeared to the authors that there were additional agents affecting their marketing, which derived from biological factors. Unlike the material and social agents, farmers were only able to control these biological factors with great difficulty, if at all. For example, the inability to use chemical inputs on crops meant that crop rotation over a multi-year period was essential; however, wholesalersâ traditional structures expected a farmer to supply the same produce in the same quantity year after year. In cases such as this, altered supply chain arrangements needed to be negotiated between the suppliers and the wholesalers.
The authors made four sets of observations showing the market-shaping effect of biological agents.
Following these observations, the authors make a series of propositions and suggest research questions which could result from them, for instance:
In conclusion, the authors demonstrate how the effect of biological agents on markets is already inextricably intertwined with the effects of material and social agents. Future research, to be truly comprehensive, needs to look in equal depth at all other possible influences on the market.
Maria Itria Ibba, a scientist at CIMMYT, received the inaugural Heroes Award from the Foundation for Innovation in Healthy Food. She received the award on October 29 at the ASA-CSSA-SSSA International Annual Meeting in St. Louis, Missouri, U.S.
Ibba, head of CIMMYTâs Wheat Chemistry and Quality Laboratory, received the honor in recognition of her outstanding leadership in launching the foundationâs Coalition for Grain Fiber initiative.
Together with her team at CIMMYT, Ibba works on improving the processing and nutritional quality of the bread and durum wheat lines derived from the CIMMYT spring wheat breeding programs. The research they conduct combines genetics and cereal chemistry, and one of the main focuses is to improve wheat grain dietary fiber. This effort begins with the development of efficient screening methods and the identification of germplasm with unique dietary fiber profiles.
The coalition seeks to improve the nutrition in staple foods without impacting their taste, mouthfeel or consumer price. It is simultaneously dedicated to establishing profit incentives for farmers and other food suppliers that enhance public health by delivering increased nutrient foods.
According to the coalition, improvements in the nutritional content of white and whole wheat flour may ultimately save thousands of lives and billions of healthcare U.S. dollars globally.
âMost people across the world do not consume enough dietary fiber, which is essential in the fight against various diseases,â says Ibba. âIncreasing the dietary fiber content of a staple crop like wheat could have a significant positive impact on the health of wheat consumers. Our goal is to increase dietary fiber intake through the consumption of wheat products with greater fiber content.â
Plant breeders, food scientists, nutrition/health scientists and economists are partnering with the coalition to transform the food industry. They support non-GMO (not genetically modified organisms) approaches to increasing naturally occurring dietary fiber in grains.
Over 50 public and private-sector laboratory leaders in three countries and 23 U.S. states have engaged with the coalition, including from CIMMYT, Rothamsted Research, University of Nebraska, Lincoln, University of California, Davis, Cornell University and Bayer Crop Science.
The Nebraska Wheat Board provided support for the efforts of the foundation and the coalition.
âI feel humbled to have received the Heroes Award,â says Ibba. âI know that this award not only represents the work I have been doing, but also all the hard work that my team and my organization have been doing for several years.â
About CIMMYT
CIMMYT is a cutting edge, non-profit, international organization dedicated to solving tomorrowâs problems today. It is entrusted with fostering improved quantity, quality, and dependability of production systems and basic cereals such as maize, wheat, triticale, sorghum, millets, and associated crops through applied agricultural science, particularly in the Global South, through building strong partnerships. This combination enhances the livelihood trajectories and resilience of millions of resource-poor farmers, while working towards a more productive, inclusive, and resilient agrifood system within planetary boundaries.
CIMMYT is a core CGIAR Research Center, a global research partnership for a food-secure future, dedicated to reducing poverty, enhancing food and nutrition security and improving natural resources. For more information, visit cimmyt.org.
About the Foundation for Innovation in Healthy Food
FIHF builds coalitions of stakeholders that support increasing the nutritional value of the foods we consume, while preserving consumersâ food experiences.
About the Coalition for Grain Fiber
The coalition is enrolling grain fiber in the fight against chronic disease. By improving the nutritional content of white and whole wheat flour, it seeks to save thousands of lives and dramatically reduce healthcare costs.
A collaboration scheme launched between the Gorongosa Restoration Project (GRP) and CIMMYT seeks to improve climate resilience, food security and nutrition in Mozambiqueâs Gorongosa National Park by facilitating the adoption of sustainable practices and giving local farmers access to formal markets and improved value chains.
The partner organizations aim to develop more resilient agrifood systems that contribute to conserve resources and improve the livelihoods of farmers inhabiting the protected area in Mozambiqueâs Sofala Province.
âOur primary objective is to establish an evidence-based, scalable and replicable model for developing sustainable and resilient agrifood systems in Mozambique that enhance food and nutrition security and climate resilience of local farmers and communities,â said Gregory C. Carr, GRP President.
The parties will explore collaboration opportunities to give local farmers access to drought tolerant and disease resistant varieties and improved seeds by building capacities of local seed systems.
âWe are very excited to contribute to protect Gorongosa National Park by restoring soil health, accelerating a transition to resilience and sustainability and improving, as a result, the yields and living standards of local farming communities,â said Bram Govaerts, Director General at CIMMYT.
The new projects will also aim to promote agriculture conservation-based intensification practices that will increase yields sustainably and limit the expansion of the agricultural frontier in the buffer zone neighboring the protected area.
âIf you bring two world class organizations together and create critical mass, it is possible to succeed and show that agriculture is not the enemy of biodiversity,â said the U.S. Special Envoy for Global Food Security, Cary Fowler.
The 5-year Memorandum of Understanding was signed at the annual Borlaug Dialogue organized by the World Food Prize Foundation, which convenes international thought leaders, development specialists, researchers, farmers, practitioners and authorities from around the world to promote global food systems transformation and food security.
Under this yearâs âHarnessing Changeâ theme, the Foundation presented the prestigious World Food Prize to Heidi KĂŒhn from the United States for her farmer-focused development model that revitalizes farmland, food security, livelihoods and resilience in war-torn regions around the world as a way for restoring peace and prosperity through agriculture.
About GRP
Gorongosa Restoration Project is a poverty alleviation, sustainable development and conservation non-profit organization used by Gorongosa National Park as a development engine for the Sofala region. GRP is a unique organization, with a mission to advance an integrated, multi-partner approach to conservation and people-centered development. While GRP actively protects Gorongosa National Parkâs biodiversity and ecosystems, it also strives to unlock its economic potential for the community inhabitants of the Parkâs Buffer Zone, former hunting and forestry concessions, Sofala Province and further afield. GRPs dual mandate of biodiversity conservation and human development is undergirded by the principle that the quest for conservation is a human-nature dynamic that must be addressed holistically. This axiom is increasingly supported by conservation science as well as by GRPâs 15 years of experience in the field.
About CIMMYT
CIMMYT is a cutting edge, non-profit, international organization dedicated to solving tomorrowâs problems today. It is entrusted with fostering improved quantity, quality, and dependability of production systems and basic cereals such as maize, wheat, triticale, sorghum, millets, and associated crops through applied agricultural science, particularly in the Global South, through building strong partnerships. This combination enhances the livelihood trajectories and resilience of millions of resource-poor farmers, while working towards a more productive, inclusive, and resilient agrifood system within planetary boundaries.
CIMMYT is a core CGIAR Research Center, a global research partnership for a food-secure future, dedicated to reducing poverty, enhancing food and nutrition security and improving natural resources.
For more information, visit staging.cimmyt.org.
Press contact: Ricardo Curiel, Communications Manager to the Director General, CIMMYT, r.curiel@cgiar.org
To address agriculture’s 25% contribution to global greenhouse gas emissions, researchers created AGREE. This user-friendly tool, which UC Davis and CIMMYT developed, helps estimate emissions from various agricultural activities.
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The Sainsbury Laboratory, the John Innes Centre and 21 other institutes are joining forces in a major global effort to monitor plant pathogens. Led by CIMMYT, the initiative aims to strengthen wheat productivity in food-insecure areas of East Africa and South Asia.
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In Ethiopia, regional government representatives endorsed in October 2023 the National Framework on Climate Services (NFCS), a tool designed to guide the establishment and delivery of climate services in key sectors: water and energy, agriculture, health, disaster risk management, and environmental protection.
This endorsement by regional state representatives marks an important step towards the implementation at regional and zonal levels of the NFCS, which was adopted at the national level in 2020.
The adoption of the Framework concluded a two-day workshop organized by the Ethiopian Meteorological Institute in partnership with CIMMYT through the AICCRA project, which aims to scale climate-smart agriculture and climate information services for the benefit of millions of small-scale farmers in Ethiopia. The workshop was also attended by ministers, state ministers and heads of federal offices from the sectors affected by climate change.
Responding and adapting to climate change requires that all affected sectors cooperate and collaborate, stressed Fetene Teshome, General Manager of the Ethiopian Meteorological Institute, in his opening remarks. Experts and regional and local representatives should come together to establish a system that can gather quality information and disseminate it to its users, he added.
âWe canât tackle climate change easily, so we have to find ways to live with it and use it to our benefit,â said Habtamu Itefa, minister of water and energy. He urged the workshop participants to approach the NFCS as a system designed to outlive governments and called them to play an essential role in its implementation in their respective regions, zones, districts and kebeles (sub-districts).
âClimate services will bring meaningful changes in agricultureâ
Among the sectors most affected by climate change, agriculture accounts for about 40% of the GDP and employs more than 80% of the population, making it the backbone of the Ethiopian economy. It is thus crucial to address climate change impacts on the sector.
CIMMYT Senior Scientist, Kindie Tesfaye, explained how the AICCRA project works to enhance access to climate information services and validated climate-smart agriculture technologies in six African countries, including Ethiopia. As a stakeholder of the project, CIMMYT is training farmers, development agents, and local agricultural experts, and other agricultural value chain actors on the use of climate advisory services in collaboration with LERSHA, a digital platform providing farmers with contextualized weather forecast, inputs, mechanization and financial advisory services.
âWe consider climate as a major problem for the countryâs agricultural activities because the sector is heavily dependent on rain-fed production system and we believe that implementing this national framework on climate services will bring meaningful changes to the sector enabling it to manage climate risks successfully,â said Kindie Tesfaye.
The AICCRA project supported strengthening the function of the NFCS coordination team for multi- stakeholder engagement, supporting the endorsement of the framework and providing training on resource mobilization for its implementation. The project is also building capacity at different levels, promoting climate smart agriculture.
Productive in-depth discussions
Prior to the NFCS endorsement, participants shared inputs from their respective regions and sectors, providing inputs to the framework. Delegates mostly discussed capacity building needs, information delivery channels, synergetic cooperation among government institutions and mobilization of resources for implementation.
On the second day of the workshop, four different papers were presented on a seasonal climate update for the 2023 Bega season (October to December), on the impacts outlook for the upcoming Bega season, on the national state of the climate, and on climate risk management in agriculture extension.
The plenary discussion that followed was led by Fetene Teshome and offered an opportunity to the participants to raise their concerns on the implementation of the framework in their respective regional states. Many of the participants reflected on how the framework can accommodate the different ecology of various areas and how it can upgrade or replace dysfunctional meteorology infrastructures.
The Climate Risk Curriculum module that was prepared by AICCRA for agricultural extension workers was also launched during the workshop.
After years of struggles, a group of women farmers in a remote rural area of Tanzania are finally profiting and forging an enterprise based on local farmersâ high demand for certified seed of sorghum, a dryland crop first domesticated in Africa and used in food and drink, livestock feed and even building materials.
Based in Usoche village, Momba District, Songwe Region, Tanzania, the Jitegemee womens group formed in 2018 to improve their livelihoods through sorghum production. In 2022 the group produced and marketed over 3 tons of certified seed, benefiting from access to foundation and certified seed with support from project partnerships and linkages to global and local initiatives.
“Through us, many women are now educated and motivated to engage in seed production,â said Rodha Daudi Tuja, a representative of the Jitegemee group. âI think in the next season we are going to have many women seed entrepreneurs.â
Based on seed companiesâ inability to fully satisfy farmersâ high demand for quality seed of sorghum, the social and behavior change interventions component of the Dryland Crops program of CIMMYT, an international research organization with longstanding partnerships and impacts in eastern and southern Africa, worked with Tanzaniaâs Centre for Behaviour Change and Communication (CBCC) to encourage youth and women to engage in the seed business, including marketing. Banking on previous experience, the initiative helped the women raise awareness among farmers about the value of quality, improved seed, using fliers, posters, t-shirts and caps.
âThe CIMMYT behavior change interventions and CBCC reached us through youth champions who trained us on the features and benefits of improved sorghum seed,â explained Tuja.
Especially important was training the women received to grow âquality declared seedâ (QDS) at an event for 18 women and youth in Mbozi district conducted by The Tanzania Official Seed Certification Institute (TOSCI). QDS offers reliable quality in seed at an affordable price to farmers but is not formally inspected by official seed certification systems.
Immediately after the training, the group purchased 12 kilograms of foundation seedâgenetically uniform seed that, when grown under controlled results, produces seed of ensured genetic purity and varietal identityâof the popular Macia sorghum variety from the Tanzania Agricultural Research Institute (TARI) at Hombolo. They multiplied that seed following meticulous quality protocols on a leased, 1.6-hectare farm.
A previous arrangement to grow seed for a local company had fallen through after one cropping season, and the Jitegemee group ended up recycling the seed and growing it for grain for sale. Still, the group realized that selling seed could be a lucrative business, if they could only gain access to foundation seed or certified seed. As part of growing pains during that period, the group lost half its members.
âBefore our contact with the CIMMYT project we had a lot of challenges,â Tuja said. âFirst, we did not know about improved seed, we couldnât access information about new farming technologies, and we were doing subsistence agriculture. However, after the project we were able to access seed and information at the Youth Quality Centres and through radio programs.â
âI advise youth and my fellow women to join us because, before, we had no hope in sorghum production but now we are prospering. The demand for sorghum seed is very high, a lot of farmers are now demanding improved seeds, and our group alone cannot meet the growing demand for seed.â
We gratefully acknowledge Florian Ndyamukama, Centre for Behaviour Change and Communication (CBCC), Tanzania, for contributing this story.Â
The Pakistan-China laboratory has developed wheat varieties that have shown an impressive 8-10% yield increase over local varieties, and CIMMYT has expressed interest in collaborating with the laboratory to further strengthen wheat variety development efforts.
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Bram Govaerts, CIMMYT director general, underscored the far-reaching implications of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine for agricultural production and international trade at the recent World Food Prize Borlaug Dialogue 2023.
Govaerts also noted that scientific and political responses tend to be reactive, as seen in the rapid development of vaccines in response to the emergence of the new virus during the COVID-19 pandemic.
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On July 17-18, 2023, 87 wheat scientists gathered to learn about new approaches and methods for wheat improvement in Faisalabad, Pakistan. CIMMYT and the Wheat Research Institute, Faisalabad (WRI-FSD) jointly organized a two-day training. The course covered two topics: high throughput genotyping technologies and high throughput phenotyping platforms. The trainees, who were able to attend in person or remotely and 27% of whom were women, hailed from 17 NARES partners across Pakistan.
After being welcomed by the Director General of Ayub Agricultural Research Institute (AARI), Akhtar Ali, and CIMMYTâs Country Representative, TP Tiwari, participants received an update on the status of wheat in Pakistan from Muhammad Sohail, national wheat coordinator for the Pakistan Agricultural Research Council (PARC). Subsequently, WRI-FSD Director, Javed Ahmed, discussed wheat research in Punjab, where over 70% wheat is grown in Pakistan. Kevin Pixley, interim director of CIMMYTâs Global Wheat Program, joined the proceedings remotely for a conversation about CIMMYT’s and CGIARâs collaboration with NARES. Participants discussed the modelâs successes, bottlenecks, the role of NARES, and the potential for capacity development. The conversation generated broad interest and suggestions for enhancing the partnershipâs effectiveness. Akhtar Ali, Muhammad Sohail, and Javed Ahmed all spoke very highly about CIMMYT’s support in Pakistan.
This event was organized as part of a collaborative project entitled âRapid development of climate resilient wheat varieties for South Asia using genomic selectionâ that is jointly managed by Kansas State University and CIMMYT with funding from the USAID Feed the Future program.
âTraining emphasized the need for an output-oriented researcher that covered the development of climate-resilient wheat varieties, given the environmental challenges we are experiencing like, drought and heat, and highlighted the importance of innovative methodologies and advanced tools for high throughput phenotyping and genotyping for sustainable and resilient wheat production in Pakistanâ said Muhammad Ishaq, a senior research officer and one of the training participants from Kohat Research Station, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
At the conclusion of the training, Javed, direct of WRI Faisalabad, commended CIMMYTâs support and suggested continuing the pace of training. Dr. Tiwari stressed the importance of such efforts will help Pakistanâs scientists develop and deploy climate resilient, impactful wheat varieties to boost wheat production and reduce wheat imports in the country.
CIMMYT scientist Christopher Ochieng Ojiewo, who is responsible for strategic partnerships and seed systems in the dryland crops program, encourages Kenyans to adopt millet and related products. The move is seen as a crucial step in combating rising rates of obesity and improving nutrition in the country.
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IISER Bhopal, CIMMYT and the University of Michigan have joined forces to harness cutting-edge satellite technology. Their research underscores the urgent need to address this environmental challenge and the critical role of technology in understanding and mitigating the environmental impacts of agricultural practices.
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