May, 2005

Kenya broke historic agricultural ground in a protected field on May 27 when it sowed its first transgenic maize seeds into local soil. Supported by the Syngenta Foundation for Sustainable Agriculture and the Rockefeller Foundation, this experiment is the first of its kind in the region. The Bt maize plants that sprout will be resistant to stem borer, an insect that drills into the maize stalk and causes significant losses to Kenyan harvests.

“Stem borers destroy some 400,000 tons of maize in Kenya each year, nearly equal to the nation’s annual imports of the crop,” says Dr. Romano Kiome, Director of the Kenya Agricultural Research Institute (KARI). By growing the Bt maize plants, farmers won’t have to worry about the pest or have to apply pesticide to counteract the destruction. “This is part of an innovative approach to help Kenyan farmers fight the insect pests, and it translates into increased food security and incomes,” Kiome says.

The field trials are being undertaken as part of the Insect Resistant Maize for Africa (IRMA) Project, a joint research project of KARI and CIMMYT. The goal is to verify the results from trials held at a biosafety greenhouse, which was officially opened in June of 2004. Researchers will now be checking to see how the transgenic maize holds up under field conditions

The trials will serve two purposes, according to IRMA Project Manager and CIMMYT maize breeder Stephen Mugo. First, they will be used to determine the effectiveness of various transgenic Bt genes against common Kenyan stem borers. Second, the plants will be crossed with Kenyan maize lines as part of a breeding process that will produce Bt maize varieties adapted to Kenyan growing conditions. The project is also developing stem borer resistant varieties using conventional breeding.

These trials are conducted in strict accordance with the terms proscribed by the Kenyan plant health regulatory body KEPHIS and the KARI and National Biosafety Committees, Mugo stresses. The open quarantine site where the confined trials are being held was built to their specifications and includes many biosafety and security measures to ensure that pollen, seed, or plant materials do not escape the trial area or cross inadvertently with maize not included in the experiment.

For further information, contact Stephen Mugo (s.mugo@cgiar.org)

CIMMYT E-News, vol 2 no. 10, October 2005

In Mexico, the wheat of the conquistadors helps scientists in their battle against drought.

Wheat first came to the Western hemisphere with the arrival of the Spanish conquistadors about 500 years ago. Since then, generations of Mexican farmers have tended their wheat fields with traditional varieties that differ little from their forebears by virtue of wheat’s self-pollinating nature. Today, these time-tested wheats represent a new source of genetic diversity that could improve yields in drought-ridden areas by as much as 30 percent.

CIMMYT scientists and their Mexican collaborators have gathered thousands of traditional wheat varieties, called landraces, from diverse locations in Mexico. Farmer and natural selection over five centuries have combined to screen these wheats for drought tolerance under often severe conditions. Researchers are looking to capture the drought adaptive traits of these hearty old-timers and breed them into modern, higher yielding varieties. Of the original 2,100 varietal samples collected, nine are very promising.

“What we found was that the best of these landraces show considerably higher expression for certain drought and heat adaptive traits than common wheat,” says CIMMYT wheat physiologist Matthew Reynolds. “Heat and drought stress often go hand in hand. Hot conditions exacerbate drought by evaporating more moisture from the soil, and when plants are dry their temperature rises. But with these traits, we might be able to increase the potential for yield under drought.” Drought plagues more than half of the wheat area in the developing world and so is a high priority for CIMMYT’s Rainfed Wheat Program.

There is a range of traits that can help wheat plants cope with dry conditions. Early in the season, many of the landraces showed an increased ability to accumulate carbohydrates in their stem, reserves that can be used later when the season gets drier for grain growth or to send roots deeper into the soil in search of water. A vigorous and rapidly growing leaf canopy can shade surrounding soil from the sun’s drying rays, thereby conserving soil moisture. Under stress conditions, the wheat spike can contribute to photosynthesis, which in turn promotes better development of the grain. While all of wheat’s organs can play an important role in producing grain in the face of drought, the root system is probably the most vital.

At a depth of 60-90cm below the soil, landraces had a more extensive root system and thus were able to extract more water out of the soil than common wheat. Not only did the landraces find more water, but they also used it more efficiently. “We found an association in these landraces between increased yield and root length density,” Reynolds says. Where there is a more extensive root system, the wheat is able to draw more water and nutrients out of the soil, increasing grain. Tallied up, the potential yield gain from these landraces may be considerable for farmers in dry areas.

“The next step is introducing these traits into the CIMMYT wheat breeding program,” says Reynolds. “Breeding and physiology work very closely to translate new information like this into useful products as quickly as possible by combining new drought adaptive traits with other traits such as disease resistance, good height, and time to maturity.”

For further information, contact Matthew Reynolds (m.reynolds@cgiar.org).

April, 2004

Although CGIAR centers share common human resources problems, do they communicate with each other and share successful solutions? Now five of them do just that, as partners in the Strategic Advisory Service for Human Resources (SAS-HR), says SAS-HR Director N.P. Rajasekharan.

Representatives from CIAT, CIMMYT, IPGRI, IWMI, and WorldFish attended the first business meeting of the Advisory Group for the SAS-HR from 14–16 April at CIMMYT-Mexico. These five centers and the CGIAR Secretariat are part of an initiative to develop a CGIAR human resources framework and meet management needs. The ultimate goal is to achieve each center’s vision through the development of high caliber, committed, and motivated staff.

“In talking about those common problems we did find a big convergence,” says conference participant Koen Geerts, IPGRI’s Director of Finance and Administration. “Why not exchange information rather than re-inventing wheels…and sometimes the wrong wheels?”

Geerts thinks it was a big accomplishment for the centers to come together and discuss shared problems. He also thinks the SAS-HR will benefit other centers, which may want to join after the group makes progress and produces results.

Sharing Best Practices

A highlight of the conference’s first day was a best practice showcase, where each center presented its most successful human resources strategies. IMWI focused on its implementation of the OneStaff approach, which was also mentioned as one of IPGRI’s strengths; WorldFish explained its job evaluation system; and CIAT presented its use of the Internet for recruitment, occupational health program, and Social Welfare Fund. CIMMYT described its national staff administration, corporate policies, and management of a recent downsizing.

“I think CIAT has got a very sound policy and practice in place covering occupational health and safety,” says conference participant Doug Dunstan in giving an example of how the centers can learn from each other’s best practices. “We can build on their learning and implement many of these things without having to invest huge amounts of time.”

Dunstan, the Associate Director General for Corporate Services at WorldFish, thinks the SAS-HR will help introduce a higher level of equity in the CG system and show that staff members are valuable resources that need to be looked after.

“The main thrust will be one of harmonization and drawing out some very important themes that must permeate all of the CG system,” says Dunstan. He thinks the meeting was productive in defining project focuses and establishing a plan with detailed milestones. The openness and professionalism among participants impressed him, particularly while discussing sensitive issues.

Off to a Rapid Start

Rajasekharan is optimistic that the SAS-HR will help centers attract, motivate, develop, and retain the people who will accomplish center and CGIAR missions. “We want to foster more teamwork, transparency, and inclusiveness within the CGIAR,” he says. “We started looking at strategic issues and common concerns for the centers last December.”

Participating centers save time and costs by sharing ideas, strategies, and solutions. Using staff and management input, they are already defining human resources needs, developing strategies that recognize center diversity and autonomy, creating solutions, and establishing an e-community of HR professionals.

“The advisory group for SAS-HR is on track to address my main expectations,” says CIAT Director General Joachim Voss. “I hope they will help us to create sensible, effective, and cost-saving changes.”

More Effectives and Equity for CGIAR Center Staff

To ensure CGIAR success, centers must display not only excellence in science but also organizational effectiveness, according to CIMMYT Director General Masa Iwanaga, who opened the meeting. Other speakers included the World Bank’s Eric Schlesinger, who talked about 360-degree appraisal, and CGIAR Director Francisco Reifschneider with Ravi Tadvalkar, who addressed developments in the first CGIAR system-wide compensation survey via video.

“People are the foundation of our knowledge-based CGIAR system,” said Reifschneider. He endorsed the “OneStaff” initiative, which aims to create an inclusive and equitable environment for all staff members regardless of employment contract differences. The initiative will promote transparency by providing equal opportunities and clearly explaining benefit differences to staff. It could facilitate movement from National to Regional to International staff categories by clearly defining what is needed for advancement.

Reifschneider observed that OneStaff will “further develop and support the vision and values that SAS-HR participating Centers have for their staff.” He noted that “the concept behind OneStaff requires a gradual transition in the organizations, part of the evolution of the CGIAR System as a whole.”

Many staff members inquire about “what is going on” within an organization, and management has the challenge of finding the best ways to communicate clearly with everyone, says WorldFish Director General Stephen Hall. “We have to work hard to make it clear where the organization is going and what it is trying to do,” says Hall. He also advocates a transparent framework with open terms for compensation and recognition that bases differentiations not on place of birth or recruitment but rather on what people do for the organization.

If staff members want to voice opinions, they can take advantage of another SAS-HR project: a shared website named PeoplePower that has internal and public components. This tool will improve communication among staff members and management at the five centers. The public site will list vacancy postings and CV postings along with explanations of human resource practices and other features. The internal site will help staff share information, make suggestions, post events, and implement on-line processes such as training and opinion surveys. The website’s prototype, which was introduced at the meeting, includes a database for center policies, e-learning tools, and a virtual resource center.

Planning for Change

Although developing new ideas and approaches will not be difficult, says Geerts, the challenge lies in getting people to accept change. He says clinging to an established way of working is a human reaction, and people will only permit change if they believe it is positive.

Dunstan agrees. “Change is a concept which is not readily understood or accepted by a large body of people,” he says. “It’s human nature not to accept initiatives because they are in fact a change from the status quo.”

Geerts sees many best practices emerging from this effort, and he thinks it is vital to think ahead and plan for centers’ needs in five or ten years. “There’s a whole range of crucial HR-related matters on which we need to make progress,” he says. “This is only a start.”

Other meeting participants included Jesús Antonio Cuellar, Carlos Meneses, and Gustavo Peralta from CIAT; Coen Kramer, Martin van Weerdenburg, Marisa De la O, Georgina Becerra, and Patricia Villaseñor from CIMMYT; Khar Hoay Tan from WorldFish; and Griselda Marquez from SAS-HR.

What’s Next?

The next SAS-HR meeting is scheduled for 6-8 June in Colombo, Sri Lanka, at IWMI. IWMI has been working on the OneStaff concept and on the reformation of policies and practices, according to Director General Frank Rijsberman. He believes that the CGIAR can improve impacts in the areas where it works and also its position in the labor market by reforming HR policies

The June meeting will include presentations about the PeoplePower website, mainstreaming Gender and Diversity and knowledge management, results of a CGIAR-wide compensation survey, and a review of the projects. Human resources professionals from non-participating centers are invited to attend. The next SAS-HR Advisory Group meeting will be 25 October in Mexico during the Annual General Meeting.

To foster wider learning within the CGIAR, many SAS-HR meetings and initiatives will be open to all centers. For more information, contact N.P. Rajasekharan.

September, 2004

CIMMYT took a historic step in March 2004 by planting a small trial of genetically engineered wheat in its screenhouse at headquarters in El Batan, Mexico. It was the first time that transgenic wheat has been planted in Mexico under field-like conditions, and encouraging results have spurred plans for a more extensive follow-up trial.

DREB plants (left) next to non-DREB plants (right) in the trial.

Striving for Drought-Tolerant Wheat

Researchers used genetic engineering to insert a gene from Arabidopsis thaliana, a relative of wild mustard, into wheat. The gene, DREB1A, was provided by the Japan International Research Center for Agricultural Sciences, and has been shown to confer tolerance to drought, low temperature, and salinity in its natural host. The small trial completed this year was conducted in full accordance with Mexican and CIMMYT biosafety procedures, and represents a critical step toward developing drought-tolerant wheat varieties by allowing scientists to see how the DREB1A-expressing wheat responds under more natural conditions.

Drought is one of the most important agricultural production problems in the world. Combined with shortages of irrigation water, it threatens the ability of many developing countries to produce enough grain to feed themselves. Currently, the 20% of global farmland that produces 40% of the world’s food supply is irrigated.

“Drought is a complicated problem,” says CIMMYT cell biologist Alessandro Pellegrineschi, who led the trial. “When a plant is exposed to drought, there can be moisture stress, but there can also be heat or soil micro-element deficiencies or toxicities.” Because there are so many stresses, it is important to evaluate a potential solution under a variety of environments. Moreover, scientists are discovering that plants react to numerous stresses, especially to water deficiency and high levels of salt, in complex ways.

Encouraging and Consistent Results

Looking at the trial results, Pellegrineschi and colleagues were encouraged when they observed a more normal, non-stressed phenotype in the transgenic lines under drought conditions. Near the trial’s end, the non-DREB control wheat was dry, yellow, and shriveled, while the DREB wheat was still green and thriving. Pellegrineschi was surprised that a single gene could bring about such a visible response.

Pellegrineschi says the results of this trial, which is part of CIMMYT’s joint work with the Australian Cooperative Research Centre for Molecular Plant Breeding, are compatible with previous observations from small pots in the biosafety greenhouse. Many of the measured traits correlated with the improved performance of transgenic lines under water stress. However, the results need to be verified in a larger field trial with selected transgenic lines.

Taking Precautions

This is the first time that a food crop carrying the DREB1A gene has advanced to this level of testing. The Mexican government, which had announced a moratorium on planting transgenic maize under field conditions in 1998, approved the trial in December 2003.

CIMMYT followed strict biosafety procedures and worked closely with the government of Mexico in planning, conducting, and monitoring the trial. Access to the screenhouse was restricted. The researchers covered all plant flowers with bags and did not allow other wheat plants to grow within 10 meters of the trial, even though it is unlikely that self-pollinating wheat plants would cross with each other. After the trial, all plant materials except the harvested seed were destroyed.

What Next?

“This was the first trial transgenic wheat trial after the government removed the moratorium on growing transgenic varieties under field conditions, so we were very conservative in our request to the Mexican authorities for approval of the initial trial,” says Pellegrineschi. “Now that we have had some success, we will submit a request for a larger trial.”

Pending approval from the Mexican authorities, researchers are ready to begin a second trial, which will evaluate the best performing lines from the first trial more closely. In response to lessons learned from the first trial, the researchers are going to use a larger plot, have more replications, and restrict walking and the resultant soil compaction in the plots.

Five years ago, many people thought it was unrealistic that a single gene could improve a complex trait such as drought tolerance. With the right approaches, including the investment in proper field trials, Pellegrineschi believes that it will be possible to produce lines containing effective transgenes within five years.

Why Genetic Engineering?

With genetic engineering, useful genes for traits of interest can be transferred across species. DNA can be directly inserted into individual plant cells. The genetically altered tissue can be regenerated into complete plants and later transferred through conventional breeding into entire lines and varieties. This approach may also applied to rapidly and efficiently transfer traits within species for either research or development purposes. In both instances, CIMMYT remains committed to generating end-products that carry only the gene(s) of interest–that is, the undesired genes (marker genes) have been removed through conventional breeding.

Genetic engineering could increase the productivity and profitability of farming through reduced input use (lowering costs), added pest or disease resistance, and crops with better nutritional content or storage characteristics. Also, genetic engineering may solve problems that conventional breeding methods cannot. Nutritionally fortified crop varieties could be especially valuable in developing countries where millions of people suffer from dietary deficiencies.

Genetic engineering could become an important tool for introducing beneficial traits into maize and wheat. Efforts such as the DREB wheat field trail will allow our scientists to use a range of genes for the benefit of farmers and to pass on the products of cutting-edge technology to research partners in developing countries.

For more information: Alessandro Pellegrineschi or David Hoisington

When a devastating stripe rust epidemic hit Ethiopia last year, newly-released wheat varieties derived from international partnerships proved resistant to the disease, and are now being multiplied for seed.

Wheat farmers and breeders are embroiled in a constant arms race against the rust diseases, as new rust races evolve to conquer previously resistant varieties. Ethiopia’s wheat crop became the latest casualty when a severe stripe rust epidemic struck in 2010. “The dominant wheat varieties were hit by this disease, and in some of the cases where fungicide application was not done there was extremely high yield loss,” says Firdissa Eticha, national wheat research program coordinator with the Ethiopian Institute of Agricultural Research (EIAR). “This is a threat for the future because there is climate change—which has already been experienced in Ethiopia—and the varieties which we have at hand were totally hit by this stripe rust.”

Ethiopia is not alone; stripe rust has become a serious problem across Africa, the Middle East, and Asia, with epidemics in 2009 and 2010 which many countries have struggled to control. What’s new is the evolution of stripe rust races that are able to overcome Yr27, a major rust resistance gene that many important wheat varieties rely on. Although recent weather conditions have allowed the new rust races to thrive, they first began to emerge more than a decade ago, and CIMMYT’s wheat program, always looking forward to the next threat, began selection for resistance to Yr27-virulent races in 1998.

“CIMMYT has a number of wheat lines that have shown good-to-excellent resistance to stripe rust without relying on Yr27, in screening in Mexico, Ecuador, and Kenya,” says Ravi Singh, CIMMYT distinguished scientist and rust expert who leads the breeding effort in Mexico. Many of these are also resistant to the stem rust race Ug99 and have 10-15% higher yields than currently-grown varieties, according to Singh. The current step is to work with national programs to identify and promote the most useful of the resistant materials for their environments—a process that was underway in Ethiopia when the epidemic struck.

Eticha is leading his country’s fight against stripe rust. Reflecting on the disease, he says: “For me it is as important as stem rust. I find it like a wildfire when there is a susceptible variety. You see very beautiful fields actually, yellow like a canola field in flower. But for farmers it is a very sad sight. Stripe rust can cause up to 100% yield loss.” There is no official figure yet on the overall loss to Ethiopia’s wheat harvest for 2010, but it is expected to be more than 20%.

Stripe rust symptoms in the field in Ethiopia. | Photo: Firdissa Eticha

The other common name for stripe rust is yellow rust. Severely-infected plants look bright yellow, due to a photosynthesis-blocking coating of spores of the fungus Puccinia striiformis, which causes the disease. These spores are yellow to orange-yellow in color, and form pustules. These usually appear as narrow stripes along the leaves, and can cover the leaves in susceptible varieties, as well as affecting the leaf sheaths and the spikes. The disease lowers both yield and grain quality, causing stunted and weakened plants, fewer spikes, fewer grains per spike, and shriveled grains with reduced weight.

Epidemic flourishes with damp weather

Normally, Ethiopia has two distinct rainy seasons, one short and one main, allowing for two wheat cropping cycles per year. However, 2010 saw persistent gentle rains throughout the year, with prolonged dews and cool temperatures—perfect weather for stripe rust. Most wheat varieties planted in Ethiopia were susceptible, including the two most popular, Kubsa and Galema, so damage was severe. Under normal conditions, the disease only attacks high-altitude wheat in Ethiopia, but last year it was rampant even at low altitudes. This could reflect the appearance of a new race that is less temperature sensitive, or simply the unusual weather conditions; Ethiopian researchers are currently waiting for the results of a rust race analysis.

There was little Ethiopia could do to prevent the epidemic; imported fungicides controlled the disease where they were applied on time, but supplies were limited and expensive. Newly-released, resistant varieties provide a way out of danger. In particular, two CIMMYT lines released in Ethiopia in 2010 proved resistant to stripe rust in their target environments: Picaflor#1, which was released in Ethiopia as Kakaba, and Danphe#1, released as Danda’a. Picaflor#1 is targeted to environments where Kubsa is grown, and so has the potential to replace it, and Danphe#1 could similarly replace Galema. Both varieties are also high-yielding and resistant to Ug99.

CIMMYT scientists Hans-Joachim Braun (left) and Bekele Abeyo visit the fields of the Kulumsa Research Station where CIMMYT materials resistant to stripe rust are being multiplied for seed supply to Ethiopian farmers.

Seed multiplication of resistant CIMMYT varieties

As soon as the situation became clear, EIAR and the Ethiopian Seed Enterprise (the state-owned organization responsible for multiplication and distribution of improved seed of all major crops in Ethiopia) worked together to speed the multiplication of seed of these varieties, using irrigation during the dry seasons. This is happening now, with almost 500 hectares under multiplication over the winter—421 of Picaflor#1 and 70 of Danphe#1. Financial support from this project came from the USAID Famine Fund. Two resistant lines from the International Center for Agricultural Research in the Dry Areas (ICARDA) were released in Ethiopia in 2011, and will add to the diversity for resistance.

Eticha does not foresee any difficulty encouraging farmers to adopt the new varieties. In 2010 they were grown by 900 farmers on small on-farm demonstration plots, as part of EIAR’s routine annual program, so they have been seen—free of stripe rust—by thousands of farmers, and there will be more demonstration plots as more seed becomes available. However, “farmers are at risk still even if the varieties are there,” he says, “the problem is seed supply.” Some seed will reach farmers this year, but the priority will be ongoing multiplication to build up availability as fast as possible.

Hans-Joachim Braun, director of CIMMYT’s Global Wheat Program, visited Ethiopia in 2010. “The epidemic was a real wake-up call,” he says. “Researchers have known for more than ten years that the varieties grown are susceptible. Farmers are not aware of the danger, so it is the responsibility of researchers and seed producers, if we know a variety is susceptible, to replace it with something better.”

Exploring rust solutions in Syria The ongoing fight against the wheat rust diseases is an international, collaborative effort involving many partners in national programs and international organizations. CIMMYT works closely with ICARDA, which leads efforts against the wheat rust diseases in Central and West Asia and North Africa. At the International Wheat Stripe Rust Symposium, organized by ICARDA in Aleppo, Syria, during 18-20 April 2011, global experts developed strategies to prevent future rust outbreaks and to ensure the control and reduction of rust diseases in the long term. Other participating organizations included CIMMYT, the Borlaug Global Rust Initiative (BGRI), the Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO) of the UN, the International Development Research Center (IDRC, Canada), and the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD). More than 100 scientists from 31 countries presented work and shared ideas on wheat rust surveillance and monitoring, development and promotion of rust-resistant wheat varieties, and crop diversity strategies to slow the progress of rust outbreaks. CIMMYT was represented by Hans-Joachim Braun and Ravi Singh. “Wheat crops and stripe rust like exactly the same conditions,” says Braun, “and they both love nitrogen. This means that where a farmer has a high yield potential, stripe rust takes it away, if the wheat variety is susceptible. In addition to the really devastating epidemics, the disease is very important because even in bumper years, farmers who grow susceptible varieties still can’t get a good yield.” One thing all the attendees agreed on was the immediacy of the rust threat. New variants of both stem rust (also known as black rust) and stripe rust (or yellow rust), able to overcome the resistance of popular wheat varieties, are thriving under the more variable conditions caused by climate change, increasing their chances of spreading rapidly. Breeders in turn are quickly developing the varieties farmers need, with durable resistance to stem and stripe rust, as well as improved yield performance, drought tolerance, and regional suitability. Other major areas of focus are the development of systems for monitoring and surveillance of rust to enable rapid response to initial outbreaks, and overcoming bottlenecks in getting resistant seed quickly to farmers. There is much to be done, but Singh is confident: “If donors, including national programs and the private sector, are willing to invest in wheat research and seed production, we can achieve significant results in a short time.”

“Ethiopian scientists responded quickly to the epidemic”, says Braun, “but there were heavy losses in 2010. What we need is better communications between scientists, seed producers, and decision makers to ensure the quick replacement of varieties.”

Building on a strong partnership

The value of the collaboration between CIMMYT and Ethiopia is already immeasurable for both partners. CIMMYT materials are routinely screened for rust at Meraro station, an Ethiopian hotspot, in increasing numbers as rust diseases have returned to the spotlight in recent years. CIMMYT lines are also a crucial input for Ethiopia’s national program.

“The contribution of CIMMYT is immense for us,” says Eticha. “CIMMYT provides us with a wide range of germplasm that is almost finished technology—one can say ready materials, that can be evaluated and released as varieties that can be used by farming communities.” Ethiopia has favorable agro-environments for wheat production, and the bread wheat area is expanding because of its high yields compared to indigenous tetraploid wheats. “Wheat is the third most important cereal crop in Ethiopia,” explains Eticha, “and it is really very important in transforming Ethiopia’s economy.”

Bekele Abeyo, CIMMYT senior scientist and wheat breeder based in Ethiopia, works closely with the national program. CIMMYT helps in many ways, he explains, for example with training and capacity building, as well as donation of materials, including computers, vehicles, and even chemicals for research. “In addition, we assign scientists to work closely with the national program, and facilitate germplasm exchange, providing high-yielding, disease resistant, widely-adapted varieties.” Speaking of the stripe rust epidemic, he says, “last year, the Ethiopian government spent more than USD 3.2 million just to buy fungicides, so imagine, the use of resistant varieties can save a lot of money. Most farmers are not able to buy these expensive fungicides. During the epidemic, fungicides were selling for three to four times their normal price, so you can see the value of resistant varieties.”

“I think East Africa is colonized by rust. Unless national programs work hard to overcome and contain disease pressure, wheat production is under great threat,” says Abeyo. “It is very important that we continue to strengthen the national programs to overcome the rust problem in the region.” With Yr27-virulent stripe rust races now widespread throughout the world, Ethiopia’s story has echoes in many CIMMYT partner countries. The challenge is to work quickly together to identify and replace susceptible varieties with the new, productive, resistant materials.

For more information: Bekele Abeyo, senior scientist and wheat breeder (b.abeyo@cgiar.org)

This growing season in south-central Kenya has been a good test for the new drought tolerant maize varieties being bred in Africa. This is a semi-arid area, but this year they can drop the semi. Farmers report only three short periods of rain since the February planting time.

“Without this seed, I’d have nothing. Nothing, like my neighbors,” says farmer Philip Ngolania. He sweeps his hand to direct the eye first to his maize and then toward a neighbor’s plot. Philip’s maize stalks, though looking thin and weak, have fairly uniformly produced large ears of corn. His neighbor’s maize is shriveled and dead, the stalks have toppled in their feebleness and there isn’t a cob to be found.  (See the entire writeup on the blog of the Global Agricultural Development Initiative)

Related stories:

• Maize farmers and seed businesses changing with the times in Malawi
• Study says drought tolerant maize will greatly profit African farmers
• No maize, no life!

CIMMYT E-News, vol 5 no. 6, June 2008

Centuries ago, Spanish monks brought wheat to Mexico to use in Roman Catholic religious ceremonies. The genetic heritage of some of these “sacramental wheats” lives on in farmers’ fields. CIMMYT researchers have led the way in collecting and characterizing these first wheats, preserving their biodiversity and using them as sources of traits like disease resistance and drought tolerance.

“I’d say to Bent: ‘Let’s look for the cemetery,’ ” recalls Julio Huerta, CIMMYT wheat pathologist, of his trips to villages in Mexico with his late colleague Bent Skovmand, CIMMYT wheat genetic resource expert. “And the sacramental wheats would be there, sometimes hundreds of types.”

The first wheat was brought to Mexico in 1523 around the area now occupied by Mexico City. The crop soon spread outside the central plateau with the help of Catholic monks: it traveled to the state of Michoacán in the 1530s with the Franciscans, while the Dominicans took wheat to the state of Oaxaca in 1540 and gave grains to the native inhabitants to produce flour for unleavened bread used during Roman Catholic religious ceremonies. “Still today, many church ornaments in Michoacán have wheat straw in them,” says Huerta.

Huerta and Skovmand went on sacramental wheat-gathering expeditions in 19 Mexican states. “Many people thought we were just collecting trash,” he says. “But we wanted to collect sacramental wheats before they disappeared. I’m not that surprised that some have very valuable attributes for breeding programs.”

Farmers in Mexico and elsewhere face water shortages and rising temperatures due to climate change. CIMMYT scientists are looking to sacramental wheats as one source of drought-tolerance. Field trials at the center’s Cuidad Obregón wheat research facility show some sacramental wheats have better early ground cover, quickly covering the soil and safeguarding moisture from evaporating. Others have enhanced levels of soluble stem carbohydrates which help fill the wheat grain even under drought, while some show better water uptake in deep soils thanks to their deep roots.

As farmers gain access to improved varieties or migrate to cities, sacramental wheats are disappearing from fields. With the hope of conserving these rare and valuable varieties, Huerta and Skovmand started collecting them in 1992, collaborating with the Mexican National Institute for Forestry, Agriculture, and Livestock Research (INIFAP) and supported by the Mexican Organization for the Study of Biodiversity (CONABIO). Their efforts were not in vain—10,000 samples from 249 sites in Mexico were added to the CIMMYT germplasm bank, and duplicate samples deposited in the INIFAP germplasm bank.

Only the strongest survive

The deep volcanic soils of Los Altos de Mixteca, Oaxaca, and the dry conditions in some parts of Mexico were not ideal for growing wheat. “If the wheats didn’t have deep roots and it didn’t rain, they were dead,” says CIMMYT wheat physiologist, Matthew Reynolds. The wheat genotypes that survived for centuries were perhaps the ones with drought-tolerance traits for which farmers selected. “Say the farmer had a mixture of sacramental wheats that looked reasonably similar—similar enough that he could manage them but diverse enough to adapt to local conditions,” explains Reynolds. “One year certain lines would do better than others and the farmer might harvest just the best-looking plants to sow the next year.”

Sacramental wheats often grew in isolated rural areas, meaning that some never crossed with other varieties, leaving their genetic heritage intact. They are often tall and closely adapted to local conditions, according to Huerta, and farmers who still grow them say they taste better than modern varieties.

Reynolds is combining the old and the new—crossing improved modern cultivars with sacramental wheats to obtain their drought-tolerance attributes. “We now have several lines that are candidates for international nurseries,” he says. “They’ll go to South Asia and North Africa, and will be especially useful for regions with deep soils and residual moisture.”

Old wheats come back in style

In 2001, a new leaf rust race appeared on Altar 84, the most widely-grown wheat cultivar in Sonora State, Mexico. The CIMMYT wheat genetic resources program immediately looked for sources of resistance in the germplasm bank. The durum collection of sacramental wheats from Oaxaca, Mexico, proved extremely useful: all but one displayed minor gene or major gene resistance to the new leaf rust race, confirming that sacramental wheats are a valuable breeding resource.

CIMMYT researchers are still unlocking the potential of sacramental wheats. “We started to characterize them for resistance to leaf and yellow rust, and the collections from the state of Mexico for wheat head scab and Septoria,” says Huerta. We were surprised to find many, many resistant lines. “But until we finish characterizing all of them, we won’t know what else is there.”

For more information on sacramental wheats: Julio Huerta, wheat pathologist (j.huerta@cgiar.org) or Matthew Reynolds, wheat physiologist, ( m.reynolds@cgiar.org).

CIMMYT E-News, vol 5 no. 2, February 2008

The State of Mexico borders the country’s capital, Mexico City—a potential market of nearly 20 million inhabitants—but farmers there have struggled to make a profit growing maize. CIMMYT is working to help them, as part of a new partnership between the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) and the Mexican Agriculture Secretariat (SAGARPA).

A mountainous entity in the geographical and cultural center of Mexico, the State of Mexico occupies what many would consider an envious position: it surrounds the country’s vibrant and populous capital, Mexico City, whose 18 million-plus population represents an attractive market for goods and services. Industries dominate the state economy, but many inhabitants outside urban areas practice farming, either to supplement their incomes or, in fewer cases, as their chief livelihood. Most of the state’s farmers have grown maize at one time or another, but few have made a profit on the crop, despite their proximity to a megalopolis.

Years of low prices, until recently, for maize grain have discouraged farmers from investing in advanced practices or new varieties. “The state of Mexico accounts for ten percent of national maize production, but improved varieties occupy little more than a tenth of its maize area,” says CIMMYT maize researcher Silverio García. “And nearly all the maize they produce is white grained and ideal for local foods, but fails to meet market standards for large-scale, commercial tortilla production, feed or industrial uses.”

The state of maize

As part of a project launched in 2007 between the USDA and SAGARPA, CIMMYT is working with counterparts in the State of Mexico to increase the productivity and profitability of maize farming. Aims include a broad characterization of maize varieties—both local and improved—for traits of market value; breeding for market requirements; farmer-participatory improvement and testing of varieties; and food technology and nutrition research to guide the project and demonstrate potential impact.

“The focus is on value-added blue, white, and purple maize for food,” says CIMMYT maize breeder and project leader, Gary Atlin. “But partly in response to declining supplies and rising world prices of maize—driven at least in part by the biofuels boom in the USA—farmers are increasingly interested in yellow maize, and participants are developing and testing yellow grain maize suited for feed and industrial markets.”

Atlin and Garcia recently led a workshop of 11 maize scientists from the Mexican National Institute of Forestry, Agriculture, and Livestock Research (INIFAP), Mexico State’s Institute of Agriculture, Livestock, Water, and Forestry Research and Training (ICAMEX), the Colegio de Postgraduados (a graduate-level agricultural research and learning institution), and CIMMYT to plan project activities. Participants contributed detailed information on varieties grown in the state, agreed on common software for managing and analyzing data from trials, and discussed ways to foster farmer participation.

Efforts are building on prior work by CIMMYT in Mexico to promote adoption of improved varieties in poorer regions, through crossing local varieties and improved populations to improve farmer-identified traits lacking in their varieties. CIMMYT has also worked with Mexican breeders to develop improved, yellow-grain varieties for several environments, including the Mexican highlands.

“We’re very excited about this project,” says García. “Trials in 2008 will involve experimental varieties that are crosses between improved and local materials, pre-commercial varieties in 20 or more environments in the state, and 40 on-farm demonstrations of commercially-available white and yellow hybrids to get farmers’ feedback.”

For information: Silverio García Lara, maize breeder (s.garcia@cgiar.org)

CIMMYT E-News, vol 4 no. 4, April 2007

Having just celebrated his 93rd birthday, the man who was at the heart of the creation of CIMMYT, Dr Norman Borlaug, visits the Yaqui Valley to meet his old friends: the farmers with whom he worked 60 years ago, the first beneficiaries of what we call the Green Revolution in agriculture.

Until you visit Ciudad Obregón, Sonora State, in northwestern Mexico, it is hard to understand the depth of feeling the citizens of that region have for Nobel Peace Prize laureate, Norman Borlaug. Though an American, he lived in the Yaqui Valley of Sonora State, where Ciudad Obregón is located, for many years starting in 1947. He and a small research team worked with the government of Mexico and the Rockefeller Foundation to improve the nation’s agricultural capacity. Borlaug’s responsibility was wheat. The Yaqui Valley farmers were poor and wheat a marginal crop, succumbing regularly to rust diseases; Mexico had to import 60% of its wheat. Under Borlaug’s leadership, researchers overcame the rust problem and pioneered the development of short-statured wheat. Nearly half the new plants’ weight was grain, and the stems were short and strong enough to stay erect until harvest. By the 1960s farmers in the valley had improved food security and incomes.

In recent years, Borlaug’s visits to the Yaqui Valley have been much less frequent, but the bond between Borlaug and Valley inhabitants has not diminished. In Ciudad Obregón a major street is named Avenida Norman Borlaug. He is depicted in a historical mural in City Hall as a pioneering father. Area hotels have meeting rooms named after him. When he stepped off the plane from Texas, where he had undergone medical treatment, airport staff, fire fighters, and ground crews formed a line from the steps of the aircraft toward the terminal building. “It wasn’t quite a red carpet, but it was red carpet treatment,” said Chris Dowswell, Borlaug’s Special Assistant.

Clearly the people of the Yaqui Vally have never forgotten. For decades the farmer organization of Sonora State (known locally as the Patronato) has provided rent-free land for experimentation to CIMMYT and INIFAP, the national agricultural research program of Mexico. The institutes have side-by-side facilities close to their experimental fields.

A meeting of green-seekers

Borlaug, still a consultant with CIMMYT, is also the President of the Sasakawa Africa Association, which is devoted to improving the lives of the rural poor in sub-Saharan Africa. One of his reasons for visiting Obregón this time was to see and learn about a technology developed by Oklahoma State University (OSU) and CIMMYT. The approach allows farmers easily and cheaply to determine the optimum application of fertilizer for a developing wheat or maize crop. Fertilizer resources are scarce in much of Africa, so timely application of the correct amounts can save farmers money and help produce a better crop.

The technology, known as GreenSeeker, uses a special sensor to measure infrared and near-infrared light reflected from the leaves of growing plants. A hand-held computer, programmed with the data about the crop and location can calculate the nitrogen status of the plant. Ivan Ortiz-Monasterio, who leads CIMMYT’s research in nitrogen efficiency, says many Yaqui Valley farmers can recover the cost of the sensor in a single season through savings in fertilizer use, but acknowledges the economics on smallholder farms in Africa are quite different. OSU researchers are now taking on the challenge of producing a less expensive model that will work for the rural poor in Africa.

Research: The icing on agriculture’s cake?

In a speech to the farmers, extension workers, and researchers, Borlaug explained the plight of the resource poor in Africa and how a technology like the GreenSeeker might make a difference. In one farmer’s field he was given a demonstration and explanation of the device and how to use it. One of the messages that came through loud and clear was this: without research in agriculture, there would be no progress.

That was what the farmers of the valley learned from Borlaug and his team more than half a century ago, and they heard it again when he came back. Today the farmers have passed down their pride in the original work done at Obregón, first to their children and now, their grandchildren. At a luncheon at the CIMMYT research station, students from Colegio Teresiano de la Vera Cruz in Ciudad Obregón presented Borlaug with a birthday cake. They had just completed a project for the school’s cultural week that focused on Borlaug and his work in the Yaqui Valley. From Borlaug to the people of the Yaqui Valley, and from the people themselves, it is clear that the commitment made 60 years ago continues.

For more information: Christopher Dowswell (c.dowswell@cgiar.org).

CIMMYT E-News, vol 3 no. 10, October 2006

CIMMYT puts stem rust resistant seeds into partners’ hands for testing.

While the Global Rust Initiative (GRI) meeting in Alexandria focused on future strategy, preemptive work was well underway at CIMMYT as seeds of stem rust-resistant wheat lines were harvested and prepared for dispatch throughout the world. Ravi Singh, CIMMYT wheat scientist, explains, “This is a dynamic, ongoing process, as we constantly test and retest materials for resistance to stem rust while retaining desirable traits”.

On multiplication plots at CIMMYT’s El Batan headquarters in Mexico, workers have been harvesting wheat lines resistant to Ug99, the new, virulent strain of stem rust. These seeds are now ready to be sent to GRI partners across the area at risk. They will be grown at 30 experimental sites in countries as diverse as Ethiopia, Egypt, India and Afghanistan, and Mexico itself, to test for yield and adaptation to local conditions.

Researchers at CIMMYT and the International Center for Agricultural Research in the Dry Areas (ICARDA), together with national partners, will use these trials to decide which lines to send to countries in larger amounts. In Ethiopia, where stem rust infection is already prevalent, ten lines are currently being multiplied on a larger scale, and tests with farmers will begin next year.

The resistant lines have been selected from thousands grown and artificially infected with Ug99 at Njoro in Kenya since 2004. These have included cultivars planted across the world and advanced breeding lines from CIMMYT and many other partners. Some 8-10% showed resistance to Ug99, of which a small number with traits such as high yield potential and resistance to other diseases were selected for multiplication.

CIMMYT is not only distributing existing stem-rust-resistant wheats, but is part of efforts to breed materials that will lead to the release of new varieties. A range of sources, particularly lines that have shown Ug99 resistance in Kenya over two years’ testing, are being used to enhance the diversity of stem rust resistance in elite germplasm and valued cultivars. Singh and his team aim to create wheats with durable resistance to Ug99, by ‘pyramiding’ several minor resistance genes.

CIMMYT is also distributing the first stem rust resistance screening nursery, consisting of seeds of some 100 resistant lines. These will be tested for local performance and used in crosses by national breeding programs and other GRI partners. In response to the urgency of the stem rust threat, CIMMYT staff have worked hard to bring this release forward from 2007.

Singh’s goal is to provide farmers with cultivars that are not only resistant to Ug99, but also superior in other traits such as yield potential, grain quality and resistance to other diseases. As he says, “Except in East Africa, the advantage of stem rust resistance is not yet visible. By incorporating rust resistance into the advanced germplasm that we have available, we can provide farmers with tangible livelihood benefits, and we will see a better rate of adoption.”

May, 2005

CIMMYT shows technology to enhance farmer income and reduce ocean pollution

Wheat farmers in the Yaqui Valley of Mexico’s Sonora State will be the first to gain from a new technology developed by CIMMYT researchers with partners from Oklahoma State and Stanford Universities. And while the farmers in Mexico will benefit, CIMMYT believes that farmers and the environment in many developing countries will reap rewards as well.

“I wish I had known about it this season,” said Ruben Luders when he saw the results. He farms 400 hectares of wheat in the Yaqui valley. “It will save me money.”

What Luders and more than twenty-five other farmers saw in a demonstration was an effective and accurate way to determine both the right time and correct amount of nitrogen fertilizer to apply to a growing wheat crop. Wheat needs nitrogen to grow properly, but until now there has been no easy way to know how to apply it in an optimum way. Traditionally farmers in the region fertilize before they plant their seed and then again at the first post-planting irrigation. The new approach, developed in conjunction with Oklahoma State University in the United States, uses an infrared sensor to measure the yield potential of wheat plants as they grow.

“I had been looking for something to determine nitrogen requirements for a long time,” says CIMMYT wheat agronomist, Dr. Ivan Ortiz-Monasterio. “This technology was already being used by CIMMYT scientists for other things, such as estimating the yield of different genotypes. It has taken time to calibrate it, but now we have a useful tool to determine the nitrogen a wheat plant needs.”

The sensor is held above the young, growing wheat plants and measures how much light is reflected in two different colors—red and invisible infrared. In technical terms this is called measuring the Normalized Differential Vegetative Index (NVDI). After much testing, Ortiz-Monasterio and his colleagues from Oklahoma State found they could get a handheld computer to calculate the nitrogen requirement of the plants from the two readings.

The demonstration, conducted in the fields of four different farmer-volunteers, showed they could maintain their yields using far less fertilizer. That is because fertilizer residue from over-applications in past seasons can still be utilized by the new crop.

“We used to feed the soil first, before growing the wheat,” says Luders. “Now we know we should feed the wheat.” He and his friends calculated that with just 80 hectares of wheat the nitrogen sensor, which costs about US $400, could pay for itself in a single season.

The demonstration was made possible because farmers in the Yaqui Valley have consistently supported the research work of CIMMYT and of Mexico’s national agricultural research institute, INIFAP, in the area.

There is much more to this technology than a tool to maximize farm income. A recent Stanford University study published by the prestigious science journal Nature showed that each time farmers irrigate their fields, some of the excess nitrogen fertilizer washes into the nearby Sea of Cortez. The heavy load of nitrogen in the water results in blooms of algae which deplete the oxygen in the water. In other parts of the world such algae blooms can do serious damage to local fisheries. If widely adopted in the Yaqui Valley, the nitrogen-optimizing technology should result in less fertilizer washing into the sea.

Runoff of excess nitrogen fertilizer is a problem that will threaten many more sensitive bodies of water around the world, according to Ortiz-Monasterio. “As farming systems intensify to feed more people, we need to increase production but minimize impact on the environment,” he says. So while farmers in the State of Sonora may be the first to benefit, they certainly will not be the last. Just five days before the demonstration in Ciudad Obregon, the first infrared sensor, a result of a USAID linkage grant with CIMMYT and Oklahoma State, arrived in Pakistan. This way, a technology proven in the field in Mexico will go on to assist farmers in poorer parts of the world and help maintain the health of coastal waters at the same time.

For further information, contact Ivan Ortiz-Monasterio (i.ortiz-monasterio@cgiar.org).

CIMMYT E-News, vol 2 no. 10, October 2005

The HarvestPlus Maize group examines progress toward breeding maize with enhanced pro-vitamins A, iron, and zinc.

CIMMYT maize scientists and colleagues from national programs in the key countries targeted by HarvestPlus reported significant progress in identifying maize with elevated concentrations of iron, zinc, and pro-vitamins A (chemicals the human body can convert to vitamin A) in their elite maize varieties and germplasm collections. The results of two years of work were presented at the second HarvestPlus Maize meeting hosted by EMBRAPA, the national agricultural research program of Brazil at their maize and sorghum research station in Sete Lagoas.

Maize is a key target crop for nutritional enhancement because it is so widely consumed in areas where high malnutrition—especially vitamin-A deficiency—exists. Scientists working in the HarvestPlus program hope eventually to breed high-quality, high-yielding maize with enhanced pro-vitamins A, iron, and zinc content. These micronutrients in maize will have to be in a form that survives processing and can be utilized by the human body.

The first planning meeting for the maize scientists was held in 2003 in Ethiopia. “We’ve come a long way since we first met two years ago,” says Kevin Pixley, the HarvestPlus Maize coordinator and Director of CIMMYT’s Tropical Ecosystems Program. “But we have also realized that this is a very complex subject with many assumptions that have to be validated.”

CIMMYT maize breeder Dave Beck showed the group results of screening of CIMMYT elite highland and transition zone maize germplasm for enhanced levels of pro-vitamins A, zinc, and iron. HarvestPlus nutritionists have set minimum targets for the concentrations of these micronutrients in maize. The good news is that for zinc, CIMMYT has identified material that was already above the threshold. For iron the picture is less promising as existing lines identified have only 60 percent of the required minimum level for iron. For pro-vitamins A CIMMYT has examined hundreds of lines. The best CIMMYT lines have about 75 percent of the minimum requirement, but sources identified by project partners in the USA have the minimum required level of pro-vitamins A. The CIMMYT team is now breeding to enhance pro-vitamins A concentration for highland, transition zone, mid-altitude, and lowland-adapted materials.

A topic of keen interest at the meeting was how to convince people to adopt any nutritionally enhanced maize varieties that might be developed. In much of eastern and southern Africa, white maize is preferred over yellow maize. Scientists in Zambia and Zimbabwe had conducted studies about the acceptability of yellow maize. Both studies found that yellow maize is associated with food aid and that was one reason people did not want to eat it. Scientists know there is a strong correlation between the color of the maize and the total level of carotenoids. Some of these carotenoids are precursors for vitamin A “pro-vitamins A.” Torbert Rocheford, a professor of plant genetics at the University of Illinois, suggested that the debate should not actually be about yellow maize in many parts of Africa. He said what we should be talking about is orange maize—something new that will not carry the stigma of yellow maize but will have high pro-vitamins A content.

For further information, contact Kevin Pixley (k.pixley@cgiar.org).

April, 2004

South Asian Partners Host Trustees for Extended Field Visits

Much of CIMMYT’s research focuses on improving the livelihoods and food security of poor households in South Asia, which is home to more of the world’s poor–43 percent–than any other region. To observe the impact of CIMMYT’s efforts there and to assess opportunities to help farmers, CIMMYT’s Board of Trustees and senior management visited India and Nepal in March. Officials of both countries hosted the visiting delegation.

India and Nepal are two key partners for CIMMYT. India’s relationship with CIMMYT began before the Green Revolution, and the world has benefited from the research products of this collaboration. CIMMYT also has maintained a long partnership with Nepal, where the National Agricultural Research Center (NARC) has hosted CIMMYT’s South Asia Regional Office for 18 years.

Field Visits in India

On the first day of the field visits, about 200 farmers from nearby villages greeted the delegation and expressed appreciation for new practices that were helping them to diversity agricultural production and conserve resources such as water and soil. The delegation was welcomed in Kapriwas, Gurgaon by senior officials of the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR), including Director General Mangala Rai, Deputy Director of Crops and Horticulture G. Kalloo, and M.K. Miglani, Vice Chancellor of Haryana Agricultural University. They explained how new tillage and planting practices helped Indian farmers by saving labor, fuel, and irrigation, while maintaining or increasing yields.

Many farmers were extremely enthusiastic about the visit. One farmer was sprinkle irrigating wheat that was close to maturity, which is something that is not typically done. When one of the visitors asked why he was doing this, the farmer replied that he was overjoyed by their visit and wanted to show off his sprinkle irrigation system. (The technical explanation was that he wanted to lower the heat stress and improve grain filling.)

The visitors saw research to identify salt-tolerant wheat and other crops and to study the long-term effects of saline water use at Bawal Research Station. They also saw an experiment showing how paired-row wheat planting on beds produced high yields, large spikes, and large grains, which help wheat fetch a higher market price. Although all the farmers who joined the delegation agreed that wheat planted on beds in paired rows gives higher yields with less labor and fewer inputs, they said there is a shortage of bed planters for Indian farmers. CIMMYT, ICAR, and the private sector are working to improve the situation.

Another experiment they observed evaluated the potential for growing maize in Haryana, where limited production and high demand compel people to buy maize in Delhi or Rajasthan.

On the second day the delegation visited Durgapura Research Station of Rajasthan Agricultural University. They learned about a wide spectrum of research, including breeding for resistance to rust and to cereal cyst nematode and for tolerance to saline conditions. They heard about issues related to the use of brackish and saline water in crop production in arid regions. Some participants expressed concern about the long-term health effects of this practice, especially in the production of green vegetables.

On the third day the delegation was received by farmers of Kallogarhi-Matiala Village, as well as PP Singh (Vice Chancellor, Sardar Vallabh Bhai Patel University of Agriculture and Technology, Meerut) and Larry Paulson (USAID-India). Board members were very interested in locally developed, low-cost equipment for promoting conservation agriculture. They saw the comparative performance of wheat planted using zero-tillage drills with “inverted T” and double disc openers. Farmers at this site are developing a permanent “double no-till” system of conservation agriculture to grow rice and wheat.

During dinner, representatives of Raja Balwant Singh College Trust thanked CIMMYT for more than 50 years of partnership in Indian agricultural development, dating back to before the Green Revolution. They suggested that CIMMYT and RBS, the largest and one of the oldest agricultural colleges in India, could benefit from a joint visiting scientist program.

Field Visits in Nepal

In 2003, Nepal’s national average wheat yield surpassed 2 t/ha for the first time, an achievement that gives some idea of the constraints that farmers there have overcome. The National Wheat Research Program Coordinator, Mr. M.R. Bhatta, described the impact of disease and yield nurseries that CIMMYT and NARC distribute throughout South Asia, and observed that more than 20 wheat varieties have been released in Nepal in the past 15 years.

At Khumaltar Research Station, NARC researchers highlighted studies in areas such as pathology, breeding, agronomy, soil sciences, mechanization, and biotechnology.

The visitors also heard researchers from the Hill Maize Research Project describe how communities have become self-sufficient in maize, their staple food, for the first time. Nearly 80% of Nepal’s maize is grown in the mid-hills, where more than 10 million people depend on the crop for food, income, and animal feed. Shortages are chronic. The Hill Maize Research Project provides the farmers with source seed, plus training in seed production techniques, storage, and marketing. It also ensures that there is sufficient seed of new maize varieties for farmers to replace old improved or local varieties, which yield very little.

Through their efforts, communities have produced more than 150 tons of maize seed. Community-based seed production accelerates seed replacement, disseminates new technologies, improves household food security, and raises incomes. This work, supported by the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC), is having an enormous impact in isolated hill sites.

A visit to farmers’ fields in Thecho Village in the Kathmandu Valley showed how farmers’ access to better wheat varieties and growing practices was increasing through participatory research. The farmers partner with NARC, CIMMYT, the University of Bangore, the Agricultural Development Organization (ADO), and others in a project funded by the UK Department for International Development. Farmers enthusiastically shared their experiences with participatory variety selection and seed production. Some groups are earning enough additional income from growing wheat to purchase new equipment or make other investments.

NARC and ADO have extended participatory variety selection to rice, legumes, vegetables, and other crops throughout Nepal after seeing the success with wheat. (In India, similar exciting work is being done in collaboration with Banaras Hindu University.)

Thanks to Our Hosts

CIMMYT’s Board and staff are grateful to P.P. Manandhar, Nepal’s Secretary of Agriculture, and officials at the Ministry of Agriculture and Cooperatives for their constant support for CIMMYT’s South Asia Regional Office, and to NARC Executive Director R.P. Sapkota and his colleagues for support and field visits. They are also most grateful to ICAR Director General Mangla Rai, Deputy Director of Crops and Horticulture G. Kalloo, and the many representatives of experiment stations, colleges, and universities in India who made the visit a success. The opportunity to meet and visit the field with representatives of DFID, FAO, the Japan International Cooperation Agency, SDC, USAID, and the World Bank, among others, was also greatly appreciated.

We also thank the farmers who so kindly shared their experiences and hospitality with us.

September, 2004

Should Africa embrace genetically modified crops to help feed its hungry people? That question is explored by a recent paper entitled “Debunking the Myths of GM Crops for Africa: The Case of Bt Maize in Kenya.” The paper compares the benefits of genetically modified crops to information available on the risks, and finds that most objections are not backed by evidence. Hugo De Groote, Stephen Mugo, and David Bergvinson from CIMMYT, along with Ben Odhiambo of the Kenya Agricultural Research Institute, conducted the study, which argues for a discussion based on scientific evidence and evaluation of potential benefits against concerns.

Genetically modified crops have been successful in many countries, including Canada and the US, where they have increased yields, lowered labor and cultivation costs, and reduced the use of chemical inputs. Genetic engineering has the potential to enhance food security and nutritional quality in ways not possible with conventional technology. Because the technology is contained in the seed, it is easy to distribute to farmers. This is particularly important in Africa, where extension services have largely collapsed and transport infrastructure is poor.

Concerns about deploying genetically modified crops in Africa include food safety, ethics, environmental risk, loss of landrace biodiversity, and the lack of appropriate biosafety regulations. Although long-term effects need to be analyzed, current studies by national and international organizations reveal no demonstrated toxic or nutritionally harmful effects of foods derived from genetically modified crops.

Sounding Out Public Opinion

The study by de Groote and his colleagues focused on Kenya, where maize, the main food crop, is planted on 30% of arable lands. It drew on a variety of data sources, including participatory rural appraisals and farmer and consumer surveys. De Groote thinks it is important to make research results understandable to the general public so everyone can participate in the debate.

To gauge awareness and attitudes about genetically modified crops, the researchers interviewed 604 consumers, only half of whom were aware of them. Many appreciated the benefits but worried about potential negative effects on health and the environment, especially on local plant varieties. De Groote says consumers are increasingly aware of genetically modified food and generally accept it, but their concerns about environmental safety and biodiversity have to be addressed.

Several seed companies in Kenya have expressed interest in producing and distributing Bt maize seed, which offers an effective and practical method for reducing stem borer damage in maize. Genetically engineered Bt maize contains a gene from the soil-dwelling bacteria Bacillus thuringiensis, which produces a toxin that helps control certain pests but is not harmful to humans or livestock. The Bt gene was first introduced into the commercial maize market in 1996. It has provided control for many pests and could help decrease pesticide use.

“The major surprise was that, contrary to the usual claims, Bt maize is very likely to benefit poor farmers and small seed companies,” says de Groote. “Stem borers are a real concern for farmers, especially in low-potential coastal and dry areas.”

Farmers in Kenya lose 400,000 tons, or about 14%, of their maize to stem borers. That is roughly the amount the country imports each year. De Groote says Bt maize alone will not solve this problem, but could help reduce losses and increase food security.

The IRMA Project

In 1999, the Insect Resistant Maize for Africa (IRMA) project was launched in Kenya to develop borer resistant varieties using both conventional breeding and biotechnology. Kenya already had experience with genetically modified crops and had biosafety policies in place. IRMA, a collaborative project between CIMMYT and the Kenya Agricultural Research Institute, receives financial support from the Syngenta Foundation for Sustainable Agriculture.

Before initiating the project, all parties involved agreed that transformed plants would carry only the gene of interest, without marker genes; that transgenic crops would only be developed for countries with appropriate biosafety regulations; and that only genes in the public domain would be used. They also agreed that the project would work under the highest scientific standards. When the project ends, other countries in Africa will be able to evaluate results from Kenya’s experience and decide for themselves which path to follow.

“I hope that the results will be accepted not only by the scientific community but also by the general population, in Africa as well as in the developed world,” says de Groote. “I also hope they will put to rest some of the major concerns about Bt maize for Africa.”

To make informed choices possible, the researchers contend that scientists in Africa need hands-on experience with the new technology. They need to test and adapt it using the appropriate regulatory framework and precautions. Further, the researchers believe that the technologies need to be developed in a participatory approach, since African farmers and consumers have the right to choose technologies based on the best knowledge available. They should not be denied the chance to improve their livelihoods as a result of an academic debate in which they are not included.

For more information: Hugo De Groote or Stephen Mugo