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

CIMMYT-led international efforts to identify and deploy sources of resistance to the virulent Ug99 strain of stem rust have received coverage on ABC1, the primary television channel of the Australian Broadcasting Corporation.

Stem rust spores, carried large distances by the wind, are no respecters of borders. The battle against the disease is one which requires global collaboration—and is attracting global media interest. “Wheat is our most important crop and [stem rust] is arguably the most damaging of all the pathogens of wheat, it destroys crops,” explained Professor Robert Park of the University of Sydney’s Plant Breeding Institute in an episode of Catalyst, ABC’s flagship science series, aired on 04 August 2011.

Ug99 is able to overcome the resistance of popular wheat varieties, making this new stem rust a major threat to world food security. In East Africa, where Ug99 first emerged, it has devastated smallholder wheat crops. ABC’s reporter Paul Willis visited the Njoro research station in Kenya, where the Kenya Agricultural Research Institute (KARI) hosts a large-scale program now screening around 30,000 wheat lines from all over the world each year—including those brought from Australia by Park.

“What we’ve got here is materials that we receive from several developing countries. As you can see there’s Australia, there’s China, Nepal, Bangladesh. So everyone wants to test their material and see if it is actually resistant to Ug99,” said CIMMYT molecular breeder Sridhar Bhavani, pointing out plots of wheat in the field at Njoro.

Working together, scientists have made substantial process in understanding Ug99 resistance and developing new wheats. “So far we’ve characterised close to about fifty genes for stem rust resistance,” said Bhavani. Producing suitable varieties and getting them to farmers is an ongoing challenge, but Willis strikes an optimistic note: “This looks like the hope for the future. It’s a strain of wheat called “King Bird” that was developed by CIMMYT and is now deployed all around the world. And it looks like it’s got very high levels of resistance against Ug99.”

The complete video clip, with transcript, is available at: http://www.abc.net.au/catalyst/stories/3285577.htm

CIMMYT E-News, vol 5 no. 10, October 2008

As the price of wheat goes up, countries such as the Republic of Mauritius are feeling the pinch. A former British colony off the coast of Madagascar, it imports most of its wheat from France and Australia. But with help from CIMMYT, the island has started trials to grow its own wheat—and results to date look promising.

The CIMMYT germplasm bank freely distributes maize and wheat seed to hundreds of partners worldwide each year. In January 2008, Tom Payne, Head of CIMMYT’s wheat germplasm bank (seed bank), received a request for wheat seed from Mala Gungadurdoss, Head of the Mauritanian Agronomy Department at the Ministry of Agro-industry. “The rising price of imported wheat coupled with a scarcity on the international market (made us) revisit our food and agricultural policy,” explains Gungadurdoss, who is also Principle Research Scientist of the Agricultural Research and Extension Unit. “Our food security is at stake, since Mauritius imports most of its staples.”

Payne sent a “yield trial” of 49 elite spring wheat lines that he thought might flourish in the climactic conditions and disease spectrum of the island. “In a way, it’s kind of an exploratory experiment,” he says. “I don’t really know their environment and they don’t really know wheat, so I sent them something to see if it fit their conditions.”

Payne’s selection was apparently successful. “I am really satisfied with the yields of above 5 tons per hectare for 13 of the lines,” says Gungadurdoss. “I consider these yields to be very good when I compare them to yields of 1.5-3 tons per hectare obtained in the trials of 1985-1993,” referring to the last period during which the country grew wheat trials. Gungadurdoss admits that recent conditions were conducive to achieving good yields; but the highest yields for this year’s trial ranging from 5.8 to 6.4 tons per hectare are not only vastly superior to the results of previous trials; they are more than twice wheat’s global average of 2.5 tons per hectare.

Wheat’s roots in Mauritius

The Dutch introduced wheat to Mauritius in 1598 and it was grown on a commercial scale in the 1820s. But only about 1,700 hectares were under cultivation by the end of the 1930s, when the island began focusing on growing the more profitable sugarcane and importing wheat, which was far less expensive to buy, according to Gungadurdoss. “Up until three years ago, wheat was very cheap,” says Payne. “It was overproduced in Europe, North America, and Australia. This is one of the reasons the price of wheat and other grains stayed low for long time.”

Most people who live on Mauritius are of Indian origin and eat food staples such as chappatis, pharatas, puris, and bread made from wheat and wheat flour, says Gungadurdoss. In 2007 the island imported around 140,000 tons of unmilled wheat and 9,000 tons of flour. Over the last 5 years the country imported an average of 137,000 tons of unmilled wheat and 9,500 tons of wheat flour costing USD 28 million. The per capita consumption of wheat flour averaged 74 kilograms per year, and this is expected to increase in the future, according to Gungadurdoss.

Thanks to the wheat breeding lines sent by CIMMYT, agronomists on Mauritius can screen promising wheat lines for high grain yield, early maturity, resistance to major pests and diseases, and good baking characteristics; assess wheat’s economic feasibility under local conditions; identify the main constraints to production and devise corrective measures; and conserve their own elite germplasm (seeds and genetic material).

“Based on whatever results the agronomists from Mauritius send us, we can send them more lines from CIMMYT’s wheat germplasm bank and international nurseries,” says Payne. “These lines will have much broader genetic variation and will be even better suited for the island.”

Homegrown wheat could be within reach

For now, growing wheat in Mauritius is still in the early stages; sowing, weeding, harvesting, threshing and winnowing were done manually at Réduit Crop Research Station. One of the next steps will be to research the economic viability of growing and processing wheat using mechanization which will be tested on a much larger scale, possibly with interested farmers in 2009, according to Gungadurdoss.

“Once the economic feasibility is determined, we can decide on our future move: maybe large-scale production in line with cross border initiatives with Madagascar or Mozambique to substitute part of our imports can be considered.”

“I think Mauritius gets enough rainfall for wheat, and it’s on roughly the same latitude as countries or regions that get good yields, such as Uruguay, Zimbabwe, and northern Mexico, so high wheat yields should definitely be possible,” says Hans-Joachim Braun, Director of CIMMYT’s Global Wheat Program.

For more information: Tom Payne, Head, Wheat Germplasm Bank (t.payne@cgiar.org)

More stories on agriculture in Mauritius (both in French)

Mala Gungadurdoss (Areu) : «Du riz et du blé Made in Mauritius, c’est possible»

Le blé made in Mauritius bientôt à portée de bouche

CIMMYT E-News, vol 5 no. 1, January 2008

CIMMYT’s partnerships on maize in eastern Africa hark back to the 1960s, when the center was launched. Formal networking since that time with researchers and extension workers, policy makers, non-government organizations, seed companies, millers, and farmers have culminated in successful breeding and dissemination teams and promising new varieties rated highly by farmers. Awards to teams in Tanzania and Ethiopia recently highlighted the value of these partnerships.

During a travel workshop, CIMMYT and national scientists observing maize breeding and dissemination activities in Ethiopia, Kenya, Tanzania, and Uganda jointly selected the recipients of the two awards, one for the best regional technology dissemination team, led by the Selian Agricultural Research Institute (SARI), Tanzania, and one for the best regional maize breeding team for drought tolerance: the Ethiopian Institute of Agricultural Research (EIAR)-Melkassa Research Centre.

“The awards recognize the products of long-term collaboration and team-building in the region, oriented towards the rapid development, release, and scaling-up of locally adapted, stress tolerant, and nutritionally enhanced maize varieties,” says Wilfred Mwangi, leader of the Drought Tolerant Maize for Africa (DTMA) project, which was launched in 2006 and which sponsored the awards. “We hope the awards will encourage result-oriented team approaches, such as those we pursue in the DTMA project.”

Ethiopia’s outstanding breeders

Dr. Aberra Deressa, the Ethiopian State Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development and Guest of Honor, presented the special award to the Ethiopian Institute for Agricultural Research (EIAR) team in Melkassa for work that resulted in the release of five new drought tolerant maize varieties since 2000. In on-farm and on-station tests for yield and agronomic performance at 14 moisture-stressed locations, the new varieties out-yielded leading maize cultivars by more than 30%. Farmers particularly preferred one variety, Melkassa-2, for its white seed and intermediate maturity, so seed of the variety was multiplied on farmers’ fields and distributed to the community.

“The Melkassa team also produced and sold basic seed of the five varieties to Ethiopian maize seed producers, including the Ethiopian Seed Enterprise, which then produced certified seed,” says Alpha Diallo, CIMMYT regional maize breeder who collaborated with the Ethiopian team on the development and identification of these varieties. “The varieties have since been promoted through field demonstrations and field days.”

“We have enjoyed great support for capacity building from CIMMYT over many years,” said Dr. Aberra Deressa. “We consider CIMMYT to be part of our national maize program and recommend this model for adoption by other partners.”

The miller’s tale: Better nutrition and more cash

The award-winning multidisciplinary team from Tanzania comprised breeders, agronomists, socio-economists, seed producers (including farmers), and millers, and was led by the Selian Agricultural Research Institute (SARI) in Arusha. Maize flour in eastern Africa is used mostly to make the starchy staple food known as ugali, and maize provides the bulk of inhabitants’ energy and protein in Tanzania. Three new varieties for which the Tanzanian research team received the Technology Dissemination Award are quality protein maize (QPM) varieties, which looks and performs like normal maize, but whose grain provides higher levels of lysine and tryptophan—amino acids essential for growth in humans and farm animals.

Tanzania’s promotion of QPM for milling is helping to increase the demand for QPM seed among farmers. Two millers, Nyirefami Limited and the Grain and Flour Enterprise, are producing QPM ugali flour. They hope eventually to replace conventional maize flour to satisfy the country’s growing appetite for QPM ugali and improve its nutritional well-being. “The Dissemination Team Award recognizes efforts that bring all the necessary players together—from breeders to NGOs to seed companies, and even millers, involving farmers along the way, to get the (QPM) technology to consumers,” says Dennis Friesen, CIMMYT maize agronomist for eastern Africa.

Farmers: From on-lookers to leaders

CIMMYT has supported partners in applying participatory approaches to evaluate new cultivars systematically and cost-effectively under resource-poor farmers’ conditions, as well as giving farmers a voice in determining whether any maize cultivar will become available on the market. In the case of the three QPM varieties in Tanzania, farmers particularly liked one for its superior yields, good tip cover, and greater resistance to the regionally-serious disease, maize streak virus.

Dr. Jeremiah Haki, Tanzania’s Director of Research and Training, Ministry of Agriculture, Food Security and Cooperatives, has commended CIMMYT for promoting farmer participation. “The farmer is often left out in both variety development and dissemination; no wonder they do not find the resultant varieties as being appropriate to them and worth adopting,” says Haki. “Through our partnership with CIMMYT, seed companies, NGOs and farmer groups, we have placed strong emphasis on working with farmers. The result is good varieties which have a strong farmer acceptance.”

Support that enables research collaboration to lead to impact in farmers’ fields

Research and development activities that enabled these teams to succeed and bring new maize varieties to farmers have taken place via multiple projects, most recently supported by agencies including CIDA-Canada, the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), the Rockefeller Foundation, BMZ-Germany, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, and the Howard G. Buffett Foundation. This and other work in the region has been executed by CIMMYT in collaboration with the Association for Strengthening Agricultural Research in Eastern and Central Africa (ASARECA), as well as public, private, NGO and CBO partners, according to Friesen. “The projects are mutually supportive,” he says. “They share complementary outputs and activities integrated in a consolidated framework, to develop and promote new varieties that tolerate drought and low soil fertility, resist pests and diseases, and offer better nutritional quality.”

And the final word

Isaka Mashauri from TanSeed, one of the recipients of the Tanzania team award, calls the success of these partnerships “of paramount importance.”

“Thank you very much for the award,” he says. “It greatly excited and motivated us to register more new and better maize varieties and hybrids in coming years, and to reach more farmers with new maize technologies.”

For more information: Wilfred Mwangi, project leader, DTMA (w.mwangi@cgiar.org), or Dennis Friesen, maize agronomist (d.friesen@cgiar.org)