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Tanzanian mother takes charge of change

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nov04Through their own determination, and with support from local researchers, CIMMYT, ICRISAT, and organizations in Australia, sub-Saharan African farmers are applying improved maize-legume cropping systems to grow more food and make money.

On a hot August day near the village of Kilima Tembo, and amid the sounds of barking dogs and clucking chickens, Felista Mateo stepped out of the house she built by hand, walked into her fields, and proudly admired her maize crop. The plants reached toward the sun, verdant and strong. Her plot stood in stark contrast to neighboring fields, which were pocked by brittle, knee-high plants.

A few years ago, things did not look so promising for Felista. She had separated from her husband and was left alone to care for her four children. Felista is a slight woman, not much more than five-feet tall, but her appearance belies her strength. Typically, a separated woman is ostracized when she returns to her parents’ home. Felista refused to see her newfound independence as an affliction. In Kilima Tembo, women do not own land, but Felista set out to acquire a plot from her father. She was determined to succeed. After the elders of the Village Council gave their approval, Felista became an independent farmer. It was this same strength of character that made her the perfect candidate for a new pilot program in the area.

Maize-legume intercrops boost African farmers’ food security and incomes

Intercrops with legumes are popular among small-scale farmers in sub-Saharan Africa: they increase grain output per unit land area, help block weed growth, contribute to soil fertility, and reduce the risk of total crop failure. Launched in 2010, SIMLESA is a collaborative effort between CIMMYT (the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center) and national agricultural research and extension systems in Ethiopia, Kenya, Tanzania, Malawi, and Mozambique, to improve the productivity of smallholder farmers growing maize and legume crops. Partners include the International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT), Tanzania’s Selian Agricultural Research Institute (SARI), the Association for Strengthening Agricultural Research in Eastern and Central Africa (ASARECA), the Agricultural Research Council (ARC) of South Africa, Murdoch University, and the Queensland Department of Employment, Economic Development and Innovation (QDEEDI) and Murdoch University. SIMLESA is supported by a grant from the government of Australia through the Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research (ACIAR). Activities include socioeconomic studies, market and value chain analysis, and directly involving farmers in the testing and selecting of crop varieties and conservation agriculture practices for tropical maize-legume intercropping systems.

New intercrop fills her granary
Frank Swai is an extension agent with the Ministry of Agriculture who works with farmers and the Selian Agricultural Research Institute. He convinced Felista to plant a new kind of maize seed and advised her on better farming practices. Felista listened. She planted both the high-yielding maize Frank suggested and a tasty, early-maturing variety of pigeon pea. Neighbors were skeptical. Initially, Felista was the only one in the community who participated in the project. Villagers watched closely as Felista planted a crop never before seen in the area.

Months later, when it came time to harvest, it was clear Felista’s hard work had paid off. She grew enough maize to feed her children and had leftovers to sell in the market. “My yields have increased so much that I’m going to have to build a larger granary to store my harvest,” she said.

Enough to eat and export
Felista was aware that pigeon peas were exported directly to India, but in Tanzania farmers don’t sell directly to international markets. Instead, crops are sold through walanguzi, a pejorative term used to describe the middlemen who dominate the markets. Nevertheless, Felista retained some bargaining power with the middlemen by finding out actual market prices in India from Frank Swai, and by storing her harvest in her granary, waiting to sell until prices were high. Tanzanian farmers won’t ever be free of the walanguzi, but they can further their interests by banding together to get the lowest prices on inputs such as seed and fertilizer, and the most for their exports.

Her risk pays off
Felista is not your average Tanzanian farmer. Her hard work paid off. Had she failed, she may have been left trying to scrape together enough to survive. Tanzanian farmers like Felista have little margin for error. Initially, she planted three-fourths of an acre as requested by the pilot program. Next year, she plans to plant more. She now trusts the SIMLESA project and is willing to try new seed, different crops, and alternative farming methods. Others in the community have noticed. “My neighbors admire my crop since I planted the improved seed,” said Felista, as she waved a hand over her field, “and are also interested in joining the project.”

Felista waded into her field to pose for a photo. The maize towered above her head. A breeze whistled through the plants and she wrapped herself in a bright yellow kanga. As she steadied herself for the photo her eyes danced over her home and fields. A small, relieved look pushed up her face and then spread into a full, joyous smile.

For more information: Mulugetta Mekuria, CIMMYT Southern Africa regional liaison officer and SIMLESA project leader
(m.mekuria@cgiar.org)
See also:

New boost for maize-legume cropping in eastern and southern Africa

Simlesa’s most recent activites

Syngenta-CIMMYT partnership to advance wheat research

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CIMMYT has entered into a partnership with Syngenta to focus on the development and advancement of technology in wheat, the most internationally traded food crop and the single largest food import in developing countries. The agreement will entail joint research and development in the areas of native and genetically-modified traits, hybrid wheat, and the combination of seeds and crop protection to accelerate plant yield performance.

The agreement will leverage Syngenta’s highly developed genetic marker technology, advanced traits platform and wheat breeding for the developed world, along with CIMMYT’s access to wheat genetic diversity, global partnership network, and wheat breeding program targeted to the developing world.

“Global wheat production is increasing at only 0.9% each year,” said Hans-Joachim Braun, Director of CIMMYT’s Global Wheat Program. “This is a very critical issue as global demand is growing at 1.5% or more annually. Combined with the impacts of climate change, we must avoid the risk of another food crisis and ensure farmers across the world are equipped to meet the demands of a rising world population. Partnerships like this can greatly benefit the world’s farmers, rich and poor.”

For more information:
Mike Listman
Corporate Communications, CIMMYT
Tel: +52 55 5804 7537
Email: m.listman@cgiar.org

Read media release on Syngenta website http://www2.syngenta.com/en/media/mediareleases/en_100406.html

(the release includes a 7 min 20 sec video interview with John Atkin, Syngenta COO Crop Protection, and Hans-Joachim Braun, director of CIMMYT’s global wheat program)

Blind to borers

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CIMMYT E-News, vol 3 no. 7, July 2006

jul01Convincing risk-averse, resource-poor farmers to adopt a good technology is hard enough when they can see the enemy, but what if the enemy hides from view?

Maize farmers in Africa struggle every day to protect their crop from pests. Some are obvious and relatively easy to control. After all, you can throw stones at a baboon that comes in for a meal and scarecrows and slingshots can stop birds.

One of the most damaging pests though does everything by stealth, virtually invisible to farmers. The moths that are parents to a class of pests called stem borers lay their eggs at night, on the underside of the emerging leaves of young maize plants. The caterpillars that hatch from the eggs soon make their way into the stalk itself, safe from all predators, including farmers.

“Many farmers in Kenya don’t even know their maize fields have a stem borer problem, yet these insects cost them some 400,000 tons in lost harvest each year,” says CIMMYT maize breeder Stephen Mugo.

He says the stealthy biology is one reason stem borers are sometimes thought to be less important than other quite visible maize pests like cutworms, armyworms, earworms and beetles. Storage pests like beetles and weevils, together with fungi are also rated high in importance, because their effects can be easily seen. “Farmers routinely attribute the damage to their crops to these pests, and not their ‘invisible’ enemy, the stem borer,” Says Mugo.

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Chemical pesticides could control the two main species of stem borer found in eastern and southern Africa, says entomologist Dr. Macharia Gethi, the Director of the Embu Center of the Kenya Agricultural Research Institute (KARI). “Eggs are laid soon after the maize seedling emerges, around a fortnight after planting, and this is when stem borer control should be applied.” But this rarely happens. “Even farmers who know about stem borers only notice the damage after it’s too late for chemical control. A seed-based technology is what we need,” says Mugo.

In Muconoke village of Embu, located in the dry mid-altitude zone of eastern Kenya, farmers do know about borers and try to fight back. Elizabeth Njura has to apportion her meager budget to buy maize seed, fertilizer, and insecticide. She explains, “If I want a good maize harvest I have no choice but to buy all three.” Smallholder farmers like Njura have little cash for the inputs they need and lack reliable information about pesticide usage. As a result, the hidden borers happily grow in the maize stalk, starving the growing plant of nutrients. Mary Ngare says she is also disappointed with her maize harvest, even though she used the only pesticide she had to try to stop the borers. Unfortunately, what she had was intended for seed treatment and even then she applied it too late. The borers had already penetrated into her maize stalks.

Mugo is convinced that by embedding resistance technology into the maize seed itself, either by conventional breeding or biotechnology, farmers will have access to varieties that show far less borer damage.

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With funding from the Syngenta Foundation for Sustainable Agriculture and the Rockefeller Foundation, CIMMYT is collaborating with the Kenya Agricultural Research Institute (KARI) to develop maize varieties that are resistant to the two most important stem borers in Kenya, Chilo partellus and Busseola fusca, using both conventional breeding and biotechnology. The work, coordinated by Mugo, is part of the Insect Resistant Maize for Africa (IRMA) project.

“Maize that resists stem borer damage would take the guesswork out of stem borer pesticide usage by eliminating it altogether,” says Mugo. He is excited that six of IRMA’s conventionally bred varieties are now in the national variety performance trials in Kenya, and is hopeful that some of these will reach smallholder farmers in the near future.

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

1st ARIA-CIMMYT maize workshop in Kabul, Afghanistan

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ARIA-CIMMYTCIMMYT, with support from the Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research (ACIAR), has been working on maize in Afghanistan for more than ten years, and has contributed to the release—led by the Agricultural Research Institute of Afghanistan (ARIA)—of four maize varieties. Historically, the national research and seed systems have not been as proactive for maize as they have for wheat. However, recognizing that maize can be an effective contributor to overall food production, the recent past has seen efforts to give maize its due importance as a food crop in Afghanistan. To this end, the first ARIA-CIMMYT maize workshop was held at the ARIA conference hall in Kabul on 30 April and 01 May 2012, with the aims of further systematizing maize research in the country and coordinating the efforts of stakeholders.

Maize is the fourth most important cereal crop in Afghanistan, accounting for about 6.8% of total cereal production. It has traditionally played a significant role in Afghan food, and during the pre-conflict period Afghanistan grew maize on about half a million hectares, with production reaching 0.7 million tons and productivity at 1.3–1.6 t/ha. During the last decade, productivity has ranged between 0.9 and 2.6 t/ha with signs of improvement, but the area planted to maize has fallen to about 180,000 hectares and total production has hovered around 0.3 million tones. The country has been importing maize to meet its needs, spending about four million USD during 2009.

The workshop was inaugurated by Sahib Dad Pakbin, senior advisor to ARIA. He welcomed the CIMMYT initiative and said he hoped the workshop would lead to increased coordination and more effective contributions by maize researchers in the country. Rajiv Sharma, CIMMYT’s country liaison officer for Afghanistan, highlighted the important supplementary role maize could play in enhancing wheat-based farm-level productivity. A total of 28 participants attended and gave presentations at the workshop, from ARIA, CIMMYT, the Afghan Ministry of Agriculture, Irrigation and Livestock (MAIL), FAO, the International Center for Agricultural Research in the Dry Areas (ICARDA), and private sector seed companies. The themes covered included the importance of maize in Afghanistan, maize agronomy, maize breeding, seed production, and the maize research network in Afghanistan.

All the participants were excited by the opportunity to collaborate with fellow researchers, in particular the ARIA maize researchers by the chance to connect with colleagues from other research stations. They expressed immense satisfaction at being able to share and link their proposed research plans for the ensuing maize season. ARIA director Qasem Obaidi thanked CIMMYT for its contributions in providing this opportunity and expressed the wish that it would be repeated in years to come to facilitate meaningful coordination, not only among researchers but also other stakeholders such as seed producers.

Pathways to intensification project formulated

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During 27-28 April 2012, CIMMYT’s Socioeconomics Program organized a formulation meeting in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia for its Technology Adoption and Intensification Pathways project. More than 35 participants from five African countries attended the meeting. The group included economists, agronomists, and breeders, drawn from CIMMYT; the Australian Center for International Agricultural Research (ACIAR); the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI); the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI); national agricultural research institutions; the University of Queensland, Australia; the Norwegian University of Life Sciences (UMB); and universities from member countries of the Sustainable Intensification of Maize-Legume Cropping Systems for Food Security in Eastern and Southern Africa (SIMLESA) project. The objectives of the meeting were to discuss the project proposal with stakeholders, reflect on the in-house review comments by ACIAR, and develop the full proposal by developing a clear impact pathway. The four-year project is expected to develop actionable strategies and policy options for technology targeting and facilitating the adoption of integrated interventions.

The director of the Australian International Food Security Centre (AIFSC), Mellissa Wood, gave a keynote address on “New opportunities for enhancing food security in Africa”. She noted that food security remains an ongoing challenge in Africa, to which Australia is well placed to contribute thanks to its agricultural research expertise. The Australian Government has therefore renewed its focus on food security through rural development initiatives and the establishment of AIFSC. She pointed out that AIFSC’s mission is to accelerate demand-driven research, delivery and adoption of innovations to improve food security, by bridging the gap through agricultural research; understanding the requirements of smallholder production systems; understanding constraints to adoption of research outputs; and devising new modalities to overcome such constraints.

The meeting also benefited from key presentations by CIMMYT, partner institutions, and universities on key topics; break-out group discussions; and a brainstorming session. The new project has four main objectives: (1) panel data collection in sentinel villages and understanding of barriers to technology adoption; (2) risk analysis and adaptation options to manage climate risk and variability; (3) impact assessment and analysis of household intensification pathways; and (4) capacity building in gender-disaggregated agricultural policy analysis and communication of results.
Pathways-formulation-Meeting-Group-Photo

The promise of spring maize for farmers in Haryana, India

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HMRP-2012-Photo-Community-Seed-Promotors-Training-Rampur1For decades, rice and wheat have been the main crops grown in Haryana, India, but with increasing degradation of natural resources, the focus has turned to finding viable alternatives to ensure future food and livelihood security.

Over the last few years, high yielding maize hybrids have been tested during the short window following the potato harvest in Spring. The results are promising, showing that using a rice-potato-maize cropping system could produce more than 30 tons of food per hectare each year. This would increase not only productivity and profitability but would also address the emerging challenges of water scarcity and terminal heat effects, and offer solutions for different production environments.

To explore these findings in more detail, a multi-stakeholder consultation was organized by the Cereal Systems Initiative for South Asia (CSISA)-Haryana (CIMMYT-IRRI) in partnership with the CCS Haryana Agricultural University (HAU), Haryana State Department of Agriculture, Haryana Farmers Commission, the Directorate of Maize Research (DMR) of the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR), the Indian Maize Development Association (IMDA), and local maize farmers. The event, which took place on 19 April 2012 in Haryana, attracted around 350 farmers from five local districts, and 75 scientists and staff from public and private organizations.

The consultation included a farm visit, success stories, and presentations aiming to raise awareness about the potential of spring maize. Discussions explored domestic and international market potential; promotion of natural resource conservation methods; investments; technological advancements; new agricultural policy; and capacity building, not only for current farmers, but also for women and younger farmers.

Several speakers emphasized that joint effort would help to achieve more: CIMMYT cropping systems agronomist M.L. Jat suggested that building strong partnerships across the sector would be crucial for achieving sustainability, while R.S. Paroda of Haryana Kisan Ayog advised farmers to form self-help groups to share knowledge and experience.

Eminent scientist, former CIMMYT maize breeder, and World Food Prize laureate Surinder K. Vasal emphasized the need to strengthen research on maize hybrids in view of the changing climate. DMR director R. Sai Kumar explained how the available hybrids suited each different situation. Further support and advice was offered to farmers by J.S. Dhankar, director of extension education at CCS HAU and by IMDA president Sain Dass, who announced that he would ensure that the starch industry purchase all Haryana maize.

The government of Haryana’s additional director for agriculture, B.S. Duggal, also highlighted the incentive schemes available to promote agricultural diversification. Other participants included Indu Sharma, director of DWR, Karnal; Saroj Jaipal, head of RRS, HAU, Karnal; S.K. Gahlawat, deputy director of Agri, Karnal; Pradeep Meel deputy director of Agri, Yamunanagar; R.S. Sangwan, deputy director of Agri, Kurukshetra; S.P. Goyal, coordinator of Krishi Vigyan Kendras (KVK), Kurukshetra; Dalip Gosain, KVK coordinator, NDRI, Karnal; S.K. Sharma, head of CSSRI Karnal; Virender Kumar, research platform coordinator, CSISA Karnal; and B.R. Kamboj, hub manager, CSISA Haryana.

Version 3.2 of the QTL IciMapping software released

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QTL IciMapping is freely-available public software capable of building high-density genetic maps and mapping quantitative trait loci (QTLs). Compared with previous versions, the latest version has five new features: dominant/recessive markers are considered in recombination frequency estimation, map construction and QTL mapping; a new functionality called IMP can be used to build an integrated map from multiple genetic linkage maps sharing common markers; a new tool called 2pointREC can be used to estimate the pair-wise recombination frequency in biparental populations; many more markers can be handled by this software— for example, it can perform map construction and QTL mapping of more than 5000 markers; and linkage map figures are improved.

The software is project-based; kernel modules for building linkage maps were written using C#, those for QTL mapping were written using Fortran 90/95, and the interface was written using C#. QTL IciMapping runs on 32 and 64-bit computers with Windows XP/Vista/7 and .NET Framework 2.0(x86)/3.0/3.5. Research and development of the software was supported mainly by the CGIAR Generation Challenge Program, National 863 Program, 973 Program, and the Natural Science Foundation of China. The latest version is freely available (here). For more information, contact Dr. Jiankang Wang (jkwang@cgiar.org or wangjk@caas.net.cn).

Strengthening the capacity of maize technicians in Zambia

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course-in-ZambiaDuring the week of 15-20 April 2012, 36 maize technicians participated in a training session in Lusaka, Zambia. The participants were selected from seven seed companies in Zambia, national agricultural research organizations, and NGOs involved in agricultural research and extension in the eastern province of Zambia. The objective of the course was to update maize technical staff on implementing on-station and on-farm trials, seed production, and the use of secondary traits in selecting superior genotypes under low nitrogen, heat and drought trials, and it combined both lectures and field work.

Well-managed experiments provide the foundation of all research towards germplasm improvement. Technicians are responsible for many day-today field activities and much agronomic management, making their training crucial in strengthening the capacity of national programs. The course was organized by three CIMMYT projects—Drought Tolerant Maize for Africa (DTMA), Sustainable Intensification of Maize-Legume Systems for the Eastern Province of Zambia (SIMLEZA) and Improved Maize for African Soils (IMAS.—in collaboration with the Zambian Agricultural Research Institute (ZARI). It was designed to give technicians greater insight into key processes within germplasm development, variety testing and release, and seed production. Emphasis was given to the importance of trial uniformity, good agronomic management practices, and standardizing measurements.

Each project contributed specialized content to the course: under DTMA the focus was on how to select genotypes under managed drought and heat stress, develop a seed production strategy using seed road maps and maintain trial uniformity. The SIMLEZA project emphasized on-farm testing using the Mother-Baby Trial approach while under IMAS the emphasis was on developing low nitrogen sites and important traits to select for production under low nitrogen. CIMMYT thanks the course organizers and resource persons, Kambambe Mwansa and Franscico Miti of the Zambian Agricultural Research Institute, and CIMMYT’s Peter Setimela, Jill Cairns, Biswanath Das and Sebastian Mawere.

Community seed promoters trained in sustainable maize seed production and marketing in Nepal

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Ensuring a market for maize seed produced using community based seed production (CBSP) in the value chain system, and enhancing management and marketing competencies of local partners are among the strategic activities in Phase IV of the Hill Maize Research Project (HMRP), supported by SDC and USAID. The HMRP, in collaboration with the National Maize Research Program (NMRP), completed a 20-day training course on maize seed production technologies (15 days) and seed business plan development and marketing (5 days). The course took place at NMRPRampur, Chitwan, from 27 March to 16 April 2012. A total of 31 participants (11 women) attended the course; they were selected from CBSP groups collaborating with HMRP and are expected to work as community seed promoters in their respective groups afterwards.

The first course component on maize seed production technologies covered diverse topics, such as agronomic practices in maize seed production, farmers’ practices in maize varietal development, source seed production technologies, crop management technology (including insect pest management), improved seed production through CBSP, quality control, and truthful labelling. The second component covered HMRP seed marketing strategies, agricultural marketing, seed production costs, maize seed value-chain analysis, seed business plan development, bookkeeping at the CBSP group level, potential sourcing of local state funds by CBSP groups, the importance of gender equity and social inclusion in the CBSP approach, an introduction to cooperatives and private companies, and the basic legal requirements to establish them.

Each trainee developed a comprehensive action plan and presented it on the last day of the course. Participants were evaluated before and after each course component and the first-ranked candidate was recognized. Speaking at the closing session, Dr. K.B. Koirala, NMRP National Coordinator, expressed his appreciation to the HMRP and emphasized the importance of this type of training for empowering local communities. Dr. G. Ortiz-Ferrara, HMRP Team Leader, thanked the course participants, training coordinator, and resource persons for their help and cooperation in making the course a success. Finally, Dr. Koirala and Dr. Ortiz-Ferrara jointly distributed certificates and training kits to all participants.

HMRP-2012-Photo-Community-Seed-Promotors-Training-Rampur1

Workshop on enabling technologies and environments for climate resilient future farming systems in Jharkhand, India

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A two-day workshop on potential technologies and policy environments for smallholder rainfed maize farming systems of Jharkhand state, India was organized jointly by Birsa Agriculture University (BAU), CIMMYT, and the International Plant Nutrition Institute (IPNI) during 16-17 April, 2012 at Ranchi, Jharkhand, India. The outcomes of the workshop will form part of CIMMYT’s IFAD-funded project on “Sustainable Intensification of Smallholder Maize-Livestock Farming Systems in Hill Areas of South Asia” and the MAIZE CGIAR Research Program (CRP).

There were 69 participants in total, including scientists, extension agents (KVKs), and students from BAU; key officials from the state department of agriculture National Food Security Mission (NFSM); and scientists from IPNI, the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI), and CIMMYT. The workshop was inaugurated by BAU vice chancellor M.P. Pandey, while sessions and break-out group discussions were facilitated by Kaushik Majumdar, director of IPNI’s South Asia Program; JS Choudhary, state NFSM director; AK Sarkar, dean of the College of Agriculture at BAU; ILRI scientist Nils Teufel; CIMMYT scientists M. L. Jat and Surabhi Mittal; and IPNI deputy director T. Satyanarayana.

The workshop was made up of presentations on key topics, break-out group discussions, and a brainstorming session. The overall key themes were: (1) current status, constraints, and opportunities in different regions of Jharkhand , (2) conservation agriculture in maize and wheat systems, (3) approaches for crop-livestock integration, (4) integrated farming systems for food and nutritional security, (5) optimizing nutrient management for improved yield and profitability, and (6) approaches for inclusive growth for Jharkhand.

The five break-out groups discussed conservation agriculture (CA); site-specific nutrient management (SSNM); integrated farming systems and crop livestock interactions; enabling policies; and knowledge gaps, partnerships, networks and scaling-out strategies. The discussion outcomes were particularly focused on technology targeting and enabling environments and policies.

Agriculture in Jharkhand is at very low cropping intensity (~114%), despite good rainfall in most districts. The most critical issues include: rolling topography with very small holdings, leading to severe erosion due to lack of appropriate rainwater harvesting; soil acidity; lack of high-yielding stress-tolerant cultivars; very limited mechanization; and poor farmer access to inputoutput markets, coupled with resource poverty.

Building on the experience of CIMMYT’s hill maize project in the state, the participants agreed that optimizing cropping systems deploying CA practices could alleviate many of these problems, and sustainably increase crop production and productivity. Integrating CA with SSNM has shown promising results in improving nutrient use efficiency, currently another bottleneck in productivity gains due to inappropriate nutrient use. Crop-livestock integration is also key, as animals dominate farming in Jharkhand.

To implement these technologies and practices on a large scale, policy support is crucial. The outcomes of the workshop are being documented to serve as a policy paper for prioritization and implementation of technologies by the state, with the goal of arresting land degradation, improving crop productivity, and improving resource use efficiency and farm profitability.

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IITA recognizes DTMA project leader Wilfred Mwangi

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From 16 to 19 April 2012, the Drought Tolerant Maize for Africa (DTMA) project held its regional planning meeting for West Africa in Kumasi, Ghana. During the meeting, IITA Director General Nteranya Sanginga presented Wilfred Mwangi, DTMA Project Leader, with a plaque in “recognition of his leadership in building strong partnerships among diverse institutions for successful implementation of the DTMA project in sub-Saharan Africa”.CIMMYT work revolves around leveraging partnerships. At a maize and wheat meeting in January, Deputy Director General for Research and Partnerships Marianne BĂ€nziger described Mwangi as “a person who builds bridges.”

Since the inception of DTMA, Mwangi, who is also Associate Director of the Global Maize Program and Regional Liaison Officer, has been involved in building partnerships with donors, research institutions, and seed companies in 13 countries across the region. “To have a sister institution recognize our partnership is really great,” said Mwangi noting that getting everyone involved in the project to read from the same script has not been an easy task.

MELISA: Mechanization for SIMLESA

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Farm mechanization has progressed little if at all in sub-Saharan Africa, due to a lack of demand, promotion of unsuitable or unreliable machines, little support infrastructure, promotion of inappropriate machinery, an overriding development focus on seeds and fertilizer, and negative perceptions about the social and equity effects of mechanization.

During 10-13 April 2012, more than 50 participants from 12 countries in eastern and southern Africa took part in a workshop organized by the CIMMYT global conservation agriculture program to re-explore the issue and help develop a proposal for the project “Mechanization, entrepreneurship, and conservation agriculture to leverage sustainable intensification in eastern and southern Africa” (MELISA), which will build upon the ACIAR-funded project SIMLESA. The group included agronomists, socioeconomists, agricultural engineers, and private sector representatives.

Re-opening the debate about mechanization was deemed timely because farming in the region relies on increasingly fewer draft animals, tractor hiring schemes have collapsed, field labor is in ever-shorter supply, and the extreme drudgery of many farm operations often falls to women and generally makes agriculture unattractive to the young.

The project is expected to build on experiences with small-scale, intensified farming systems in South Asia—for example, 80% of all operations in Bangladesh are mechanized and mostly done by service providers—and on SIMLESA networks and activities to test and promote conservation agriculture. Both small-scale mechanization and conservation agriculture promise to improve smallholders’ “power” budget: mechanization increases the supply, whereas conservation agriculture reduces the demand by about half; thus smaller, more affordable sources of power, such as two-wheel tractors, can be used. Similarly, shifting from draft animals to tractors would free up substantial biomass (a pair of oxen consumes about nine tons of forage per year) that can be left as residues on the soil. As specific objectives, MELISA will:

  1. evaluate and demonstrate small-scale motorized conservation agriculture technologies in Ethiopia, Kenya, Mozambique, Malawi, Tanzania, and Zimbabwe, using expertise, knowledge, skills, and implements from Africa, South Asia, and Australia;
  2. test site-specific market systems to support mechanization in those countries;
  3. identify improvements in national policies and markets for wide adoption; and
  4. create awareness and share knowledge about mechanization.

The project will be submitted to ACIAR Australia and, if approved, could start in late 2012.

MELISA

Strengthening the capacity of technicians in insect mass rearing

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curso-insect-mass-rearingInsect Resistant Maize for Africa (IRMA) and its sister project, Water Efficient Maize for Africa (WEMA), have embarked on an initiative to train personnel in mass rearing of insects and develop rearing facilities. These insects are used in evaluation of maize resistance to insect damage. Through the initiative, 12 technicians from Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, and Mozambique participated in a Stem Borer Mass Rearing Training Course held at the Kenya Agricultural Research Institute (KARI)-Katumani, Machakos, Kenya during 25 March-05 April 2012.

The course was co-organized by CIMMYT, the African Agricultural Technology Foundation (AATF), KARI, and Monsanto. It designed to empower technicians from the WEMA project partner countries to undertake mass rearing of stem borers; establish and manage mass rearing facilities; and effectively conduct research on stem borers in field trials. It provided hands-on training, focusing on establishment of mass rearing units, facilities, equipment, diet ingredients, and lab safety regulations; colony establishment and maintenance, diet sorting, preparation and infestation; and management of stem borer larvae, pupae, moths, and eggs.

Underscoring the importance of the course, CIMMYT maize breeder Stephen Mugo noted that insect pests had become major problems in maize production, affecting 46% of the global maize growing area and destroying 25% of the global crop annually, equivalent to 52 million metric tons valued at USD 5.7 billion. Farmers trying to control the pests across the globe use USD 550 million worth of insecticides annually. Further, over 60% of these losses occur in the tropics where environmental conditions are favorable for stem borers year round.

Explaining the inclusion of insect protection in WEMA, Mugo noted that water stressed maize suffers more from stem borer infestation. “Drought and insect damage may lead to crop failure. The development of products with combined drought tolerance and insect protection would greatly enhance the benefits to smallholder maize growers in Africa.”

Tadele Tefera, CIMMYT maize entomologist and one of the course facilitators, pointed out that each of the four control methods for maize stem borer—biological, chemical, cultural and host plant resistance (HPR)—has its own limitations. However, considering that for reasons of costs and availability of pest control methods farmers often use no control measures at all, HPR is the easiest control method for subsistence farmers to adopt and use as the resistance is embedded in the seed. However, HPR needs investment in germplasm development and screening, a process that requires insect pests, hence the need to establish insect mass rearing facilities.

Stella Adupo, a participant from Uganda, exuded confidence that she had acquired adequate skills to undertake mass rearing of insects. Like other participants, she promised to establish a mass rearing facility, at the National Crops Resources Research Institute (NaCCRI), Namulonge, Uganda.

Speaking at the end of the course, Charles Kariuki, center director of KARI-Katumani, noted that food insecurity is partly due to lack of technical personnel to develop suitable technology and to advise farmers. “You have now gained this very important technical know-how on mass rearing. It is important that you apply this knowledge. More importantly, you must endeavor to pass the knowledge to others, at least train 2-3 people on insect mass rearing at your institution for greater impact.”

He advised the participants to read more on insect mass rearing to expand their knowledge and understand the discipline, and become more professional and efficient in their work. He thanked CIMMYT for its support in research and capacity-building.

Board of Trustees meetings at El BatĂĄn

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The bi-annual Board of Trustees (BoT) meeting commenced at CIMMYT headquarters at El Batán on 31 March 2012. In his opening report to the board, Director General Thomas Lumpkin described developments at CIMMYT over the past 6 months. “Our stature is rising. Our capacity is rising. But the challenges we are facing—especially taking into consideration climate change and population increases—are just daunting,” he said.

This session of meetings was the first chaired by Sara Boettiger, who has served on the BoT for the past eight years, and took over the position of Board Chair from Julio Antonio Berdegué Sacristån in October 2011. Boettiger, originally from the US, also serves as an Adjunct Professor at UC Berkeley in the Department of Agricultural and Research Economics.

During the meetings, Boettiger applauded CIMMYT’s “reputation for professionalism from our partners and collaborators.” CIMMYT’s funding strategy was also highlighted as forward thinking and innovative. Rather than the traditional model of investment from industrialized nations such as the US, Germany, and the UK, CIMMYT has undergone a shift in its funding in the past 5 years, with the largest proportion of funding currently sourced from emerging market countries.

During a summary report to CIMMYT staff on 04 April 2012, Boettiger stated, “globally, emerging markets are going to be the strength of the world. These will be the powerhouses funding agricultural development.” Recent reports show that half of the world’s GDP comes from emerging markets. They also produce a third of the world’s exports and are home to 85 percent of the world’s population. In recent years, CIMMYT has made a concerted effort to strengthen linkages with emerging market countries such as India, where CIMMYT launched the newly established Borlaug Institute for South Asia (BISA) in October 2011, as well as China where CIMMYT currently has the largest research capacity of any of the CGIAR centers.

Upcoming events were also discussed during the meetings, including the G20 in Mexico, and the impending visit to CIMMYT of the CGIAR’s new CEO, Frank Rijsberman, who will come in June after representing the CGIAR at Rio+20.

During the four-day meeting, BoT members had their first opportunity to tour the construction sites and new facilities being developed at CIMMYT headquarters. The project—which is to include new biotechnology buildings, labs, greenhouses, and housing facilities—will conclude later this year and an event to officially inaugurate the facilities is set to take place by 2013.

The next BoT meeting will take place in October 2012.

BOT-at-const-site

Diversifying rice cropping systems in Karnataka, India

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Farmers in the Upper Krishna Project (UKP) command area of Karnataka State in southwestern India traditionally grow two crops of rice each year, but recent water shortages have seriously cut into harvests and farm profits for the winter crop. As part of the Cereal Systems Initiative for South Asia (CSISA) satellite hub in Karnataka, the University of Agricultural Sciences-Raichur (UAS), in collaboration with CIMMYT, the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI), and other public and private sector partners, have begun testing and promoting winter maize sown using zero tillage as an alternative. Coverage the first year (2011) reached 1,200 hectares and the practice has caught the attention of farmers, as well as several research and development organizations.

On 18 March 2012, the UAS, CIMMYT, and IRRI, together with the company Ganga-Kavery Seeds and the Directorate of Maize Research of the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR), organized a multi-stakeholder consultation on cropping diversification through the promotion of zero-till maize in fields at Devapur Cross, Bairamaddi Village Clusters, Shahpur Block, Yadgir District, Karnataka. The event drew more than 200 participants, including 160 farmers from Gulbarga, Koppal, Raichur, and Yadagir Districts, and 45 scientists and extension agents from various research stations of UAS-Raichur, the State Department of Agriculture, and Ganga-Kaveri Seeds.

KarnatakaDiscussions covered laser leveling, direct-seeded rice, zero-till maize, conservation agriculture machinery, the turbo seeder for residue management, weed management, pest management, cultivar choices, potential diversification options using resource-conserving technologies, and the potential for diversification and the adoption of water-wise practices to make more efficient and productive use of irrigation water. The operation and benefits of conservation agriculture machinery, including the laser land leveler, zero-till multi-crop planter, and turbo seeder, were demonstrated and explained. Farmers who have adopted the technologies shared their views and encouraged others to adopt.

CIMMYT cropping systems agronomist, M.L. Jat, explained the benefits of conservation agriculture for diverse cropping systems and specifically the practices CSISA is promoting in Karnataka. S.G. Patil, director of education at UAS-R and the person in charge of the Karnataka hub, highlighted activities and progress under the project. R. Sai Kumar, director of the Directorate of Maize Research of ICAR-New Delhi, explained the advantages of single-cross maize hybrids and the importance of quality protein maize (QPM) for nutritional security. B.V. Patil, the vice-chancellor of UAS, Raichur, concluded the meeting by highlighting the need to link farmers and scientists for mutual benefit and learning.

Other participants included B.T. Pujari, director of research, and S.N. Hanchinal, director of extension at UAS-Raichur; B.M.Chittapur, dean of agriculture, College of Agriculture, Bheemarayanagudi; T. Satyanarayana, deputy director, IPNI-South India at Hyderabad; Dr Balaraj, assistant director of agriculture, Surapur; M.R. Ravikumar, marketing manager, Ganga Kaveri Seeds Pvt Ltd, Bengaluru; and U.B. Chandrashekhar, distributor in Karnataka for National Agro-Industries, Ludhiana.