Following on from the story “Improved seed reaches the Pacific” in issue 1750 of the Informa, we would like to recognize the hard work of all those involved in the project “Modernization of maize production in Oaxaca with adapted maize cultivars to increase yields”. The project aims to help farmers in the coastal, Papaloapan and Mixtecas regions of Oaxaca to access and produce improved maize cultivars through a participatory maize breeding (PMB) initiative, and to ensure the in situ conservation of maize diversity. The project was initiated in 2009 and is a collaboration between CIMMYT and the research extension services of the Autonomous University of Chapingo’s South Regional Center (CRUS-UACh) in Oaxaca. It is led by Suketoshi Taba in CIMMYT and Humberto Castro in CRUS-UACh, with the participation of Víctor Chávez of CIMMYT and Eliud Oliva and Iván Vásquez of CRUSUACh, and other staff of both institutions.

Drawing on a diverse gene pool, pre-breeding work at CIMMYT’s maize germplasm bank produced breeder seed of improved open pollinated varieties (OPVs) and inter-variety hybrids (IVHs). Project partners at CRUS-UACh produced declared seed (an intermediate category in the national seed system with less purity than certified seed) of these cultivars and delivered them to farmers, along with promising cultivars from other Mexican institutions and landraces collected from the communities. In addition to evaluation at CIMMYT, many trials, demonstration plots, and seed increase nurseries have been planted in farmers’ fields in different maize-producing regions in Oaxaca. The best-performing cultivars have been increased to make seed available to farmers and to the germplasm banks for conservation and enhancement. Unlike landraces, the improved varieties have genetic traits that allow mechanization and adoption of modern maize production practices, and high yield potentials similar to commercial hybrids.

The PMB approach has captured the attention of many farmers, students, extension workers, and government personnel who have participated in the project. It has proved its worth as an alternative approach to providing useful exotic germplasm to small-scale farmers in Oaxaca, linking them with public maize research and breeding without generating intellectual property rights claims. It can help in the evolution and conservation of local cultivars through crossing with new germplasm by farmer breeders as well as participating researchers. Farmers’ systems of seed exchange within social networks can operate for the adapted cultivars produced through PMB just as they do for other varieties. As a mark of the project’s rapid success, in the last two years 74 tons of seed have been produced and delivered to farmers for grain, forage, and elote (green ear) production.

After a successful 37-year career and living on 4 continents, most people welcome retirement with open arms. Wayne Haag is not most people. Mission-oriented since childhood, the only question is, where will he end up next?

Assigned to CIMMYT as a Rockefeller Foundation Fellow in 1973, Haag first worked in Mexico alongside Dr Ernest Sprague and the maize team, and later as a maize specialist representing the center in Egypt, Turkey, the Middle East, and the South American region, where he continued until leaving CIMMYT’s employ in 1989. Since that time, and through the end of 2009, he worked with the Sasakawa Global 2000 program, an effort begun by Ryoichi Sasakawa and enlisting the participation and leadership of US President Jimmy Carter and Nobel Peace Laureate Dr. Norman Borlaug, to offer sub-Saharan African farmers technology options for improving their productivity and food security.

During that tenure, in addition to other responsibilities, Haag focused on and promoted quality protein maize (QPM) in 12 project countries. Recently retired from SG 2000, Haag shows no sign of slowing down.

“I’m not ready for full retirement,” says Haag. “I hope to continue to be involved in international agriculture development. What form that will take? I’m not sure quite yet, but am in the process of exploring possibilities.”

Haag served in the US Peace Corps’ first project in Guatemala during 1963-64, an agricultural extension project, at the decree of President John F. Kennedy. Inspired by that experience, he later pursued studies in agricultural development and science at Michigan State University and Pennsylvania State University.

Throughout his long travels and career, Haag has preserved close linkages with CIMMYT friends and partners. “Every national maize program I worked with had a very strong partnership with CIMMYT,” he says. “Even though I may have not been employed by CIMMYT for many years, it is almost as if I have never left.”

This week Haag and his wife Maria were in Mexico to touch base with long-time coworker, friend, and retired CIMMYT Distinguished Scientist, Surinder K. Vasal. Vasal and retired CIMMYT cereal chemist Evangelina Villegas shared the 2000 World Food Prize for their work in the 1970-80s to develop QPM, seen as a breakthrough in maize breeding by Haag and maize scientists around the world. During a visit to El Batán, Haag said he is certain the center’s work with QPM is not done.

“It is my sincere hope that CIMMYT will strengthen its activities in quality protein maize. This can be done by increasing the numbers of maize breeders and concentrating on germplasm maintenance, improvement, and development,” he says. Haag believes CIMMYT can produce QPM open-pollinated varieties and hybrids that also contains enhanced levels of methionine, provitamin A, iron, and zinc. “This seed would revolutionize global maize production and add tremendous value to the crop both in terms of human and animal nutrition,” he says.

The Government of Kenya Prison in Machakos, Kenya, is not your average prison. Here, the inmates have their food security in their hands—quite literally. This is because they work the prison farm, which grows, among other food crops, three new CIMMYT maize varieties.

The prison is situated in a droughtprone area and with 1,000 inmates there at any one time, the prison management needs all the help it can get to feed its inmates. “We need 5 bags of maize daily—for the three meals—for all the inmates.

These new varieties give good yields even when rain is scarce,” says Paul Mukiti, the prison farm manager.

He refers to KDV1, KDV4 and KH500-21A—drought tolerant maize varieties developed by CIMMYT and the Kenya Agricultural Research Institute (KARI), marketed by Dryland Seeds Ltd in eastern Kenya.

The prisoners till the maize fields planted with these varieties under the watchful eye of Mukiti and their wardens.

It all began when Dryland Seeds contacted Mukiti to grow KDV1 and KDV4 on his personal farmland. Impressed by their performance and business potential, Mukiti convinced his superiors to allow him try the grain varieties on the prison farm. Mukiti and his men grew KDV1 in April 2010 and KH500-21A in October of the same year.

“KH-500 needs more rain and takes longer but gives very good yields and that’s why we grew it in October,” says Mukiti. Last year, the prison’s maize farm yielded 170 bags of the two varieties. The prison had enough maize to feed the inmates and a surplus which it sold for extra income.

“This maize has helped us to save a lot of money which we would have been using to buy maize for the inmates,” says Mukiti. Currently, a 90-kilogram bag is retailing at KSh 2,700 (USD 30) and the prison would have spent at least  KSh 13,500 (USD 150) per day to feed the prisoners.  Last April, Mukiti and his men planted three acres to KDV 1 and two acres to KDV 4 and in June the crop was doing well, despite the prevailing drought. Mukiti is thankful for the new seed and confidently awaiting next month’s harvest.

Wheat never sleeps in Nepal. On 28 February 2011, a training course addressing, “Wheat disease scoring methodologies” was held at the National Wheat Research Program, Nepal Agricultural Research Council (NARC), Bhairahawa, in collaboration with CIMMYT.

The course’s objective was to enhance the knowledge and skills of collaborators participating in wheat pathological experiments in Nepal. The workshop provided its participants with instruction on how to obtain good quality, uniform data about wheat diseases. The list of participants included seven scientists and technical officers from various NARC research stations along with five resource persons from NWRP, Bhairahwa –all of whom are actively involved in collaborative wheat pathological research experiments at their research stations.

The training course included both theory and practical sessions that each addressed various aspects of wheat diseases. Janmejai Tripathi, NWRP Wheat Coordinator, delivered a brief introduction about the importance of wheat disease training and the NARSCIMMYT collaboration in Nepal and South Asia.

After opening announcements and addresses, six sessions were conducted to share and discuss the most current ideas on rusts and foliar blight diseases. Also, instruction touched on scoring methodologies at field level.

Deepak Bhandari, NARC wheat pathologist, took the lead in explaining wheat rusts and leaf blight scoring while Nutan Raj Gautam, NARC wheat breeder, was the main person to explain integrating these tools into the wheat breeding process.

Next, participants were taken to the wheat plots where they practiced scoring for each of the three rusts and leaf blight; detailing the scoring method, characteristics of disease symptoms, the differences between each of the rust, and how to record diseases at different growth stages.  All the attendees received an information sheet providing information such as symptoms, scoring methods, inoculation approaches, and proper growth stages for scoring. Participants carried these around throughout the training to make additional notes. The participants appreciated the experience, saying that it improved their ability to record important wheat diseases (rusts and leaf blight) and to plan for the promotion of pathological experiments. It also updated them on the most current NARS/CIMMYT wheat pathological research.