From 29 October to 01 November 2009, 14 mid-level managers from CIMMYT and the International Center for Tropical Agriculture worked intensively on their managerial skills as part of the First Level Leadership Development Program imparted by the global management consulting firm “HayGroup” and hosted by CIMMYT at El Batán. As part of the course, supervisors and selected peers and subordinates were asked to provide feedback on participants’ emotional intelligence, management styles, and other key leadership competencies. The course was co-facilitated by CIMMYT knowledge, information and training manager, Petr Kosina, who said that over 40 CIMMYT staff had already taken the course in the past five years. “Participants of this course value particularly the 360-degree survey, which provides objective feedback on how their colleagues, subordinates, and supervisors see them,” said Kosina. “It’s often only after seeing this feedback that they realize the big influence they have over the creation of a healthy and motivational climate within their work teams.”

As they have in past years, staff from the Applied Biotechnology Center constructed an altar as part of their Day of the Dead celebration, a traditional Mexican holiday that commiserates the lives of those who have passed. This year the altar was dedicated to Norman Borlaug, the late father of the Green Revolution and important part the CIMMYT family.

Partners of the “Sustainable intensification of rice-maize production systems in Bangladesh” met 25-29 October 2009 for the project’s first annual review—the program started in June 2008 and will run until 2013. Nearly 50 people attended the meeting held at the Bangladesh Rice Research Institute (BRRI) in Gazipur, Bangladesh. The Australian Center for International Agricultural Research (ACIAR) funds the project, which focuses on research and technology delivery for conservation agriculture (CA) and site-specific nutrient management (SSNM).

Several speakers opened the meeting, including Jagadish Timsina, senior CIMMYT-IRRI (International Rice Research Institute) cropping system agronomist. Timsina highlighted the teamwork between CIMMYT, IRRI, and multiple organizations in Bangladesh who together are working to develop, test, and disseminate sustainable CA-based management systems for highly intensive and productive rice-maize systems. CIMMYT and IRRI are jointly implementing the project. Representatives from the Bangladesh Agricultural Research Institute (BARI), BRRI, IRRI, and CIMMYT also delivered speeches, presented project results, and collaborated to form a revised work plan for the project’s next four years.

The last three days of activities took place in the research stations of BARI, BRRI, and the Bangladesh Academy for Rural Development (BARD), as well as at on-farm sites in Rajshahi and Comilla. Scientists spoke with farmers about the benefits of CA technologies and received feedback from the farmers about the different technologies tested in their fields as well as overall project activities. First year CA activities for maize primarily focused on seeding on flat land with a power tiller operated seeder (PTOS) and seeding with a bed former/planter on raised beds under reduced tillage. For rice, emphasis has been on direct-seeded rice with the PTOS, direct-seeded rice using a bed former/planter, and transplanting seedlings on raised beds.

In the Comilla project sites, locally managed by BARD, participants focused on SSNM trials. Three treatments for rice are currently being tested in these trials: farmers’ current fertilizer management practice, BRRI’s current recommendations, and the Nutrient Manager softwarebased recommendations. The goal of these comparison trials is to refine and evaluate Nutrient Manager and to optimize fertilizer recommendations to achieve the best benefits for farmers.

Representatives from the International Plant Nutritional Institute, Delhi and the Cereal Systems Initiative for South Asia (CSISA) also attended the meeting.

Coworkers, family, and friends gathered on 23 October 2009 in El Batán’s Rincón Mexicano to say goodbye to Kevin Pixley, former associate director of the Global Maize Program (GMP), who will start work at the University of Wisconsin in November. He will remain involved with CIMMYT activities as a partnered scientist and will dedicate 50% of his time to HarvestPlus, an international, interdisciplinary program to alleviate nutritional deficiency through breeding micronutrient-enriched staple foods.

“I hope it isn’t too unfair of me to enjoy a goodbye party, since I will be coming back frequently to continue working on old projects, and hopefully new ones as well,” Pixley joked after a round of emotional goodbyes and well wishes.

Pixley joined CIMMYT in 1990 as a Ph.D. student and moved three years later to Zimbabwe to work as a maize breeder and later as the director of the regional program. He then spent time as the director of CIMMYT’s Tropical Ecosystems Program and coordinator of HarvestPlus maize, altogether totaling nearly 20 years with CIMMYT.

During the farewell party, colleagues bestowed Pixley with three plaques—presented by Marianne Bänziger, deputy director general for research and partnerships; Raymundo López, Agua Fría Station superintendent; and Ignacia García, program assistant who presented on behalf of GMP-Colombia—and many remarked upon his outstanding leadership and teaching qualities. “When I first came into the (Global Maize) program, all I knew about maize was how to eat it,” laughed George Mahuku, senior scientist/pathologist, adding that under Pixley’s guidance he has learned a lot. After speeches, gifts, and a moving piano and vocal rendition of “Hey Jude,” by Marcelo Pérez, Pixley and his wife Jill were serenaded by mariachis and enjoyed a video about Pixley’s time at CIMMYT.

“It’s not easy to leave a job that offers daily challenges and opportunities to contribute meaningfully—even in a small way—toward a better world,” Pixley wrote in a goodbye email. “I’ve seen many changes at CIMMYT, but a shared passion and dedication to our mission remains the force that brings each of us to CIMMYT, lures each of us daily to the field, lab, office, meeting room, airport… and defines our individual and institutional character. It has been my great pleasure and privilege to work with you, and I thank you all!”

Three years of sowing experience with conservation agriculture (CA) practices in a rice-wheat system at an agricultural outreach station (KVK) in the Jamui district of Bihar State in India have been successful. So far, results show that dry, direct-seeded rice or transplanted rice on permanent beds give higher yields than other crop establishment methods, said KVK agronomist P.K. Singh to visitors during a CA farmer’s field day.

Held on 19 October 2009, the event included 50 farmers, 10 service providers, and 9 representatives from the Bihar State Department of Agriculture. KVK’s program coordinator, R.N. Singh, opened the event with remarks on how increasing input costs and labor shortages are pushing up the cost of rice production in the predominantly rice-growing districts of Jamui and Lakheesarai. CA-based practices, he emphasized, are one way farmers can cut costs and improve yields, making farming more sustainable and economically viable. The district agricultural officer, Manoj Kumar, added that the introduction of winter maize will help diversify the current rice-wheat systems and will also improve productivity. He concluded with information about the government’s initiatives for and increased supply of quality seed and more mechanization.

Later in the day, farmers viewed various plots sown with different CA practices, during which they asked questions and saw CA machinery demonstrations. Dry, direct-seeded rice with anchored residues in a permanent no-till system caught the attention of many participants, along with the high-yielding, unpuddled transplanted rice on permanent beds. Farmers also discussed weed management practices for various crops with Ravi Gopal, agronomist for the Cereal Systems Initiative for South Asia (CSISA). The event was part of CSISA’s delivery objective for the central Bihar Hub.

The first international Cereal Cyst Nematode Initiative Conference took place in Antalya, Turkey, during 21-23 October 2009. The cereal cyst nematode has been gaining recognition in global wheat production areas, particularly rainfed ones, where it has caused yield losses of 20-50% in many countries. The conference drew more than 60 participants from 20 countries and there were more than 45 presentations on the status of the pest and on integrated control methods, with emphasis on host plant resistance.

The conference was coordinated by CIMMYT nematologists Julie Nicol and Amer Dababat of CIMMYT-Turkey as part of the ICARDA-CIMMYT Wheat Improvement Program (ICWIP) and with funding from CIMMYT, the CGIAR Systemwide Program on Integrated Pest Management (Sp-IPM), the Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research (ACIAR), the ATSE Crawford Fund, Australia, and Syngenta. A 260 page proceedings was published and distributed. For further information, contact Julie Nicol (j.nicol@cgiar.org).

Nearly 50 two-wheel tractor operators in Bangladesh examined, adjusted, and tested several planting machines during in a four-day practical training course at the Wheat Research Center (WRC), Dinajpur. The Bangladesh Agricultural Research Institute (BARI), the Bangladesh Rice Research Institute (BRRI), and CIMMYT organized the course, which ran during 12-15 October 2009 and focused not only on the operation, repair, and maintenance of farm machinery, but also on different crop establishment techniques.

Course leaders divided participants into groups of four and gave each a Sayre Smart Planter (SSP), a farming implement with built-in seed dispensers for multiple crops and a fertilizer application mechanism. The small group size allowed each person to practice converting the machine into its various modes: bed planter, strip tillage seeder, minimum tillage seeder, and zero tillage seeder. All participants then operated the machine in its numerous settings and learned seed calibration techniques for crops such as rice, wheat, jute, lentil, and chickpea. To ensure full understanding of SSP mechanics, each group dismantled the seeder, indentified its various parts, and then reassembled it.

On-hand to provide assistance were Enamul Haque, CIMMYT cropping systems agronomist; Israil Hossain of BARI; and Abdur Rahman, AKM Saiful Islam, and Bidhan Chandra Nath of BRRI. The Australian Center for International Agricultural Research (ACIAR), the German Federal Ministry for Economic Development Cooperation (BMZ), and USAID Famine Fund Projects funded the course.

The auditorium at El Batán was filled with caps and hats on 09 October, when a group of 32 farmers and technicians from the states of Hidalgo and Mexico visited CIMMYT. The visit was organized as a result of farmer interest in CA and their desire for more information on pest management in maize.

Jacobo Montiel Villalbán, a farmer from Soyaniquilpan in the State of Mexico, produces barley and alfalfa in addition to maize and last week was his second visit to CIMMYT; his first was to the Toluca experiment station. “Today I’m with a different group, but we all agree that what CIMMYT does gives us better options to continue farming; otherwise, it wouldn’t be possible…,” he said.

Most of the visiting farmers were subsistence maize producers, facing various problems that depended upon their locality. On average, they have practiced CA for one or two years and, given the beneficial changes they have experienced in both their fields and their livelihoods, they are interested in learning more about the uses of CA and how to deal with related issues. Since some of the farmers already maintain CA modules on their land as part of CIMMYT’s CA hub for maize in Mexico’s central highlands, when their maize leaves became covered with spots, they were able to ask their partnering Asgrow and Dekalb technicians for more information on pest management. The technicians, who are trained by CIMMYT’s CA specialists, then asked for the center’s support in organizing a visit for these farmers. Also involved in the CA hub are private sector enterprises, machine shops, seed companies (such as Asgrow and Dekalb), and public sector organizations such as SAGARPA, INIFAP, and CIMMYT.

“In Ixmiquilpan [Hidalgo], CA has the potential to help farmers because it incorporates organic matter (residue retention) into the soil, which softens and improves its texture; organic matter is also a good pH regulator. This is my third visit to CIMMYT, but today I learned something new about machinery,” commented agronomist and technician Juan Antonio Sánchez Zamora. Two CA program members presented during the event: Andrea Chocobar spoke about general CIMMYT activities and Ricardo Romero presented on CA. Leocadio Martínez, Global Maize Program, gave presentations on the pests that attack maize and how to diagnose and control them in the field. Participants were also given a manual to help identify field pest infestations in a timely manner.

Though the visiting farmers mentioned diverse problems—such as saline soils, pests, compacted soil, and yield losses—at the end of the visit after they had observed the long-term trials that serve as a training platform; listened to El Batán field superintendent and agronomist Francisco Magallanes describe sowing methods and machinery they use; and saw for themselves the effects of CA application; the visitors agreed that the solution is change. As farmer Montiel explained, “Our fields change, they’re never the same from year to year. So the solution is to change—that is, if our fields change, we farmers have to change as well.”

From 12–16 October 2009 the Eastern Africa Regional Program and Research Network for Biotechnology, Biosafety and Biotechnology Policy Development (BIO-EARN); the Biosciences eastern and central Africa (BecA) hub; and CIMMYT jointly conducted a molecular marker assisted breeding and data analyses training workshop. Kassa Semagn, CIMMYT maize molecular breeder, played a major role in organizing and providing the technical components of the training. This included defining the course syllabus and selecting resource materials and software for data analyses. The workshop was opened by Segenet Kelemu, BecA hub director.

Twenty breeders from Ethiopia, Kenya, Sudan, Tanzania, and Uganda, attended the training, which was conducted at the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI) campus in Nairobi, Kenya. Participants received hands-on experience in plant tissue sampling, molecular data scoring, and various data analysis techniques.

Other resource persons included Jagger Harvey and Etienne deVilliers, scientists based at BecA, Nairobi; Eric Bongcam Rudloff of the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences; and Michael Kovach, Ph.D. candidate at Cornell University, USA. The participants were impressed with the organization of the training workshop, describing the relevance of the course content to their work as “excellent,” and “an eye opener in planning the integration of molecular markers in our breeding programs.” The five-day training was funded by the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (SIDA).

The success of the course was summed up by a participant who said: “Before the training workshop, I was very pessimistic in believing that molecular markers are useful in breeding programs.” He went on to add that the training clarified how and when to use markers in breeding programs, the requirements, and the pros and the cons.

The ACIAR-funded project “Sustainable intensification of rice-maize (R-M) systems in Bangladesh” organized a traveling workshop from 04 to 08 October in Rajshahi and Rangpur districts of Bangladesh for project-employed researchers and their supervisors in four collaborating organizations (Bangladesh Agricultural Research Institute-BARI; Bangladesh Rice Research Institute-BRRI; Bangladesh Rural Advancement Committee-BRAC; and Rangpur Dinajpur Rural Services-RDRS). Two researchers from IRRI and CIMMYT offices in Bangladesh also participated in the workshop led by Jagadish Timsina, IRRI-CIMMYT senior scientist and project  leader/coordinator.

Participants visited trials on direct-seeded rice (DSR) using conservation agriculture (CA) technologies and nutrient management (NM) in farmers’ fields and research stations in five Upazillas (subdistricts) in Rangpur and Rajshahi districts. At each location, they were joined by local farmers already using the technologies who cited their advantages (e.g., higher yields, shorter crop cycles, and not having to wait for rain to begin planting).

During the workshop, participants viewed different machines that are used with CA technologies, such as the power-tiller operated seeder (PTOS), the zero-till drill, and the Sayre Smart Planter, as well as trials comparing farmers’ practices with different CA technologies (e.g., DSR sown on raised beds, on beds with the PTOS, or on strips using the PTOS). At BRRI Station, they observed a largescale, long term experiment sponsored by the Australian Center for International Agricultural Research (ACIAR) on the R-M system focusing on DSR and transplanted rice (TPR) under different tillage practices (zero, conventional), weed control methods, and productivity and nutrient balances.

The highlight of the workshop was a visit to the ACIAR rice-maize on-farm trials in Alipur village in Durgapur Upazilla. Alipur farmers have been growing wheat and other crops on beds using CA technologies with assistance from the Bangladesh Regional Wheat Research Center (WRC) and CIMMYT, as well as TPR on manually-made beds using their own innovations. During discussions farmers mentioned some advantages of growing unpuddled TPR on beds: ease of management; less irrigation needed; fewer insects and rats; greater grainfilling; and higher grain yield. Another topic of discussion was the use of short-duration rice varieties (e.g., BRRI dhan 33, BRRI dhan 39, BINA dhan 7, and BU-1) to intensify cropping systems.

Finally, the workshop provided ample opportunity for project researchers and their supervisors to interact and share experiences, which will help cement their relationship and allow them to work together more effectively in the future.

During the recently-concluded African Crop Science Society Conference, held in Cape Town, South Africa (28 September– 01 October 2009), Silvano Assanga, research technician working for CIMMYT in Kenya, won the top prize for the best presentation.

A familiar face at CIMMYT since 2005, Assanga joined the center as an M.Sc. student studying breeding and genetics at the University of Nairobi. After completing his degree 18 months ago, he joined CIMMYT as a research technician. The conference theme was “Science and technology supporting food security in Africa.” Assanga’s presentation titled “Combining ability of early quality protein maize (QPM) inbred lines adapted to the mid-altitude ecology of East Africa,” assessed the potential of inbred lines for developing stresstolerant QPM hybrids.

“I am very happy to receive this prize and equally surprised,” Assanga said. He expressed his gratitude to CIMMYT for providing an opportunity to further his research activities, and specifically to Dan Makumbi, CIMMYT scientist, who has been his mentor and provided invaluable support during his M.Sc. and during the preparation of the presentation.

The conference provided a forum for over 600 scientists, researchers, technicians, and government, industry, and commercial representatives to discuss application of science in the various dimensions of crop production, to share expertise in their specific fields of interest, and to present their products.

In an august and simple ceremony at the offices of the Mexican Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock, Rural Development, Fisheries and Food (SAGARPA) on 09 October 2009, Minister Francisco Mayorga Castañeda paid distinctive homage to hunger fighter and former CIMMYT wheat breeder, Dr. Norman E. Borlaug, signing with Thomas A. Lumpkin an agreement for a special “Dr. Norman E. Borlaug Research Fund.” Intended to support applied agricultural research and technology transfer projects, the Fund is being launched with a USD 1 million contribution from Mexico.

Mayorga Castañeda said that Borlaug always gave special credit to the people and farmers of Yaqui Valley, state of Sonora, Mexico, and that Borlaug cited this location, where he worked with a team of Mexican researchers to develop high-yielding, disease resistant semidwarf wheats, as the cradle of the Green Revolution. “We will always recognize the Titanic labor of a man who, above all, sought to promote peace by ensuring food for all mankind,” said Mayorga Castañeda.

“This fund represents a first step toward Mexico returning to the leading role it played in the 1960s,” said Lumpkin, “when it made valuable contributions to fighting the hunger that affected millions on our planet.” Additional information is available at staging.cimmyt.org.

During the years 2005-08 there were several two and three-month comprehensive wheat improvement/pathology training programs at El Batán, Toluca, and the Ciudad Obregón research stations, with more than 40 participants from Asia and Africa. And this year CIMMYT’s headquarters hosted another long-term, in-service training course. Seventeen participants from 10 countries, including two women, attended the course “Wheat Improvement Course 2009,” which ran from 03 August to 02 October.

“I’m very happy to see you all here and that the training program at CIMMYT has been restarted,” said DG Tom Lumpkin at the course’s closing ceremony. “I hope we can continue to strengthen this type of training, make it longer and more intensive, and involve more participants in the coming years.”

The course focused on wheat breeding and taught participants how to run a wheat breeding program, apply new forms of wheat technology, and confidently participate in joint interdisciplinary¡ research. “The fields are the classroom…and are where we illustrate the application of theory,” said Reynaldo Villareal, coordinator of the course and adjunct professor of plant breeding and international agriculture at Cornell University. Nearly 55% of the course involved fieldwork at the El Batán and Toluca research stations. As a former CIMMYT wheat breeder, Villareal was able to arrange a diverse and demanding course schedule that, in addition to breeding, included pathology, physiology, molecular biology, industrial quality, bioinformatics, statistics, conservation agriculture, and geographic information systems.

“I’m very grateful to CIMMYT and everyone who helped with this course,” said Vinod Kumar Mishra, course participant and professor of genetics and wheat breeding at Banaras Hindu University, India (pictured second from right). “Wheat is the second largest crop in India, and India is the second largest wheat producer after China, so training for wheat breeders is extremely important for our country,” he said. Other countries represented included Pakistan, Yemen, Egypt, Bangladesh, Kenya, Mexico, Nepal, China, and Sudan.

“Wheat improvement is an interdisciplinary collaboration,” Villareal said. “I hope CIMMYT can sustain similar training.”

The Central Bihar Hub for Conservation Agriculture (CA), the Cereal System Initiative for South Asia (CSISA), and Rajendra Agriculture University (RAU) organized a traveling seminar for farmers on 2-3 October 2009 in Bihar, India. The seminar, whose theme was the application of CA technologies to rice/wheat and rice/maize systems, began at the Regional Maize Research and Seed Production Center in Begusarai, continued in farmers’ fields at Bachwara (Samastipur) and Krishnawara (Vaishali), and ended at RAU in Pusa, Samastipur. Scientific and technical guidance was provided by Dr. S. Chowdhury, CIMMYT-India; Dr. M. Kumar, RAU agronomist; Dr. M.L. Chaudhari, Vice-Chancellor, RAU; Dr. I.S. Solanki, Head, IARIRS, Pusa; and Mr. Ravi Gopal, Hub Manager, CSISA.

Participating farmers from 10 districts of central Bihar viewed trials in farmers’ fields and listened to local farmers talk about their experiences with new technologies, such as zero-till for rice-wheat, that have increased their yields and reduced their production costs. A technology that particularly caught their eye was the double no-till rice-wheat and rice-maize system with residue retention, outstanding due to its intense biological activity, good crop growth, and fertile soil conditions. Farmers asked questions about specific subjects such as weed management in rice, the effect of residues for conserving moisture (of particular interest in this dry year), and nutrient management strategies.

On the second day, participants gathered for a technical meeting at RAU Pusa to discuss issues related to the adoption of CA technologies. Among other subjects, results of long-term rice-wheat and rice-maize trials and of farmer participatory research were presented, and strategies for reducing production costs and increasing farm productivity were discussed. Vice-Chancellor Chaudhari explained that RAU is strengthening its seed production and technology transfer capabilities for the benefit of farmers. Of particular use to farmers was the opportunity to present their views, success stories, and experiences with CA technologies, aswell as to voice problems relating to crop production, productivity, and marketing. Potential solutions (growing pulses to diversify the cropping systems; green manuring to help restore soil fertility and micronutrient availability) were suggested by attending scientists and technical staff.

At a time when the global economic crisis dominates the news, the world needs to be reminded that not everyone works in offices and factories. The crisis is stalking the small-scale farms and rural areas of the world, where 70 percent of the world’s hungry live and work.

With an estimated increase of 105 million hungry people in 2009, there are now 1.02 billion malnourished people in the world, meaning that almost one sixth of all humanity is suffering from hunger. Both public and private investments are needed, more specifically through targeted public investment to encourage and facilitate private investment, especially by farmers themselves.

On the occasion of World Food Week and World Food Day 2009, let us reflect on those numbers and the human suffering behind them. Crisis or no crisis, we have the know-how to do something about hunger. We also have the ability to find money to solve problems when we consider them important. Let us work together to make sure hunger is recognized as a critical problem, and solve it.