On 23 May 2009, CIMMYT DG Tom Lumpkin told staff that the center needs to double in size in five years to accomplish its mission and confront, among other challenges, a looming global food security crisis. “We’ve got to grow,” he said. “The food situation is getting frightening out there. We need to do a better job of meeting the world’s needs. Otherwise, we’ll become irrelevant and others will take our place.”

Lumpkin and Scott Ferguson, deputy director general for Support Services, spoke to international staff at El Batán and to staff in Nairobi via Skype, about a new business plan being developed for the center, and other issues of common concern in a general meeting.

More than 110 farmers attended a field day in Alipur village, Durgapur, Rajshahi district, Bangladesh on 16 May 2009. Enamul Haque, cropping systems agronomist, Conservation Agricultural Program, CIMMYT-Bangladesh, organized the field day along with CIMMYT partners Ilias Hossain, senior scientific officer, Bangladesh Regional Wheat Research Center (WRC); and Mohammad Abdur Rahman, principal scientific officer, Bangladesh Rice Research Institute (BRRI).

The farmers’ day was set up to assess the first field trial for transplanted boro rice in unpuddled soil using strip-tillage, a minimal form of land preparation, and raised beds. Boro rice is high-yielding irrigated rice that is grown during the winter season and covers more than five million hectares in Bangladesh, where rice is grown year-round and is vital to food security. Almost all boro rice farmers in Bangladesh have been transplanting boro rice to puddled fields despite the fact that puddling destroys soil structure, is more costly, and requires more water and labor, according to Haque.

“I’m very grateful that a few skeptical farmers stepped forward before transplanting this year’s crop, and agreed to try the new practice,” said Haque. “They have healthy, vigorous plants in their fields and I believe this technology will spread.”

Farmers said they needed to weed only twice, instead of the three times typical for conventional tillage, and reported savings of 75% on land preparation, 30% on irrigation water, and 5-6% on fertilizer. Finally, from the look of the fields, farmers were expecting 12-15% more rice at harvest. At the end of the day, a quick show of hands indicated that all farmers present would continue to transplant boro rice using these resource-conservingpractices.

“My ambition is not only for this area,” said Hossain. “We can extend this technology to other wheat- and rice-growing areas. We have done a lot of work here so we can go to other areas and demonstrate it to farmers.”

CIMMYT is taking a creative approach toward reducing postharvest grain losses in sub-Saharan Africa. The Effective Grain Storage Project, funded by the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC), targets and trains artisans in metal silo construction in order to provide farmers with better alternative storage solutions.

This 10-year project is in its 2-year pilot phase and currently focused in Malawi and Kenya. World Vision International, a project collaborator, trained artisans from the Dowa and Mchinji regions in Malawi 4-14 May 2009 at Lilongwe Technical College with assistance from Jose Contreras, an expert in silo construction. Covered topics included making metal silos of different sizes, cutting of metal sheets, and soldering and handling. “If anybody asks me if we have a solution to the enormous post harvest losses experienced by the farmer, I now have an answer,” said Mulugetta Abebe, director of World Vision International-Malawi.

Similar training courses held 18-29 May 2009 in Kenya targeted 10 artisans from the Homa Bay and Embu areas. Contreras and the Catholic Dioceses ran the courses at St. Bernard’s Youth Polytechnic (Homa Bay) and Embu Agricultural Staff Training College with assistance from metal silo artists Micah Okongo in Homa Bay and Benjamin Njue in Embu.

Metal silos for grain storage were successful in reducing post-harvest grain losses in Central America and provided inspiration for this project. By using the metal silos to store surplus grain, especially maize, African farmers will be able to better control post-harvest losses, stabilize supplies and prices of maize while increasing their food and income security. The technology will also increase employment and business opportunities for manufactures, traders, and processors. “The focus of the [Effective Grain Storage] project is to ensure that farmers use only well fabricated, high quality metal silos; that is why we are training the artisans who will make and sell these silos. We are promoting the technology while improving the artisans’ skills,” said Fred Kanampiu, CIMMYT agronomist and project leader who coordinated the training sessions.

Heavy rains have dampened activities at CIMMYT’s Toluca station. On 13 May a storm in the neighboring mountains sent large amounts of water rushing downhill, across the highway, and onto station property. The water washed debris such as garbage, tree trunks, and old tires across four hectares of station’s fields. “I’ve been here 15 years, and this is the first time a flood like this has taken place,” said Toluca station superintendent Fernando Delgado, adding he believes inadequate drainage systems to accommodate expanding settlements in surrounding hillsides contributed to the flood. The unexpected waters damaged some of the station’s commercial crops, but no experimental ones. Workers are using heavy machinery to clean the area, hoping to finish before the annual rainy season and planting activities in June.

Nearly 70 participants attended a four-day training course on quantitative trait locus (QTL) mapping and breeding simulation at Sichuan Agricultural University (Ya’an, Sichuan), 11-14 May 2009. This is the third QTL training course CIMMYT-China has organized.

A rapid increase in the availability of fine-scale genetic marker maps has led to intensive use of QTL mapping in the study of quantitative traits. QTL are identifiable areas of DNA that are closely linked to genes of such traits. QTL are associated with continuous traits that are caused by multiple genes as well as the environment, and tend to be hard to locate. The QTL mapping course aimed to help scientists better identify and classify QTL—specifically for drought tolerance and yield-related traits—through new software and technology developed by the Crop Research Informatics Laboratory (CRIL) team at the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences (CAAS) QuLine, developed by CIMMYT and shared by CIMMYT and University of Queensland, Australia, is a genetics and breeding simulation tool. It integrates various genes with multiple alleles that operate within epistatic networks and interact differentially with the environment. QuLine also predicts the outcomes from a specific cross following the application of a real selection scheme.

CIMMYT’s Wheat Breeding Program has used QuLine to compare selection strategies, to study the effects on selection of dominance and epistasis, to predict cross performance using known gene information, and to investigate the efficient use of marker-assisted selection in pyramiding multiple genes in wheat breeding. The QuLine tool can bridge vast amounts of biological data and breeders’ needs for heightened selection efficiency and gain, using all available tools and information.

The course was sponsored by the Generation Challenge Program (GCP), the National 973 Program of China, and the Natural Science Foundation of China.

Seven local artists are displaying over 30 thought-provoking paintings in El Batán’s library reading room and outside of the Sasakawa room. This “Expressions” exhibition will run from 22 May until 22 June and is a visual reminder of the library’s recent and evolving revitalization. In addition to improved access to scientific journals and databases and an influx of new materials, the library now provides an internet corner and a cozy room for meetings or language classes. Throughout the year, interactive events such as exhibitions and artist presentations will provide stimulating social opportunities for headquarters staff.

Sharing information about CIMMYT’s work is essential for promotion, public awareness, and internal communication. The CIMMYT Informa and, more recently, the Intranet, have been the main internal communication vehicles for years. But in October 2008 Corporate Communications implemented a CIMMYT blog to share selected information from the Informa with a broader readership, enable fast communication of brief informal news, share communication responsibilities CIMMYT-wide, and make it possible for readers to give feedback. CIMMYTs Blog (blog.cimmyt.org) has registered over 2,500 visits from 114 countries with more than 6,000 page views, and the trend is on an upswing. A Spanish version was launched last week (blogesp.cimmyt.org). We invite CIMMYT staff to contribute directly; contact Petr Kosina or Laura Yates for a simple explanation of how it works. Postings can be made from anywhere, at anytime, and with the greatest of ease!

From 6-12 May 2009 an interdisciplinary team of experts from CIMMYT, IITA, University of Georgia, USA, and IFPRI met in Nairobi, Kenya to develop a model and run possible future scenarios on drought tolerant (DT) maize impacts in Africa, a strategic activity of the Drought Tolerant Maize for Africa (DTMA) project. The specialists involved are experts in areas such as breeding, socioeconomics, and geographic information systems (GIS).

The CIMMYT team comprised Marianne Bänziger (director, Global Maize Program), Wilfred Mwangi (DTMA project leader), Roberto La Rovere (impact assessment specialist), Girma Tesfahun (socioeconomist), and Brian Chiputwa (research associate). They were joined by Tahirou Abdoulaye (economist, IITA), Genti Kostandini (assistant professor, University of Georgia), and Zhe Guo (GIS specialist, IFPRI). Kostandini is a collaborator on DTMA ex-ante assessment, while Guo was representing IFPRI senior research fellow Stanley Wood. Former CIMMYT staff John Dixon (director, ITAU) and Dave Hodson (head, GIS laboratory) have also contributed to the efforts.

The ex-ante assessment work on drought tolerant maize is based on the premise that yield variance reduction is as important or even more important for farmers than just yield gains. The research team thus focused on economic returns and benefits for rural people—such as helping them escape poverty or reducing the risk of yield losses—by their investing in DT maize. Another study topic focused on where DT maize development could achieve the greatest impact. Finally, the team explored scenarios for potential added value for African farmers through adoption of DT maize, benefits for consumers, and changes in poverty impact indicators.

This month’s e-News takes you to Kenya where CIMMYT is partnering with local organizations to offer maize seed coupons to needy farmers. You will also get to ponder the importance of impact assessment and follow CIMMYT researchers as they compare and contrast a project in Nepal and one here in Mexico. Finally, enjoy the slideshow; it highlights the Ciudad Obregón research station, where two important workshops were held in late March.

The Cereal Systems Initiative for South Asia (CSISA) was formally initiated 29 April 2009 in Delhi, India. This large project, which is jointly funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and USAID, brings together public- and private-sector organizations and international agricultural research centers (IRRI, CIMMYT, IFPRI, and ILRI) to reduce hunger and increase food and income security for resource-poor farm families in South Asia. The launch of this project comes at a critical time for South Asia, home to 40% of the world’s poor with nearly half a billion people subsisting on less than USD 1 a day. The project’s targeted countries of Bangladesh, India, Nepal, and Pakistan are struggling to boost grain supplies in the wake of growing demand and strained natural resources. CSISA aims to increase the cereal crop yields of at least 6 million farmers in these regions by at least 0.5 t/ha. With this huge task ahead, time is precious and so many parallel planning activities and interviews for local staff positions were conducted alongside the launch to speed the project’s progress.

In addition, several planning workshops preceded the official program launch. CSISA objectives discussed included the widespread delivery and adaptation of production and post-harvest technologies to increase cereal production and raise incomes, and crop and resource management practices for sustainable cereal-based systems. The meetings were attended by many CIMMYT scientists, all of whom will play a role in the project: Hans Braun, Etienne Duveiller, Olaf Erenstein, Raj Gupta, Ravi Gopal Singh, Enam Haque, Arun Joshi, Petr Kosina, Guillermo Ortiz Ferrara, Iván Ortiz-Monasterio, Ken Sayre, Jagadish Timsina, Pat Wall, and P.K. Zaidi.

The launch meeting was followed by a three-day stakeholder workshop to establish a Certified Crop Advisor Program (CCA) in South Asia. CCA is an agricultural extension certification system developed by the American Society of Agronomy for North America. As part of CSISA’s Objective 7, the CCA program will be adapted for local needs in South Asia to create a highly-qualified professional workforce for private and public sector extension and to support continued education of program participants.

One of the Millennium Development Goals is to halve the proportion of hungry people by 2015. Sadly, this is unlikely to be realised because the causes of hunger are many and complex. One problem is the spread of the relevant literature over many journals. In order to overcome this, the International Society for Plant Pathology and the publisher, Springer, have launched  a new journal, Food Security: the Science, Sociology and Economics of Food Production and Access to Food. Its objective is to take a synthetic approach to the many relevant disciplines so that an overview is achieved.

The first issue of the journal is freely available online at http://www.springer.com/life+sci/agriculture/journal/12571. It contains a foreword by the Nobel Peace Prize Laureate, Norman Borlaug, in which he says “It is timely that ISPP and Springer are launching this journal with its topical title and with the breadth of coverage indicated by its subtitle.” There are then 10 papers addressing food security from physical, biological and socio-political viewpoints – including climate change, global resources of soil and water, maintenance of biodiversity, seed, biofuels, famines, and the emerging African Green Revolution.

The discounted annual subscription for ISPP Members and Members of Associated Societies is EUR 30. See the ISPP website for more details.

CIMMYT’s conservation agriculture (CA) Mexico team is implementing a hub for irrigated systems in Sonora state, northern Mexico. Fundación Produce Sonora is funding the hub project in collaboration with CIMMYT; Patronato (a group of private farmers); the Mexican National Institute of Forestry, Agriculture, and Livestock (INIFAP); the Asociación de Organismos de Agricultores del Sur de Sonora (AOASS); and Mexico’s national wheat marketer’s organization (CONATRIGO).

“The hub aims to facilitate strategic and adaptive research and combine all elements to achieve impact in the farmers’ fields,” said Bram Govaerts, CIMMYT cropping systems management specialist. There are several on-farm modules for extension and adaptive research, and local private companies produced the CA planters based on the CIMMYT prototype. Also seed and herbicide companies are involved.

The CA team, along with its partners and some private companies, ran a two-week campaign to create awareness about the hub which received good media attention in northern Mexico. A CA field day held 22 April, 2009 and two informal cookouts (one with farmers and one with foremen and tractor drivers in charge of CA demonstration modules) held the previous week were covered by the newspapers Tribuna, El Diario del Yaqui, and two local radio stations. On its front page, Tribuna hailed the Yaqui Valley as a world class example of outstanding organization and collaboration between farmers and research institutions, and highlighted how this teamwork is now being used to support CA technology in the Valley.

The field day was opened by Antonio Gandara, president of Patronato, who said that it is the responsibility of all parties to work together in order to achieve higher quality crops with reduced production costs, and that Patronato is committed to assisting CA efforts. Speaking to the 50 participants of the field day, Govaerts said that the teamwork and dedication displayed by organizations in the Yaqui Valley helped make the Green Revolution possible, and with similar devotion the area could also become a central point for CA. He also emphasized the benefits of CA, such as a 20% reduction in farmers’ costs during the spring which can later translate in up to a 50% profit increase. “This year’s CA modules are performing well, with a yield of 7.9 tons per hectare of wheat harvested during the field day,” Govaerts said. “This is a slightly higher yield compared to the conventional system, but a significant reduction in cost of production.”

Govaerts extends special thanks to Rodrigo Rascon, Obregón station superintendent, the Mexico CA team, and to participating farmers for their support and dedication to CA in Sonora.

Since the middle of 2008 CIMMYT entered in the agreement with Google to scan our publications and make the full text available through Google Books. To date, 255 CIMMYT publications are available through Google Books. For works published as of 2000, Google Books is linked to the CIMMYT publications catalog and users can download complete high resolution pdf files. Among the top 15 visited and downloaded CIMMYT publications are:

• The Genetics and Exploitation of Heterosis in Crops (book of abstracts).
• Developing drought- and low N-tolerant maize (proceedings, Mexico).
• The Septoria .Diseases of Wheat (concepts and methods) – both English and Spanish.
• Guía práctica para la identificación de algunas enfermedades de trigo y cebada.
• Wheat production constraints in tropical environments (proceedings, Thailand).
• Maize research for stress environments (proceedings, Zimbabwe).
• Insectos nocivos del maíz (field guide).
• Estrategias y metodologías utilizadas en el mejoramiento de trigo: un enfoque multidisciplinario (proceedings, Uruguay).
• Explorando Altos Rendimientos de Trigo (proceedings, Uruguay).
• International Symposium on Wheat Yield Potential (proceedings, Mexico).
• Rust Diseases of Wheat.
• Maize in India – Production Systems, Constraints and Research Priorities.
• World Perspectives on Barley Yellow Dwarf (proceedings, Italy).
• Application of Physiology in Wheat Breeding.
• Increasing Yield Potential in Wheat: Breaking the Barriers (proceedings, Mexico).

A new project designed to decrease hunger and increase food and income security for resource-poor farm families in South Asia will officially launch next month. This project, the Cereal System Initiative for South Asia (CSISA), is led by the International Rice Research Institute and funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and the USAID. It will use timely development and wide-spread dissemination of new varieties, sustainable management technologies, and policies to accelerate regional cereal production.

On 31 March to 2 April, over 50 CSISA stakeholder representatives met in India at the Extension Education Institute in Nilokheri, Karnal to create a local forum for the Karnal “hub.” A hub is location that serves as a connection point for project partners and where information for rapid adoption and intensification of improved cereal seed and crop management practices can be delivered to farmers. The CSISA project is initially focusing on eight hubs in various areas of Bangladesh, India, and Nepal.

At the meeting, participants discussed the management principles for Karnal knowledge hub and built consensus on technologies and knowledge-sharing processes for cereal farmers. Lively group discussions resulted in three new cropping system recommendations for farmers; other talking points were the use of laser leveling, residue management, and systems diversification.

One emphasis was to quickly identify what information would be distributed to farmers and project partners for the upcoming cropping season. As part of this effort, participants assembled basic technical information to be transformed into farmer-friendly extension materials. The workshop also included preliminary discussions on different stakeholders’ roles and their potential demands for knowledge bank materials, as well as discussion about the role of the India Rice Knowledge Management Portal and its potential interaction with the CSISA knowledge hubs. It was agreed that the differences in the demands for technology and knowledge between small-scale farmers and “champion farmers,”—medium to large-scale farmers who traditionally have received attention from international centers—should be recognized and addressed.

 More than 100 farmers in India benefited from a traveling seminar on conservation agriculture (CA) organized by CIMMYT and held in the Samastipur and Begusarai districts during 28-29 March 2009.

After opening remarks by Dr. Solanki, head of the Indian Agricultural Research Institute’s regional Pusa research station, farmers visited CIMMYT run experimental CA plots at Rajendra Agriculture University (RAU) and the Regional Maize Research & Seed Production Center. They observed CA wheat seed production at the Adaptive Research Station, Begusarai, and saw several farmer participatory trials planted with zero-till (ZT) wheat, ZT maize, or bed planted with sugarcane and wheat intercropping. Also at the Adaptive Research Station, assistant agronomist Ashok Mahraj discussed on-station productivity improvements due to the adoption of CA practices in 2006, and the need to make local farming economically viable despite higher input prices and farm wages.

Other presenters included Dr. M. Kumar, RAU agronomist, who discussed the present status of zero-tilled wheat in Bihar state; Dr. R. Liak and Dr. P.K. Jha who spoke about the results of long-term CA experiments in ricewheat systems in connection with soil changes; Dr. S. Chowdhury, wheat breeder and CIMMYT consultant, who described new wheat varieties; and Ravi Gopal, CA agronomist, who explained overall practices in a rice-wheat CA system.

For their part, farmers from Katihar, Purnea, Khagaria, Begusarai, Samastipur, Darbhanga, Muzafarpur, and East Champaran learned how to improve yields and cut production costs for major crops, through participatory collaboration with scientists and extension workers on targeted CA modules.