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In Ethiopia, local challenges inform national action for climate-smart agriculture

Written by Enawgaw Sisay on . Posted in News.

A recent workshop in Ethiopia brought together researchers from the Ethiopia Institute of Agricultural Research (EIAR) and the Ministry of Agriculture, the Regional Bureau of Agriculture, alongside partners from regional agricultural research institutes, Universities, and CGIAR centers. (Credit: CGIAR)

In some of Ethiopia’s most vulnerable communities, climate change is having a disastrous effect on agriculture, a critical sector to the livelihood of millions. Droughts, floods, pests, and disease outbreaks are key challenges farmers face in the age of the climate crisis. These climate-related threats have already contributed to reducing agricultural productivity and food insecurity.

In order to minimize agricultural risks from the above challenges and maximize farmers’ resilience, there is a critical need to introduce the technologies, innovations, and practices that underpin ‘climate-smart agriculture. For instance, cascading knowledge on agricultural risk management and promoting conservation agriculture may prove to be sustainable practices that address the limiting factors of food security. This, however, cannot be done in a ‘one-size-fits-all’ approach. In Ethiopia, we’ve seen how climate-smart agriculture (CSA) not only needs to be localized – so it is effective in different environments – it also needs to be inclusive, meeting the needs of women and youth in various communities.

CSA is critical to making Ethiopian farmers and their communities more resilient in the face of climate change. Awareness-raising campaigns and consultations fit an important role in engaging scientists, practitioners, and beneficiaries to understand and implement area-specific climate adaptation mechanisms through CSA-based input. A current challenge is that climate-smart interventions in Ethiopia are limited because of a lack of awareness of the necessary skill set to implement and manage those technologies properly. After all, it is wise to remember that CSA is a knowledge-intensive exercise. For instance, let us look at the Ethiopian highlands, which constitute a substantial amount of the country’s farming population. In the extreme highlands of Ethiopia – generally dubbed as Wurch or mountain zone above 3800m elevation above sea level – CSA implementation is even scarce due to climatic and socio-economic conditions. In fact, those parts of the highlands are often referred to as the “forgotten agroecology” and agricultural research institutions – both in Ethiopia and beyond – must develop and package climate-smart interventions tailored for regions that have these agroecological characteristics.

Despite some practical challenges, it is also wise to note that there are successful cases of CSA implementation and addition across the various parts of the country. This is recognized for the literature review to document CSA experiences in the country and develop a detailed ‘CSA compendium’. These experiences can promote public engagement informed and inspired by the practical experience of climate-smart interventions, both from sites that have similar agroecological characteristics – as well as different – so that farmers and communities can learn from the successes and failures of other ventures. This public engagement should be underpinned by business and financing models that work for resource-poor farmers, so they can access or invest in making their agriculture more climate-smart.

Knowing what works where will be essential to develop strategies that can facilitate targeting and scaling CSA approaches. Developing a CSA compendium, a collection of concise but detailed information on CSA practices can be an entry point to achieve this – which also requires efforts from various experts and collaboration among institutions in the country and beyond.

In line with this understanding, a recent workshop in Ethiopia brought together researchers from the Ethiopia Institute of Agricultural Research (EIAR) and the Ministry of Agriculture, the Regional Bureau of Agriculture, alongside partners from regional agricultural research institutes, Universities, and CGIAR centers.

It aimed to raise awareness among partners on the kinds of climate-smart packages of agricultural technologies and practices that are socially inclusive and responsive to the needs of young people while also being feasible from a socio-economic standpoint and ready to be expanded and delivered on a bigger scale. Key presentations were made about what CSA is and what it is not. In addition, the type and description of indicators used to identify CSA practices that are economically feasible, socially acceptable, and gender-responsive were discussed in-depth. As part of this exercise, experts identified more than 20 potential climate-smart agriculture interventions tested, validated, and implemented effectively in different parts of the country.

Some of the key presentations and discussions at the workshop revealed critical lessons for implementing CSA:

  • Climate-smart agriculture is not a set of practices that can be universally applied but rather an approach that involves different elements embedded in local contexts.
  • Climate-smart agriculture relates to actions both on farms and beyond the farm, incorporating technologies, policies, institutions, and investment.”
  • Climate-smart agriculture is also a continuous process, though we should focus on the big picture and avoid trivial debates about whether CSA is a practice, technology, or an option.
  • Due consideration should be given to gender sensitiveness and social inclusiveness as a criterion in identifying compelling innovations.
  • Better indicators should be developed in measuring how climate-smart agriculture is adopted.

The workshop was the first of a series planned to raise awareness of different approaches to climate-smart agriculture while aligning Ethiopian institutions behind common understandings of how climate-smart agriculture can be delivered at both a local and national level.

In closing this first workshop, Ermias Abate, Deputy Director-General of the Amhara Region Agricultural Research Institute, stated, “Agriculture wouldn’t move an inch forward if we continued with business as usual and hence the need to be smart to face the new realities of agriculture under climate change.”

The Accelerating Impacts of CGIAR Climate Research in Africa (AICCRA) workshop was held between December 24 and 25, 2021, in Bahir Dar, Ethiopia, and was organized jointly by:

  • The Alliance of Bioversity International and the International Center for Tropical Agriculture (CIAT)
  • CGIAR Program on Climate Change Agriculture and Food Security (CCAFS)
  • International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT)
  • International Center for Agricultural Research in the Dry Areas (ICARDA) and
  • International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI)
A farmer in the Ara district, in India's Bihar state, applies NPK fertilizer, composed primarily of nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium. (Photo: Dakshinamurthy Vedachalam/CIMMYT)

Biological nitrogen fixation and prospects for ecological intensification in cereal-based cropping systems

Written by Sarah McLaughlin on . Posted in Publications.

Among the inputs needed for a healthy soil, nitrogen is unique because it originates from the atmosphere. How it moves from the air to the ground is governed in part by a process called biological nitrogen fixation (BNF), which is catalyzed by specific types of bacteria.

Nitrogen supply is frequently the second most limiting factor after water availability constraining crop growth and so there is great farmer demand for accessible sources of nitrogen, such as synthetic nitrogen in fertilizer. This increasing demand has continued as new cereal varieties with higher genetic yield potential are being released in efforts to feed the world’s growing population.

Currently, the primary source for nitrogen is synthetic, delivered through fertilizers. Synthetic nitrogen revolutionized cereal crop (e.g., wheat, maize, and rice) production by enhancing growth and grain yield as it eliminated the need to specifically allocate land for soil fertility rejuvenation during crop rotation. However, synthetic nitrogen is not very efficient, often causing excess application, which leads to deleterious forms, including ammonia, nitrate, and nitrogen oxides escaping into the surrounding ecosystem, resulting in a myriad of negative impacts on the environment and human health. Nitrogen loss from fertilizer is responsible for a nearly 20% increase in atmospheric nitrous oxide since the industrial revolution. Notably, more nitrogen from human activities, including agriculture, has been released to the environment than carbon dioxide during recent decades, leading climate scientists to consider the possibility that nitrogen might replace carbon as a prime driver of climate change.

New research co-authored by International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT) scientists, published in Field Crops Research, posits that facilitating natural methods of gathering useable nitrogen in BNF can reduce the amount of synthetic nitrogen being used in global agriculture.

As agricultural systems become more intensive regarding inputs and outputs, synthetic nitrogen has become increasingly crucial, but there are still extensive areas in the world that cannot achieve food and nutrition security because of a lack of nitrogen.

“This, together with increasing and changing dietary demands, shows that the future demand for nitrogen will substantially grow to meet the anticipated population of 9.7 billion people by the middle of the century,” said J.K. Ladha, adjunct professor in the Department of Plant Sciences at University of California, Davis, and lead author of the study.

Before the synthetic nitrogen, the primary source of agricultural nitrogen was gathered through BNF as bacteria living underground that convert atmospheric nitrogen into nitrogen that can be utilized by crops. Therefore, legumes are often employed as a cover crop in rotating fields to replenish nitrogen stocks; their root systems are hospitable for these nitrogen producing bacteria to thrive.

“There are ways in which BNF could be a core component of efforts to build more sustainable and regenerative agroecosystems to meet nitrogen demand with lower environmental footprints,” said Timothy Krupnik, Senior System Agronomist at CIMMYT in Dhaka, Bangladesh.

Plant scientists have often hypothesized that the ultimate solution for solving the ever-growing nitrogen supply challenge is to confer cereals like wheat, maize, rice, with their own capacity for BNF. Recent breakthroughs in the genomics of BNF, as well as improvements in the understanding how legumes and nitrogen bacteria interact, have opened new avenues to tackle this problem much more systematically.

“Enabling cereal crops to capture their own nitrogen is a long-standing goal of plant biologists and is referred to as the holy grail of BNF research,” said P.M. Reddy, Senior Fellow at The Energy Research Institute, New Delhi. “The theory is that if cereal crops can assemble their own BNF system, the crop’s internal nitrogen supply and demand can be tightly regulated and synchronized.”

The study examined four methods currently being employed to establish systems within cereal crops to capture and use their own nitrogen, each with their advantages and limitations. One promising method involves identifying critical plant genes that perceive and transmit nitrogen-inducing signals in legumes. Integrating these signal genes into cereal crops might allow them to construct their own systems for BNF.

“Our research highlights how BNF will need to be a core component of efforts to build more sustainable agroecosystems,” said Mark Peoples, Honorary Fellow at The Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO), Canberra, Australia. “To be both productive and sustainable, future cereal cropping systems will need to better incorporate and leverage natural processes like BNF to mitigate the corrosive environmental effects of excess nitrogen leaking into our ecosystems.”

Besides the efforts to bring BNF to cereals, there are basic agronomic management tools that can shift focus from synthetic to BNF nitrogen.

“Encouraging more frequent use of legumes in crop rotation will increase diversification and the flow of key ecosystem services, and would also assist the long-term sustainability of cereal-based farming systems­,” said Krupnik.

Read the study: Biological nitrogen fixation and prospects for ecological intensification in cereal-based cropping systems

Cover photo: A farmer in the Ara district, in India’s Bihar state, applies NPK fertilizer, composed primarily of nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium. (Photo: Dakshinamurthy Vedachalam/CIMMYT)

Mexican farming can transition to be more resilient with technology

Written by Sarah McLaughlin on . Posted in News.

In Mexico and around much of the world, the cost of food fell sharply last month but it remains dangerously close to the all-time highs posted earlier this year, according to an agency of the United Nations.

New data from the Food Price Index of the Food and Agricultural Organization provide even more proof that if we’re to build a resilient system of agriculture that keeps food abundant and affordable, farmers like me need access to the best, forward-facing and science-based technologies—and not the backward-looking restrictive measures that many governments are trying to force upon food producers.

That’s especially true here in Mexico, where public officials are promoting dangerous agriculture policies that will damage yield potential of Mexico’s farmers and add to our country’s current food inflation. Paradoxically, the world’s leading agricultural research center for wheat and maize has issued a new call for “long-term agri-food system resilience.”

The International Wheat and Maize Improvement Center, also known as CIMMYT and headquartered just outside Mexico City, is an amazing resource for farmers everywhere. My family has participated in its work for decades, going back to when Norman Borlaug, the father of the Green Revolution, was starting to make big progress on wheat yields.

In July, a team of CIMMYT scientists published their strategy for dealing with soaring food prices. They focused mainly on wheat, which was subjected to so much stress because of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, but their general recommendations apply to every commodity.

Their short-term advice involves boosting production and partially replacing wheat flour with other low-cost cereals to off-set high wheat prices. In the middle and long terms, CIMMYT calls for more resilience in our food systems by genetically improving seeds and controlling pests. Significantly, the authors urge “building capacity to promote extensive pest and pathogen monitoring.”

This is important advice because pests, weeds, and disease are three of the biggest threats to food production pretty much everywhere. If we’re going to develop a “long-term agri-food system resilience” that involves everything from the climate-change mitigation and gender equity that CIMMYT also advocates, it must start by helping farmers like me defend our crops from their most basic but permanently evolving threats.

And that means giving us access to science-based technology. We need the best seeds, the best machines, and the best crop management techniques. We also need the best crop protection so that what we plant can meet its full potential.

Rather than limiting the options of farmers we should seek to expand them. This in fact is the great legacy of CIMMYT. Through sound science and creative innovation, it has given farmers more tools than ever before.

On my farm, we already fight pests, weeds, and disease through traditional practices like crop rotation. Yet this age-old practice is no longer enough. In this era of sustainability and conservation, we especially need advanced crop protection, which can function as a “virtual plow” that strengthens our soil as it locks in moisture, kidnaps carbon, enhances biodiversity, improves root systems, and reduces erosion.

In the years ahead, we’d like to explore additional crop-protection technologies, such as drone applications which would allow us to work with more precision and less dependence on fossil fuels.

As we think about the future, and as farmers everywhere try to grow more food on less land, we should embrace technology as a solution rather than fear it as a problem.

We have so many real problems with war, inflation, access to fuel and fertilizer, market turmoil, and climate change that we don’t need to restrict ourselves by hesitating in the application of new technologies, especially when they have been demonstrated to be safe. (If we trick ourselves into banning these options, farmers will pay a steep price as they struggle to grow food and consumers will bear the cost of it whenever they eat.)  All technological options should remain on the table.

Although food prices fell by 8.6 percent between June and July, they are more than 13 percent higher than they were at this time last year, according to the FAO’s Food Price Index.

This may be a silver lining amid dark clouds, but the forecast is unpredictable: “The decline in food commodity prices from very high levels is welcome,” said FAO chief economist Maximo Torero, who also warned that “many uncertainties remain” and they “pose serious strains for global food security.”

Agriculture must become more resilient, as CIMMYT pleads.

And farmers like me need the support of policy makers and the general public as we struggle to grow the food everyone needs.

Read the original article: Mexican farming can transition to be more resilient with technology

The potential of conservation agriculture in increasing yield and tackling climate change

Written by Celine Lim on . Posted in Publications.

A multitude of research on the benefits of conservation agriculture in South Asia has predominantly focused on favorable environments where farmers have reliable access to energy supporting irrigation and inputs.

In this new publication, scientists from the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT) explore the performance of conservation agriculture in under-developed coastal environments in southern coastal Bangladesh over a period of three consecutive years, including under rainfed conditions and/or with limited application of irrigation.

Farmers calibrate their machines for strip tillage in communities participating in experiments. (Credit: Ranik Martin)

Responding to the identified research gap, this research tests the hypothesis that seasonally alternating tillage (SAT) practices that alternate between strip-tillage in the winter season for maize and conventional tillage (CT) prior to rice can reduce energy use, increase energy productivity, and reduce yield-scaled emissions while increasing or maintaining yield and profit, even under these challenging conditions.

Working with 35 farmers who managed experiments in partially irrigated and rainfed environments in southern coastal Bangladesh, researchers teamed up with farming communities to compare the full suite of conservation agriculture to SAT practices against CT and farmer’s own practices.

The research found that in these coastal environments, both conservation agriculture and SAT practices have the potential to increase cereal yields and energy productivity while reducing yield-scaled emissions, thereby enabling farmers even in challenging coastal environments to produce more while reducing energy use and mitigating greenhouse gas emissions.

However, in consideration of farmers’ aversion to the elimination of tillage in rice, the research suggests that adaptations in CA practices and seasonal tillage prior to rice may be a more practical fit for rice-maize systems managed by smallholders reluctant to eliminate tillage for rice in coastal Bangladesh.

This research gives implications for future research and development efforts to take into consideration farmers’ preferences or the trade-offs resulting from significant change to conservation agriculture management in otherwise fully tilled systems. It is also vital to integrate development efforts that focus not only on agronomic management, but also on building supportive value chains to improve availability and affordability of the inputs and farm machinery required to successfully establish crops with such practices.

Read the full study: Adapted Conservation Agriculture Practices Can Increase Energy Productivity and Lower Yield-Scaled Greenhouse Gas Emissions in Coastal Bangladesh

Cover photo: Long-term conservation agriculture in Rajshahi, Bangladesh. (Credit: CIMMYT/Sam Storr)

The power of data in improving conditions for female farmers

Written by Sarah McLaughlin on . Posted in Publications.

Despite women’s essential role in agrifood systems, their contribution can be overlooked, with resources instead targeted towards their male counterparts.

However, advancements in technology now allow scientists to generate rich datasets that can aid analysis of the situational factors impacting women farmers’ participation in extension training services.

These developments have enabled scientists from the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT), Michigan State University, and Agricultural Advisory Society, a local NGO, to understand barriers to access and recommend improvements that will benefit women in Bangladesh.

Using a large dataset of 131,073 farmers in Bangladesh, researchers worked to identify ways to tackle gender exclusion in extension training. Scientists used machine learning to understand preferences according to gender and applied optimization theory and identified actionable ways to increase the number of farmers participating in video- and multi-media mediated trainings, while simultaneously improving gender inclusivity in public training events.

The study discovered strong gender specific considerations, such as the training session’s day of the week and time and the gender of the trainer, which prevented women from or encouraged them to take part in educational events.

It also demonstrates the potential for big data to transform our understanding of unstructured and semi-structured data into statistically verifiable insights that can genuinely impact farmer’s lives. Optimizing women’s involvement in agrifood systems can additionally play an important part in efforts to enhance farm productivity, gender and social inclusion, and nutrition in Bangladesh and beyond.

Read the full study: Large-scale rollout of extension training in Bangladesh: Challenges and opportunities for gender-inclusive participation

Cover photo: Women in Bangladesh can benefit from improved inclusivity in extension training. (Credit: Sam Storr/CIMMYT)

Conservation agriculture practices revive saline and sodic soils

Written by Sarah McLaughlin on . Posted in Publications.

In arid and semi-arid regions, soil salinity and sodicity pose challenges to global food security and environmental sustainability. Globally, around 932 million hectares are affected by salinization and alkalinization. Due to growing populations, anthropogenic activities and climate change, the prominence of salt stress in soil is rising both in irrigated and dryland systems.

Scientists from the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT) and the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) employed long-term conservation agriculture practices in different agri-food systems to determine the reclamation potential of sodic soil after continuous cultivation for nine years, with the experiment’s results now published.

Using different conservation agriculture techniques on areas cultivating combinations of maize, wheat, rice and mungbean, the study used soil samples to identify declines in salinity and sodicity after four and nine years of harvesting.

Evidence demonstrates that this approach is a viable route for reducing soil sodicity and improving soil carbon pools. The research also shows that the conservation agriculture-based rice-wheat-mungbean system had more reclamation potential than other studied systems, and therefore could improve soil organic carbon and increase productive crop cultivation.

Read the full publication: Long-term conservation agriculture helps in the reclamation of sodic soils in major agri-food systems

Cover photo: Comparison of crop performance under conservation agriculture and conventional tillage in a sodic soil at Karnal, Haryana, India. (Credit: HS Jat/ICAR-CSSRI)

Afghan wheat landrace shows promise for rust resistance

Written by Sarah McLaughlin on . Posted in Publications.

Rust pathogens are the most ubiquitous fungal pathogens that continue to pose a serious threat to wheat production. The preferred strategy to combat these diseases is through breeding wheat varieties with genetic resistance.

Landraces are a treasure trove of trait diversity, offer an excellent choice for the incorporation of new traits into breeding germplasm, and serve as a reservoir of genetic variations that can be used to mitigate current and future food challenges. Improving selection efficiency can be achieved through broadening the genetic base through using germplasm pool with trait diversity derived from landraces.

In a recent study, researchers from the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT) used Afghan landrace KU3067 to unravel the genetic basis of resistance against Mexican races of leaf rust and stripe rust. The findings of this study not only showcase new genomic regions for rust resistance, but also are the first report of Lr67/Yr46 in landraces. This adult plant resistance (APR) gene confirms multi-pathogenic resistance to three rust diseases and to powdery mildew.

Using genotype sequencing and phenotyping, the authors also report an all-stage resistance gene for stripe rust on chromosome 7BL, temporarily designated as YrKU. The genetic dissection identified a total of six quantitative trait locus (QTL) conferring APR to leaf rust, and a further four QTL for stripe rust resistance.

Although use of landraces in wheat breeding has been practiced for a long time, it has been on a limited scale. This study represents a significant impact in breeding for biotic stresses, particularly in pest and disease resistance.

Read the full study here: Identification and Characterization of Resistance Loci to Wheat Leaf Rust and Stripe Rust in Afghan Landrace “KU3067”

Cover photo: Yellow rust screening takes place at a CIMMYT experimental station in Mexico. (Credit: Sridhar Bhavani/CIMMYT)

How does CIMMYT’s improved maize get to the farmer?

New CIMMYT maize hybrid available from South Asian Tropical Breeding Program

Written by Sarah Fernandes on . Posted in News.

How does CIMMYT’s improved maize get to the farmer?
How does CIMMYT’s improved maize get to the farmer?

CIMMYT is happy to announce a new, improved tropical maize hybrid that is now available for uptake by public and private sector partners, especially those interested in marketing or disseminating hybrid maize seed across rainfed tropics of South Asia and similar agro-ecologies. NARS and seed companies are hereby invited to apply for licenses to pursue national release and /or scale-up seed production and deliver these maize hybrids to farming communities.

Product Code CIM19SADT-01
Target agroecology Tropical, rainfed lowlands of South Asia
Key traits Medium maturing, single-cross hybrid; yellow, semi-dent kernels; high yielding; drought-tolerant; and resistant to TLB, FSR, and BLSB
Performance data Download the CIMMYT Asia Regional On-Station (Stage 4) and On-Farm (Stage 5) Trials: Results of the 2019 to 2021 Seasons and Product Announcement from Dataverse.
How to apply Visit CIMMYT’s maize product allocation page for details
Application deadline The deadline to submit applications to be considered during the first round of allocations is 26 Aug 2022. Applications received after that deadline will be considered during subsequent rounds of product allocations.

 

The newly available CIMMYT maize hybrid, CIM19SADT-01, was identified through rigorous trialing and a stage-gate advancement process which started in 2019 and culminated in the 2020 and 2021 South Asia Regional On-Farm Trials for our South Asian Drought Tolerance (SADT) and Drought + Waterlogging Tolerance (SAWLDT) maize breeding pipelines. The product was found to meet the stringent performance criteria for CIMMYT’s SADT pipeline. While there is variation between different products coming from the same pipeline, the SADT pipeline is designed around the product concept described below:

Product Profile Basic traits Nice-to-have / Emerging traits Target agroecologies
SADT (South Asian Drought Tolerance) Medium maturing, yellow, high yielding, drought tolerant, and resistant to TLB and FSR FER, BLSB, FAW Semi-arid, rainfed, lowland tropics of South Asia, and similar agroecologies
FER: Fusarium Ear Rot; BLSB: Banded Leaf and Sheath Blight; FAW: Fall Armyworm; TLB: Turcicum Leaf Blight; FSR: Fusarium Stalk Rot

 

Applications must be accompanied by a proposed commercialization plan for each product being requested. Applications may be submitted online via the CIMMYT Maize Licensing Portal and will be reviewed in accordance with CIMMYT’s Principles and Procedures for Acquisition and use of CIMMYT maize hybrids and OPVs for commercialization. Specific questions or issues faced with regard to the application process may be addressed to GMP-CIMMYT@cgiar.org with attention to Nicholas Davis, Program Manager, Global Maize Program, CIMMYT.

APPLY FOR A LICENSE

Pilot of new wheat variety improves yield for farmers in Ethiopia

Written by Sarah McLaughlin on . Posted in Features.

“I am happy with this wheat variety and all the support from the project,” said Agere Worku, a female farmer in Ethiopia working with the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT). “It is a lot of money that I will earn as a female farmer in my life.”

Worku is just one farmer taking part in a pilot intervention as part of CIMMYT’s Adaptation, Demonstration, and Piloting of Wheat Technologies for Irrigated Lowlands of Ethiopia (ADAPT-Wheat) project. Four female and four male farmers were chosen to take part from the Melke Yegna Tesfa Association, a membership group of 83 smallholder farmers, nearly half of which are female.

Participants were given Kingbird seeds, a new wheat variety, to plant in their smallholdings. The project then supported them through capacity building and advice on smart soil, water management, plant protection and agronomic packages.

“We prepared six hectares of land and sowed 1.1 tons of Kingbird seed,” said Yeshiwas Worku, chair of the Melke Yegna Tefsa Association. “There were other wheat varieties, such as Danda’a, adjacent to our experimental plot and the difference in yields was very visible. The other members of the association were eager to get Kingbird seeds, which are very different in terms of quality, yields, maturity, and disease tolerance.”

“CIMMYT is a life changer for me,” said Buzayehu Getahun, a farmer in Jeju, in the Oromia region. “I produced 3.7 tons on 0.75 hectares. Interestingly, I earned around 132,000 Ethiopian Birr (US$2,500) from this yield. I plan to build a new house for my mother in my village and will be blessed by her at her old age,” said Getahun.

Female smallholder farmer with a bag of Kingbird seed, which she will use as part of a CIMMYT project pilot. (Credit: Enawgaw Shibeshi/CIMMYT)

The impact on female farmers

After involvement in the pilot, the female farmers produced higher yields than they had experienced before.

“I used to harvest wheat three times in the previous years and earned only 0.66 tons of wheat per 0.75 hectare using seeds of other wheat varieties,” explained Worku. “But now thanks to support from CIMMYT, the yield has increased four times than the previous years; I produced 2.4 tons per 0.75 hectares. I am very happy with the high yield and feel encouraged to reinvest in other agricultural activities.”

A second female farmer, Melishew Tedela, said, “I am happy with this seed and all the support from the project. I can be witness that the other farmers who didn’t get this variety were not happy with their low yields of wheat.”

Female farmers in Ethiopia share their experiences of cultivating Kingbird wheat crops. (Credit: Enawgaw Shibeshi/CIMMYT)

The future of lowland wheat farming

Bekele Geleta Abeyo, wheat breeder and Ethiopia Country Representative at CIMMYT, said, “The Government of Ethiopia is emphasizing increasing irrigated wheat production and productivity in the lowlands to complement the intensification of rainfed wheat production in the highlands in order to achieve self-sufficiency by 2023 and feed the ever-growing population.”

With world wheat prices skyrocketing due to the Ukraine conflict, wheat technology generation and dissemination are key for sustainable agricultural practices.

CIMMYT is working to replace obsolete wheat varieties in Ethiopia that are susceptible to wheat rust, particularly yellow and stem rust, with disease-resistant products. Newer varieties like Kingbird are rust-resistant and therefore produce higher yields.

Farmer in his field of Kingbird wheat in Ethiopia. (Credit: Enawgaw Shibeshi/CIMMYT)
Alison Bentley (right) and Martin Jones inspect wheat in a glasshouse. (Photo: Toby Smith/Gloknos)

How bad will we let the food crises get?

Written by Sarah Fernandes on . Posted in Press releases.

As the Russia-Ukraine war continues to degrade global food security, the Australian who leads the global effort on improving wheat production has set out the concrete actions needed by governments and investors to mitigate the food crisis, stabilise supply and transition to greater agrifood system resilience.

Alison Bentley leads the Global Wheat Program at the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT), the renowned research organisation from which more than 90 per cent of the wheat varieties grown in Australia can be traced. She will be addressing the Crawford Fund’s international conference Celebrating Agriculture for Development – Outcomes, Impacts and the Way Ahead this week in Parliament House, Canberra. The conference will also be addressed by the Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry, Senator The Hon, Murray Watt.

“The broad food security impacts of the Russia-Ukraine war highlight the fragility of the global food supply, but the war is only one of a multitude of problems that we’ll be facing for many years to come. Few will remain unaffected,” said Alison Bentley, who was the lead author in a recently published related article in Nature Food.

“More than 2.5 billion people worldwide consume wheat-based foods. We need to move beyond defining the problem to implementing practical actions to ensure stable food supply, safeguard the livelihoods of millions of vulnerable people and bring resilience to our global agrifood system, and we will all benefit,” she said.

“The first priority is to mitigate the immediate crisis by boosting wheat production by bundling existing agronomic and breeding improvements and sustainable farming practices, just as Australia and other wealthy countries are doing. This will reduce dependence on imported grain and fertilizer in poorer countries.”

“We have learned since the Green Revolution that this must be done within agro-ecological boundaries, with high-yielding disease-resistant wheat and by mainstreaming capacity for pest and disease monitoring. Importantly, we also need to address climate change, gender disparities, nutrition insufficiency and increase investment in agricultural research,” she concluded.

The Fund’s annual conference will bring together international and Australian specialists to look at the mutual benefit and impacts of investment in global food security and poverty alleviation, and consider the effects of emerging threats including climate change and changing geo-political conditions on agricultural production, food chains and the environment.

Other speakers include international affairs specialist Allan Gyngell, climate change and security specialist Robert Glasser and renowned international economist Phil Pardey.

Contact for enquiries
Cathy Reade – Director of Outreach
+61 413 575 934                                                                                                                              crawford@crawfordfund.org
www.crawfordfund.org

All the powerpoints can be found on the website – you’ll find them linked to each speaker’s presentation title on the program page. 

Farmers’ views on app usage for information sharing

Written by Celine Lim on . Posted in Publications.

Mobile phones are increasingly shaping the ways information is shared across industries, including in agriculture. The digitization of agricultural systems expedited by substantial efforts to narrow the digital divide and include smallholders means that data ownership and privacy issues are more relevant than ever.

The use of smartphone-based apps to improve accessibility to information for smallholder farmers has previously been under researched. In this publication, scientists from Ghent University and the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT) investigate incentives for smallholder farmers to use an agricultural advisory app in which data is shared using a designed discrete choice experiment.

Leveraging survey data from 392 farmers in Mexico, a conditional logit (CL) model was used to gain deeper insights into the preferences for attributes related to its usage. Groups and profiles were explored through a latent class (LC) model to investigate heterogeneity.

Farmers across ages were found to support the use of technology-based, site-specific extension services. The CL model results revealed farmers’ positive preference to receive support at first use and access to training, while they felt negatively towards sharing data with private actors. Meanwhile, the LC model demonstrates differences in preferences when farmers’ connectedness to the CIMMYT innovation hub and mastery approach goals variables are considered as a grouping variable. These variables also affect farmer preferences towards data sharing.

This study’s main contribution is in demonstrating the importance of nonfinancial incentives and influence of data sharing on farmer preferences. Through this improved understanding, the potential of technology in improving farmers’ welfare can be further realized.

Read the study here: How to Make a Smartphone-Based App for Agricultural Advice Attractive: Insights from a Choice Experiment in Mexico

Cover photo: María del Refugio Galván, a producer of barley from Irapuato, Guanajuato, Mexico, has been involved in the smartphone-app project. (Credit: Francisco Alarcón/CIMMYT)

Addressing the Global Food Crisis: CIMMYT Experts Weigh In

Written by Sarah Fernandes on . Posted in In the media.

The confluence of climate change, COVID-19, and the war in Ukraine have placed enormous stress on food systems across the globe. Food insecurity spiked in 2020 and has stayed high, and the number of undernourished people is on the rise.

As we respond to this emergency, there is an opportunity—and a need—to strengthen the kind of strategic investments that will make our agrifood systems resilient to tomorrow’s shocks. “We cannot be running crisis to crisis,” says Bram Govaerts, Director General of the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center, or CIMMYT, in this week’s New Security Broadcast. “We need to look at the underlying elements that are provoking these ripple effects.”

On the episode, ECSP Director Lauren Risi and ECSP Advisor Sharon Burke speak with Govaerts and his colleague Kai Sonder, head of CIMMYT’s Geographic Information System Unit, about how to address the unfolding food crisis as we simultaneously build food system resilience in the medium and long term. Drawing from their newly-published article in Nature Food, Govaerts and Sonder share approaches that governments, civil society, and private actors can take to tackle today’s wheat supply disruptions and food insecurity. They also share past success stories and lay out key challenges moving forward.

Beyond the immediate humanitarian aid needed to boost food security, Govaerts identifies intensified wheat production and greater investments in local cereals as essential short-term priorities. Medium-term investments should focus on agricultural production that is agroecologically suitable, policies that support the adoption of improved crop varieties, and data analysis to target the vulnerabilities of smallholder farmers. And with long term goals in mind, Govaerts says that we need to ask “how can we enhance our ecosystem diversity, resolve the gender disparity [in the agricultural sector] and invest in agrifood transformation from efficiency to resilience?”

Both experts emphasize that these approaches aren’t meant to be taken incrementally. “We’re really saying we need to start today, taking actions with an impact on the short, medium, and long term. It would be a mistake to only focus on the short-term actions that need to be taken,” says Govaerts.

Sonder acknowledges that transforming agricultural systems takes time—and isn’t easy. “You need to invest in breeding systems. You need to build capacity and identify areas where that is easily possible,” he explains. “Bringing out a new variety of wheat or maize or other crop takes up to ten years.”

Introducing new farming technologies can also come with challenges, since it requires making sure those technologies can actually be maintained. “You have to ensure that there are mechanics who can fix [them] quickly, that there’s a supply chain for spare parts,” observes Sonder. And securing sustained large-scale investment for research or program activities can prove difficult, as was the case for a study CIMMYT did on the potential for wheat in Africa. “The ministers were very interested,” Sonder says. “But other crisis come along, and then the funds go somewhere else.”

Despite the hurdles, there are plenty of examples of agrifood interventions with positive impact. For instance, one of CIMMYT’s current areas of work is in developing risk assessment and disease warning systems to allow people to act quickly before a crisis occurs. Sonder describes how his colleagues in Ethiopia had a recent success in identifying a risk of rust epidemic in collaboration with the government and stakeholders on the ground by using weather models.  The joint effort allowed the government “to procure and to spread fungicides and to be prepared for that crisis,” he says.

Addressing the challenges that underlie world hunger will take both this kind of strategic medium-term action as well as longer-term transformations—Even as we respond to the current hunger crisis with much-needed short-term efforts, we can also be reshaping our global agricultural systems for a more biodiverse, equitable, and resilient future.

This piece by , was originally posted on New Security Beat

Fighting back against Ug99 wheat stem rust

Written by Sarah McLaughlin on . Posted in In the media.

Sridhar Bhavani, head of rust pathology and molecular genetics and the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT), shared potential solutions for fighting back against wheat stem rusts like Ug99.

More than 200 new wheat varieties released by CIMMYT over the last ten years have contributed to reducing the spread of wheat stem rust in East Africa, where the disease originated. Scientists identify genes resistant to Ug99 and breed new varieties that are not susceptible to stem rust pathogens.

For long-term success, combining multiple resistant genes within a single variety is the way to go.

Read more: Fighting back against Ug99 wheat stem rust

Achieving sixty years of wheat yield increase

Written by Celine Lim on . Posted in Publications.

Achieving greater food security requires a continued increase in global wheat yields, which the developing world plays a central role in meeting. Newly published research covering 60 years of wheat yield trends in the Yaqui Valley, Mexico, provides insights into how farmers can increase yields to address this need.

By dividing the 60-year interval into three 20-year periods between 1960-2019 and correcting farm yield for the strong influence of inter-annual variation in January to March minimum temperature, scientists from Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO) and the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT) have taken steps towards advancing the sustainability of the Valley’s wheat cropping system by studying farm yield for the irrigated spring wheat production environment.

Total yield increase, corrected for temperature and CO2 rise, relative to average yield in each period, was 4.17%, 0.47%, and 1.59% p.a. for 1960–79, 1980–99, and 2000–19, respectively. The breeding component, estimated by the increase in the Varietal Yield Index in farmers’ fields, rose at 0.97%, 0.49%, and 0.71% p.a., respectively. The remaining yield change (3.16, -0.02%, and 0.87% p.a., respectively) comprised the net effect of improved crop management (agronomic progress), plus that of off-farm changes.

In the first period, off-farm developments were bolstered by strong government financial support whereas developments in the second period were hindered by the breakdown of the traditional smallholder land system and withdrawal of government support. The final period experienced better prices and improved access to technical advice.

Wheat is likely to continue playing a dominant role in the Yaqui Valley for the next 20-year period, especially from potential yield increase through breeding. However, closing the yield gap is becoming more challenging due to fluctuations in energy price, goals to achieve net zero CO2 and environmental signals. The biophysical sustainability of the Valley’s wheat cropping system requires urgent actions through better fertilizer management, greater cropping diversity, integrated management of biotic threats, acceptance of no-till, residue retention and controlled traffic.

Lessons from the Yaqui Valley bear importance for global wheat security given that without area increase and new technologies, food security will increasingly depend on developing countries.

Read the full publication here: Sixty years of irrigated wheat yield increase in the Yaqui Valley of Mexico: Past drivers, prospects and sustainability

Cover photo: Workers sowing wheat into sorghum residue. (Credit: CIMMYT)

Can digital agricultural services boost Ethiopia’s durum wheat production?

Written by Sarah McLaughlin on . Posted in News.

Participants gather to discuss solutions to low levels of durum wheat cultivation in Ethiopia. (Credit: Enawgaw Shibeshi/CIMMYT)

Despite an increase in the total area used for growing wheat in Ethiopia, the share of durum wheat, the wheat used for pasta, has decreased substantially across the country. Smallholder farmers grow durum wheat on marginal lands for their own use but are not benefitting financially from cultivating the crop.

To understand factors contributing to low area coverage of durum wheat and identify opportunities for reinvigoration and improved marketing, the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT) hosted a workshop for stakeholders from the entire durum wheat value chain.

“New breeding technologies have great promise for expanding the area of durum wheat production,” said Moti Jaleta, agricultural economist at CIMMYT, “but this achievement remains primarily dependent on the market’s ability to purchase grains at a higher price to stimulate farmer adoption. The market in Ethiopia is not favoring durum wheat, so suppliers and extension workers must promote it very well.”

Rising consumption of durum wheat products such as pasta and macaroni is causing higher dependency on wheat imports. Reducing this reliance requires addressing the challenges facing Ethiopia’s durum wheat farmers in variety development and release, seed supply, crop management, level of productivity, market opportunities, and extension systems.

Kindie Tesfaye, scientist and crop modeler at CIMMYT, explained, “There is a need to improve the durum wheat seed system and extension service, enhance the development of new varieties with desired grain quality and create market linkages to meet the increasing durum wheat demand from the rapidly growing urban population and expanding agro-industrial parks.”

The potential of digital

As Ethiopia’s agricultural systems are highly dependent on rainfall, digital interventions can serve as key decision support tools to manage climate risk and bolster the adaptive capacity and productivity of smallholder farmers. CIMMYT collaborates with value chain-based digital agro-advisory services through the Digital Agricultural Advisory Services (DAAS) project, which runs multiple projects in Ethiopia to advance the use of digital tools in farming.

Taye Tadesse, director of crop research at the Ethiopian Institute of Agricultural Research, emphasized that the introduction of production technology should be participatory and customer-oriented to achieve the intended outcomes. Ensuring that technology is accessible is vital for strengthening the value chain system, he said.

Agreed actions from the workshop included focusing attention on the bodies responsible for the expansion of infrastructure and raising wheat farmers’ awareness of the value-adding tools available to them through training.

“We must ensure that farmers are the biggest decision-makers,” Tasfaye said.