News – Page 51

A researchers shows a maize leaf affected by fall armyworm at CIMMYT’s fall armyworm screenhouse in Kiboko, Kenya. (Photo: Jennifer Johnson/CIMMYT)

How do we sustainably manage transboundary diseases and crop pests?

Written by Madeline Dahm on March 25, 2021. Posted in Features.

In our hyper-connected world, it should come as no surprise that recent years have shown a major uptick in the spread of transboundary pests and diseases. Integrated approaches have been effective in sustainably managing these border-jumping threats to farmers’ livelihoods and food security.

But a truly integrated approach accounts for not just the “cure,” but also how it can be sustainably incorporated into the agri-food system and social landscape. For example, how do we know if the farmers who adopt disease- and pest-resistant seed will be able to derive better incomes? And how do we ensure that incentives are aligning with community norms and values to enable better adoption of integrated disease or pest management approaches?

Experts from across the CGIAR research system and its partners weighed in on this topic in the recent webinar on Integrated Pest and Disease Management, the third in the International Year of Plant Health Webinar series. Panelists shared valuable perspectives on the science of outbreaks, the social dimensions of crop pest and disease control, zoonotic disease risk, and how national, regional and global organizations can better coordinate their responses.

“The combination of science, global partnerships and knowledge helps all of us be better prepared to avoid the losses we’ve seen. . . Today, we’re going to see what this looks like in practice,” said Rob Bertram, chief scientist for the Bureau for Resilience and Food Security at USAID, and moderator of the event.

Participants on the webinar on Integrated Pest and Disease Management. (Photo: CIMMYT)

Understanding the sources

Wheat and maize, the key crops studied at the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT) are no stranger to destructive diseases or pests, with fall armyworm, wheat blast, or maize lethal necrosis topping the list. But other staple crops and their respective economies are suffering as well — from infestations of cassava brown streak, potato cyst nematode, taro blight, desert locusts, and fusarium wilt, just to name a few.

What are the reasons for the expansion of these outbreaks? B.M. Prasanna, director of CIMMYT’s Global Maize Program explained that there are several: “Infected seed or planting material, vector movement, strong migratory capacity, contaminated field equipment, improper crop production commercialization practices, and global air and sea traffic” are all major causes.

Prevention and control of diseases and pests requires an integral strategy which mobilizes synergies of multiple institutions. (Graphic: B.M. Prasanna/CIMMYT)

Preventing outbreaks is always better than scrambling to find a cure, but as Prasanna pointed out, this requires a holistic, multi-institutional strategy including surveillance and early warning, quarantine and phytosanitary regulations, and technological solutions. Better access to monitoring and surveillance data, and sensitive, easy-to-use and affordable diagnostic equipment are essential, as is the proactive deployment of resistant crop varieties.

Building awareness about integrated disease and pest management is just as important, he told the attendees. “We must remember that IPM is not just Integrated Pest Management, but also ‘Integrating People’s Mindsets.’ That remains a major challenge. We need to think beyond our narrow disciplines and institutions and really come together to put IPM solutions into farmers’ fields,” Prasanna said.

Not all outbreaks are the same, but lessons can be shared

Regina Eddy, coordinator for the Fall Armyworm Interagency Task Force at USAID, works closely with the complex issue of scaling when it comes to disaster response and the roles of national, regional and global organizations.

“We need to develop inclusive partner stakeholder platforms, not designed ‘for them,’ but ‘with them,’” said Eddy. “We cannot tackle food security issues alone. Full stop.”

Closing the gap between social and biophysical science

Nozomi Kawarazuka, social anthropologist at the International Potato Center (CIP) explained how researchers can improve the uptake of their new seed, innovation, or agronomic practice by involving social scientists to understand the gender norms and social landscape at the beginning of the project — in the initial assessment phase.

Kawarazuka highlighted how involving women experts and extension workers in sectors that are typically male-dominated helps reduce bias and works towards changing perceptions.

“In South Asia, women farmers hesitate to engage with male government extension workers,” she said. “Women experts and extension workers reduce this barrier. Gender and social diversity in the plant health sector is an entry point to develop innovations that are acceptable to women as well as men and helps scale up adoption of innovations in the community.

Gender and social dimensions of pest and disease control: a call for collaboration (Graphic: Nozomi Kawarazuka/CIP)

The world is watching agriculture and livestock

Zoonotic diseases, or zoonoses, are caused by pathogens spread between animals and people. Understanding zoonotic disease risk is an essential and timely topic in the discussion of integrated pest management. Poor livestock management practices, lack of general knowledge on diseases and unsafe yet common food handling practices put populations at risk.

“It’s especially timely, [to have this] zoonosis discussion in our COVID-plagued planet. The whole world is going to be looking to the food and agricultural sectors to do better,” Bertram said.

Annet Mulema, a gender and social scientist at the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI) described results of a study showing how community conversations transformed gender relations and zoonotic disease risk in rural Ethiopia, where 80% of the population depends on agriculture and has direct contact with livestock.

“There were noticeable changes in attitude and practices among men and women regarding unsafe handling of animals and consumption of animal-source foods,” Mulema explained. “Community conversations give men and women involved a voice, it allows for a variety of ideas to be expressed and discussed, leads to community ownership of conclusions and action plans, and opens communication channels among local service providers and community members.”

Proportion of women and men practicing safe handling of livestock and animal source foods, before and after community conversation intervention. (Graphic: Annet Mulema/ILRI)

Local to global, and global to local

Panelists agreed that improving capacity is the most powerful lever to advance approaches for integrated pest management and plant health, while connected and inclusive partnerships along the value chain make the whole system more resilient. The amount of scientific knowledge on ways to combat plant pests and diseases is increasing, and we have new tools to connect the global with the local and bring this knowledge to the community level.

The fourth and final CGIAR webinar on plant health is scheduled for March 31 and will focus on a the intersectional health of people, animals, plants and their environments in a “One Health” approach.

Farmers at a demonstration farm field day organized by East African Seed Company. (Photo: Courtesy)

Fighting the stress

Written by Rodrigo Ordóñez on March 23, 2021. Posted in Features.

East African Seed Company has a rich history of nearly 50 years, serving farmers with improved climate-resilient seed varieties. Established in 1972, the company produces and sells improved seed, through a wide distribution network in at least 15 countries in sub-Saharan Africa. It also markets agrochemicals and other farm inputs, and has ambitions of expanding to the rest of Africa, trading as Agriscope Africa Limited.

Smallholder farmers in sub-Saharan Africa continue to face multiple biotic and abiotic stresses as they try to improve their farms’ productivity and their livelihoods. Maize seed that guarantees high yield is a key trait, coupled with other key attributes such as drought tolerance, disease and pest resistance, early seedling vigor as well as suitability for food and animal feed.

With the varieties serving both small- and large-scale commercial farmers, challenges such as the fall armyworm, diminishing soil fertility and erratic rains have persisted in recent years and remain as key farming obstacles. “Such challenges diminish crop production and the grain quality thereby, lessening farmers’ profitability,” says Rogers Mugambi, Chief Operating Officer of East African Seed Company.

Scientists at the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT), in collaboration with partners in the national agriculture research systems and the commercial seed sector, continue to develop seed varieties that can guarantee decent yield even in times of climatic, disease and pest stress.

General view of the East African Seed warehouse. (Photo: Jerome Bossuet/CIMMYT)

Top-notch research trickles down to farmers

Over the years, East African Seed has inked partnerships with CIMMYT, national research institutes and other agencies in the countries where it operates. Such partnerships have been the driving force to its success and the impacts within the farming communities in sub-Saharan Africa.

“Our collaboration with CIMMYT began in 2008 with germplasm acquisition. The cooperation has expanded to include testing networks for new hybrids, early-generation seed production and marketing. The overall beneficiary is the smallholder farmer who can access quality seeds and produce more with climate-smart products,” Mugambi says.

Apart from the multi-stress-tolerant varieties developed and released over time by the national agricultural research programs, CIMMYT recently announced a breakthrough: fall armyworm-tolerant elite maize hybrids for eastern and southern Africa. This success followed three years of rigorous research and experiments conducted in Kenya and signified a key milestone in the fight against fall armyworm.

As part of the partnership in the Drought Tolerant Maize for Africa (DTMA) and Stress Tolerant Maize for Africa (STMA) projects, East African Seed Company (Agriscope Africa Limited) established demonstration farms and conducted field days in Kenya, reaching thousands of farmers as a result. It was also able to produce early generation seed, which supported production of 2,000 metric tons of certified seed. This partnership now continues in the Accelerating Genetic Gains in Maize and Wheat (AGG) project.

The company has contracted large- and small-scale growers across the country to meet its seed production targets.

“Most of our small-scale growers are clustered in groups of up to 30 farmers with less than five acres of farmland. The large growers have advanced irrigation facilities such as the pivot system and seed processing plants. The seed from the fields is pre-cleaned and dried in the out-grower facilities before delivery to our factory for further cleaning and processing,” Mugambi explains.

A handful of improved maize seed from the drought-tolerant variety TAN 250, developed and registered for sale in Tanzania through CIMMYT's Drought Tolerant Maize for Africa (DTMA) project. (Photo: Anne Wangalachi/CIMMYT) — A handful of improved maize seed from the drought-tolerant variety TAN 250, developed and registered for sale in Tanzania through CIMMYT’s Drought Tolerant Maize for Africa (DTMA) project. (Photo: Anne Wangalachi/CIMMYT)

Out with the drought

Currently, of the 1,300 metric tons of drought-tolerant hybrid seeds it produces yearly, 500 metric tons constitute those derived from the partnership in the STMA project. Two notable hybrids, HODARI (MH501) and TOSHEKA (MH401), were derived during the DTMA and STMA projects. Released in 2014 and accepted for regional certification through the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA)’s regional catalogue, the MH501 is a mid-altitude adapted and medium maturing three-way cross hybrid. The yield advantage of 15% over the local commercial checks triggered widespread adoption by the farmers, according to Mugambi. In Kenya, it was used as a commercial check during national performance trials, from 2017 to 2019.

The MH401, an early maturing hybrid with moderate drought tolerance, has been adopted in lowland and mid-altitude dry ecologies of Kenya and Tanzania. It has a 20% yield advantage over the local commercial checks.

As part of its varietal replacement, East African Seed Company looks to steadily retire older varieties such as KH600-15A and WE1101 and promote new ones including TAJIRI (EASH1220), TAJI (MH502) and FARAJA (MH503).

To promote new varieties and successfully reach smallholders, the company conducts field days, farm-level varietal demonstrations, road shows and radio programs. It also disseminates information on the benefits of new varieties while also dispensing promotional materials such as branded t-shirts and caps.

“Additionally, we organize annual field days at our research farm in Thika, where key and influential farmers and other stakeholders are invited from across Kenya and neighboring countries to learn about our new agricultural technologies,” Mugambi says.

What is nixtamalization?

Written by Emma Orchardson on March 23, 2021. Posted in Explainers.

For centuries, people across Mexico and Central America have been using a traditional method, known as nixtamalization, to process their maize.

Now carried out both at household and industrial levels, this technique offers a range of nutritional and processing benefits. It could easily be adopted by farmers and consumers in other parts of the world.

What is nixtamalization?

Nixtamalization is a traditional maize preparation process in which dried kernels are cooked and steeped in an alkaline solution, usually water and food-grade lime (calcium hydroxide).

After that, the maize is drained and rinsed to remove the outer kernel cover (pericarp) and milled to produce dough that forms the base of numerous food products, including tortillas and tamales.

How does it work?

Key steps of the traditional nixtamalization process. (Graphic: Nancy Valtierra/CIMMYT)

What happens when maize kernels are nixtamalized?

The cooking (heat treatment) and steeping in the alkaline solution induce changes in the kernel structure, chemical composition, functional properties and nutritional value.

For example, the removal of the pericarp leads to a reduction in soluble fiber, while the lime cooking process leads to an increase in calcium content. The process also leads to partial starch gelatinization, partial protein denaturation — in which proteins present in the kernel become insoluble — and a partial decrease in phytic acid.

What are the benefits of processing maize in this way?

In addition to altering the smell, flavor and color of maize products, nixtamalization provides several nutritional benefits including:

Increased bioavailability of vitamin B3 niacin, which reduces the risk of pellagra disease
Increased calcium intake, due to its absorption by the kernels during the steeping process
Increased resistant starch content in food products, which serves as a source of dietary fiber
Significantly reduced presence of mycotoxins such as fumonisins and aflatoxins
Increased bioavailability of iron, which decreases the risk of anemia

These nutritional and health benefits are especially important in areas where maize is the dietary staple and the risk of aflatoxins is high, as removal of the pericarp is thought to help reduce aflatoxin contamination levels in maize kernels by up to 60% when a load is not highly contaminated.

Additionally, nixtamalization helps to control microbiological activity and thus increases the shelf life of processed maize food products, which generates income and market opportunities for agricultural communities in non-industrialized areas.

Where did the practice originate?

The word itself comes from the Aztec language Nahuatl, in which the word nextli means ashes and tamali means unformed maize dough.

Populations in Mexico and Central America have used this traditional maize processing method for centuries. Although heat treatments and soaking periods may vary between communities, the overall process remains largely unchanged.

Today nixtamalized flour is also produced industrially and it is estimated that more than 300 food products commonly consumed in Mexico alone are derived from nixtamalized maize.

Can farmers and consumers in other regions benefit from nixtamalization?

Nixtamalization can certainly be adapted and adopted by all consumers of maize, bringing nutritional benefits particularly to those living in areas with low dietary diversity.

Additionally, the partial removal of the pericarp can contribute to reduced intake of mycotoxins. Aflatoxin contamination is a problem in maize producing regions across the world, with countries as diverse as China, Guatemala and Kenya all suffering heavy maize production losses as a result. While training farmers in grain drying and storage techniques has a significant impact on reducing post-harvest losses, nixtamalization technology could also have the potential to prevent toxin contamination and significantly increase food safety when used appropriately.

If adapted, modern nixtamalization technology could also help increase the diversity of uses for maize in food products that combine other food sources like vegetables.

Cover photo: Guatemalan corn tortillas. (Photo: Marco Verch, CC BY 2.0 DE)

A farmer assesses soil on his plot in Ethiopia. (Photo: Simret Yasabu/CIMMYT)

Experts point ways to better crops and farmer incomes

Written by Sarah McLaughlin on March 18, 2021. Posted in News.

The first One Earth Root and Soil Health Forum took place on March 1, 2021. Over 800 people attended to discuss how to unlock the potential of better soil and root health to help transform food systems. The Forum brought together experts from farming, international organizations, NGOs, academia and the public and private sectors. Together they called for collective action in science and technology targeting the early stages of plant growth.

The main emphasis this year was on Africa, which has around 60% of the world’s uncultivated arable land. However, parallel workshops focusing on Turkey, the Middle East, Sub-Saharan Africa and South Africa enabled tailored discussions in regional languages. Plenary keynote speakers were Erik Fyrwald (Syngenta Group CEO and Chairman of the Syngenta Foundation for Sustainable Agriculture) and Dr Ismahane Elouafi (Chief Scientist at the UN Food and Agriculture Organization).

Erik Fyrwald underlined that “everything starts with soil. It is the foundation of productive farming practices – with healthy soil, you can have healthy plants, healthy people and a healthy planet. By acting on soil health through regenerative agriculture practices, we are acting on climate change, biodiversity loss and food security, as well as improving farmer livelihoods. The One Earth Soil and Root Health Forum helps an international community shift towards achieving this – together.”

Dr Ismahane Elouafi noted that “healthy soils are the foundation for agriculture, as they provide 95% of our food. Soils also provide fuel, fiber and medical products, and play a key role in the carbon cycle, storing and filtering water, and improving resilience to floods and droughts.”

Speaking on the opening panel, Michael Misiko, Africa Agriculture Director of The Nature Conservancy, noted that “climate change is inseparable from the life and health of our soils and the roots that must thrive within them.”

CIMMYT senior scientist and country representative for Turkey, Abdelfattah Dababat, underlining the importance of awareness raising action. “Growers basically do not recognize soil/root health to be a problem. Most of them are not aware of the root rot diseases and soil health issues in their fields, affecting their yield. This is why the term “hidden enemy” applies perfectly. Root and soil health management is therefore, not practiced and those yield losses are simply accepted.”

Speakers also underlined the link between soil and root health and the long-term economic productivity and the welfare of societies. Other points raised included technologies measuring soil health and their role in enabling informed decision-making by farmers and scientists. The importance of empowering smallholders and enabling access to modern technologies was also underlined as was the importance of public-private sector collaboration in achieving this.

The different parallel sessions covered i) solutions for soil borne diseases in protecting and enhancing root health, ii) supporting smallholder farmers to improve the health and fertility of their soils and the opportunities for public and private sectors to engage, iii) no tillage technologies and seed treatment for soil and root health and iv) the state of nematode soil pest pressures. The negative impact of conventional tillage systems include soil erosion and carbon emissions. The importance therefore of no tillage technologies was analyzed.

Health underfoot: why roots and soil are important

Around 95% of the food we eat grows in the earth. However, more than one-third of the world’s soils are degraded; without rapid action, this figure could rise to 90% by 2050. Soil erosion decreases the water, nutrients and root-space available to plants. Healthy roots enable better use of nutrients and water. They help produce more shoots and leaves from each seed, enabling farmers to produce more food and soil to capture more carbon. Healthy roots also help tackle soil erosion. Soil and root health help mitigate climate change. More carbon already resides in soil than in the atmosphere and all plant life combined. Studies show that there are 2,500 billion tons of carbon in soil, compared with 800 billion tons in the atmosphere and 560 billion tons in plant and animal life. Healthier soil can store even more. Healthy plants with good roots capture further carbon from the atmosphere.

Read the original: Experts point ways to better crops and farmer incomes

Drone view of CIMMYT's experimental station in Toluca, State of Mexico, Mexico. A valley located at 2,630 meters above sea level with a cool and humid climate is the ideal location for selecting wheat materials resistant to foliar diseases, such as wheat rusts. Most of the trials done here are for wheat and triticale, but also include a couple maize plots. (Photo: Alfonso Cortés/CIMMYT)

CIMMYT to dedicate historic wheat experimental station to Sanjaya Rajaram

Written by Marcia MacNeil on March 18, 2021. Posted in News.

The International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT) will rename one of its most historic and successful wheat experimental stations in honor of Sanjaya Rajaram, a former Wheat Program director, distinguished scientist and World Food Prize laureate.

Rajaram, one of the most successful and influential wheat breeders ever, passed away in Mexico on February 17, 2021. The wheat experimental station managed by CIMMYT in Toluca, Mexico, will be renamed “Centro Experimental Sanjaya Rajaram” in his honor.

Rajaram joined CIMMYT in 1969, working alongside Nobel Prize Laureate and scientist Norman Borlaug in Mexico. Recognizing his talent and initiative, Borlaug appointed Rajaram as head of CIMMYT’s wheat breeding program when he was 29 years old. His career accomplishments include overseeing the development of more than 480 high-yielding, disease-resistant wheat varieties, which are sown today on 58 million hectares in 51 countries.

Norman Borlaug (right) in the field with Sanjaya Rajaram, his successor as head of CIMMYT's wheat program. (Photo: Gene Hettel/CIMMYT) — Norman Borlaug (right) in the field with Sanjaya Rajaram, his successor as head of CIMMYT’s wheat program. (Photo: Gene Hettel/CIMMYT)

The wheat experimental station is located on the outskirts of Mexico’s fifth largest city, Toluca, about 60 kilometers southwest of Mexico City. It is a key testing location in the shuttle breeding process that Borlaug developed in the 1960s in his quest for high-yielding wheat to avert global famine — a breeding process that successfully continues to this day. It is also the site where Borlaug famously received news of his 1970 Nobel Peace Prize win.

“Dr. Rajaram was a world-renowned wheat breeder and scientist and a true hunger fighter. In 2014, he was recognized with one of the highest honors in agriculture, the World Food Prize, in acknowledgement for improving the lives of hundreds of millions of people through his work on high-yielding and disease-resistant wheat varieties grown on more than 58 million hectares throughout the world,” said CIMMYT Director General Martin Kropff. “He was an inspiring and cherished presence at CIMMYT for 40 years. His loss is felt by all of us and I am delighted to be able to honor him this way.”

“It is only fitting that a wheat experimental station crucial to Borlaug’s pioneering work be named for Dr. Rajaram, who followed in his footsteps,” said CIMMYT Chief Operating Officer, Deputy Director General for Research, and Integrated Development Program Director Bram Govaerts.

A virtual event to remember Rajaram and officially dedicate the Toluca station in his honor is tentatively planned for May.

Global malnutrition: Why cereal grains could provide an answer

Written by Rodrigo Ordóñez on March 15, 2021. Posted in In the media.

Nigel Poole, Professor of International Development at SOAS, University of London, writes on The Conversation about the role of cereals in fighting malnutrition. Poole was a Visiting Fellow at the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT) in Mexico for a year.

Agricultural knowledge management framework for innovation (AKM4I) in agri-food systems. (Graphic: CIMMYT)

A knowledge revolution

Written by Ricardo Curiel on March 12, 2021. Posted in News.

The key to transforming food production systems globally lies in knowledge management processes, according to a team of researchers from the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT).

The challenge is to combine traditional knowledge with state-of-the-art scientific research: to meet regional needs for improvement in farming systems with knowledge networks fostering innovative practices and technologies that increase yields and profits sustainably.

A group of CIMMYT researchers led by Andrea Gardeazábal, Information and Communications Technology for Agriculture Monitoring and Evaluation Manager, recently published a proposal for a new knowledge management framework for agri-food innovation systems: Agricultural Knowledge Management for Innovation (AKM4I).

“We are proposing a knowledge management framework for agricultural innovation that addresses the need for more inclusive and environmentally sustainable food production systems that are able to provide farmers and consumers with affordable and healthy diets within planetary boundaries,” Gardeazábal said.

The AKM4I framework was designed to help agricultural development practitioners understand how farming skills and abilities are developed, tested and disseminated to improve farming systems in real-life conditions.

Following systems theory principles, the model empirically describes how information is created, acquired, stored, analyzed, integrated and shared to advance farming knowledge and produce innovative outcomes that effectively contribute to: collaboratively building local capacities for developing joint problem-solving abilities and integrated-knowledge solutions; empowering farmers with site-specific knowledge; co-creating technology and conducting participatory community-based research; and bridging innovation barriers to drive institutional change.

Knowledge access for systems transformation

Schematic illustration of CIMMYT's knowledge and technology development networks, or hubs, for sustainable maize and wheat production systems. (Graphic: CIMMYT) — Schematic illustration of CIMMYT’s knowledge and technology development networks, or hubs, for sustainable maize and wheat production systems. (Graphic: CIMMYT)

The framework builds on CIMMYT’s learnings from MasAgro, a bilateral project with Mexico that relies on participatory research and knowledge and technology development networks for sustainable maize and wheat production systems.

This CIMMYT project was recently acknowledged with the 2020 Innovative Applications in Analytics Award for developing groundbreaking monitoring, evaluation, accountability and learning (MEAL) systems and tools for publicly funded researchers and field technicians who advise more than 150,000 farmers in Mexico.

“Through the outlined principles and processes, the AKM4I framework can assist in closing the cycle of continually re-creating knowledge, evaluating and iterating upon innovations, building coalitions to democratize knowledge access and utilization, and using MEAL to facilitate course-correction of all stages of knowledge management,” concludes the study.

Bram Govaerts, CIMMYT Chief Operating Officer, Deputy Director General for Research and Integrated Development Program Director, believes the AKM4I framework should be the cornerstone of agri-food systems transformation, including the current reformation of CGIAR’s partnerships, knowledge, assets, and global presence.

“The MasAgro hub and knowledge management model will become the operational model of many regional initiatives of CGIAR,” Govaerts said.

Read the study:
Knowledge management for innovation in agri-food systems: a conceptual framework

Pramila Mondal operates her power-tiller-operated seeder. (Photo: Shahabuddin Shihab/CIMMYT)

Power steering

Written by Nur-A-Mahajabin Khan on March 9, 2021. Posted in Features.

Protected from the harsh midday sun with a hat, Pramila Mondal pushes behind the roaring engine of a two-wheel tractor. She cultivates a small plot of land with her husband in the small village of Bara Kanaibila, in the Rajbari district of Bangladesh, near the capital Dhaka.

Using this machine, she also provides planting services to farmers who need to sow wheat, maize, mungbean, mustard and jute, earning her between $600 and $960 in each planting season.

Mondal and her husband first heard about this technology five years ago, when they attended an event to promote agricultural mechanization, organized by the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT). After seeing a demonstration, they were convinced that the power-tiller-operated seeder could form the basis for a business.

Ultimately, Mondal bought the machine. She got training on how to operate and maintain it, as part of the Cereal Systems Initiative for South Asia – Mechanization Irrigation and Mechanization Extension Activity (CSISA-MI and CSISA-MEA) project, supported by USAID through Feed the Future.

Let’s get it started

Pramila Mondal activates the self-starting mechanism on her power-tiller-operated seeder. (Photo: Shahabuddin Shihab/CIMMYT)

Mondal became the only woman in her area who could operate a seeder of this type, making her locally famous. After seeing the results of her business, others followed suit.

Eight more women in her area expressed interest in operating power-tiller-operated seeders and also went on to become service providers.

They all faced a similar problem: power tillers are hard to start. Pulling the starting rope or turning the hand crank requires a lot of strength.

The CSISA-MEA project team worked with a local engineering company to introduce a self-starting mechanism for power tiller engines. Since then, starting diesel engines is no longer a problem for women like Mondal.

Glee for the tillerwoman

Almost all of the 11 million hectares of rice planted every year in Bangladesh are transplanted by hand. It is becoming increasingly difficult to find people willing to do this type of backbreaking work. New machines are being introduced that transplant rice mechanically, but they require rice seedling to be raised in seedling mats.

As this new service is required, Mondal jumped at the opportunity. With support from CIMMYT through the CSISA-MEA project, she is now raising seedlings for this new type of rice transplanters.

CIMMYT facilitated training for machinery service providers on mat type seedling production, in partnership with private companies. Mondal and other women who were also trained produced enough seedlings to plant 3.2 hectares of land with a rice transplanter they hired from a local owner.

Mondal and her husband now have big dreams. They intend to buy a rice transplanter and a combine harvester.

“With our effort we can make these changes, but a little support can make big difference, which the CSISA-MEA project did,” she said.

Seed viability test at the CIMMYT genebank. (Photo: Alfonso Cortés/CIMMYT)

Consider the seed

Written by Steven M on March 9, 2021. Posted in News.

The conservation of plant genetic diversity through germplasm conservation is a key component of global climate-change adaptation efforts. Germplasm banks like the maize and wheat collections at the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT) may hold the genetic resources needed for the climate-adaptive crops of today and tomorrow.

But how do we ensure that these important backups are themselves healthy and not potential vectors of pest and disease transmission?

This was the question that animated “Germplasm health in preventing transboundary spread of pests and pathogens,” the second webinar in Unleashing the Potential of Plant Health, a CGIAR webinar series in celebration of the UN-designated International Year of Plant Health.

“Germplasm refers to the source plants of either specific cultivars or of unique genes or traits that can be used by breeders for improved cultivars,” program moderator and head of the Health and Quarantine Unit at the International Potato Center (CIP) Jan Kreuze explained to the event’s 622 participants. “If the source plant is not healthy, whatever you multiply or use it for will be unhealthy.”

According to keynote speaker Saafa Kumari, head of the Germplasm Health Unit at the International Center for Agricultural Research in the Dry Areas (ICARDA), we know of 1.3 thousand pests and pathogens that infect crops, causing approximately $530 billion in damages annually. The most damaging among these tend to be those that are introduced into new environments.

Closing the gap, strengthening the safety net

The CGIAR has an enormous leadership role to play in this area. According to Kumari, approximately 85% of international germplasm distribution is from CGIAR programs. Indeed, in the context of important gaps in the international regulation and standards for germplasm health specifically, the practices and standards of CGIAR’s Germplasm Health Units represent an important starting point.

“Germplasm health approaches are not necessarily the same as seed and plant health approaches generally,” said Ravi Khaterpal, executive secretary for the Asia-Pacific Association of Agricultural Research Institutions (APAARI). “Best practices are needed, such as CGIAR’s GreenPass.”

In addition to stronger and more coherent international coordination and regulation, more research is needed to help source countries test genetic material before it is distributed, according to Francois Petter, assistant director for the European and Mediterranean Plant Protection Organization (EPPO). Head of the CGIAR Genebank Platform Charlotte Lusty also pointed out the needed for better monitoring of accessions in storage. “We need efficient, speedy processes to ensure collections remain healthy,” she said.

Of course, any regulatory and technological strategy must remain sensitive to existing and varied social and gender relations. We must account for cultural processes linked to germplasm movement, said Vivian Polar, Gender and Innovation Senior Specialist with the CGIAR Research Program on Roots, Tubers and Bananas (RTB). Germplasm moves through people, she said, adding that on the ground “women and men move material via different mechanisms.”

“The cultural practices associated with seed have to be understood in depth in order to inform policies and address gender- and culture-related barriers” to strengthening germplasm health, Polar said.

The event was co-organized by researchers at CIP and the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA).

The overall webinar series is hosted by CIMMYT, CIP, the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI), IITA, and the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI). It is sponsored by the CGIAR Research Program on Agriculture for Nutrition (A4NH), the CGIAR Gender Platform and the CGIAR Research Program on Roots, Tubers and Bananas (RTB).

The third of the four webinars on plant health, which will be hosted by CIMMYT, is scheduled for March 10 and will focus on integrated pest and disease management.

Capacitating farmers and development agents through radio

Written by Sarah McLaughlin on March 9, 2021. Posted in News.

Representing CIMMYT, Kinde Tesfaye (on the left) took part in the live radio programs. (Photo: CIMMYT)

The continuing increase in the number of farming families has led to a growing emphasis on approaches on how to reach more people at a time. Among others, individual, group and mass-media approaches to agricultural extension and advisory services have been used concurrently.

This year, the global COVID-19 pandemic presented yet another challenge to the agriculture sector due to travel restrictions and limited face-to-face interactions. This has obstructed capacity building for farmers as well as development agents to deliver seasonal and intra-seasonal agroclimate advisories for farmers to support farm decisions.

Realizing the importance of mass media in extension, the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT) in collaboration with the Ministry of Agriculture, the Ethiopian Institute of Agricultural Research (EIAR) and Climate Change, Agriculture and Food Security (CCAFS)-EA used live show radio program on Sunday mornings to provide climate advisories on the 2020 Kiremt (main cropping) season to farmers and extension workers on a two-weekly basis between June and November. The live show also allows listeners to call in and ask questions and provide feedback. Besides the climate agro-advisories, COVID-19 alerts and precautionary measures were provided to the radio audience.

Extremely low climate induced risk perception

CIMMYT-CASCAID II project baseline assessment indicates that the rural communities in the project intervention areas have an extremely low climate induced risk perception and are also quite resistant to change. The areas are also highly prone to recurring droughts. Erratic rainfall distribution and dry spells are common. Large areas of barren and uncultivable land, water shortage, poor soil quality, soil erosion due to high run off rate are adversely affecting the farming systems. Research shows that simple adaptation actions such as watershed management, changing planting dates and crop varieties could greatly reduce the climate variability and change impacts. However, communities being poorly linked to scientists and policy makers lack information about climate change adaptation options and government schemes related to the same. There are also challenges of communicating scientific research in simplified ways that are appropriate to local stakeholder needs.

In recent years, the use of improved technologies has been increasing due to the progressive national agricultural development policy and strategy that is in place coupled with advisories provided to help farmers to make timely and appropriate farm level decisions and practices.

Agroclimate advisory – the fourth production factor

The provision of agroclimate advisory is considered as the fourth production factor after labor, land, and capital and critical to the agricultural sector as climate and its associated adverse effects can negatively affect agricultural activities and productivities. Thus, ensuring the accessibility of relevant time sensitive forecast based advisory information to farming communities helps improve productivity and yields higher returns.

The advice will also assist smallholder farmers to manage climate risks through informed decisions such as identifying optimum planting time/sowing windows, planting density at the start of the rainy season, while at the same time managing fertilizer application. Moreover, it also benefits farmer decisions and practices on soil water, weeds, diseases, and pest management throughout the growing season. By monitoring weather and crop growth during the season, the same forecast information can assist in predicting crop yields well in advance of crop maturity and to allow farmers to decide whether to sell the product immediately after harvest or store it until it commands better prices later in the year.

Radio for disseminating agroclimate information

In Ethiopia, the use of ICT for the accumulation and dissemination of agroclimate information and other agricultural updates is still low. Radio transmission covers a large percentage of the country with most of the households own a radio. This makes the use of radio programs one of the most cost-effective channels for conveying weather forecast information and agricultural knowledge to rural communities which ultimately facilitate informed decision-making and adoption of new technologies and practices.

In collaboration with its partners, the CIMMYT-CASCADE II project through Fana FM radio implemented a six-month (June-November 2020) live radio program providing seasonal advisories at the start of the main season in June using seasonal forecast from the National Meteorology Agency which was downscaled to Woreda/Kebele level by EIAR, CCAFS-EA and CIMMYT. This was followed by a biweekly or monthly Wereda specific agro-climate advisories which focus on fertilizer application, weeding, crop protection, soil and water management and climate extremes such as flood and droughts.

The program also included experts from the Ministry of Agriculture, EIAR, and CGIAR Centers to provide professional explanations and updates from the perspective of in situational readiness to support issues coming from the radio audience. The program created an opportunity for the federal government to prepare in time on some activities like importing agricultural inputs such as pesticides and fungicides to control the outbreak of pests and diseases (e.g., desert locust infestation and wheat rust outbreak). The platform also provided an opportunity to reach to millions of farmers to convey COVID-19 prevention messages such as physical distancing, use of masks, handwashing and other precautions that need to be taken while working in groups.

Crop nutrient management using digital tool improves yield, reduces greenhouse gas emissions: Study

Written by Bea Ciordia on March 5, 2021. Posted in In the media.

The use of field-specific fertiliser in the Indo-Gangetic Plains (IGP) can increase grain yield, reduce greenhouse gas emissions compared to traditional farmer fertilization practices (FFP), and lead to reduced costs and increased incomes for farmers.

These were the findings of a study conducted between 2013 and 2017 by the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Centre (CIMMYT) and published in Nature Scientific Report in January 2021.

Alinda Sarah shows a maize cob due for harvest on the farm she owns with her husband in Masindi, mid-western Uganda. (Photo: Joshua Masinde/CIMMYT)

Researchers identify optimal strategy to maximize genomic estimated breeding values

Written by Marcia MacNeil on March 3, 2021. Posted in News.

The ultimate challenge for crop breeders is to increase genetic gain of a crop: literally, to increase the crop’s yield on farmers’ fields. Wheat and maize breeders from the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT) and partner institutions are working to achieve this in record time, developing new varieties tailored for farmers’ needs that are also pest- and disease-resistant, climate-resilient, and nutritious.

This work is part of the Accelerating Genetic Gain in Maize and Wheat for Improved Livelihoods (AGG) project. Among other methods, breeders are using state-of-the-art novel tools such as genomic selection to achieve this ambitious goal.

In genomic selection, breeders use information about a plant’s genetic makeup along with data on its visible and measurable traits, known as phenotypic data, to “train” a model to predict how a cross will turn out — information known as “genomic estimated breeding values (GEBV)” — without having to plant seeds, wait for them to grow, and physically measure their traits. In this way, they save time and costs by reducing the number of selection cycles.

However, research is still ongoing about the best way to use genomic selection that results in the most accurate predictions and ultimately reduces selection cycle time. A recent publication by CIMMYT scientist Sikiru Atanda and colleagues has identified an optimal genomic selection strategy that maximizes the efficiency of this novel technology. Although this research studied CIMMYT’s maize breeding programs, AGG scientists working on wheat genetic gain and zinc nutritional content see cross-crop impacts.

Shortening a lengthy process

In the typical breeding stages, breeders evaluate parental lines to create new crosses, and advance these lines through preliminary and elite yield trials. In the process, thousands of lines are sown, grown and analyzed, requiring considerable resources. In the traditional CIMMYT maize breeding scheme, for example, breeders conduct five stages of testing to identify parental lines for the next breeding cycle and develop high yielding hybrids that meet farmers’ needs.

In the current scheme using genomic selection, breeders phenotype 50% of a bi-parental population to predict the GEBVs of the remaining un-tested 50%. Though this reduces the cost of phenotyping, Atanda and his co-authors suggest it is not optimal because the breeder has to wait three to four months for the plant to grow before collecting the phenotypic data needed to calibrate the predictive model for the un-tested 50%.

Atanda and his colleagues’ findings specify how to calibrate a model based on existing historical phenotypic and genotypic data. They also offer a method for creating “experimental” sets to generate phenotypic information when the models don’t work due to low genetic connectedness between the new population and historical data.

This presents a way forward for breeders to accelerate the early yield testing stage based on genomic information, reduce the breeding cycle time and budget, and ultimately increase genetic gain.

Regional maize breeding coordinator for Africa Yoseph Beyene explained the leap forward this approach represents for CIMMYT’s maize breeding in Africa.

“For the last 5 years, CIMMYT’s African maize breeding program has applied genomic selection using the ‘test-half-and-predict-half’ strategy,” he said. “This has already reduced operational costs by 32% compared to the traditional phenotypic selection.”

“The prediction approach shown in this paper — using historical data alone to predict untested lines that go directly to stage-two trials — could reduce the breeding cycle by a year and save the cost of testcross formation and multi-location evaluation of stage-one testing. This research contributes to our efforts in the AGG project to mainstream genomic selection in all the product profiles.”

Effective for maize and wheat

Atanda, who now works on the use of novel breeding methods to enhance grain zinc content in CIMMYT’s wheat breeding program, believes these findings apply to wheat breeding as well.

“The implications of the research in maize are the same in wheat: accelerating early testing stage and reducing the breeding budget, which ultimately results in increasing genetic gain,” he said.

CIMMYT Global Wheat Program director Alison Bentley is optimistic about the crossover potential. “It is fantastic to welcome Atanda to the global wheat program, bringing skills in the use of quantitative genetic approaches,” she said. “The use of new breeding methods such as genomic selection is part of a portfolio of approaches we are using to accelerate breeding.”

CIMMYT’s wheat breeding relies heavily on a time-tested and validated method using managed environments to test lines for a range of growing environments — from drought to full irrigation, heat tolerance and more — in CIMMYT’s wheat experimental station in Ciudad Obregón, in Mexico’s state of Sonora.

According to CIMMYT senior scientist and wheat breeder Velu Govindan, using the approaches tested by Sikiru can make this even more efficient. As a specialist in biofortification — using traditional breeding techniques to develop crops with high levels of micronutrients — Govindan is taking the lead mainstreaming high zinc into all CIMMYT improved wheat varieties.

“This process could help us identify best lines to share with partners one year earlier — and it can be done for zinc content as easily as for grain yield.”

If this study seems like an excellent fit for the AGG project’s joint focus on accelerating genetic gain for both maize and wheat, that is no accident.

“The goal of the AGG project was the focus of my research,” Atanda said. “My study has shown that this goal is doable and achievable.”

Read the study:
Maximizing efficiency of genomic selection in CIMMYT’s tropical maize breeding program

Scientist boosted global wheat yield with disease-resistant varieties

Written by Bea Ciordia on March 3, 2021. Posted in In the media.

Sanjaya Rajaram, a University of Sydney alumnus recognized with the World Food Prize, was a world-renowned wheat breeder and scientist. One of the world’s leading food scientists, he died on February 17 from COVID-19 in Ciudad Obregon, Mexico.

Bill Gates highlights CIMMYT’s innovation in latest climate book

Written by Marta Millere on March 3, 2021. Posted in News.

Global thought leader, philanthropist and one of the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT) and CGIAR’s most vocal and generous supporters, Bill Gates, wrote a book about climate change and is now taking it around the world on a virtual book tour to share a message of urgency and hope.

With How to Avoid a Climate Disaster, Gates sets out a holistic and well-researched plan for how the world can get to zero greenhouse gas emissions in time to avoid a climate catastrophe. Part of this plan is to green everything from how we make things, move around, keep cool and stay warm, while also considering how we grow things and what can be done to innovate agriculture to lower its environmental impact.

Interviewed by actor and producer Rashida Jones, Gates explained his passion for action against climate change: “Avoiding a climate disaster will be one of the greatest challenges us humans have taken on. Greater than landing on the moon, greater than eradicating smallpox, even greater than putting a computer on every desk.”

“The world needs many breakthroughs. We need to get from 51 billion tons [of greenhouse gases] to zero while still meeting the planet’s basic needs. That means we need to transform the way we do almost everything.”

Bill Gates (left) talks to Rashida Jones during one of the events to present his new book.

Innovations in agriculture

When a book tour event attendee asked about the role of agriculture research in improving farmers’ livelihoods, Gates linked today’s challenge to that of the Green Revolution more than half a century ago. “There’s nothing more impactful to reduce the impacts of climate change than working on help for farmers. What we can do this time is even bigger than that. […] The most unfunded thing in this whole area is the seed research that has so much potential,” he said.

One such innovation and one of Gates’ favorite examples of CGIAR’s work is featured in Chapter 9 of his climate book – “Adapting to a warmer world” – and has been the source of generous funding from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation: drought-tolerant maize. “[…] as weather patterns have become more erratic, farmers are at greater risk of having smaller maize harvests, and sometimes no harvest at all. So, experts at CGIAR developed dozens of new maize varieties that could withstand drought conditions, each adapted to grow in specific regions of Africa. At first, many smallholder farmers were afraid to try new crop varieties. Understandably so. If you’re eking out a living, you won’t be eager to take a risk on seeds you’ve never planted before, because if they die, you have nothing to fall back on. But as experts worked with local farmers and seed dealers to explain the benefits of these new varieties, more and more people adopted them,” writes Gates.

We at CIMMYT are very proud and humbled by this mention as in collaboration with countless partners, CIMMYT and the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA) developed and promoted these varieties across 13 countries in sub-Saharan Africa and contributed to lifting millions of people above the poverty line across the continent.

For example, in Zimbabwe, farmers who used drought-tolerant maize varieties in dry years were able to harvest up to 600 kilograms more maize per hectare — enough for nine months for an average family of six — than farmers who sowed conventional varieties.

The world as we know it is over and, finally, humanity’s fight against climate change is becoming more and more mainstream. CIMMYT and its scientists, staff, partners and farmers across the globe are working hard to contribute to a transformation that responds to the climate challenge. We have a unique opportunity to make a difference. It is in this context that CGIAR has launched an ambitious new 10-year strategy that echoes Gates’s hopes for a better environment and food security for the generations to come. Let’s make sure that it ticks the boxes of smallholder farmers’ checklists.

A mixture of doubled haploid maize kernels seen in close-up at CIMMYT’s Agua Fria experimental station in Mexico. (Photo: Alfonso Cortés/CIMMYT)

New publications: Doubled haploids in maize — development, deployment and challenges

Written by Emma Orchardson on February 25, 2021. Posted in Publications.

Haploids — which are produced naturally in maize — were first identified in the crop about a century ago. Today they are used widely in different breeding programs, particularly in the development of doubled haploids, which are highly uniform, genetically pure and stable. Doubled-haploid technology has simplified logistics to make the maize breeding process more efficient and intuitive, facilitated studies at the molecular and genomic level, and increased genetic gains in different breeding programs.

In a recent review article, scientists from the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT) examine strategies for haploid induction and identification, chromosome doubling and production of doubled haploid seed through self-fertilization. They also discuss the potential applications and key challenges linked with doubled haploid technology in maize, and suggest future research directions for people involved in fast-track maize breeding, the seed industry, and academia.

Extensive studies of haploids and doubled haploids have increased our understanding of the genetic basis and mechanisms involved in haploid induction, the factors that affect haploid induction, different markers to identify putative haploids, and different chemicals agents that can be used for chromosome doubling.

The technology is useful because the resulting plants are free from different social issues and legal regulations associated with transgenic crops. It maximizes genetic gains in breeding programs, is one of the fastest tools available for developing large numbers of inbred lines quickly and reduces the cost of breeding programs.

“Deployment of doubled haploid technology is much needed for commercial hybrid maize breeding programs to make them more efficient and economical,” says article co-author Abdurahman Beshir, a maize seed systems specialist based in Nepal. “The technology is also useful to have accelerated varietal turnover and a higher maize seed replacement rate in different market segments.”

Many multinational seed companies have adopted doubled haploid technology for the wide-scale production of inbred lines. The development of novel techniques for haploid induction and the subsequent production of doubled haploid plants holds significant potential for the management of genetic resources, germplasm enhancement and the development of novel plant populations. Researchers at CIMMYT have also made significant efforts to help national breeding programs adopt this technology, especially in South Asia, where the organisation has shared haploid inducers with numerous partners in Pakistan.

But, while this technology can accelerate maize breeding, it still faces challenges at each step of doubled haploid line development and the authors argue there is a need to extensively explore the genetic potential of this technology to continue increasing the genetic gains associated with different breeding programs.

Read the full article: Doubled haploids in maize: Development, deployment, and challenges

Cover image: A mixture of doubled haploid maize kernels seen in close-up at CIMMYT’s Agua Fria experimental station in Mexico. (Photo: Alfonso Cortés/CIMMYT)

Read more new publications from CIMMYT researchers:

Choudhary, M., Meena, V. S., Panday, S. C., Mondal, T., Yadav, R. P., Mishra, P. K., Bisht, J. K., & Pattanayak, A. (2021). Long-term effects of organic manure and inorganic fertilization on biological soil quality indicators of soybean-wheat rotation in the Indian mid-Himalaya. Appl. Soil Ecol., 157.
Costa-Neto, G., Fritsche-Neto, R., & Crossa, J. (2021). Nonlinear kernels, dominance, and envirotyping data increase the accuracy of genome-based prediction in multi-environment trials. Heredity, 126(1), 92-106.
Jat, H. S., Datta, A., Choudhary, M., Sharma, P. C., & Jat, M. L. (2021). Conservation Agriculture: Factors and drivers of adoption and scalable innovative practices in Indo-Gangetic plains of India – a review. International Journal of Agricultural Sustainability, 19(1), 40-55.
Jena, P. R., De Groote, H., Nayak, B. P., & Hittmeyer, A. (2021). Evolution of Fertiliser Use and its Impact on Maize Productivity in Kenya: Evidence from Multiple Surveys. Food Sec., 13(1), 95-111.
Krishna, V. V., & Kubitza, C. (2021). Impact of oil palm expansion on the provision of private and community goods in rural Indonesia. Ecol. Econ., 179, 106829.
Novotny, I. P., Fuentes-Ponce, M. H., Tittonell, P., Lopez-Ridaura, S., & Rossing, W. A. H. (2021). Back to the people: The role of community-based responses in shaping landscape trajectories in Oaxaca, Mexico. Land Use Policy, 100, 104912.
Romero-Salas, E. A., Navarro-Noya, Y. E., Luna-Guido, M., Verhulst, N., Crossa, J., Govaerts, B., & Dendooven, L. (2021). Changes in the bacterial community structure in soil under conventional and conservation practices throughout a complete maize (Zea mays L.) crop cycle. Appl. Soil Ecol., 157, 103733.
Simtowe, F., & De Groote, H. (2021). Seasonal participation in maize markets in Zambia: Do agricultural input subsidies and gender matter? Food Sec., 13(1), 141-155.
Simtowe, F., Makumbi, D., Worku, M., Mawia, H., & Rahut, D. B. (2021). Scalability of Adaptation strategies to drought stress: The case of drought tolerant maize varieties in Kenya. International Journal of Agricultural Sustainability, 19(1), 91-105.
Sserumaga, J. P., Makumbi, D., Oikeh, S. O., Otim, M., Machida, L., Anani, B. Y., Nhamucho, E., Beyene, Y., & Mugo, S. (2021). Evaluation of early-generation tropical maize testcrosses for grain-yield potential and weevil (Sitophilus zeamais Motschulsky) resistance. Crop Protection, 139, 105384.