News – Page 64

Staff members bag maize at the Demeter Seeds warehouse. (Photo: Emma Orchardson/CIMMYT)

This little seed went to market

Written by Emma Orchardson on May 18, 2020. Posted in Features.

It’s not always easy to produce and sell new maize varieties in Malawi.

Seed companies often serve as the link between breeders and farmers, but numerous challenges — from lack of infrastructure to inconvenient finance systems — mean that the journey from the laboratory to the field is not always a smooth one.

In spite of this, the sector continues to grow, with established and up-and-coming seed companies all vying to carve their own niche in the country’s competitive maize seed market. To help bolster the industry, CIMMYT is working with around 15 seed companies in Malawi, providing them with early generation seed for CIMMYT-derived maize varieties, technical production training and marketing advice.

In a series of interviews, representatives from three of these companies share how they chose their flagship varieties and got them onto the market, and the CIMMYT support that helped them along the way.

Staff bag maize cobs at a Demeter Seeds warehouse in Lilongwe, Malawi. (Photo: Emma Orchardson/CIMMYT)

Francis Maideni, Technical Breeder and Management Advisor at Demeter Seeds

The company started primarily because we wanted to help farmers — the issue of profits came later. The founders of Demeter Seeds saw a gap in the market for open-pollinated varieties (OPVs) and thought they could fill it. We’ve now migrated halfway into hybrids, but we still feel that we should serve both communities.

At the beginning we used to multiply and sell OPVs from CIMMYT, and we started doing our own multiplication here a few years ago. What I like about CIMMYT is they have been continuing to give us technical support. The breeding teams are our regular visitors. When they give us materials they come here, work with us, we go to the fields together. We’re so proud of this collaboration. Our whole company is based on CIMMYT germplasm since we don’t have our own breeding program to develop our own varieties.

How do you decide which varieties to work with?

When we were starting out, the decision of which varieties to work with was based on what CIMMYT recommended based on the data from on-farm trials. Most Malawian farmers use local maize varieties so it’s a good step for them to start using improved varieties – not necessarily hybrids.

Apart from the yields, what else do Malawian farmers look for? It has to be white and it has to be poundable or flint varieties with a hard endosperm. Of course, there are other attributes you have to worry about as well such as yield and drought tolerance. The seasons are changing, the rainfall period is becoming shorter so we’re looking for short-maturing materials in particular. If you have a variety that takes 90-100 days to mature, you’re OK, but if you choose one that takes 140-150, the farmer can be at risk of losing out because it doesn’t fit well into the growing season.

Having looked at those particular parameters we can decide on the variety we’re going to go for because this feeds into what our regular farmers want.

Is it easy to get farmers to buy those varieties, given that you know exactly what they’re looking for?

We’re not the only ones dealing with maize hybrids, so if you’re not aggressive enough in marketing you’ll not be able to survive.

You can’t just see that the demand is there and then put the product out. We have a marketing team within the company whose role is to market and advise the farmers. We try to listen to what’s happening on the ground, see how our varieties are performing and share results with the breeders. If you sell your seed you have to get feedback – whether it’s doing well or not.

But it can be difficult with the lack of infrastructure in Malawi. There are some places which are not accessible, so there are farmers who want your seed but you can’t reach them. Those farmers end up planting some local seed, which they might not have planted if they had access to improved varieties.

Chingati Phiri stands in front of a CPM plot reading for sowing in Bunda, Malawi. (Photo: Emma Orchardson/CIMMYT)

Chingati Phiri, Managing Director at CPM Agri-Enterprises

CIMMYT equals maize, so there’s very little we’d be doing without them. There has been collaboration and partnership since we started the seed business.

We got all the parent materials, expertise and production training from CIMMYT. We now even have our own CIMMYT-trained internal inspectors, who ensure that the seed that we produce meet quality standards that are required. When they were giving us the lines, they also helped us with production of the basic seed to start our maize production. Without CIMMYT, we wouldn’t be here.

You’re one of the few seed companies in Malawi producing vitamin A biofortified maize, which CIMMYT develops in partnership with HarvestPlus. How did you decide to work on that variety?

We selected the orange vitamin A maize firstly because of corporate social responsibility reasons. There is a developmental aspect to what we do, and we’re not just here for money. I think whatever we’re doing should also help the people that are buying from us. We knew that micronutrient deficiency is an issue in Malawi, so we hoped that the vitamin A biofortified maize could address some of the country’s malnutrition problems.

When the Government said it was looking at alternative ways of combating malnutrition, this was one of the proposed solutions and we thought we should be the first to do it. As of now, I think that of the 20-something lead seed businesses in Malawi, we’re one of only three producing this maize.

How challenging has it been to promote that variety?

Very, because the orange maize was not popular to begin with. In the first year, we had about 25 metric tons of seed and we didn’t even sell 10.

Yellow maize was brought in to feed people during a famine in the early 90s, so I think when people see orange maize now they are reminded of that hunger. There are still those negative associations. So we had to do some convincing, visiting farmers with HarvestPlus and telling them about the benefits.

But this is our third year and we don’t have any seed left — it’s all gone. Combined, the three companies involved in orange maize production had about 65 metric tons. But this year the demand has been around 1,050 metric tons. What we produced is not even one tenth of what is required.

Now that the orange maize has been popularized, we see demand increasing in the next five years as well. Apart from farmers, we’ve also had inquiries from people that want to use it for industrial purposes and are looking for very large quantities. Now we know, if people are looking for orange maize, we’ll be among the first to provide it.

Shane Phiri, Operations Manager at Global Seeds

I studied agribusiness management for my first degree and went into farming immediately after. Later I completed a Masters in Agronomy, but the moment I started talking to CIMMYT I knew that I was lacking knowledge on the technical side. Over the years I’ve attended a number of courses — maize technician courses and programs to help people in the seed industry learn about hybrids — thanks to CIMMYT. A large part of my knowledge has come from those trainings, visiting the research station in Harare and attending field days.

Global Seeds is known for its flagship product, MH34. Why did you decide to focus on that specific variety?

One of the main driving factors for us to go for MH34 was that it was not being produced by anyone else. This was a new variety that no other company had branded as their own yet, so it was a good opportunity for us to own it.

At the same time, I liked this variety because it had two lines from CIMMYT and one line that’s bred locally. It’s kind of a mix. I really liked that because it meant that it would be a bit of a challenge for anyone outside the country to produce it because they would not get that extra 25% from the Malawian line.

Did that also make it difficult for Global Seeds to produce?

It was not easy for us to get it on the market. It’s one of the stories I’m most proud of — to say we’re one of the few companies producing this variety — especially when I look back at the last three years and the work it took to get it to where we are.

We got the lines we needed from CIMMYT, but when we went to the local program to get that one last ingredient, we got less than 1.4 kilograms. Normally we would need at least 5 kilograms.

We knew we had to produce quickly to commercialize the variety, so we took 900 grams and started trying to increase the line under irrigation. Then the water supply ran out and we had to hire a water bowser. It was quite a journey but in the end we produced a handful of seed, and now the story is that this variety is flying off the shelves.

Fawligen registered in Bangladesh

Written by Mary Donovan on May 18, 2020. Posted in In the media.

Ispahani and AgBiTech are pleased to announce the formal registration of a biological control for Fall Armyworm in Bangladesh.

This rapid assessment and registration despite the ongoing lockdown due to Covid-19 is the result of months of collaborative hard work and support from members representing multiple organizations including USAID, CIMMYT, the Ministry of Agriculture, Bangladesh Agricultural Research Institute, Plant Protection Wing of Agricultural Extension, and the Fall Armyworm National Task Force.

International analytics award goes to CGIAR centers for sustainable agriculture tools

Written by Leslie Domínguez on May 14, 2020. Posted in News.

A researcher demonstrates the use of the AgroTutor app on a mobile phone in Mexico. (Photo: Francisco Alarcón/CIMMYT)

While technology and data analysis have revolutionized farming in high-income countries, farmers in low-income nations have often been left out. New tools developed by CGIAR centers are narrowing the digital divide for smallholder farmers. These tools are increasingly gaining international notice beyond the field of agriculture, as a recent international award attests.

The 2020 Innovative Applications in Analytics Award (IAAA) was awarded to the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT), the Alliance of Bioversity International and CIAT, and the International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis (IIASA). Their tools, which help farmers to increase productivity, use more sustainable practices and access markets, topped bids from international technology companies and universities with projects applied to various fields.

“The award from this collaboration highlights the strengths of bringing together our research centers under One CGIAR,” said Daniel Jiménez, an Alliance scientist who was part of the winning team. “It shows that we can collaborate and compete at the highest level when it comes to applying science to global challenges.”

CIMMYT, CIAT and the IIASA won with their ‘Integrated Analytics for Sustainable Agriculture in Latin America’ projects. Finalists included projects focused on a wide range of analytics tools used in pricing, optimizing gas transmission, taxi guidance and management of hospital discharges.

A farmer in Mexico uses the AgroTutor application in the field. (Photo: Francisco Alarcón/CIMMYT)

“The IAAA award emphasizes novelty and creativity in analytics applications along with real-world impact,” said Pallav Chhaochhria, Director of Equities Trading at Citigroup and co-chair of the IAAA selection committee, during the virtual award ceremony.

The winning submission recognizes groundbreaking data systems and tools by publicly funded researches and field technicians who advise more than 150,000 farmers who participate in MasAgro, CIMMYT’s bilateral collaboration project with Mexico for sustainable maize and wheat production.

The multi-disciplinary team developed a system to track over 500 variables during the growing cycle at each plot monitored. These variables are subsequently analyzed in combination with geographic, weather and market data obtained from open sources of information. Data analysts and researchers mine these databases to find correlations or patterns that help identify limiting factors and the best management practices for each plot.

The resulting analytics feed an application called AgroTutor — available on Android and iOS — which offers free information to farmers, including historic yield potential, local benchmarks, windows of opportunity, recommended agricultural practices and commodity price forecasting.

“Although sophisticated data analyses have been used in agriculture before, small and medium-sized farmers have seldom benefited from a combination of systems and tools that offer predictive and prescriptive site-specific analytics,” said Andrea Gardeazabal, Information and Communication Technology for Agriculture, Monitoring & Evaluation Manager for CIMMYT’s Integrated Development program. “MasAgro and AgroTutor have proven that resource-constrained farmers can benefit from high-end innovative analyses.”

Traditional mixed maize farming system in northern Laos. (Photo: H. Weyerhaeuser/CIMMYT)

Fall armyworm survey marks CIMMYT’s first research project in Laos

Written by Matthew O'Leary on May 13, 2020. Posted in Features.

A major farmer survey is gathering data to understand how smallholders in Laos are responding to fall armyworm invasion and develop agroecological management options to control its spread.

The study, led by the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT) in partnership with the Lao Farmer Network (LFN) and the National Agriculture and Forestry Research Institute (NAFRI), is CIMMYT’s first official research initiative in the country.

Farmer surveys are being conducted in some of the country’s key maize farming areas, recording attempts to manage the pest and laying the groundwork to raise awareness on sustainable best-bet agroecological strategies that promote a healthy system approach to maize farming, says Horst Weyerhaeuser, a scientific program consultant working with CIMMYT.

“Currently, researchers, policy makers and extension officers possess little information on fall armyworm pest management and control in Laos,” he explains. “The survey is working to build a knowledge-base.”

In June 2019, CIMMYT and national research scientists confirmed that fall armyworm, a global pest that affects the food security of millions of maize farmers, was present in the country.

Working with CIMMYT, LFN trained lead farmers to conduct surveys and collect data from farmers in their local areas. The network has also been distributing a series of infographics and videos in local languages, developed by CIMMYT and translated with major support from HELVETAS Swiss Intercooperation and the Lao Farmer Rural Advisory Project, to describe appropriate pesticide use and sustainable farming practices to limit impact on harvests.

“The survey data explores how farmers respond to the armyworm in their maize fields, so that integrated pest management strategies can be promoted for successful pest control and especially to limit excessive use of harmful pesticides,” says Phoutthasinh Phimmachanh, who leads the LFN secretariat. “The survey also asks about farmers’ plans for the upcoming rainy season and if they experienced a fall armyworm infestation in 2019 will it change their crop selection and planting schemes.”

The initiative is part of a larger strategy to work with government and farmers in southeast Asia to build a knowledge base on sustainable maize farming through the CGIAR program on MAIZE. Due to the impact of COVID-19, researchers are currently exploring options to continue these and additional surveys digitally and via telephone.

As maize farming increases, so does the risk fall armyworm poses to farmer livelihoods

A woman in Oudomxhai, Laos, stands in her maize field damaged by fall armyworm. (Photo: H. Weyerhaeuser/CIMMYT)

Maize is becoming an increasingly important cash crop in southeast Asia as diets change and consumer preferences for white meat and pork drive a transition from subsistence to commercial maize feed production. Farmer focus groups in northern Laos suggest that maize sales deliver more than 60% of smallholders’ annual cash income.

“Maize is the only cash crop for thousands of smallholder farmers in Laos. Fall armyworm poses a credible threat to their livelihoods and could push them to a vicious circle of poverty and damage to the environment,” explains CIMMYT economist Amjath Babu.

“We want to confirm anecdotal accounts suggesting uninformed farmers are buying whatever pesticides they can get their hands on in a bid to control the pest’s impact on harvests. This reaction mimics that of initial farmer responses in sub-Saharan Africa when the pest first broke out there in 2016.” In this sense, he adds, CIMMYT’s partnership with LFN helps to measure the implications of fall armyworm and the potential for this pest to reduce farmers’ profit margins while encouraging unsustainable pesticide use.

Pesticides must be used with extreme caution and only appropriately if they are to be a part of any fall armyworm management regime, warns CIMMYT Senior Scientist Tim Krupnik.

“The pest has particular habits — like living under leaves, hiding in hard to reach places of the plant, and feeding mainly at night,” he explains. “This makes indiscriminate application of insecticides relatively less useful.” It could also inadvertently contribute to the loss of biodiversity and ecosystem services through overuse of pesticides that cause mortality for natural enemies and parasitoids.

Scientists want to explore whether the higher production costs farmers may incur through additional insecticide purchase is encouraging a shift from maize cash crop monocultures to a more diverse production including replacement or rotations with cassava, fodder crops, and rotational grazing, where feasible.

“By building an evidence base we can work with the National Agriculture and Forestry Research Institute,the agricultural department and farmers to build sustainable, resilient maize farming systems that ensure farmers continue to cash in on maize while diversifying production into sensible alternative crops, with emphasis on protecting their health and the environment,” Babu adds.

Fall armyworm survey part of a larger increase in maize research in southeast Asia

The expansion of maize in Laos has been accompanied by a progressive decrease in landscape and agricultural biodiversity, as farmers respond to opportunities to export maize at relatively profitable prices, largely to neighboring Vietnam and China, by resorting to an expansion of slash-and-burn agriculture with shortened fallows. The rapidly growing demand for maize has resulted in unsustainable farming systems intensification, explains Krupnik, with many farmers clearing forests to plant, and using excessive amounts of herbicides to keep weeds at bay.

“Combined with the fall armyworm invasion, potentially dangerous pesticides have been added to this scenario, with quite concerning potential consequences for further biodiversity loss and contamination of mountain streams by agrochemicals,” he says.

“Projects run by Helvetas, which has helped support our research through coordination and convening efforts, have measured dangerous levels of pesticides in the blood of samples taken from farmers and their families and government officials.”

Maize is important for income generation, but more sustainable and diverse cropping systems are needed to reduce the impact on biodiversity, while avoiding the worst pesticides that comprise human health. The data generated from this research will help design strategies to respond to these problems with more appropriate agricultural practices.

The ministry of agriculture has welcomed support from CIMMYT’s maize systems experts to aid in building a base of knowledge to inform the development of agricultural policy, says Chay Bounphanousay, director general of the National Agriculture and Forestry Research Institute. “With the rise of maize farming and the associated challenges and opportunities it brings, an increase in research will inform agricultural policy to improve farmer livelihoods while protecting the environment.”

Cover photo: Traditional mixed maize farming system in northern Laos. (Photo: H. Weyerhaeuser/CIMMYT)

Launching the AgriFoodTrust platform

Written by Matthew O'Leary on May 12, 2020. Posted in News. 1 Comment on Launching the AgriFoodTrust platform

A new testing and learning platform for digital trust and transparency technologies — such as blockchain — in agri-food systems was launched at the Strike Two Summit in late February.

AgriFoodTrust debuted at the summit which brought together key agri-food system players to discuss how blockchain and related technologies can contribute to food safety, quality and sustainability, said Gideon Kruseman, an economist with the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT), who co-founded the platform.

“Blockchain is often associated with the digital security that led to cryptocurrencies. However, growing research is providing evidence on its unique potential to bring greater efficiency, transparency and traceability to the exchange of value and information in the agriculture sector,” said Kruseman.

“Many of the wicked problems and seemingly insuperable challenges facing dynamic, complex agri-food system value chains, especially in low and middle-income countries, boil down to a lack of trust, transparency and reliable governance structures,” said the researcher who also leads the Socio-Economic Data Community of Practice of the CGIAR Platform for Big Data in Agriculture.

Future Food panelist speak at the Strike Two Summit in Amsterdam, the Netherlands. (Photo: The New Fork)

A blockchain is a ledger that is almost impossible to forge. It can be described as a data structure that holds transactional records and ensures security, transparency and decentralization. Technology may be at the foundation of the solutions, but technology is the easy part; solving the softer side has proven to be a seemingly insuperable challenge over the past decades, Kruseman explained.

Digital trust and transparency technologies can be used to improve governance structures and limit corruption in agri-food systems in low and middle income countries, said Marieke de Ruyter de Wildt, co-founder of AgriFoodTrust.

“This new generation of decentralized technologies is, in essence, improving governance structures. People often think it is about technology, but it’s not. It is about people and how we organize things.”

“These technologies are neutral, immutable and censorship resistant. You can mimic this if you think about rules without a ruler. Just imagine what opportunities arise when a system is incorruptible,” said de Ruyter de Wildt.

It is hoped, accessible via QR codes, for example, that the technology can be used to tackle challenges, such as preventing the sale of counterfeit seeds to smallholder farmers, ensuring the nutritional value of biofortified crop varieties and promoting the uptake of sustainable agricultural principles whilst improving the implementation and monitoring of international agreements related to agriculture.

“This is where the platform comes in as a knowledge base. The AgriFoodTrust platform sees researchers from CGIAR Centers and academia, such as Wageningen University, experiment with these technologies on top of other solutions, business models and partnerships to determine what works, how, when and for whom, in order to share that information,” Kruseman added.

Findings on the new platform will be used to build capacity on all aspects of the technologies and their application to ensure this technology is inclusive and usable.

Along with Kruseman, AgriFoodTrust co-founders include digital agriculture experts de Ruyter de Wildt, the Founder and CEO of The New Fork, and Chris Addison, Senior Coordinator of Data for Agriculture at CTA. Seed funding for the platform has been raised through CTA, the CGIAR Platform for Big Data in Agriculture and the CGIAR Programs on MAIZE and WHEAT.

“AgriFoodTrust sets out to accelerate understanding about these technologies and fundamentally make food systems more integer and resilient,” explained de Ruyter de Wildt.

By 2050, farmers will need to grow enough diverse and nutritious food to feed 10 billion people on less land using less resources while faced with the challenges of a changing climate. This has led researchers to push for agricultural technologies that engender more inclusive, sustainable food systems. It is hoped that increased trust and transparency technologies can help overcome counterproductive incentives, poor governance structures, prevailing institutional arrangements and market failures.

For more information, subscribe to the Socio-Economic Data Community of Practice newsletter.

Breaking Ground: Maria Itria Ibba and the lab that bakes bread

Written by Mike Listman on May 6, 2020. Posted in Features.

The rising and shifting demand for wheat, with rapid urbanization and increasingly globalized food markets, is pushing farmers more than ever to produce high-quality grain, according to the scientist who leads wheat quality research in the world’s foremost publicly-funded wheat breeding program.

“Wheat quality is becoming more and more important, as the industrial production of bread and other wheat-based foods increases to meet the demands of city dwellers, working women, and wheat consumers in wheat-importing countries,” said Maria Itria Ibba, head of the Wheat Chemistry and Quality Laboratory at the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT).

“Companies that produce and market food for such consumers demand high, consistent quality in grain they purchase and we have to help wheat farmers to meet stringent requirements.”

This is so important that CIMMYT’s Global Wheat Program — whose contributions figure in more than half of the wheat varieties released worldwide — directly uses lab data on milling, processing and end-use quality to decide which bread and durum wheat lines to move forward in its breeding programs, according to Ibba.

“Assessing quality is a huge task, because wheat is used to make hundreds of different foods, including all kinds of leavened bread, flat breads, pastas, noodles and steamed bread,” said Ibba. “Our lab is an integral part of breeding, analyzing thousands of grain samples from thousands of wheat lines each year for nearly a dozen quality parameters.”

Cut out for quality

A native of Viterbo, Italy, Ibba has led the Wheat Chemistry and Quality Laboratory since 2019 and is uniquely qualified for the job, with a bachelor’s degree in biotechnology, a master’s degree in biotechnology for the safety and quality of agricultural products — both from the University of Tuscia, Viterbo — and a doctorate in crop science from the Washington State University. Her Ph.D. dissertation addressed “low-molecular-weight glutenin subunit gene family members and their relationship with wheat end-use quality parameters.”

With a mother who studied medicine and a father who worked at the Italian Space Agency, Ibba said that in school she always enjoyed science subjects such as biology and chemistry. “They were easy for me to understand and I really liked how, after studying them, I was able to explain and understand many things around me.”

Ibba said the biggest challenges for her and her lab team are to understand wheat quality needs and conduct faster and better analyses.

“Several of the tests we do are expensive, time-consuming, and require skilled personnel and significant amounts of grain,” she explained, citing the use of exotically named devices such as the “Quadrumat Senior mill,” the “mixograph,” and the “alveograph,” to list a few. “We’re continuously looking for novel methods that are quicker, use smaller samples of grain, and with lower costs.”

Understanding the biochemical and genetic bases of wheat grain and flour quality traits is key to this, according to Ibba, but wheat quality traits are so complex genetically that DNA markers are of little help in breeding. “We’ve begun to explore whole genome selection for wheat quality traits, in collaboration with Kansas State University, but this will never completely replace the laboratory tests.”

Let’s talk health and nutrition

A staple of tours for the hundreds of visitors that come each year to CIMMYT in Mexico, the wheat quality laboratory combines the razzle-dazzle of high-tech devices with hands-on, sensory attractions such as inflating dough balls and freshly baked test loaves.

Ibba’s work includes talking to visitors about wheat, its important history and role in human nutrition and food, and concerns in the popular media regarding wheat and health.

“I think people know more now about what gluten is and its importance, but there is still the need to talk about gluten and wheat so that people can make informed decisions based on scientific facts,” she said. “I was happy to see the recent article from CIMMYT on a review study which, among many other things, showed there was no scientific evidence for the idea that eating refined flour is bad for your health.”

“Wheat provides about 20 percent of calories and protein for more than 4.5 billion people in developing countries,” Ibba pointed out. “There’s an increasing focus on understanding and improving the nutritional quality of wheat and its products because of the greater overall interest in diets and in the nutritional value of diverse foods.”

Opinion: COVID-19 highlights need to boost resilience of Africa’s rural poor

Written by Mary Donovan on May 4, 2020. Posted in In the media.

Aparna Das of CIMMYT, Arun Baral of Harvest Plus and Bill Rustrick of the Clinton Development Initiative discuss a project in Malawi strengthening the resilience of smallholder farming communities.

New publications: Gender differentiated small-scale farm mechanization in Nepal hills

Written by Emma Orchardson on April 30, 2020. Posted in Publications.

The use of small-scale mechanization in smallholder farming systems in South Asia has increased significantly in recent years. This development is a positive step towards agricultural transformation in the region. Small-scale mechanization is now seen as a viable option to address labor scarcity and offset the impact of male outmigration in rural areas, as well as other shortages that undermine agricultural productivity.

However, most existing farm mechanization technologies are either gender blind or gender neutral. This is often to the detriment of women farmers, who are increasingly taking on additional agricultural work in the absence of male laborers. Minimizing this gender disparity among smallholders has been a key concern for policymakers, but there is little empirical literature available on gender and farm mechanization.

A new study by researchers at the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT) addresses this gap, using data from six districts in the highlands of Nepal to assess the impact of the gender of household heads on the adoption of mini-tillers — small machinery used to prepare and cultivate land before planting.

Their findings reveal that, when it comes to mini-tiller adoption, there is a significant gender gap. Compared to male-headed households, explain the authors, the rate of adoption is significantly lower among female-headed households. Moreover, they add, when male- and female-headed households have similar observed attributes, the mini-tiller adoption rate among the food insecure female-headed households is higher than in the food secure group.

The authors argue that this gender-differentiated mini-tiller adoption rate can be minimized in the first instance by increasing market access. Their findings suggest that farm mechanization policies and programs targeted specifically to female-headed households can also help reduce this adoption gap in Nepal and similar hill production agroecologies in South Asia, which will enhance the farm yield and profitability throughout the region.

Read the full article in Technology in Society:
Gender differentiated small-scale farm mechanization in Nepal hills: An application of exogenous switching treatment regression.

Women farmers test a mini tiller on farmland in Ramghat, Nepal. (Photo: CIMMYT)

See more recent publications from CIMMYT researchers:

Effect of missing values on variance component estimates in multienvironment trials. 2019. Aguate, F.M., Crossa, J., Balzarini, M. In: Crop Science v. 59, no. 2, p. 508-517.
The relative efficiency of two multistage linear phenotypic selection indices to predict the net genetic merit. 2019. Ceron Rojas, J.J., Toledo, F.H., Crossa, J. In: Crop Science v. 59, no. 3, p. 1037-1051.
High-density mapping of triple rust resistance in barley using DArT-Seq markers. 2019. Dracatos, P.M., Haghdoust, R., Singh, R.P., Huerta-Espino, J., Barnes, C.W., Forrest, K.L., Hayden, M., Niks, R.E., Park, R.F., Singh, D. In: Frontiers in Plant Science v. 10, art. 467.
Modernising breeding for orphan crops: tools, methodologies, and beyond. 2019. Ribaut, J.M., Ragot, M. In: Planta v. 250, no. 3, p. 971-977.
An update of recent use of Aegilops species in wheat breeding. 2019. Kishii, M. In: Frontiers in Plant Science v. 1., art. 585.
Genetics of greenbug resistance in synthetic hexaploid wheat derived germplasm. 2019. Crespo-Herrera, L.A., Singh, R.P., Reynolds, M.P., Huerta-Espino, J. In: Frontiers in Plant Science v. 10, art. 782.
Genetics for low correlation between Fusarium head blight disease and deoxynivalenol (DON) content in a bread wheat mapping population. 2019. Xinyao He, Dreisigacker, S., Singh, R.P., Singh, P.K. In: Theoretical and Applied Genetics v. 132, no. 8, 2401-2411.
Studying selection criteria and genetic variability for improvement of indigenous maize in Pakistan. 2019. Maqbool, M.A., Aslam, M., Issa, A.B., Khan, M. S., Saeed, M.T. In: Pakistan Journal of Agricultural Sciences v. 56, no. 4. 819-827.
Genome wide association study of karnal bunt resistance in a wheat germplasm collection from Afghanistan. 2019. Gupta, V., Xinyao He, Kumar, N., Fuentes Dávila, G., Sharma, R.K., Dreisigacker, S., Juliana, P., Ataei, N., Singh, P.K. In: International Journal of Molecular Sciences v. 20, no. 13, art. 3124.
Does caste determine farmer access to quality information? 2019. Krishna, V.V., Aravalath, L., Vikraman, S. In: PLoS One v. 14, no. 1, art. e0210721.
Estimation of physiological genomic estimated breeding values (PGEBV) combining full hyperspectral and marker data across environments for grain yield under combined heat and drought stress in tropical maize (Zea mays L.). 2019. Trachsel, S., Dhliwayo, T., Gonzalez-Perez, L., Mendoza Lugo, J.A., Trachsel, M. In: PLoS One v. 14, no. 3, art. e0212200.
Genetic diversity and linkage disequilibrium using SNP (KASP) and AFLP markers in a worldwide durum wheat (Triticum turgidum L. var durum) collection. 2019. Roncallo, P.F., Beaufort, V., Larsen, A.O., Dreisigacker, S., Echenique, V. In: PLoS One v. 14, no. 6, art. e0218562.
The abandonment of maize landraces over the last 50 years in Morelos, Mexico: a tracing study using a multi-level perspective. 2019. McLean R., F.D., Camacho Villa, T.C., Almekinders, C., Pè, M.E., Dell’Acqua, M., Costich, D.E. In: Agriculture and Human Values v. 36, no. 4, 651-668.
Molecular screening of Zymoseptoria tritici resistance genes in wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) using tightly linked simple sequence repeat markers. 2019. Mekonnen, T., Haileselassie, T., Kaul, T., Sharma, M., Abeyo Bekele Geleta, Kassahun, T. In: European Journal of Plant Pathology v. 155, no. 2, p. 593-614.
Bacterial diversity based on a 16S rRNA gene amplicon data set from a high-altitude crater lake and glacial samples of the Iztaccihuatl volcanic complex (Mexico). 2019. Calvillo-Medina, R.P., Reyes‐Grajeda, J.P., Moreno-Andrade, V.D., Barba‐Escoto, L., Bautista‐de Lucio, V.M., Jones, G.H., Campos‐Guillen, J. In: Microbiology Resource Announcements v. 8, no. 12, art. e01636-18art. e01636-18art. e01636-18art. e01636-18art. e01636-18art. e01636-18.
Mitigating the twin problems of malnutrition and wheat blast by one wheat variety, ‘BARI Gom 33’, in Bangladesh. 2019. Hossain, A., Mottaleb, K.A., Farhad, M., Barma, N.C.D. In: Acta Agrobotanica v. 72, no. 2, art. 1775.
Sun-induced chlorophyll fluorescence III: benchmarking retrieval methods and sensor characteristics for proximal sensing. 2019. Cendrero-Mateo, M.P., Wieneke, S., Damm, A., Alonso, L., Pinto Espinosa, F., Moreno, J., Guanter, L., Celesti, M., Rossini, M., Sabater, N., Cogliati, S., Julitta, T., Rascher, U., Goulas, Y., Aasen, H., Pacheco-Labrador, J., Mac Arthur, A. In: Remote Sensing v. 11, no. 8, art. 962.
Yield gains and associated changes in an early yellow bi-parental maize population following genomic selection for Striga resistance and drought tolerance. 2019. Badu-Apraku, B., Talabi, O., Fakorede, M. A. B., Fasanmade, Y., Gedil, M., Magorokosho, C., Asiedu, R. In: BMC Plant Biology v. 9, art. 129.
Understanding factors associated with agricultural mechanization: a Bangladesh case. 2019. Aryal, J.P., Rahut, D.B., Maharjan, S., Erenstein, O. In: World Development Perspectives v. 13, p. 1-9.
Wealth, education and cooking-fuel choices among rural households in Pakistan. 2019. Rahut, D.B., Ali, A., Mottaleb, K.A., Aryal, J.P. In: Energy Strategy Reviews v. 24, p. 236-243.
Genome-wide association study and genomic prediction analyses of drought stress tolerance in China in a collection of off-PVP maize inbred lines. 2019. Nan Wang, Bojuan Liu, Xiaoling Liang, Yueheng Zhou, Song, J., Jie Yang, Hongjun Yong, Jianfeng Weng, Degui Zhang, Mingshun Li, Nair, S.K., San Vicente, F.M., Zhuanfang Hao, Zhang, X, Xinhai Li. In: Molecular Breeding v. 39, no. 8, art. 113.
Wildlife trade and consumer preference for species rarity: an examination of caged-bird markets in Sumatra. 2019. Krishna, V.V., Darras, K., Grass, I., Mulyani, Y.A., Prawiradilaga, D.M., Tscharntke, T., Qaim, M. In: Environment and Development Economics v. 24, no. 4, p. 339-360.
Correction to: high-throughput method for ear phenotyping and kernel weight estimation in maize using ear digital imaging. 2019. Makanza, R., Zaman-Allah, M., Cairns, J.E., Eyre, J., Burgueño, J., Pacheco Gil, R. A., Diepenbrock, C., Magorokosho, C., Amsal Tesfaye Tarekegne, Olsen, M., Prasanna, B.M. In: Plant methods v. 15, art. 52.
Tradeoffs between groundwater conservation and air pollution from agricultural fires in northwest India. 2019. Singh, B., McDonald, A., Srivastava, A., Gerard, B. In: Nature Sustainability v. 2 no. 7, p. 580-583.

Amarech Desta (left) is the chairwoman of Tembo Awtena, a womens’ seed producer association in the Angacha district of Ethiopia’s Southern Nations, Nationalities, and Peoples’ Region (SNNP). As part of the Wheat Seed Scaling project, the group received early-generation seed and a seed thresher from CIMMYT. “In 2016 we sold more than $7,400 worth of seed,” Desta said. “Our success attracted 30 additional women farmers in 2017, bringing the total membership to 133.” (Photo: Apollo Habtamu/CIMMYT)

Ethiopian wheat farmers adopt quality seed and a vision for a more profitable future

Written by Mike Listman on April 30, 2020. Posted in Press releases. 1 Comment on Ethiopian wheat farmers adopt quality seed and a vision for a more profitable future

High-yielding, disease-resistant wheat varieties used by Ethiopian wheat farmers between 2015 and 2018 gave them at least 20% more grain than conventional varieties, profits of nearly $1,000 per hectare when they grew and sold seed, and generally improved food security in participating rural households.

These are the result of a project to rapidly multiply and disperse high-quality seed of new improved varieties, and the work of leading Ethiopian and international research organizations. The outcomes of this project have benefitted nearly 1.6 million people, according to a comprehensive new publication.

“Grown chiefly by smallholders in Ethiopia, wheat supports the livelihoods of 5 million farmers and their families, both as a household food crop and a source of income,” said Bekele Abeyo, wheat scientist of the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT), leader of the project, and chief author of the new report. “Improving wheat productivity and production can generate significant income for farmers, as well as helping to reduce poverty and improve the country’s food and nutrition security.”

Wheat production in Ethiopia is continually threatened by virulent and rapidly evolving fungal pathogens that cause “wheat rusts,” age-old and devastating diseases of the crop. Periodic, unpredictable outbreaks of stem and stripe rust have overcome the resistance of popular wheat varieties in recent years, rendering the varieties obsolete and in urgent need of replacement, according to Abeyo.

“The eastern African highlands are a hot spot for rusts’ spread and evolution,” Abeyo explained. “A country-wide stripe rust epidemic in 2010 completely ruined some susceptible wheat crops in Oromia and Amhara regions, leaving small-scale, resource-poor farmers without food or income.”

The Wheat Seed Scaling project identified and developed new rust-resistant wheat varieties, championed the speedy multiplication of their seed, and used field demonstrations and strategic marketing to reach thousands of farmers in 54 districts of Ethiopia’s major wheat growing regions, according to Abeyo. The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) funded the project and the Ethiopian Institute of Agricultural Research (EIAR) was a key partner.

Using parental seed produced by 8 research centers, a total of 27 private farms, farmer cooperative unions, model farmers and farmer seed producer associations — including several women farmer associations — grew 1,728 tons of seed of the new varieties for sale or distribution to farmers. As part of the work, 10 national research centers took part in fast-track variety testing, seed multiplication, demonstrations and training. The USDA Cereal Disease Lab at the University of Minnesota conducted seedling tests, molecular studies and rust race analyses.

A critical innovation has been to link farmer seed producers directly to state and federal researchers who supply the parental seed — known as “early-generation seed”— according to Ayele Badebo, a CIMMYT wheat pathologist and co-author of the new publication. “The project has also involved laboratories that monitor seed production and that test harvested seed, certifying it for marketing,” Badebo said, citing those accomplishments as lasting legacies of the project.

Abeyo said the project built on prior USAID-funded efforts, as well as the Durable Rust Resistance in Wheat (DRRW) and Delivering Genetic Gain in Wheat (DGGW) initiatives, led by Cornell University and supported by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and the UK Department for International Development (DFID).

Protecting crops of wheat, a vital food in eastern Africa, requires the collaboration of farmers, governments and researchers, according to Mandefro Nigussie, Director General of EIAR.

“More than 131,000 rural households directly benefited from this work,” he said. “The project points up the need to identify new resistance genes, develop wheat varieties with durable, polygenic resistance, promote farmers’ use of a genetically diverse mix of varieties, and link farmers to better and profitable markets.”

RELATED RESEARCH PUBLICATIONS:

Achievements in fast-track variety testing, seed multiplication and scaling of rust resistant varieties: Lessons from the wheat seed scaling project, Ethiopia.

INTERVIEW OPPORTUNITIES:

Bekele Abeyo, Senior Scientist, CIMMYT.

FOR MORE INFORMATION, OR TO ARRANGE INTERVIEWS, CONTACT THE MEDIA TEAM:

Simret Yasabu, Communications officer, CIMMYT. s.yasabu@cgiar.org, +251 911662511 (cell).

PHOTOS AVAILABLE:

Seed scaling in Ethiopia

ABOUT CIMMYT:

The International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT) is the global leader in publicly-funded maize and wheat research and related farming systems. Headquartered near Mexico City, CIMMYT works with hundreds of partners throughout the developing world to sustainably increase the productivity of maize and wheat cropping systems, thus improving global food security and reducing poverty. CIMMYT is a member of the CGIAR System and leads the CGIAR Research Programs on Maize and Wheat and the Excellence in Breeding Platform. The Center receives support from national governments, foundations, development banks and other public and private agencies. For more information, visit staging.cimmyt.org.

Ugali made with different maize varieties is served to participants of a sensory evaluation in Kakamega County, Kenya. (Photo: Joshua Masinde/CIMMYT)

In the best possible taste

Written by Rodrigo Ordóñez on April 29, 2020. Posted in Features. 2 Comments on In the best possible taste

The pursuit for higher and more stable yields, alongside better stress tolerance, has dominated maize breeding in Africa for a long time. Such attributes have been, and still are, essential in safeguarding the food security and livelihoods of smallholder farmers. However, other essential traits have not been the main priority of breeding strategies: how a variety tastes when cooked, its smell, its texture or its appearance.

They are now gradually coming into the mainstream of maize breeding. Researchers are exploring the sensory characteristics consumers prefer and identifying the varieties under development which have the desired qualities. Breeders may then choose to incorporate specific traits that farmers or consumers value in future breeding work. This research is also helping to accelerate varietal turnover in the last mile, as farmers have additional reasons to adopt newer varieties.

In the last five years, the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT) has been conducting participatory variety evaluations across East Africa. First, researchers invited farmers and purchasers of improved seed in specific agro-ecologies to visit demonstration plots and share their preferences for plant traits they would like to grow in their own farms.

In 2019 and 2020, researchers also started to facilitate evaluations of the sensory aspects of varieties.

Fresh samples of green maize, from early- to late-maturing maize varieties, were boiled and roasted. Then, people assessed their taste and other qualities. The first evaluations of this kind were conducted in Kenya and Uganda in August and September 2019, and another exercise in Kenya’s Machakos County took place in January 2020.

Similar evaluations have looked at the sensory qualities of maize flour. In March 2020, up to 300 farmers in Kenya’s Kakamega County participated in an evaluation of ugali, or maize flour porridge. Participants assessed a wider range of factors, including the aroma, appearance, taste, texture on the hand, texture in the mouth and overall impression. After tasting each variety, they indicated how likely they would be to buy it.

Participants were asked to rate the texture of different maize varieties, cooked as ugali, at a sensory evaluation in Kakamega County, Kenya. (Photo: Joshua Masinde/CIMMYT)

Participants were asked to rate the smell of different maize varieties, cooked as ugali, at a sensory evaluation in Kakamega County, Kenya. (Photo: Joshua Masinde/CIMMYT)

Participants taste ugali at a sensory evaluation in Kakamega County, Kenya. (Photo: Joshua Masinde/CIMMYT)

Cooks prepare ugali, or maize flour porridge, with different maize varieties at a sensory evaluation in Kakamega County, Kenya. (Photo: Joshua Masinde/CIMMYT)

At a sensory evaluation in Kakamega County, Kenya, different types of ugali were cooked using maize flour from several varieties. (Photo: Joshua Masinde/CIMMYT)

Ugali made with different maize varieties is served to participants of a sensory evaluation in Kakamega County, Kenya. (Photo: Joshua Masinde/CIMMYT)

Tastes differ

“Farmers not only consume maize in various forms but also sell the maize either at green or dry grain markets. What we initially found is green maize consumers prefer varieties that are sweet when roasted. We also noted that seed companies were including the sensory characteristics in the maize varieties’ product profiles,” explained Bernard Munyua, Research Associate with the Socioeconomics program at CIMMYT. “As breeders and socioeconomists engage more and more with farmers, consumers or end-users, it is apparent that varietal profiles for both plant and sensory aspects have become more significant than ever before, and have a role to play in the successful turnover of new varieties.”

For researchers, this is very useful information, to help determine if it is viable to bring a certain variety to market. The varieties shared in these evaluations include those that have passed through CIMMYT’s breeding pipeline and are allocated to partners for potential release after national performance trials, as well as CIMMYT varieties marketed by various seed companies. Popular commercial varieties regions were also included in the evaluations, for comparison.

A total of 819 people participated in the evaluation exercises in Kenya and Uganda, 54% of them female.

“Currently, there is increasing demand by breeders, donors, and other agricultural scientists to understand the modalities of trait preferences of crops by women and men farmers,” said Rahma Adam, Gender and Development Specialist at CIMMYT.

Bags of seeds with a diversity of maize varieties are displayed before being cooked at a sensory sensory evaluation in Kakamega County, Kenya. (Photo: Bernard Munyua/CIMMYT)

That’s the way I like it

For Gentrix Ligare, from Kakamega County, maize has always been a staple food in her family. They eat ugali almost daily. The one-acre farm that she and her husband own was one of the sites used to plant the varieties ahead of the evaluation exercise. Just like her husband, Fred Ligare, she prefers ugali that is soft but absorbs more water during preparation. “I also prefer ugali that is neither very sticky nor very sweet. Such ugali would be appropriate to eat with any type of vegetable or sauce,” she said.

Fernandes Ambani prefers ugali that emits a distinct aroma while being cooked and should neither be very sweet nor plain tasting. For him, ugali should not be too soft or too hard. While it should not be very sticky, it should also not have dark spots in it. “When I like the taste, smell, texture and appearance of a particular variety when cooked, I would definitely purchase it if I found it on the market,” he said.

While the task of incorporating all the desired or multiple traits in the breeding pipeline could prove complex and costly, giving consumers what they like is one of the essential steps in enhancing a variety’s commercial success in the market, argues Ludovicus Okitoi, Director of Kenya Agricultural and Livestock Organization’s (KALRO) Kakamega Center.

“Despite continuously breeding and releasing varieties every year, some farmers still buy some older varieties, possibly because they have a preference for a particular taste in some of the varieties they keep buying,” Okitoi said. “It is a good thing that socioeconomists and breeders are talking more and more with the farmers.”

Advancements in breeding techniques may help accelerate the integration of multiple traits, which could eventually contribute to quicker varietal turnover.

“Previously, we did not conduct this type of varietal evaluations at the consumer level. A breeder would, for instance, just breed on-station and conduct national performance trials at specific sites. The relevant authorities would then grant their approval and a variety would be released. Things are different now, as you have to go back to the farmer as an essential part of incorporating end-user feedback in a variety’s breeding process,” explained Hugo de Groote, Agricultural Economist at CIMMYT.

New crop varieties set to address drought, malnutrition

Written by Mary Donovan on April 27, 2020. Posted in In the media.

Test plot in Malawi includes drought-tolerant maize varieties developed by the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT); other maize varieties that are both drought-tolerant and high in vitamin A, developed by the HarvestPlus program and CIMMYT; and a high-iron bean variety developed by HarvestPlus and the International Center for Tropical Agriculture (CIAT).

Through thirty of these test plots established in the current growing season, the Clinton Development Initative, HarvestPlus and CIMMYT partners are reaching 30 000 farmers in 10 districts of Malawi.

A wheat field in Pakistan, ready for harvest. (Photo: Kashif Syed/CIMMYT)

CIMMYT and Pakistan: 60 years of collaboration

Written by Mike Listman on April 24, 2020. Posted in Publications. 1 Comment on CIMMYT and Pakistan: 60 years of collaboration

A new fact sheet captures the impact of CIMMYT after six decades of maize and wheat research in Pakistan.

Dating back to the 1960s, the research partnership between Pakistan and CIMMYT has played a vital role in improving food security for Pakistanis and for the global spread of improved crop varieties and farming practices.

Norman Borlaug, Nobel Peace Prize laureate and first director of CIMMYT wheat research, kept a close relationship with the nation’s researchers and policymakers. CIMMYT’s first training course participant from Pakistan, Manzoor A. Bajwa, introduced the high-yielding wheat variety “Mexi-Pak” from CIMMYT to help address the national food security crisis. Pakistan imported 50 tons of Mexi-Pak seed in 1966, the largest seed purchase of its time, and two years later became the first Asian country to achieve self-sufficiency in wheat, with a national production of 6.7 million tons.

CIMMYT researchers in Pakistan examine maize cobs. (Photo: CIMMYT)

In 2019 Pakistan harvested 26 million tons of wheat, which roughly matches its annual consumption of the crop.

In line with Pakistan’s National Food Security Policy and with national partners, CIMMYT contributes to Pakistan’s efforts to intensify maize- and wheat-based cropping in ways that improve food security, raise farmers’ income, and reduce environmental impacts. This has helped Pakistani farmers to figure among South Asia’s leaders in adopting improved maize and wheat varieties, zero tillage for sowing wheat, precision land leveling, and other innovations.

With funding from USAID, since 2013 CIMMYT has coordinated the work of a broad network of partners, both public and private, to boost the productivity and climate resilience of agri-food systems for wheat, maize, and rice, as well as livestock, vegetable, and fruit production.

Download the fact sheet:
CIMMYT and Pakistan: 60 years of collaboration

Cover photo: A wheat field in Pakistan, ready for harvest. (Photo: Kashif Syed/CIMMYT)

Sita Kumari, a farmer, stands on a maize field in Nepal. (Photo: C. de Bode/CGIAR)

CGIAR is receiving applications to join the One CGIAR Common Board

Written by Rodrigo Ordóñez on April 23, 2020. Posted in News.

The world is changing, and so is CGIAR. To achieve the Sustainable Development Goals by 2030, food systems — the way we grow, catch, transport, process, trade, and consume food — must be transformed, while meeting the challenges of climate change, and restoring the natural environment. The global pandemic further highlights the need for an integrated approach to food systems, and human, animal and environmental health.

In the face of these interdependent challenges, CGIAR, as the world’s largest public research network on food systems, is undergoing a dynamic transformation of its partnerships, knowledge, assets and global presence. Emerging as One CGIAR, it is sharpening its mission and impact focus to 2030, in line with the Sustainable Development Goals. CGIAR is integrating management, policies, and services; finding new, more impactful ways of doing research; sharing and investing more, pooled funding; and unifying its governance, including creation of the One CGIAR Common Board.

CGIAR’s Nominations Committee invites applications from qualified individuals to serve as members of the One CGIAR Common Board. The anticipated appointment date is September 1, 2020. Board members will be central to the transformation of CGIAR and its mission to deliver on global goals. The role presents opportunities to work with leaders across the CGIAR System, forging new linkages and partnerships in pursuit of an innovative, vital agenda.

For more details, please visit:
One CGIAR Common Board members (SRI Executive)

This notice was originally published on the CGIAR website:
Invitation to join the One CGIAR Common Board

CGIAR is a global research partnership for a food-secure future. CGIAR science is dedicated to reducing poverty, enhancing food and nutrition security, and improving natural resources and ecosystem services. Its research is carried out by 15 CGIAR Centers in close collaboration with hundreds of partners, including research institutes, civil society organizations, academia, development organizations and the private sector. www.cgiar.org

Farmers at the field school in Msambafumu, Malawi, begin preparing the soil for their next set of experiments. (Photo: Emma Orchardson/CIMMYT)

Out of the classroom and into the field

Written by Emma Orchardson on April 23, 2020. Posted in Features.

When farmers in rural Kasungu, Malawi, are asked to list some of the challenges they face, much of what they say is to be expected. Crop pests, climate change, low soil fertility, and lack of improved seed and purchasing power — these are faced by smallholders across districts and the country as a whole.

But there is one surprising response. “Sometimes it’s difficult to get feedback from research centers on what does and doesn’t work,” says Maxwell Phiri.

Capacity building and knowledge transfer are key elements of agricultural development work, but there is often a gap between research, outreach and extension to farmers. New techniques and crop varieties tested at experimental stations can take a while to reach rural communities, who want solutions to the challenges they are facing in real time.

“But now it’s easier for us because the research is being done here.” Phiri points to the farmer field school in Msambafumu, a few hectares of communal land where 23 smallholders from the surrounding area meet regularly to learn about new technologies and farming techniques.

At the school they have been able to learn first-hand about improved and new agricultural practices and technologies. Following an introduction to climate-smart agriculture practices, they have moved on to agroforestry, learning about the benefits of intercropping drought-tolerant maize with pigeon peas and fruit trees. “We’ve even started practicing climate-smart agriculture in our own fields and planting agroforestry trees,” says Ntendeleza Mwale, a member of the field school in Msambafumu and chair of a network of 17 schools in the district. “Now everybody is growing fruit trees at home.”

“We didn’t know that potatoes, millet and sorghum could grow here, because we thought the soil wasn’t suitable, but the school has showed us what is possible,” explains Maxwell Phiri (first from left). “You learn a lot of things in a group that you might not learn on your own.” (Photo: Emma Orchardson/CIMMYT)

Back to school

A farmer field school is a group of 25-30 farmers, led by a master trainer, who come together to solve common challenges faced in their local area, such as soil degradation or poor water availability. Since 2014, the Government of Malawi has been using this innovative approach to help farmers learn about and improve their production systems through the KULIMA project. With support from a CGIAR consortium led by the International Potato Center (CIP), 15 schools have been established across the districts of Kasungu, Mulanje and Mzuzu, including master training hubs and outreach centers run by NGOs.

The overall objective is to increase agricultural productivity and diversification by upscaling climate-smart technologies,” explains Mathinda Sopo, a monitoring and evaluation specialist and project manager at the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT). “Master trainer candidates are selected in each district and then invited to sit down with researchers and identify their core production challenges. The plans are then developed collaboratively and based on agroecological zone.”

In February 2020, a new cohort of trainees arrived at the Lisasadizi Regional Training Center in Kasungu, where the Ministry of Agriculture coordinates trainings on four key topics — soil health, climate change, pests and diseases and nutrition — in collaboration with the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and the CGIAR consortium, supported by the German development agency GIZ.

The 13-week residential course is mostly practical but does include some classroom-based study and a community outreach component. Guided by a facilitator — usually a researcher or extension worker — participants are encouraged to learn from their experiences as they conduct experiments in their own fields, make observations and evaluate results throughout the cropping season. Outside of the core curriculum, they are free to investigate additional topics of their own choice.

After completing the course, master trainers move back to their respective areas to help train facilitators, who are ultimately responsible for running the field schools with support from NGO extension staff.

“The CGIAR centers bring in technologies they want to promote like improved crop varieties, but there are ongoing evaluations throughout the process to respond to newly emerging challenges such as fall armyworm,” says Sopo. “There’s also a review at the end of each season to discuss lessons learned and knowledge gaps.”

CIMMYT, for example, is focusing on promoting drought-tolerant, quality protein maize (QPM), and provitamin A maize, as well as climate-smart agriculture practices. At Msambafumu, the group have been comparing five improved maize varieties with local ones. “So far we’ve seen that the new varieties have bigger yields and cob sizes,” says Mwale. “Varieties like Chitedze 2 QPM and MH43A are also early maturing and are more nutritious.”

Farmers at the field schools in Msambafumu and Tiyese, in Malawi, have been surprised to find that banana trees can be grown in their area. (Photo: Emma Orchardson/CIMMYT)

At the field school in Tiyese, Malawi, farmers are using two adjacent maize plots to compare the effects of leaving crop residue on their field. (Photo: Emma Orchardson/CIMMYT)

Learning by doing

A few kilometers down the road, in Galika village, members of the Tiyese field school have been learning how to control a variety of pests and diseases. So far, they have been taught about different pesticides and the benefits of using inoculant on soya beans and ground nuts to improve soil fertility, and how to identify and mitigate disease in susceptible potato varieties. They have also been learning how to apply Aflasafe while crops are still in the field to reduce aflatoxins in maize and groundnuts.

But the most pressing challenge is fall armyworm, says Matolino Zimba, a member of the Tiyese field school. “We’ve been trying new methods for controlling it,” he explains. “Last year we planted mucuna beans in our banana orchard as a cover crop. Later we soaked mucuna leaves in water and poured the solution on the infested maize and noticed that the worms were dying.”

Zimba is satisfied with the learning methods at the field school. “This approach is better for us because we get to see the process, rather than just receiving an explanation.”

Emily Kaponda agrees. She first joined the group after noticing that participating farmers were getting higher yields by using new planting methods. “The school has a smaller plot of land than I do, but their bundles of maize were much larger,” she explains.

Since joining the field school, she has learned how to increase her yields, how to conserve moisture in the soil using zero-tillage farming and the importance of diversifying her family’s diets. “We’re learning how we can use cassava or sweet potato as a starch, instead of only using maize.”

Zimba and Kaponda are both excited to be trying out QPM and provitamin A maize varieties, as well as new varieties of cassava, orange-fleshed sweet potato, improved groundnuts, biofortified beans and bananas. Much like their peers at Msambafumu, they had not known that many of these could be grown in the area, and the group has already started planning to multiply planting materials to use in their own fields next year.

“These groups are really inspirational,” says Sopo. “Most members are already practicing things they’ve learned at their school and are getting positive results.”

Sopo is already seeing success stories from schools established one year ago, but collaboration will need to be sustained to ensure lasting progress. A new research initiative, Development-Smart Innovations through Research in Agriculture (DeSIRA), will help to maintain the positive feedback loop by investigating emerging issues raised during on-farm experiments. “We can take farmer observations from the study plots to DeSIRA for further research, and the outputs from that will complement KULIMA.”

Farmers at the field school in Msambafumu, Malawi, begin preparing the soil for their next set of experiments. (Photo: Emma Orchardson/CIMMYT)

Matolino Zimba checks on the emerging maize crop, which has been covered in crop residue to conserve moisture, at the field school in Tiyese, Malawi. (Photo: Emma Orchardson/CIMMYT)

IFPRI, IRRI, CIMMYT, WorldFish make joint call for measures to avert risk to food system

Written by Mary Donovan on April 22, 2020. Posted in In the media.

World’s leading food security think-tank and research centres have recommended Bangladesh to ensure transportation of food from rural to urban areas and the flow of crucial inputs to farmers through market systems so that risk to food system during Covid-19 pandemic can be averted.