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Breaking Ground: Breeder Marcela C. Andrade bolsters maize with hardiness from ancestral races

Written by Mike Listman on . Posted in Features.

Postcard_Marcela CarvalhoAs the world heats up and water grows scarce, threatening the productivity of humankind’s preferred crops, breeder Marcela Carvalho Andrade and her colleagues at the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT) are working to toughen maize, drawing resilience traits from landraces, the forerunners of modern maize.

For decades, scientists have sought to utilize the hardiness of maize landraces, which evolved over millennia of farmer selection for adaptation to diverse and sometimes harsh local settings in Mexico, Central and South America.

But crossing elite varieties with landraces brings along wild traits that are difficult and costly to purge, including lower grain yields, excessive tallness or a tendency to fall over in strong winds. For this and for their genetic complexity, landraces are seldom used directly in breeding programs, according to Andrade.

Crosses that home in on genetically complex traits

“Our strategy is to cross selected landraces with elite maize lines, thus developing improved lines that can be directly incorporated and recycled in breeding programs,” explained Andrade, who joined CIMMYT in 2016.

The traits sought include better resilience under high temperatures, drought conditions or the attacks of rapidly-evolving crop diseases. “All these features will be critical for the future productivity of maize,” said Andrade.

One of the world’s three most important crops, maize contributes over 20% of the calories in human diets in 21 low-income countries, as well as being used in industry, biofuels, and feed for livestock and poultry.

Andrade and the maize breeding team develop new lines that carry a 75 percent genetic contribution from the elite source and 25 percent from a landrace. The aim she said is to get the good components from both sides, while broadening maize’s genetic diversity for use by breeders and ultimately farmers.

The resulting lines and hybrids are tested for yield, resilience and overall agronomic performance, under both normal growing conditions and “stressed” environments; for example, in plots grown at sites with high temperatures or reduced water availability.

“We can thus identify landraces that offer traits of interest, as well as generating improved breeding lines to strengthen the resilience of elite maize without reducing its yield,” said Andrade, noting that the research employs conventional cross-pollination and selection.

According to Andrade, CIMMYT has carried out large-scale molecular analysis of its maize seed collections, which number around 28,000 and comprise landraces from 70 countries.

“Over the past years, CIMMYT has used genetic diversity analyses of its maize collections to select landraces for use in drought tolerance breeding or for finding lines that are resistant to newly important diseases such as  Maize Lethal Necrosis or Tar Spot,” she explained. “Genetic diversity analysis allows us to narrow the number of candidate landrace sources that we need to cross and assess in the field.”

The viral disease Maize Lethal Necrosis (MLN) has devastated crops in eastern Africa since its appearance there in 2011.

The researchers have also found landrace sources of resilience against Tar Spot Complex, a maize disease of the Americas that can cause 50 percent or greater yield losses in infected crops.

Benefiting breeding and farmers

Andrade said the breeding team expects to release a first wave of landrace-derived, improved maize lines in 2019, some featuring enhanced drought tolerance and others that provide better resistance to Tar Spot.

“The lines we offer will be freely available to breeders worldwide and must yield well and show superior resilience,” Andrade explained. “They will have reasonable agronomics—ear and plant height and standability, for example. The lines will not be perfect, but breeders won’t hesitate to use them because we’ve ensured that they are superior for at least one crucial trait and reasonably competitive for most other traits.”

From Brazil to the world

Growing up in a small town and having direct contact with her father’s dairy farm in Minas Gerais, a mainly rural state in Brazil, Andrade finds her CIMMYT work enormously satisfying. “My dad and a few uncles were farmers and complained some years that their crops didn’t yield well,” she says. “I knew I wanted to help them somehow.”

Andrade obtained Bachelor and Master’s degrees in agronomy/plant science from the Universidade Federal de Lavras (UFLA), one of Brazil’s premier institutions of higher education. She later completed a Doctorate in Genetics and Plant Breeding at UFLA, in partnership with Ohio State University.

She credits CIMMYT maize scientist Terry Molnar, her supervisor and mentor, with teaching her the complex ins and outs of maize breeding. “I am a plant breeder and worked previously with vegetables, but I learned the practical aspects of maize breeding from Terry.”

Looking ahead, Andrade sees herself continuing as a plant breeder. “I don’t see myself working in anything else. I would eventually like to lead my own program but, at this point in my career, I’m happy to help transfer landrace traits to modern maize varieties.”

The itsy bitsy spider can make a big impact in agriculture

Written by on . Posted in Features.

Face of an adult male Phidippus audax male jumping spider. (Photo: Opoterser/Wikimedia Commons)
Face of an adult male Phidippus audax male jumping spider. (Photo: Opoterser/Wikimedia Commons)

A new study explores how conservation agriculture in southern Africa supports spider populations and diversity in fields, which could help mitigate pest damage and potentially lead to higher yields for farmers. According to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), herbivorous insects such as aphids, caterpillars and weevils destroy about one fifth of the world’s total crop production each year. Spiders can help keep voracious pests in-check, but conventional farming practices (e.g. tilling, crop residue removal and monoculture) can harm or drastically reduce these beneficial bio-control agents.

There are more than 45,000 identified spider species around the world. From glaciers to tropical rainforests, they inhabit every terrestrial ecosystem on earth. Some can even live in tidal zones, and at least one species inhabits fresh water. While we tend to associate spiders with webs, only about 50 percent of the species catch their prey this way; the rest hunt on plants, on the ground or below it, using a variety of tactics such as stalking, stabbing, crushing – even seduction.

Although spiders have been around for 300 million years, some species are at risk of extinction due to habitat loss and fragmentation. Drastic reductions in vegetation – whether from a new parking lot or a tilled field – removes the food source that attracts their prey. Bare ground exposes their nesting sites and themselves, which makes it harder to hunt and easier to be hunted by birds and small mammals.

At the Chinhoyi University of Technology experimental farm in Zimbabwe, a team of researchers aimed to determine the response of spiders under different agricultural practices. Conventional farmers often prepare their fields for planting by physically breaking up and inverting the top 6-10 inches of soil. This practice of ploughing prepares a fine soil tilth, which makes it easier to plant; it breaks up and buries weeds, and reduces soil compaction to aerate the soil. But tilling also increases topsoil erosion from wind and water. It accelerates soil carbon decomposition, reduces soil water infiltration and disrupts microorganisms living in the soil, including beneficial insects and spiders.

The researchers conducted two experiments over the 2013/2014 and 2014/2015 cropping seasons to see how tilling, crop residue retention (i.e. leaving stalks and post-harvest organic matter in the field), fertilizer application and weeding affected ground- and plant-wandering spider species. They hypothesized that spider abundance and diversity would increase with lower levels of soil disturbance and more plant cover.

The results showed direct seeding into no-till soil increased the abundance of spiders and the diversity of species. Mulching also showed a positive effect. Contrary to their hypotheses and results from temperate regions, the application of fertilizer and intense weeding did not affect the spider community. The researchers attributed this to the difference in climatic conditions (tropical vs. temperate) of this study in southern Africa.

“Often the government’s and farmer’s immediate reaction to a crop pest issue is to apply a pesticide, but we can make use of biological control agents, which may be cheaper and less damaging for the environment,” says Christian Thierfelder, a co-author of the study. Thierfelder is a cropping systems agronomist and conservation agriculture specialist with the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT) with long-term experience in sustainable intensification.

“Spiders, ants and beetles all do a really good job with little or no cost to the farmer,” he adds. “For us, it’s quite fascinating to see simple agronomic practices to affect and control crop pests. This also provides new avenues of dealing with the fall armyworm, an invasive species which has devastated crops across the majority of sub-Saharan Africa countries.”

A robust number of studies from Europe, Australia and North America have shown the link between conservation agriculture and biodiversity, but Thierfelder says that research on biodiversity in agronomic systems is relatively new in southern Africa. While the study in Zimbabwe helps fill this gap, more research is needed to show the connection between the abundance of spiders, beetles and ants with the suppression of insect pest activity.

For more information, read Spider community shift in response to farming practices in a sub-humid agroecosystem in southern Africa.

This research was jointly funded by Chinhoyi University of Technology (CUT) and the German Academic Exchange Program (DAAD). The CGIAR Research Program on Maize (MAIZE) supported this study through Christian Thierfelder’s contributions.

Farmer Gudeye Leta harvests his local variety maize in Dalecho village, Gudeya Bila district, Ethiopia. (Photo: Peter Lowe/CIMMYT)

Reducing high yield gaps with decision-support apps

Written by Emma Orchardson on . Posted in Features.

Farmer Gudeye Leta harvests his local variety maize in Dalecho village, Gudeya Bila district, Ethiopia. (Photo: Peter Lowe/CIMMYT)
Farmer Gudeye Leta harvests his local variety maize in Dalecho village, Gudeya Bila district, Ethiopia. (Photo: Peter Lowe/CIMMYT)

Ethiopia is Africa’s third largest producer of maize, after Nigeria and South Africa. Although the country produces around 6.5 million tons annually, the national average maize yield is relatively low at 3.5 tons compared to the attainable yield of 8.5 tons. This high yield gap — the difference between attainable and actual yields — can be attributed to a number of factors, including crop varieties used, farm management practices, and plant density.

The Taking Maize Agronomy to Scale (TAMASA) project aims to narrow maize yield gaps in Ethiopia, Nigeria and Tanzania through the development and scaling out of decision-support tools, which provide site-specific recommendations based on information held in crop and soil databases collected from each country. These help farmers to make decisions based on more accurate variety and fertilizer recommendations, and can contribute to improving maize production and productivity.

One such tool is Nutrient Expert, a free, interactive computer-based application. It can rapidly provide nutrient recommendations for individual farmers’ fields in the absence of soil-testing data. The tool was developed by the International Plant Nutrition Institute in collaboration with the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT), the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA), and research and extension service providers.

Nutrient Expert user interface.
Nutrient Expert user interface.

In Ethiopia, regional fertilizer recommendations are widely used, but soil fertility management practices can vary greatly from village to village and even between individual farmers. This can make it difficult for farmers or extension agents to receive accurate information tailored specifically to their needs. Nutrient Expert fills this gap by incorporating information on available fertilizer blends and giving customized recommendations for individual fields or larger areas, using information on current farmer practices, field history and local conditions. It can also provide advice on improved crop management practices such as planting density and weeding, thereby helping farmers to maximize net returns on their investment in fertilizer.

Data calibration was based on the results of 700 multi-location nutrient omission trials conducted in major maize production areas in Ethiopia, Nigeria and Tanzania. These trials were designed as a diagnostic tool to establish which macro-nutrients are limiting maize growth and yield, and determine other possible constraints.

In Ethiopia, CIMMYT scientists working for the TAMASA project conducted nutrient omission trials on 88 farmer fields in Jimma, Bako and the Central Rift Valley in 2015 to produce a version of Nutrient Expert suitable for the country. Researchers trialed the app on six maize-belt districts in Oromia the following year, in which Nutrient Expert recommendations were compared with soil-test based and regional ones.

Researchers found that though the app recommended lower amounts of phosphorus and potassium fertilizer, overall maize yields were comparable to those in other test sites. In Ethiopia, this reduction in the use of NPK fertilizer resulted in an investment saving of roughly 80 dollars per hectare.

Results from Nutrient Expert trials in Ethiopia, Nigeria and Tanzania showed improved yields, fertilizer-use efficiency and increased profits, and the app has since been successfully adapted for use in developing fertilizer recommendations that address a wide variety of soil and climatic conditions in each of the target countries.

The World Bank’s 2016 Digital Dividends report states that we are currently “in the midst of the greatest information and communications revolution in human history.” This shifting digital landscape has significant implications for the ways in which stakeholders in the agricultural sector generate, access and use data. Amidst Africa’s burgeoning technology scene, CIMMYT’s TAMASA project demonstrates the transformative power of harnessing ICTs for agricultural development.

Learn more about different versions of Nutrient Expert and download the free software here.

TAMASA is a five-year project (2014-2019) funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, seeking to improve productivity and profitability for small-scale maize farmers in Ethiopia, Nigeria and Tanzania. Read more about the project here.

Group photo during the IMIC-Africa inception workshop in Harare, Zimbabwe, in May 2018. (Photo: CIMMYT)

International Maize Improvement Consortium for Africa ramps up seed innovations

Written by Carolyn Cowan on . Posted in News.

Group photo during the IMIC-Africa inception workshop in Harare, Zimbabwe, in May 2018. (Photo: CIMMYT)
Group photo during the IMIC-Africa inception workshop in Harare, Zimbabwe, in May 2018. (Photo: CIMMYT)

Maize is the most important staple food crop in sub-Saharan Africa, providing food security and a source of income to more than 200 million households. Nonetheless, maize yields in this region rank among the lowest worldwide.

The International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT) launched the International Maize Improvement Consortium for Africa (IMIC-Africa) in May 2018, to better engage with a committed set of partners from the public and private sector, and to achieve enhanced maize yields in Africa.

Members of IMIC-Africa share a vision: meeting the challenges of maize production by scaling out and fully exploiting the potential of improved climate-resilient and stress-tolerant varieties in sub-Saharan Africa.

Cultivated on over 35 million hectares of typically rainfed land across sub-Saharan Africa, maize is subject to the vagaries of climate, suffering occasional to frequent drought stress. Other regional challenges include poor soil quality, characterized by nitrogen deficiency, and the ongoing threat of transboundary pathogens and pests, such as the voracious fall armyworm. In addition, farmers generally have inadequate access to improved seed that could help them achieve higher yields.

Although the challenges are complex, the effective use of improved, climate-resilient and multiple-stress-tolerant maize varieties has achieved tangible results in this region. Elite drought-tolerant (DT) maize hybrids developed by CIMMYT have demonstrated at least 25-30 percent grain yield advantage over non-DT maize varieties in sub-Saharan Africa under drought stress. CIMMYT has also derived elite heat-tolerant maize hybrids for sub-Saharan Africa, and during the recent outbreak of maize lethal necrosis (MLN), the rapid development and deployment of elite MLN-resistant hybrids was instrumental in the containment of this threat to eastern Africa.

Modelled on its successful counterpart initiatives in Asia (IMIC-Asia) and Latin America (IMIC-LatAm), there is hope that IMIC-Africa will follow a similar pattern of success.

The consortium is comprised of a diverse array of member institutions, including seed companies, national programs and foundations.

Its key objective is to enhance members’ capacity for germplasm development in their own breeding programs through provision of early generation or advanced maize lines. The subsequent multi-location testing of elite pre-commercial maize hybrids throughout sub-Saharan Africa by members will serve to identify products that can advance to commercialization and deployment.

“IMIC-Africa has a growing membership aimed at formalizing the sharing of maize lines under development with public and private maize breeding programs,” said CIMMYT scientist and Africa regional representative Stephen Mugo. “The consortium will also support a vibrant germplasm testing network, offer opportunities for training and cross learning among members, and grant access to other special services offered by CIMMYT including MLN testing, doubled haploid development and molecular quality assurance/quality control.”

The work of the consortium will ultimately benefit the farming community through the targeted development of maize varieties that express traits jointly identified and prioritized by consortium members and that are specifically adapted to the suite of agro-ecologies in sub-Saharan Africa. Traits of relevance include tolerance to abiotic stresses, disease and insect-pest resistance and higher yielding hybrids.

“IMIC-Africa will contribute to food security in Africa by broadening access to and use of stress-tolerant improved maize germplasm as well as strengthening maize breeding programs, thus improving farmers’ access to improved maize varieties,” Mugo explained.

In September 2018, members of IMIC-Africa held their first annual field day and visited the CIMMYT and Kenya Agriculture and Livestock Research Organization (KALRO) facilities in Kiboko and Naivasha.

Membership of IMIC-Africa is open to all organized and registered private commercial seed companies, corporations, and organized and registered public agencies or organizations involved in maize crop research and improvement, hybrid seed production or maize seed marketing.

For further information about membership and eligibility, please contact B.M. Prasanna, Director of CIMMYT’s Global Maize Program and the CGIAR Research Program on Maize: b.m.prasanna@cgiar.org.

Kristie Drucza (left) and Rahma Adam (right) had a chance to share CIMMYT’s gender work with the former president of Mauritius, Ameenah Gurib-Fakim, at AWARD’s tenth anniversary event in Nairobi. (Photo: Joshua Masinde/CIMMYT)

CIMMYT celebrates AWARD’s ten years empowering African women in agricultural research

Written by on . Posted in News.

Kristie Drucza (left) and Rahma Adam (right) had a chance to share CIMMYT’s gender work with the former president of Mauritius, Ameenah Gurib-Fakim, at AWARD’s tenth anniversary event in Nairobi. (Photo: Joshua Masinde/CIMMYT)
Kristie Drucza (left) and Rahma Adam (right) had a chance to share CIMMYT’s gender work with the former president of Mauritius, Ameenah Gurib-Fakim, at AWARD’s tenth anniversary event in Nairobi. (Photo: Joshua Masinde/CIMMYT)

The International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center’s (CIMMYT) gender team joined African Women in Agricultural Research and Development (AWARD) to celebrate its ten years of empowering women with essential skills and knowledge.

The AWARD program advocates for a more gender-responsive agricultural research ecosystem. This is key in driving a more sustainable and inclusive agricultural growth in Africa.

The tenth anniversary event took place in Nairobi on November 29, 2018. Rahma Adam, Gender and Development Scientist, and Kristie Drucza, Gender and Social Inclusion Researcher, showcased the work that CIMMYT’s gender team has done on maize and wheat-based farming systems, not just in Africa, but globally.

“Our participation at AWARD’s anniversary celebrations was not an end in itself, but rather relevant for other organizations within and outside the CGIAR system to learn from CIMMYT’s gender strategic and inclusive research work and draw lessons from it,” Adam said. “We especially appreciate the work done by AWARD, including the leadership trainings offered to promising young women at academic and research institutions, and at international organizations across Africa and beyond.”

Several researchers at CIMMYT have participated in AWARD’s initiatives, both getting mentorship or training and mentoring fellow scientists, thereby nurturing the next crop of researchers and leaders in agriculture.

“These courses are useful in helping one to strike a balance between being a good researcher and a good leader at the workplace and beyond,” Adam said.

Drucza commented on the leadership training she participated in: “They provide opportunities for leaders (some of whom are heads of research institutes across Africa) to understand common leadership challenges women face, engage in thought-provoking conversations and create lasting networks, among other issues.”

CIMMYT researchers Kristie Drucza (left) and Rahma Adam (second from left) showcased CIMMYT’s gender work at AWARD’s tenth anniversary event in Nairobi. (Photo: Joshua Masinde/CIMMYT)
CIMMYT researchers Kristie Drucza (left) and Rahma Adam (second from left) showcased CIMMYT’s gender work at AWARD’s tenth anniversary event in Nairobi. (Photo: Joshua Masinde/CIMMYT)

In 2018, Drucza, mentored a gender unit director at the Ethiopian Institute for Agricultural Research (EIAR). “As part of the AWARD program, my mentee attended a leadership development course as well as a scientific writing course. This improved her confidence and skills as a researcher and leader,” Drucza said.

As a beneficiary of the AWARD mentorship program in 2014-2015, Pauline Muindi, a research associate at CIMMYT’s gender unit, honed her communication and public speaking skills, which have proved useful for her work.

“These skills have enabled me to train several seed companies in eastern and southern Africa on the integration of gender in the seed value chains as well as gender integration in the workplace,” she said. Her mentor was a previous AWARD fellow. The program also helped her set realistic yet attainable goals for her career growth. “At CIMMYT, I have an opportunity to learn and gain new experiences, while at the same time build sustainable networks that are important in my professional life.”

The keynote speaker was Ameenah Gurib-Fakim, former president of Mauritius. “Women have a special power to be advocates for themselves and each other. We must become aware of that power and unleash it. Ultimately, it will be for we women to open the doors so that others may live and prosper,” Gurib-Fakim concluded.

Finding the story behind weeds

Written by Rodrigo Ordóñez on . Posted in News.

Field technicians use their cameras during the Photovoice training. (Photo: CIMMYT)
Field technicians use their cameras during the Photovoice training. (Photo: CIMMYT)

The main focus of the Sustainable and Resilient Farming Systems Intensification (SRFSI) project is on conservation agriculture technologies. Since farmers may face an increase in weeds after adopting zero-till planters, however, more research is needed about how farmers are dealing with weed.

One of the research objectives of the project is to understand farmers’ knowledge, perception, and practices of conservation agriculture. To this end, researchers are using the Photovoice methodology in Cooch Behar (West Bengal, India), Rongpur (Bangladesh) and Sunsari (Nepal) to collect relevant data on weed management practices.

Photovoice is a visual qualitative research method that allows people to express their perspectives through photographs. Photography can be used for evaluation purposes, through storytelling exercises.

On December 6-7, 2019, field technicians in Bangladesh, India and Nepal participated in a training about this methodology. They learned the rationale of Photovoice, its technical and logistic aspects, as well as the ethical considerations and the need to collect consent forms.

Participants also learned how to take pictures of inter-row cultivation and weeds on the farm, and how to confirm the geolocation of the farm.

Worth a thousand words

Using the Photovoice method, 30 households will be explored, including their labor allocation and decision-making dynamics around the implementation of conservation agriculture practices.

The effectiveness of this approach will emerge as smallholder farmers present their perspectives through photographs accompanied by their narratives.

Activities will be monitored on weekly basis.

The SRFSI project, funded by the Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research (ACIAR) and led by the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center, is set to improve the productivity, profitability and sustainability of smallholder agriculture in the Eastern Gangetic Plains of Bangladesh, India and Nepal, by promoting sustainable intensification based on conservation agriculture technologies.

Visiting researcher Fazleen Abdul Fatah is studying the the growing importance of maize and wheat in emerging economies.

Visiting researcher from Malaysia studies growing importance of maize and wheat in the country

Written by Emma Orchardson on . Posted in News.

Visiting researcher Fazleen Abdul Fatah is studying the the growing importance of maize and wheat in emerging economies.
Visiting researcher Fazleen Abdul Fatah is studying the growing importance of maize and wheat in emerging economies.

Fazleen Abdul Fatah credits a number of factors for her interest in agricultural research, from a childhood spent in a small town in one of Malaysia’s main rice farming areas, where the neighborhood revolved around agriculture, to supporting lecturers and professors who encouraged her interests during her undergraduate studies. “My experiences as an intern in the Philippines and visiting commercial farms in Germany and Japan as a student also shaped my motivation to work in sustainable agriculture and rural development, and ultimately I’d like to be able to influence food and agriculture policy,” she says.

Now a senior lecturer in the Faculty of Plantation and Agrotechnology at Universiti Teknologi MARA (UITM) in Malaysia, where she specializes in agricultural economics, trade and policy. For the past three months she has been based at the global headquarters of the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT) in Mexico, where she is conducting research into food consumption patterns.

Having previously completed an internship with the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) in the Philippines, Abdul Fatah was keen to gain more experience within the CGIAR system. After graduating from the University of Gottingen, Germany, with a PhD in Agriculture Trade Policy, her interest in the growing importance of maize and wheat in emerging economies prompted her to apply for a research opportunity at CIMMYT.

“I’m very interested in understanding how current shifts in food consumption patterns might affect the consumption of cereals in Indonesia and Malaysia.” Her previous research focused on the shift to cereals from food items such as meat, fish, or vegetables, but Abdul Fatah notes that few studies document shifts between cereals. “Rice is typically the main staple food crop for Malaysians,” she explains, “but changes in diets, incomes, and urbanization mean that people are shifting towards maize and wheat. What I’ve found more striking from my research is that in some areas people are actually consuming more wheat than rice, which means there are going to be some interesting decisions for policy makers to consider in the near future, especially in terms of import strategies.”

Abdul Fatah presented her initial research findings at CIMMYT, where she updated colleagues on her efforts to analyze consumption patterns for major cereals in 11 developing countries in Africa and Asia using government household surveys and World Bank datasets. She hopes to continue this line of research once she returns to UITM and is currently working on a paper based on case studies from Indonesia and Malaysia.

You can read more research from CIMMYT on shifting food consumption patterns in Asia in “Changing Food Consumption of Households in Developing Countries: A Bangladesh Case.”

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

Experts identify policy gaps in fertilizer application in India

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

NEW DELHI (CIMMYT) — Imbalanced application of different plant nutrients through fertilizers is a widespread problem in India. The major reasons are lack of adequate knowledge among farmers about the nutritional requirement of crops, poor access to proper guidelines on the right use of plant nutrients, inadequate policy support through government regulations, and distorted and poorly targeted subsidies.

This context makes it necessary to foster innovation in the fertilizer industry, and also to find innovative ways to target farmers, provide extension services and communicate messages.

A dialogue on “Innovations for promoting balanced application of macro and micro nutrient fertilizers in Indian agriculture” facilitated discussion on this issue. Representatives from key fertilizer industries, state governments, research institutions and the Indian Council of Agricultural Research gathered in New Delhi, India, on December 12, 2018. This dialogue was part of the Cereal Systems Initiative for South Asia (CSISA) and was organized by the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) and the International Plant Nutrition Institute (IPNI).

CIMMYT scientist and CSISA project leader Andrew McDonald presents the new Soil Intelligence System for India, which employs innovative and rapid approaches to soil health assessments.
CIMMYT scientist and CSISA project leader Andrew McDonald presents the new Soil Intelligence System for India, which employs innovative and rapid approaches to soil health assessments. (Photo: Dakshinamurthy Vedachalam/CIMMYT)

The Director General of the Fertilizer Association of India (FAI), Shri Satish Chander, pointed out that new-product approvals in India take approximately 800 days. However, he explained, this delay is not the biggest problem facing the sector: other barriers include existing price controls that are highly contingent on political myths.

IFPRI researcher Avinash Kishore presented evidence contradicting the myth that farmers are highly sensitive to any price change. He presented data demonstrating that farmers’ demand for Urea and DAP remained highly price inelastic during periods of steep price increases, in 2011 and 2012.

Sheetal Sharma, soil scientist for nutrient management at IRRI, co-chaired a session on field evidences on the soil health card scheme and farmers incentives for change.
Sheetal Sharma, soil scientist for nutrient management at IRRI, co-chaired a session on field evidences on the soil health card scheme and farmers incentives for change. (Photo: Dakshinamurthy Vedachalam/CIMMYT)

The Director of the South Asia Program at IPNI, T. Satyanarayana, highlighted the importance of micronutrients in promoting balanced fertilization of soils and innovative methods for determining soil health.

Andrew McDonald, from the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT), presented the new Soil Intelligence System for India, which employs innovative approaches to soil health assessments.

Farmers’ representative Ajay Vir Jakhar elaborated on the failure of underfunded extension systems to reach and disseminate relevant, factual and timely messages to vast numbers of farmers.

Other representatives from the fertilizer industry touched upon the need to identify farmer requirements for risk mitigation, labor shortages and site-specific nutrient management needs for custom fertilizer blends. Participants also discussed field evidence related to India’s soil health card scheme. Ultimately, discussions held at the roundtable helped identify relevant policy gaps, which will be summarized into a policy brief.

The Cereal Systems Initiative for South Asia project is led by the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT) in partnership with the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) and the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI). It is funded by the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.

Blue maize tortillas. (Photo: Luis Figueroa)

Best of 2018: Editors’ picks

Written by Rodrigo Ordóñez on . Posted in Features.

In 2018, our editors continued to cover exciting news and events related to maize and wheat science around the world. Altogether, we published more than 200 stories.

It is impossible to capture all of the places and topics we reported on, but here are some highlights and our favorite stories of the year.

Thank you for being a loyal reader of CIMMYT’s news and features. We are already working on new stories and platforms for 2019. Stay tuned!

New technical guide to help farmers protect against fall armyworm

In response to the spread of the fall armyworm across Africa, CIMMYT and its partners published a technical guide for integrated pest management. Produced by international experts, it offers details on the best management practices to help smallholder farmers effectively and safely control the pest while simultaneously protecting people, animals and the environment.

The voracious fall armyworm was on the news again in July, as its presence was reported in India, giving this issue a global scale.

CIMMYT and IITA are co-leading the new Fall Armyworm R4D International Consortium, composed of 40 partners, which held an international conference in Ethiopia in October.

Foliar damaged by full-grown fall armyworm larva in Zimbabwe. (Photo: Christian Thierfelder/CIMMYT)
Foliar damaged by full-grown fall armyworm larva in Zimbabwe. (Photo: Christian Thierfelder/CIMMYT)

Cobs & Spikes podcast: Blue maize opportunities for Mexican farmers

This year we launched our new podcast, Cobs & Spikes, where you can listen to stories from the field, interviews and explainers.

The most popular episode so far was about blue maize, a distinctive feature of Mexico’s food culture. Valued for its rich flavor and texture, it is also catching the attention of some food processing companies and high-end culinary markets. CIMMYT researchers are helping Mexican farmers tap into two emerging markets that could boost incomes while conserving culture and biodiversity.

Blue maize tortillas. (Photo: Luis Figueroa)
Blue maize tortillas. (Photo: Luis Figueroa)

Scientists confirm value of whole grains and wheat for nutrition and health

A review of scientific studies on cereal grains and health showed that gluten- or wheat-free diets are not inherently healthier for the general populace and may actually put individuals at risk of dietary deficiencies.

Based on a compilation of 12 reports, eating whole grains is actually beneficial for brain health and associated with reduced risk of diverse types of cancer, coronary disease, diabetes, hypertension, obesity and overall mortality.

Whole wheat bread. (Photo: Rebecca Siegel/Flickr)
Whole wheat bread. (Photo: Rebecca Siegel/Flickr)

African youth find entrepreneurial opportunity in agricultural mechanization

Mechanized agricultural services have traditionally only been used by large-scale farmers who could afford them, but small and medium-sized machines are fast becoming affordable options for family farmers through the advent of service providers. An increasing number of young people across eastern and southern Africa are creating a stable living as entrepreneurs, providing agricultural mechanization services.

CIMMYT is offering training courses to promote mechanization in Ethiopia, Kenya, Tanzania and Zimbabwe. Trainings equip entrepreneurs with essential business skills and knowledge, tailored to rural environments, so they can support farmers with appropriate mechanization services that sustainably intensify their production.

After receiving training from CIMMYT, this group of young men started a small business offering mechanized agricultural services to smallholder farmers near their town in rural Zimbabwe. (Photo: Matthew O’Leary/CIMMYT)
After receiving training from CIMMYT, this group of young men started a small business offering mechanized agricultural services to smallholder farmers near their town in rural Zimbabwe. (Photo: Matthew O’Leary/CIMMYT)

New wheat gene map will speed breeding and help secure grain supplies

In a scientific breakthrough, the International Wheat Genome Sequencing Consortium presented an annotated reference genome with a detailed analysis of gene content among subgenomes and the structural organization for all the chromosomes. The research was published on Science.

A BBC news report on this discovery mentioned CIMMYT as a leader in wheat research to help feed the world’s rapidly expanding population.

Improved wheat growing in Pakistan. (Photo: A. Yaqub/CIMMYT)
Improved wheat growing in Pakistan. (Photo: A. Yaqub/CIMMYT)

Better together: Partnership around zinc maize improves nutrition in Guatemala

Over 46 percent of children under five in Guatemala suffer from chronic malnutrition. More than 40 percent of Guatemala’s rural population is deficient in zinc, an essential micronutrient that plays a crucial role in pre-natal and post-natal development and is key to maintaining a healthy immune system.

CIMMYT is working with partners HarvestPlus and Semilla Nueva to reduce malnutrition and zinc deficiency in the country, through the development and deployment of Guatemala’s first biofortified zinc-enriched maize.

Last year we also reported on the release of a new zinc-enriched maize variety in Colombia and how vitamin A orange maize is improving nutrition in Zimbabwe.

Rómulo González’s daughter holds a corncob. (Photo: Sarah Caroline Mueller)
Rómulo González’s daughter holds a corncob. (Photo: Sarah Caroline Mueller)

Innovation, partnerships and knowledge for African farmers meet at AGRF 2018

CIMMYT was present at the African Green Revolution Forum in Kigali, Rwanda. Leaders discussed practical ways to transform policy declarations into impact on the ground, at a time when farmers are facing the challenge of climate change and the threat of emerging pests and diseases.

On the occasion of this event, CIMMYT’s Director General, Martin Kropff, and the Regional Representative for Africa, Stephen Mugo, authored an op-ed on agricultural innovation in Africa, published by Thomson Reuters (in English) and Jeune Afrique (in French).

The director general of CIMMYT, Martin Kropff, was the keynote speaker of the AGRF 2018 round-table discussion "Quality Means Quantity – Seed Processing Technology and Production Approaches for Agricultural Benefit." (Photo: CIMMYT)
The director general of CIMMYT, Martin Kropff, was the keynote speaker of the AGRF 2018 round-table discussion “Quality Means Quantity – Seed Processing Technology and Production Approaches for Agricultural Benefit.” (Photo: CIMMYT)

International experts discuss progress and challenges of maize research and development in Asia

More than 280 delegates from 20 countries gathered in Ludhiana, in the Indian state of Punjab, for the 13th Asian Maize Conference and Expert Consultation on Maize for Food, Feed, Nutrition and Environmental Security.

Technical sessions and panel discussions covered topics such as novel tools and strategies for increasing genetic gains, stress-resilient maize, sustainable intensification of maize-based cropping systems, specialty maize, processing and value addition, and nutritionally enriched maize for Asia.

Four young people were distinguished in the first edition of the 2018 MAIZE-Asia Youth Innovators Award. One of them wrote a blog about her personal story and her commitment to make hunger history.

Conference participants pose for a group photo at the field visit site during the 13th Asian Maize Conference. (Photo: Manjit Singh/Punjab Agricultural University)
Conference participants pose for a group photo at the field visit site during the 13th Asian Maize Conference. (Photo: Manjit Singh/Punjab Agricultural University)

Researchers find “hotspot” regions in the wheat genome for high zinc content, new study shows

An international team of scientists applied genome-wide association analysis for the first time to study the genetics that underlie grain zinc concentrations in wheat.

Analyzing zinc concentrations in the grain of 330 bread wheat lines across diverse environments in India and Mexico, the researchers uncovered 39 new molecular markers associated with the trait, as well as two wheat genome segments that carry important genes for zinc uptake, translocation, and storage in wheat.

Around the same time, a study confirmed the nutritional and health benefits of zinc-biofortified wheat in India. It showed that when vulnerable young children in India consume foods with wheat-enriched zinc, the number of days they spend sick with pneumonia and vomiting significantly diminishes.

The reported work by wheat scientists paves the way for expanded use of wild grass species, such as Aegilops tauschii (also known as goat grass; pictured here) as sources of new genes for higher grain zinc in wheat. (Photo: Rocio Quiroz/CIMMYT)
The reported work by wheat scientists paves the way for expanded use of wild grass species, such as Aegilops tauschii (also known as goat grass; pictured here) as sources of new genes for higher grain zinc in wheat. (Photo: Rocio Quiroz/CIMMYT)

Study in Ethiopia links healthy soils to more nutritious cereals

A study in Ethiopia found that wheat grown in areas closer to the forest had more nutrients, like zinc and protein. Soils in these areas are rich in organic matter — about 1% higher — due to decomposing trees and plants, as well as manure of livestock grazed in the forest.

Increasing organic matter by 1 percent was associated with an increase in zinc equivalent to meet the daily needs of 0.2 additional people per hectare and an increase in protein equivalent to meeting the daily needs of 0.1 additional people per hectare. These modest increases in soil organic matter contribute a small, but important, increase in nutrients found in wheat.

Although these nutrient increases are not enough to address hidden hunger on their own, they reveal how healthy soils are an additional tool — alongside diet diversity and the biofortification of food — to fight malnutrition.

Annual report 2017

In 2018 we published our latest annual report, highlighting CIMMYT’s global work and collaboration with partners. It features infographics and case studies from Bangladesh, Ethiopia, Haiti, Mexico and Pakistan.

It is a good way to understand how CIMMYT’s science improves livelihoods around the world.

You can read the web version or the PDF of the report, or watch the video summary below.

Bangladesh farmer Raju Sarder sits on his recently acquired reaper. (Photo: CIMMYT/Md. Ikram Hossain)

The saving grace of a hefty investment

Written by on . Posted in Features.

Bangladesh farmer Raju Sarder sits on his recently acquired reaper. (Photo: CIMMYT/Md. Ikram Hossain)
Bangladesh farmer Raju Sarder sits on his recently acquired reaper. (Photo: iDE/Md. Ikram Hossain)

A man in his early 20s walked the winding roads of Sajiara village, Dumuria upazila, Khulna District in Bangladesh. His head hanging low, he noticed darkness slowly descending and then looked up to see an old farmer wrapping up his own daily activities. With traditional tools in hand, the farmer looked exhausted. The young man, Raju Sarder, considered that there had to be a better way to farm to alleviate his drudgery and that of others in the community.

Determined to act, Raju set out to meet Department of Agricultural Extension (DAE) officials the very next day. They informed him about the Mechanization and Irrigation project of the Cereal Systems Initiative for South Asia (CSISA MI). They also introduced him to the project’s most popular technologies, namely the power tiller operated seeder, reaper and axial flow pumps, all of which reduce labor costs and increase farming efficiency.

Raju found the reaper to be the most interesting and relevant for his work, and contacted a CSISA representative to acquire one.

The first challenge he encountered was the cost — the equivalent of $1,970 — which as a small-scale farmer he could not afford. CSISA MI field staff assured him that his ambitions were not nipped in the bud and guided him in obtaining a government subsidy and a loan of $1,070 from TMSS, one of CSISA MI’s micro financing partners. Following operator and maintenance training from CSISA MI, Raju began providing reaping services to local smallholder rice and wheat farmers.

He noticed immediately that he did not have to exert himself as much as before but actually gained time for leisure and his production costs dwindled. Most remarkably, for reaping 24 hectares Raju generated a profit of $1,806; a staggering 15 times greater than what he could obtain using traditional, manual methods and enough to pay back his loan in the first season.

“There was a time when I was unsure whether I would be able to afford my next meal,” said Raju, “but it’s all different now because profits are pouring in thanks to the reaper.”

As a result of the project and farmers’ interest, field labor in Raju’s community is also being transformed. Gone are the days when farmers toiled from dawn to dusk bending and squatting to cut the rice and wheat with rustic sickles. Laborious traditional methods are being replaced by modern and effective mechanization. Through projects such as CSISA MI, CIMMYT is helping farmers like Raju to become young entrepreneurs with a bright future. Once poor laborers disaffected and treated badly in their own society, these youths now walk with dignity and pride as significant contributors to local economic development.

CSISA MI is a partnership involving the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT) and iDE, a non-governmental organization that fosters farmers’ entrepreneurial development, with funding from USAID under the Feed the Future initiative.

Conference participants pose for a group photo at the field visit site during the 13th Asian Maize Conference. (Photo: Manjit Singh/Punjab Agricultural University)

International experts discuss progress and challenges of maize research and development in Asia

Written by Jennifer Johnson on . Posted in Features.

The importance of maize in Asian cropping systems has grown rapidly in recent years, with several countries registering impressive growth rates in maize production and productivity. However, increasing and competing demands — food, feed, and industry — highlight the continued need to invest in maize research for development in the region. Maize experts from around the world gathered to discuss these challenges and how to solve them at the 13th Asian Maize Conference and Expert Consultation on Maize for Food, Feed, Nutrition and Environmental Security, held from October 8 to 10, 2018, in Ludhiana, Punjab, India.

More than 280 delegates from 20 countries attended the conference. Technical sessions and panel discussions covered diverse topics such as novel tools and strategies for increasing genetic gains, stress-resilient maize, sustainable intensification of maize-based cropping systems, specialty maize, processing and value addition, and nutritionally enriched maize for Asia.

The international conference was jointly organized by the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR), the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT), the Indian Institute of Maize Research (ICAR-IIMR), Punjab Agricultural University (PAU), the CGIAR Research Program on Maize (MAIZE), and the Borlaug Institute for South Asia (BISA).

In Asia, maize is rapidly growing in its importance, due to high demand. Maize productivity in the region is growing by 5.2 percent annually compared to a global average of 3.5 percent. However, this is not enough. “Asia produces nearly 80 million tons of maize annually, but demand will be double by the year 2050,” said Martin Kropff, CIMMYT director general, in his opening address at the conference. “We need to produce two times more maize in Asia, using two times less inputs, including water and nutrients. Climatic extremes and variability, especially in South and South East Asia, will make this challenge more difficult. Continued funding for maize research is crucial. We need to work together to ensure that appropriate innovations reach the smallholder farmers.”

Field visit in Ludhiana, India, during the 13th Asian Maize Conference. (Photo: Manjit Singh/Punjab Agricultural University)
Field visit in Ludhiana, India, during the 13th Asian Maize Conference. (Photo: Manjit Singh/Punjab Agricultural University)

Climate-resilient maize and sustainable intensification

A major theme emphasized at the conference was climate resilience in maize-based systems. South Asia is a hotspot for vulnerability due to climate change and climate variability, which poses great risks to smallholder farmers. “Climate resilience cannot be brought by only a single technology — it has to be through a judicious mix of several approaches,” said B.M. Prasanna, director of CIMMYT’s Global Maize Program and the CGIAR Research Program on Maize.

Great advances have been made in developing climate-resilient maize for Asia since the last Asian Maize Conference, held in 2014. Many new heat- and drought-tolerant maize varieties have been developed through various projects, such as the Heat Stress Tolerant Maize for Asia (HTMA), and Affordable, Accessible, Asian (AAA) maize projects. Through the HTMA project, over 50 CIMMYT-derived elite heat-tolerant maize hybrids have been licensed to public and private sector partners in Asia during the last three years, and nine heat-tolerant maize hybrids have been released so far in Bangladesh, India and Nepal.

Sustainable intensification of maize-based farming systems has also helped farmers to increase yields while reducing environmental impact, through conservation agriculture and scale-appropriate mechanization. Simple technologies are now available to reduce harvest time by up to 80 percent and hired labor costs by up to 60 percent. Researchers across the region are also working to strengthen the maize value chains.

B.S. Dhillon (center) receives the MAIZE Champion Award for his pioneering work in maize breeding. (Photo: Manjit Singh/Punjab Agricultural University)
B.S. Dhillon (center) receives the MAIZE Champion Award for his pioneering work in maize breeding. (Photo: Manjit Singh/Punjab Agricultural University)

Science and appropriate technologies

CIMMYT has been focusing on developing and deploying new technologies that can enhance the efficiency of maize breeding programs; these include doubled haploid (DH) technology, high-throughput field-based phenotyping, and genomics-assisted breeding. The conference emphasized on the need for Asian institutions to adapt such new tools and technologies in maize breeding programs.

Another topic of interest was the fall armyworm, an invasive insect pest that has spread through 44 countries in Africa and was recently reported in India for the first time. “This pest can migrate very quickly and doesn’t require visas and passports like we do. It will travel, and Asian nations need to be prepared,” Prasanna said. “However, there is no need for alarm. We will be looking at lessons learned from other regions and will work together to control this pest.”

In addition to grain for food and feed, specialty maize varieties can provide beneficial economic alternatives for smallholder maize farmers. Conference participants had the opportunity to hear from Indian farmers Kanwal Singh Chauhan and Yugandar Y, who have effectively adopted specialty maize varieties, such as baby corn, sweet corn and popcorn, into life-changing economic opportunities for farming communities. They hope to inspire other farmers in the region to do the same.

On October 10, conference delegates participated in a maize field day organized at the BISA farm in Ladhowal, Ludhiana. Nearly 100 improved maize varieties developed by CIMMYT, ICAR and public and private sector partners were on display, in addition to scale-appropriate mechanization options, decision support tools, and precision nutrient and water management techniques.

The conference concluded with a ceremony honoring the winners of the 2018 MAIZE-Asia Youth Innovators Award. The awards were launched in collaboration between the CGIAR Research Program on Maize and YPARD (Young Professionals for Agricultural Development) to recognize the contributions of innovative young women and men who can inspire fellow youth to get involved in improving maize-based agri-food systems in Asia. Winners of the first edition of the awards include Dinesh Panday of Nepal, Jie Xu of China, Samjhana Khanal of Nepal, and Vignesh Muthusamy of India.

Participants listen to a briefing during the field visit of the 13th Asian Maize Conference, in Ludhiana, India. (Photo: Manjit Singh/Punjab Agricultural University)
Participants listen to a briefing during the field visit of the 13th Asian Maize Conference, in Ludhiana, India. (Photo: Manjit Singh/Punjab Agricultural University)

With multi-sector support for climate-sensitive practices, African farmers can boost food security and resilience

Written by Matthew O'Leary on . Posted in Features.

Support for smallholder farmers to trial and select sustainable practices suited to their varying conditions is essential to build resilient farms needed to feed Africa’s soaring population, said economist Paswel Marenya at the Second African Congress on Conservation Agriculture in Johannesburg this October.

Farmers face different agroecological, socioeconomic and institutional environments across Africa. The mounting challenges brought by climate change also vary from place to place. Family farmers are born innovators, with government and industry support they can develop a resilient farming system that works for them, said the researcher from the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT).

One of the emerging paradigms of sustainable agriculture resilient to climatic changes is conservation agriculture — defined by minimal soil disturbance, crop residue retention and diversification through crop rotation. Although not a one-size-fits-all approach, it is a promising framework to be applied and adapted to meet farmers’ unique contexts, he said.

“Conservation agriculture’s potential to conserve soils, improve yields and limit environmental impacts makes it one of the elements that should be given prominence in efforts to secure sustainable and resilient farming in Africa,” he told audiences at the conference dedicated to discuss conservation agriculture systems as the sustainable basis for regional food security.

Along with eleven other researchers, Marenya presented evidence gathered over eight years researching the development of locally-adapted conservation agriculture-based practices as part of the Sustainable Intensification of Maize and Legume Systems for Food Security in Eastern and Southern Africa (SIMLESA).

“Research shows that with a network of appropriate support, farmers can access the tools and knowledge to experiment, learn, adapt and adopt these important principles of conservation agriculture,” he said.

“Their farming can thus evolve to practices that have low environmental impacts, diversify their cropping including intercropping maize with legumes, and test affordable machinery for efficient, timely and labor-saving operations. In the end, each farmer and farming community have the ability to tailor a conservation agriculture-based system based on what works best given their unique socioeconomic settings,” said Marenya.

Trialing sustainable practices leads to adoption

Through the project over 235,000 farming households in the region have trialed sustainable practices reporting positive results of improved soil fertility, reduced labor costs, and increased food production and maize yields despite erratic weather, said collaborating investigator Custudio George from the Mozambique Institute of Agricultural Research.

“The majority of these farmers have gone on to adopt their preferred practices throughout their whole farm and now actively promote conservation agriculture to other farmers,” he added

Women undertake the majority of agricultural activities in sub-Saharan Africa. When they are empowered to try sustainable practices they overwhelmingly adopt those technologies identifying them as an economically viable way to overcome challenges and increase household food security, said Maria da Luz Quinhentos, who is an agronomist with the Mozambique Institute of Agricultural Research.

Maria da Luz Quinhentos, from the Mozambique Institute of Agricultural Research (IIAM).
Maria da Luz Quinhentos, from the Mozambique Institute of Agricultural Research (IIAM).

Forming networks to support farmer resilience

The research project took a multidisciplinary approach bringing together sociologists, economists, agronomists and breeders to study how maize-legume conservation agriculture-based farming can best benefit farmers in seven countries; including Ethiopia, Kenya, Malawi, Mozambique, Tanzania and Uganda.

In this vein, the project sought to connect farmers with multi-sector actors across the maize-legume value chain through Innovation platforms. Innovation Platforms, facilitated by SIMLESA, are multi-stakeholder forums connecting farmer groups, agribusiness, government extension, policy makers and researchers with the common goal to increase farm-level food security, productivity and incomes through the promotion of maize-legume intercropping systems.

“Having a network of stakeholders allows farmers to test and adopt conservation agriculture-based techniques without the risk they would have if they tried and failed alone,” said Michael Misiko who studies farmer adoption as part of SIMLESA.

“Farmers form groups to work with governments to gain access to improved seed, learn new farming practices and connect with local agribusinesses to develop markets for their produce,”

“When new problems arise stakeholders in local and regional innovation platforms can diagnose barriers and together identify mutual solutions,” he said.

Researchers and governments learn from innovation platforms and can use results to recommend productive climate-smart practices to other farmers in similar conditions, Misiko added.

Climate-smart agriculture key to achieve Malabo Declaration

The results from SIMLESA provide African governments with evidence to develop policies that achieve the Malabo Declaration to implement resilient farming systems to enhance food security in the face of a growing climate risks, said Marenya.

Hotter temperatures, increased dry spells and erratic rainfall are major concerns to farmers, who produce the majority of the region’s food almost entirely on rain-fed farms without irrigation.

If these smallholders are to keep up with food demand of a population set to almost double by 2050 while overcoming challenges they need productive and climate-resilient cropping systems.

CIMMYT research identifies that the defining principles of conservation agriculture are critical but alone are not enough to shield farmers from the impacts of climate change. Complementary improvements in economic policies, markets and institutions — including multi-sectoral linkages between smallholder agriculture and the broader economy — are required to make climate-resilient farming systems more functional for smallholder farmers in the short and long term, said Marenya.

(Photo: CIMMYT/Ansaar Ahmad)

Pakistan wheat seed makeover

Written by on . Posted in News.

Munfiat, a farmer from Nowshera district, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, Pakistan, is happy to sow and share seed of the high-yielding, disease resistant Faisalabad-08 wheat variety. (Photo: CIMMYT/Ansaar Ahmad)
Munfiat, a farmer from Nowshera district, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, Pakistan, is happy to sow and share seed of the high-yielding, disease resistant Faisalabad-08 wheat variety. (Photo: CIMMYT/Ansaar Ahmad)

Nearly 3,000 smallholder wheat farmers throughout Pakistan will begin to sow seed of newer, high-yielding, disease-resistant wheat varieties and spread the seed among their peers in 2019, through a dynamic initiative that is revitalizing the contribution of science-based innovation for national agriculture.

Some 73 tons of seed of 15 improved wheat varieties recently went out to farmers in the provinces of Baluchistan, Gilgit Baltistan, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Punjab and Sindh, as part of the Agricultural Innovation Program (AIP), an initiative led by the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT) with funding from the US Agency for International Development (USAID).

“Our main goal is to help farmers replace outdated, disease-susceptible wheat varieties,” said Muhammad Imtiaz, CIMMYT scientist and country representative for Pakistan who leads the AIP. “Studies have shown that some Pakistan farmers grow the same variety for as long as 10 years, meaning they lose out on the superior qualities of newer varieties and their crops may fall victim to virulent, rapidly evolving wheat diseases.”

With support from CIMMYT and partners, participating farmers will not only enjoy as much as 20 percent higher harvests, but have agreed to produce and share surplus seed with neighbors, thus multiplying the new varieties’ reach and benefits, according to Imtiaz.

He said the new seed is part of AIP’s holistic focus on better cropping systems, including training farmers in improved management practices for wheat.

Wheat is Pakistan’s number-one food crop. Farmers there produce over 25 million tons of wheat each year — nearly as much as the entire annual wheat output of Africa or South America.

Annual per capita wheat consumption in Pakistan averages over 120 kilograms, among the highest in the world and providing over 60 percent of Pakistanis’ daily caloric intake.

The seed distributed includes varieties that offer enhanced levels of grain zinc content. The varieties were developed by CIMMYT in partnership with HarvestPlus, a CGIAR research program to study and deliver biofortified foods.

According to a 2011 nutrition survey, 39 percent of children in Pakistan and 48 percent of pregnant women suffer from zinc deficiency, leading to child stunting rates of more than 40 percent and high infant mortality.

The road to better food security and nutrition seems straighter for farmer Munsif Ullah and his family, with seed of a high-yielding, zinc-enhanced wheat variety. (Photo: CIMMYT/Ansaar Ahmad)
The road to better food security and nutrition seems straighter for farmer Munsif Ullah and his family, with seed of a high-yielding, zinc-enhanced wheat variety. (Photo: CIMMYT/Ansaar Ahmad)

“I am very excited to be part of Zincol-16 seed distribution, because its rich ingredients of nutrition will have a good impact on the health of my family,” said Munsif Ullah, a farmer from Swabi District, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province.

Other seed distributed includes that of the Pakistan-13 variety for rainfed areas of Punjab, Shahkar-13 for the mountainous Gilgit-Baltistan, Ehsan-16 for rainfed areas in general, and the Umeed-14 and Zardana varieties for Baluchistan.

All varieties feature improved resistance to wheat rust diseases caused by fungi whose strains are mutating and spreading quickly in South Asia.

CIMMYT and partners are training farmers in quality seed production and setting up demonstration plots in farmers’ fields to create awareness about new varieties and production technologies, as well as collecting data to monitor the varieties’ performance.

They are also promoting resource-conserving practices such as balanced applications of fertilizer based on infrared sensor readings, ridge planting, and zero tillage. These innovations can save water, fertilizer, and land preparation costs, not to mention increasing yields.

“CIMMYT’s main focus in Pakistan is work with national wheat researchers to develop and spread better wheat production systems,” Imtiaz explained. “This includes improved farming practices and wheat lines that offer higher yields, disease resistance, and resilience under higher temperatures and dry conditions, as well as good end-use quality.”

CIMMYT’s partners in AIP include the National Rural Support Program (NRSP), the Lok Sanjh Foundation, the Village Friends Organization (VFO), the Aga Khan Rural Support Program (AKRSP), the National Agricultural Research Council (NARC) Wheat Program, the Wheat Research Institute (WRI) Faisalabad and Sakrand centers, AZRI-Umarkot, Kashmala Agro Seed Company, ARI-Quetta, BARDC-Quetta, and Model Farm Services Center, KP.

(Photo: CIMMYT/Ansaar Ahmad)
(Photo: CIMMYT/Ansaar Ahmad)
Tek Sapkota (center) stands for a group photo with other scientists working on the IPCC’s special report on climate change and land, at the second lead author meeting in Christchurch, New Zealand, in March 2018.

Breaking Ground: Tek Sapkota finds ways to reduce emissions from agriculture without compromising food security

Written by Rodrigo Ordóñez on . Posted in Features.

Breaking Ground Postcard TEK SAPKOTA

As the world population increases, so does the need for food. “We need to produce more to feed increasing populations and meet dietary demands,” says Tek Sapkota, agricultural systems and climate change scientist at the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT). In the case of agriculture, the area of land under cultivation is limited, so increased food production has to come through intensification, Sapkota explains. “Intensification means that you may be emitting more greenhouse gases if you’re applying more inputs, so we need to find a way to sustainable intensification: increase the resilience of production systems, but at the same time decrease greenhouse gas emissions, at least emission intensity.”

Sapkota is involved in a number of global climate change science and policy forums. He represents CIMMYT in India’s GHG platform, a multi-institution platform that regularly prepares greenhouse gas emission estimates at the national and state levels and undertakes relevant policy analyses. Nominated by the CGIAR Research Program on Climate Change, Agriculture and Food Security (CCAFS) and his country, Nepal, he is one of the lead authors of the “special report on climate change and land” of  the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC).

He coordinates climate change mitigation work at CIMMYT. “I am mainly involved in quantification of greenhouse gas emissions and the environmental footprint from agricultural production systems, exploring mitigation options and quantifying their potential at different scales in different regions,” Sapkota says. In addition, he explores low-carbon development activities and the synergies between food production, adaptation and mitigation work within the different components of CIMMYT’s projects.

Agriculture is both a victim of as well as a contributor to climate change, Sapkota explains. “Climate change affects all aspects of food production, because of changes in temperature, changes in water availability, CO2 concentrations, etc.,” he says. “The other side of the coin is that agriculture in general is responsible for about 25 to 32 percent of total greenhouse gas emissions.”

Tek Sapkota (center) stands for a group photo with other scientists working on the IPCC’s special report on climate change and land, at the second lead author meeting in Christchurch, New Zealand, in March 2018.
Tek Sapkota (center) stands for a group photo with other scientists working on the IPCC’s special report on climate change and land, at the second lead author meeting in Christchurch, New Zealand, in March 2018.

Measuring emissions and examining mitigation options

A big part of Sapkota’s work is to find ways to mitigate the effects of climate change and the emissions from the agricultural sector. There are three types of mitigation measures, he explains. First, on the supply side, agriculture can “increase efficiency of the inputs used in any production practice.” Second, there’s mitigation from the demand side, “by changing the diet, eating less meat, for example.” Third, by reducing food loss and waste: “About 20 percent of the total food produced for human consumption is being lost, either before harvest or during harvest, transport, processing or during consumption.”

Sapkota and his team analyze different mitigation options, their potential and their associated costs. To that purpose, they have developed methodologies to quantify and estimate greenhouse gas emissions from agricultural products and systems, using field measurement techniques, models and extrapolation.

“You can quantify the emission savings a country can have by following a particular practice” and “help countries to identify the mitigation practices in agriculture that can contribute to their commitments under the Paris climate agreement.”

Their analysis looks at the biophysical mitigation potential of different practices, their national-level mitigation potential, their economic feasibility and scalability, and the country’s governance index and readiness for finance — while considering national food security, economic development and environmental sustainability goals.

Recently, Sapkota and his colleagues completed a study quantifying emissions from the agricultural sector in India and identifying the best mitigation options.

This type of research has a global impact. Since agriculture is a contributor to climate change “better management of agricultural systems can contribute to reducing climate change in the future,” Sapkota says. Being an important sector of the economy, “agriculture should contribute its share.”

CIMMYT scientist Tek Sapkota (second from left) explains greenhouse gas emissions measurement methods to a visiting group of scientists.
CIMMYT scientist Tek Sapkota (second from left) explains greenhouse gas emissions measurement methods to a visiting group of CCAFS and Indian scientists. (Photo: CCAFS)

Impact on farmers

Sapkota’s research is also helping farmers today. Inefficient use of products and inputs is not only responsible for higher greenhouse gas emissions, but it also costs farmers more. “For example, if farmers in the Indo-Gangetic Plain of India are applying 250 to 300 kg of nitrogen per hectare to produce wheat or rice, by following precision nutrient management technologies they can get similar yield by applying less nitrogen, let’s say 150 kg.” As farmers cut production costs without compromising yield, “their net revenue from their products will be increased.”

Farmers may also get immediate benefits from government policies based on the best mitigation options. “Governments can bring appropriate policy to incentivize farmers who are following those kinds of low-emission technologies, for example.”

Farmers could also get rewarded through payments for ecosystem services or for their contribution to carbon credits.

Sapkota is happy that his work is beneficial to farmers. He was born in a small village in the district of Kaski, in the mid-hills of Nepal, and agriculture was his family’s main livelihood. “I really enjoy working with farmers,” he says. “The most fascinating part of my work is going to the field: talking to farmers, listening to them, learning what kind of farming solutions they’re looking for, and so on. This helps refine our research questions to make them more strategic, because the way farmers look at a problem is sometimes entirely different from the way we look at it.”

When he was in Himalaya Secondary School, he studied agriculture as a vocational subject. “I was interested because we were doing farming at home.” This vocation got cemented in university, in the 1990s. When he heard about the agricultural industry and the future opportunities, he decided to pursue a career in science and focus on agriculture. He got his bachelor’s and master’s degree of science in agriculture from the Institute of Agriculture and Animal Science (IAAS), Tribhuvan University, in Nepal.

Tek Sapkota (second from left) and other scientists participate in a small group session during a meeting of lead authors of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC).
Tek Sapkota (second from left) and other scientists participate in a small group session during a meeting of lead authors of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC).

A global path

He first heard about CIMMYT when he was doing his master’s. “CIMMYT was doing research in maize- and wheat-based plots and systems in Nepal. A few of my friends were also doing their master theses with the financial support of CIMMYT.” After his master’s, he joined an organization called Local Initiatives for Biodiversity, Research and Development (LI-BIRD) which was collaborating with CIMMYT on a maize research program.

Sapkota got a PhD in Agriculture, Environment and Landscapes from the Sant’Anna School of Advanced Studies in Italy, including research in Aarhus University, Denmark.

After defending his thesis, in 2012, he was working on greenhouse gas measurement in the University of Manitoba, Canada, when he saw an opening at CIMMYT. He joined the organization as a post-doctoral fellow and has been a scientist since 2017. Sapkota considers himself a team player and enjoys working with people from different cultures.

His global experience has enriched his personal perspective and his research work. Through time, he has been able to see the evolution of agriculture and the “dramatic changes” in the way agriculture is practiced in least developed countries like Nepal. “When I was a kid agriculture was more manual … but now, a lot of technologies have been developed and farmers can use them to increase the efficiency of farming”.

Majola Mabuza, Program Officer, The Southern African Confederation of Agricultural Unions. (Photo: UNFCCC)

SACAU’s Majola Mabuza at COP24: How soil can help meet climate targets

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Majola Mabuza, Program Officer, The Southern African Confederation of Agricultural Unions. (Video: UNFCCC)

KATOWICE, Poland (CIMMYT) — Agricultural scientists attending U.N. COP24 climate talks in Katowice, Poland are discussing a wide range of potential solutions to slow global warming and meet targets laid out in the Paris Agreement on climate change.

The agreement, which has been under intense discussion by negotiators, requires keeping global temperatures in check — to no more than 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels.

Delegates participating in a side event session on agriculture, which produces about a third of global greenhouse gas emissions, discussed the role of soil, presenting scientific evidence of the value of recarbonization. Much of the carbon that was formerly stored in soil, which acts as a carbon sink, has been released into the atmosphere, contributing to global temperature increases.

Majola Mabuza, program officer responsible for policy at the non-profit Southern African Confederation of Agricultural Unions (SACAU), participated in the panel on Monday evening and discussed various risks farmers face and hurdles that need to be overcome.

Mabuza, an agricultural economist, whose research interests span institutional economics of farmers’ organizations, food security and the economics of non-conventional agricultural enterprises, shared some views with CIMMYT about recarbonization.

Q: What is the scale of the role soil plays in climate change?

A: The global carbon pool in soils — at a depth of 2 meters — is three times that of carbon found in the atmosphere. As such, both increases in soil organic carbon and protection against losses from this pool are important strategies for environmental protection. Management practices that raise soil organic carbon have co-benefits such as increased productivity and resilience and can in turn improve food security and sustainable rural development.

Land use changes such as intensification of agriculture or converting grasslands into plow lands often turn them into carbon sources, releasing huge amount of carbon into the atmosphere. The time scales of the source and sink function of soils are fundamentally different: whereas building up belowground carbon stocks takes hundreds or thousands of years, depleting these stocks can be measured in decades or even days, [for example in the case of] forest or grassland fires.

Q: Will soil be the silver bullet to meet food security and climate change goals?

A: Not necessarily a silver bullet. To address climate change and improve food security, a lot is required from various actors. For instance, at this conference, we have learned of food that is produced, but almost a third of it is lost or goes to waste along the chain. Lost or wasted food also contributes to emissions in various forms. So, fixing the issue of soils alone will not win the battle, a lot more issues need to be fixed.

At the production stage, soils have an important role to play in reducing carbon emissions. Soil acts as a sink for carbon, the greenhouse gases that contribute to global warming. Agricultural management approaches such as conservation agriculture and agroforestry simultaneously improve soil carbon, soil fertility and water conservation. More food will be produced on the same land to meet the needs of the growing population.

Q: What will you speak about at the COP24 side event Soils Advantage: Transforming Agriculture by Recarbonizing the Earth’s Soil?

A: Farmers are essentially the managers of land and soils and are by far responsible for whatever happens to the soil. Are farmers, including smallholders, aware of the connection between soil activities and climate change? Do they know the carbon content in their farms? What incentives are there for farmers to build soil organic carbon within their farm plans? What lessons have we learnt with the promotion of such programs as organic farming, conservation agriculture and/or climate-smart agriculture that we can tag along in the drive to transform agriculture by recarbonizing the soil? While some advocate for rewarding better practices or performance on soil carbon in financial markets by attracting higher land values, lower interest rates on loans, or lower insurance premiums, how practical will this be in developing countries where most smallholders do not own the land they produce from?

Q: What is the purpose of recarbonizing?

A: The purpose is essentially to take carbon back to the soil. A lot of human activities, including deforestation, repeated soil tillage — industrial agriculture — and burning of fossil fuels have disrupted the carbon cycle, taking it out of balance. Too much of the carbon that was once in the soil has been released to the atmosphere, hence a lot of it is now in the atmosphere and some in the ocean, but not enough where it once was and where it is more beneficial for sustainable food production and food security — in soil.

Q: How is recarbonization achieved?

A: The most feasible route is to cover the soil with plants and trees, promote organic farming, conservation agriculture, agroforestry, and climate-smart agriculture practices. Plant photosynthesis has the remarkable ability to capture atmospheric CO2, release the oxygen back into the atmosphere, and convert the carbon into sugars, which are used by plants for growth. A considerable proportion of the captured CO2 is released through the plant’s roots to feed soil microorganisms, which in turn assist the plant in acquiring nutrients. Soil microorganisms use this energy to make soil carbon and humus. If left undisturbed, soil humus can lock carbon into place for an average lifetime of hundreds to thousands of years.

Q: Are there efforts underway to do this?

A: Current programs include organic farming, conservation agriculture and climate-smart agriculture.

Q: In terms of wheat and maize, will this have an impact? 

A: A great impact. Maize and wheat are the main staples for the poor in Africa and Asia respectively. If we build our soil recarbonizing program around such staple crops.

Q: What is the impact of crop rotations on soil?

A: Crop rotation is an important practice of any sustainable agricultural system. Crop rotation has the following major benefits: It improves soil fertility — as legumes such as groundnuts and beans fix nitrogen in the soil for the benefit of cereals such as maize. Farmers use less chemical fertilizer because legumes in the soil fix the nitrogen naturally. It helps to reduce weeds, diseases and pests by breaking their lifecycles as crops are rotated. It reduces the risk of crop failure in case of drought or disease and improves crop yield.

Soils Advantage: Transforming Agriculture by Recarbonizing the Earth’s Soil was held on Dec. 11, 2018 at 6:30-9:00 p.m. in the Bieszczady side event room in section G at the COP24 venue.