funder_partner: Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research (ACIAR)

http://aciar.gov.au/

SIMLESA spills over into South Sudan

Written by on June 22, 2012. Posted in News.

South Sudan, Africa’s newest country, is set to benefit from the project “Sustainable Intensification of Maize-Legume Cropping Systems in Eastern and Southern Africa” (SIMLESA), following fruitful discussions between project representatives and South Sudan’s Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry (MoAF). Project coordinator Mulugetta Mekuria and agronomist Fred Kanampiu met with George Leju, Director General of Research, Training, and Extension Services, Cirino Oketayot, Executive Director of Research, and Luka Atwok, maize breeder, in Juba on 6 June 2012. Mekuria gave an overview of the project’s vision, focus, and accomplishments to date and explained how SIMLESA’s experiences can reach and benefit South Sudan. The opportunity for collaboration was first discussed in Rwanda in October 2011 and since then Atwok has attended a series of SIMLESA-organized trainings and workshops.

Leju welcomed the proposal and thanked CIMMYT and the Australian Center for International Agricultural Research (ACIAR, which funds the project) for considering South Sudan as a beneficiary of the work. “SIMLESA resonates well with the MoAF strategic plan as it addresses the core challenges of the country, which has emerged from war,” said Leju. Oketayot highlighted South Sudan’s research structure, current priorities, challenges, and areas that need support, including an urgent need for capacity building. He also emphasized the importance of maize and legumes in the country’s farming systems and the potential impact of SIMLESA on these systems.

“ACIAR has availed initial funding for spillover activities,” said Mekuria. “The idea is to ensure that SIMLESA research results are quickly scaled out to countries like South Sudan and improve food security there.”

South Sudan scientists will join SIMLESA capacity building activities, attending core country and regional training events. “The project will also facilitate their travel to target country sites for activities like field days, so they get first-hand experience,” said Kanampiu. The first such capacity building initiative is planned for August this year, when CIMMYT will hold a workshop on basic agricultural research design and implementation. In addition to a very productive meeting, Leju and Oketayot were also delighted to receive an information pack full of background on SIMLESA, as well as shirts and baseball caps.

Africa recruits research partners to secure its food

Written by on May 15, 2012. Posted in Features.

ACIAR’s Dr. John Dixon and Dr. Daniel Rodriguez of the Queensland Alliance for Agriculture and Food Innovation, with farmers from Melkassa, Ethiopia

A maize – legume farm in Tanzania

Government extension officer Frank Swai, Tanzania

Farmer and single mother of four Felista Mateo, Tanzania

CIMMYT’s Dr. Fred Kanampiu, Tanzania

By Judie-Lynn Rabar and
Dr. Gio Braidotti

East African farmers are spearheading a research drive to intensify crop production of their most important staple foods. The farmers’ experiments with conservation agriculture and variety selection are part of a broader, 5-country push to stave off a looming food and soil-health crisis.

Kilima Tembo is a secondary school in the Karatu district in Tanzania’s rural highlands. Here, near the Ngorongoro Crater and Tarangira National Park, agriculture is king and food security rests squarely on grains grown in the region’s maize–legume intercropping system.

So important is farming to the community that the school has an agriculture teacher and the school head, Ms Odilia Basso, has allowed the Selian Agricultural Research Institute (SARI) to use school grounds to run field trials as part of a 5-country initiative to overhaul the maize and legumes supply chain—from farm to market.

That means breaking with a long-standing cycle of lifting production simply by bringing more land under the plough. The ecological consequences of that approach are catching up with farmers and their environment, but agricultural science is providing more sustainable alternatives to improve food security.

The research-based strategy is called SIMLESA—sustainable intensification of maize–legume cropping systems for food security in eastern and southern Africa. Launched in March 2010, the project is supported by the Australian Government through ACIAR.

Ambitious aims

A major objective is to introduce conservation agriculture techniques and more resilient varieties to increase the productivity and resilience of this vital cropping system. SIMLESA is aiming not only to increase yields by 30% from the 2009 average but also to reduce, by the same factor, risk from yield variability between seasons.

The Kilima Tembo Secondary School will help achieve these goals. The school is hosting the so-called ‘Mother Trial’—a long-term SARI field trial of conservation agriculture. This farming practice involves conserving ground cover between harvests to preserve soil moisture and, over a number of years, radically improve soil health and fertility.

Unlike 11 other farmer-led field sites established by SARI (the so-called ‘Baby Trials’), the Mother Trial is managed directly by the institute’s scientists, landing the school’s students with front-row seats on research and development activities designed to sustain a farming revolution.

Mr. Bashir Makoko, an agronomist working on the SIMLESA project, says students have the opportunity to learn about the project and its significance to the community at an open day with scientists and extension workers from SARI.

The socioeconomist running the trial, Mr. Frank Mbando, is encouraging student participation. He has arranged for data to be collected in ways that allow students to interact with technical staff. “Direct involvement in the project will equip the students with the information they need as potential farmers,” he says.

Household and regional impacts

Supporting these activities are partnerships that link farmers with a suite of national resources—extension officers, research centres and agricultural ministries—and international research centres.

Coordinating these linkages is Dr. Mulugetta Mekuria, from the South African regional office of the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT). Also involved is the International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT).

Dr. Mekuria says SIMLESA was designed to have impacts at both the household and regional level.

“The aim is to ensure food security through agricultural research, stronger economic institutions, partnerships, and capacity building,” he says. “We want to increase food security and incomes while driving economic development through improved productivity from more resilient and sustainable maize-based farming systems.”

To implement the program, Dr. Mekuria is using the ‘3-I Approach’, a research for development (R4D) strategy designed to enhance smallholder prosperity based on the principles of integration, innovation, and impact. “SIMLESA activities will focus on integrated cropping systems, the use of innovation platforms to test and promote promising practices, and ensuring positive and measurable impacts on food security, sustainability and farm household incomes.”

ACIAR is funding SIMLESA with $20 million in financial support. The centre has enlisted Australian expertise through Dr. Daniel Rodriguez, of the Queensland Alliance for Agriculture and Food Innovation, and Professor John Howieson from the Institute for Crop and Plant Sciences at Murdoch University in Perth.

Positive experience

Ms. Felista Mateo, a 37-year-old farmer from Kilima Tembo village is already benefitting from participating in SIMLESA.

A single mother of four, Ms. Mateo supports her family with produce from her land, mainly maize and pigeon pea. Any surpluses, though small, are stored in granaries and either used domestically or sold to middlemen.

Following advice from government extension officer Mr. Frank Swai, she achieved yield gains that her neighbours are now attempting to duplicate. As her harvest increases, she plans to build a larger granary to store her surplus and sell more grain as a cash crop.

Traditionally, farmers have had no way of tracking the market and the middlemen who buy their produce have exercised control over prices. However, Ms. Mateo owns a mobile phone and since the inception of SIMLESA and its support network, she can now call an extension officer and check market prices. The result is greater bargaining power for the villagers when the middlemen come calling.

Averting food insecurity

More than 200 million people living in extreme poverty in the partner countries stand to benefit from SIMLESA.

Currently, the region is barely self-sufficient in grain, importing 10% of its needs—one quarter in the form of emergency food aid.
Maize is the main staple and legumes —primarily groundnut, pigeon pea and chickpea— are an important source of protein. Instead of a more prosperous future, however, the region is facing growth in demand for maize and legumes in the next 10 years. It is that trend towards food insecurity that SIMLESA is attempting to avert.

But it is not just on-farm practices that are targeted for innovation. Urban grain prices have remained stubbornly high following the global food crisis of 2007–08. But higher prices for consumers have not translated into higher prices for farmers. This has weakened incentives for farmers to increase food crop production, a state of affairs that SIMLESA is attempting to change.

CIMMYT’s Dr. Fred Kanampiu says that the SIMLESA project is aiming to achieve a ‘whole-chain’ impact. “Despite the multiple efforts underway with the researchers, the final focus should not be lost,” he says. “It is the farmer who is to be the end beneficiary of the research. The farmers’ lives should be improved, their pockets well-lined and their families well catered for.”

Of all the crops produced by farmers such as Ms. Mateo, it is pigeon pea that has an important role to play as a cash crop. Farmers are fond of this legume because it yields two harvests a year and there is a good export market to India. Pigeon pea retails up to TZS150,000 (about US$100) per 100 kilogram bag. On average, one acre (0.405 hectares) of land yields 300–400 kg of pigeon pea. Typically, 95% of the crop is sold.

In Karatu district some 15% of farmers live on less than a dollar a day. Mr. Makoko says the major obstacles to lifting their profitability are high inputs costs, low produce prices, lack of markets, and prolonged drought. By introducing pigeon pea or similar crops, and integrating the ‘whole-chain’ approach, these obstacles can be reduced or overcome.

Socioeconomist Frank Mbando, Tanzania.

Senior agronomist Tuaeli Mmbaga, Tanzania.

The way forward will include training farmers to provide them with further education on how to manage their land.”

–Tuaeli Mmbaga

Better varieties

While the main research thrust is on conservation agriculture, CIMMY T and ICRISAT are participating in accelerated breeding and performance trials that aim to introduce farmers to maize and legume varieties that yield well in good years and are resilient enough in the bad seasons to help reduce farmers’ risks.

Mr. Mbando is tracking impacts associated with the new varieties and says the farmers’ response to the studies has been positive.

“They suggested that breeders take into account farmers’ criteria when making selections, so a participatory approach will be used to evaluate varieties,” he says. “So far, farmers have indicated early maturity, pest and disease tolerance, high yields and marketability as the preferred traits. Variety registration and production will then also be stepped up to make the seed available in sufficient quantities.”

Partnership approach

Mbulu district, located about 50 kilometres from Karatu, is the next community targeted for SIMLESA activities in Tanzania, to start after the current crop has been harvested. At the SIMLESA inception meeting, farmers agreed to leave post-harvest residue on the ground in preparation for the trials. Field activities in the Eastern Zone districts of Gairo and Mvomero are expected to begin in the next growing season.

Ms. Tuaeli Mmbaga, the senior agronomist on this project, says that with support from extension officers, farmers will assess the technology both pre-harvest and post-harvest.

“The way forward will include training farmers to provide them with further education on how to manage their land,” she says. “This will include an Innovation Learning Platform in partnership with farm produce stockists, community leaders, and other stakeholders to ensure that more people become involved with the project.”

Crop modeling scientist Dr. Daniel Rodriguez, who leads the Queensland component of ACIAR’s SIMLESA program, is convinced that research to reduce food shortages in eastern and southern Africa could have many benefits for farmers, including in his native Queensland.

“Our scientists will be working to improve the resilience and profitability of African farms, providing access to better seeds and fertilisers to raise the productivity of local maize–legume farming systems,” Dr. Rodriguez says. “Together we may be able to help solve one of the greatest challenges for the developed world—eliminating hunger and poverty in Africa—while at the same time boosting legume production here in Australia.”

Building agricultural research capacity

ACIAR’s Dr. John Dixon says the emphasis of Australia’s direct involvement is on building capacity within the African agricultural research system.

“Conservation agriculture amounts to a substantial shift in farming practices for the region,” Dr. Dixon says. “But it stands to provide so many advantages—not just greater water-use efficiency and soil health but also opportunities to break disease cycles and improve livestock nutrition.”

These are long-term efforts that need to be adapted to many agro-climatically diverse locations, Dr. Dixon says. “So it is vital that the African agricultural research system is built up so that it can take lead responsibility for implementing innovation into the future.”

US Ambassador to India “Impressed” by Rice-Wheat Consortium Advances

Written by on May 14, 2012. Posted in Features. 1 Comment on US Ambassador to India “Impressed” by Rice-Wheat Consortium Advances

April, 2004

india Visiting family farms in Punjab this month, US Ambassador to India Dr. David C. Mulford learned how conservation agriculture benefits farmers and the local economy.

For four years, farmer Tara Singh and his family have experimented with zero tillage and bed planting, two techniques promoted by the Rice-Wheat Consortium for the Indo-Gangetic Plains. After meeting with Singh and other farmers, Ambassador Mulford said he was “impressed” to see that the techniques “work in fields and farmers are using them to their advantage.” The techniques have potential to conserve water, improve the quality of the soil, reduce the use of fuel in farming, and improve weed control.

Singh and his family run an intensive and complex farming operation that highlights the pressures and opportunities that are transforming agriculture in this region. Water, especially for agriculture, will become increasingly scarce. Demanding new markets for horticultural crops are emerging. Farmers cannot predict how increasing competition and changing export markets might affect their production of rice and wheat, which are India’s traditional staples but also potentially valuable exports.

On half of the farm, Singh grows rice and wheat in rotation. Wheat covers the ground from November to May, and then rice is planted. On the other half of his land, he has diversified production considerably. After growing rice in the monsoon season, he produces lettuce, broccoli, mustard, and tomato in winter. In spring, Singh’s fields are planted to leeks, bitter gourd, cucurbits, tomatoes, radishes, onions; and mint. Most of these crops are grown in combinations or as relays. Some are grown on raised beds to leave the soil undistributed and to make weed and water control much easier.

Singh’s experimentation is helping researchers to learn how conservation agriculture and diversification might benefit smaller farms with fewer resources.

onions Ambassador Mulford and others at the field visit discussed some of the challenges and concerns shared by farmers and researchers, such as the need for appropriate field equipment for conservation agriculture, the effects on local labor markets, the role of equipment manufacturers, and the need to cope with large amounts of crop residue without plowing and burning. Despite the challenges, the projected benefits of conservation agriculture are promising. In 2002, researchers at Australia’s Centre for International Economics calculated that the increased use of zero-tillage techniques promoted by the Rice-Wheat Consortium offered a gain of 1.8 million Australian dollars per year to the Indian economy.

The Rice-Wheat Consortium for the Indo-Gangetic Plains was founded in 1994 by the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR). Its goal is to improve the productivity of rice- and wheat-based farming while protecting natural resources. The Consortium receives support from the governments of Bangladesh, Nepal, India, Pakistan, Australia, the Netherlands, New Zealand, UK, and USA, as well as from the Asian Development Bank, International Fund for Agricultural Development, and World Bank. Partners include five CGIAR international agricultural research centers, numerous advanced research institutes, equipment manufacturers, NGOs, and farmer groups. CIMMYT is currently the convening CGIAR Center for the Consortium’s work.

Ambassador Mulford was accompanied in the field by his wife and by Embassy staff, including Drs. Larry Paulson and Chad Russell; several farmers from Jalbera Village; Dr. Amjer Singh (Director), Er. B.S. Sidhu (Jt Director), Tarsem Singh (Chief Agriculture Officer), all of the Department of Agriculture, and S.K. Ahluwalia (Deputy Commissioner), Punjab Government; and Dr. Raj K. Gupta and other staff working with Rice-Wheat Consortium. The Ambassador and his delegation also met with the Vice Chancellor of Punjab Agricultural University and with the Governor and Chief Minister of Punjab.

CIMMYT Helps New Country Improve Productivity and Food Security

Written by on May 14, 2012. Posted in Features.

June, 2004

timor_photo1 After almost 450 years of foreign occupation, East Timor became the world’s newest country when it declared independence in May 2002. Facing a host of hurdles as it rebuilds destroyed towns and damaged infrastructure, one thing the country lacks is productive and well-adapted germplasm for major crops.

In response to this need, a project called Seeds of Life has been introducing, testing, and distributing improved germplasm to farmers on the island. The project, in which CIMMYT participates, aims to improve food security and build the capacity of Timorese scientists to resolve the agricultural problems that affect local livelihoods.

“Farmers have suffered from decades of unrest,” says Ganesan Srinivasan, a CIMMYT breeder and senior scientist involved in the project, which is funded by the Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research (ACIAR) and the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry, and Fisheries of East Timor. “Improved maize varieties will provide food and nutritional security for resource-poor farmers.”

timor_photo2 Almost 800,000 people live in East Timor, which was once a Portuguese colony. The BBC estimates that about 25% of the population died during Indonesia’s occupation, which began after Portugal withdrew in 1975 and lasted until 1999. After citizens voted for independence, anti-independence militia killed hundreds of people and destroyed towns and already poor infrastructure.

Maize and rice are East Timor’s major staple food crops. Although maize covers the largest area of land planted to any crop, its productivity is low. Growing local varieties, some farmers produce less than 1.5 tons per hectare and 125,000 tons annually. Farmers face production constraints such as low soil fertility, frequent drought, a lack of improved varieties and fertilizer, northern leaf blight, and storage pests. Collaborators hope that replacing low-yielding local varieties with improved germplasm will increase productivity and lead to income generation.

Australian agronomist Brian Palmer manages the project, which aims to improve farmers’ access to high quality seed, create a crop performance database for research to raise crop productivity, and increase the capacities of East Timorese institutions and staff in evaluation, production, and distribution of improved germplasm.

Scientists have been testing the adaptation of various lines of rice, maize, cassava, beans, potatoes, sweet potatoes, and peanuts that have been supplied by CIMMYT, IRRI, CIAT, CIP, and ICRISAT, which are the five CGIAR centers involved in the project. Researchers have identified and multiplied well-adapted varieties that are tolerant to pests, diseases, drought, and low soil fertility.

In the first phase of the project, which lasted from October 2000 to December 2003 followed by a six-month bridge phase, CIMMYT provided improved, stress-tolerant, high-yielding maize varieties to test in different agro-climatic conditions of East Timor. Scientists initially selected maize varieties using information from CIMMYT records, results from similar regions, and input from researchers. They tested several yellow open-pollinated varieties and a few white quality protein maize varieties, among others.

In their experiments, researchers found that yields were much higher when improved maize cultivars and fertilizer were used. During 2001–02, one variety yielded almost four tons per hectare. In the second and third years, CIMMYT maize varieties yielded around six tons per hectare, compared with two tons per hectare from the local variety that was used as the benchmark.

“Several yellow maize varieties resistant to downy mildew disease have been identified that have given double or triple the yield of local varieties,” says Srinivasan. In March 2004, in response to problems at several sites, they planted downy mildew disease resistant seed developed by the CIMMYT-Zimbabwe team.

Although it is difficult to identify varieties that are well adapted across East Timor’s diverse climatic and soil conditions, the project has already found several. During 2003–04, researchers received enough seed to evaluate selected varieties in yield trials, to use in on-farm tests, and to multiply to produce more seed. In addition to this, more seed from the five most promising varieties has been increased in India and will be shipped to East Timor.

The second phase of the project, lasting from three to five years, will focus on better village welfare by promoting farmer use of improved varieties and strengthening MAFF and other East Timor institutions. Challenges include building research capacity, creating a system to continuously screen and release varieties, establishing a good seed production and distribution system, and reducing post-harvest losses. Representatives from the five CGIAR centers, ACIAR, AusAID, East Timorese research organizations, and other partners will discuss plans for phase two in August 2004. They plan to support model farms, farmer demonstrations, seed production, germplasm management, and research on variety adaptation and crop agronomy.

They also hope that East Timorese researchers will be able to train at a location where CIMMYT multiplies seed. Because the few trained researchers with bachelor’s and master’s degrees hold important positions in the Ministry of Agriculture, it is difficult for them to train for an extended period of time. However, five researchers and extension workers from East Timor have received training at ICRISAT in India. Pending Ministry approval, CIMMYT may conduct a training course in East Timor in August about on-farm testing and seed production.

For information: Ganesan Srinivasan

Results of Transgenic Wheat Trial Look Promising

Written by on May 14, 2012. Posted in Features.

September, 2004

CIMMYT took a historic step in March 2004 by planting a small trial of genetically engineered wheat in its screenhouse at headquarters in El Batan, Mexico. It was the first time that transgenic wheat has been planted in Mexico under field-like conditions, and encouraging results have spurred plans for a more extensive follow-up trial.

DREB plants (left) next to non-DREB plants (right) in the trial.

Striving for Drought-Tolerant Wheat

Researchers used genetic engineering to insert a gene from Arabidopsis thaliana, a relative of wild mustard, into wheat. The gene, DREB1A, was provided by the Japan International Research Center for Agricultural Sciences, and has been shown to confer tolerance to drought, low temperature, and salinity in its natural host. The small trial completed this year was conducted in full accordance with Mexican and CIMMYT biosafety procedures, and represents a critical step toward developing drought-tolerant wheat varieties by allowing scientists to see how the DREB1A-expressing wheat responds under more natural conditions.

Drought is one of the most important agricultural production problems in the world. Combined with shortages of irrigation water, it threatens the ability of many developing countries to produce enough grain to feed themselves. Currently, the 20% of global farmland that produces 40% of the world’s food supply is irrigated.

“Drought is a complicated problem,” says CIMMYT cell biologist Alessandro Pellegrineschi, who led the trial. “When a plant is exposed to drought, there can be moisture stress, but there can also be heat or soil micro-element deficiencies or toxicities.” Because there are so many stresses, it is important to evaluate a potential solution under a variety of environments. Moreover, scientists are discovering that plants react to numerous stresses, especially to water deficiency and high levels of salt, in complex ways.

Encouraging and Consistent Results

Looking at the trial results, Pellegrineschi and colleagues were encouraged when they observed a more normal, non-stressed phenotype in the transgenic lines under drought conditions. Near the trial’s end, the non-DREB control wheat was dry, yellow, and shriveled, while the DREB wheat was still green and thriving. Pellegrineschi was surprised that a single gene could bring about such a visible response.

Pellegrineschi says the results of this trial, which is part of CIMMYT’s joint work with the Australian Cooperative Research Centre for Molecular Plant Breeding, are compatible with previous observations from small pots in the biosafety greenhouse. Many of the measured traits correlated with the improved performance of transgenic lines under water stress. However, the results need to be verified in a larger field trial with selected transgenic lines.

Taking Precautions

This is the first time that a food crop carrying the DREB1A gene has advanced to this level of testing. The Mexican government, which had announced a moratorium on planting transgenic maize under field conditions in 1998, approved the trial in December 2003.

CIMMYT followed strict biosafety procedures and worked closely with the government of Mexico in planning, conducting, and monitoring the trial. Access to the screenhouse was restricted. The researchers covered all plant flowers with bags and did not allow other wheat plants to grow within 10 meters of the trial, even though it is unlikely that self-pollinating wheat plants would cross with each other. After the trial, all plant materials except the harvested seed were destroyed.

What Next?

“This was the first trial transgenic wheat trial after the government removed the moratorium on growing transgenic varieties under field conditions, so we were very conservative in our request to the Mexican authorities for approval of the initial trial,” says Pellegrineschi. “Now that we have had some success, we will submit a request for a larger trial.”

Pending approval from the Mexican authorities, researchers are ready to begin a second trial, which will evaluate the best performing lines from the first trial more closely. In response to lessons learned from the first trial, the researchers are going to use a larger plot, have more replications, and restrict walking and the resultant soil compaction in the plots.

Five years ago, many people thought it was unrealistic that a single gene could improve a complex trait such as drought tolerance. With the right approaches, including the investment in proper field trials, Pellegrineschi believes that it will be possible to produce lines containing effective transgenes within five years.

Why Genetic Engineering?

With genetic engineering, useful genes for traits of interest can be transferred across species. DNA can be directly inserted into individual plant cells. The genetically altered tissue can be regenerated into complete plants and later transferred through conventional breeding into entire lines and varieties. This approach may also applied to rapidly and efficiently transfer traits within species for either research or development purposes. In both instances, CIMMYT remains committed to generating end-products that carry only the gene(s) of interest–that is, the undesired genes (marker genes) have been removed through conventional breeding.

Genetic engineering could increase the productivity and profitability of farming through reduced input use (lowering costs), added pest or disease resistance, and crops with better nutritional content or storage characteristics. Also, genetic engineering may solve problems that conventional breeding methods cannot. Nutritionally fortified crop varieties could be especially valuable in developing countries where millions of people suffer from dietary deficiencies.

Genetic engineering could become an important tool for introducing beneficial traits into maize and wheat. Efforts such as the DREB wheat field trail will allow our scientists to use a range of genes for the benefit of farmers and to pass on the products of cutting-edge technology to research partners in developing countries.

For more information: Alessandro Pellegrineschi or David Hoisington

New boost for maize-legume cropping in eastern and southern Africa

Written by on May 14, 2012. Posted in Features.

maize-esa CIMMYT has entered into a collaborative research program to increase household and regional food security and incomes, as well as economic development, in eastern and southern Africa, through improved productivity from more resilient and sustainable maize-legume farming systems. Known as “Sustainable intensification of maize-legume cropping systems for food security in eastern and southern Africa” (SIMLESA), the program aims to increase productivity by 30% and reduce downside risk by 30% within a decade for at least 0.5 million farm households in those countries, with spill-over benefits throughout the region. In addition to CIMMYT, the program involves the Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research (ACIAR), the Association for Strengthening Agricultural Research in Eastern and Central Africa (ASARECA), the national agricultural research systems of Ethiopia, Kenya, Malawi, Mozambique, and Tanzania, as well as the International Center for Research for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT), the Agricultural Research Council (ARC) of South Africa, the Department of Employment, Economic Development and Innovation Queensland, and Murdoch University in Western Australia. “The demand for maize in the region is expected to increase by at least 40% over the next ten years; and the demand for legumes by 50%,” says CIMMYT socioeconomist, Mulugetta Mekuria, who is leading the center’s efforts under the program. “Seasonal variability causes wide swings in food crop yields, including maize and legumes. This program will play a crucial role in reducing farmers’ risk and the vulnerability of farm households.” Work is being funded with Aus$ 20 million from the Australian Government, and forms part of the Government’s new, four-year Food Security through Rural Development Initiative.

For more information: Mulugetta Mekuria, socioeconomist (m.mekuria@cgiar.org)
For interviews and media support: Mike Listman, corporate communications (m.listman@cgiar.org)

See also official announcements from ACIAR and AusAid

Tanzanian mother takes charge of change

Written by on May 14, 2012. Posted in Features.

nov04 Through their own determination, and with support from local researchers, CIMMYT, ICRISAT, and organizations in Australia, sub-Saharan African farmers are applying improved maize-legume cropping systems to grow more food and make money.

On a hot August day near the village of Kilima Tembo, and amid the sounds of barking dogs and clucking chickens, Felista Mateo stepped out of the house she built by hand, walked into her fields, and proudly admired her maize crop. The plants reached toward the sun, verdant and strong. Her plot stood in stark contrast to neighboring fields, which were pocked by brittle, knee-high plants.

A few years ago, things did not look so promising for Felista. She had separated from her husband and was left alone to care for her four children. Felista is a slight woman, not much more than five-feet tall, but her appearance belies her strength. Typically, a separated woman is ostracized when she returns to her parents’ home. Felista refused to see her newfound independence as an affliction. In Kilima Tembo, women do not own land, but Felista set out to acquire a plot from her father. She was determined to succeed. After the elders of the Village Council gave their approval, Felista became an independent farmer. It was this same strength of character that made her the perfect candidate for a new pilot program in the area.

Maize-legume intercrops boost African farmers’ food security and incomes

Intercrops with legumes are popular among small-scale farmers in sub-Saharan Africa: they increase grain output per unit land area, help block weed growth, contribute to soil fertility, and reduce the risk of total crop failure. Launched in 2010, SIMLESA is a collaborative effort between CIMMYT (the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center) and national agricultural research and extension systems in Ethiopia, Kenya, Tanzania, Malawi, and Mozambique, to improve the productivity of smallholder farmers growing maize and legume crops. Partners include the International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT), Tanzania’s Selian Agricultural Research Institute (SARI), the Association for Strengthening Agricultural Research in Eastern and Central Africa (ASARECA), the Agricultural Research Council (ARC) of South Africa, Murdoch University, and the Queensland Department of Employment, Economic Development and Innovation (QDEEDI) and Murdoch University. SIMLESA is supported by a grant from the government of Australia through the Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research (ACIAR). Activities include socioeconomic studies, market and value chain analysis, and directly involving farmers in the testing and selecting of crop varieties and conservation agriculture practices for tropical maize-legume intercropping systems.

New intercrop fills her granary
Frank Swai is an extension agent with the Ministry of Agriculture who works with farmers and the Selian Agricultural Research Institute. He convinced Felista to plant a new kind of maize seed and advised her on better farming practices. Felista listened. She planted both the high-yielding maize Frank suggested and a tasty, early-maturing variety of pigeon pea. Neighbors were skeptical. Initially, Felista was the only one in the community who participated in the project. Villagers watched closely as Felista planted a crop never before seen in the area.

Months later, when it came time to harvest, it was clear Felista’s hard work had paid off. She grew enough maize to feed her children and had leftovers to sell in the market. “My yields have increased so much that I’m going to have to build a larger granary to store my harvest,” she said.

Enough to eat and export
Felista was aware that pigeon peas were exported directly to India, but in Tanzania farmers don’t sell directly to international markets. Instead, crops are sold through walanguzi, a pejorative term used to describe the middlemen who dominate the markets. Nevertheless, Felista retained some bargaining power with the middlemen by finding out actual market prices in India from Frank Swai, and by storing her harvest in her granary, waiting to sell until prices were high. Tanzanian farmers won’t ever be free of the walanguzi, but they can further their interests by banding together to get the lowest prices on inputs such as seed and fertilizer, and the most for their exports.

Her risk pays off
Felista is not your average Tanzanian farmer. Her hard work paid off. Had she failed, she may have been left trying to scrape together enough to survive. Tanzanian farmers like Felista have little margin for error. Initially, she planted three-fourths of an acre as requested by the pilot program. Next year, she plans to plant more. She now trusts the SIMLESA project and is willing to try new seed, different crops, and alternative farming methods. Others in the community have noticed. “My neighbors admire my crop since I planted the improved seed,” said Felista, as she waved a hand over her field, “and are also interested in joining the project.”

Felista waded into her field to pose for a photo. The maize towered above her head. A breeze whistled through the plants and she wrapped herself in a bright yellow kanga. As she steadied herself for the photo her eyes danced over her home and fields. A small, relieved look pushed up her face and then spread into a full, joyous smile.

For more information: Mulugetta Mekuria, CIMMYT Southern Africa regional liaison officer and SIMLESA project leader
(m.mekuria@cgiar.org)
See also:

New boost for maize-legume cropping in eastern and southern Africa

Simlesa’s most recent activites

Bangladesh and CIMMYT: decades of partnership, commitment, and achievement

Written by on May 14, 2012. Posted in Features. 1 Comment on Bangladesh and CIMMYT: decades of partnership, commitment, and achievement

CIMMYT E-News, vol 5 no. 8, August 2008

01a Work by CIMMYT with researchers, extension workers, policymakers, and farmers in Bangladesh for nearly four decades has helped establish wheat and maize among the country’s major cereal crops, made farming systems more productive and sustainable, improved food security and livelihoods, and won ringing praise from national decision makers in agriculture, according to a recent report published by CIMMYT.

“CIMMYT is one of the leading centers of the CGIAR …working in Bangladesh since the early 70s…initiating multi-dimensional work for varietal improvement, improved crop management, conservation of natural resources, and human resource development,” says Dr. Md. Nur-E-Elahi, Director General, Bangladesh Rice Research Institute, citing the center’s contributions to the development of high-yielding maize and wheat varieties, wheat-rice and maize-rice systems, whole-family training, small-scale farm mechanization for conservation agriculture, and triticale (a wheat-rye hybrid) for fodder. “CIMMYT’s contributions to agricultural research and development in Bangladesh are highly recognized.”

Building capacity among scientists and farm families
More than 140 Bangladeshi wheat and maize scientists and extensionists have taken part in courses at CIMMYT-Mexico or come as visiting scientists in crop breeding, agronomy, pathology, cereal technology, experiment station management, seed production, economics, heat stress, and resource conserving practices. Dozens of scientists from Bangladesh have also attended conferences or international workshops organized by the center and partners. Finally, joint efforts in crop, soil, and water management research over the last 20 years have added to expertise in Bangladesh.More often than not, women and children contribute substantively to farm activities, so CIMMYT and the Wheat Research Centre (WRC) developed and refined a whole-family-training approach that has boosted adoption of improved cropping practices. “We’ve reached over 27,000 women and men farmers on maize and wheat production, and around 700 small-scale dairy farmers,” says Anton Prokash Adhikari, CIMMYT-Bangladesh Administrator. Follow-up studies in 1996 among a randomly-selected subset of families who attended training sessions showed a 90-100% adoption of improved practices. After training, maize farmers adopted a range of improved production practices, planting the crop on more land and raising grain yields by 0.8 tons per hectare. “This type of training has raised the quality of farming in Bangladesh,” says Adhikari.

With an average of over 1,000 inhabitants per square kilometer, Bangladesh is among the world’s most densely-populated countries, and nearly two-thirds of its people work in agriculture. The country furnishes a case study for the future of farming in developing countries: as a result of intensive cropping rotations, every square centimeter of arable land is used 1.8 times a year, and resources are stretched beyond what is normally considered “sustainable.” A recent report on CIMMYT efforts in Bangladesh gives an interesting account of how, through broad partnerships and sustained research for farmers, an international agricultural center can help improve farmers and consumers’ lives.

Joint work brings food and windfalls

“The last quarter century of work by a small team of dedicated CIMMYT staff and their colleagues in Bangladesh national programs has brought improvements in local and national income, food security, human nutrition, and well-being,” says agronomist Stephen Waddington, who worked for CIMMYT in Bangladesh during 2005-2007. “This is easily seen by any visitor to Bangladesh, where nowadays many otherwise poor people regularly have wheat chapattis for their breakfast, a glass of milk from triticale fodder-fed cows for their lunch, and maize-fed chicken, eggs, or fish for their dinner.”

Bangladesh emerged on the map of significant wheat-growing countries in the 1980s, according to Waddington. “Wheat became the second major cereal after rice, contributing to food security and human nutrition, and improving the livelihoods of resource-poor farmers and urban consumers,” he says. “Nineteen of the twenty-four wheat varieties released in Bangladesh carry CIMMYT lines in their backgrounds.” Much crop management and soil research for wheat was conducted in joint Bangladesh Wheat Research Center (WRC)-CIMMYT programs.

With climate change, enter maize and alternative crops

After playing a crucial role in Bangladesh agriculture, wheat production has declined in recent years, due chiefly to higher temperatures that hamper grain filling and incubate wheat diseases. But maize has become increasingly popular, partly in response to rising demand from the poultry sector for feed. “Last year farmers produced 1.3 million tons of maize, and output and interest are growing ,” says Enamul Haque, Senior Program Officer for CIMMYT-Bangladesh. “Maize fits well in Bangladesh’s climate, soils, and intensive farming systems.”

Again, CIMMYT has helped in a big way, providing improved maize lines adapted to local conditions, offering expertise in hybrid-based maize breeding and crop management research, helping to promote dialogue on enabling policies that foster productivity and effective markets. “Six out of the seven maize hybrids released by the Bangladesh Agricultural Research Institute, in recent years contain CIMMYT maize lines, and there is significant use of CIMMYT maize by emerging private breeding companies,” says Haque.

Finally, in recent years, triticale has become a source of high-quality green fodder for small-scale dairy producers during the cool, dry, winter season. “Dual-purpose fodder and grain triticale can produce 7 to 12 tons per hectare of fresh fodder, and as much as 2 tons per hectare of grain for poultry feed or for chapattis,” says Haque. All triticale varieties sown in Bangladesh come from CIMMYT.

Mechanization and resource-conserving practices

Within the last decade or so, agriculture in Bangladesh has become highly-mechanized: 8 of 10 farmers use two-wheel tractors, which are more apt for their small and scattered land holdings than the four-wheel variety. Since 1995, Haque has worked with the WRC and local organizations to promote a varied set of implements for reduced, more efficient tillage and seeding. One key aim has been to enable farmers to sow wheat or other crops directly after rice harvest in a single day—instead of after two weeks of back-breaking, fuel-hungry plowing—thus saving money and allowing the new crop to mature before the pre-monsoon heat shrivels the grain.

Craig Meisner (left), a CIMMYT wheat agronomist during 1990-2005, contributed significantly to CIMMYT's presence, partnerships, and achievements in Bangladesh. — Craig Meisner (left), a CIMMYT wheat agronomist during 1990-2005, contributed significantly to CIMMYT’s presence, partnerships, and achievements in Bangladesh.

“To date thousands of farmers have adopted a small, two-wheel tractor-driven implement that tills, seeds, and covers the seed in a single pass,” says Haque. “This reduces turn-around between crops by 50%, cuts costs 15-20%, saves 30% in irrigation water and 25% in seed, and improves fertilizer efficiency—all this, as well as increasing yields by 20%, for wheat.” Owners of the single-pass seeding implement often hire out their services, earning USD 1,000-2,000 a year and each helping 20-100 other farmers to obtain the above-mentioned benefits. In addition, the reduced tillage implement and practices help address labor shortages that constrain farm operations at peak times, and are opening lucrative opportunities for machinery manufacturing and repair businesses.

For the future, CIMMYT staff are testing and promoting with researchers and farmers the use of permanent, raised beds and straw retention systems that can increase yields as much as 50% in intensive, wheat-maize-rice cropping sequences. Future activities of CIMMYT-Bangladesh will also focus on strengthening wheat and maize breeding programs, system-based research and resource-conserving practices, and the use of maize as food, fodder, and feed. “We’d also like to do more capacity building, study soil health and nutrition, and better disseminate useful technologies to farmers and extension agents,” Haque says, “but much depends on the resources available.”

Extensive partnerships key to past and future success

“CIMMYT has worked with national programs, NGOs, the private sector, farmers, donors, and policy planners,” says Md. Harun-ur-Rashid, Executive Chairman, Bangladesh Agricultural Research Council, and Director General, Bangladesh Agricultural Research Institute. “These joint programs have accumulated an impressive array of achievements and benefits.”

In addition to the key partners cited above, CIMMYT has worked with agricultural universities in Bangladesh, the Department of Agricultural Extension, the Bangladesh Livestock Research Institute, the Soil Resource Development Institute, the Bangladesh Rural Advancement Committee (BRAC), the Bangladesh Chashi Kollan Samity, the Bangladesh Institute of Nuclear Agriculture, Deoel Agro Industries Complex Ltd., and the Mahbub Engineering Workshop at Jamalpur. IRRI; ILRI; ICRISAT; IFDC; FAO; Murdoch University, ACIAR, and CSIRO, in Australia; Cornell University, Texas A&M University, Winrock International, and the Helen Keller Foundation, USDA, in the USA.

For more information: Enamul Haque, Senior Program Manager, CIMMYT-Bangladesh (e.haque@cgiar.org)

Brothers on the land

Written by on May 14, 2012. Posted in Features.

CIMMYT E-News, vol 4 no. 7, July 2007

Somewhere between the romance of the Silk Road and the land mines, CIMMYT works as part of the team that is rebuilding the shattered agriculture of Afghanistan.

It looked like a scene from a Tolstoy novel—four, weathered men with hand sickles working under the blazing, noonday sun to harvest a field of wheat. No combine harvester here, just the power of their backs and arms and hands. But Tolstoy wrote 140 years ago. This scene is today, 2007, in northern Afghanistan near the city of Mazur i Sharif, not far from the Uzbekistan border. Wheat is the most important food crop in this embattled country where 85% of the population depends on agriculture to sustain life. Yet wheat yields on its worn soils are notoriously low—only 2-2.5 tons per hectare, even on irrigated land. Unlike the republics of the former Soviet Union to the north, land holdings in this part of Afghanistan are small and do not lend themselves to large scale mechanization. You can understand what that really means when you talk to the farmers themselves.

jul06 Faizal Ahmad and his brother Hayatt Mohammad are sharecroppers on this 8 hectare parcel of land. They pay the landowner a share and the crew that is harvesting gets a share, and with what is left, they try to feed their families, maybe sell a little.

“From the sharecropping we just survive,” Faizal says. “We are not going to get rich and we won’t make very much money.”

The crew working the field is part of a community harvesting system. They are paid in wheat seed rather than cash and get two meals for the day’s work. They too keep some land for wheat. In Afghanistan, no matter what else you grow, wheat comes first for family food security.

During the Taliban and warlord times, the brothers fled with their families to Pakistan but returned with the installation of the new government in 2004. And even though farming this irrigated land year round is tough, Hayatt, who is married with a son and daughter, says they are making a go of it. “Life is difficult, and we are struggling and hope things could improve.”

They are growing an improved but older wheat variety called Zardana Kunduzi which they get through an informal farmer-to-farmer seed system. Unhappily, their land is infested with wild oats. The weed reduces the wheat harvest, both by competing for space and by taking nutrients. No matter what the farmers try, the weeds come back every season. Of course herbicides are not an option for people with so little.

This is the milieu in which CIMMYT finds itself in Afghanistan—older varieties that are more susceptible to pests and diseases, a seed system that needs rebuilding from the ground up and agronomic practices that need improvement to give farmers like Faizal and Hayatt a real chance on the little land they have.

In partnership with the Ministry of Agriculture Irrigation and Livestock of Afghanistan (MAIL), CIMMYT has been testing potentially better wheats for conditions specific to different parts of the country. Already a new variety of durum wheat is available and not far from where Faizel, Hayatt and the crew are working another farmer is growing the durum for seed. His field is healthy and the crop looks excellent. He has been contracted by one of the new seed production companies that are part of a project sponsored by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO). Making that seed system sustainable, while providing seed at an affordable price is a great challenge.

The new agriculture master plan for Afghanistan prepared by MAIL praises CIMMYT for “considerable training of Afghans (that) sets a desirable standard.” In fact more than 50 Afghan researchers have had training at CIMMYT and more than 70 technicians, farmers and NGO workers have taken technical training at workshops in Afghanistan. Much of CIMMYT’s work in Afghanistan is supported by Australia through both the Australian overseas aid program, AusAID and the Australian Council for International Agricultural Research (ACIAR).

jul07 At least three more varieties developed from materials originally from CIMMYT (some via the winter wheat breeding program in Turkey) are in the new varietal release pipeline that Afghanistan has implemented. They have already demonstrated in farmers’ fields that they are well-suited to local conditions and can provide more wheat per hectare than farmers currently harvest with yields in on-farm trials of almost 5 tons per hectare, double what most farmers get. These wheats can be seen in trials at the Dehdadi Research Farm near Mazur, almost within sight of the sharecropping brothers.

Nevertheless, Mahmoud Osmanzai, the CIMMYT country coordinator in Afghanistan says there are still real challenges to close the gap between the yields that can be achieved in well-managed demonstration plots and the yields poor sharecroppers like Faizel and Hayatt actually achieve. “We have good varieties that will make good bread,” he says. “Now we have to find a way that let’s resource-poor farmers get the most from them.”

For the sharecropping brothers, a little more income from their small piece of borrowed land could go a long way. “Yes if we could save, we could have a second business.” says Faizal. “We would probably get a shop as well or buy a car, run a taxi, build something to produce more.”

For more information: Mahmood Osmanzai, Afghanistan country coordinator (m.osmanzai@cgiar.org)

CIMMYT brings the best in wheat

Written by on May 14, 2012. Posted in Features.

CIMMYT E-News, vol 3 no. 3, March 2006

mar_symptraver2 Scientists talk wheat at the place where the green revolution began

Prominent players in global wheat research—hailing from Azerbaijan to Zimbabwe and about 20 countries in between—arrived at Ciudad Obregón, Mexico in late March to chart a course for wheat research in the developing world for the coming decade.

Approximately 130 participants attended the weeklong “International Symposium on Wheat Yield Potential: Challenges to International Wheat Breeding,” sponsored by CIMMYT and the Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research (ACIAR).

“This symposium has been a tremendous opportunity for sharing ideas and learning right across the world’s wheat research fraternity,” concludes Tony Fischer, ACIAR Program Advisor for South Asia. “The representation from both the developing and the developed world is very good and we once again see that in the developing world innovation system CIMMYT continues to play a huge leadership role.”

“The original purpose,” says symposium organizer and CIMMYT wheat physiologist Matthew Reynolds, “was to disseminate new technologies that would improve the efficiency of wheat breeding in lesser developed countries. We achieved that and much more. We delivered the results of our ACIAR project on early generation selection and improved understanding of the fundamental constraints to yield potential, but then went on to a wide range of very topical subjects covered by top experts in the field.”

mar_symptraver

The meeting opened with a keynote address by Dr. Norman Borlaug entitled “Personal Reflections of 62 Years of Fighting Hunger.” Following the warmly received address, the symposium got down to business with a series of 40 technical presentations. A poster session addressing wheat breeding and production (and related constraints) in 17 countries ensured that NARS perspectives were well represented. The concluding day of the meeting was devoted to breakout and reporting sessions to define wheat research initiatives and explore the roles of CIMMYT, advanced research institutes, and NARS in putting the plans into action.

CIMMYT held a similar meeting nearly ten years ago to the day, which focused primarily on increasing yield potential, breeding for drought, and the use of molecular tools. While these items, particularly water use efficiency, remain high on CIMMYT’s agenda, the symposium participants observed that the world wheat situation and agriculture generally is rapidly changing, and consequently, new priorities have emerged. NARS representatives flagged high priority issues such as conservation agriculture, the need for higher quality wheat bred for specific food and industrial uses, and breeding with climate change in mind, notably heat stress.

Bayan Alimgazinova, Deputy Director, Science Department, Ministry of Agriculture of Kazakhstan

“CIMMYT provides and facilitates the exchange of germplasm and this is very important for our breeding efforts. The Kazakhstan-Siberia Network for Spring Wheat (KASIB) is a good example of this. It’s a new type of collaboration for us, with the shuttle breeding, traveling seminars, and other activities. We’ll be studying more than 1,000 entries in the trials and many of these will be useful for Kazakhstan. Our varieties go out as well. The impact of this is multiplied because all of the information from the trials and conferences gets published in journals (in Russian), as do a range of other publications and training course materials. CIMMYT is the main reason this is happening. A small but important component of our relationship with CIMMYT is the interaction with the outside scientific community that they provide to Kazak scientists.”

There were a number of exciting new ideas that emerged from this symposium, says Hans Braun, Director of the CIMMYT Wheat Program, “all of which depend on ever closer links between scientists in the international wheat community. In our final sessions we crystallized these into research thrusts that we would like to incorporate into our existing program.”

Braun said three major areas cited for more intensive research emerged from the interactions:

Integration of physiological trait-based approaches into conventional breeding schemes to advance progress on complex traits associated with yield and stress adaptation. This entails dissecting yield into its physiological components and using conceptual models to increase the likelihood of combining complementary genes to capture the desired trait. CIMMYT terms this use of physiological markers physiological breeding or “smart crossing.”
More systematic characterization of target environments than in the past. Combining comprehensive environment data with CIMMYT’s exceptional and extensive phenotypic data of genotypes will greatly expand our knowledge about genotype x environment interaction. This will be further catalyzed by new tools and methodologies in the areas of geographic information systems, advanced statistics, modeling, and bioinformatics.
Conservation agriculture (CA) was strongly endorsed as a strategy for buffering the adverse effects of environment on crop yields, especially in the face of climate change and reduced water resources. This is in addition to CA’s role in stabilizing the natural resource base and reducing long-term dependence on agro-chemical inputs.

For further information contact Matthew Reynolds (m.reynolds@cgiar.org)

Helping to Reinvigorate Agriculture in Afghanistan

Written by on May 14, 2012. Posted in Features.

CIMMYT E-News, vol 2 no. 8, August 2005

whtVariety — Ghulam m Aqtash, Executive Director, KRA

“The maize brought by CIMMYT and implemented by Kunduz Rehabilitation Agency is doing wonders.”
Years of war (1979-1989) and subsequent internal instability, plus a prolonged drought and an earthquake, devastated Afghanistan’s agricultural infrastructure, production capacity, and agricultural research capabilities. As a result, agricultural production fell to an estimated 45% of 1978 levels, with crop yields declining to about 50% of pre-war levels.
Wheat is the number-one staple crop in Afghanistan, and maize is the third. Together they occupy 80% of the area planted to annual crops in the country. A central aim of CIMMYT in Afghanistan is to make improved, high quality seed of both crops available to farmers, along with appropriate crop management technologies. To date CIMMYT has responded to Afghanistan’s most urgent needs by:

Distributing 300 tons of quality seed of the locally-adapted wheat MH-97 to 9,000 farmers in four provinces of Afghanistan.
Producing and delivering tons of breeder’s and foundation maize seed.
Planting 35 wheat variety trials at 6 sites and 24 maize trials at 8 sites to identify additional materials suited to farmers’ needs.
Training Afghan researchers through courses in-country and at CIMMYT in Mexico.

CIMMYT has collaborated with Afghan researchers for over three decades—even during the war. Thanks to the Swedish Committee for Afghanistan and the FAO, Afghan researchers maintained contact with the Turkey-CIMMYT-ICARDA International Winter Wheat Improvement Program (IWWIP) and continued to select the best new wheats from international nurseries. The new seed moved from farmer to farmer; without it, people would have suffered even more hunger and malnutrition than they did. All winter and facultative wheat cultivars currently registered in Afghanistan are derived from those nurseries. In total, several hundred CIMMYT wheat and maize nurseries have been evaluated in Afghanistan over the past 30 years.

Recent Update from the Field

kunduz An important component of a current ACIAR-funded project (“Wheat and Maize Productivity Improvement in Afghanistan”) has included collaborative work with farmers and non-government and international organizations to verify in farmers’ fields the performance and acceptability of improved wheat and maize varieties. For wheat, the project uses two approaches:

A traditional approach where demonstrations are planted in farmers’ fields and the farmer assessments are recorded informally through topic focused interviews during field days. The varieties included in these demonstrations are released in the country and made available where security allows. Using this approach in Parwan Province, farmers showed a keen interest for the variety ‘Sohla,’ which yielded well and showed superior resistance to diseases like rust. The project is helping to ensure that demand for seed of the variety is met.
A participatory technology development approach implemented by the Aga Khan Foundation brings farmers to research stations to observe yield trials of promising varieties. Farmers identify preferred varieties with red tags; their assessments determine the selection of wheat lines for advancement and subsequent release.

For maize, the project provided non-government organizations with seed of open-pollinated varieties that were distributed to rural communities. Farmer testing and feedback resulted in the identification of two promising varieties: Rampur 9433 and PozaRica 8731. Farmers said the varieties performed well but did not mature quickly enough to fit local cropping systems, so project participants are identifying earlier-maturing varieties. To offer farmers sufficient seed, the project is pursuing two approaches:

A formal scheme whose main partners are the Agricultural Research Institute of Afghanistan (ARIA) and the FAO, through the Improved Seed Enterprise (ISE), and under which breeder’s seed will be offered to recognized producers of certified seed.
Informal farmer-to-farmer distribution systems, which have resulted in up to a 10-fold increase in some areas under improved varieties. For example, the Norwegian Project Office-Rural Rehabilitation Association for Afghanistan (NPO-RRAA) reported that farmers who had planted open-pollinated varieties from the project in 2003 had bartered and sold more than two tons of seed of the varieties in 2004.

afghanFarmers

The project has built human capacity through in-country, technical workshops, five of which have been conducted since 2000 on topics including: agricultural development potential and constraints in specific zones; yellow rust and field scoring for the disease; research methodologies; variety evaluation; and several field days. The workshops have drawn 70 participants, including farmers, workers from non-government organizations, and officers from research stations.

CIMMYT partners in Afghanistan include:

The Future Harvest Consortium to Rebuild Agriculture in Afghanistan, funded by USAID and coordinated by ICARDA.
AusAID and the Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research (ACIAR).
The FAO.
The International Fertilizer Development Center (IFDC)-USAID.
The French non-government organization, ACTED.
The Aga Khan Development Network.
Improved Seed Enterprise.
The Afghan Ministry of Agriculture.
ARIA.

For further information, contact Mahmood Osmanzai (m.osmanzai@cgiar.org).

This write-up draws on contributions from Alma McNab, former CIMMYT science writer and the CIMMYT team in Afghanistan, including team leader Mahmood Osmanzai and former CIMMYT maize agronomist Julien de Meyer. De Meyer manages the Effective Development Group (EDG), a non-government organization based in Australia and has been commissioned by ACIAR to assist the Afghanistan project in data analysis, training, planning workshops, and reporting.

1st ARIA-CIMMYT maize workshop in Kabul, Afghanistan

Written by on May 9, 2012. Posted in News.

CIMMYT, with support from the Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research (ACIAR), has been working on maize in Afghanistan for more than ten years, and has contributed to the release—led by the Agricultural Research Institute of Afghanistan (ARIA)—of four maize varieties. Historically, the national research and seed systems have not been as proactive for maize as they have for wheat. However, recognizing that maize can be an effective contributor to overall food production, the recent past has seen efforts to give maize its due importance as a food crop in Afghanistan. To this end, the first ARIA-CIMMYT maize workshop was held at the ARIA conference hall in Kabul on 30 April and 01 May 2012, with the aims of further systematizing maize research in the country and coordinating the efforts of stakeholders.

Maize is the fourth most important cereal crop in Afghanistan, accounting for about 6.8% of total cereal production. It has traditionally played a significant role in Afghan food, and during the pre-conflict period Afghanistan grew maize on about half a million hectares, with production reaching 0.7 million tons and productivity at 1.3–1.6 t/ha. During the last decade, productivity has ranged between 0.9 and 2.6 t/ha with signs of improvement, but the area planted to maize has fallen to about 180,000 hectares and total production has hovered around 0.3 million tones. The country has been importing maize to meet its needs, spending about four million USD during 2009.

The workshop was inaugurated by Sahib Dad Pakbin, senior advisor to ARIA. He welcomed the CIMMYT initiative and said he hoped the workshop would lead to increased coordination and more effective contributions by maize researchers in the country. Rajiv Sharma, CIMMYT’s country liaison officer for Afghanistan, highlighted the important supplementary role maize could play in enhancing wheat-based farm-level productivity. A total of 28 participants attended and gave presentations at the workshop, from ARIA, CIMMYT, the Afghan Ministry of Agriculture, Irrigation and Livestock (MAIL), FAO, the International Center for Agricultural Research in the Dry Areas (ICARDA), and private sector seed companies. The themes covered included the importance of maize in Afghanistan, maize agronomy, maize breeding, seed production, and the maize research network in Afghanistan.

All the participants were excited by the opportunity to collaborate with fellow researchers, in particular the ARIA maize researchers by the chance to connect with colleagues from other research stations. They expressed immense satisfaction at being able to share and link their proposed research plans for the ensuing maize season. ARIA director Qasem Obaidi thanked CIMMYT for its contributions in providing this opportunity and expressed the wish that it would be repeated in years to come to facilitate meaningful coordination, not only among researchers but also other stakeholders such as seed producers.

Pathways to intensification project formulated

Written by on May 9, 2012. Posted in News.

During 27-28 April 2012, CIMMYT’s Socioeconomics Program organized a formulation meeting in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia for its Technology Adoption and Intensification Pathways project. More than 35 participants from five African countries attended the meeting. The group included economists, agronomists, and breeders, drawn from CIMMYT; the Australian Center for International Agricultural Research (ACIAR); the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI); the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI); national agricultural research institutions; the University of Queensland, Australia; the Norwegian University of Life Sciences (UMB); and universities from member countries of the Sustainable Intensification of Maize-Legume Cropping Systems for Food Security in Eastern and Southern Africa (SIMLESA) project. The objectives of the meeting were to discuss the project proposal with stakeholders, reflect on the in-house review comments by ACIAR, and develop the full proposal by developing a clear impact pathway. The four-year project is expected to develop actionable strategies and policy options for technology targeting and facilitating the adoption of integrated interventions.

The director of the Australian International Food Security Centre (AIFSC), Mellissa Wood, gave a keynote address on “New opportunities for enhancing food security in Africa”. She noted that food security remains an ongoing challenge in Africa, to which Australia is well placed to contribute thanks to its agricultural research expertise. The Australian Government has therefore renewed its focus on food security through rural development initiatives and the establishment of AIFSC. She pointed out that AIFSC’s mission is to accelerate demand-driven research, delivery and adoption of innovations to improve food security, by bridging the gap through agricultural research; understanding the requirements of smallholder production systems; understanding constraints to adoption of research outputs; and devising new modalities to overcome such constraints.

The meeting also benefited from key presentations by CIMMYT, partner institutions, and universities on key topics; break-out group discussions; and a brainstorming session. The new project has four main objectives: (1) panel data collection in sentinel villages and understanding of barriers to technology adoption; (2) risk analysis and adaptation options to manage climate risk and variability; (3) impact assessment and analysis of household intensification pathways; and (4) capacity building in gender-disaggregated agricultural policy analysis and communication of results.
Pathways-formulation-Meeting-Group-Photo

MELISA: Mechanization for SIMLESA

Written by on May 4, 2012. Posted in News.

Farm mechanization has progressed little if at all in sub-Saharan Africa, due to a lack of demand, promotion of unsuitable or unreliable machines, little support infrastructure, promotion of inappropriate machinery, an overriding development focus on seeds and fertilizer, and negative perceptions about the social and equity effects of mechanization.

During 10-13 April 2012, more than 50 participants from 12 countries in eastern and southern Africa took part in a workshop organized by the CIMMYT global conservation agriculture program to re-explore the issue and help develop a proposal for the project “Mechanization, entrepreneurship, and conservation agriculture to leverage sustainable intensification in eastern and southern Africa” (MELISA), which will build upon the ACIAR-funded project SIMLESA. The group included agronomists, socioeconomists, agricultural engineers, and private sector representatives.

Re-opening the debate about mechanization was deemed timely because farming in the region relies on increasingly fewer draft animals, tractor hiring schemes have collapsed, field labor is in ever-shorter supply, and the extreme drudgery of many farm operations often falls to women and generally makes agriculture unattractive to the young.

The project is expected to build on experiences with small-scale, intensified farming systems in South Asia—for example, 80% of all operations in Bangladesh are mechanized and mostly done by service providers—and on SIMLESA networks and activities to test and promote conservation agriculture. Both small-scale mechanization and conservation agriculture promise to improve smallholders’ “power” budget: mechanization increases the supply, whereas conservation agriculture reduces the demand by about half; thus smaller, more affordable sources of power, such as two-wheel tractors, can be used. Similarly, shifting from draft animals to tractors would free up substantial biomass (a pair of oxen consumes about nine tons of forage per year) that can be left as residues on the soil. As specific objectives, MELISA will:

evaluate and demonstrate small-scale motorized conservation agriculture technologies in Ethiopia, Kenya, Mozambique, Malawi, Tanzania, and Zimbabwe, using expertise, knowledge, skills, and implements from Africa, South Asia, and Australia;
test site-specific market systems to support mechanization in those countries;
identify improvements in national policies and markets for wide adoption; and
create awareness and share knowledge about mechanization.

The project will be submitted to ACIAR Australia and, if approved, could start in late 2012.

MELISA