funder_partner: African Agricultural Technology Foundation (AATF)

Kenya: Seed companies see maize hybrids

Written by on November 1, 2013. Posted in News.

By Michael Arunga/CIMMYT

Informative presentations, lively discussions and a research station field trip were highlights of a Water Efficient Maize for Africa (WEMA) course on maize seed production and management held last week in Nairobi.

The two-day course targeted seed companies that will commercialize drought-tolerant maize hybrids from the WEMA project. Seed company representatives were accompanied by the WEMA Product Deployment Team (DEPT) and members of WEMA partner countries (Kenya, Mozambique, South Africa, Tanzania and Uganda). Representatives from CIMMYT, Monsanto, the African Agricultural Technology Foundation (AATF), the African Seed Trade Association (AFSTA) and a member of the National Agricultural Research Organisation Board of Trustees attended.

The African Agricultural Technology Foundation (AATF)-led WEMA DEPT team and CIMMYT organized the course. During the plenary session, seed experts – including John MacRobert and Mosisa Regassa from CIMMYT and Jonga Munyaradzi from AATF – presented on hybrid seed production, distinguishing characteristics of inbred lines, certification standards and inspection procedures, quality assurance procedures and stewardship. William Munyao, an inspector at the Kenya Plant Health Inspectorate Service, explained why standards and inspection are crucial to achieve credibility.

Paul Imo (left), a participant at the seed production and management course, compares notes on his phone with a colleague during a visit to the Kiboko research station. Photo: Michael Arunga/CIMMYT

Participants raised concerns about the slow implementation of maize seed regulatory standards by regional bodies such as the Economic Community of West Africa States, the East Africa Community and the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa. Seed companies said they want to see these standards implemented as soon as possible because they will give farmers greater access to improved varieties. After the plenary session, CIMMYT hosted participants on a visit to the KARI-CIMMYT Kiboko Crops Research Station. Stephen Mugo, Yoseph Beyene and Kiru Pillay led the tour, during which participants had the opportunity to evaluate selected hybrids and lines from demonstration plots. More than 50 hybrids are being grown under managed drought stress and optimal conditions.

The hybrids are in their first or second year of national performance trials in Kenya, Mozambique, South Africa, Tanzania and Uganda. The participants also visited the recently-developed doubled haploid (DH) lines in a seed increase nursery. Sotero Bumagat, the CIMMYT DH manager, led participants on a tour of the newly-commissioned DH facility. James Karanja and Regina Tende presented insect-protected confined field trials. MacRobert, a CIMMYT expert in seed production and management, told participants to embrace realistic approaches when producing seed. He emphasized the importance of hiring skilled personnel who have a genuine interest in seed production. “Emphasis should not be entirely on academia,” MacRobert said. “We should not insist on diploma, undergraduate, master’s or even doctorate degrees as prerequisites for hiring a productive worker. A farm hand who does not have these qualifications but has excellent seed production experience may be an excellent employee.”

Trained maize breeders can bring huge benefits to Africa

Written by on October 22, 2013. Posted in News.

By Cosmos Magorokosho/CIMMYT

CIMMYT recently conducted an intensive, three-week course in Kenya for 37 young maize breeders – including 10 women – to provide them the knowledge and skills to use modern breeding methods efficiently in their maize programs. The course included participants from national programs and seed companies in 14 African countries.

Dennis Kyetere, the executive director of the African Agricultural Technology Foundation (AATF), who officially opened the course, said the smallholder agriculture sector in Africa loses billions of dollars worth of agriculture produce annually. Kyetere said maize breeders have a significant role in reducing these losses and increasing smallholder farmers’ productivity. Courses included refresher sessions on principles of applied maize breeding, statistical data analysis and the use of information technology tools in managing breeding, analyzing data and managing breeding information.

Emphasis was placed on breeding maize for abiotic stress tolerance. Presenters also focused on maize lethal necrosis disease (MLN), including background on the disease in Africa, efforts made to breed for MLN resistance in African germplasm and strategies to prevent the spread of the disease. During the course, a mini-workshop emphasized the application of technologies such as molecular markers, doubled haploids (DH) and transgenics. Course attendees toured the Kenya Agriculture Research Institution’s (KARI) Kiboko field station and Olerai farm.

In Kiboko, participants learned about the practical aspects of drought and low-nitrogen screening and toured the new CIMMYT-KARI DH facility. Participants were encouraged to send their elite breeding populations for DH production. “I have improved my general understanding of maize breeding theory and learned about breeding for drought tolerance,” Dunlop said. “This should speed up selections and make more efficient use of time.” GMP breeders Cosmos Magorokosho, Stephen Mugo and Dan Makumbi organized the course while Catherine Kalungu handled logistics. Participants were sponsored through various GMP projects, including Drought Tolerant Maize for Africa (DTMA), Water Efficient Maize for Africa (WEMA), Improved Maize for African Soils (IMAS), a USAID project, Harvest Plus and the private seed companies Pannar, MozSeed, Zamseed and Seedco.

Tackling toxins with aflasafe™

Written by on July 18, 2013. Posted in Features.

Introducing-aflasafe-to-farmers-300dpi-1 “All the maize for my home consumption comes from my aflasafe™-treated field,” says farmer Alhaji Al-Hassan from Nigeria’s Kaduna State. “When I take my maize to the market, buyers rush for it because the quality looks better. The grains look clean.”

First developed by the USDA and adapted for use in Nigeria by the International Institute for Tropical Agriculture (IITA) and the African Agricultural Technology Foundation (AATF), aflasafe™ is fast gaining ground across Africa as a non-toxic and affordable solution to one of the continent’s most serious food safety issues.

Aflatoxins are invisible, tasteless poisons produced by Aspergillus flavus, a mould commonly found infecting crops such as maize and groundnut, both in the field and in storage. While acute exposure to aflatoxins can kill, prolonged exposure leads to impeded growth, liver disease, immune suppression and cancer with women, children and the poor and most vulnerable. Aflatoxins also impact international trade, with African economies losing US$450 million every year from barred exports.

Competitive exclusion

Aflasafe™ works by ‘pushing out’ harmful, toxin-producing strains of A. flavus from the field through the deliberate introduction of indigenous but non-toxic, harmless strains – a process known as ‘competitive exclusion’. Heat-killed sorghum grains are coated with the non-toxic fungal strains and scattered by hand in the field prior to crop flowering. Field tests in Nigeria between 2009 and 2012 showed that use of aflasafe™ consistently reduced aflatoxin contamination in maize and groundnut crops by 80-90%.

In 2012, these findings led to the adoption of the biocontrol product by several extension agencies in Nigeria. IITA is currently constructing a low-cost manufacturing facility at its Ibadan campus in order to optimize the production process for aflasafe™ so that it can be taken up by other developing countries. The facility, which will be able to produce up to five tons of aflasafe™ per hour will also test commercialization models. Market linkages between aflasafe™ users and quality conscious food processors are also being developed, in collaboration with the private sector. With aflatoxin-contaminated maize in poultry feed being a major risk to animal health, links are also being developed with poultry producers.

Spreading the science

The success of aflasafe™ has led to an expansion in biocontrol research in Burkina Faso, Ghana, Kenya, Mali, Senegal, Tanzania, and Zambia. In Kenya, IITA has identified four non-toxic strains of A. flavus in locally grown maize, which are now being used to make a Kenya-specific product called aflasafe™-KE01. Researchers from the Institute are currently gathering efficacy data to determine where the product will be deployed. “We are happy with the innovative scientific solution which has done well in Nigeria,” says Wilson Songa, Kenya’s agriculture secretary. “The ball is now in our court, and we shall move fast… We needed the technology yesterday!”

Senegal is also developing its own version – aflasafe™-SE01, and IITA is optimistic that both Kenya and Senegal will have their own fully registered versions of aflasafe™ in two years, with Burkina Faso reaching the same point in three years and Zambia in four. Meanwhile, at the 2012 G20 meeting in Mexico, G20 leaders announced that aflasafe™ will be one of three initial pilot projects to be supported under the ‘AgResults’ initiative which aims to incentivize the adoption of agricultural technologies by the poor.

Affordable technology

IITA’s experience in Nigeria suggests that the cost of aflasafe™ – at US$1.5 per kg, with a recommended usage of 10 kg per hectare – is affordable for most farmers in the country. The Institute calculates that adoption of biocontrol with other management practices will reduce aflatoxin contamination by more than 70% in maize and groundnut and increase crop value by at least 25%, as well as improving the health of women and children.

With mass production and commercialization of the technology now imminent in Nigeria, the country’s Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Hon. Akinwumi Adesina, has been enthusiastic in his support. “For too many years we have neglected to regulate aflatoxin in the production of food,” Adesina says. “IITA has worked tirelessly to control aflatoxin and educate farmers on the harmful effects of this toxin. When we consider the potential benefits of aflasafe™, it is ultimately smallholders who stand to gain the most,” he concludes.

The CRP MAIZE will be discussing the role of maize in Africa at the Africa Agriculture Science Week (15-20 July) on 16 July in Accra, Ghana. Join us if you can and follow the AASW Blog and #AASW6 on Twitter.

Confined field trial of drought-tolerant maize yields promising results

Written by on June 7, 2013. Posted in Features.

The fourth confined field trial of MON87460, a genetically modified maize variety developed to tolerate moderate drought, recently concluded at the Kenya Agricultural Research Institute (KARI) in Kiboko with promising results.

The Water Efficient Maize for Africa (WEMA) project has been conducting field trials of MON87460 since 2010. The most recent trial was planted on 28 November 2012 and harvested on 16 April 2013. Throughout the season, the genetically modified plants outperformed those without the drought-tolerance-enhancing gene, including commercial checks.

This was even more evident at harvest, with ears from the genetically modified plants looking superior to the conventional checks. Charles Kariuki, center director at KARI-Katumani, who was present during the harvesting, was particularly impressed with the performance of the WEMA 18, 36, 41, 50, and 55 entries. “From these, we should be able to generate high quality data to back these impressive performances,” he said. Kariuki urged the project to nominate the conventional entries (without the MON87460 gene), that were also tested in the trials and performed very well, to the Kenya National Performance Trials to fast-track their commercial release.

Murenga Mwimali, WEMA’s national coordinator for Kenya, was looking forward to the outcomes of the data analysis to ascertain this yield performance in detail, comparing the performance against those without the gene and the commercial checks: “This will enable us to make informed conclusions on the potential benefits of MON87460.” Representatives from the regulatory authorities—the Kenya National Biosafety Authority (NBA) and the Kenya Plant Health Inspectorate Service (KEPHIS)—also lauded the WEMA team for their good confined field trial management.

Biosafety training for harvest staff

The day before the harvest, required training on regulatory compliance was conducted for everyone expected to participate in the harvest. The training covered management requirements and standard operating procedures for confined field trials as well as biosafety requirements for planting, harvesting, and post-harvest monitoring. The 46 participants were drawn from WEMA partner institutions (CIMMYT, African Agricultural Technology Foundation, KARI, and Monsanto), as well as the Ministry of Agriculture, KEPHIS, and NBA.

Jane Otadoh, assistant director for biotechnology in the Ministry of Agriculture, emphasized the importance of training to enable staff to effectively handle confined field trials. “There is lack of awareness, information, and knowledge on biotechnology in Kenya, and more so on confined field trial operations, requirements, and regulations. This training is to help you understand the process, the role of scientists, the regulatory process, and the regulators,” she said. She reiterated the ministry’s support for technology that boosts agricultural productivity.

James Karanja of the KARI-Katumani biotechnology program took participants through the standard operating procedures for harvesting confined field trials. Julia Njagi, biosafety officer at NBA, noted that staff training was critical to ensure compliance with biosafety regulations while performing the trials. As part of confined field trial management and regulatory compliance, all harvested materials including grains had to be destroyed by burning and burying, to avoid unintended release of genetically modified materials into the environment.

Eveline Shitabule, an inspector with KEPHIS, noted that training helped the participants to understand and follow instructions to ensure compliance. Having competent and well-trained personnel is one of the three pillars of compliance, the other two being a secure facility and records that are accessible and understandable.

Participants said they gained valuable knowledge during the workshop that improved their ability to work on confined field trials.

WEMA reaches out to local communities in Kenya

Written by on June 5, 2013. Posted in Features.

WEMA13 On 02 May 2013, the Water Efficient Maize for Africa (WEMA) project organized a sensitization workshop for local community leaders, provincial administration members, agricultural extension workers, farmers, and representatives of farmer groups. The meeting was held at the Kenya Agricultural Research Institute (KARI) in Kiboko and attracted over 40 participants from the neighboring maize growing areas in the Makueni and Machakos counties in eastern Kenya, along with representatives from CIMMYT, Monsanto, African Biotechnology Stakeholders Forum, and the Ministry of Agriculture. It aimed to explain WEMA’s work on development of drought-tolerant and insect-resistant maize varieties using both conventional and genetic engineering techniques. It was also an opportunity for WEMA to demystify myths, allay fears, and enlighten participants on genetically modified organisms (GMOs) and confined field trials.

In his opening remarks, E.O. Mungabe, KARI-Katumani center deputy director, noted that the use of genetic engineering in crop breeding still triggers panic among some Kenyans. However, the emerging challenges of climate change, diseases such as maize lethal necrosis, and pests like the larger grain borer call for new approaches, as conventional ways of breeding alone might not overcome or solve these problems. “It is necessary that we combine our conventional breeding techniques with genetic engineering to effectively respond to these emerging challenges. Think positively of genetic engineering as a technology that has the potential to address them,” Mungabe explained the situation to the participants. “Africa is a drought-prone continent with approximately 300 million people depending on agriculture for their livelihood,” said Murenga Mwimali, WEMA-Kenya national project coordinator, reminding participants that due to climate change, the incidences and severity of droughts will increase. Combined with insect and pest attacks, this could make maize farming an unrewarding enterprise if these issues are not addressed. Mwimali then briefed the participants on the progress todate in developing drought-tolerant and insect-resistant maize varieties using biotechnology and conventional breeding techniques. “Trials show that these new varieties,” Mwimali added, “will yield 25% more than commercial hybrids.”

Joseph Bii of KARI-Kiboko Rangeland Research Station stressed that 80% of Kenya’s land is classified as arid or semiarid. It is therefore important to develop maize varieties that can tolerate the little and erratic rainfall experienced in these areas to enable farmers to continue the production of Kenya’s main staple crop and an important fodder crop for livestock, maize.

The meeting then focused on the topics of GMOs and confined field trials within the scope of WEMA. The project has so far conducted four confined field trials for genetically modified drought tolerant maize variety MON87460 with promising results; another currently conducted confined field trial with genetically modified maize variety resistant to stem borers (MON810) is progressing well. It might take a few more years before farmers can plant the genetically modified maize varieties, but the drought-tolerant CKH110078 conventional variety developed from the Drought Tolerant Maize for Africa (DTMA) materials is likely to be available this year, according to Mwimali. In addition, 14 water efficient WEMA hybrids are already in national performance trials in Kenya and could, therefore, be released as early as next year.

The participants welcomed the opportunity to exchange ideas and get clarifications on many GMO issues: sources of seed and price implications; implications of recycling seed; cross-pollination of GMOs with their local varieties; as well as the reasons why WEMA has not improved local varieties such as Kinyanya. The farmers were also advised on sources of seed and appropriate varieties for their region, particularly the Ministry of Agriculture and the Kenya Plant Health Inspectorate Service through their SMS service, and warned against relying on agro-dealers for information as they are in the business to sell.

The stakeholders toured the MON810 trial and the WEMA confined field trial facility, where they had a chance to observe a genetically modified crop for the first time. It was heartening for the meeting organizers to hear most of the farmers speak positively of the technology and the varieties in the trial, with many expressing their eagerness to try out the genetically modified varieties.

WEMA22

New doubled haploid facility will strengthen maize breeding in Africa

Written by on March 26, 2013. Posted in News.

CIMMYT’s Global Maize Program will establish and operate a maize doubled haploid (DH) facility in Kiboko, Kenya. With financial support from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, this centralized DH facility will be able to produce at least 100,000 DH lines per year by 2016, thus strengthening maize breeding programs in Africa and improving breeding efficiency. The DH technology will reduce the cost and time for breeding work as it enables rapid development of homozygous maize lines and fast-tracking development and release of elite maize varieties. The facility will be built at the Kiboko Experimental Station on 20 hectares of land provided by the Kenya Agricultural Research Institute (KARI). The Maize DHAfrica Project will both establish the facility and refine the DH technology in collaboration with the University of Hohenheim, Germany.

Doubled-Haploid “One of the important ways to increase genetic gains and accelerate the development and deployment of improved varieties is to reduce the time needed for inbred development,” said B.M. Prasanna, CIMMYT’s Global Maize Program director. “The technology would also allow breeders to couple molecular marker-based selection for important traits such as disease resistance and quality at an early generation.” A project planning and review meeting held in Nairobi during 18-19 February 2013 was attended by representatives from national agriculture research systems, Kenya Seed Company, Seed Trade Association of Kenya, University of Hohenheim, the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA), and CIMMYT. “This technology will help us significantly improve maize food security in sub-Saharan Africa,” said Joseph Ochieng, KARI deputy director (food crops and crop protection), who spoke on behalf of the institute’s director Ephraim Mukisira. The KARI official emphasized the importance of educating stakeholders on this novel technology to ensure they understand its benefits and use the DH lines efficiently in breeding programs.

The DH facility will also serve as a training hub for scientists and technical personnel from national programs and small and medium-sized seed companies that may not have advanced breeding facilities. It will enhance CIMMYT’s capacity to generate DH lines for effective use in Africa-based breeding programs such as the Drought Tolerant Maize in Africa (DTMA), Water Efficient Maize for Africa (WEMA), Improved Maize for African Soils (IMAS), and the Maize HarvestPlus in Africa.

“We are fully enthused and geared towards establishing a state-of-the-art DH Facility in Kiboko,” said Sotero Bumagat, CIMMYT maize DH operations manager and project leader. During a visit to the field site in Kiboko, Bumagat explained the proposed layout of the facility and received very positive feedback. Seed sector stakeholders who participated in the meeting expressed excitement and anticipation to see the DH facility established and operational in 2013. “This is a technology that the seed sector in Africa has been waiting for,” said Willy Bett, managing director of the Kenya Seed Company and member of the Project Steering Committee. “Faster breeding of improved maize varieties is quite important for effectively managing problems such as the maize lethal necrosis disease,” said Evans Sikinyi, executive officer of the Seed Trade Association of Kenya.

Doubled-Haploid2

Maize lethal necrosis: Scientists and key stakeholders discuss strategies as the battle continues

Written by on March 7, 2013. Posted in News.

A recently-emerged disease in Eastern Africa, maize lethal necrosis (MLN), remains a serious concern. A regional workshop on the disease and its management strategies was held during 12-14 February 2013 in Nairobi, Kenya. Organized by CIMMYT and the Kenya Agricultural Research Institute (KARI), the workshop brought together nearly 70 scientists, seed company breeders and managers, and representatives of ministries of agriculture and regulatory authorities in Kenya, Uganda, and Tanzania, as well as experts from the U.S.A.

The key objective of the meeting was to “establish a strong interface between research and regulatory institutions in Eastern Africa to effectively tackle the MLN challenge, including the ongoing efforts and further steps to identify and deploy disease-resistant germplasm, and to create a system that can ensure a constant flow of varieties,” explained B.M. Prasanna, CIMMYT Global Maize Program director. Prasanna highlighted the difficulties faced by the maize farming community from the disease, and emphasized the need to accelerate deployment of MLN resistant maize varieties and to generate necessary awareness among the relevant stakeholders on management strategies. “It is necessary to break the MLN disease cycle and tackle the problem from multiple perspectives,” added KARI director Ephraim Mukisira. He mentioned that besides partnering with CIMMYT on breeding for MLN resistant varieties, KARI will also be distributing seed of alternative crops to farmers in affected areas. “As a dairy farmer, I will be planting napier grass instead of maize this season,” noted Mukisira.

The first signs of a new disease appeared in 2011 and 2012 in the Rift Valley Province, Kenya. A team of CIMMYT and KARI scientists identified it as MLN, a disease caused by a double infection of the maize chlorotic mottle virus (MCMV) and the sugarcane mosaic virus (SCMV) and transmitted by insects. According to Godfrey Asea, plant breeder and head of the Cereals Program at the National Crops Resources Research Institute (NaCRRI), Kampala, MLN was also identified in Uganda. Furthermore, symptoms of MLN have been cited in Tanzania, said Kheri Kitenge, maize breeder at the Selian Agricultural Research Institute (SARI), Arusha.

Scientists, particularly breeders, have made significant progress in tackling the disease. Studies are already underway at two field sites (Naivasha and Narok) where responses of a wide array of inbred lines and pre-commercial hybrids are being evaluated under high natural disease pressure and artificial inoculation. Participants visited the Sunripe Farm in Naivasha, where they observed KARI-CIMMYT MLN trials under natural disease pressure. A trial under artificial inoculation in Naivasha featuring nearly 175 commercial maize varieties is showing high levels of susceptibility to MLN. Researchers remain hopeful as some of the elite inbred lines and pre-commercial hybrids developed under projects such as the Drought Tolerant Maize for Africa (DTMA) or Water Efficient Maize for Africa (WEMA) are showing resistance to the disease.

During the farm visit, KARI pathologist Anne Wangai and her team showed how to generate artificial inoculum for MCMV and SCMV, as well as the enzyme-linked immunosorbant assay (ELISA) based technique for pathogen diagnosis at the national agricultural research laboratories at the KARI campus. The participants observed an artificial inoculation of maize seedlings in the field, followed by a discussion on some of the major changes in maize seed demand resulting from MLN incidence. “The maize seed industry is under stress in Kenya due to the need to replace some popular but MLN-vulnerable varieties as soon as possible,” explained Evans Sikinyi, Seed Trade Association of Kenya (STAK) executive officer. All stakeholders agreed that the foremost priority is to identify and speed deployment of MLN resistant maize varieties. “We also have to enhance the diagnostic capacity in the labs and ensure there is a rapid response and surveillance on MLN,” added Esther Kimani, general manager of phytosanitary services at the Kenya Plant Health Inspectorate Service (KEPHIS).

In the concluding session of the workshop, stakeholders identified key research areas and discussed partnership opportunities.

High expectations among stakeholders as WEMA Phase II kicks off

Written by on February 27, 2013. Posted in News.

During 4-8 February 2013, stakeholders of the Water Efficient Maize for Africa (WEMA) project gathered in Nairobi, Kenya, for the Fifth Review and Planning Meeting to discuss achievements and challenges of the recently concluded WEMA Phase I (2008-2013) and to plan for the second phase of the project (2013-2017) which begins in March this year. In the past four years, WEMA has made several key achievements, including the successful application and approval of permits to conduct confined field trials for transgenic varieties in Kenya, Uganda, and South Africa. Kenya and Uganda are now in their third year of trials, South Africa in its fourth. The project has also managed to submit conventional drought tolerant maize hybrids into the national performance trials in Kenya. “It is expected that farmers will have these WEMA conventional maize seeds by 2014,” says Denis Kyetere, African Agricultural Technology Foundation (AATF) executive director. CKH110078, one of the hybrids developed from the Drought Tolerant Maize for Africa (DTMA) materials, is in its final stage of approval in Kenya.

Emily Twinamasiko, Uganda’s National Agricultural Research Organization director general and WEMA Executive Advisory Board chair, was pleased with the achievements made in 2012 and commended all teams and the operations committee for their great efforts. Natalie DiNicola, Monsanto vice president for Africa and Europe, commented on the indicators of success: “The project will never be successful until the farmer has a product to plant and options to choose from.” Getting the seed to the farmers was stressed also by Ephraim Mukisira, Kenya Agricultural Research Institute (KARI) director, who called for speedy deployment of the varieties: “KARI wants to see the product with the farmer. The scientists must work hard so that impact can be seen and be seen today.”

B.M. Prasanna, Global Maize Program director, thanked Monsanto for donating the drought tolerant and Bt genes. “This is a tremendous opportunity to address some of the biggest challenges to African smallholder farmers [drought and stem borer infestation]. MON810 presents yet another great opportunity for WEMA to tap into the products from the Insect Resistant Maize for Africa project to develop a product that addresses many of the insect related constraints.” He added that new but exciting challenges were posed by maize lethal necrosis, particularly because it has allowed the WEMA team to assure partners that the materials being produced are resistant to the disease. During a visit to trials at KARI-Kiboko, stakeholders observed WEMA varieties, many of which have outperformed some of the best local hybrid checks on the market. They also visited the confined field trials for Bt MON810 and drought tolerant MON87460 that are in their first and fourth seasons of trials, respectively.

Shifting attention from successes to challenges, Stephen Mugo, CIMMYT principal scientist and co-chair of the WEMA Product Development team, spoke of the major lessons learnt by the team in Phase I that are crucial for the success of the second phase: continuous training in trials modernization and modern breeding techniques is necessary, as is a good quality assurance program for the exchange of germplasm between the private and public sectors to minimize the risk of inappropriate germplasm exchange. The stage is now set for Phase II after the meeting streamlined WEMA II milestones and developed the WEMA II 2013 work plans.

Lawrence Kent from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation noted that “with great privilege comes lots of responsibilities. We therefore expect great success from WEMA.” This sentiment was shared by other stakeholders, who were impressed by the achievements of Phase I and thus have high expectations for Phase II. “WEMA continues to be a success because of the combined and dedicated efforts within the partnership: the national agricultural research systems, CIMMYT, Monsanto, and AATF. All these partners have continued to work together, celebrating project gains and resolving any challenges together for the good of the larger goal and promise to smallholder farmers, a promise of food security and better livelihoods,” stated Kyetere. “A food secure continent is among the greatest inheritance and legacy we can leave the generations that are coming after us, our children and to our children’s children.”

New maize brings hope to farmers in Striga-infested regions in Tanzania and Uganda

Written by on November 6, 2012. Posted in News.

For many years, farmers in Tanzania have desperately tried to control the parasitic flowering plant Striga spp.—popularly known as witchweed—that can make maize farming nearly impossible in regions of heavy infestation. In Tanzania Striga infests an estimated 0.6 million hectares over 10 regions, causing yearly losses to farmers of some 1.7 million tons of grain worth US$ 350 million. For lack of cost-effective control measures for this pest, some farmers have stopped growing maize.

However, there is now hope, thanks to a new maize variety, that is effective in controlling Striga. The variety, TAN222, has the added advantage of being high yielding 3.7 tons per hectare, according to Isaka Mashauri, director of Tanseed International, the company that is commercializing the variety in Tanzania.

Many years of joint research by CIMMYT, BASF (a multinational producer and supplier of agrochemicals), and the Weizmann Institute of Science in Israel have resulted in a solution and source of hope for farmers. It involves coating seed of a herbicide-tolerant maize variety with the systemic herbicide imazapyr. When the seed is sown and sprouts, any Striga plants that attack it are killed. As part of this research, the partners developed herbicide tolerant maize lines based on a natural mutation in maize.

The African Agricultural Technology Foundation (AATF) is promoting this technology among farmers and extension agencies in areas of sub-Saharan Africa where Striga is prevalent. In Tanzania, the seed company Tanseed International has used the herbicide tolerant lines from this effort to develop and market the maize variety TAN222.

Anatia Mike, a farmer in Muheza District, Tanzania, tried using herbicide-coated seed of TAN222 and managed to harvest 1.2 tons of grain per hectare from her Striga infested farm, where previously she was getting yields of only 0.5 tons. At a recent field day organized by the research partners on Mike’s homestead to demonstrate the efficacy of this technology, Karimu Mtambo, the Director of Tanzania’s Ministry of Agriculture, Food Security, and Cooperatives, lauded the practice as the best and most effective in controlling Striga and improving maize yields, and called on farmers to adopt it together with other good agricultural practices.

Also present were Mashauri; Denis Tumwesigye Kyetere and Gospel Omanya, Executive Director and Seed Systems Manager, respectively, AATF; BASF representative Sammy Waruingi; Ibrahim Matovu, Muheza District Commissioner; and from CIMMYT agronomist Fred Kanampiu and breeder Dan Makumbi.

Kyetere promised full support from AATF in scaling out the technology, and Kanampiu called on the government to put in place mechanisms like herbicide registration for commercial use that would facilitate speedy adoption of the technology. He also urged seed companies to work with the Ministry of Agriculture to educate farmers on its use. Matovu promised to have Striga control included in the district agenda, particularly in budgeting.

Training to build maize breeding capacity in Africa

Written by on October 30, 2012. Posted in News.

CursoAfrica2 Thirty-six senior maize breeders from fifteen African countries participated in a course in Nairobi, Kenya, from 1 to 4 October 2012. The course attracted participants from national agricultural research systems, private seed companies, and universities collaborating within the Drought Tolerant Maize for Africa (DTMA) Initiative, Improved Maize for African Soils (IMAS) Project, Sustainable Intensification of Maize- Legume Systems for Food Security in Eastern and Southern Africa (SIMLESA) initiative, Sustainable Intensification of Maize-Legume Systems for the Eastern Province of Zambia (SIMLEZA), Water Efficient Maize for Africa (WEMA), and a USAID-funded project on heat stress in maize.

Throughout the course, breeders were introduced to new germplasm, recent advances in maize breeding for biotic and abiotic stresses, breeding informatics tools (e.g. IMIS-Fieldbook and IB-Fieldbook developed by the Generation Challenge Program), approaches to improving quality of phenotyping, molecular breeding tools, and the use of doubled haploid technologies in maize breeding. They also visited fields in Kiboko to assess breeding nurseries and yield trials and to interact with CIMMYT breeders.

The course participants had the opportunity to attend presentations by a private-sector representative. Walter Trevisan from WEMA/ Monsanto covered the origin of maize and importance of the heterotic pools in maize breeding around the world. “We learn from the partnership that we can work as a team and, most of the time, reach goals ahead of time,” said Trevisan, stating that he is looking forward to the future projects such as WEMA II. “We really enjoy working with CIMMYT and the national agricultural research systems,” he added.

According to Ntji Coulibaly from Mali, training for breeders helps to build capacity within African countries. “Mali has only five seed companies serving the country, thus it is imperative to build the skill base in breeding,” he explained. Coulibaly then praised CIMMYT for its leadership role in breeding in Africa: “It has raised the bar for private institutions to improve and develop better products in the region.” Bhola Verma from ZAMSEED, a private seed company operating in Zambia, also appreciated the training initiative. “We need to train more people,” he said, reiterating the importance of training the next generation of breeders to ensure the continent does not lag behind. Zubeda Mduruma, Tanzanian maize breeder from Aminata Quality Seed, was excited about -her newly gained knowledge on doubled haploid breeding technology. “It is very handy and will shorten our time for breeding,” said Mduruma. Doubled haploid technology enables breeders to save time and labor costs associated with conventional breeding, while allowing them to get varieties benefiting farmers within a shorter period of time.

Simon Gichuki, Kenya Agriculture Research Institute (KARI) Biotechnology Program coordinator, urged participants to explore and use the technological tools, and to train breeders working with them. Gichuki said that the key challenges facing African agriculture include diseases, pests, and climate change. “We feel that we can contribute to mitigating these [challenges] by engaging in science,” said Gichuki, adding that this could be achieved by ensuring that breeders regularly update their knowledge. “In crop science things move very fast,” he explained. Sylvester Oikeh, WEMA project manager at the African Agricultural Technology Foundation, urged participants to embrace mentorship and share their knowledge and skills with young breeders. Oikeh also appreciated the opportunity to see what DTMA is doing in relation to WEMA’s breeding work.

Shehu Ado from the Institute for Agricultural Research, Samaru, Nigeria, said the training would benefit his students. “I will encourage my students to apply it in their own work,” said Ado about Fieldbook, “my students are going to gain a lot as analysis will be simplified.” Thokozile Ndlela, Zimbabwean Ministry of Agriculture, expressed her excitement about the developments made in Fieldbook, as well as the new advancements in maize breeding.

The course facilitators were drawn from CIMMYT, Generation Challenge Program, and Monsanto. The course was coordinated by Cosmos Magorokosho and Stephen Mugo, CIMMYT maize breeders from Zimbabwe and Kenya, respectively.

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WEMA prepares for commercial release of new varieties

Written by on October 2, 2012. Posted in News.

Stephen-Mugo-explaining-WEMA-trials-to-Seed-Company Twenty-nine drought-tolerant, early maturing, disease-resistant hybrids developed by the Water Efficient Maize for Africa (WEMA) project are getting ready to be released, a huge success for WEMA and all its stakeholders. “The 29 hybrids advanced to national performance trials is a record release by an entity in Africa in all times. These high performing hybrids yield 20–35 % more grain under moderate drought compared to 2008 commercially available hybrids,” said Stephen Mugo, CIMMYT principal scientist and co-chair of the WEMA Product Development Team. “Let us seize the technological opportunities that are there to boost productivity and people’s welfare,” he added. The white hybrids resistant to stem borers, maize weevils, and large grain borer, and to diseases such as grey leaf spot, northern leaf blight, and maize streak virus will complement other drought tolerant hybrids developed and released by the Drought Tolerant Maize for Africa (DTMA) initiative. These first WEMA hybrids were developed from CIMMYT’s drought tolerant germplasm accelerated using the doubled haploid technology from the Monsanto platform.

Moderate drought is a major production constraint for small-scale farmers in Africa who rely on rainfed agriculture, and this rapid progress is thus great news for African farmers. WEMA stakeholders from Kenya, Uganda, Mozambique, Tanzania, and South Africa met in Nairobi, Kenya, during 10-13 September 2012 for the WEMA Project Second Regional Stakeholders and Seed Company Meetings organized by CIMMYT, Monsanto, and the African Agriculture Technology Foundation (AATF) to discuss the project. Denis Kyetere, AATF executive director and executive advisory board member, explained that WEMA is a public-private partnership with the goal of developing and deploying royalty-free African drought-tolerant and insect-pest resistant climate change ready maize. Wilson Songa, Kenya’s Agriculture Secretary and the chief guest at the meetings, noted that Africa’s agriculture must be competitive and must ensure that productivity is meeting the continent’s needs. This can be achieved by advancing the cause of science and technology in the midst of climate change, an approach taken by WEMA and appreciated by Ephraim Mukisira, WEMA executive advisory board member and the director of Kenya Agricultural Research Institute (KARI). “We in the agricultural sector must strive to cut the hunger and improve the welfare of thousands who rely on agriculture. We would like to see the expansion of maize production area but, more importantly, maize productivity. We must embrace science and technology to achieve these goals,” said Mukisira.

According to Sylvester Oikeh, WEMA project manager, the first conventionally bred hybrid seeds will be available in 2014 to farmers in Kenya, Uganda, and South Africa, and in 2015 to farmers in Mozambique and Tanzania. Reiterating Monsanto’s excitement and commitment to WEMA, Kinyua MMbijjewe, Monsanto’s Africa Corporate Affairs manager, warned that Africa cannot afford to rely on maize imports: “Africa should strive to be self-reliant in maize production. Those areas suitable for maize production should be made more robust through the adoption of appropriate technologies.”

The stakeholders later visited WEMA trials at KARI-Kiboko. They were impressed by the performance of the varieties on display in the demonstration plots, as many have outperformed some of the best local hybrid checks on the market. After seeing the trial fields, seed companies from Kenya, Uganda, and South Africa expressed their readiness to take up the promising varieties for commercialization, noting that it is a great business opportunity. According to Norah Olembo, Africa Biotechnology Stakeholders Forum executive director, rapid release of the varieties to the farmers is also critical for improving productivity, food security, and livelihoods, considering that 75 % of agricultural land in sub-Saharan Africa is drought prone.

Honorable Casimiro Pedro Sacadura Huate, Mozambican Member of Parliament and deputy chairman of the Commission on Agriculture, Rural Development, Economic Architecture and Services, assured the project implementers of the government’s support. His counterpart from Uganda, Honorable Binta Lukumu, member of the Parliamentary Standards Committee on Agriculture, promised to promote the project in Uganda and urged the project implementers to bring on board other members of parliament in WEMA countries to help them understand and champion the course of the project and argue for favorable decisions in their respective countries.

CIMMYT student awarded best poster at the National Biosafety Conference, Kenya

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

Murenga Mwimali, a PhD student in plant breeding at the University of Kwazulu Natal, South Africa, currently hosted at CIMMYT-Kenya, was awarded the best student poster at the first National Biosafety Conference in Nairobi, Kenya, during 6-9 August 2012. Mwimali represented the Insect Resistant Maize for Africa (IRMA) and Water Efficient Maize for Africa (WEMA) projects with his poster presentation titled ‘Experiences with postharvest monitoring of volunteer crops at the Kiboko GM Maize confined field trial’. In addition to the award, the poster resulted in a policy recommendation to shorten the post-harvest monitoring period to one month, for GM trials, reduced from the original 52 weeks previously stipulated by Kenyan regulations. The results reported in the poster suggested that longer monitoring time was not necessary, because volunteer plants (which sprout from dropped seed) would likely not appear after two weeks.

The conference focused on the introduction of a biotechnology and biosafety framework in Kenya, the Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety to the Convention on Biological Diversity, the global status of biotech crops (cotton and maize in Kenya), the role of media and communication networks in disseminating biosafety issues, and the management of public concerns and perception on GMOs.

Congratulations to Mwimali and the IRMA and WEMA teams!

Discussing the importance of seed systems

Written by on July 25, 2012. Posted in News.

As we endeavour to reach more farmers with improved varieties, seed systems are becoming increasingly important for CIMMYT in Africa, and a number of projects are generating germplasm to meet the varied abiotic and biotic challenges in smallholder agriculture. To improve effectiveness and collaboration amongst projects in seed systems activities, a coordination meeting was held on 3–4 July 2012 in Nairobi, Kenya. The meeting was attended by scientists from Global Maize Program (GMP) projects: Drought Tolerant Maize for Africa (DTMA), New Seed Initiative for Maize in Southern Africa (NSIMA), Sustainable Intensification of Maize-Legume Cropping Systems in Eastern and Southern Africa (SIMLESA), Sustainable Intensification of Maize-Legume Systems for the Eastern Province of Zambia (SIMLEZA), Water Efficient Maize for Africa (WEMA), Improved Maize for African Soils (IMAS), HarvestPlus, and Insect Resistant Maize for Africa (IRMA).

The agenda included seed initiatives in different countries, coordination between projects, seed production research priorities, demonstrations, and variety seed production. Seed road maps and seed delivery strategies for projects and/or countries working in partnership with seed companies and the National Agriculture Research Systems (NARS) were also discussed. Participants also considered more effective ways to convey key messages to stakeholders involved in seed delivery, the Socioeconomics Program’s involvement in maize seed systems, and global policy changes affecting seed systems. Special focus was placed on gender equity and the inclusion of female farmers in demonstrations and field days. Where male farmers form the majority, they should be encouraged to bring their wives and other female household members to field days and demonstrations to ensure family participation in decision making. However, following the results of a survey indicating that significant proportions of farms are managed by female-headed households, the group also recognised the need for developing promotional strategies specifically targeting women.

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CIMMYT recognizes the growing importance of seed systems and is increasing its staff capacity accordingly to provide appropriate support and expertise. The latest additions to the team are seed systems specialists James Gethi and Mosisa Regasa.

Farmers Say: “Kill Striga!”

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

CIMMYT E-News, vol 3 no. 2, February 2006

feb_striga Kenyan farmers’ verdict is out: “Ua Kayongo is the best Striga control practice and we will adopt it.”

Farmers in western Kenya overwhelmingly favor imidazolinone-resistant (IR) maize seed coated with a low dose of this herbicide to kill Striga, a highly-invasive parasitic weed that infests 200,000 hectares of Kenya’s farmland and causes crop losses worth an estimated US$ 50 million each year. This was a key finding of a recent, independent study commissioned by the African Agricultural Technology Foundation (AATF) to the Western Regional Alliance for Technology Evaluation (WeRATE; includes non-governmental organizations, farmer associations, and extension workers). Nearly 5,300 farmers in 17 districts of western Kenya evaluated eight recommended Striga management practices.

Farmers have dubbed the winning maize “Ua Kayongo”—literally, “kill Striga” in a mixed vernacular. In July 2005, the Kenya Agricultural Research Institute (KARI) and private seed suppliers started to commercialize four hybrid varieties of Ua Kayongo in Kenya.

The maize’s herbicide resistance is based on a natural mutation in the crop. Its development into Ua Kayongo was through global cooperation involving CIMMYT; KARI; the Weizmann Institute of Science, Israel; and BASF-The Chemical Company, funded by the Rockefeller Foundation and BASF. In the new practice, Ua Kayongo seed is coated with BASF’s Strigaway® herbicide, which kills Striga seedlings below ground. This prevents them from fastening to the roots of maize seedlings, from which they suck away water and nutrients.

feb_graph Farmers in the WeRATE evaluations were able to plant the new maize using their normal husbandry methods, including intercropping with legumes and root crops. “I’ve been pulling and burying Striga on my 5-acre farm for the past 17 years and the problem has only grown worse,” said Rose Katete, a farmer from Teso; “Ua Kayongo has provided the best crop of maize that I’ve ever grown!”

Katete’s observations bear out CIMMYT and partners’ findings from several years of field trials: “Under Striga-infested conditions, the new maize hybrids out-yield the checks by more than 50%, and provide near-total Striga control,” says Marianne Bänziger, Director of the CIMMYT Maize Program.

Over the next five years, the new Striga control package will be made available to farmers in Tanzania, Uganda, and Malawi, and eventually, other countries of sub-Saharan Africa with a Striga weed problem.

For more information contact Fred Kanampiu (f.kanampiu@cgiar.org)

Pernicious Weed Meets its Match

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

CIMMYT E-News, vol 2 no. 7, July 2005

striga1 In a country where each person consumes at least 100 kilograms of maize a year, a new, easy-to-use, affordable practice that could raise the crop’s production by 200,000 tons is, naturally, greeted with much celebration in Kenya.

Such was the mood at Kisumu, Kenya, during the 5 July launch of the Clearfield® technology for Striga weed control. “This is good news for farmers, and good news for the government,” stated the chief guest, Romano Kiome, director of the Kenya Agricultural Research Institute (KARI). If widely adopted, according to Kiome, the technology could “…lift poor farmers from subsistence to income generation, poverty to wealth, and food insecurity to security.”

A highly invasive parasite, Striga infests 400,000 hectares of Kenya’s farmland. Striga sprouts fasten directly to roots of maize seedlings, sucking away nutrients and 50 to 100% of yields by harvest time. The weed overruns 40% of the arable land in Africa’s savannahs, threatening the livelihoods of more than 100 million people who depend on cereal crops for food and income. Kenyan maize farmers lose at least US$ 50 million annually in grain to Striga.

Taking advantage of a natural variation in maize, for nine years CIMMYT and partners have conventionally bred varieties that yield well under tropical conditions and withstand imidazolinone, an active ingredient in several herbicides and the BASF product, Strigaway®. This imidazolinone-resistant (IR) maize is the starting point for an elegant control method, as CIMMYT agronomist Fred Kanampiu explains: “The IR maize seed is coated with a low dose of the herbicide, which kills Striga as it germinates, allowing the maize to grow clear of the weed.” Besides producing healthy maize plants, over several years the practice helps clear fields of residual Striga seed—a boon to farmers, given that a single Striga plant produces up to 50,000 tiny seeds that can remain viable for 20 years or more.

striga

Four new maize hybrids have been released for marketing in Kenya under the common name Ua Kayongo (literally “kill Striga”) H1–4, and farmers are enthusiastic, as their statements in the Nairobi Daily Nation show: “I have already seen major changes in my farm compared to my neighbors’, whose parcels remain covered with the purple flowers of the parasitic weed,” says Zedekiah Onyango of Baridi farm in Nyahera. “My maize yield is many times higher since I started using IR maize, and I look forward to even higher yields.” Farmers are also urging the government to promote the technology to arrest the perennial food shortages caused by Striga. “I believe it would be much cheaper for the government to invest money in the technology, so that this menace is cleared once and for all, and the production of various cereals is restored,” says Beatrice Ayoo, another small-scale farmer who is interested in the new Clearfield® practice.

The technology was developed through global cooperation involving CIMMYT; KARI; the Weizmann Institute of Science, Israel; BASF; private seed companies; and the Rockefeller Foundation; among others. Peter Matlon, director for the Africa Regional Program, the Rockefeller Foundation, was at the launch, and called the cross-sectoral collaboration “a classic example of partnership.” The Clearfield® control package will be released soon in Tanzania, Uganda and, eventually, 16 other countries of sub-Saharan Africa, in a process spearheaded by the African Agricultural Technology Foundation (AATF) with DFID support.

For more information, contact Fred Kanampiu (f.kanampiu@cgiar.org).