funder_partner: Bangladesh Department of Agricultural Extension

Wheat pathogen surveillance system set to expand through new investment

Written by Julian Bañuelos-Uribe on October 18, 2023. Posted in Press releases.

One of the world’s largest crop pathogen surveillance systems is set to expand its analytic and knowledge systems capacity to protect wheat productivity in food vulnerable areas of East Africa and South Asia.

Researchers announced the Wheat Disease Early Warning Advisory System (Wheat DEWAS), funded through a $7.3 million grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and the United Kingdom’s Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office, to enhance crop resilience to wheat diseases.

The project is led by David Hodson, principal scientist at CIMMYT, and Maricelis Acevedo, research professor of global development and plant pathology at Cornell University’s College of Agriculture and Life Sciences. This initiative brings together research expertise from 23 research and academic organizations from sub-Saharan Africa, South Asia, Europe, the United States and Mexico.

Wheat DEWAS aims to be an open and scalable system capable of tracking important pathogen strains. The system builds on existing capabilities developed by the research team to provide near-real-time model-based risk forecasts and resulting in accurate, timely and actionable advice to farmers. As plant pathogens continue to evolve and threaten global food production, the system strengthens the capacity of countries to respond in a proactive manner to transboundary wheat diseases.

The system focuses on the two major fungal pathogens of wheat known as rust and blast diseases. Rust diseases, named for a rust-like appearance on infected plants, are hyper-variable and can significantly reduce crop yields when they attack. The fungus releases trillions of spores that can ride wind currents across national borders and continents and spread devastating epidemics quickly over vast areas.

Wheat blast, caused by the fungus Magnaporte oryzae Tritici, is an increasing threat to wheat production, following detection in both Bangladesh and Zambia. The fungus spreads over short distances and through the planting of infected seeds. Grains of infected plants shrivel within a week of first symptoms, providing little time for farmers to take preventative actions. Most wheat grown in the world has limited resistance to wheat blast.

“New wheat pathogen variants are constantly evolving and are spreading rapidly on a global scale,” said Hodson, principal investigator for Wheat DEWAS. “Complete crop losses in some of the most food vulnerable areas of the world are possible under favorable epidemiological conditions. Vigilance coupled with pathogen-informed breeding strategies are essential to prevent wheat disease epidemics. Improved monitoring, early warning and advisory approaches are an important component for safeguarding food supplies.”

Previous long-term investments in rust pathogen surveillance, modelling, and diagnostics built one of the largest operational global surveillance and monitoring system for any crop disease. The research permitted the development of functioning prototypes of advanced early warning advisory systems (EWAS) in East Africa and South Asia. Wheat DEWAS seeks to improve on that foundation to build a scalable, integrated, and sustainable solution that can provide improved advanced timely warning of vulnerability to emerging and migrating wheat diseases.

“The impact of these diseases is greatest on small-scale producers, negatively affecting livelihoods, income, and food security,” Acevedo said. “Ultimately, with this project we aim to maximize opportunities for smallholder farmers to benefit from hyper-local analytic and knowledge systems to protect wheat productivity.”

The system has already proven successful, contributing to prevention of a potential rust outbreak in Ethiopia in 2021. At that time, the early warning and global monitoring detected a new yellow rust strain with high epidemic potential. Risk mapping and real-time early forecasting identified the risk and allowed a timely and effective response by farmers and officials. That growing season ended up being a production record-breaker for Ethiopian wheat farmers.

While wheat is the major focus of the system, pathogens with similar biology and dispersal modes exist for all major crops. Discoveries made in the wheat system could provide essential infrastructure, methods for data collection and analysis to aid interventions that will be relevant to other crops.

Wheat Disease Early Warning Advisory System (DEWAS)

Written by Sarah McLaughlin on March 10, 2023. Posted in Uncategorized.

The Wheat Disease Early Warning Advisory System (Wheat DEWAS) project is bringing new analytic and knowledge systems capacity to one of the world’s largest and most advanced crop pathogen surveillance systems. With Wheat DEWAS, researchers are building an open and scalable system capable of preventing disease outbreaks from novel pathogen strains that threaten wheat productivity in food vulnerable areas of East Africa and South Asia.

The system builds from capabilities developed previously by multi-institutional research teams funded through long-term investments in rust pathogen surveillance, modelling, and diagnostics. Once fully operationalized, the project aims to provide near-real-time, model-based risk forecasts for governments. The result: accurate, timely and actionable advice for farmers to respond proactively to migrating wheat diseases.

The Challenge

Farmers growing wheat face pathogen pressures from a range of sources. Two of the most damaging are the fungal diseases known as rust and blast. Rust is a chronic issue for farmers in all parts of the world. A study in 2015 estimated that the three rust diseases — stem, stripe and leaf — destroyed more than 15 million tons of wheat at a cost of nearly $3 billion worldwide. Wheat blast is an increasing threat to wheat production and has been detected in both Bangladesh and Zambia. Each of these diseases can destroy entire harvests without warning, wiping out critical income and food security for resource-poor farmers in vulnerable areas.

The Response

Weather forecasts and early-warning alerts are modern technologies that people rely on for actionable information in the case of severe weather. Now imagine a system that lets farmers know in advance when dangerous conditions will threaten their crop in the field. Wheat DEWAS aims to do just that through a scalable, integrated, and sustainable global surveillance and monitoring system for wheat.

Wheat DEWAS brings together research expertise from 23 research and academic organizations from sub-Saharan Africa, South Asia, Europe, the United States and Mexico.

Together, the researchers are focused on six interlinked work packages:

Work package	Lead	Objectives
Data Management	Aarhus University; Global Rust Reference Center	Maintain, strengthen and expand the functionality of the existing Wheat Rust Toolbox data management system Create new modules within the Toolbox to include wheat blast and relevant wheat host information Consolidate and integrate datasets from all the participating wheat rust diagnostic labs Develop an API for the two-way exchange of data between the Toolbox and the Delphi data stack Develop an API for direct access to quality-controlled surveillance data as inputs for forecast models Ensure fair access to data
Epidemiological Models	Cambridge University	Maintain operational deployment and extend geographical range Productionalize code for long-term sustainability Multiple input sources (expert, crowd, media) Continue model validation Ensure flexibility for management scenario testing Extend framework for wheat blast
Surveillance (host + pathogen)	CIMMYT	Undertake near-real-time, standardized surveys and sampling in the target regions Expand the coverage and frequency of field surveillance Implement fully electronic field surveillance that permits near real-time data gathering Target surveillance and diagnostic sampling to validate model predictions Map vulnerability of the host landscape
Diagnostics	John Innes Centre	Strengthen existing diagnostic network in target regions & track changes & movement Develop & integrate new diagnostic methodology for wheat rusts & blast Align national diagnostic results to provide a regional & global context Enhance national capacity for wheat rust & blast diagnostics
Information Dissemination and Visualization Tools	PlantVillage; Penn State	Create a suite of information layers and visualization products that are automatically derived from the quality-controlled data management system and delivered to end users in a timely manner Deliver near real time for national partners to develop reliable and actionable advisory and alert information to extension workers, farmers and policy makers
National Partner Capacity Building	Cornell University	Strengthening National partner capacity on pathogen surveillance, diagnostics, modeling, data management, early warning assessment, and open science publishing

Wheat DEWAS partners

Academic organizations: Aarhus University / Global Rust Reference Center; Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman Agricultural University; Cornell University / School of Integrative Plant Science, Plant Pathology & Plant-Microbe Biology Section; Hazara University; Penn State University / PlantVillage; University of Cambridge; University of Minnesota

Research organizations: Bangladesh Wheat and Maize Research Institute (BWMRI); CIMMYT; Department of Agricultural Extension (DAE), Bangladesh; Ethiopian Agricultural Transformation Institute (ATI); Ethiopian Institute of Agricultural Research (EIAR); ICARDA; John Innes Centre (JIC); Kenya Agricultural and Livestock Research Organization (KALRO); National Plant Protection Centre (NPPC), Bhutan; Nepal Agricultural Research Council (NARC); Pakistan Agricultural Research Council (PARC); UK Met Office; Tanzania Agricultural Research Institute (TARI); The Sainsbury Laboratory (TSL) / GetGenome; U.S. Department of Agriculture, Agricultural Research Service; Zambia Agricultural Research Institute (ZARI)

Washiq Faisal

Written by Sarah McLaughlin on August 22, 2022. Posted in Uncategorized.

Washiq Faisal is a Research Associate with CIMMYT’s sustainable intensification program, based in Bangladesh. He joined CIMMYT in 2014 and has been involved in applied agricultural research to tackle food insecurity through improved nutrient-rich, high-yielding varieties and sustainable agronomic practices for nearly 15 years.

Faisal is involved in innovative and multi-disciplinary research focused on the principles of sustainable and ecological intensification in smallholder dominated and tropical agricultural systems in Bangladesh. His current research focuses on climate-driven epidemiology of two crop diseases, Stemphylium blight of lentil and wheat leaf rust.

In collaboration with the Bangladesh Meteorological Department (BMD) and Bangladesh Department of Agricultural Extension, Faisal learnt how to use Agvisely, an agro-meteorological services tool providing location-specific advice to farmers.

The grain in this blast-blighted wheat head has been turned to chaff. (Photo: CKnight/DGGW/ Cornell University)

Preventing and protecting against wheat blast

Written by Emma Orchardson on August 10, 2021. Posted in News.

A blast-blighted stalk of wheat. (Photo: Chris Knight/Cornell)

Every year, the spores of the wheat blast fungus lie in wait on farms in South America, Bangladesh, and beyond. In most years, the pathogen has only a small impact on the countries’ wheat crops. But the disease spreads quickly, and when the conditions are right there’s a risk of a large outbreak — which can pose a serious threat to the food security and livelihood of farmers in a specific year.

To minimize this risk, an international partnership of researchers and organizations have created the wheat blast Early Warning System (EWS), a digital platform that notifies farmers and officials when weather conditions are ideal for the fungus to spread. The team, which began its work in Bangladesh, is now introducing the technology to Brazil — the country where wheat blast was originally discovered in 1985.

The International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT), the Brazilian Agricultural Research Corporation (EMBRAPA), Brazil’s University of Passo Fundo (UPF) and others developed the tool with support from USAID under the Cereal Systems Initiative for South Asia (CSISA) project.

Although first developed with the help of Brazilian scientists for Bangladesh, the EWS has now come full circle and is endorsed and being used by agriculture workers in Brazil. The team hopes that the system will give farmers time to take preventative measures against the disease.

Outbreaks can massively reduce crop yields, if no preventative actions are taken.

“It can be very severe. It can cause a lot of damage,” says Maurício Fernandes, a plant epidemiologist with EMBRAPA.

Striking first

In order to expand into a full outbreak, wheat blast requires specific temperature and humidity conditions. So, Fernandes and his team developed a digital platform that runs weather data through an algorithm to determine the times and places in which outbreaks are likely to occur.

If the system sees a region is going to grow hot and humid enough for the fungus to thrive, it sends an automated message to the agriculture workers in the area. These messages — texts or emails — alert them to take preemptive measures against the disease.

More than 6,000 extension agents in Bangladesh have already signed up for disease early warnings.

In Brazil, Fernandes and his peers are connecting with farmer cooperatives. These groups, which count a majority of Brazilian farmers as members, can send weather data to help inform the EWS, and can spread alerts through their websites or in-house applications.

Wheat blast can attack a plant quickly, shriveling and deforming the grain in less than a week from the first symptoms. Advance warnings are essential to mitigate losses. The alerts sent out will recommend that farmers apply fungicide, which only works when applied before infection.

“If the pathogen has already affected the plant, the fungicides will have no effect,” Fernandes says.

A blast from the past

Because wheat had not previously been exposed to Magnaporthe oryzae, most wheat cultivars at the time had no natural resistance to Magnaporthe oryzae, according to Fernandes. Some newer varieties are moderately resistant to the disease, but the availability of sufficient seed for farmers remains limited.

The pathogen can spread through leftover infected seeds and crop residue. But its spores can also travel vast distances through the air.

If the fungus spreads and infects enough plants, it can wreak havoc over large areas. In the 1990s — shortly after its discovery — wheat blast impacted around three million hectares of wheat in South America. Back in 2016, the disease appeared in Bangladesh and South Asia for the first time, and the resulting outbreak covered around 15,000 hectares of land. CGIAR estimates that the disease has the potential to reduce the region’s wheat production by 85 million tons.

In Brazil, wheat blast outbreaks can have a marked impact on the country’s agricultural output. During a major outbreak in 2009, the disease affected as many as three million hectares of crops in South America. As such, the EWS is an invaluable tool to support food security and farmer livelihoods. Fernandes notes that affected regions can go multiple years between large outbreaks, but the threat remains.

“People forget about the disease, then you have an outbreak again,” he says.

Essential partnerships

The EWS has its roots in Brazil. In 2017 Fernandes and his peers published a piece of research proposing the model. After that, Tim Krupnik, a senior scientist and country representative with CIMMYT in Bangladesh, along with a group of researchers and organizations, launched a pilot project in Bangladesh.

There, agriculture extension officers received an automated email or text message when weather conditions were ideal for wheat blast to thrive and spread. The team used this proof of concept to bring it back to Brazil.

According to Krupnik, the Brazil platform is something of a “homecoming” for this work. He also notes that cooperation between the researchers, organizations and agriculture workers in Brazil and Bangladesh was instrumental in creating the system.

“From this, we’re able to have a partnership that I think will have a significant outcome in Brazil, from a relatively small investment in research supplied in Bangladesh. That shows you the power of partnerships and how solutions can be found to pressing agricultural problems through collaborative science, across continents,” he says.

In case of fall armyworm, watch this video

Written by AFM Nazmul Alam on October 12, 2020. Posted in Videos.

To the first-time observer, the aftermath of a fall armyworm infestation must be terrifying. The larvae can cause significant damage to an entire field in a single night, leaving once-healthy leaves looking like tattered rags.

A new instructional video, which will air in Bangladesh, aims to combat both the pest and the distress its appearance can cause with detailed, actionable information for farmers. The video describes how to identify the pest, its lifecycle and the kind of damage it can do to maize — among other crops — and provides techniques for identifying, assessing, and combating an infestation.

This video was developed by the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT) with support from the Department of Agricultural Extension (DAE) and the Bangladesh Wheat and Maize Research Institute (BWMRI), as part of the project Fighting back against fall armyworm in Bangladesh. Supported by USAID’s Feed the Future Initiative and Michigan State University, this CIMMYT-led project works in synergy with the Cereal Systems Initiative for South Asia (CSISA), and with national partners to mitigate the impact of this invasive pest on smallholder farmers’ livelihoods.

The video is available in Bangla with English captions.

Jamal conquered his dreams through maize farming

Written by Steven M on October 6, 2020. Posted in Videos.

When we talk about the impact of agricultural research we often rely on numerical metrics: percent increase in yield, percent decrease in crop loss, adoption rates, etcetera. For farmers on the ground, however, the impact can be much harder to boil down to a few numbers. Hiding behind every statistical table are real stories of dreams dashed or fulfilled, of everyday people trying to survive and flourish.

A new educational video powerfully dramatizes this point through the story of Jamal Mia and his daughter Rupa. Jamal’s dreams to own a house and see Rupa enroll in college are threatened when his maize crop is attacked by fall armyworm. An encounter with an agricultural extension officer puts Jamal on track to tackle the infestation, save his crop and secure his family’s wellbeing.

The video was developed by CIMMYT with support from Bangladesh’s Department of Agricultural Extension and the Bangladesh Wheat and Maize Research Institute (BWMRI), as part of a project titled “Fighting back against fall armyworm in Bangladesh.” Supported by USAID’s Feed the Future Initiative and Michigan State University, this CIMMYT-led project works in synergy with the Cereal Systems Initiative for South Asia (CSISA) and with national partners to mitigate the impact of this invasive pest on smallholder farmers’ livelihoods.

The video was filmed in Dinajpur district, Bangladesh, and is available in Bangla with English captions.

Asia Regional Resilience to a Changing Climate (ARRCC)

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

The Asia Regional Resilience to a Changing Climate (ARRCC) program is managed by the UK Met Office, supported by the World Bank and the UK’s Department for International Development (DFID). The four-year program, which started in 2018, aims to strengthen weather forecasting systems across Asia. The program will deliver new technologies and innovative approaches to help vulnerable communities use weather warnings and forecasts to better prepare for climate-related shocks.

Since 2019, as part of ARRCC, CIMMYT has been working with the Met Office and Cambridge University to pilot an early warning system to deliver wheat rust and blast disease predictions directly to farmers’ phones in Bangladesh and Nepal.

The system was first developed in Ethiopia. It uses weather information from the Met Office, the UK’s national meteorological service, along with field and mobile phone surveillance data and disease spread modeling from the University of Cambridge, to construct and deploy a near real-time early warning system.

Phase I: 12-Month Pilot Phase

Around 50,000 smallholder farmers are expected to receive improved disease warnings and appropriate management advisories in the first 12 months as part of a proof-of-concept modeling and pilot advisory extension phase focused on three critical diseases:

Wheat stripe rust in Nepal: extend and test the modelling framework developed in Ethiopia to smallholder farmers in Nepal as proof-of concept;
Wheat stem rust in Bangladesh and Nepal: while stem rust is currently not widely established in South Asia, models indicate that devastating incursion from neighboring regions is likely. This work will prepare for potential incursions of new rust strains in both countries;
Wheat blast in Bangladesh: this disease is now established in Bangladesh. This work will establish the feasibility of adapting the dispersal modelling framework to improve wheat blast predictability and deploy timely preventative management advisories to farmers.

Phase II: Scaling-out wheat rust early warning advisories, introducing wheat blast forecasting and refinement model refinement

Subject to funding approval the second year of the project will lead to validation of the wheat rust early warnings, in which researchers compare predictions with on-the-ground survey results, increasingly supplemented with farmer response on the usefulness of the warnings facilitated by national research and extension partners. Researchers shall continue to introduce and scale-out improved early warning systems for wheat blast. Concomitantly, increasing the reach of the advice to progressively larger numbers of farmers while refining the models in the light of results. We anticipate that with sufficient funding, Phase II activities could reach up to 300,000 more farmers in Nepal and Bangladesh.

Phase III: Demonstrating that climate services can increase farmers’ resilience to crop diseases

As experience is gained and more data is accumulated from validation and scaling-out, researchers will refine and improve the precision of model predictions. They will also place emphasis on efforts to train partners and operationalize efficient communication and advisory dissemination channels using information communication technologies (ICTs) for extension agents and smallholders. Experience from Ethiopia indicates that these activities are essential in achieving ongoing sustainability of early warning systems at scale. Where sufficient investment can be garnered to support the third phase of activities, it is expected that an additional 350,000 farmers will receive disease management warnings and advisories in Nepal and Bangladesh, totaling 1 million farmers over a three-year period.

Objectives

Review the feasibility of building resilience to wheat rust through meteorologically informed early warning systems.
Adapt and implement epidemiological forecasting protocols for wheat blast in South Asia.
Implement processes to institutionalize disease early warning systems in Nepal and Bangladesh.

Climate- and market-smart mung bean advisories (CAMASMA)

Written by Emma Orchardson on April 21, 2020. Posted in Uncategorized.

Focusing on highly profitable but weather-risk prone mung bean production in coastal Bangladesh, the Climate and market-smart mung bean advisories (CAMASMA) project develops farmer friendly and demand-driven climate- and market-smart mung bean advisory dissemination systems.

Heavy rainfall events can cause significant damage to mung bean production, causing large yield and income losses for farmers in coastal Bangladesh. By integrating and disseminating weather-forecast information, climate-smart advisories for when and how to harvest mung bean help farmers to mitigate some of the climate risks associated with crop production.

Both mung bean farmers and traders can also benefit from real-time market price data. In addition to market intelligence on where large blocks of farmers have quality mung bean for sale, CAMASMA improves information flow to lower trading firms’ transactions costs while speeding farm-gate purchase and income generation from farmers.

CAMASMA is a pilot project that demonstrates the power of climate services, agricultural advisories, and use of social network analysis and ICTs to speed information delivery and increase farmers’ resilience to extreme climatic events.

Objectives

Customize heavy and extreme rainfall event forecasts for coastal Bangladesh
Analyze social networks to assist extension agents in rapid deployment of crop management advice in remote and hard to reach areas
Set up interpretive algorithms and interactive voice response (IVR) mobile call systems for weather, mung bean management and market advisories appropriate to men and women smallholder farmers
Release and promote a smartphone app providing customized weather forecasts, mung bean agronomic advice, early warnings for potential crop damaging extreme weather events, and market information
Establish business models and strategies for sustaining the use of IVR and smartphone apps after project closure

Blast and rust forecast

Written by Matthew O'Leary on April 20, 2020. Posted in Features. 1 Comment on Blast and rust forecast

An early warning system set to deliver wheat disease predictions directly to farmers’ phones is being piloted in Bangladesh and Nepal by interdisciplinary researchers.

Experts in crop disease, meteorology and computer science are crunching data from multiple countries to formulate models that anticipate the spread of the wheat rust and blast diseases in order to warn farmers of likely outbreaks, providing time for pre-emptive measures, said Dave Hodson, a principal scientist with the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT) coordinating the pilot project.

Around 50,000 smallholder farmers are expected to receive improved disease warnings and appropriate management advisories through the one-year proof-of-concept project, as part of the UK Aid-funded Asia Regional Resilience to a Changing Climate (ARRCC) program.

Early action is critical to prevent crop diseases becoming endemic. The speed at which wind-dispersed fungal wheat diseases are spreading through Asia poses a constant threat to sustainable wheat production of the 130 million tons produced in the region each year.

“Wheat rust and blast are caused by fungal pathogens, and like many fungi, they spread from plant to plant — and field to field — in tiny particles called spores,” said Hodson. “Disease strain mutations can overcome resistant varieties, leaving farmers few choices but to rely on expensive and environmentally-damaging fungicides to prevent crop loss.”

“The early warning system combines climate data and epidemiology models to predict how spores will spread through the air and identifies environmental conditions where healthy crops are at risk of infection. This allows for more targeted and optimal use of fungicides.”

CIMMYT consultant Madan Bhatta conducts field surveys using Open Data Kit (ODK) in the mid-hills of Nepal. (Photo: D. Hodson/CIMMYT)

Initial efforts focused on adapting the wheat stripe and stem rust model from Ethiopia to Bangladesh and Nepal have been successful, with field surveillance data appearing to align with the weather-driven disease early warnings, but further analysis is ongoing, said Hodson.

“In the current wheat season we are in the process of comparing our disease forecasting models with on-the-ground survey results in both countries,” the wheat expert said.

“Next season, after getting validation from national partners, we will pilot getting our predictions to farmers through text-based messaging systems.”

CIMMYT’s strong partnerships with governmental extension systems and farmer associations across South Asia are being utilized to develop efficient pathways to get disease predictions to farmers, said Tim Krupnik, a CIMMYT Senior Scientist based in Bangladesh.

“Partnerships are essential. Working with our colleagues, we can validate and test the deployment of model-derived advisories in real-world extension settings,” Krupnik said. “The forecasting and early warning systems are designed to reduce unnecessary fungicide use, advising it only in the case where outbreaks are expected.”

Local partners are also key for data collection to support and develop future epidemiological modelling, the development of advisory graphics and the dissemination of information, he explained.

The second stage of the project concerns the adaptation of the framework and protocols for wheat blast disease to improve existing wheat blast early warning systems already pioneered in Bangladesh.

Example of weekly stripe rust spore deposition forecast in Nepal. Darker colors represent higher predicted number of spores deposited. The early warning system combines weather information from the Met Office with field and mobile phone surveillance data and disease spread modeling from the University of Cambridge. (Graphic: University of Cambridge and Met Office)

Strong scientific partnership champions diversity to achieve common goals

The meteorological-driven wheat disease warning system is an example of effective international scientific partnership contributing to the UN Sustainable Development Goals, said Sarah Millington, a scientific manager at Atmospheric Dispersion and Air Quality Group with the Met Office.

“Diverse expertise from the Met Office, the University of Cambridge and CIMMYT shows how combined fundamental research in epidemiology and meteorology modelling with field-based disease observation can produce a system that boosts smallholder farmers’ resilience to major agricultural challenges,” she said.

The atmospheric dispersion modeling was originally developed in response to the Chernobyl disaster and since then has evolved to be able to model the dispersion and deposition of a range of particles and gases, including biological particles such as wheat rust spores.

“The framework together with the underpinning technologies are transferable to forecast fungal disease in other regions and can be readily adapted for other wind-dispersed pests and disease of major agricultural crops,” said Christopher Gilligan, head of the Epidemiology and Modelling Group at the University of Cambridge.

Fungal wheat diseases are an increasing threat to farmer livelihoods in Asia

Wheat leaf rust can be spotted on a wheat plant of a highly susceptible variety in Nepal. The symptoms of wheat rust are dusty, reddish-orange to reddish-brown fruiting bodies that appear on the leaf surface. These lesions produce numerous spores, which are spread by wind and splashing water. (Photo: D Hodson/CIMMYT)

While there has been a history of wheat rust disease epidemics in South Asia, new emerging strains and changes to climate pose an increased threat to farmers’ livelihoods. The pathogens that cause rust diseases are continually evolving and changing over time, making them difficult to control.

Stripe rust threatens farmers in Afghanistan, India, Nepal and Pakistan, typically in two out of five seasons, with an estimated 43 million hectares of wheat vulnerable. When weather conditions are conducive and susceptible cultivars are grown, farmers can experience losses exceeding 70%.

Populations of stem rust are building at alarming rates and previously unseen scales in neighboring regions. Stem rust spores can spread across regions on the wind; this also amplifies the threat of incursion into South Asia and the ARRCC program’s target countries, underscoring the very real risk that the disease could reemerge within the subcontinent.

The devastating wheat blast disease, originating in the Americas, suddenly appeared in Bangladesh in 2016, causing wheat crop losses as high as 30% on a large area, and continues to threaten South Asia’s vast wheat lands.

In both cases, quick international responses through CIMMYT, the CGIAR research program on Wheat (WHEAT) and the Borlaug Global Rust Initiative have been able to monitor and characterize the diseases and, especially, to develop and deploy resistant wheat varieties.

The UK aid-funded ARRCC program is led by the Met Office and the World Bank and aims to strengthen weather forecasting systems across Asia. The program is delivering new technologies and innovative approaches to help vulnerable communities use weather warnings and forecasts to better prepare for climate-related shocks.

The early warning system uses data gathered from the online Rust Tracker tool, with additional fieldwork support from the Cereal Systems Initiative for South Asia (CSISA), funded by USAID and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, both coordinated by CIMMYT.

Participants of the Fighting Back Against Fall Armyworm trainings learning to collect field data through the Fall Armyworm Monitor web app in a farmer's field in Chauadanga, Bangladesh. (Photo: Uttam Kumar/CIMMYT)

Crowdsourced data feeds fall armyworm surveillance in Bangladesh

Written by Matthew O'Leary on March 20, 2020. Posted in Features.

Following the spread of fall armyworm, crowdsourced data is powering a web-based application to help farmers in Bangladesh stay ahead of the crop pest.

The Fall Armyworm Monitor collects population, incidence and severity data, and guides pest management decisions. The web tool relies on information gathered by farmers using smartphones in their fields.

It was developed by the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT) in cooperation with Bangladesh’s Department of Agricultural Extension, through the Fighting Back Against Fall Armyworm project, supported by USAID and Michigan State University.

When a foreign caterpillar first munched through Muhammad Hasan Ali’s maize field during the winter 2018-2019 season, he was stumped as to what it was or how to manage it. All he knew was his harvest and the investment he made in growing his crop was at risk.

“I’d never seen this type of insect in previous seasons, but I soon learned from government extension workers it was the fall armyworm,” explained Hasan Ali, a farmer from rural Chuadanga, in western Bangladesh. When poorly managed, fall armyworm can significantly reduce maize productivity.

Hasan Ali asked to join a training program, where he learned how to identify, monitor and control the spread of the invasive and voracious crop pest. The training, mainly tailored to extension staff, was facilitated by CIMMYT and Bangladesh’s Department of Agricultural Extension.

Participants of the Fighting Back Against Fall Armyworm trainings learning to collect field data through the Fall Armyworm Monitor web app in a farmer’s field in Chauadanga, Bangladesh. (Photo: Uttam Kumar/CIMMYT)

Participants and instructors of the Fighting Back Against Fall Armyworm trainings participate in a field session to work with the Fall Armyworm Monitor web app in Chauadanga, Bangladesh. (Photo: Uttam Kumar/CIMMYT)

Equipped to fight the pest

Extension staff and farmers gained valuable insights into different methods of control, including management of small and large patches of insect attack.

“I learned to identify fall armyworms in my field — and how to use hand picking methods and appropriate application of insecticide for control,” said Hasan Ali.

Farmers also learned how to set up pheromone traps to monitor pest populations and to use smartphones to make data-driven integrated pest management decisions using a cloud-based monitoring platform.

Crowdsourced information on the movement of fall armyworm is essential for effectively monitoring its spread and is a pivotal step in its management, said CIMMYT Senior Scientist and Systems Agronomist Timothy Krupnik.

“Farmers in top maize growing regions are working with extension officers to monitor traps and report findings weekly by entering data into smartphones,” Krupnik said.

Pheromones are natural compounds emitted by female moths to attract males for mating. Synthetic compounds that mimic natural fall armyworm pheromones are placed in traps to lure and capture male moths, after which extension agents count moths, enter, and upload data in their districts. At the time of writing, 649 staff from the Department of Agricultural Extension are reporting weekly moth count and pest damage data.

“Pest management practices are best when they are data-driven,” Krupnik explained. “Having information on the geographical location, plant growth stage and severity of infestation provides an informed base from which appropriate decisions can be made, with the ultimate goal of reducing pesticide misuse.”

“We are also excited as the data are open-access, and we are working to share them with FAO and other partners crucial in fall armyworm response,” he added.

The Fall Armyworm Monitor gives moth count and other data at the division, district and upazilla levels. (Photo: CIMMYT)

Data for better decisions

“The website hosts real-time data and depicts them graphically and in maps depending on user’s preferences. This information — which was core to the training extension agents participated in — is key for integrated pest management strategies,” explained Mutasim Billah, CIMMYT Data Specialist and the lead developer of the application.

“The department of extension services have employed 253 officers to visit fields with handheld smart devices in 25 districts to upload data,” said Billah. “The online tool stores data entries in its server and calculates the aggregated value for division, district and sub-district level on a weekly basis, and shows the estimated values through charts and in tabular format.”

The Fall Armyworm Monitor has become an essential tool for government officials to aid farmers in managing the pest which so far has been successful, said Bijoy Krishna Halder, additional Deputy Director of Plant Protection with the Bangladesh government.

“CIMMYT’s web portal is a very efficient way to collect data from the field. Anyone can access the page to see the overall condition of infestation across the country,”said Krishna Halder. “I check the portal every week about the fall armyworm condition and now it shows that the infestation is low with the overall field conditions good.”

The pest native to the Americas has become a global menace as it has spread attacking crops through Africa, and Asia, threatening the food and economic security of smallholder farmers.

Visit the Bangladesh Fall Armyworm Monitor.

The Fall Armyworm Monitor was created as part of the new Fighting Back Against Fall Armyworm in Bangladesh project is aligned with Michigan State University’s Borlaug Higher Education for Agricultural Research and Development (BHEARD) program, which supports the long-term training of agricultural researchers in USAID’s Feed the Future priority countries.

Smartphones drive data collection revolution, boost climate-smart agriculture in Bangladesh

Written by Matthew O'Leary on February 20, 2020. Posted in News.

Farmer receiving information from a phone-based service. (Photo: Michelle DeFreese/CIMMYT)

Agricultural research is entering a new age in Bangladesh. The days, months and years it takes to collect farm data with a clipboard, paper and pen are nearing their end.

Electronic smartphones and tablets are gaining ground, used by researchers, extension workers and farmers to revolutionize the efficiency of data collection and provide advice on best-bet practices to build resilient farming systems that stand up to climate change.

Digital data collection tools are crucial in today’s ‘big data’ driven agricultural research world and are fundamentally shifting the speed and accuracy of agricultural research, said Timothy Krupnik, Senior Scientist and Systems Agronomist at the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT).

“Easy-to-use data collection tools can be made available on electronic tablets for surveys. These allow extension workers to collect data from the farm and share it instantaneously with researchers,” he said.

“These tools allow the regular and rapid collection of data from farmers, meaning that researchers and extension workers can get more information than they would alone in a much quicker time frame.”

“This provides a better picture of the challenges farmers have, and once data are analyzed, we can more easily develop tailored solutions to farmers’ problems,” Krupnik explained.

Through the USAID and Bill and Melinda Gates supported Cereal Systems Initiative for South Asia (CSISA), and the CGIAR Research Program on Climate Change, Agriculture and Food Security (CCAFS) supported Big Data Analytics for Climate-Smart Agriculture in South Asia projects, 125 Department of Agricultural Extension (DAE) agents were trained throughout Bangladesh to use tablets to gather agronomic information from rice and wheat farmers.

It is the first time extension workers have been involved in data collection in the country. Since the pilot began in late 2019, extension workers have collected data from over 5,000 farmers, with detailed information on climate responses, including the management of soil, water and variety use to understand what drives productivity. The DAE is enthused about learning from the data, and plans to collect information from 7,000 more farmers in 2020.

Bangladesh’s DAE is directly benefiting through partnerships with expert national and international researchers developing systems to efficiently collect and analyze massive amounts of data to generate relevant climate-smart recommendations for farmers, said the department Director General Dr. M. Abdul Muyeed.

Workers spread maize crop for drying at a wholesale grain market. (Photo: Dreamstime.com)

For the first time widespread monitoring examines how farmers are coping with climate stresses, and agronomic data are being used to estimate greenhouse gas emissions from thousands of individual farmers. This research and extension partnership aims at identifying ways to mitigate and adapt to climate change, he explained.

“This work will strengthen our ability to generate agriculturally relevant information and increase the climate resilience of smallholder farmers in Bangladesh,” Dr. Muyeed said.

Next-gen big data analysis produces best-bet agricultural practices

“By obtaining big datasets such as these, we are now using innovative research methods and artificial intelligence (AI) to examine patterns in productivity, the climate resilience of cropping practices, and greenhouse gas emissions. Our aim is to develop and recommend improved agricultural practices that are proven to increase yields and profitability,” said Krupknik.

The surveys can also be used to evaluate on-farm tests of agricultural technologies, inform need-based training programs, serve local knowledge centers and support the marketing of locally relevant agricultural technologies, he explained.

“Collecting farm-specific data on greenhouse gas emissions caused by agriculture and recording its causes is a great step to develop strategies to reduce agriculture’s contribution to climate change,” added Krupnik.

Reporters interview trainers in the field during the Fighting Back against Fall Armyworm workshops. (Photo: Shafiq Islam)

New project strengthens capacity to fight fall armyworm in Bangladesh

Written by Matthew O'Leary on January 22, 2020. Posted in Features. 2 Comments on New project strengthens capacity to fight fall armyworm in Bangladesh

Hundreds of agricultural professionals in Bangladesh were trained in the latest fall armyworm management strategies as part of a new project that will strengthen efforts against this threat to farmers’ income, food security, and health. The new project, Fighting Back Against Fall Armyworm, is supported by USAID and the University of Michigan.

As part of the project, last November over 450 representatives from government, nonprofits and the private sector participated in three-day training to learn how to identify, monitor and apply integrated pest management approaches.

Fall armyworm presents an important threat to farmers’ income, food security and livelihoods as it continues to spread across the country, in addition to health risks if toxic insecticides are indiscriminately used, said Tim Krupnik, senior scientist and agronomist at the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT). It is anticipated the course participants will pass on knowledge about the pest and appropriate control practices to around 30,000 farmers in their respective localities.

“Participants were selected for their ability to reliably extend the strategies that can be sustainably implemented by maize farmers across the country,” explained Krupnik. “The immersive training saw participants on their hands and knees learning how to scout, monitor and collect data on fall armyworm,” he said. “They were also trained in alternatives to toxic chemical pesticides, and how and when to make decisions on biological control with parasitoids, bio-pesticides, and low-toxicity chemical pesticide use.”

Following its ferocious spread across Africa from the Americas, fall armyworm first attacked farms in Bangladesh during the winter 2018-2019 season. Combined with highly apparent damage to leaves, its resilience to most chemical control methods has panicked farmers and led researchers to promote integrated pest management strategies.

In this context, the 22-month Fighting Back Against Fall Armyworm project will build the capacity of the public and private sector for effective fall armyworm mitigation.

The hungry caterpillar feeds on more than 80 plant species, but its preferred host is maize — a crop whose acreage is expanding faster than any other cereal in Bangladesh. The pest presents a peculiar challenge as it can disperse over 200 kilometers during its adult stage, laying thousands of eggs along its way.

Once settled on a plant, larvae burrow inside maize whorls or hide under leaves, where they are partially protected from pesticides. In a bid to limit fall armyworm damage, farmers’ indiscriminate application of highly toxic and inappropriate insecticides can encourage the pest to develop resistance, while also presenting important risks to beneficial insects, farmers, and the environment.

Reaching every corner of the country

Participants of the Fighting Back against Fall Armyworm trainings visit farmers’ fields in Chauadanga, Bangladesh. (Photo: Tim Krupnik/CIMMYT)

As part of the project, CIMMYT researchers supported Bangladesh’s national Fall Armyworm Task Force to develop an online resource to map the spread of fall armyworm. Scientists are working with the Ministry of Agriculture to digitally collect real-time incidents of its spread to build evidence and gain further insight into the pest.

“Working with farmers and agricultural agencies to collect information on pest population and incidence will assist agricultural development planners, extension agents, and farmers to make informed management decisions,” said Krupnik, who is leading the project.

A key objective is to support national partners to develop educational strategies to facilitate sustainable pest control while also addressing institutional issues needed for efficient response.

“In particular, the Government of Bangladesh has been extremely responsive about the fall armyworm infestation and outbreak. It developed and distributed two fact sheets — the first of which was done before fall armyworm arrived — in addition to arranging workshops throughout the country. Initiatives have been taken for quick registration of microbial pesticides and seed treatments,” commented Syed Nurul Alam, Entomologist and Senior Consultant with CIMMYT.

“It is imperative that governmental extension agents are educated on sustainable ways to control the pest. In general, it is important to advise against the indiscriminate use of pesticides without first implementing alternative control measures, as this pest can build a resistance rendering many chemicals poorly effective,” Krupnik pointed out.

To this end, the project also consciously engages members of the private sector — including pesticide and seed companies as well as agricultural dealers — to ensure they are able to best advise farmers on the nature of the pest and suggest sustainable and long-term solutions. To date, the project has advised over 755 agricultural dealers operating in impacted areas of Bangladesh, with another 1,000 being trained in January 2020.

Project researchers are also working alongside the private sector to trial seed treatment and biologically-based methods of pest control. Biocontrol sees researchers identify, release, and manage natural predators and parasitoids to the fall armyworm, while targeted and biologically-based pesticides are significantly less of a health risk for farmers, while also being effective.

The 22-month project, funded by USAID, has 6 key objectives:

Develop educational materials to aid in reaching audiences with information to improve understanding and management of fall armyworm.
Assist the Department of Agricultural Extension in deploying awareness raising and training campaigns.
Prepare the private sector for appropriate fall armyworm response.
Standing task force supported.
Generate data and evidence to guide integrated fall armyworm management.

The Fighting Back Against Fall Armyworm in Bangladesh project is aligned with Michigan State University’s Borlaug Higher Education for Agricultural Research and Development (BHEARD) program, which supports the long-term training of agricultural researchers in USAID’s Feed the Future priority countries.

To achieve synergies and scale, the project will also be supported in part by in-kind staff time and activities, through linkages to the third phase of the USAID-supported Cereal Systems Initiative for South Asia (CSISA), led by the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Centre (CIMMYT). CSISA and CIMMYT staff work very closely with Bangladesh’s Department of Agricultural Extension and the Bangladesh Maize and Wheat Research Institute (BWMRI) in addition to other partners under the Ministry of Agriculture.

Climate Services for Resilient Development in South Asia (CSRD)

Written by Rodrigo Ordóñez on August 13, 2019. Posted in Uncategorized.

Climate Services for Resilient Development (CSRD) is a global partnership that connects climate and environmental science with data streams to generate decision support tools and training for decision-makers in developing countries. Translating complex climate information into easy to understand actionable formats to spread awareness in the form of climate services is core to CSRD’s mission. CSRD works across South Asia (with emphasis on Bangladesh), the Horn of Africa (Ethiopia), and in South America (Colombia) to generate and provide timely and useful climate information, decision tools and services. In South Asia, CSRD focusses the development, supply and adaptation of agricultural climate services to reduce vulnerability by increasing resiliency in smallholder farming systems. These goals are strategically aligned with the Global Framework for Climate Services.

Project description

CSRD in South Asia aims to have the impact by increasing climate resilient farm management, indicated by increased use of climate services and climate information to inform farmers on how to better manage their production systems. CSRD also aims to develop and validate models for agricultural climate services that can be replicated in other regions with similar farming systems and climate risks, while also fine-tuning weather and climate advisories to be most useful to farmers’ decision-making. A series of sustained contributions to CSRD’s Action and Learning Framework Pillars 1-4, detailed below, are envisioned as major project outcomes:

Pillar 1: Create the solution space:
CSRD works to establish a problem-focus, to engage key stakeholders, to create a platform for sustained communication and collaboration, and to build synergies among relevant programs.
Pillar 2: Utilize quality data, products, and tools
CSRD provides access to useful and available information and technology, and to develop tailored products and services responsive to problem-specific needs.
Pillar 3: Build capacities and platforms
CSRD supports the use of targeted products and services, and to promote sustainability, scalability, and replicability.
Pillar 4: Build knowledge
A key goal of CSRD’s work is to identify and promote good practices among the global climate services community and to support research efforts and innovation that increase the effectiveness of climate services.

Outputs

CSRD in South Asia will ultimately generate the following broad outputs and services:

A strengthened enabling environment for the generation, uptake, and use of weather and climate services to support resilient agricultural development.
National and sub-national strategies for climate services in Bangladesh supported by more effective, user-focused decision support and communications strengthened systems.
Improved data and infrastructure and communications capacity to support long-term improvements to the generation of agricultural climate services.
Improved knowledge, products and services strengthened by global collaboration and interdisciplinary research.

Download the report summarizing CSRD activities, achievements, and challenges during the first year (from November 2016 through December 2017).

The CSRD consortium in South Asia is led by the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT) in partnership with the Bangladesh Meteorological Department (BMD), Bangladesh Department of Agricultural Extension (DAE), Bangladesh Agricultural Research Council (BARC), Bangladesh Agricultural Research Institute (BARI), International Center for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD), International Institute for Climate and Society (IRI), University de Passo Fundo (UPF), and the University of Rhode Island (URI). This consortium provides strength and technical expertise to develop relevant climate products that can assist farmers and other stakeholders with relevant information to improve decision making, with the ultimate goal of increasing resilience to climate-related risks. The CSRD consortium also works to assure that climate information can be conveyed in ways that are decision-relevant to farmers and other agricultural stakeholders.

As a public-private partnership, CSRD is supported by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), UK AID, the UK Met Office, the Asian Development Bank (ADB), the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), ESRI, Google, the American Red Cross, and the Skoll Global Threats Fund.