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MARPLE team members Dave Hodson and Diane Saunders (second and third from left) stand for a photograph after receiving the International Impact award. With them is Malcolm Skingle, director of Academic Liaison at GlaxoSmithKline (first from left) and Melanie Welham, executive chair of BBSRC. (Photo: BBSRC)

MARPLE team recognized for international impact

Written by Marcia MacNeil on . Posted in News.

MARPLE team members Dave Hodson and Diane Saunders (second and third from left) stand for a photograph after receiving the International Impact award. With them is Malcolm Skingle, director of Academic Liaison at GlaxoSmithKline (first from left) and Melanie Welham, executive chair of BBSRC. (Photo: BBSRC)
MARPLE team members Dave Hodson and Diane Saunders (second and third from left) stand for a photograph after receiving the International Impact award. With them is Malcolm Skingle, director of Academic Liaison at GlaxoSmithKline (first from left) and Melanie Welham, executive chair of BBSRC. (Photo: BBSRC)

The research team behind the MARPLE (Mobile And Real-time PLant disEase) diagnostic kit won the International Impact category of the Innovator of the Year 2019 Awards, sponsored by the United Kingdom’s Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC).

The team — Diane Saunders of the John Innes Centre (JIC), Dave Hodson of the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT) and Tadessa Daba of the Ethiopian Institute for Agricultural Research (EIAR) — was presented with the award at an event at the London Science Museum on May 15, 2019. In the audience were leading figures from the worlds of investment, industry, government, charity and academia, including the U.K.’s Minister of State for Universities, Science, Research and Innovation, Chris Skidmore.

The BBSRC Innovator of the Year awards, now in their 11th year, recognize and support individuals or teams who have taken discoveries in bioscience and translated them to deliver impact. Reflecting the breadth of research that BBSRC supports, they are awarded in four categories of impact: commercial, societal, international and early career. Daba, Hodson and Saunders were among a select group of 12 finalists competing for the four prestigious awards. In addition to international recognition, they received ÂŁ10,000 (about $13,000).

“I am delighted that this work has been recognized,” Hodson said. “Wheat rusts are a global threat to agriculture and to the livelihoods of farmers in developing countries such as Ethiopia. MARPLE diagnostics puts state-of-the-art, rapid diagnostic results in the hands of those best placed to respond: researchers on the ground, local government and farmers.”

On-the-ground diagnostics

The MARPLE diagnostic kit is the first operational system in the world using nanopore sequence technology for rapid diagnostics and surveillance of complex fungal pathogens in the field.

In its initial work in Ethiopia, the suitcase-sized field test kit has positioned the country — one of the region’s top wheat producers — as a world leader in pathogen diagnostics and forecasting. Generating results within 48 hours of field sampling, the kit represents a revolution in plant disease diagnostics. Its use will have far-reaching implications for how plant health threats are identified and tracked into the future.

MARPLE is designed to run at a field site without constant electricity and with the varying temperatures of the field.

“This means we can truly take the lab to the field,” explained Saunders. “Perhaps more importantly though, it means that smaller, less-resourced labs can drive their own research without having to rely on a handful of large, well-resourced labs and sophisticated expertise in different countries.”

In a recent interview with JIC, EIAR Director Tadessa Daba said, “we want to see this project being used on the ground, to show farmers and the nation this technology works.”

The MARPLE team uses the diagnostic kit in Ethiopia. (Photo: JIC)
The MARPLE team uses the diagnostic kit in Ethiopia. (Photo: JIC)

Development of the MARPLE diagnostic kit was funded by the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC) and the CGIAR Platform for Big Data in Agriculture’s Inspire Challenge. Continued support is also provided by the BBSRC’s Excellence with Impact Award to the John Innes Centre and the Delivering Genetic Gain in Wheat project, led by Cornell University and funded by the UK’s Department for International Development (DFID) and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.

More information on the award can be found on the JIC website, the BBSRC website and the website of the CGIAR Research Program on Wheat.

Velu Govindan

Written by Emma Orchardson on . Posted in Uncategorized.

Velu Govindan is a senior wheat breeder at the CIMMYT’s Global Wheat Program in Mexico. He has been engaged in wheat improvement research for the past 15 years. During this period, he made significant contributions towards the development and release of more than 20 biofortified wheat varieties in South Asia with enhanced zinc and iron concentration, with tolerance to rusts & other foliar diseases and climate change-induced heat and drought stress.

Govindan is leading the two of the spring wheat breeding pipelines targeted to early maturing wheat environments with wheat yield potential, climate resilience and yield stability across diverse environments by combining traditional breeding and cutting-edge genomic tools. He is leading the CIMMYT breeding efforts towards mainstreaming grain Zn across elite wheat lines through accelerated breeding strategies. He has published more than 80 peer-reviewed journal articles and 15 book chapters. He received young scientist award from India.

Sridhar Bhavani

Written by Emma Orchardson on . Posted in Uncategorized.

Sridhar Bhavani is a Senior Scientist, Head of Rust Pathology and Molecular Genetics working at CIMMYT HQ.

He is a passionate researcher leader with over 15 years of experience working on wheat traits especially rust diseases. He has demonstrated leadership in executing multiple international projects and established strong networks and linkages in East Africa, Asia and various global wheat partners.

As the Head of Rust Pathology, he oversees pathology, molecular genetics, and breeding strategy components in major projects such as: Accelerating Genetic Gains in Maize and Wheat (AGGMW) funded by BMGF; DFID, FCDO, BMGF & DFID funded Zn mainstreaming project; GRDC and ACRCP funded projects on delivering genetic tools and knowledge required to breed wheat and barley with resistance to leaf rust, stripe rust and stem rust; USAID funded project on wheat rust breeding; NMBU-Norway funded project on sustainable management of rust diseases in wheat; and a project led by Kansas State on New Sources of Genetic Disease Resistance.

Farmers in Bangladesh practice traditional puddling of the soil before transplanting rice. (Photo: P. Wall/CIMMYT)

New publications: Small businesses, potentially large impacts

Written by Emma Orchardson on . Posted in Publications.

A recent study by socioeconomists at the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT) in Bangladesh examined the role of fertilizer traders in influencing farmer decision-making on which fertilizer to apply and at what rate.

In developing countries, the emerging private sector is gradually filling the gap between supply and demand of agricultural extension services. In Bangladesh, most farmers still rely on either their own experience or that of their peers, but increasingly seek suggestions from traders when deciding on the amount and dose of fertilizer to be applied, due to the constraints associated with public agricultural extension services. These private fertilizer traders are increasingly prominent as information sources in the more accessible, intensive and commercially-oriented boro rice production systems.

Using primary data collected from 556 randomly selected farm households in Bangladesh, the study examined farmers’ chemical fertilizer use and the associated rice production efficiency based on different information sources that farmers rely on, such as fertilizer traders, government extension agents, and personal experience.

The research show that farmers who relied on traders statistically had a higher production efficiency than those who did not. These results suggest that fertilizer traders are in fact supplementing government agricultural extension activities by providing useful information which supports resource-poor farmers to mitigate market failures and achieve higher production efficiency.

Read the full article “Small businesses, potentially large impacts: the role of fertilizer traders as agricultural extension agents in Bangladesh” in the Journal of Agribusiness in Developing and Emerging Economies.

This study was supported by USAID through the Cereal Systems Initiative for South Asia – Mechanization and Irrigation (CSISA-MI) project, as well as USAID and Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation through the second phase of the CSISA project.

Farmers in Bangladesh practice traditional puddling of the soil before transplanting rice. (Photo: P. Wall/CIMMYT)
Farmers in Bangladesh practice traditional puddling of the soil before transplanting rice. (Photo: P. Wall/CIMMYT)

Read more recent publications by CIMMYT researchers:

  1. Ten years of conservation agriculture in a rice–maize rotation of Eastern Gangetic Plains of India: yield trends, water productivity and economic profitability. 2019. Jat, R.K., Ravi Gopal Singh, Kumar, M., Jat, M.L., Parihar, C.M., Bijarniya, D., Sutaliya, J.M., Jat, M.K., Parihar M.D., Kakraliya Suresh Kumar, Gupta, R.K. In: Field Crops Research v. 232, p. 1-10.
  2. Exploiting genotype x environment x management interactions to enhance maize productivity in Ethiopia. 2019. Seyoum, S., Rachaputi, R., Fekybelu, S., Chauhan, Y., Prasanna, B.M. In: European Journal of Agronomy v. 103, p. 165-174.
  3. Yield response to plant density, row spacing and raised beds in low latitude spring wheat with ample soil resources: an update. 2019. Fischer, R.A., Moreno Ramos, O.H., Ortiz-Monasterio, I., Sayre, K.D. In: Field Crops Research v. 232, p. 95-105.

Improved Maize for African Soils (IMAS)

Written by Mary Donovan on . Posted in Uncategorized.

African maize farmers must deal with drought, weeds, and pests, but their problems start with degraded, nutrient-starved soils and their inability to purchase enough nitrogen fertilizer. Maize yields of smallholder farmers in sub-Saharan Africa are a fraction of those in the developed world, due mainly to the region’s poor soils and farmers’ limited access to fertilizer or improved maize seed. On average, such farmers apply only 9 kilograms of fertilizer per hectare of cropland. Of that small amount, often less than half is captured by the crop; the rest is leached deep into the soil where plants cannot recover it or otherwise lost.

The Improved Maize for African Soils Project (IMAS) develops maize varieties that are better at capturing the small amount of fertilizer that African farmers can afford, and that use the nitrogen they take up more efficiently to produce grain. Project participants will use cutting-edge biotechnology tools such as molecular markers—DNA “signposts” for traits of interest—and transgenic approaches to develop varieties that ultimately yield 30 to 50 percent more than currently available varieties, with the same amount of nitrogen fertilizer applied or when grown on poorer soils.

The varieties developed will be made available royalty-free to seed companies that sell to the region’s smallholder farmers, meaning that the seed will become available to farmers at the same cost as other types of improved maize seed.

In four years or less, African farmers should have access to IMAS varieties developed using conventional breeding that offer a 20 percent yield advantage over current varieties. Improved varieties developed using DNA marker techniques are expected to be introduced within seven to nine years, and those containing transgenic traits are expected to be available in approximately 10 years, pending product performance and regulatory approvals by national regulatory and scientific authorities, according to the established laws and regulatory procedures in each country.

IMAS is being led by CIMMYT and funded with $19.5 million in grants from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and the U.S. Agency for International Development. The project’s other partners — DuPont-Pioneer, Kenya Agricultural Livestock and Research Organization and the Agricultural Research Council of South Africa — are also providing significant in-kind contributions including staff, infrastructure, seed, traits, technology, training, and know-how.

The second phase of IMAS continues to be implemented through the Seed Production Technology for Africa (SPTA) project.

OBJECTIVES

  • Conventional and marker assisted breeding to develop hybrids and OPVs with improved nitrogen use efficiency (NUE) adapted to southern and eastern Africa
  • Identification and deployment of native trait alleles to enhance yield under low nitrogen conditions through association mapping and Quantitative Trait Loci mapping
  • Development of transgenic maize varieties adapted to southern and eastern Africa with increased yield under severe nitrogen limitation
  • Managing NUE varieties for sustainability in African maize cropping systems
  • Project stewardship, public awareness and capacity building
  • NUE variety registration, release and dissemination in southern and eastern Africa

Durable Rust Resistance in Wheat

Written by Courtney Brantley on . Posted in Uncategorized.

The Durable Rust Resistance in Wheat project, a collaborative effort begun in April 2008, which now includes 22 research institutions around the world and is led by Cornell University, seeks to mitigate the threat of rust diseases to wheat. It aims to do so through coordinated activities that will replace susceptible varieties with durably resistant varieties, created by accelerated multilateral plant breeding and delivered through optimized developing country seed sectors. The project also aims to harness recent advances in genomics to introduce non-host resistance (immunity) into wheat.

Improved international collaboration in wheat research to meet growing world demand for food — an estimated 50 percent production increase in wheat alone is needed by 2020 — is another major goal of this project.

Objectives

  • Reduce systematically the world’s vulnerability to stem rust diseases of wheat through an international collaboration unprecedented in scale and scope.
  • Mitigate that threat through coordinated pathogen surveillance activities, and breeding initiatives.
  • Make efforts that will replace susceptible varieties in farmer’s fields with seed of durably resistant varieties, created by accelerated multilateral plant breeding, and delivered through optimized developing country seed sectors.

Delivering Genetic Gain in Wheat (DGGW)

Written by Courtney Brantley on . Posted in Uncategorized.

Climate-change-induced heat stress and disease pathogens migrating across borders threaten the world’s wheat supply and food security in Africa and the Middle East. Building on the Durable Rust Resistance in Wheat (DRRW) global partnership, Delivering Genetic Gain in Wheat (DGGW) will mitigate serious threats to wheat brought about by climate change and develop and deploy new strains of wheat that are heat tolerant as well as resistant to wheat rusts and other diseases.

Cornell University has been awarded a $24 million grant by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to continue to fund and expand the work of the Borlaug Global Rust Initiative (BGRI).

DGGW uses modern tools of comparative genomics and big data to develop and deploy varieties of wheat that incorporate climate resiliency as well as improved disease resistance for smallholder farmers in these politically vulnerable regions.”

The four-year grant builds on the successes of the BGRI, led by the DRRW project, funded by the UK Department for International Development and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation from 2008 to 2016.

Deadly wheat pathogens have been moving from the wheat fields of northern and East Africa into the Middle East. In their rush to identify genes that can resist evolving and virulent new strains of the disease known as stem rust, BGRI scientists have developed collaborative arrangements and facilities, with the crucial support of national governments and agencies, to screen thousands of samples of wheat each year from every continent under rust infection, to identify resistant lines.

DGGW is based at Cornell University and acts as the secretariat for the BGRI. Collaborations continue with national partners in Kenya and Ethiopia, as well as scientists at international agricultural research centers that focus on wheat, including CIMMYT and the International Center for Agricultural Research in the Dry Areas.

Advanced research laboratories in the U.S., Canada, China, Turkey, Denmark, Australia and South Africa collaborate on the project. So far, more than 2,000 scientists from 35 international institutions spread across 23 countries are involved in the consortium, and 37 countries contribute data to the surveillance network.

Objectives

  • Mitigate serious threats to wheat brought about by climate change
  • Develop new strains of heat-tolerant wheat
  • Develop rust and disease resistant wheat
  • Monitor spread of stem rust and other windborne wheat diseases

Water Efficient Maize for Africa (WEMA)

Written by Mary Donovan on . Posted in Uncategorized.

The Water Efficient Maize for Africa partnership was launched in March 2008 to help farmers manage the risk of drought by developing and deploying maize varieties that yield 24 to 35 percent more grain under moderate drought conditions than currently available varieties. The higher and more reliable harvests will help farmers to feed their families and increase their incomes.

The varieties are being developed using conventional breeding, marker-assisted breeding, and biotechnology, and will be marketed royalty-free to smallholder farmers in Sub-Saharan Africa through African seed companies. The current, second phase of the project (2013–2017) includes breeding for resistance to stem borers—insect pests that seriously damage maize crops in the field—as well as product and production management, promotion with seed companies and farmers, and product stewardship activities.

The project focuses on Kenya, Mozambique, South Africa, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia and Zimbabwe. The second phase of the project began on February 1, 2013.

OBJECTIVES

  • Product development. Develop and test drought tolerant and and insect-pest resistant maize varieties through conventional, molecular, and genetic engineering breeding approaches.
  • Regulatory affairs and compliance. Support multi-location testing and commercial release of drought tolerant and insect-pest resistant maize hybrids in the Water Efficient Maize for Africa partner countries.
  • Product deployment: Product and production management. Facilitate the marketing and stewardship of drought tolerant and insect-pest resistant hybrid maize seeds, and stimulate private sector investments for sustainable seed production, distribution and us
  • Communications and outreach. Support testing, dissemination, commercialization, adoption, and stewardship of conventional and transgenic drought tolerant and insect-pest resistant hybrids in the five target countries.
  • Legal and licensing support. Develop and implement appropriate licensing and intellectual property protection mechanisms for Water Efficient Maize for Africa products.

FUNDING INSTITUTIONS

  • Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation
  • Howard G. Buffett Foundation
  • U.S. Agency for International Development

PRINCIPAL COORDINATOR

Stephen Mugo

Taking Maize Agronomy to Scale in Africa (TAMASA)

Written by Rodrigo Ordóñez on . Posted in Uncategorized.

Taking Maize Agronomy to Scale in Africa (TAMASA) is a 4-year project seeking to improve productivity and profitability for small-scale maize farmers in Ethiopia, Nigeria and Tanzania.

The overall purpose of TAMASA is to use innovative approaches to transform agronomy that:

  • Use available geospatial and other data and analytics to map maize areas, soil constraints, and actual and yields at different scale.
  • Work with service providers (i.e. input suppliers, government and private research and extension services, agro-dealers, and others) to identify and co-develop systems and applications that transform this data and information to useable products that support their businesses or programs to reach clients more effectively
  • Build capacity in national programs to support and sustain these approaches.

The core products and services of this project include:

  • Annual assessments and digital maps of maize growing areas, actual and attainable yields in core research areas or focal areas.
  • Decision-support tools for ex-ante spatial analysis, nutrient management, fertilizer formulation and variety selection.
  • Open-access databases of agronomic data.
  • Increased capacity in national programs and partners through in-country data science and software application training and mentoring.
Profitability under different fertilization recommendation scenarios in Ethiopia and Tanzania, measured in U.S. dollars per hectare.

How the data revolution could help design better agronomic investments

Written by JĂ©rĂŽme Bossuet on . Posted in Features.

Profitability under different fertilization recommendation scenarios in Ethiopia and Tanzania, measured in U.S. dollars per hectare.
Profitability under different fertilization recommendation scenarios in Ethiopia and Tanzania, measured in U.S. dollars per hectare.

What fertilizer application will give me the best returns? What maize crop variety should I use?

Each farmer faces constraints related to weather uncertainty, soil fertility management challenges, or access to finance and markets. To improve their yields and incomes, African smallholder farmers need agronomic advice adapted to their specific circumstances. The challenge is even greater in sub-Saharan Africa, where agricultural production landscapes are highly diverse. Yet traditional agronomic research was not designed to fit with complex agroecological regions and farming systems. Compounding the problem, research organizations often have limited resources to develop the necessary experiments to generate farm- and site-specific agronomic advice at scale.

“Agronomic research is traditionally not equipped to consider spatial or socio-economic diversity among the millions of farmers it targets,” said Sebastian Palmas, data scientist at the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT) in Nairobi, Kenya.

Palmas presented some of the learnings of the Taking Maize Agronomy to Scale in Africa (TAMASA) project during a science seminar called “A spatial ex ante framework for guiding agronomic investments in sub-Saharan Africa” on March, 4, 2019.

The project, funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, has used data to improve the way agronomic research for development is done. Researchers working on the TAMASA project addressed this challenge by using available geospatial information and other big data resources, along with new data science tools such as machine learning and Microsoft’s AI for Earth. They were able to produce and package information that can help farmers, research institutions and governments take better decisions on what agronomic practices and investments will give them the best returns.

By adapting the Quantitative Evaluation of the Fertility of Tropical Soils (QUEFTS) model to the conditions of small farmers in TAMASA target countries (Ethiopia, Nigeria and Tanzania), using different layers of information, CIMMYT and its partners have developed a versatile geospatial tool for evaluating crop yield responses to fertilizer applications in different areas of a given country. Because calculations integrate spatial variation of fertilizer and grain prices, the tool evaluates the profitability — a key factor influencing farmers’ fertilizer usage — for each location. The project team can generate maps that show, for instance, the estimated agronomic and economic returns to different fertilizer application scenarios.

The TAMASA team plans to publish the code and user-friendly interface of this new geospatial assessment tool later this year. (Photo: CIMMYT)
The TAMASA team plans to publish the code and user-friendly interface of this new geospatial assessment tool later this year. (Photo: CIMMYT)

Making profits grow

These tools could potentially help national fertilizer subsidy programs be more targeted and impactful, like the ambitious Ethiopia’s Fertilizer Blending initiative which distributes up to 250,000 tons of fertilizer annually. Initial calculations showed that, by optimizing diammonium phosphate (DAP) and urea application, the profitability per hectare could improve by 14 percent on average, compared to the current fertilizer recommendations.

Such an approach could generate farm-specific advice at scale and boost farmers’ incomes. It could also provide insights on many different issues, like estimating market demand for a new fertilizer blend, or the estimated quantity of additional fertilizer required to bring about a targeted maize yield increase.

Future extensions of the framework may incorporate varietal differences in nutrient management responses, and thus enable seed companies to use the framework to predict where a new maize hybrid would perform best. Similarly, crop breeders could adapt this ex ante assessment tool to weigh the pros and cons of a specific trait and the potential impact for farmers.

The TAMASA team plans to publish the code and user-friendly interface of this new geospatial assessment tool later this year.

Maize Doubled Haploid Production Services

Written by Rodrigo Ordóñez on . Posted in Uncategorized.

CIMMYT provides a maize doubled haploid (DH) production service at cost to maize breeding programs in Africa and Latin America at its DH facilities in Kenya and Mexico.

This service reduces the time required to develop homozygous maize lines to just over one year, instead of three to seven years using more traditional inbreeding methods. This technology also results in better-quality maize lines: DH maize lines are 100% homozygous, whereas traditional inbreeding generates lines with only approximately 99.2% homozygosity. These advantages help breeders increase their rate of genetic gain: the rate at which the genetic potential of a crop increases in yield over time.

CIMMYT established centralized DH line production facilities for Africa at KALRO-Kiboko, Kenya. A similar facility is also in operation for Latin America at CIMMYT’s experimental station in Agua Fría, Mexico. Public and private sector organizations involved in maize breeding can access the DH production service by signing a DH service agreement.

A non-pollen-producing plant (on the left) on a farm trial in Zimbabwe. (Photo: Jill Cairns/CIMMYT)

Seed Production Technology for Africa (SPTA)

Written by Rodrigo Ordóñez on . Posted in Uncategorized.

The Seed Production Technology for Africa (SPTA) project is working to implement an advanced seed production system in Africa for the benefit of smallholder farmers in sub-Saharan Africa.

Hybrids are maize varieties in which the seed is produced by crossing two different parent lines, increasing the yield through heterosis. In hybrid maize seed production, the pollen-producing tassel must be removed on female parent plants to avoid self-pollination. If detasselling is not done in a timely and accurate way, pollen from the female plants can pollinate the ears, causing contamination and reduced seed quality. Currently, African seed production actors prevent self-fertilization during certified seed production by manual detasselling. This process requires considerable time and labor and reduces seed yield potential of the detasselled seed-bearing plants (female plants).

The Seed Production Technology for Africa (SPTA) project was launched to improve access for smallholders to high quality seed of modern maize varieties. The project targets small and medium seed production companies in the region to strengthen their capacity to produce high quality hybrid maize more efficiently, and at reduced cost. These modern hybrids will improve yield in drought prone and low fertility production conditions that are common among resource-constrained African smallholders, particularly those that are not able to access adequate fertilizers.

SPTA efforts will contribute to a more vibrant private seed sector by providing higher quality hybrid seed using a technology that fits well within existing production systems of small and medium enterprise seed companies. This will help to improve productivity gains for smallholder farmers and ease the burden on public funding for development.

The SPTA project originated from the Improved Maize for African Soils (IMAS) project that concluded in 2015. IMAS focused on developing maize hybrids that could use nitrogen fertilizer more efficiently to deliver higher yields under low fertility conditions.

How SPTA works

This project seeks to introduce a proprietary SPTA process that eliminates the detasselling step by utilizing a mutation in the naturally occurring maize gene – Ms44 – that aborts the development of microspores into pollen to create female parent plants that are male-sterile, eliminating the need to manually remove the pollen-producing tassels.

The cross-pollination between this female parent and the male parent is therefore more reliable, efficient, and cost effective. Importantly, whilst the SPTA process utilizes a transgenic maintainer line, no transgene will be present in the single cross production, three-way hybrid production, or the final hybrid seed, sold to farmers. The benefit of SPTA is that it works across genetic backgrounds, unlike cytoplasmic male sterility (CMS). An additional benefit of SPTA is hybrids produced using this technology yield 200 kg ha-1 more as a result of conserving resources for grain production.

Collaboration between Pioneer Hi-Bred International, Inc. (an affiliate of Corteva Agriscience) (Corteva), Agricultural Research Council of South Africa (ARC), Kenyan Agriculture and Livestock Research Organization (KALRO), Qualibasic Seed Company Limited (QBS) and CIMMYT

The SPTA project which is funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation originated from the Improved Maize for African Soils (IMAS) project that concluded in 2015, where the focus was on developing maize hybrids that could use nitrogen fertilizer more efficiently to deliver higher yields under low fertility conditions. The overall objectives of the project are to:

  • Improve the grain yield potential of stress tolerant maize hybrids in low fertility environments.
  • Develop a new hybrid production platform capable of producing sufficient early generation seed to support production of high-quality certified seed each year.
  • Simplify hybrid maize seed production in sub-Saharan Africa.

Objectives

  • Improve the grain yield potential of stress tolerant maize hybrids in low fertility environments.
  • Develop a new hybrid production platform capable of producing sufficient early generation seed to support production of high quality certified seed each year.
  • Reduce the production costs of seed partners in the sub-Saharan region.

The SPTA concept was confirmed suitable for tropical environments in Kenya, Zimbabwe, and South Africa in the first phase of the project (2017-2022). The current phase (2022-2024) is working towards licensing of the homozygous Ms44 seed to seed companies serving smallholder farmers in Africa. Eventually, the proprietary SPTA Maintainer Event and SPTA process will be licensed royalty-free by Corteva for further sublicensing in the production of SPTA Ms44 Maize in sub-Saharan Africa.

Ms44 and the SPTA Maintainer are introgressed into African-bred germplasm to produce male-sterile female parents (INP) suitable for low-nitrogen and drought environments in Africa. The commercial production of the INP will be carried out by QBS in South Africa after it has achieved full Excellence Through Stewardship (ETS) recognition and executed a royalty-free license agreement for the SPTA Maintainer Event with Corteva.

Seed companies will apply for release/registration and commercialize SPTA Ms44 maize only in sub-Saharan African countries that have acknowledged SPTA Ms44 maize as non-transgenic for the SPTA Maintainer Event. To produce and commercialize SPTA Ms44 maize, seed producers will have to access INP seeds from QBS and agree to implement all stewardship and management practices related to the use of SPTA Ms44 maize. Since the availability of SPTA Ms44 maize will be restricted this way, a percentage of its sales may be required to be paid into the FAO trust fund established by the Governing Body of the International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture.

 

Documents

SPTA project brief – Overview (updated November 2023)

SPTA project brief – Seed Production Technology for Africa: Efficient Seed Production Process for SMEs in Africa (updated November 2023)

SPTA project brief – Seed Production Technology for Africa: Modern and Pure Hybrids for African Farmers (updated November 2023)

A researcher holds two plants to show the pollen-producing (left) and non-pollen producing plants (right) at a research station in Embu, Kenya. (Photo: Hugo De Groote/CIMMYT)
A researcher holds two plants to show the pollen-producing (left) and non-pollen producing plants (right) at a research station in Embu, Kenya. (Photo: Hugo De Groote/CIMMYT)
Smallholder farmers evaluate Ms44 hybrids in Embu, Kenya. (Photo: Mike Ndegwa/CIMMYT)
Smallholder farmers evaluate Ms44 hybrids in Embu, Kenya. (Photo: Mike Ndegwa/CIMMYT)
Two smallholder farmers evaluate Ms44 hybrids during an on-farm evaluation in Embu, Kenya. (Photo: Hugo De Groote/CIMMYT)
Two smallholder farmers evaluate Ms44 hybrids during an on-farm evaluation in Embu, Kenya. (Photo: Hugo De Groote/CIMMYT)
Farmer Edma Shanguri holds a harvest of Ms44 hybrids from an on-farm trial in Murewa, Zimbabwe. (Photo: J. Cairns/CIMMYT)
Farmer Edma Shanguri holds a harvest of Ms44 hybrids from an on-farm trial in Murewa, Zimbabwe. (Photo: J. Cairns/CIMMYT)
Smallholder farmers evaluate Ms44 hybrids in Embu, Kenya. (Photo: Hugo De Groote/CIMMYT)
Smallholder farmers evaluate Ms44 hybrids in Embu, Kenya. (Photo: Hugo De Groote/CIMMYT)
A farmer holds a cob from a Ms44 hybrid during on-farm evaluations in Kakamega, Kenya. (Photo: Virginia Ndungu/KALRO)
A farmer holds a cob from a Ms44 hybrid during on-farm evaluations in Kakamega, Kenya. (Photo: Virginia Ndungu/KALRO)
Smallholder farmers remove kernels from cobs during an on-farm evaluation of Ms44 hybrids in Kakamega, Kenya. (Photo: Virginia Ndungu/KALRO)
Smallholder farmers remove kernels from cobs during an on-farm evaluation of Ms44 hybrids in Kakamega, Kenya. (Photo: Virginia Ndungu/KALRO)
A non-pollen-producing plant (on the left) on a farm trial in Zimbabwe. (Photo: Jill Cairns/CIMMYT)
A non-pollen-producing plant (on the left) on a farm trial in Zimbabwe. (Photo: Jill Cairns/CIMMYT)

Maize Lethal Necrosis Phenotyping Service

Written by Rodrigo Ordóñez on . Posted in Uncategorized.

The CIMMYT-Kenya Agriculture and Livestock Research Organization (KALRO) Maize Lethal Necrosis (MLN) Screening Facility quarantine site is used to provide an MLN Phenotyping Service at cost to national agricultural research systems and seed companies in Africa.

KALRO and CIMMYT have been screening germplasm against MLN in Kenya since Nov 2012. The dedicated screening facility at KALRO Naivasha was established in 2013. This facility now represents a high quality phenotyping platform, permitting large-scale screening of germplasm from regional public and private partners.

To date, close to 90 percent of materials screened at Naivasha are susceptible under artificial inoculation. However, resistant and tolerant materials have been identified. Four first-generation MLN tolerant and resistant hybrids have been released in East Africa and a further 15-20 second generation hybrids are at advanced stages of testing.

GENNOVATE

Written by Rodrigo Ordóñez on . Posted in Uncategorized.

GENNOVATE is a global comparative research initiative which addresses the question of how gender norms influence men, women and youth to adopt innovation in agriculture and natural resource management.

Carried out in conjunction with 11 CGIAR research programs worldwide and across 125 rural communities in 26 countries, this qualitative comparative study aims to provide authoritative research to advance gender-transformative approaches and catalyze change in international agricultural and natural resource management research for development.

In discussion groups and individual interviews, roughly 6,000 rural study participants of different socioeconomic backgrounds and age groups are reflecting on and comparing local women’s and men’s expected roles and behaviors — or gender norms— and how these social rules affect their ability to access, adopt, adapt and benefit from innovations in agricultural and natural resource management.

The initiative’s research process strives to give rural women and men a voice by providing authoritative, contextually grounded evidence on how gender interacts with agricultural innovations. It also aims to strengthen CGIAR research program capacities to know the target beneficiaries, design for them, and be accountable to them.

Central to the qualitative field study is an exploration of women’s and men’s agency at the core of which is the capacity to make important decisions pertaining to one’s life. For rural women and men, these decisions relate to agriculture and natural resource management, as well as to other significant events in the private (household) and public (community) spheres.

OBJECTIVES

  • What are the most important new agricultural practices and technologies for the men and for the women in a given village?
  • What qualities make a woman or a man a good farmer?
  • Do young people in this village follow local customs of women doing certain agricultural activities and men others?
  • Are there differences between a woman who is innovative and a man who is innovative?

Stress Tolerant Maize for Africa (STMA)

Written by Rodrigo Ordóñez on . Posted in Uncategorized.

The Stress Tolerant Maize for Africa (STMA) project aims to diminish devastating constraints in maize production across sub-Saharan Africa. The project develops improved maize varieties with resistance and tolerance to drought, low soil fertility, heat, diseases such as Maize Lethal Necrosis and pests affecting maize production areas in the region.

STMA operates in eastern (Ethiopia, Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda), southern (Malawi, South Africa, Zambia, Zimbabwe) and West Africa (Benin, Ghana, Mali, Nigeria). These countries account for nearly 72 percent of all maize area in sub-Saharan Africa and include more than 176 million people who depend on maize-based agriculture for their food security and economic well-being. Climate change effects like drought, a lack of access to resources like fertilizer and other stresses increase the risk of crop failure that negatively affects income, food security and nutrition of millions of smallholder farmers and their families.

The project will develop 70 new stress-tolerant varieties using innovative modern breeding technologies, and promote improved stress-tolerant varieties expected to increase maize productivity up to 50 percent. The project aims to produce estimated 54,000 tons of certified seed to put into the hands of more than 5.4 million smallholder farmer households by the end of 2019.

Objectives

  • Use innovative breeding tools and techniques applied for increasing the rate of genetic gain in the maize breeding pipeline.
  • Increase commercialization of improved multiple-stress-tolerant maize varieties with gender-preferred traits by the sub-Saharan African seed sector.
  • Increase seed availability and farmer uptake of stress-tolerant maize varieties in target countries.
  • Optimize investment impact through effective project oversight, monitoring, evaluation and communication.