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KALRO research station at Kiboko revamped to accelerate crop breeding

Written by Susan Otieno on . Posted in News.

CIMMYT Global Maize Program Director and CGIAR Plant Health Initiative Lead, BM Prasanna cutting a ribbon at the entrance of a new shed housing, marking the commissioning of five new seed drying machines courtesy of the of the Accelerating Genetic Gains (AGG) Project. (Photo: Susan Otieno/CIMMYT)

Kenya Agricultural and Livestock Research Organization (KALRO)’s research station at Kiboko, Kenya, where several partner institutions including the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT), conduct significant research activities on crop breeding and seed systems, is now equipped with five new seed drying machines along with a dedicated shed to house these units, a cold room for storing breeding materials, and an additional irrigation dam/reservoir. These infrastructural upgrades are worth approximately US $0.5 million.

During the commissioning of the new facilities on February 7, 2023, CIMMYT Global Maize Program Director, BM Prasanna thanked the donors, Crops to End Hunger (CtEH) Initiative and Accelerated Genetic Gains (AGG) project, that supported the upgrade of the research station, and recognized the strong partnership with KALRO.

“Today is a major milestone for CIMMYT, together with KALRO, hosting this center of excellence for crop breeding. This facility is one of the largest public sector crop breeding facilities in the world, with hundreds of hectares dedicated to crop breeding. These new facilities will enable CIMMYT and KALRO crop breeders to optimize their breeding and seed systems’ work and provide better varieties to the farming communities,” said Prasanna.

Kenya suffered one of its worst droughts ever in 2022, and the newly commissioned facilities will support expedited development of climate-resilient and nutritious crop varieties, including resistance to major diseases and pests.

Visitors at the KALRO research station in Kiboko, Kenya, looking at the newly commissioned cold room storage. (Photo: Susan Otieno/CIMMYT)

Improvements and enhancements

The efficiency of the seed driers capabilities to quickly reduce moisture content in seed from above 30% to 12% in two to three days, reducing the time taken for seed drying and allowing for more than two crop seasons per year in a crop like maize.

The additional water reservoir with a capacity of 16,500 cubic meters will eliminate irrigation emergencies and will also enhance the field research capacity at Kiboko. Reliable irrigation is essential for accelerating breeding cycles.

At the same time, the new cold room can preserve the seeds up to two years, preventing the loss of valuable genetic materials and saving costs associated with frequent regeneration of seeds.

KALRO Director General Eliud Kireger officiating the opening of the cold room storage facility at KALRO research station at Kiboko, Kenya. Looking on is CIMMYT Global Maize Program Director, BM Prasanna. (Photo: Susan Otieno/CIMMYT)

World-class research center

“The Kiboko Research Center is indeed growing into an elite research facility that can serve communities in entire sub-Saharan Africa through a pipeline of improved varieties, not only for maize but in other important crops. This will not only improve climate resilience and nutrition, but will contribute to enhanced food and income security for several million smallholder farmers,” said Prasanna.

KALRO Director General Eliud Kireger appreciated the establishment of the new facilities and thanked CIMMYT and its partners for their support.

“Today is a very important day for us because we are launching new and improved facilities for research to support breeding work and quality seed production. This research station is in Makueni County, a very dry area yet important place for research because there is adequate space, especially for breeding,” said Kireger. “We are significantly improving the infrastructure at Kiboko to produce and deliver better seed to our farmers.”

For more than three decades, CIMMYT has conducted research trials at the Kiboko Research Station, focusing on drought tolerance, nitrogen use efficiency, and resistance to pests and diseases, such as fall armyworm and stem borer. The maize Double Haploid (DH) facility established in 2013 at Kiboko, with the support of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, offers DH line production service for organizations throughout Africa, and is key to increasing genetic gains in maize breeding.

Market Intelligence Briefs – a new publication series to inform crop-breeding decisions

Written by Sarah McLaughlin on . Posted in News.

The CGIAR Initiative on Market Intelligence represents a new effort to engage social scientists, crop breeding teams and others to work together toward the design and implementation of a demand-led breeding approach. (Photo: Susan Otieno/CIMMYT)

What is ‘Market Intelligence’?

Strategies for breeding and seed systems to deliver greater impact will benefit from reliable and comparable evidence on the needs and requirements of farmers, processors and consumers. This includes anticipating how farmers may respond to emerging threats and opportunities in light of seed-sector and product-market evolution and the changing environment. Experts generally agree that ‘demand-led breeding’ will be essential to achieve more impact from investments in crop breeding. But the continued interest in a demand-led approach to the design of varieties and the prioritization of breeding pipelines requires reliable, comparable and timely market intelligence. It also requires new mechanisms for how market intelligence is collected, shared and discussed with those engaged in the design and funding of breeding pipelines and seed systems.

Over the past 25 years, social science researchers from CGIAR, NARES and universities have generated important insights on the traits and varieties farmers prefer. These farmer preferences for traits and varieties have been explored through household surveys, participatory rural appraisals and participatory varietal selection. More recently, economists have employed tools such as choice experiments, experimental auctions and gamification of farmer priority traits. Overall, a large body of work has emerged, but variations in research questions, methodologies and interventions have contributed to disparate research findings and limited the opportunities for consolidation and comparative analyses.

Looking ahead, a strategic opportunity to guide more impactful investments in crop breeding and seed systems development lies in:

  • designing a consistent approach for generating and disseminating market intelligence
  • coordinating research across CGIAR and NARES to deliver timely market intelligence;
  • establishing processes for coordination across social science teams and among social science, crop modelers, CGIAR-NARES networks and the private sector.

The CGIAR Initiative on Market Intelligence (‘Market Intelligence’ for brevity) represents a new effort to engage social scientists, crop breeding teams and others to work together toward the design and implementation of a demand-led breeding approach.

Within this initiative, the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT) leads Work Package 1, ‘Market Intelligence’, which is responsible for the design of innovative methods and tools to collect market intelligence and the application of these tools across different regions and crops relevant for CGIAR breeding. The Work Package engages either other CGIAR centers and external partners, such as CIRAD and the World Vegetable Center. An early, but critical, challenge facing the Work Package team was how to disseminate in an accessible and timely manner market intelligence to breeding teams, funders, and the private sector.

Market Intelligence Briefs

Traditionally, researchers from CGIAR, NARES and universities who have sought to inform crop breeding and seed systems programming have done so by publishing their work in reputable international peer-reviewed journals. However, the process can be slow, potentially requiring multiple revisions over years. The practical nature of market intelligence research can limit its relevance for journal editors who are looking to push theoretical debates forward. Thus, for Market Intelligence to deliver on its promise, new ways of communicating will be essential. In looking to address these limitations, work package 1 has led the design and implementation of a new publication series called Market Intelligence Briefs (MIB). Each brief is reviewed by peers, is concise (less than 4000 words), avoids technical jargon, and attempts to present conclusions in a clear and decisive manner. In 2022 the first two editions of the MIB series were published, both led by CIMMYT researchers and available online.

MIB 1: a framework for informing crop breeding

This brief defines several important concepts that, when taken together, form the basic framework used by the Initiative to generate comparable and useful market intelligence. Some of the definitions are inspired by previous work on demand-led breeding, while others build on work by CGIAR’s Excellence in Breeding (EiB) platform. A confusing set of terms and definitions has emerged around market intelligence—a field rooted in commercial product innovation—with different terms and definitions for similar concepts. In the interest of clear communication and understanding among those engaged in crop breeding, seed systems and social science, this brief presents key concepts and definitions that have been discussed extensively during the initial months of implementation of Market Intelligence. We conclude the brief with reflections on the way forward for implementation.

MIB 2: future market segments for hybrid maize

The second brief zooms into the maize market segments in East Africa and proposes a new methodology for gathering insights from farmers about their varietal preferences to inform future market segmentation. This brief explains the conceptual and methodological underpinnings of Video-based Product Concept Testing (VPCT) and presents an application of the tool in hybrid maize. Seven new product concepts (representing potential future market segments) were identified based on discussions with breeders, seed companies and farmers, which we labelled: home use, intercropping, drought avoidance, nutritious, feed (yellow), green maize and food and fodder. These future concepts, together with the resilient benchmark product concept (the current breeding target), were evaluated through triadic comparisons with 2400 farmers in Kenya and Uganda. The results showed that concepts focused on agronomic performance were preferred over concepts focused on end use characteristics, but that diversity in farming practices can lead to different seed preferences.

Looking ahead

In 2023, several briefs will be published from scientists working in the market intelligence initiative and various partners of Market Intelligence from outside the CGIAR. An on-line repository for these briefs is being designed now. Future briefs will cover a variety of topics, from competition in maize seed markets in Kenya (based on a two year study that tracked seed sales at the retail level), methods for assessing the demand for future step-change innovations in genetic innovations, and preferences for future groundnut seed products in Tanzania, considering the needs of farmers and processors. We believe that these briefs will become a valuable communication tool to support informed decision making by crop breeders, seed system specialists, and donors on future priorities and investments by CGIAR, NARS, the private sector and non-governmental organizations (NGOs).

This project received funding from the Accelerating Genetic Gains in Maize and Wheat project (AGG) [INV-003439], funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the UK’s Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office (FCDO), the Foundation for Food & Agricultural Research (FFAR) and the United States Agency for International Development (USAID).

Read the original article: Market Intelligence Briefs – a new publication series to inform crop-breeding decisions

A deceptively simple hack boosts wheat yields in Bihar

Written by Sarah McLaughlin on . Posted in Features.

As a warming planet desiccates crops around the world, threatening livelihoods and nutrition, farmers in Bihar, India, are boosting their wheat yields with a deceptively simple adaptation.

“Farmers can plant their wheat crop several weeks earlier, so that their wheat matures earlier and they are able to harvest their wheat before the heat gets bad,” said Amit Kumar Srivastava, a scientist with the International Rice Research Institute in India. “Traditionally, farmers in Bihar planted their wheat in mid-December. This put their crop at risk of what’s called ‘terminal heat’ – high heat during a critical growth stage that impacts the yields. We’ve advised them to begin planting by November 20.”

Bihar is blessed with good soil and adequate water resources. But its yields have been lagging below India’s average. Today, the average hectare of Bihar farmland produces 2.9 tons of wheat – significantly below the average yield in India of 3.4 tons.

Rising heat threatened to reduce this harvest even further. Wheat, like people, can suffer from heat stress. Researchers have found that an increase of just one-degree Celsius cuts wheat yields by 6%. In high heat conditions, wheat produces fewer, smaller grains, potentially impacting nutrition and livelihoods. Bihar, one of the poorest states in India, is considered a climate change hotspot and temperatures are expected to rise by up to 1 degree Celsius by 2050. India can ill afford declining farm yields. In fact, it needs to increase its wheat yields from around 110 million tons to 140 million tons by 2050 just to keep pace with domestic demand.

This seemingly simple adaptation was actually quite complicated to develop, explained Sonam Sherpa, a spatial agronomist with the Sustainable Agrifood Systems (SAS) program of the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center. “It required researchers to look at the agricultural system as a whole. We had to understand why farmers were planting so late. And we learned it was because they were waiting for their rice crop to mature. And they couldn’t plant their rice crop earlier because they were waiting for the monsoon rains, which are unpredictable in Bihar. Understanding the system as a whole, led us to recommend a rice variety that matures earlier and to develop weather forecasting tools and systems that can communicate with farmers when the monsoon rains are expected. That will help farmers move forward with planting their rice earlier, allowing for an earlier harvest. And then planting and harvesting their wheat earlier.”

To demonstrate the potential of this shift, researchers established demonstration fields throughout the state and brought government officials and farmers to see the difference.

It was striking. Across the state, farmers who adopted early rice harvesting and early wheat planting grew nearly one ton more of wheat on each hectare than those who planted late – a 36% increase in yield. At the most extreme ends of the planting spectrum the difference in yield is hard to overstate; the difference in yields between the wheat planted in early November versus the wheat planted in late December was 69%. That’s enough of a boost to turn Bihar from a net wheat importer to a breadbasket for the region.

“Seeing is believing,” said Srivastava. As of the 2020-21 wheat growing season, an estimated 22% of farmers in the target districts – about half a million farmers with an estimated 0.83 million hectares of land – have shifted to different varieties of rice that allow them to plant their wheat earlier. Similar gains could be seen elsewhere in Eastern India, research indicates, if the rice-wheat system is managed as a system.

Researchers also established relationships with private sector seed distributors who often advise farmers and help them identify and adopt different varieties of rice that allow for earlier harvesting. “The lesson here is that even with climate change, we can increase production by optimizing agricultural systems,” said Srivastava.

Read the original article: A deceptively simple hack boosts wheat yields in Bihar

Cover photo: A deceptively simple hack boosts wheat yields in Bihar. (Photo: Reuters)

Mini-tillers bolster Nepal maize farmers’ food supplies and profits, new study shows

Written by Mike Listman on . Posted in Publications.

Use of lightweight, 5-9-horsepower mini-tillers by smallholder farmers in Nepal’s mid-hills cut tillage costs and boosted maize yields by facilitating timely maize cultivation, thus enhancing food self-sufficiency and farm profits and reducing rural poverty, a new study by an international team of scientists shows.

Published in the Journal of Economics and Development, the study reports findings of an on-farm survey involving more than 1,000 representative households from 6 districts of the mid-hills, a region of steep and broken terrain where rainfed maize is a staple crop, outmigration of working-age inhabitants makes farm labor scarce and costly, and farmers on small, fragmented landholdings typically till plots by hand or using ox-drawn plows.

“Conventional two- or four-wheel tractors are difficult to operate in the mid-hills’ rugged topography,” said Gokul P. Paudel, researcher working together with the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT) and Leibniz University, Hannover, Germany, and lead author of the study. “Farms are small and the mini-tillers are a good fit. Very small farms — those comprising less than 0.4 hectares of land and normally not served by hired farm labor or larger machinery — benefited the most from mini-tiller adoption.”

The paper is the first to provide empirical linkages between small-scale farm mechanization and the UN Sustainable Development Goals, particularly No Poverty (SDG-1) and Zero Hunger (SDG-2).

“Given its rural poverty and the resulting outmigration from farm areas to cities and to other countries, Nepal has increasingly become a labor-exporting country,” explained Paudel, who partnered in this study with researchers from the Asian Development Bank Institute and Cornell University. “Our research can help guide investments by Nepal and other developing countries in scale-appropriate farm mechanization, supporting those who wish to remain on rural homesteads and make a go of it.”

Machine operators starting the mini-tiller in the Kavrepalanchok district in the mid-hills of Nepal. (Photo: CIMMYT)

The science team found that farm size, labor shortages, draft animal scarcity, and market proximity were major factors that facilitate the adoption of appropriate mechanization in Nepal, according to Tim Krupnik, CIMMYT systems agronomist and study co-author.

“Smallholder farms dominate more than two-thirds of agricultural systems globally,” Krupnik said. “Interest in scale-appropriate farm mechanization is growing rapidly, particularly among donors and governments, and practical empirical measures of its impact are crucial.” The findings of the latest study fill this knowledge gap and provide sufficient evidence to prioritize the spread of appropriate technologies among smallholder farmers.

Krupnik noted that, through its office in Nepal and strong shared research and capacity-building activities, CIMMYT has worked for almost four decades with Nepali scientists and development partners, including the Nepal Agricultural Research Council (NARC) and the Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock Development (MoALD), to raise the productivity and sustainability of the country’s maize- and wheat-based farming systems.

In addition to strong government partnerships, CIMMYT works closely in Nepal with a range of non-government organizations, and importantly, hand-in-hand with private farm machinery manufacturers, retailers, and mechanics.

The study described was supported by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the US Agency for International Development (USAID), the Academy for International Agricultural Research (ACINAR) commissioned by the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) and carried out by ATSAF e.V. on behalf of the Deutsche Gesellschaft fur Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH, the One CGIAR Regional Integrated Initiative Transforming Agrifood Systems in South Asia (TAFSSA), and generous funders who contribute to the CGIAR Trust Fund.

Read the study: The contributions of scale-appropriate farm mechanization to hunger and poverty reduction: Evidence from smallholder systems in Nepal

Cover photo: In the Palpa district in the mid-hills of Nepal, a woman farmer tills the soil for maize seeding. (Photo: Gokul Paudel/CIMMYT)

On Africa’s farms, the forecast calls for adaptation and innovation

Written by Sarah McLaughlin on . Posted in In the media.

On a visit to Kenya, Bill Gates had the opportunity to learn how smallholder farmers like Mary Mathuli are adapting their practices to account for the impacts of climate change.

Mathuli drew attention to the innovations that are making her life easier, such as drought-tolerant maize seed varieties developed by the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT) and the Kenya Agriculture and Livestock Research Organization (KALRO). She also cited her mobile phone as a vital tool, allowing her access essential information, such as weather forecasts, market prices, and technical farming support.

“In sub-Saharan Africa, more than half of the population works in agriculture,” explains Gates. “Together, they produce about 80 percent of the continent’s food supply. And most of the people doing the backbreaking farm work—like the chores I performed—are women.”

In addition to managing her farm, Mathuli is a model farmer and Village Based Advisor with the Cereal Growers Association, encouraging other farmers to adopt new practices that will improve their productivity. “She is clearly doing a good job in this role because more than 90 percent of farmers in her area have embraced one of the new adaptation practices,” said Gates.

Read the original article: On Africa’s farms, the forecast calls for adaptation and innovation

Five strides forward for CGIAR crop breeding resources and services

Written by Sarah McLaughlin on . Posted in News.

Sitting at the cutting edge of science, the crop breeding domain has been improving and refining tools, technologies and techniques. But adoption by public breeding programs focusing on Africa, Asia, and Latin America has often been slow. This has hindered progress on developing the new varieties needed for farmers to overcome climate impacts, build livelihoods, and feed their communities.

But One CGIAR’s new integrated approach is changing that. Building on the work of CGIAR Excellence in Breeding, the Breeding Resource Initiative can point to major progress in 2022, moving forward on an array of shared services, capacity development programs and technical support. Here are five significant milestones helping CGIAR and its national partners deliver better results:

1. Regional hubs are on their way: CGIAR’s vision is to have regional hubs coordinating and delivering services across crops. AfricaRice is set to grow into a regional service provider and coordinator for multiple crops in West Africa. After discussions, planning and site visits with BRI, AfricaRice leadership committed to working with the BRI team to start by providing regional nutritional analysis services, aimed to launch for selected partners in 2023. The plan is to then expand AfricaRice’s role as a coordinator of other competitive services like genotyping and capacity building. This is a major step toward CGIAR’s vision of not just improving breeding stations, but serving  all CGIAR/National Agricultural Research and Extension Services (NARES) partners regionally. The aim is collaboration, efficiency and results in farmers’ fields.

2. Operations teams are amping up skills and knowledge: Breeding success hinges on good operational practices leading to accurate data. To ensure the heritability of breeding trials, BRI has offered resources, trainings and on-the-ground support for operational teams. Through its Breeding Operation Network for Development (BOND), BRI/EiB, along with IITA, ran three weeklong workshops for partners across Africa (watch all 22 sessions on plotmanship, gender, seed processing, irrigation and more), regular webinars exploring private and public sector best practices, and a series focusing on continuous improvement approaches. BRI also trained dozens of operational staff across Africa on how to use and maintain new USAID-supplied equipment. And CGIAR continued its push to harmonize rice breeding processes between IRRI, AfricaRice and CIAT through a week-long rice breeding operations training at IRRI. As well, new tools such as a gender inclusion checklist are now available to support operational excellence.

3. EBS is settling in as a universal data platform: The data management platform Enterprise Breeding System has made real strides in the past year, with an updated version with new features (Milestone 5) rolling out across three Centers (CIMMYT, IITA, IRRI), with over 500 users. Other Centers, such as AfricaRice are starting to deploy the system too. On their visit to AfricaRice’s Ivory Coast station, the BRI team noted barcode deployment across the upland rice nurseries – an inspiration to spur other CGIAR Centers to accelerate their own adoption. EBS is a single, powerful, shared, multi-crop platform and its deployment will mean major time and money savings for breeders – and better breeding decisions.

4. Lab services are expanding: As breeders strive for higher-yielding, climate-resilient and nutritious crops, BRI/EiB have been improving breeding speed and accuracy through streamlined, reliable and cost-effective genotyping services. Services include Low Density SNP Genotyping Services (LDSG), Mid-density SNP Genotyping (MDSG), along with training. BRI also launched a Lab Services Process Team to connect Genetic Innovation departments and teams and ensure delivery of high quality services through standardized processes. And launching in 2023, partners will be able to access biochemical testing for nutritional traits and quality. These improved services mean CGIAR and national partners are becoming more effective and competitive as they use this data to make better decisions.

5. Regional approaches set to drive change: BRI drives change at both local and regional levels. For example, team members visited Kiboko and Njoro stations in Kenya, and ran planning sessions in Nairobi with East African breeding teams. This helped clarify challenges and priorities in the region, helping define how services could best be established. Kenya’s key outcomes included: a commitment with CIMMYT leadership to establish services in Kiboko as a pilot, an action plan to improve EBS development and adoption in the region, and endorsement by CGIAR Breeding Research Services leadership of major Crops to End Hunger grants in the region – these fill key gaps in the drive to modernization. The team plans to organize similar sessions to support CGIAR/NARES breeding networks in other regions.

These five strides forward represent but a glimpse into Breeding Resources’ progress. And these are much more than just separate achievements. They represent a shift in breeding culture across the CGIAR-NARES networks – one that will help deliver better varieties, faster. With major plans for 2023, CGIAR-NARES can look forward to the tools and services they need to deliver first-class programs.

Read the original article: Five strides forward for CGIAR crop breeding resources and services

Story and feature photo by Adam Hunt, EiB/BRI/ABI Communications Lead. We would like to thank all funders who support this research through their contributions to the CGIAR Trust Fund. And thank you to the supporters and partners of CGIAR Excellence in Breeding, particularly the funding from Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.

Adapting growing seasons to climate change can boost yields of world’s staple crops

Written by Alison Doody on . Posted in Publications.

Rising global temperatures due to climate change are changing the growth cycles of crops worldwide. Recent records from Europe show that wild and cultivated plants are growing earlier and faster due to increased temperatures.

Farmers also influence the timing of crops and tend to grow their crops when weather conditions are more favorable. With these periods shifting due to climate change, sowing calendars are changing over time.

Over thousands of years of domesticating and then breeding crops, humans have also managed to artificially change how crop varieties respond to both temperature and day length, and in turn have been able to expand the area where crop species can be grown. Farmers can now choose varieties that mature at different rates and adapt them to their environment.

Including farmers’ decisions on when to grow crops and which varieties to cultivate are vital ingredients for understanding how climate change is impacting staple crops around the world and how adaptation might offset the negative effects.

In a ground-breaking study, a team of researchers from the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK), the Technical University of Munich and the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT) investigated how farmers’ management decisions affect estimates of future global crop yields under climate change.

“For long time, the parametrization of global crop models regarding crop timing and phenology has been a challenge,” said Sara Minoli, first author of the study. “The publication of global calendars of sowing and harvest have allowed advancements in global-scale crop model and more accurate yield simulations, yet there is a knowledge gap on how crop calendars could evolve under climate change. If we want to study the future of agricultural production, we need models that can simulate not only crop growth, but also farmers’ management decisions.”

Using computer simulations and process-based models, the team projected the sowing and maturity calendars for five staple crops, maize, wheat, rice, sorghum and soybean, adapted to a historical climate period (1986–2005) and two future periods (2060–2079 and 2080–2099). The team then compared the crop growing periods and their corresponding yields under three scenarios: no adaptation, where farmers continue with historical sowing dates and varieties; timely adaptation, where farmers adapt sowing dates and varieties in response to changing climate; and delayed adaptation, where farmers delay changing their sowing dates and varieties by 20 years.

The results of the study, published last year in Nature Communications, revealed that sowing dates driven by temperature will have larger shifts than those driven by precipitation. The researchers found that adaptation could increase crop yields by 12 percent, compared to non-adaptation, with maize and rice showing the highest potential for increased crop yields at 17 percent. This in turn would reduce the negative impacts of climate change and increase the fertilization effect of increased levels of carbon dioxide (CO2) in the atmosphere.

They also found that later-maturing crop varieties will be needed in the future, especially at higher latitudes.

“Our findings indicate that there is space for maintaining and increasing crop productivity, even under the threat of climate change. Unfortunately, shifting sowing dates – a very low-cost measure – is not sufficient, and needs to be complemented by the adaptation of the entire cropping cycle through the use of different cultivars,” said Minoli.

Another important aspect of this study, according to Anton Urfels, CIMMYT systems agronomist and co-author of the study, is that it bridges the GxMxE (Gene-Management-Environment) spectrum by using crop simulations as an interdisciplinary tool to evaluate complex interactions across scientific domains.

“Although the modeled crops do not represent real cultivars, the results provide information for breeders regarding crop growth durations (i.e. the need for longer duration varieties) needed in the future as well as agronomic information regarding planting and harvesting times across key global climatic regimes. More such interdisciplinary studies will be needed to address the complex challenges we face for transitioning our food systems to more sustainable and resilient ones,” said Urfels.

Read the study: Global crop yields can be lifted by timely adaptation of growing periods to climate change

Cover photo: Work underway at the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center in Zimbabwe (CIMMYT), is seeking to ensure the widespread hunger in the country caused by the 2015/6 drought is not repeated, by breeding a heat and drought tolerant maize variety that can still grow in extreme temperatures. CIMMYT maize breeders used climate models from the CGIAR Research Program on Climate Change, Agriculture and Food Security (CCAFS) to inform breeding decisions. (Photo: L. Sharma/Marchmont Communications)

Tropically Adapted Inducer Lines (TAIL)

Written by Sarah McLaughlin on . Posted in Uncategorized.

Doubled Haploid (DH) technology reduces the time required to develop homozygous maize lines to eight to thirteen months, instead of three to seven years using more traditional inbreeding methods. This technology also results in 100% homozygous lines that are most suitable for selection and breeding, compared to traditional inbreeding with varying levels of heterozygosity. Use of DH lines in maize breeding offers several genetic, economic, and logistical advantages over conventional inbred lines. Reduced time and increased precision in selection help breeders increase their rate of genetic gain: the rate at which the genetic potential of a crop increases in yield over time.

To enable the public and private sector maize breeding programs in the tropical/subtropical agro-ecologies to adopt doubled haploid technology, CIMMYT and the University of Hohenheim together developed the first-generation tropically adapted haploid inducer lines (TAILs) and stated distributing them to interested partners in 2013.

Second-generation TAILs (CIM2GTAILs) with improved haploid induction rates (~8-15%), better agronomic performance in terms of plant vigor, synchrony with tropical source populations, better standability, and resistance to important tropical foliar diseases and ear rots, were developed by CIMMYT and made available to the partners from 2016. Haploid inducer hybrids developed using these lines exhibit greater heterosis for plant vigor and pollen production while maintaining similar haploid induction rates as the parents; these are well-suited for open pollinations with source populations in isolation nurseries.

Interested partners may request a license to obtain seed of these CIM2GTAILs along with authorization for use of these specialized lines in their own breeding programs.

The service is rendered in India, Kenya and Mexico.

Maize Doubled Haploid Production Services

Written by Sarah McLaughlin on . Posted in Uncategorized.

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

Use of DH lines in maize breeding offers several genetic, economic, and logistical advantages over use of conventional inbred lines. This service reduces the time required to develop homozygous maize lines to 8 to 14 months, instead of three to seven years using more traditional inbreeding methods. DH technology also results in 100% homozygous lines best suitable for selection and breeding, compared to traditional inbreeding with varying levels of heterozygosity.

Reduced time and increased precision in selection help breeders increase their rate of genetic gain, i.e., 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. Similar facilities are also in operation for Latin America at CIMMYT’s experimental station in Agua Fría, Mexico and for Asia at Agricultural Research station, Kunigal in collaboration with University of Agricultural Sciences (UAS)-Bangalore. Public and private sector organizations involved in maize breeding can access the DH production service by signing a DH service agreement.

Anurag Ajay

Written by Sarah McLaughlin on . Posted in Uncategorized.

Anurag Ajay is Monitoring and Evaluation Specialist of CIMMYT’s Cereal Systems Initiative for South Asia (CSISA) project in India.

Ajay seeks to improve the way data is collected and used in the project. He is improving the system of data processing and sharing data publicly. He generates data-driven evidence-based insights that help take key project management decisions and are used for effective planning of project activities. He is the key resource person for programming digital surveys.

Ajay had been actively engaged in planning, coordinating, and facilitating collection of key performance indicator (KPI) data to measure project progress.

Geoffrey Muricho

Written by Sarah McLaughlin on . Posted in Uncategorized.

Geoffrey Muricho works for CIMMYT as a Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning Specialist based in Nairobi. Before joining CIMMYT, he was a scientist (Monitoring, Learning and Evaluation Specialist) at ICRISAT where he coordinated monitoring, learning and evaluation activities of Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation funded projects (TL III, HOPE II and AVISA) in sub-Saharan Africa and Asia.

Besides monitoring, learning and evaluation, Geoffrey is an experienced research economists with expertise in agricultural technology adoption and impact assessments using quantitative and qualitative methods. Previously, he worked as a Postdoctoral Research Fellow at International Center of Insect Physiology and Ecology (ICIPE) where he focused his research on technology adoption, gender analysis and impact assessments. Before joining ICIPE, he worked as a Research Associate with CIMMYT and ICRISAT. Geoffrey obtained his PhD (Economics) and MSc. (Agricultural Economics) from the University of Nairobi. He also holds BSc (Agr. Econ).

In maize research, farmers’ priorities are our priorities

Written by Alison Doody on . Posted in Publications.

Figuring out what kinds of crops and crop varieties farmers want – high yielding, disease resistant, drought tolerant, early maturing, consumer-preferred, nutritious etc. – is a crucial step in developing locally adapted, farmer-friendly and market preferred varieties as part of more sustainable seed grain sectors.

While scientists aim to develop the best crop varieties with multiple traits, there are always trade-offs to be made due to the limits of genetics or competing preferences. For example, a variety may be more tolerant to drought but perform less well in consumer taste preferences such as sweet grains, or it may be higher yielding but more vulnerable to pests and diseases. Some of these trade-offs, such as vulnerability to pests or adverse climate, are not acceptable and must be overcome by crop scientists. The bundle of traits a crop variety offers is often a major consideration for farmers and can be the difference between a bumper harvest and a harvest lost to pests and diseases or extreme weather conditions.

Economists from the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT) have been working with smallholder farmers across sub-Saharan Africa to document their preferences when it comes to maize. Results from Ethiopia were recently published in the journal PLOS ONE.

In a survey with almost 1,500 participants in more than 800 households, researchers found that both male and female farmers valued drought tolerance over other traits. For many farmers in areas where high-yielding, medium-maturing hybrids were available, early maturity was not considered a priority, and sometimes even disliked, as farmers felt it made their harvests more vulnerable to theft or increased their social obligations to share the early crop with relatives and neighbors if they were the only ones harvesting an early maize crop. Farmers therefore preferred varieties which matured more in sync with other farmers.

The team also found some gender differences, with female farmers often preferring taste over other traits, while male farmers were more likely to prioritize plant architecture traits like closed tip and shorter plants that do not easily break in the wind or bend over to the ground. These differences, if confirmed by ongoing and further research, suggest that gender differences in maize variety choices may occur due to differentiated roles of men and women in the maize value chains. Any differences observed should be traced to such roles where these are distinctly and socially differentiated. In aspects where men and women’s roles are similar — for example, when women express preferences in their role as farmers as opposed to being custodians of household nutrition — they will prioritize similar aspects of maize varieties.

The results of the study show that overall, the most important traits for farmers in Ethiopia, in addition to those that improve yields, are varieties that are drought and disease tolerant, while in taste-sensitive markets with strong commercial opportunities in green maize selling, farmers may prioritize varieties that satisfy these specific consumer tastes. The findings of the study also highlight the impact of the local social environment on variety choices.

By taking farmers’ preferences on board, maize scientists can help develop more sustainable maize cropping systems which are adapted to the local environment and respond to global climatic and economic changes driven by farmers’ and consumers’ priorities.

Harvesting maize cobs at KALRO Katumani Research Station in Machakos, Kenya. (Photo: Peter Lowe/CIMMYT)

Drought and striga tolerance come out top for Kenyan farmers

In related research from western Kenya, published in June 2022 in Frontiers in Sustainable Food Systems, results showed that farmers highly valued tolerance to drought, as well as tolerance to striga weed, low nitrogen soils and fall armyworm, in that order. CIMMYT researchers surveyed 1,400 smallholder farmers across three districts in western Kenya.

The scientists called for a more nuanced approach to seed markets, where seed prices might reflect the attributes of varieties. Doing so, they argue, would allow farmers to decide whether to pay price premiums for specific seed products thereby achieving greater market segmentation based on relative values of new traits.

“Both studies show that farmers, scientists and development experts in the maize sector are grappling with a wide array of demands,” said Paswel Marenya, CIMMYT senior scientist and first author of both studies.

“Fortunately, the maize breeding systems in CIMMYT, CGIAR and National Agricultural Research Systems (NARS) have produced a wide range of locally adapted, stress tolerant and consumer preferred varieties.”

The results of both these studies provide a framework for the kinds of traits scientists should prioritize in maize improvement programs at least in similar regions as those studied here in central Ethiopia or western Kenya. However, as Marenya noted, there is still work to do in supporting farmers to make informed choices: “The challenge is to implement rigorous market targeting strategies that sort and organize this complex landscape for farmers, thereby reducing the information load, search costs and learning times about new varieties. This will accelerate the speed of adoption and genetic gains on farmers’ fields as envisaged in this project.”

Read the studies:

Maize variety preferences among smallholder farmers in Ethiopia: Implications for demand-led breeding and seed sector development

Building Resilient Maize Production Systems With Stress-Adapted Varieties: Farmers’ Priorities in Western Kenya

Cover photo: Roadside vendor sells roasted maize cobs to a customer in Timau, Kenya. (Photo: Peter Lowe/CIMMYT)

A reluctant farmer changes the fortune of his inherited land

Written by Nima Chodon on . Posted in Features.

In the sultry spring-summer heat of Bihar, India, the landscape is yellow with wheat grains ready for harvest. Here, in Nagma village farmer Ravi Ranjan attends to his fields — mostly wheat, with some pulses in the adjoining plots. The harvest this year will be a little less than anticipated, he explains, as receding monsoon rains left the soil too moist to begin sowing on time.

Ranjan’s grandfather and father were both farmers who owned sizable land. His father used to say that the land was productive but required a lot of hands, sweat, and time to sustain the yields. Agriculture was all that the family had known and depended on for decades before Ranjan’s father left the sector for the civil service. After the early demise of his grandfather in 2003, and with his father in a secure government job, it fell to Ranjan to shoulder the responsibility of managing the family farm.

As a young man, Ranjan had sometimes helped his grandfather in the fields, but now, as the owner of a hydraulic mechanical service firm working hundreds of kilometers away in Chhattisgarh, he had never imagined becoming a farmer himself. Though reluctant to begin with, Ranjan decided there was no alternative but to take on the challenge and do his best, and while initially he had little success with the new venture, slowly and steadily he began to change the fortune of his inherited land.

Today Ranjan is one of the local area’s success stories, as a progressive and influential farmer with ties to the Cereal Systems Initiative for South Asia (CSISA) project. Researchers on the CSISA team have been working with farmers like him in the region for over a decade and are proud of the ongoing collaboration. Ranjan’s fields are regularly used as CSISA trial plots to help demonstrate the success of new technologies and conservation agriculture practices that can enhance productivity and sustainability. For example, in the 2021-2022 winter cropping season — locally known as Rabi — he harvested 6.2 tons per hectare – while a separate acre plot as demonstration site was harvested publicly with officials from CSISA and the Krishi Vigyan Kendra Network (KVK), JEEViKA, and farmers from neighboring villages for improving yield sustainably.

As India celebrates Kisan Diwas (Farmer’s Day) on December 23, we speak to Ranjan about his hopes for the future and the continuity of farming in his family after he hangs his boots.

Farming has seen a sea of change since your grandfather’s time. What do you think has been the most transformative change in the years you have been involved in farming?

I think using mechanized tools and technology to ensure good cropping practices has tremendously reduced manual work. Furthermore, today with innovations and digitization in agriculture science, farming is not just recognized as a noble profession, but also an enterprising one. I am happy I came into it right when things were changing for good. I have no regrets.

Though not by choice that I came into it, I am now fully invested and devoted to farming. From being an entrepreneur to farming, it has been a transformational journey for me. I am unsure whether my daughters — I have three, the eldest turns 18 next year — will choose to be involved in agricultural farming. But I will encourage and fully support them if they choose to take it up. After all, they will inherit the land after me.

Extreme climate effects are challenging agricultural practices and output. How are you preparing to reduce the impact of these in your fields?

It is worrying to see how extreme climatic effects can be challenging for agriculture, particularly for smallholder farmers in the region. Erratic rains, drought at times, and increasing temperatures have all harmed our cereal and vegetable farms and affected yield in wheat crops significantly. The adoption of new technologies like direct seeded rice (DSR) to avoid puddled rice transplanting, early wheat sowing (EWS) to avoid terminal heat at maturity, zero tillage technology (ZTT), and better-quality seeds, are interventions introduced and supported by CSISA and other agricultural organizations from the state that has helped combat some of these climate-induced problems.

In my own fields, I have also introduced proper irrigation systems to reduce the impact of limited water availability. I hope to stay ahead of the curve and make sure I am aware of all that is possible to keep my farm productive and sustainable.

How did you begin your association with CSISA? What has been your experience of working with them to make your agriculture resilient and productive?

I was initially approached by one of their scientists working in the area. And because of my interest, they slowly began informing me of various technologies I could try. With these technologies implemented in my field, the yield and productivity improved.

Soon after expanding my agriculture output, I got 50 acres of land on lease in the village to grow more crops like pulses, along with rice and wheat. Today, CSISA has started using my fields as their demonstration plots for new technologies and best practices, and to spread awareness and bring in more farmers from neighboring villages to encourage adoption.

CSISA and others call me a progressive and innovative farmer. I am proud that many farmers and other agricultural agencies in the area have appreciated our efforts to continue making agriculture productive and sustainable.

About CSISA:

Established in 2009, the Cereal Systems Initiative for South Asia (CSISA) is a science-driven and impacts-oriented regional initiative for increasing the productivity of cereal-based cropping systems. CSISA works in Bangladesh, India, and Nepal. CSISA activities in India focus on the eastern Indo-Gangetic Plains, dominated by small farm sizes, low incomes, and comparatively low agricultural mechanization, irrigation, and productivity levels.

Cover photo: Ravi Ranjan takes the author on a tour of his fields where wheat grown with conservation agriculture practices like zero tillage technology is ready for harvest, Nagwa village, Bihar, India. (Photo: Nima Chodon/CIMMYT)

How does CIMMYT’s improved maize get to the farmer?

Seven new CIMMYT maize hybrids available from Southern Africa Breeding Program

Written by Sarah McLaughlin on . Posted in News.

How does CIMMYT’s improved maize get to the farmer?
How does CIMMYT’s improved maize get to the farmer?

CIMMYT is happy to announce seven new, improved tropical maize hybrids that are now available for uptake by public and private sector partners, especially those interested in marketing or disseminating hybrid maize seed across southern Africa and similar agro-ecologies in other regions. NARES and seed companies are hereby invited to apply for licenses to pursue national release, scale-up seed production, and deliver these maize hybrids to farming communities.

Newly available CIMMYT hybrids Key traits
CIM21SAPP1-14 Intermediate-maturing, white grain, high-yielding, drought-tolerant, NUE, resistant to GLS, MSV, TLB, and ear rots
CIM21SAPP1-10
CIM21SAPP1-01 Late-maturing, white grain, high-yielding, drought-tolerant, NUE, resistant to MSV, TLB, and ear rots
CIM21SAPP1-08
CIM21SAPP2-12 Early-maturing, white grain, high-yielding, drought-tolerant, NUE, resistant to GLS, MSV, TLB
CZH1815A Early-maturing, PVA biofortified, orange grain, high yielding, drought-tolerant, NUE, resistant to GLS, TLB, ear rots, MSV
CZH1805A
Performance data Download the CIMMYT Southern Africa Maize Regional On-Station (Stage 4) and On-Farm (Stage 5) Trials: Results of the 2019, 2021, and 2022 Seasons and Product Announcement from Dataverse.
How to apply Visit CIMMYT’s maize product allocation page for details
Application deadline The deadline to submit applications to be considered during the first round of allocations is 10 January 2023. Applications received after that deadline will be considered during subsequent rounds of product allocations.

 

The newly available CIMMYT maize hybrids were identified through rigorous, years-long trialing and a stage-gate advancement process which culminated in the 2021/22 Southern Africa Stage 5 Regional On-Farm Trials. The products were found to meet the stringent performance and farmer acceptance criteria for CIMMYT’s breeding pipelines that are designed to generate products tailored in particular for smallholder farmers in stress-prone agroecologies of southern Africa.

Applications must be accompanied by a proposed commercialization plan for each product being requested. Applications may be submitted online via the CIMMYT Maize Licensing Portal and will be reviewed in accordance with CIMMYT’s Principles and Procedures for Acquisition and use of CIMMYT maize hybrids and OPVs for commercialization. Specific questions or issues faced with regard to the application process may be addressed to GMP-CIMMYT@cgiar.org with attention to Nicholas Davis, Program Manager, Global Maize Program, CIMMYT.

APPLY FOR A LICENSE

Sustainability of rice production in the Northwestern Indo-Gangetic Plains

Written by Sarah McLaughlin on . Posted in Publications.

Rice is a vital crop for India, contributing around 30 percent of calories consumed in the country and providing a crucial source of income from exports. However, due to climate change and conversion of land for other uses, rice growing area in India is projected to decline by 6-7 million hectares (ha) by 2050, while production must increase by 1.1% annually over the next four decades to achieve rice self-sufficiency for the country.

As there is limited opportunity to horizontal expansion of cultivable land, the predicted increase in demand must be met through increasing rice yields in regions with low yields and maintaining existing yields in high-yielding areas. This must be achieved using sustainable farming practices: currently, 90 percent of total greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions of monsoon season cropped cereals in India is caused by rice cultivation, as is 80 percent of the energy and water used in agriculture.

Scientists found that in the Northwestern Indo-Gangetic Plains (IGP) of India, yield gaps were small (ca. 2.7 t ha−1, or 20% of potential yield) mainly because of intensive production system with high input use. Using management data from 4,107 individual farmer fields, the study highlighted scope to reduce nitrogen (N) inputs without compromising yields in this intensive production system.

Findings show evidence of and methodology for the quantification of yield gaps and approaches that can improve resource-use efficiency, providing a possible alternative approach that could be reproduced elsewhere for other crops and contexts. It is recommended that future research focuses on ways to reduce other production inputs without compromising the yields in such intensive production systems.

This paper is the result of Harishankar Nayak’s PhD training in collaboration with the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) jointly supervised by the researchers at the Indian Agricultural Research Institute (IARI) and International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT).

Read the study: Rice yield gaps and nitrogen-use efficiency in the Northwestern Indo-Gangetic Plains of India: Evidence based insights from heterogeneous farmers’ practices

Cover photo: A farmer stands in his rice field at a Climate-Smart Village in the Vaishali district of Bihar, India, as part of the CGIAR Research Program on Climate Change, Agriculture and Food Security (CCAFS). (Photo: DK Singh/CIMMYT)