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funder_partner: BISA Borlaug Institute for South Asia

CropSustaiN BNI Wheat Mission

Written by Julian Bañuelos-Uribe on . Posted in Uncategorized.

The Novo Nordisk Foundation and CIMMYT have launched the 4-year CropSustaiN initiative to determine the global potential of wheat that is significantly better at using nitrogen, thanks to Biological Nitrification Inhibition (BNI)—and to accelerate breeding and farmer access to BNI wheat varieties.

With a budget of US$ 21 million, CropSustaiN addresses the pressing challenges of nitrogen pollution and inefficient fertilizer use, which contribute to greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and ecological degradation. Currently, no other seed or agronomic practice-based solution matches BNI crops’ mitigation impact potential. Growing BNI crops can complement other climate mitigation measures.

The challenge

Agriculture is at the heart of both food and nutrition security and environmental sustainability. The sector contributes ca. 10-12% of global GHG emissions, including 80% of the highly potent nitrous oxide (N2O) emissions. Fertilizer use contributes to such N losses, because plants take up about 50%, the remainder being lost. Wheat is the world’s largest ‘crop’ consumer of nitrogen-based fertilizer—a relatively nitrogen-inefficient cereal—at the same time providing affordable calories to billions of resource-poor people and ca. 20% of globally consumed protein. CropSustaiN targets this nexus of productivity and planetary boundary impact by verifying and thus de-risking the needed breeding, agronomic, and social innovations.

A solution: BNI-wheat

BNI is a natural ability of certain plant species to release metabolites from their roots into the soil. They influence the nitrogen-transforming activity of nitrifying bacteria, slowing down the conversion of ammonium to nitrate in the soil. This preserves soil ammonium levels for a longer time, providing plants with a more sustained source of available nitrogen and making them more nitrogen-use efficient (nitrogen plant use efficiency). As a result, BNI helps reduce the release of N2O gas emissions and nitrate leaching to the surrounding ecosystem.

A research breakthrough in 2021, led by the Japan International Research Center of Agricultural Sciences (JIRCAS) in collaboration with CIMMYT, demonstrated that the BNI trait can be transferred from a wheat wild relative to a modern wheat variety by conventional breeding. BNI wheat can be made available to farmers worldwide.

Growing BNI wheat could reduce nitrogen fertilizer usage by 15-20%, depending on regional farming conditions, without sacrificing yield or quality.

 

Incorporating BNI into additional crops would reduce usage further. Farmers can get the same yield with less external inputs.

Other BNI-crops

CropSustaiN will work on spring and winter wheats. Rice, maize, barley, and sorghum also have BNI potential. CropSustaiN will build the knowledge base and share with scientists working on other crops and agronomic approaches.

Objectives and outcomes

This high risk, high reward mission aims to:

  • Verify the global, on-farm potential of BNI-wheat through field trial research and breeding.
  • Build the partnerships and pathways to meet farmer demand for BNI-wheat seeds.
  • Work with stakeholders on policy change that enables BNI crops production and markets

Success will be measured by determining nitrogen pollution reduction levels under different soil nitrogen environments and management conditions on research stations, documenting crop performance and safety, breeding for BNI spring and winter wheats for a wide range of geographies, and gauging farmer needs, interest, and future demand.

Wheat spikes against the sky at CIMMYT’s El BatĂĄn, Mexico headquarters. (Photo: H. Hernandez Lira/CIMMYT)

A collaborative effort

CIMMYT is the lead implementer of Novo Nordisk Foundation’s mission funding. CropSustaiN’s interdisciplinary, intersectoral, systems approach relies on building partnerships and knowledge-sharing within and outside this research initiative. 45+ partners are engaged in CropSustaiN.

The potential GHG emissions reduction from deploying BNI-wheat is estimated to be 0.016-0.19 gigatonnes of CO2-equivalent emissions per year, reducing 0.4-6% of total global N2O emissions annually, plus a lowering of nitrate pollution.

Impact on climate change mitigation and Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs)

The assumption is that BNI wheat is grown in all major wheat-growing areas and that farmers will practice a behavioral shift towards lower fertilizer use and higher fertilizer use efficiency. That could lead to ca. a reduction of 17 megatons per year globally. This can help nations achieve their NDCs under the Paris Agreement.

International public goods, governance, and management

CIMMYT and the Foundation are committed to open access and the dissemination of seeds, research data, and results as international public goods. The governance and management model reinforces a commitment to equitable global access to CropSustaiN outputs, emphasized in partnership agreements and management of intellectual property.

Invitation to join the mission

The CropSustaiN initiative is a bold step towards agricultural transformation. You are invited to become a partner. You can contribute to the mission with advice, by sharing methods, research data and results, or becoming a co-founder.

Please contact CropSustaiN Mission Director, Victor Kommerell, at v.kommerell@cgiar.org or Novo Nordisk Foundation’s Senior Scientific Manager, Jeremy A. Daniel, at jad@novo.dk.

Additional reference material

  1. BNI International Consortium (Japan International Research Center for Agricultural Sciences, JIRCAS)
  2. Nitrification inhibitors: biological and synthetic (German Environment Agency, Umweltbundesamt)
  3. CropSustaiN: new innovative crops to reduce the nitrogen footprint form agriculture
  4. Annual Technical Report 2024. CropSustaiN: A new paradigm to reduce the nitrogen footprint from agriculture
  5. BNI-Wheat Future: towards reducing global nitrogen use in wheat
  6. CIMMYT Publications Repository

Ethiopian researchers travel to India to strengthen knowledge regarding increasing wheat productivity

Written by Julian Bañuelos-Uribe on . Posted in News.

The irrigated lowlands of Afar and Oromia in Ethiopia are vital areas for the cultivation of wheat and increasing their productivity is crucial to attaining food security in the light of extended drought and other climate shocks.

Adaptation, Demonstration, and Piloting of Wheat Technologies for Irrigated Lowlands of Ethiopia (ADAPT-Wheat) is a three-year project funded by Germany’s Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development with the objective of identifying, verifying, and adopting wheat technologies that increase wheat production and productivity in Afar and Oromia.

As part of ADAPT-Wheat’s capacity building mission, four Ethiopian wheat researchers from different disciplines visited the Indian Central Soil Salinity Research Institute (CSSRI), the Indian Institute of Wheat and Barely Research (IIWBR), Land force (Dasmesh Mechanical Works), the Borlaug Institute for South Asia (BISA), and National Agro Industries from 13 -22 March 2024.

At CSSRI, the researchers learned how to reclaim salt-affected soils through the use of salt tolerant crops, improve management of water usage, and employ cover crops in salt-affected soils to reduce soil temperature and evapotranspiration. They also visited a sodic and saline microplot facility used to screen genotypes under the desired salinity and sodicity stresses. The researchers witnessed ongoing activities such as agrochemical/ biological/hydraulic technologies to reclaim salt-affected soils, the use of poor-quality irrigation water for crop production and the adoption of ameliorative technologies for salinity management.

The Ethiopian researchers also attended an international conference organized by the Indian Society of Soil Salinity and Water Quality, “Rejuvenating salt affected soil ecologies for land degradation neutrality under changing climate.”

At IIWBR, researchers visit a gene bank. (Photo: CIMMYT)

They learned about breeding methods, and advances in yield enhancement, disease resistance, sustainable agricultural practices, innovative farming methods, genetic stocks developed for grain protein, iron, and zinc enhanced wheat varieties, phytic acid levels, gluten strength, and grain texture.

At Dasmesh Mechanical Works, they learned the operation and maintenance of equipment ADAPT-Wheat has purchased from Dasmesh, including machines for plowing, land leveling, planting, and threshing.

The visit to BISA included an introduction to Conservation Agriculture methods, such as fertilizer use efficiency and crop residue management, which will ultimately help improve productivity back in Ethiopia. They also viewed an ongoing experiment on Precision–Conservation Agriculture Based Maize-Wheat Systems.

Finally, the researchers visited the CIMMYT-India office and met with Mahesh Kumar Gathala, systems agronomist and lead scientist.

“We are proud to host our Ethiopian colleagues. Collaborating with them allowed us to learn as much from them as they hopefully learned from us during their visit,” said Gathala.

A visit to CSSRI. (Photo: CIMMYT)

For Daniel Muleta (irrigated wheat project coordinator), Shimelis Alemayehu (agronomist), Hailu Mengistu (wheat breeder) and Lema Mamo (soil scientist) all from Ethiopian Institute of Agricultural Research (EIAR), the visit to India was beyond their imagination and gave them the opportunity to participate in salinity workshop, visited different institutions and gained experience. Shimelis said “even though the workshop was for experience sharing the travel made was beyond that”.

The team acknowledged CIMMYT-Ethiopia and CIMMYT India offices and EIAR management.

Unlocking the power of collaboration in global wheat science

Written by Julian Bañuelos-Uribe on . Posted in News.

CIMMYT Global Wheat Program (GWP) scientists visited National Agricultural Research Systems (NARS) partners in Pakistan, Nepal, and India during February 2024. The key purpose was to review current approaches and explore new opportunities to enhance collaborative wheat improvement activities.

NARS partners described their current priorities and recent changes in their activities, while CIMMYT shared recent modernization efforts of its wheat breeding and highlighted opportunities to enhance collaborative wheat improvement. GWP representatives included Interim Wheat Director Kevin Pixley, and scientists Naeela Qureshi, Velu Govindan, Keith Gardner, Sridhar Bhavani, T.P. Tiwari, and Arun K Joshi.

Representatives from the Pakistan Agricultural Research Council (PARC) and CIMMYT meet to identify chances for improved cooperation in wheat breeding research. (Photo: Awais Yaqub/CIMMYT)

Planning the future of South Asian wheat

In each country, CIMMYT and NARS leaders held a one-day meeting to review and plan their wheat improvement partnership, with attendance from 25-30 wheat scientists in each country. The sessions aimed to review and identify bottlenecks to the wheat impact pathway in each country, describe recent changes in the breeding programs of CIMMYT and NARS partners, and prioritize and agree updates to the NARS-CIMMYT wheat improvement collaborations.

NARS partners highlighted their wheat improvement programs through field visits to research stations. Visitors attended Wheat Research Institute (ARI), Faisalabad and National Agricultural Research Center (NARC), Islamabad in Pakistan; National Wheat Research Program (NWRP), Bhairahawa and National Plant Breeding & Genetics Research Center (NPBGRC), Khumaltar in Nepal; and Indian Institute of Wheat and Barley Research (IIWBR), Punjab Agricultural University (PAU), Borlaug Institute for South Asia (BISA), and the Indian Agricultural Research Institute (IARI) in India.

The GWP team also visited: Faisalabad Agricultural University, with a special focus on collaborative zinc biofortification work in Pakistan; farmers’ fields in Nepal to see participatory evaluations of elite wheat lines (candidates for release as new varieties) and to hear from farmers about challenges and expectations from improved varieties; and the Lumbini Seed Company to learn about the crucial role of seed companies, bottlenecks, and opportunities in the pathway from research to impact in farmers’ fields.

NARS scientists and directors in all three countries were enthusiastic about the opportunities for enhanced partnership to adopt some of the modernizing technologies that AGG has brought to CIMMYT. Partners are especially keen to –

  1. Receive earlier generation varieties, segregating breeding lines to empower them to select in their own environments.
  2. Model and explore strategies to shorten their breeding cycles.
  3. Apply quantitative genetics tools to better select parents for their crossing blocks.
  4. Adopt experimental designs that improve efficiency.
  5. Explore opportunities for co-implementing improvement programs through shared testing schemes, communities of practice (e.g. for quantitative genetics or use of exotic germplasm to address challenges from climate change), and more.
A highlight of the trip in Nepal: visiting on-farm trials, where farmers share insights about their preferences for improved varieties, where they often mentioned tolerance over lodging. (Photo: CIMMYT)

“The visit provided CIMMYT and NARS wheat scientists with the opportunity to exchange experiences and ideas, and to explore ways of enhancing collaborations that will strengthen our joint impact on wheat farmers and consumers,” said Pixley.

Following these visits, the Bangladesh Wheat and Maize Research Institute (BWMRI) soon reached out to CIMMYT to request a similar review and planning meeting, with a vision to modernize and strengthen their wheat improvement partnership.

Advanced training on conservation agriculture focuses on creating sustainable agronomic systems

Written by Richa Sharma Puri on . Posted in News.

CIMMYT-BISA-ICAR organized a two-week training program on conservation agriculture (CA) to demonstrate how CA can be a sustainable farming method and an effective tool for farmers and scientists in both irrigated and rainfed systems to manage agrifood system risks.

Participants engage in various activities during the two-week course. (Photo: Richa Sharma Puri/CIMMYT)

The training was jointly conducted by CIMMYT in collaboration with the Borlaug Institute for South Asia (BISA) and the Indian Council of Agricultural Research – Central Soil Salinity Research Institute (ICAR-CSSRI). It was held at the BISA research facilities in Jabalpur and Ludhiana, India, and ICAR-CSSRI in Karnal, India, from 9 December to 24 December 2023.

Creating resilient agrifood systems

Conservation agriculture is an ecosystem approach to agricultural land management based on three interrelated principles: minimal soil disturbance, permanent soil cover, and crop diversification. It helps farmers boost yields, regenerate natural resources, reduce cultivation costs, and create resilient production systems. This helps protect the environment and enhance livelihoods of rural populations, especially in the Global South.

In this region, the rural population depends on natural resources – land, freshwater, and coastal fisheries – for survival. However, the depletion of soil fertility, scarcity of water resources, exacerbated by environmental pollution and climate change-induced stresses, prove challenging to irrigated and dryland agriculture production systems. This puts agrifood systems in South Asia and Africa under tremendous pressure.

Despite the benefits, farmers face significant barriers to adopting CA practices. Lack of knowledge and skills, limited access to appropriate seeds and equipment, lack of policy support, under-developed value chains, and non-acceptance of the fact that CA can yield better results and long-term benefits often prevents farmers from adopting CA practices. Hence, capacity development is vital for the adaptation and scaling of CA-based technologies among smallholder farmers.

To cater to these needs, an Advanced Course on Conservation Agriculture in Asia – a Gateway for Sustainable and Climate Resilient Agrifood Systems was launched in 2010. Later, it was expanded to North Africa. The course links scientific advances and multidisciplinary approaches for upgrading the skills of participants for sustainable intensification and diversification of production systems, enhancing resilience, and conserving natural resources. Since its inception, this training series has directly benefited about 220 researchers, development personnel, and policymakers from 20 countries.

The 12th edition of the training in India saw mid-career researchers and development officers from Morocco, Egypt, Bangladesh, and India participate. Approximately 40% of the attendees were women.

Highlights from the India training program 

The inaugural session commenced on 9 December 2023 at the NASC Complex in New Delhi, India. Present at the opening ceremony were chief guest S.K. Chaudhari, deputy director general – Natural Resource Management, ICAR; Arun Joshi, CIMMYT regional representative and managing director of BISA; and Mahesh K Gathala, course coordinator, and Alison Laing, agroecologist from CIMMYT in Bangladesh.

During the welcome address, Joshi informed that CIMMYT and BISA are committed to capacity development of national partners around the world. Chaudhari emphasized the effectiveness in facilitating innovations in CA management. “Under increasing climate variability and change, the need to manage agronomic risks is even more significant and CA is an effective tool for farmers and scientists in irrigated and rainfed systems,” he said.

Participants were introduced to the genesis, background, and objectives of the course by Gathala. Resource persons across diverse disciplines informed the participants about innovative and cutting-edge research in all aspects of CA in both irrigated and dryland cropping systems, including advanced agronomy; mechanization; farm, soil, and water interactions; plant protection, health and crop breeding; climate resilience; farming systems simulation and analysis; agribusiness management; women’s empowerment and gender equity; and agricultural extension and out-scaling. Participants also gained practical knowledge and skills at the BISA research stations where extensive trainings were conducted under the guidance of Ravi Gopal Singh, Raj Kumar, and Lalit Sharma, course coordinators. They organized a series of sessions, along with the hands-on training, at the CA experiment farm in the BISA research facilities. Participants also toured 500 acres of farms at each of the locations. They visited farm facilities such as wheat research trials, molecular laboratory, precision nitrogen nutrition facility, seed processing unit, and farm machinery section.

Workshop participants conduct activities with farmers in the field. (Photo: Richa Sharma Puri/CIMMYT)

The group also visited ICAR-CSSRI facilities in Karnal where R.K. Yadav, director, ICAR- CSSRI, welcomed the participants and highlighted the international and national collaboration activities at CSSRI and how long-term experiments on CA are managing and generating science-based evidence to inform policy and capacity building.

Special visits were organized to farm machinery manufacturers in the region to facilitate industry-participant interactions. Participants visited the Landforce factory at Amargarh, a leading manufacturer of all ranges of farm equipment – from seeding to harvesting and processing. This firm is equipped with the latest manufacturing facilities and techniques such as robotic welding, assembling and automated paint. Later, the group visited the National Agroindustry at Ludhiana, a top manufacturer of planters including bed planters, zero till drills, Happy Seeders, pneumatic and precise planters.

Finally, participants were taken to the farmer fields to interact with the farmers and observe the impact first-hand. They met with a progressive farmer group at Karnal who shared their experiences of practicing CA for the last few years. Post these visits and learning sessions, a closing ceremony was organized at CSSRI at Karnal which was chaired by R.K. Yadav and attended by special guests Rajbir Singh, ADG-ICAR and ML Jat, global director RFFS, ICRISAT. “The session on CA machinery was very helpful and carbon credit was an essential part of our learning. We also got an opportunity to exchange our ideas and experiences with researchers from Morocco, Egypt, and Bangladesh. We sincerely thank the organizers for making us confident and technically smart CA personnels,” said a participant from India.

Scientists convene in Kenya for intensive wheat disease training

Written by Julian Bañuelos-Uribe on . Posted in News.

An international cohort of scientists representing 12 countries gathered at the Kenya Agricultural and Livestock Research Organization (KALRO) station in Njoro for a comprehensive training course aimed at honing their expertise in wheat rust pathology.

The two-week program “Enhancing Wheat Disease Early Warning Systems, Germplasm Evaluation, Selection, and Tools for Improving Wheat Breeding Pipelines,” was a collaborative effort between CIMMYT and Cornell University and supported by the Wheat Disease Early Warning Advisory System (DEWAS) and Accelerating Genetic Gains in Maize and Wheat projects.

With a mission to bolster the capabilities of National Agricultural Research Systems (NARS), the training course attracted more than 30 participants from diverse corners of the globe.

Maricelis Acevedo, a research professor of global development at Cornell and the associate director of Wheat DEWAS, underscored the initiative’s significance. “This is all about training a new generation of scientists to be at the forefront of efforts to prevent wheat pathogens epidemics and increase food security all over the globe,” Acevedo said.

First initiated in 2008 through the Borlaug Global Rust Initiative, these training programs in Kenya have played a vital role in equipping scientists worldwide with the most up-to-date knowledge on rust pathogens. The initial twelve training sessions received support from the BGRI under the auspices of the Durable Rust Resistance in Wheat and Delivering Genetic Gain in Wheat projects.

This year’s training aims to prepare global scientists to protect against disease outbreaks that threaten wheat productivity in East Africa and South Asia. The course encompassed a wide array of practical exercises and theoretical sessions designed to enhance the participants’ knowledge in pathogen surveillance, diagnostics, modeling, data management, early warning assessments, and open science publishing. Presentations were made by DEWAS partners from the John Innes Centre, Aarhus University, the University of Cambridge and University of Minnesota.

(Photo: Borlaug Global Rust Initiative)

The course provided practical, hands-on experience in selecting and evaluating wheat breeding germplasm, race analysis and greenhouse screening experiments to enhance knowledge of rust diseases, according to Sridhar Bhavani, training coordinator for the course.

“This comprehensive training program encompasses diverse aspects of wheat research, including disease monitoring, data management, epidemiological models, and rapid diagnostics to establish a scalable and sustainable early warning system for critical wheat diseases such as rusts, fusarium, and wheat blast,” said Bhavani, wheat improvement lead for East Africa at CIMMYT and head of wheat rust pathology and molecular genetic in CIMMYT’s Global Wheat program.

An integral part of the program, Acevedo said, was the hands-on training on wheat pathogen survey and sample collection at KALRO.  The scientists utilized the international wheat screening facility at KALRO as a training ground for hot-spot screening for rust diseases resistance.

Daisy Kwamboka, an associate researcher at PlantVillage in Kenya, said the program provided younger scientists with essential knowledge and mentoring.

“I found the practical sessions particularly fascinating, and I can now confidently perform inoculations and rust scoring on my own,” said Kwamboka said, who added that she also learned how to organize experimental designs and the basics of R language for data analysis.

DEWAS research leaders Dave Hodson, Bhavani and Acevedo conducted workshops and presentations along with leading wheat rust experts. Presenters included Robert Park and Davinder Singh from the University of Sydney; Diane Sauders from the John Innes Centre; Clay Sneller from Ohio State University; Pablo Olivera from the University of Minnesota; Cyrus Kimani, Zennah Kosgey and Godwin Macharia from KALRO; Leo Crespo, Susanne Dreisigacker, Keith Gardner, Velu Govindan, Itria Ibba, Arun Joshi, Naeela Qureshi, Pawan Kumar Singh and Paolo Vitale from CIMMYT; Chris Gilligan and Jake Smith from the University of Cambridge; and Jens GrÞnbech Hansen and Mogens S. HovmÞller from the Global Rust Reference Center at Aarhus University.

“I thoroughly enjoyed the knowledge imparted by the invited experts, along with the incredible care they have shown us throughout this wonderful training.”

Narain Dhar, Borlaug Institute for South Asia 

For participants, the course offered a crucial platform for international collaboration, a strong commitment to knowledge sharing, and its significant contribution to global food security.

“The dedication of the trainers truly brought the training to life, making it incredibly understandable,” said Narain Dhar, research fellow at the Borlaug Institute for South Asia.

The event not only facilitated learning but also fostered connections among scientists from different parts of the world. These newfound connections hold the promise of sparking innovative collaborations and research endeavors that could further advance the field of wheat pathology.

Atlas of Climate Adaptation in South Asian Agriculture (ACASA)

Written by mcallejas on . Posted in Uncategorized.

About ACASA

Increasing climatic risks make it imperative to identify spatial and temporal risks that are likely to impact agriculture. Adaptation options are thus needed to mitigate the negative impacts. Considering this, with support from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation (BMGF), the Borlaug Institute for South Asia (BISA) is working with national agriculture research systems in South Asia to develop the Atlas of Climate Adaptation in South Asian Agriculture (ACASA).

This comprehensive Atlas aims to provide granular-scale information for South Asian countries at the village scale by integrating various spatially explicit data sets together. It covers climate hazards, and the exposure of smallholder populations, farms, and crop and livestock enterprises to hazards. It will also look into the vulnerability of these populations to climatic risks, impacts on critical commodities in the region, and evidence of the effectiveness of different climate adaptation interventions.

The ACASA offers a unique set of tools that can facilitate improved investment targeting and priority setting, and support stakeholders’ decision-making and investments in agricultural technologies, climate information services, and policies. The intended beneficiaries of this Atlas include governments, insurance and agri-food industries, international and national donors, and adaptation-focused entities.

Driven by science and data, explore ACASA’s approach to safeguard South Asian Agriculture

P. Malathy, Director General of Agriculture, Department of Agriculture, Sri Lanka, delivering keynote address during ACASA Project Inception Meeting.

ACASA Objectives

  1. Increase the quality, availability, and utility of data and evidence.
  2. Improve climate adaptive capacity of agricultural systems and guide stakeholders on location-specific adaptation options, including gender-informed technologies, practices, and climate information services to address risks.
  3. Increase the resilience of small-scale producers to climate variability and change.

ACASA Workstreams

Climate Risk Assessment

Gridded risk analysis using historical crop yield data and satellite signatures; indicators of current and future hazards, exposure, and vulnerabilities.

 Assessment of Climate Impact on Commodities

Climate impact on commodities under current and future climate

 Portfolio of Adaptation Options

Decision trees, crop/livestock models, statistical and econometric models, and expert consultations

 UI/UX Development

An open-source, web-enabled, interactive, and dynamic Atlas development

 Capacity Strengthening of Stakeholders

Training materials, tools, tutorials, and country/regional level workshops

ACASA Advisory Panel

The advisory panel established under ACASA will identify potential users, use cases in different countries, and guide and review Atlas’ progress. The constituted panel will have the scientific advisory committee (SAC) and South Asia’s country team leaders, who will be instrumental in hosting and adapting the Atlas. Explore the dynamic team of ACASA’s advisory panel.

Reports

ACASA Project Inception Report

To discuss ACASA and its development, a 3-day inception meeting was held in Delhi, India, from 25th to 27th April 2023, marked by 70 distinguished guests from Nepal, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, and India discussing the various aspects of Atlas. The inception meeting provided some valuable recommendations/highlights that will be instrumental in building the Atlas.

ACASA Use Case Report

The ACASA project places significant importance on the practical applications of the Atlas. Various stakeholders could utilise Atlas to enhance investment in agricultural adaptation technologies and climate information services. Drawing from the diverse perspectives of the panellists during the inception meeting, a consolidated report was prepared on how ACASA team and its partners will be prioritising and developing use cases based on geographical and thematic considerations.

 

 

 

 

 

 

A new Climate Adaptation Atlas to safeguard South Asian agriculture

Written by Julian Bañuelos-Uribe on . Posted in Blogs.

(Photo: Vinaynath Reddy/CCAFS)

Climate change is no longer a distant threat but a reality that profoundly affects our lives. Among the most vulnerable regions to climate change, South Asia stands out because it is home to over 100 million farmers and produces over 285 million metric tons of milled rice and 128 million metric tons of wheat (FAO 2020-21). Among 193 countries worldwide, South Asian countries rank in the top quarter for climate risk and are experiencing rising meteorological and climate-related disasters. These pose significant challenges to farmers and the 216 million people in South Asia living in extreme poverty (World Bank, 2018), further jeopardizing their food security and livelihoods.

Considering this, with support from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the Borlaug Institute for South Asia (BISA) is working with national agriculture research systems in South Asia to develop the Atlas of Climate Adaptation in South Asian Agriculture (ACASA).

The Atlas brings together spatially explicit South Asian data on the nature and evolving patterns of climate hazards. It will assess climate risks using gridded, village-scale analyses and through historical crop yield data and satellite signatures. The Atlas will consider the exposure of smallholder populations, farms and crop and livestock enterprises. It will assess the vulnerability or adaptive capacity of those populations and impacts on the region’s critical commodities. Importantly, the Atlas will provide a unique set of on-line tools and a portfolio of adaptation options to underpin better decisions regarding investments in agricultural technologies, climate information services, and policies. The project will also focus on building the capacity of concerned stakeholders such as multi-lateral agencies, government bodies, NGOs, and the private sector in the use of Atlas assets, through training materials, tutorials, and periodic workshops. This will enable informed investments and policy decisions to benefit 100 million farmers in South Asian region. For wider use, the Atlas will be embedded online as an open-source, web-enabled and interactive and dynamic tool for easy access by all concerned stakeholders.

Drawing on the expertise and experience of South Asian nations such as Bangladesh, India, Nepal, and Sri Lanka, which have suffered from extreme heat, prolonged droughts, and severe flooding in key crop-producing areas, ACASA represents an example of collaboration and knowledge exchange to reduce farmers’ risks and offer them ways to adapt.

BISA and CIMMYT are pleased to anchor this remarkable collaboration that leverages multi-disciplinary expertise and perspectives to address the complex challenges posed by climate change, linking the detailed characterization of climatic risks with mitigation technologies and policies to meet the needs of diverse stakeholders. The proposed work will contribute actively to the CIMMYT2030 Strategy where one of the 5 impact areas is centered around Climate adaptation and Mitigation. The entire strategy designs a path toward a Food and Nutrition Secure world through science and innovation in the midst of a global climate crisis.

Established in 2011 by CIMMYT and the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR), the Borlaug Institute for South Asia (BISA) is a non-profit international organization that applies advanced technologies to improve food systems and food security, nutrition, livelihoods, and the environment in South Asia, home to more than 300 million undernourished people.