As part of the Cereal Systems Initiative for South Asia (CSISA), the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT) has created a series of infographics explaining key information about fall armyworm.
These infographics will be translated and used to reach out to farmers in Bangladesh, through agrodealers and public sector partners. The principles and concepts presented in them â which champion the use of integrated pest management strategies â are relevant to countries across the region.
If you would like to use these infographics in other countries or translate them to other languages, please contact Tim Krupnik.
Fall armyworm is an invasive insect pest that can eat 80 different types of plants, but prefers maize. It spread throughout Africa in just two years, and was found in India in late 2018. Since then it has spread across South and South East Asia, where it presents a serious threat to food and income security for millions of smallholder farmers.
The infographics are designed to be printed as foldable cards that farmers can carry in their pocket for easy reference. The graphics provide an overview of fall armyworm biology as well as the insectâs ecology and lifecycle. They also describe how to identify and scout maize fields for fall armyworm and provide easy-to-follow recommendations for what to do if thresholds for damage are found. One of the infographics provides farmers with ideas on how to manage fall armyworm in their field and village, including recommendations for agronomic, agroecological, mechanical and biological pest management. In addition, chemical pest management is presented in a way that informs farmers about appropriate safety precautions if insecticide use is justified.
Intensive cereal cropping systems that include rice, wheat and/or maize are widespread throughout South Asia. These systems constitute the main economic activity in many rural areas and provide staple food for millions of people. The decrease in the rate of growth of cereal production, for both grain and residue, in South Asia is therefore of great concern. Simultaneously, issues of resource degradation, declining labor availability and climate variability pose steep challenges for achieving the goals of improving food security and rural livelihoods.
The Cereal Systems Initiative for South Asia (CSISA) was established in 2009 to promote durable change at scale in South Asiaâs cereal-based cropping systems.
The project’s aim is to enhance the productivity of cereal-based cropping systems, increase farm incomes and reduce the environmental footprint of production through sustainable intensification technologies and management practices.
Operating in rural âinnovation hubsâ in Bangladesh, India and Nepal, CSISA complements regional and national efforts and involves public, civil society and private sector partners in the development and dissemination of improved cropping systems, resource-conserving management technologies, policies and markets. CSISA supports women farmers by ensuring their access and exposure to modern and improved technological innovations, knowledge and entrepreneurial skills that can help them become informed and recognized decision makers in agriculture.
In Odisha and Bihar, CSISA has leveraged the social capital of women’s self-help groups formed by the government and other civil society partners and which offer entry points for training and social mobilization, as well as access to credit. (Photo: CSISA)
Self-help groups in Bihar, India, are putting thousands of rural women in touch with agricultural innovations, including mechanization and sustainable intensification, that save time, money, and critical resources such as soil and water, benefiting households and the environment.
The Bihar Rural Livelihoods Promotion Society, locally known as Jeevika, has partnered with the Cereal Systems Initiative for South Asia (CSISA), led by the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT), to train womenâs self-help groups and other stakeholders in practices such as zero tillage, early sowing of wheat, direct-seeded rice and community nurseries.
Through their efforts to date, more than 35,000 households are planting wheat earlier than was customary, with the advantage that the crop fully fills its grain before the hot weather of late spring. In addition, some 18,000 households are using zero tillage, in which they sow wheat directly into unplowed fields and residues, a practice that improves soil quality and saves water, among other benefits. As many as 5,000 households have tested non-flooded, direct-seeded rice cultivation during 2018-19, which also saves water and can reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
An autonomous body under the Bihar Department of Rural Development, Jeevika is also helping women to obtain specialized equipment for zero tillage and for the mechanized transplanting of rice seedlings into paddies, which reduces womenâs hard labor of hand transplanting.
âMechanization is helping us manage our costs and judiciously use our time in farming,â says Rekha Devi, a woman farmer member of Jeevika Gulab self-help group of Beniwal Village, Jamui District. âWe have learned many new techniques through our self-help group.â
With more than 100 million inhabitants and over 1,000 persons per square kilometer, Bihar is Indiaâs most densely-populated state. Nearly 90 percent of its people live in rural areas and agriculture is the main occupation. Women in Bihar play key roles in agriculture, weeding, harvesting, threshing, and milling crops, in addition to their household chores and bearing and caring for children, but they often lack access to training, vital information, or strategic technology.
Like all farmers in South Asia, they also face risks from rising temperatures, variable rainfall, resource degradation, and financial constraints.
Jeevika has formed more than 700,000 self-help groups in Bihar, mobilizing nearly 8.4 million poor households, 25,000 village organizations, and 318 cluster-level federations in all 38 districts of Bihar.
The organization also fosters access for women to âcustom-hiringâ businesses, which own the specialized implement for practices such as zero tillage and will sow or perform other mechanized services for farmers at a cost. âCustom hiring centers help farmers save time in sowing, harvesting and threshing,â said Anil Kumar, Program Manager, Jeevika.
The staff training, knowledge and tools shared by CSISA have been immensely helpful in strengthening the capacity of women farmers, according to D. Balamurugan, CEO of Jeevika. âWe aim to further strengthen our partnership with CSISA and accelerate our work with women farmers, improving their productivity while saving their time and costs,â Balamurugan said.
CSISA is implemented jointly by the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT), the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) and the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI). It is funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and the United States Agency for International Development (USAID).
Women applying required fertilizer along the tracks of seed drill. (Photo: Wasim Iftikar)
Maize is a staple crop that requires a limited amount of water and inputs, and earns farmers a profit, thanks to its growing demand as food and feed for livestock. Adivasi women farmers in Indiaâs Odisha state are increasing their yields by applying improved maize intensification technologies.
The Cereal Systems Initiative for South Asia (CSISA), led by the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT), is providing technical support to the Association for Development Initiatives, which implements the Odisha Primitive Tribal Group Empowerment and Livelihood Improvement Program (OPELIP) and the Odisha State Department of Agriculture at Gudugudia in Mayurbhanj.
âCSISAâs technical support to the women, focusing on improved maize cultivation techniques, helped the women improve their understanding, their capacity and their yields,â said Wasim Iftikar, Research Associate at CIMMYT. Improved maize hybrids, precision nutrient management techniques and improved weed management practices have helped the women increase their yields. This year the group harvested more than 3,300 kg from seven acres of land.
âWe never thought we could earn money and support our families through maize cultivation. This is an eye-opener for us. We are planning to increase the area of cultivation for maize and will convince our family members and other women to join us,â says farmer Joubani Dehuri.
To view a photo essay recognizing these women and their work in honor of International Womenâs Day 2019, please click here: https://adobe.ly/2ED9sns
The Cereal Systems Initiative for South Asia (CSISA) is a regional initiative to sustainably increase the productivity of cereal-based cropping systems, thus improving food security and farmersâ livelihoods in Bangladesh, India and Nepal. CSISA works with public and private partners to support the widespread adoption of resource-conserving and climate-resilient farming technologies and practices. The initiative is led by the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT), implemented jointly with the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) and the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI). It is funded by the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.
While in Australia, Matthew Morell, director general of IRRI, and I spoke to Devex about the limits of agricultural research to solve food crises in a fast-changing environment.
Around 115Â members of the CGIAR breeding community, plus others representing national programs, universities, funders and the private sector, met for a three-day discussion of how to co-develop the next generation of advanced breeding programs that will improve the rate at which resource-poor farmers are able to adopt improved varieties that meet their needs.
The annual Excellence in Breeding Platform (EiB) Contributorâs meeting, held this year in Amsterdam from 13-15 November, caps a year of engagement with CGIAR Centers and national agricultural research system (NARS) partners around the world.
Paul Kimani, from the University of Nairobi, speaks during the meeting. (Photo: Sam Storr/CIMMYT)
“Although breeding is one of the oldest functions in CGIAR, we have never had a meeting like this with scientists from all the centers,” said Michael Baum, director of Biodiversity and Crop Improvement at the International Center for Agricultural Research in the Dry Areas, (ICARDA). “Within CGIAR, plant breeding started as a science, but now we are looking at how to implement it not as a science but as an operation, as it is done in the private sector, so there are many new concepts.”
Key items on the agenda for November were new tools to develop product profiles and create improvement plans that will define the modernization agenda in each center and across the Platform itself, based in part on the Breeding Program Assessment Tool (BPAT) that most Centers completed in 2018.
Ranjitha Puskur, gender research coordinator at the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI), started an animated discussion on how to incorporate gender into product design by thinking about customer segments.
Tim Byrne from AbacusBio introduced methods for identifying farmer preferences to be targeted by breeding programs.
IRRI’s Ranjitha Puskur started a discussion on how to incorporate gender into product design. (Photo: Sam Storr/CIMMYT)
In breakout sessions, contributors were able to have detailed discussions according to their various specializations: phenotyping, genotyping and bioinformatics/data management. The direct feedback from contributors will be incorporated into EiB workplans for training and tool development for the coming year.
A key outcome of the meeting was an agreement to finalize the product profile tool, to be made available to EiB members in early December 2018. The tool helps breeders to work with other specialisms, such as markets, socioeconomics and gender, to define the key traits needed in new products for farmers. This helps to focus breeding activities towards areas of greatest impact, supports NARS to play a greater role, and creates accountability and transparency for donors, in part by defining the geographic areas being targeted by programs.
“Breeding trees is different to the annual crops,” said Alice Muchugi, genebank manager at the World Agroforestry Centre (ICRAF), “but we are seeing what we can borrow from our colleagues. By uploading what we are doing in maps, for example, donors are able to perceive the specific challenges we are undertaking.”
EiB’s George Kotch describes his vision of product profiles. (Photo: Sam Storr/CIMMYT)
“I think we have realized there are lot of challenges in common, and the Platform is helping us all work on those,” said Filippo Bassi, durum wheat breeder at ICARDA. “I like to see all the people around the room, if you look at the average age there is a big shift; the number of countries present also tells you a lot.”
Tabare Abadie, R&D external academic outreach lead at Corteva Agriscience, also saw the meeting as a good opportunity to meet a broader group of people. “One of the take homes I hear is [that] there are a lot of challenges, but also a lot of communication and understanding. For me as a contributor it’s an incentive to keep supporting EiB, because we have gone through those changes before [at Corteva], and we can provide some know-how and experience of what happens,” Abadie explained.
“There are still a lot of gaps to fill, but this is a good start,” said Thanda Dhliwayo, maize breeder at the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT). “We need to get everyone involved, from leadership down to the guys working in the field.”
Michael Quinn, director of the CGIAR Excellence in Breeding Platform, discusses the CGIARâs initiative on crops to end hunger.
âA huge bottleneck exists in terms of time wasted in harvesting and threshing that is preventing timely sowing of crops,â said Scott Justice, agriculture mechanization specialist, CIMMYT. The Cereal Systems Initiative for South Asia (CSISA) is working to ensure smallholder farmers have access to machinery based on their specific requirements by improving existing designs to meet local needs.”
For shelling maize, farmers in Bihar can either purchase a very large, efficient machine that costs approximately US $786 or use a cheap handheld sheller that can shell only 15-20 kilograms per hour. According to Justice, âthese lightweight, affordable shellers are relatively new on the scene. Their simple design means that they can easily be made by local manufacturers and can also be modified as required.â
CSISA worked with a local manufacturer to modify the design of a medium-sized sheller and created a double cob maize sheller powered by an electric motor, which can shell 150 kg of maize per hour and consumes only 2-4 units of electricity. Priced at US $126, the machine is fairly affordable. âIn fact, half the cost of the machine is that of the electric motor alone. For farmers who already own one, the machine would only cost US $63,â said Suryakanta Khandai, Postharvest Specialist at the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI), who works for CSISA in Bihar.
During a pilot program with members of the Kisan Sakhi Group in Muzzafarpur, Bihar, nearly 350 women farmers were trained to operate the diesel engine-powered, open-drum thresher. In this picture, Suryakanta Khandai (center), IRRI postharvest specialist, conducts a demonstration for two womenâs self-help groups interested in purchasing four machines next season. Photo: CSISA
Until recently, farmers in Bihar only had two options for mechanized rice threshing âa very large axial flow thresher that can cost up to US $2,700 with subsidies, or a pedal-powered, open-drum thresher that has very low capacity and is difficult to operate for extended periods.
âFarmers clearly needed a medium-sized, affordable, efficient and portable mechanical rice thresher,â said Khandai. âThe existing models lacked grain-separating or bagging functions, which we included in the new design. In addition to giving it wheels, we also decided to use a diesel engine to power the machine to allow for threshing in the field immediately upon cutting, which helps reduce losses.â The result was a diesel-powered, open-drum thresher.
It costs US $23.96 to hire one person to manually thresh one acre of rice and it takes seven days. However, the diesel-powered, open-drum thresher covers the same area in just over four hours, at a total cost of US $10.54.
Since the modified machines do not offer an attractive profit for larger manufacturers and retailers, CSISA approached local companies to fill the gap. The maize sheller was customized in cooperation with Dashmesh Engineering, which sells the machine at a profit of US $11â13. âProfits help ensure that the manufacturers are motivated to scale out the machines,â said Khandai.
Justice added, âEquipment like the diesel-powered, open-drum rice thresher is very simple but has not spread very widely. I feel these should now also be promoted to the owners of two-wheel tractors and mini tillers in India and Nepal.â
As Phase II of the Cereal Systems Initiative for South Asia (CSISA) draws to a close in India, it is well positioned for a Phase III, according to Andrew McDonald, CIMMYT Cropping Systems Agronomist and CSISA Project Leader speaking at the Objective 1 planning and evaluation meeting for the 2015 monsoon cropping season held in Kathmandu, Nepal, on 22-24 April. The meeting was attended by CSISAâs Objective 1 teams from the Bihar, eastern Uttar Pradesh, Odisha and Tamil Nadu hubs, comprising diverse disciplinary experts from CIMMYT, the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI), the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI) and the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI).
Phase II began in October 2012 and will be completed in October of this year. The external evaluation report, commissioned by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), commended the uniqueness of CSISAâs work with service providers and farmers, its staffâs dedication and the strong collaboration among CSISA partners. CSISA was established in 2009 to promote durable change at scale in South Asiaâs cereal-based cropping systems, and operates rural âinnovation hubsâ throughout Bangladesh, India and Nepal.
The teams took a critical view of activities from the previous monsoon cropping season and highlighted priority areas for this year. âSustainable intensification of cropping systems should be the centerpiece of our growth strategy. Rice followed by mustard followed by spring maize or green gram is a great system that can help us achieve 300% cropping intensity,â said R.K. Malik, CIMMYT Senior Agronomist and CSISA Objective 1 Leader. âWe need to focus not only on how to create new service providers but also on how existing ones can be used as master trainers. This will help fill the gap of field technicians and further strengthen delivery,â Malik explained, regarding CSISAâs network of more than 1,800 service providers.
Andrew McDonald, CSISA Project Leader, speaks at CSISAâs planning and evaluation meeting in Kathmandu, Nepal. Photo: Ashwamegh Banerjee
Leading discussions on the Odisha hub, Sudhir Yadav, IRRI Irrigated Systems Agronomist, emphasized the importance of identifying the non-negotiable steps for successful technology implementation. âThe performance of zero tillage, for example, depends on soil type, date of seeding and whether the crop is rainfed or receives supplementary irrigation,â said Yadav. CSISA successfully introduced zero tillage in Odishaâs Mayurbhanj District, where it has enabled crop intensification thanks to the retention of residual soil moisture.
The meeting served as a platform for representatives from Catholic Relief Servicesâ (CRS) Improved Rice-based Rainfed Agricultural Systems project to showcase lessons in managing rainfed rice systems in northern Bihar.
CSISA is currently in discussions with USAID and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation (BMGF) to design the technical program, and determine the scope, geography, duration and budget of Phase III.
Irmgard Hoeschle-Zeledon, International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA) from Africa RISING speaks at the event.
Developing a global âcommunity of practiceâ for sustainable intensification (SI) and the need to define indicators for measuring SI activities were highlighted at the cross-learning SI event hosted by Cereal Systems Initiative for South Asia (CSISA) on 28 January in New Delhi, India.
A group of 50 participants from USAID, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation (BMGF), Africa RISING, USAIDâs Sustainable Intensification Innovation Lab, the Innovation Lab for Small-scale Irrigation, CIMMYT, the International Food Policy Research Institute, International Livestock Research Institute and International Rice Research Institute attended the event and shared perspectives on SI in African and South Asian contexts.
Applying principles of SI in mixed crop-livestock systems is key to achieving better food security and improved livelihoods, while minimizing negative impacts on the environment. The full-day program looked at the approaches taken by SI projects of CSISA and Africa RISING, collaborative research opportunities by the Sustainable Intensification Innovation Lab and the Innovation Lab for Small-scale Irrigation and the perspectives of donors who fund SI projects.
Andrew McDonald, CSISA Project Leader, outlines South Asia agricultural systems and the CSISA initiative.
âWe need broad systems programs to make impacts truly happen,â said Thomas Lumpkin, Director General, CIMMYT, talking about CSISAâs cropping systems approach at the start of the event. He added, âWe should get more value chains involved and look at regional and global levels to extract maximum value from our R4D projects.â Andrew McDonald, CSISA Project Leader, talked about the history and context of CSISA, highlighting its 10-year vision of success that aims to significantly increase the incomes and staple crop productivity of 6 million farm families by 2018.
Christian Witt, Senior Program Officer at BMGF, gave a brief overview of the Foundationâs global and regional strategies in SI, which highlighted significant investments in digital soil mapping in Africa and work with CIMMYT to merge soil data with agronomic research. âWe are also enhancing communication within farming communities through informal methods. A good example is our partnership with Digital Green,â he added.
Christian Witt, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, talks about emerging agricultural R4D priorities at the foundation.
The event provided CSISA an opportunity to discuss its current status in India and Bangladesh and to outline the potential future direction of CSISA as a regional initiative, now that CSISA Phase II is being renewed. A series of presentations also outlined the projectâs progress and emerging priorities in strategic agronomic, livestock, socio-economic and policy research and rice and wheat breeding.
Following the event, a group of 13 representatives accompanied members of CSISAâs leadership team on a tour of CSISA sites in Bihar and Odisha over the course of a week in January and February. The tour was designed to enable cross-learning among the flagship SI investments of USAID.
Fall armyworm is an invasive insect pest that can eat 80 different types of plants, but prefers maize. It spread throughout Africa in just two years, and was found in India in late 2018. Since then it has spread across South and South East Asia, where it presents a serious threat to food and income security for millions of smallholder farmers.
Download the infographics:
