The UN has designated 2020 as the International Year of Plant Health. CGIAR Centers have significant scientific knowledge, extensive experience on the ground, and thought leadership that they can lend to the global discussion to advance awareness, collaboration, and scaling of needed interventions.
CGIARâs International Year of Plant Health events will comprise a series of four webinars of global scope targeting scientists and researchers working in relevant fields. The webinars will take an in-depth look into current science in the area, identify areas for further research, and opportunities to take current scientific innovations to scale.
Each webinar will examine one aspect of the crop supply chain â from genebanks to farmersâ fields to consumersâ plates â to identify ways of promoting the adoption of tools and practices designed to boost the long-term health of plants and the environment in low- and middle-income countries. With the acceleration of the effects of climate change on the incidence and intensity of pests and diseases, identification of the right crop varieties, mix of crops, and tools and practices will be key to ensuring the availability of food to feed the planet.
Webinar 1 will discuss the anticipated impacts of climate change on plant health in smallholder systems, tackling how the occurrence, intensity, and frequency of biotic and abiotic stresses will change as a function of climate change. It will provide participants with information on the negative effects on plant health, in relation to food security, nutrition, environment, gender, and livelihoods, as well as on the role of research in providing support to global efforts to mitigate or adapt to climate change challenges for plant health. Full details of webinar 1.
Webinar 2 will highlight the importance of germplasm (phytosanitary) health in the prevention of transboundary pest and disease spread, as well as the propagation of clean planting material to be used locally. Experts will discuss the implications of poor germplasm practices on agricultural and food system sustainability, farmer livelihoods, and food and nutrition security. They will also examine how opportunities for greater workplace diversity in germplasm health hubs and gender-responsive programming could drive more inclusive sustainable development. Full details of webinar 2.
Webinar 3 examines integrated approaches for sustainable management of transboundary diseases and crop pests and their implications for agri-food system sustainability, social inclusion and gender equity. Drawing on both successes and enduring challenges, experts will identify the potential benefits of more gender-responsive approaches to pest and disease control; more coordinated action by national, regional and global organizations; and lessons to be learned from successful animal health management. Full details of webinar 3.
Webinar 4 brings together scientists working at the intersection of environmental, human, and animal health. In this session, the experts will examine plant health and agriculture from a âOne Healthâ approach â a collaborative, multisectoral, and transdisciplinary perspective that recognizes the health of people, animals, plants, and their environments as all closely connected. In this approach, agricultural practices and plant health outcomes both are determined by, and contribute to, ecological, animal, and human health. Full details of webinar 4.
In 1967 Albert O. Hirschman, the pioneering development economist, published Development Projects Observed. Based on an analysis of a handful of long-standing World Bank projects, the book was an effort, as Hirschman writes in the preface, âto âsingâ the epic adventure of development â its challenge, drama, and grandeur.â He sang this epic not in the register of high development theory, but rather through the ups and downs and unexpected twists of real-world development projects.
Today, a new group of researchers have taken up a similar challenge. Value Chain Development and the Poor: Promise, delivery, and opportunities for impact at scale, a new book edited by Jason Donovan, Dietmar Stoian and Jon Hellin, surveys over two decades of academic and practical thinking on value chains and value chain development. While value chain development encompasses a broad variety of approaches, it has largely focused on improving the ability of small scale, downstream actors â such as smallholders in agri-food value chains â to capture more value for their products or to engage in value-adding activities. Value chain development approaches have also focused on improving the social and environmental impacts of specific value chains. Donovan, Stoian and Hellinâs book assesses these approaches through careful analysis of real-world cases. The book was published with support from the CGIAR Research Programs on Maize and on Policies, Institutions, and Markets.
Lessons learned
The book takes an unsparing look at what has and hasnât worked in the field of value chain development. It begins by dissecting the drivers of the high degree of turnover in approaches that characterizes the field. The editors argue that âissue-attention cyclesâ among project stakeholders, coupled with monitoring and evaluation metrics that are more focused on tracking project implementation rather than producing robust measurements of their social impact, too often lead to the adoption â and abandonment â of approaches based on novelty and buzz.
The unfortunate consequences are that strengths and limitations of any given approach are never fully appreciated and that projects â and even entire approaches â are abandoned before theyâve had a chance to generate deep social impacts. Moreover, the opportunity to really learn from development projects â both in terms of refining and adapting a given approach to local conditions, and of abstracting scalable solutions from real development experiences â is lost.
A recurring theme throughout the book is the tension between the context-sensitivity needed for successful value chain development interventions and the need for approaches that can be scaled and replicated. Programs must develop tools for practitioners on one hand and demonstrate scalability to funders on the other. For example, a chapter on maize diversity and value chain development in Guatemalaâs western highlands illustrates how an approach that was successful in Mexico â connecting producers of indigenous maize landraces with niche markets â is ill-suited to the Guatemalan context, where most producers are severely maize deficient. And a chapter reviewing guides for gender-equitable value chain development highlights how â for all their positive impact â such guides often overlook highly context- and culturally-specific gender dynamics. Intra-household bargaining dynamics and local masculinities, for example, can play critical roles in the success or failure of gender-focused value chain development interventions.
This new book takes an unsparing look at what has and hasnât worked in the field of value chain development.
Finally, while lauding the valuable impact many value chain development initiatives have achieved, the editors warn against an exclusive reliance on market-based mechanisms, especially when trying to benefit the poorest and most marginalized of smallholders. In the case of Guatemalaâs maize-deficient highland farmers, for example, the development of niche markets for native maize proved to be a poor mechanism for achieving the stated goal of preserving maize biodiversity and farmersâ livelihoods. Non-market solutions are called for. Based on this and similar experiences, the editors note that, while value chain development can be a valuable tool, to truly achieve impact at scale it must be coordinated with broader development efforts.
âThe challenge of ensuring that value chain development contributes to a broad set of development goals requires transdisciplinary, multisector collaboration within broader frameworks, such as integrated rural-urban development, food system transformation, and green recovery of the economy in the post COVID-19 era,â write the editors.
This bracing and clear reflection on the promise and limitations of current development approaches is not only timely; it is perhaps more urgent today than in Hirschmanâs time. While tremendous gains have been made since the middle of the 20th century, many stubborn challenges remain, and global climate change threatens to undo decades of progress. Projects like Value Chain Development and the Poor and the ongoing Ceres2030 initiative provide development practitioners, researchers, funders and other stakeholders a much needed assessment of what can be built upon and what needs to be rethought as they tackle these gargantuan challenges.
Embracing uncertainty
At the time Development Projects Observed was published, the study and practice of development was already entering a crisis of adolescence, as it were. Having achieved quasi-independence from its parent discipline of economics, it had to settle on an identity of its own.
Hirschmanâs book represented one possible way forward â an understanding of development practice as a blend of art and science. The bookâs most famous concept, that of the Hiding Hand, illustrates how plannersâ optimism could fuel enormously complex and challenging projects â undertakings that might never have been attempted had all the challenges been known beforehand. At the same time, projectsâ inevitable failures and shortcomings could spur creative local responses and solutions, thus ensuring their eventual success and rootedness in their specific context.
As Michele Alacevich points out in the Afterword to the bookâs most recent reissue, the World Bankâs response to Hirschmanâs book demonstrates the road that development research and practice ultimately took. The book was disregarded, and the Bank turned to the growing literature on cost-benefit analysis instead. âWhereas Hirschmanâs analysis had placed uncertainty â an unmeasurable dimension â center stage, cost-benefit analysis assimilated it to risk, therefore turning it into something measurable and quantifiable,â Alacevich writes. Faced with a newfound awareness of the limits to the fieldâs powers and abilities â a rite of passage for all prodigies â development institutions appeared to try to outrun these limitations through ever-increasing technification.
The issue-attention cycles identified by Stoian and Donovan may represent a new, more frenetic and self-defeating iteration of this discomfort with uncertainty. If so, Value Chain Development and the Poor serves as an urgent call for development institutions and practitioners to make peace with the messiness of their vocation. As Hirschman observed decades ago, only by embracing the uncertainty and art inherent in development work can its students and practitioners further the enormously complex scientific understanding of the endeavor, and, crucially, generate broad and lasting social change.
Cover image: A researcher from the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT) demonstrates the use of a farming app in the field. (Photo: C. De Bode/CGIAR)
A collage of maize images accompanies a CIMMYT announcement about fall armyworm-tolerant maize hybrids for Africa.
The International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT) is pleased to announce the successful development of three CIMMYT-derived fall armyworm-tolerant elite maize hybrids for eastern and southern Africa.
Fall armyworm (Spodoptera frugiperda) emerged as a serious threat to maize production in Africa in 2016 before spreading to Asia in 2018. Host plant resistance is an important component of integrated pest management (IPM). By leveraging tropical insect-resistant maize germplasm developed in Mexico, coupled with elite stress-resilient maize germplasm developed in sub-Saharan Africa, CIMMYT worked intensively over the past three years to identify and validate sources of native genetic resistance to fall armyworm in Africa. This included screening over 3,500 hybrids in 2018 and 2019.
Based on the results of on-station screenhouse trials for fall armyworm tolerance (under artificial infestation) conducted at Kiboko during 2017-2019, CIMMYT researchers evaluated in 2020 a set of eight test hybrids (four early-maturing and four intermediate-maturing) ) against four widely used commercial hybrids (two early- and two intermediate-maturing) as checks. The trials conducted were:
âNo choiceâ trial under fall armyworm artificial infestation in screenhouses in Kiboko, Kenya: Each entry was planted in 40 rows in a separate screenhouse compartment (âno-choiceâ), and each plant infested with seven fall armyworm neonates 14 days after planting. Foliar damage was assessed 7, 14 and 21 days after infestation. Ear damage and percent ear damage were also recorded, in addition to grain yield and other agronomic parameters.
On-station trials in eastern Africa: The trials, including the eight test entries and four commercial checks, were conducted at six locations in Kenya during the maize cropping season in 2020. Entries were evaluated for their performance under managed drought stress, managed low nitrogen stress, and under artificial inoculation for Turcicum leaf blight (TLB) and Gray leaf spot (GLS) diseases. The three-way cross CIMMYT test hybrids and their parents were also characterized on-station for their seed producibility, including maximum flowering time difference between parents, and single-cross female parent seed yield.
The eight test entries with fall armyworm tolerance were also included in the regional on-station trials (comprising a total of 58 entries) evaluated at 28 locations in Kenya and Tanzania. The purpose of these regional trials was to collect data on agronomic performance.
On-farm trials in Kenya: The eight test hybrids and four commercial checks were evaluated under farmersâ management conditions (without any insecticide spray) at 16 on-farm sites in Kenya. Each entry was planted in 20-row plots, and data was recorded on natural fall armyworm infestation. Foliar damage was assessed 7, 14, 21, 28 and 35 days after germination together with insect incidence. Ear damage and percent ear damage were also recorded, besides grain yield and other agronomic parameters.
Figure 1. Responses of CIMMYT-derived fall armyworm tolerant hybrids versus susceptible commercial checks at the vegetative stage (A & B) and at reproductive stage (C & D), respectively, after fall armyworm artificial infestation under âno choiceâ trial in screenhouses at Kiboko, Kenya. Note the difference in the harvest of a FAWTH hybrid (E) versus one of the commercial susceptible hybrid checks (F), besides the extent of damage caused by fall armyworm to the ears of the susceptible check (visible as blackish spots with no grains in the ears).
Summary of the data
âNo-choiceâ trials in screenhouses at Kiboko: Significant differences were observed between the three selected fall armyworm tolerant hybrids (FAWTH2001-2003) and the commercial benchmark hybrid checks at the vegetative and grain filling stages and at harvest (Figure 1). In the fall armyworm artificial infestation trial, the three selected FAWTH hybrids yielded 7.05 to 8.59 t/ha while the commercial checks yielded 0.94-1.03 t/ha (Table 1).
On-station trials: No significant differences were observed between the three selected FAWTH hybrids and the commercial checks for grain yield and other important traits evaluated under optimum, managed drought stress, low nitrogen stress, TLB and GLS diseases (Table 1). The three FAWTH hybrids recorded excellent synchrony in terms of flowering between the female and male parents, and very good female parent seed yield (Table 1).
On-farm trials: There were significant differences in terms of foliar damage ratings between the FAWTH hybrids and the commercial checks. For ear damage, the differences were not statistically significant. The grain yields did not vary significantly under natural infestation in the on-farm trials because of the very low incidence of fall armyworm at most sites.
Native genetic resistance to fall armyworm in maize is partial, though quite significant in terms of yield protection under severe fall armyworm infestation, as compared to the susceptible commercial checks. Sustainable control of fall armyworm is best achieved when farmers use host plant resistance in combination with other components of integrated pest management, including good agronomic management, biological control and environmentally safer pesticides.
Next Steps
Together with national agricultural research system (NARS) partners, CIMMYT will nominate these FAWTH hybrids for varietal release in target countries in sub-Saharan Africa, especially in eastern and southern Africa. Â After national performance trials (NPTs) and varietal release and registration, the hybrids will be sublicensed to seed company partners on a non-exclusive, royalty-free basis for accelerated seed scaling and deployment for the benefit of farming communities.
Acknowledgements
This work was implemented with funding support from the CGIAR Research Program on Maize (MAIZE), the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) Feed the Future initiative, and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. MAIZE receives Windows 1&2 funding support from the World Bank and the Governments of Australia, Belgium, Canada, China, France, India, Japan, Korea, Mexico, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Sweden, Switzerland, UK and USA. The support extended by the Kenya Agriculture & Livestock Research Organization (KALRO) for implementation of this work through the fall armyworm mass rearing facility at Katumani and the maize research facilities managed by CIMMYT at Kiboko is gratefully acknowledged.
For further information, please contact:
B.M. Prasanna, Director of the Global Maize Program, CIMMYT and the CGIAR Research Program on Maize. b.m.prasanna@cgiar.org
Surender Prasad stands next to his Happy Seeder-mounted tractor in Uttar Pradesh, India. (Photo: Ajay K Pundir/CIMMYT)
The agricultural sector is possibly the largest livelihood provider in India, with the smallholder farming community in the vast Indo-Gangetic Plains making the bulk of it. They are the community responsible for growing the food available on our table. In celebration of Indiaâs National Farmerâs Day on December 23 â known in Hindi as Kisan Diwas â we share the story of a farmer-turned-entrepreneur from eastern Uttar Pradesh, where the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT) and its partners have invested in supporting smallholder farmers to implement best farming practices and improve yields through sustainable intensification.
âI am a farmer and I am hopeful of a future for my children in the farming sector,â says Surender Prasad, a 52-year-old farmer from Umila village in Santkabir Nagar district, Uttar Pradesh. Prasad is one of the innovative farmers in and around the district who has time and again strived to introduce new implements and technologies on his farm â often a big risk for smallholders like him.
In 2014, Prasad met researchers from CIMMYTâs Cereal Systems Initiative for South Asia (CSISA) project while visiting the village Lazar Mahadeva during an inter-district traveling seminar. After seeing the farmer demonstration plots for himself â which, incidentally, is one of the best ways of raising farmer awareness in the region â Prasad was convinced of the efficiency of transplanting rice by machine and using zero tillage in wheat production.
Through his continued association with the project, Prasad has now adopted both practices, in addition to direct seeded rice (DSR) and Laser Land Levelling. With a single 35 horsepower tractor, cultivator and harrow, Prasad was able to improve his wheat grain yield by one ton per hectare during the 2014-15 cropping season, and secure improved profit margins as a result.
Encouraged by these results, in 2018 Prasad purchased a 55 horsepower New Holland Tractor, a Happy Seeder, a tractor-mounted sprayer and other machinery for custom hire under the state governmentâs machinery bank scheme. His aspiration for entrepreneurship grew in the months following these purchases and he has since established himself as a local service provider, alongside his role as a farmer. According to Prasad, his continued association with CSISA and its network of partners helped him gain better technical knowledge and skills as well as confidence with using conservation agriculture-based machinery, thanks to trainings provided by the project team.
Surender Prasad stands in his field, where wheat grows under rice-crop residue. (Photo: Ajay K Pundir/CIMMYT)
A budding entrepreneur
Today Prasad is an important entrepreneur in the region, providing custom hiring services for Happy Seeder and DSR and promoting agricultural mechanization in his community. Going forward, scale-appropriate farm mechanization will help farmers in the area to intensify their cropping system at a lower cost, supported by use of the conservation agriculture approaches encouraged by the CSISA project team, which have been shown to improve yields, reduce farmer costs and preserve natural resources. For example, using these best management practices Prasad was able to harvest an additional 1.1 tons of wheat from the 10 acres of land owned by him and his brother, and most farmers in his village now follow his crop management advice.
He is quick to adopt new ideas and has become something of an influencer in the area, earning him friends among the farming community and helping the CSISA team reach more farmers with new innovations.
This year the opportunity for hiring out mechanization services has been immense, largely due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, which has created difficulties for farmers engaged in rice transplanting. As a result, Prasad managed to sow 90 acres of DSR on his own farm and in the nearby village, as well as seeding 105 acres of wheat in the fall 2020 season. âThanks to mechanization we were far less affected by the COVID-19 disruptions and managed to plant rice and then wheat without much delay,â he explains. Prasad also provided tractor-mounted sprayer services for applying herbicides and insecticide on 90 acres of rice crop. Considering these successes, he has now planned to offer year-round extension services.
âI feel overwhelmed after serving my own community as a service provider,â says Prasad. âI feel proud of myself when other farmers come asking for my assistance.â Endorsing his contribution as an innovative farmer, the Department of Agriculture for the Government of Uttar Pradesh recognized him with awards in 2015 and 2019. He attributes his success to his exposure to CSISA interventions and support and believes that CSISA acted as a facilitator, encouraging him to use his ideas for his own benefit and for the benefit of the larger agrarian community around him.
Surender Prasad drives his Happy Seeder-mounted tractor in Uttar Pradesh, India. (Photo: Ajay K Pundir/CIMMYT)
As one of the pioneer homegrown seed companies in Uganda, Farm Inputs Care Centre (FICA) has become one of the leading players in the seed sector value chain. Since its inception in 1999, it has played a significant role in variety development and maintenance, seed production, and processing, packaging and marketing.
The close linkages it has maintained with partners such as National Agriculture Research Organization (NARO)âs National Crops Resources Research Institute (NaCCRI) and the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT) have seen it acquire new hybrids for commercialization and production of early generation seed.
A FICA representative stands in front of a demonstration plot for one of the organizationâs stress-tolerant maize varieties in Uganda. (Photo: Mosisa Worku/CIMMYT)
A unique opportunity for collaboration
Recurrent plant threats such as drought, pests and diseases â alongside the perpetual need to develop and foster better performing varieties in changing climatic conditions â has required partners to intensify efforts to tackle these challenges to bolster smallholdersâ resilience. The Drought Tolerant Maize for Africa (DTMA) project, for instance, ushered in the partnership between CIMMYT, FICA, national agriculture research systems, and other partners to develop and scale up well-adapted, drought-tolerant maize varieties among farmers in Uganda and elsewhere in sub-Saharan Africa.
âOne of the unique features of the collaboration is that besides CIMMYT, there was a multi-stakeholder platform that would convene key seed sector players to discuss issues affecting the industry. Ultimately, this benefitted the farmers,â says FICAâs Chief Executive Officer Narcis Tumushabe.
This partnership continued during the Stress Tolerant Maize for Africa (STMA) initiative â Â which ran from 2016 to2020 â and now, in the Accelerating Genetic Gains in Maize and Wheat (AGG) project, which launched in July 2020 with the ambition of fast-tracking the development of climate-resilient, higher-yielding, demand-driven, gender-responsive and nutritious maize and wheat varieties.
Tumushabe is happy that the hybrids delivered in the DTMA and STMA projects proved worthwhile against multiple stresses in farmersâ fields, offering reliable yields even in challenging conditions like drought or other stresses. Because of the diverse ecological zones in Uganda, it was essential to test the hybrids FICA accessed through the CIMMYT-NARO partnership across different ecological zones, ahead of commercialization. This has given farmers opportunities to choose the varieties that are suitable in their environment. The five varieties FICA chose to promote include Longe 9H â which produces about 700 metric tons annually â and WE 2114, WE 2115, WE 3106 and UH 5355, which cumulatively produce about 1,300 tons annually.
The WE 3106 variety has a strong stem and produces big cobs and Tumushabe notes that some livestock farmers prefer this variety as a good forage source for their livestock. Large-scale commercial farmers prefer WE 2114 due to the positioning of the ears at a uniform height, which makes it easy for harvesting using combine harvesters.
Additionally, FICA breeders have also developed impactful combination hybrids using CIMMYT and FICA lines and the company looks to double its annual production of certified stress-tolerant maize seed to 4,000 metric tons in the next five years. Currently, it enlists about 800 contract seed growers to support its seed multiplication efforts.
A FICA employee walks through a seed production field growing hybrid maize variety WE2114 in Masindi, Uganda. (Photo: Mosisa Worku/CIMMYT)
Surmounting monumental challenges for varietal turnover
Promoting new seed varieties, especially in a highly competitive market, is no mean task. With the seed delivery systems in sub-Saharan Africa mainly driven by the supply side, seed companies end up multiplying only the popular varieties that are already in high demand, explains Mosisa Worku Regasa, a seed systems specialist at CIMMYT.
âConsequently, these companies become reluctant to multiply new seed varieties due to deficient demand, thereby slowing down the rate of varietal turnover,â says Mosisa. âThere is, however, a growing push for a demand-driven system.â
âSome avenues for cultivating a demand-led environment include investing a great deal of resources to better understand farmersâ preferences or product profiles, setting up numerous demonstration plots for newer, better-performing varieties closer to the farmers locations in addition to investing in other marketing and promotional activities.â
Still, the seed sector must confront other dynamics such as farmers that are captive of old albeit popular varieties.
âThere are cases where, depending on the stage of a seed companyâs development, the number of products that one can deliver in the right quality and appropriate maintenance level has to be limited or realistically managed,â Tumushabe explains.
âThe seed company also ought to be sure that the new variety will be superior to existing varieties under farmersâ conditions. That is why one may find little excitement if the genetic gain of a new crop variety is not significantly high compared to the already known and available crop variety. This may make one wonder why an old variety continues to persist in the market.â
To create awareness and sustain the demand for its seed, FICA has established demonstration farms to showcase the performance of its stress-resilient maize varieties among farmers and engaged agro-dealers as last mile seed merchants. It is also during field days held at demonstration farms where the company obtains feedback on how to improve its breeding program, particularly from women smallholder farmers. Such efforts have helped raise the companyâs share of stress-tolerant maize seed production to 70% of the total maize seed it produces, which indicates good progress in variety replacement.
A researcher from the Borlaug Institute for South Asia (BISA) walks through a wheat field in India. (Photo: BISA)
New research by an international team of scientists, including scientists from the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT) and the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR), shows that adopting a portfolio of conservation agriculture and crop diversification practices is more profitable and better for the environment than conventional agriculture.
Reported last month in Nature Scientific Reports, the results of the study should encourage farmers and policymakers in South Asia to adopt more sustainable crop management solutions such as diversifying crop rotations, direct-seeding rice, zero tillage and crop residue retention.
Rice-wheat has for a long time been the dominant cropping system in the western Indo-Gangetic plains in India. However, issues such as water depletion, soil degradation and environmental quality as well as profitability have plagued farmers, scientists and decision makers for decades. To tackle these issues, researchers and policymakers have been exploring alternative solutions such as diversifying rice with alternative crops like maize.
âClimate change and natural resource degradation are serious threats to smallholder farmers in South Asia that require evidence-based sustainable solutions. ICAR have been working closely with CIMMYT and partners to tackle these threats,â said SK Chaudhari, deputy director general of the Natural Resource Management at ICAR.
In the study, CIMMYT scientists partnered with the ICAR-Central Soil Salinity Research Institute, International Rice Research Institute (IRRI), Borlaug Institute for South Asia (BISA), Swami Keshwan Rajasthan Agriculture University and Cornell University to evaluate seven cropping system management scenarios.
The researchers measured a business-as-usual approach, and six alternative conservation agriculture and crop diversification approaches, across a variety of indicators including profitability, water use and global warming potential.
Wheat grows under a systematic intensification approach at the Borlaug Institute for South Asia (BISA) in India. (Photo: BISA)
They found that conservation agriculture-based approaches outperformed conventional farming approaches on a variety of indicators. For example, conservation agriculture-based rice management was found to increase profitability by 12%, while decreasing water use by 19% and global warming potential by 28%. Substituting rice with conservation agriculture-based maize led to improvements in profitability of 16% and dramatic reductions in water use and global warming potential of 84% and 95%. Adding the fast-growing legume mung bean to maize-wheat rotations also increased productivity by 11%, profitability by 25%, and significantly decreased water use by 64% and global warming potential by 106%.
However, CIMMYT Principal Scientist and study co-author M.L. Jat cautioned against the allure of chasing one silver bullet, advising policymakers in South Asia to take a holistic, systems perspective to crop management.
âWe know that there are issues relating to water and sustainability, but at the same time we also know that diversifying rice â which is a more stable crop â with other crops is not easy as long as you look at it in isolation,â he explained. âDiversifying crops requires a portfolio of practices, which brings together sustainability, viability and profits.â
With South Asia known as a global âhotspotâ for climate vulnerability, and the regionâs population expected to rise to 2.4 billion by 2050, food producers are under pressure to produce more while minimizing greenhouse gas emissions and damage to the environment and other natural resources.
âTackling these challenges requires strong collaborative efforts from researchers, policymakers, development partners and farmers,â said Andrew McDonald, a systems agronomist at Cornell University and co-author of the study. âThis study shows this collaboration in action and brings us closer to achieving resilient, nutritious and sustainable food systems.â
âThe results of this study show that one-size doesnât fit all when it comes to sustainable crop management,â said PC Sharma, director of Indiaâs ICAR-Central Soil Salinity Research Institute (ICAR-CSSRI). âFarmers, researchers and policymakers can adopt alternative crop rotations such as maize-wheat or maize-wheat-mung bean, but they can also improve existing rice-wheat rotations using conservation agriculture methods.â
Farmer Roba Shubisha harvests an improved maize variety in Yubo village, Wondo Genet, Ethiopia. (Photo: Peter Lowe/CIMMYT)
With almost all CGIAR centers represented in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia is considered to be a hub for CGIAR research, and the organization has been a long-term partner to the Ethiopian government when it comes to agriculture. The partnership between CGIAR and the national partners is said to be an exemplary one, with CGIAR serving as the source of new technologies and innovations and national partners contextualizing these products within their own country context. This is believed to have brought impacts that serve the people on the ground.
A new report by CGIARâs Standing Panel on Impact Assessment (SPIA) indicates that CGIAR innovations have reached between 4.1 and 11 million Ethiopian households. The report â which assesses 52 agricultural innovations and 26 claims of policy influence â documents the reach of CGIAR-related agricultural innovations across the core domains of CGIAR research activity: animal agriculture; crop germplasm improvement; natural resource management; and policy research.
The study compiles comprehensive information on the past two decades of CGIAR research activities in Ethiopia. Using information from interviews with CGIAR research leaders, scientists, government officials, published studies and project documents, this âstocktakingâ exercise was used to identify the innovations which are potentially disseminated at scale. The study also employs novel data collection protocols and methods like visual aid protocols for identification of natural resource management innovations or DNA fingerprinting for crop variety identification for barley, maize and sorghum.
The study results show that although many innovations are being adopted by some farmers, only a few are reaching large numbers of households. The three innovations with the largest reach are soil and water conservation practices, improved maize varieties and crossbred poultry. The study also found out that there are synergies between innovations where households adopt two or more. For instance, a household which adopts CGIAR maize varieties is likely to also adopt recommended natural resource management practices.
This, according to the study, is the result of different categories of CGIAR research efforts â natural resource management and policy, crop breeding and livestock research, respectively. The scaling of these innovations can also be linked to supportive government policies, which in turn have been influenced by policy research, as indicated in the report.
A farmer walks through a maize field in Toga village, Hawassa, Ethiopia. (Photo: Peter Lowe/CIMMYT)
CIMMYTâs footprint
The International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT) has maintained a presence in Ethiopia for over 30 years and is committed to supporting long-term agricultural development in the country. As part of this effort, CIMMYT has contributed to an increase in maize and wheat production in Ethiopia, working with national partners to test and release improved varieties.
The maize breeding program started in 1988 through CIMMYT and EIAR collaboration and in 1993 BH-660 was released â the first hybrid maize variety derived from CIMMYT germplasm. According to the report, specific maize traits were researched through the Drought Tolerant Maize for Africa (DTMA) and Drought Tolerant Maize for Africa Seed Scaling (DTMASS) projects, and since 2012 the Nutritious Maize for Ethiopia (NuME) project has aimed to develop varieties with higher protein content. Overall, 54 maize varieties have been released in Ethiopia since 1990, and 34 of these are thought to contain CIMMYT-related germplasm. It is also noted that, in the past 20 years ten drought-tolerant varieties and eight quality protein maize (QPM) varieties have been released.
In terms of geographical spread, the study highlights that improved maize varieties derived from CGIAR germplasm were highly adopted in the regions of Harar and Dire Dawa, which account for 81% of adopters overall. Adoption rates were also high in Tigray (79.3% of households), Amhara and the Southern Nations, Nationalities, and Peoples’ Region (63% of households), and Oromia (58.4% of households).
The other important crop in Ethiopia is wheat, which is grown by up to 4.8 million farmers in the country, according to the 2019 Central Statistics Authority (CSA) report. The SPIA document indicates that CGIAR innovations have played great role in the release and uptake of improved wheat varieties. The work of the CGIAR Research Program on Wheat (WHEAT), for instance, has resulted in the release of eight rust-resistant varieties derived from CIMMYT germplasm that are still under production. Of the 133 varieties released since 1974, CIMMYT and the International Center for Agricultural Research in the Dry Areas (ICARDA) played a role in developing at least 80.
The report concludes that agricultural research carried out by CGIAR scientists and their national partners generates many new ideas for innovations that might help address pressing policy concerns. CGIARâs contribution to Ethiopiaâs agricultural development is complex and wide-ranging, and while some aspects cannot be accurately captured by survey data, this new source of adoption and diffusion data helps identify the scale and scope of CGIARâs reach in Ethiopia.
The Standing Panel on Impact Assessment (SPIA) is an external, impartial panel of experts in impact assessment appointed by the System Council and accountable to it. SPIA is responsible for providing rigorous, evidence-based, and independent strategic advice to the broader CGIAR System on efficient and effective impact assessment methods and practices, including those measuring impacts beyond contributions to science and economic performance, and on innovative ways to improve knowledge and capacity on how research contributes to development outcomes
By adopting best practices and established modern tools, national agricultural research systems (NARS) are making data-driven decisions to boost genetic improvement. And they are measuring this progress through tracking and setting goals around “genetic gain.”
Genetic gain means improving seed varieties so that they have a better combination of genes that contribute to desired traits such as higher yields, drought resistance or improved nutrition. Or, more technically, genetic gain measures, “the expected or realized change in average breeding value of a population over at least one cycle of selection for a particular trait of index of traits,” according to the CGIAR Excellence in Breeding (EiB)’s breeding process assessment manual.
CGIAR breeders and their national partners are committed to increasing this rate of improvement to at least 1.5% per year. So, it has become a vital and universal high-level key performance indicator (KPI) for breeding programs.
“We are moving towards a more data-driven culture where decisions are not taken any more based on gut feeling,” EiB’s Eduardo Covarrubias told nearly 200 NARS breeders in a recent webinar on Enhancing and Measuring Genetic Gain. “Decisions that can affect the sustainability and the development of organization need to be based on facts and data.”
Improved metrics. Better decisions. More and better food. But how are NARS positioned to better measure and boost the metric?
EiB researchers have been working with both CGIAR breeding programs and NARS to broaden the understanding of genetic gain and to supply partners with methods and tools to measure it.
The recent webinar, co-sponsored by EiB and the CIMMYT-led Accelerating Genetic Gains in Maize and Wheat (AGG) project, highlighted tools and services that NARS are accessing, such as genotyping, data analysis and mechanization.
Through program assessments, customized expert advice, training and provision of services and resources, EiB researchers are helping national partners arrive at the best processes for driving and measuring genetic gains in their programs.
For example, the EiB team, through Crops to End Hunger (CtEH), is providing guidelines to breeders to help them maximize the accuracy and precision, while reducing the cost of calculating genetic gains. The guidelines make recommendations such as better design of trials and implementing an appropriate check strategy that permits regular and accurate calculation of genetic gain.
A comprehensive example at the project level is EiB’s High-Impact Rice Breeding in East and West Africa (Hi-Rice), which is supporting the modernization of national rice programs in eight key rice-producing countries in Africa. Hi-Rice delivers training and support to modernize programs through tools such as the use of formalized, validated product profiles to better define market needs, genotyping tools for quality control, and digitizing experiment data to better track and improve breeding results. This is helping partners replace old varieties of rice with new ones that have higher yields and protect against elements that attack rice production, such as drought and disease. Over the coming years, EiB researchers expect to see significant improvements in genetic gain from the eight NARS program partners.
And in the domain of wheat and maize, AGG is working in 13 target countries to help breeders adopt best practices and technologies to boost genetic gain. Here, the EiB team is contributing its expertise in helping programs develop their improvement plans â to map out where, when and how programs will invest in making changes.
NARS and CGIAR breeding programs also have access to tools and expertise on adopting a continuous improvement process â one that leads to cultural change and buy-in from leadership so that programs can identify problems and solve them as they come up. Nearly 150 national breeding partners attended another EiB/AGG webinar highlighting continuous improvement key concepts and case studies.
National programs are starting to see the results of these partnerships. The Kenya Agricultural & Livestock Research Organization (KALRO)âs highland maize breeding program has undertaken significant changes to its pipelines. KALRO carried out its first-ever full program costing, and based on this are modifying their pipeline to expand early stage testing. They are also switching to a double haploid breeding scheme with support from the CGIAR Research Program on Maize (MAIZE), in addition to ring fencing their elite germplasm for future crosses.
KALRO has also adopted EiB-supported data management tools, and are working with the team to calculate past rates of genetic gains for their previous 20 years of breeding. These actions â and the resulting data â will help them decide on which tools and methods to adopt in order to improve the rate of genetic gain for highland maize.
âBy analyzing historical genetic gain over the last 20 years, it would be interesting to determine if we are still making gains or have reached a plateau,â said KALROâs Dickson LIgeyo, who presented a Story of Excellence at EiBâs Virtual Meeting 2020. âThe assessment will help us select the right breeding methods and tools to improve the program.â
Other NARS programs are on a similar path to effectively measure and increase genetic gain. In Ghana, the rice breeding program at Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) have developed product profiles, identified their target market segments, costed out their program, digitized their operations, and have even deployed molecular markers for selection.
With this increased expertise and access to tools and services, national breeding programs are set to make great strides on achieving genetic gain goals.
“NARS in Africa and beyond have been aggressively adopting new ideas and tools,” says EiB’s NARS engagement lead Bish Das. “It will pay a lot of dividends, first through the development of state-of-the-art, and ultimately through improving genetic gains in farmers’ fields. And that’s what it’s all about.”
COVID-19 didnât slow us down! In 2020, our editors continued to cover exciting news and events related to maize and wheat science around the world. Altogether, we published more than 250 stories.
It is impossible to capture all of the places and topics we reported on, but here are some highlights and our favorite stories of the year.
Thank you for being a loyal reader of CIMMYTâs news and features. We are already working on new stories and campaigns for 2021. Sign up for our newsletter and be the first to know!
The 2019 EAT-Lancet Commission report defines specific actions to achieve a âplanetary health dietâ enhancing human nutrition and keeping resource use of food systems within planetary boundaries. With major cereals still supplying about one-third of calories required in the proposed diet, the way they are produced, processed, and consumed must be a central focus of global efforts to transform food systems. This article from our annual report argues three main reasons for this imperative.
Farmers are increasingly adopting conservation agriculture practices. This sustainable farming method is based on three principles: crop diversification, minimal soil movement and permanent soil cover.
A team of scientists has completed one of the largest genetic analyses ever done of any agricultural crop to find desirable traits in wheatâs extensive and unexplored diversity.
A new study analyzing the diversity of almost 80,000 wheat accessions reveals consequences and opportunities of selection footprints. (Photo: Eleusis Llanderal/CIMMYT)
The new AGG project aims to respond to the climate emergency and gender nexus through gender-intentional product profiles for its improved seed varieties and gender-intentional seed delivery pathways.
Farmer Agnes Sendeza harvests maize cobs in Malawi. (Photo: Peter Lowe/CIMMYT)
Maize lethal necrosis (MLN) has taught us that intensive efforts to keep human and plant diseases at bay need to continue beyond the COVID-19 crisis. We interviewed B.M. Prasanna, director of the Global Maize Program at CIMMYT and the CGIAR Research Program on Maize (MAIZE), to discuss the MLN success story, the global COVID-19 crisis, and the similarities in the challenge to tackle plant and human viral diseases.
We had a similar conversation with Hans Braun, Director of the Global Wheat Program and the CGIAR Research Program on Wheat, who taled to us about the need for increased investment in crop disease research as the world risks a food security crisis related to COVID-19.
Maize Lethal Necrosis (MLN) sensitive and resistant hybrid demo plots in Naivashaâs quarantine & screening facility (Photo: KIPENZ/CIMMYT)
Seven ways to make small-scale mechanization work for African farmers.
Local female artisan, Hawassa, Ethiopia. (Photo: CIMMYT)
Cover photo: A member of a women farmers group serves a platter of mung bean dishes in Suklaphanta, Nepal. (Photo: Merit Maharajan/Amuse Communication)
The Multimedia team at the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT) and our producers around the world kept busy in 2020. They uploaded 50 videos to our YouTube channel and countless more to our social media, intranet and training platforms!
We shot much of this video on location in Svalbard, north of the Arctic Circle, where freezing temperatures put our cameras to the test â but the most challenging part of production was yet to come. After a global pandemic was declared, we had to shoot our first-ever socially distanced interviews, guide people to record themselves and coordinate editing remotely.
Travel with us to the Global Seed Vault, where maize and wheat seeds from CIMMYT’s genebank are are safely backed up.
Half a century ago, scientists collected and preserved samples of maize landraces in Morelos, Mexico. Now, descendants of those farmers were able to get back their ancestral maize seeds and, with them, a piece of their family history.
It is not very often that we are able to use soap opera-style drama to convey science. In this video, actors dramatize the human stakes of the battle against fall armyworm.
At the end of the video, graphics and images show techniques developed by CIMMYT and partners to help real farmers beat this pest.
An online training takes farmers and service providers though a visual journey on the use of conservation agriculture-based sustainable intensification methods.
A series of videos â available in Bengali, Hindi and English â demonstrates the process to become a zero-till farmer or service provider: from learning how to prepare a field for zero tillage to the safe use of herbicides.
In the first installment of this video series for social media, CIMMYTâs maize and wheat quality experts Natalia Palacios and Itria Ibba explain what whole grains are and why they are an important part of healthy diets.
A farmer in Nepal operates a water pump for drip irrigation. (Photo: Sharad Maharjan/IWMI)
Taken together, digital monitoring and readily available data on the status of groundwater resources provide a critical foundation for sustainable irrigation development. While much is known about surface water resources and hydrological and meteorological linkages between the Terai, Mid-Hills and Himalaya regions of the country, Nepal currently lacks a comprehensive system for groundwater resource monitoring.
To respond to this crucial information gap, the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT) and International Water Management Institute (IWMI) are partnering with the Government of Nepalâs Groundwater Resources Development Board to conduct a pilot which will develop and test a potential groundwater monitoring system with the goal of identifying an approach which can be gradually scaled out after project completion.
To this end, the project team organized an Inception and Consultation Workshop, which took place virtually on October 14, 2020. This was the first in a series under the Cereal Systems Initiative for South Asia (CSISA) Nepal COVID-19 and Resilience project, funded by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) Nepal, which supports farmers and rural economies in their response to COVID-19 and addresses, among others, various issues and ways forward for sustainable irrigation development.
The session aimed to introduce the digital groundwater monitoring pilot to local stakeholders, identify monitoring objectives and information needs, facilitate multi-stakeholder and inter-ministerial dialogue, and generate feedback and endorsement of the project plan. Participants were from a wide range of backgrounds and disciplines, and included members of local and national authorities, research centers and universities.
Participants meet virtually at the multi-stakeholder dialogue for Nepalâs Digital Groundwater Monitoring pilot (Photo: Tim Krupnik/CIMMYT)
Madhukar Rajbhandari, director general of the Government of Nepalâs Department of Water Resources and Irrigation, opened the event and during his address highlighted the importance of groundwater irrigation for Nepalâs farming systems and livelihoods. He also captured the challenges which the country faces when developing groundwater irrigation, from polluted water resources through urbanization to lack of market access and the high maintenance costs of irrigation infrastructure. Rajbhandari noted that âagricultural and irrigation projects lack coordinationâ and expressed his hope that âthrough this pilot, the way is paved for a collaborative approach to develop practical groundwater solutions for farmers.â
The session introduced participants to the project and its background, leading breakout sessions for two groups: the first containing local, state and national government representatives; the second comprising farmers, researchers and members of industry. Each group was asked to identify the groundwater monitoring objectives and information needs that they would have as different types of users, and to provide feedback and recommendations to improve the project work plan.
The feedback showed that while government representatives are largely interested in developing a better understanding of the groundwater development potential, researchers and farmers are more concerned with possible discharge and water quality. Monitoring frequency was also identified as useful for daily to monthly timescales.
The group discussion revealed participantsâ keen interest in consolidating and monitoring groundwater information, which highlights the importance of stakeholder engagement when developing pilots such as these, to ensure that when scaling is achieved, it caters to specific needs. Participants also expressed a strong interest in bringing the results of the project within the ambit of national policy, which would achieve the streamlining of data collection protocols for standardized, publicly accessible, data collection mechanisms.
âIt is very encouraging to see such active participation and engagement from all the participants throughout the workshop,â noted Timothy Krupnik, project leader and a senior scientist at CIMMYT. âWe look forward to maintaining this momentum, to support Nepalâs efforts in strengthening its capacity for sustainable irrigation.â
Douglas Mungai holds up soil on his farm in Murangâa county, Kenya. (Photo: Robert Neptune/TNC)
There is a growing crisis beneath our feet. Scientists, soil specialists and policy-makers around the world are sounding the alarm about degrading soil conditions. And it is particularly stark in developing countries. In fact, about 40 per cent of soils in sub-Saharan Africa are already of poor quality.
Declining soil health causes poor crop yields, leading to further pressure on the soils as farmers struggle to meet food demands and eke out a living. Many farmers lack access to information or technologies to get out of this vicious cycle. If you are a farmer with the need to increase your yield in the face of these challenges, crop breeding and soil management offers a range of solutions as part of an Integrated Soil Fertility Management (ISFM) approach.
For instance, breeding programs which partner with CGIAR Excellence in Breeding (EiB) are working to deliver the best seed varieties for farmers to help them withstand harsh conditions and increase yields. Alongside this work, researchers are supporting farmers to adopt better agronomic practices, such as minimum tillage farming, crop rotation, proper spacing and planting date practices, the use of terracing or intercropping, or techniques to reduce water use.
Of course, breeding cannot happen in a vacuum. To protect soils and produce quality yields, these cropping measures should be closely matched to the best, context-appropriate soil management practices available to farmers, for instance around the type and timing of mineral fertilizer, along with organic sources like crop residues, compost or manure.
Indeed, a combination will bring the best results. Â But most of the time accessing either improved variety or best agronomic practice represent a challenge for farmers in low income countries.
Here are three ways crop breeders can ensure they deliver the best seeds and create the best conditions for long-term crop production.
Include farmers, agronomic experts and extension services when defining product requirements
Strong connections among public breeding programs and extension and agronomic groups are vital. There is growing discussion regarding how to broaden our work to better consider all the factors that contribute to a successful breeding scheme: genotyping, environment and management (GxExM). However, defining the management component is not easy. Do we breed for conditions that farmers are actually working with, or breed for conditions that they should adopt?
A key to answer this question is a strong breeding team defining the traits needed and wanted by farmers. To design the best product profile, it is imperative to involve extension teams and other groups that work on the development of sustainable agronomic practices.
A man inspects a drought-tolerant bean plant on a trial site in Malawi. (Photo: Neil Palmer/CIAT)
Properly manage research stations
Attention also needs to focus on the sustainability practices within research stations. It is all too easy to find degraded soil in public research stations. There are many reasons for this: inadequate long-term planning, lack of organized management structures, insufficient connections between breeding and agronomic teams, and lack of resources, to name a few.
Public research stations must serve as an example for the farmers in that specific region. Thus, it is not only what products we develop that matters, but also how we develop them. If we develop a good variety at the research station, but do so without adopting good agronomic practice, what example has been set for farmers and future generations? We need to ensure we invest in the best soil management practices along every step of the research phase.
Breed for specific soil characteristics
Once the breeding target is known, breeding for specific soil conditions is critical. This means developing varieties for soil conditions such as nutrient deficiencies or high salinity levels. CGIAR breeding programs have put in tremendous efforts with great impact here.
For example, AfricaRice and partners developed rice varieties branded ARICA (Advanced Rice Varieties for Africa) to be salt or iron toxicity tolerant, among other traits. This is helping farmers who farm under predominantly rainfed conditions, in which soils and yields are threatened by floods, droughts and toxicity.
Another standout product is Stress Tolerant Maize for Africa (STMA), led by the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT) and the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA). Breeders have developed varieties that can thrive in low soil fertility conditions, along with resistance to other stresses such as pests and drought. The project has seen the adoption of new maize varieties by more than six million households across 13 countries, with some farms increasing yields by over 150 per cent.
Our soils depend on breeding for the future. Breeding is showing real results for improving yields, delivering better food, and increasing smallholder incomes. But its impact on ecosystems could go either way. With the right investments in relationships, good research practices, and delivering varieties matched to particular soil conditions, we can breed for the present and for the future.
It is time to invest in both crop breeding and soil management â as one vital package of innovations.
The active involvement of partners in the co-design of project and capacity building activities is key to the success of the Accelerating Genetic Gains in Maize and Wheat for Improved Livelihoods (AGG) project, led by the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT). To that end, the AGG Regional Collaborative Breeding and Testing Networks launched with virtual meetings on September 14 and 15 for southern African partners, and October 28 and November 2 for eastern African partners.
These training events and regional meetings provided opportunities for well over 100 breeders from CIMMYT, national agricultural research systems (NARS) and seed companies to refresh their capacities to improve genetic gains, and to collectively review and discuss upcoming project activities, current issues of interest, and broader project objectives within their current regional context.
Several themes of importance to partners emerged during the network virtual meetings, for attention in future AGG activities and capacity development work.
Gender inclusion and the impact of COVID-19
Ugandan partners, including Godfrey Asea, director of the National Crops Resources Research Institute at Ugandaâs National Agricultural Research Organization, and Josephine Okot, founder and managing director of Victoria Seeds, applauded the projectâs emphasis on inclusion of womenâs knowledge and preferences in breeding programs.
âWe notice that this time there is a lot of focus on gender-inclusiveness,â remarked Asea. âI can tell you there is need for enhanced capacity building for both the private sector and research in proper gender inclusion.â
They also noted the importance of building local capacity, not just for food security but also for other value chain items like raw materials. âCOVID-19 has demonstrated to all policy-makers that we cannot depend on the global supply chains,â said Okot. âHow can we leverage this project if, for instance, some private sector actors want to [know] the appropriate protein-content maize for, say, animal feed?â
Godfrey Asea (R), director of the National Crops Resources Research Institute (NaCRRI) at Ugandaâs National Agricultural Research Organization (NARO), and Daniel Bomet (L), a maize breeder at NARO, admire maize cobs on a farm in Uganda. (Photo: Joshua Masinde/CIMMYT)
Demand for knowledge
NARS members in Tanzania requested increased support on how to measure or assess genetic gains, especially at the national level, to allow them to establish a baseline upon which genetic gains would be pegged for the project lifecycle.
With statistics an essential element to plant breeding â from analyzing yield trials to ranking varieties â the webinar series in Statistical Analysis for Plant Breeders was a first step towards meeting these capacity development needs.
âThe idea of this webinar series was to share insights on how we can improve the breeding plans using statistical methods in an effective way,â said Juan Burgueño, the head of CIMMYTâs Biometrics and Statistics Unit. âThe training offered both theory and hands-on experience using open-access software.â
Reaching farmers
Looking beyond breeding, meeting participants also discussed how to improve access and adoption of improved varieties among farmers.
âFor a large country such as Tanzania, it is at times very hard to reach the farmers,â said Zabron Mbwaga, managing director of the Tanzania-based Beula Seed Company and Consultancy Limited. âWe may have a lot of seed in the store, but how to get the farmers to adopt the newer varieties is quite difficult. This is more so when farmers tend to stick to varieties which they know well and are always reluctant to adopt the new varieties,â he explained.
âWe need to put in a lot of effort to set up demonstration farms and enhance other awareness-raising activities such as radio programs so that farmers can know about the new varieties.â
This interest in working with smallholder farmers along the entire value chain was echoed by partners in southern Africa.
âThrough this project, we would like to explore ways of collaborating along the whole value chain â as the Agriculture Research Council, other partners and small to medium enterprises â to make it an effective chain,â said Kingstone Mashingaidze, senior research manager at the South Africa Agricultural Research Council. âBy planning together, we can identify best-fits for all activities in the value chain and ultimately benefit the smallholder farmers.â
About the AGG Regional Collaborative Breeding and Testing Networks
The AGG Regional Collaborative Breeding and Testing Networks aim to improve breeding efficiencies among partners by enabling the use of modern tools and approaches and enriching the existing network of research organizations, public and private seed companies, farmersâ organizations, non-governmental organizations and community-based organizations. It is expected that these networks will lead to increased efficiency and communications across the partnership network and within countries, improved sharing of best practices and protocols, and increased collective ownership of products for accelerated variety development and turnover.
The virtual meetings for the Regional Collaborative Breeding and Testing Network for southern Africa convened participants from Malawi, Mozambique, South Africa, Zambia and Zimbabwe, while meetings for eastern Africa had participants from Ethiopia, Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda.
AGG communications staff Joshua Masinde and Shiela Chikulo contributed to this story.
After a 37-year career, Hans-Joachim Braun is retiring from the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT). As the director of the Global Wheat Program and the CGIAR Research Program on Wheat, Braunâs legacy will resonate throughout halls, greenhouses and fields of wheat research worldwide.
We caught up with him to capture some of his career milestones, best travel stories, and vision for the future of CIMMYT and global wheat production. And, of course, his retirement plans in the German countryside.
Beyh Akin (left) and Hans Braun in wheat fields in Izmir, Turkey, in 1989. (Photo: CIMMYT)
His first posting with CIMMYT was in Turkey in 1985, as a breeder in the International Winter Wheat Improvement Program (IWWIP). This was the first CGIAR breeding program hosted by a CIMMYT co-operator, that later developed into the joint Turkey, CIMMYT and the International Center for Agricultural Research in the Dry Areas (ICARDA) winter wheat program. âIn 1990, when the Commonwealth of Independent States was established, I saw this tremendous opportunity to work with Central Asia to develop better wheat varieties,â he said. âToday, IWWIP varieties are grown on nearly 3 million hectares.â
Although Braun was determined to become a wheat breeder, he never actually intended to spend his entire career with one institution. âEventually I worked my entire career for CIMMYT. Not so usual anymore, but it was very rewarding. CIMMYT is at my heart; it is what I know.â
Hans Braun (center), Sanjaya Rajaram (third from right), Ravi Singh (first from right) and other colleagues stand for a photograph during a field day at CIMMYTâs experimental station in Ciudad ObregĂłn, Sonora, Mexico. (Photo: CIMMYT)
âMake the link to the unexpectedâ
One of Braunâs standout memories was a major discovery when he first came to Turkey. Â When evaluating elite lines from outside the country â in particular lines from a similar environment in the Great Plains â his team noticed they were failing but nobody knew why.
Two of his colleagues had just returned from Australia, where research had recently identified micronutrient disorders in soil as a major constraint for cereal production. The team tried applying micro-nutrients to wheat plots, and it became crystal clear that zinc deficiency was the underlying cause. âOnce aware that micro-nutrient disorders can cause severe growth problems, it was a minor step to identify boron toxicity as another issue. Looking back, it was so obvious. The cover picture of a FAO book on global soil analysis showed a rice field with zinc deficiency, and Turkey produces more boron than the rest of the world combined.â
âWe tested the soil and found zinc deficiency was widespread, not just in the soils, but also in humans.â This led to a long-term cooperation with plant nutrition scientists from Cukurova University, now Sabanci University, in Istanbul.
But zinc deficiency did not explain all growth problems. Soil-borne diseases â cyst and lesion nematodes, and root and crown rot â were also widespread. In 1999, CIMMYT initiated a soil-borne disease screening program with Turkish colleagues that continues until today. Â Over the coming decade, CIMMYTâs wheat program will make zinc a core trait and all lines will have at least 25% more zinc in the grain than currently grown varieties.
After 21 years in Turkey, Braun accepted the position as director of CIMMYTâs Global Wheat Program and moved back to Mexico.
Left to right: Zhonghu He, Sanjaya Rajaram, Ravi Singh and Hans Braun during a field trip in Anyang, South Korea, in 1990. (Photo: CIMMYT)
Partnerships and friendships
Braun emphasized the importance of âmutual trust and connections,â especially with cooperators in the national agricultural research systems of partner countries. This strong global network contributed to another major milestone in CIMMYT wheat research: the rapid development and release of varieties with strong resistance to the virulent Ug99 race of wheat rust. This network, led by Cornell University, prevented a potential global wheat rust epidemic.
CIMMYTâs relationship with Mexicoâs Ministry of Agriculture and the ObregĂłn farmers union, the Patronato, is especially important to Braun.
In 1955, Patronato farmers made 200 hectares of land available, free if charge, to Norman Borlaug. The first farm community in the developing world to support research, it became CIMMYTâs principal wheat breeding experimental station: Norman Borlaug Experimental Station, or CENEB. Â When Borlaug visited ObregĂłn for the last time in 2009, the Patronato farmers had a big surprise.
âI was just getting out of the shower in my room in ObregĂłn when I got a call from Jorge Artee Elias Calles, the president of the Patronato,â Braun recalls. âHe said, âHans, Iâm really happy to inform you that Patronato decided to donate $1 million.ââ
The donation, in honor of Borlaugâs lifetime of collaboration and global impact, was given for CIMMYTâs research on wheat diseases.
âThis relationship and support from the ObregĂłn farmers is really tremendous,â Braun says. âObregĂłn is a really special place to me. I am admittedly a little bit biased, because ObregĂłn gave me a PhD.â
Hans Braun (right) and colleagues in a wheat field in CIMMYTâs experimental station in Ciudad ObregĂłn, Sonora, Mexico. (Photo: CIMMYT)
Norman Borlaug (left), Ravi Singh (center) and Hans Braun stand in the wheat fields at CIMMYTâs experimental station in Ciudad ObregĂłn, in Mexicoâs Sonora state. (Photo: CIMMYT)
Left to right: Sanjaya Rajaram, unknown, unknown, unknown, Norman E. Borlaug, unknown, Ken Sayre, Arnoldo Amaya, Rodrigo Rascon and Hans Braun during Norman Borlaug’s birthday celebration in March 2006. (Photo: CIMMYT)
Left to right: Hans Braun, Ronnie Coffman, Jeanie Borlaug-Laube, Thomas Lumpkin, Antonio GĂĄndara, Katharine McDevitt and unknown during the unveiling of the Norman Borlaug statue at CIMMYTâs experimental station in Ciudad ObregĂłn, Sonora, Mexico, in 2012. (Photo: Xochil Fonseca/CIMMYT)
Participants in the first technical workshop of the Borlaug Global Rust Initiative in 2009 take a group photo at CIMMYTâs experimental station in Ciudad ObregĂłn, Sonora, Mexico. (Photo: CIMMYT)
A worldwide perspective
Braunâs decades of international research and travel has yielded just as many stories and adventures as it has high-impact wheat varieties.
He remembers seeing areas marked with red tape as he surveyed wheat fields in Afghanistan in the 1990s, and the shock and fear he felt when he was informed that they were uncleared landmine areas. âI was never more scared than in that moment, and I followed the footsteps of the guy in front of me exactly,â Braun recalls.
On a different trip to Afghanistan, Braun met a farmer who had struggled with a yellow rust epidemic and was now growing CIMMYT lines that were resistant to it.
âThe difference between his field and his neighborsâ was so incredible. When he learned I had developed the variety he was so thankful. He wanted to invite me to his home for dinner. Interestingly, he called it Mexican wheat, as all modern varieties are called there, though it came from the winter wheat program in Turkey.â
Seeing the impact of CIMMYTâs work on farmers was always a highlight for Braun.
Hans Braun, Director of CIMMYTâs Global Wheat Program of CIMMYT, is interviewed by Ethiopian journalist at an event in 2017. (Photo: CIMMYT)
CIMMYTâs future
Braun considers wheat research to be still in a âblessed environmentâ because a culture of openly-shared germplasm, knowledge and information among the global wheat community is still the norm. âI only can hope this is maintained, because it is the basis for future wheat improvement.”
His pride in his program and colleagues is clear.
âA successful, full-fledged wheat breeding program must have breeders, quantitative genetics, pathology, physiology, molecular science, wide crossing, quality, nutrition, bioinformatics, statistics, agronomy and input from economists and gender experts,â in addition to a broad target area, he remarked at an acceptance address for the Norman Borlaug Lifetime Achievement award.
âHow many programs worldwide have this expertise and meet the target criteria? The Global Wheat Program is unique â no other wheat breeding program has a comparable impact. Today, around 60 million hectares are sown with CIMMYT-derived wheat varieties, increasing the annual income of farmers by around $3 billion dollars. Not bad for an annual investment in breeding of around $25 million dollars. And I donât take credit for CIMMYT only, this is achieved through the excellent collaboration we have with national programs.â
A bright future for wheat, and for Braun
General view Inzlingen, Germany, with Basel in the background. (Photo: Hans Braun)
After retirement, Braun is looking forward to settling in rural Inzlingen, Germany, and being surrounded by the beautiful countryside and mountains, alongside his wife Johanna. They look forward to skiing, running, e-biking and other leisure activities.
âOne other thing I will try â though most people will not believe me because Iâm famous for not cooking â but I am really looking into experimenting with flour and baking,â he says.
Despite his relaxing retirement plans, Braun hopes to continue to support wheat research, whether it is through CIMMYT or through long friendships with national partners, raising awareness of population growth, the âproblem of all problemsâ in his view.
âWe have today 300 million more hungry people than in 1985. The road to zero hunger in 2030 is long and will need substantial efforts. In 1970, Organization for Economic Co-Operation and Development (OECD) countries agreed to spend 0.7% of GDP on official development assistance. Today only 6 countries meet this target and the average of all OECD countries has never been higher than 0.4%. Something needs to change to end extreme poverty â and that on top of COVID-19. The demand for wheat is increasing, and at the same time the area under wheat cultivation needs to be reduced, a double challenge. We need a strong maize and wheat program. The world needs a strong CIMMYT.â
Former Director General of CIMMYT, Thomas Lumpkin (center), Hans Braun (next right) and Turkish research partners on a field day at a wheat landraces trial in Turkey. (Photo: CIMMYT)
Hans Braun (sixth from right) stands for a photograph with colleagues during a work trip to CIMMYTâs Pakistan office in 2020. (Photo: CIMMYT)
Hans Braun (seventh from left) visits wheat trials in EskiĆehir, Turkey in 2014. (Photo: CIMMYT)
A solar powered irrigation pump in use, India. (Photo: Ayush Manik/CCAFS)
Climate change is a major challenge for India, which faces large-scale climate variability and is exposed to high risk. The countryâs current development model reiterates the focus on sustainable growth and aims to exploit the benefits of addressing climate change alongside promoting economic growth.
The government has been heavily emphasizing the importance of solar power in India, and the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE) recently launched an ambitious initiative to further this cause. The Pradhan Mantri-Kisan Urja Suraksha evam Utthaan Mahabhiyan (PM-KUSUM) scheme aims to support the installation of off-grid solar pumps in rural areas, and reduce dependence on the grid in grid-connected areas.
However, there has been a knowledge gap about the potential use of solar energy interventions in the context of climate change and their scalability. In an effort to bridge this gap, scientists from the CGIAR Research Program on Climate Change, Agriculture and Food Security (CCAFS) have comprehensively synthesized existing pilot initiatives on the deployment of solar powered irrigation systems (SPIS) across different agro-climatic zones in India and tried to assess their scalability. This in turn has led to the identification of efficient and effective models for sustainable development in accordance with the regionâs socioeconomic and geopolitical situation.
Solar powered irrigation systems in India
A compendium has been developed as part of the research carried out by CCAFS, in collaboration with the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT), the Borlaug Institute for South Asia (BISA), Deutsche Gesellschaft fĂŒr Internationale Zusammenarbeit GmbH (GIZ) and the International Water Management Institute (IWMI).
The main objectives for bringing forth this compendium are: to qualitatively document various deployment models of SPIS and to understand the factors impacting the scalability of SPIS in India. The authors collected detailed information about the process of installing SPIS, their use and maintenance, and documented the different approaches in the form of case studies developed through primary and secondary research. They aimed to capture the key technical, social, institutional and financial attributes of the deployment approaches to enable comparative analysis and synthesis.
In total, 16 case studies from across India were documented â 1 case for centralized SPIS, 2 distributed SPIS and 13 examples for decentralized systems.  Though each of these was designed with unique objectives, detailed analysis reveals that all the cases revolve around the improvement of the three factors: accessibility, affordability and sustainability â the trinity against which all cases have been described. Grid-connected areas such as Gujarat and Maharashtra offer an immense scope of selling surplus energy being produced by SPIS, to energy-deficient electricity suppliers while areas such as Bihar and Jharkhand offer the potential for scaling the decentralized model of SPIS.
Two smallholders use a solar powered irrigation system to farm fish in Bihar, India. (Photo: Ayush Manik/CCAFS)
Assessing scalability
For inclusive and sustainable growth, it is important to consider the farm-level potential of solar energy use with multiple usages of energy. The compendium documents examples of the potential of solar irrigation systems in India for adaptation and mitigation benefits. It also assesses on the scalability of different deployment approaches such as solar pump fitted boats in Samastipur, Bihar, or the decentralized solar powered irrigation systems in Gujrat and West Bengal. Through the compendium, the authors study the five key stages of the scaling-up process to assess whether these initiatives are scalable and could reduce or replace fossil fuel dependence in agriculture.
While some of the documented cases are designed exclusively to address a very specific problem in a particular context, others are primarily designed as a proof-of-concept for wider applicability and policy implications â with or without suitable modifications at the time of scaling. In this compendium, both types of cases are included and assessed to understand their relevance and the potential contribution they can make in advancing the goal of solarizing irrigation and agriculture in a sustainable and effective way.
The authors conclude that all the cases have different technical, financial, and institutional aspects which complement each other, have been designed based on community needs and are in line with the larger objective of the intervention integrating three factors â accessibility, affordability and sustainability â to ensure secured availability of resources and to facilitate scalability.
Given that India is a diverse country with varied socioeconomic and geopolitical conditions, it is important to have set guidelines that lay out a plan for scaling while allowing agencies to adapt the SPIS model based on local context and realities in the field.
This article was originally published on the CCAFS website.
The UN has designated 2020 as the International Year of Plant Health. CGIAR Centers have significant scientific knowledge, extensive experience on the ground, and thought leadership that they can lend to the global discussion to advance awareness, collaboration, and scaling of needed interventions.
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Webinar 2 will highlight the importance of germplasm (phytosanitary) health in the prevention of transboundary pest and disease spread, as well as the propagation of clean planting material to be used locally. Experts will discuss the implications of poor germplasm practices on agricultural and food system sustainability, farmer livelihoods, and food and nutrition security. They will also examine how opportunities for greater workplace diversity in germplasm health hubs and gender-responsive programming could drive more inclusive sustainable development. Full details of webinar 2.
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