funder_partner: CGIAR

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Asia Regional Resilience to a Changing Climate (ARRCC)

Written by Emma Orchardson on April 30, 2020. Posted in Uncategorized.

The Asia Regional Resilience to a Changing Climate (ARRCC) program is managed by the UK Met Office, supported by the World Bank and the UK’s Department for International Development (DFID). The four-year program, which started in 2018, aims to strengthen weather forecasting systems across Asia. The program will deliver new technologies and innovative approaches to help vulnerable communities use weather warnings and forecasts to better prepare for climate-related shocks.

Since 2019, as part of ARRCC, CIMMYT has been working with the Met Office and Cambridge University to pilot an early warning system to deliver wheat rust and blast disease predictions directly to farmers’ phones in Bangladesh and Nepal.

The system was first developed in Ethiopia. It uses weather information from the Met Office, the UK’s national meteorological service, along with field and mobile phone surveillance data and disease spread modeling from the University of Cambridge, to construct and deploy a near real-time early warning system.

Phase I: 12-Month Pilot Phase

Around 50,000 smallholder farmers are expected to receive improved disease warnings and appropriate management advisories in the first 12 months as part of a proof-of-concept modeling and pilot advisory extension phase focused on three critical diseases:

Wheat stripe rust in Nepal: extend and test the modelling framework developed in Ethiopia to smallholder farmers in Nepal as proof-of concept;
Wheat stem rust in Bangladesh and Nepal: while stem rust is currently not widely established in South Asia, models indicate that devastating incursion from neighboring regions is likely. This work will prepare for potential incursions of new rust strains in both countries;
Wheat blast in Bangladesh: this disease is now established in Bangladesh. This work will establish the feasibility of adapting the dispersal modelling framework to improve wheat blast predictability and deploy timely preventative management advisories to farmers.

Phase II: Scaling-out wheat rust early warning advisories, introducing wheat blast forecasting and refinement model refinement

Subject to funding approval the second year of the project will lead to validation of the wheat rust early warnings, in which researchers compare predictions with on-the-ground survey results, increasingly supplemented with farmer response on the usefulness of the warnings facilitated by national research and extension partners. Researchers shall continue to introduce and scale-out improved early warning systems for wheat blast. Concomitantly, increasing the reach of the advice to progressively larger numbers of farmers while refining the models in the light of results. We anticipate that with sufficient funding, Phase II activities could reach up to 300,000 more farmers in Nepal and Bangladesh.

Phase III: Demonstrating that climate services can increase farmers’ resilience to crop diseases

As experience is gained and more data is accumulated from validation and scaling-out, researchers will refine and improve the precision of model predictions. They will also place emphasis on efforts to train partners and operationalize efficient communication and advisory dissemination channels using information communication technologies (ICTs) for extension agents and smallholders. Experience from Ethiopia indicates that these activities are essential in achieving ongoing sustainability of early warning systems at scale. Where sufficient investment can be garnered to support the third phase of activities, it is expected that an additional 350,000 farmers will receive disease management warnings and advisories in Nepal and Bangladesh, totaling 1 million farmers over a three-year period.

Objectives

Review the feasibility of building resilience to wheat rust through meteorologically informed early warning systems.
Adapt and implement epidemiological forecasting protocols for wheat blast in South Asia.
Implement processes to institutionalize disease early warning systems in Nepal and Bangladesh.

A wheat field in Pakistan, ready for harvest. (Photo: Kashif Syed/CIMMYT)

CIMMYT and Pakistan: 60 years of collaboration

Written by Mike Listman on April 24, 2020. Posted in Publications. 1 Comment on CIMMYT and Pakistan: 60 years of collaboration

A new fact sheet captures the impact of CIMMYT after six decades of maize and wheat research in Pakistan.

Dating back to the 1960s, the research partnership between Pakistan and CIMMYT has played a vital role in improving food security for Pakistanis and for the global spread of improved crop varieties and farming practices.

Norman Borlaug, Nobel Peace Prize laureate and first director of CIMMYT wheat research, kept a close relationship with the nation’s researchers and policymakers. CIMMYT’s first training course participant from Pakistan, Manzoor A. Bajwa, introduced the high-yielding wheat variety “Mexi-Pak” from CIMMYT to help address the national food security crisis. Pakistan imported 50 tons of Mexi-Pak seed in 1966, the largest seed purchase of its time, and two years later became the first Asian country to achieve self-sufficiency in wheat, with a national production of 6.7 million tons.

CIMMYT researchers in Pakistan examine maize cobs. (Photo: CIMMYT)

In 2019 Pakistan harvested 26 million tons of wheat, which roughly matches its annual consumption of the crop.

In line with Pakistan’s National Food Security Policy and with national partners, CIMMYT contributes to Pakistan’s efforts to intensify maize- and wheat-based cropping in ways that improve food security, raise farmers’ income, and reduce environmental impacts. This has helped Pakistani farmers to figure among South Asia’s leaders in adopting improved maize and wheat varieties, zero tillage for sowing wheat, precision land leveling, and other innovations.

With funding from USAID, since 2013 CIMMYT has coordinated the work of a broad network of partners, both public and private, to boost the productivity and climate resilience of agri-food systems for wheat, maize, and rice, as well as livestock, vegetable, and fruit production.

Download the fact sheet:
CIMMYT and Pakistan: 60 years of collaboration

Cover photo: A wheat field in Pakistan, ready for harvest. (Photo: Kashif Syed/CIMMYT)

Sita Kumari, a farmer, stands on a maize field in Nepal. (Photo: C. de Bode/CGIAR)

CGIAR is receiving applications to join the One CGIAR Common Board

Written by Rodrigo Ordóñez on April 23, 2020. Posted in News.

The world is changing, and so is CGIAR. To achieve the Sustainable Development Goals by 2030, food systems — the way we grow, catch, transport, process, trade, and consume food — must be transformed, while meeting the challenges of climate change, and restoring the natural environment. The global pandemic further highlights the need for an integrated approach to food systems, and human, animal and environmental health.

In the face of these interdependent challenges, CGIAR, as the world’s largest public research network on food systems, is undergoing a dynamic transformation of its partnerships, knowledge, assets and global presence. Emerging as One CGIAR, it is sharpening its mission and impact focus to 2030, in line with the Sustainable Development Goals. CGIAR is integrating management, policies, and services; finding new, more impactful ways of doing research; sharing and investing more, pooled funding; and unifying its governance, including creation of the One CGIAR Common Board.

CGIAR’s Nominations Committee invites applications from qualified individuals to serve as members of the One CGIAR Common Board. The anticipated appointment date is September 1, 2020. Board members will be central to the transformation of CGIAR and its mission to deliver on global goals. The role presents opportunities to work with leaders across the CGIAR System, forging new linkages and partnerships in pursuit of an innovative, vital agenda.

For more details, please visit:
One CGIAR Common Board members (SRI Executive)

This notice was originally published on the CGIAR website:
Invitation to join the One CGIAR Common Board

CGIAR is a global research partnership for a food-secure future. CGIAR science is dedicated to reducing poverty, enhancing food and nutrition security, and improving natural resources and ecosystem services. Its research is carried out by 15 CGIAR Centers in close collaboration with hundreds of partners, including research institutes, civil society organizations, academia, development organizations and the private sector. www.cgiar.org

Farmers at the field school in Msambafumu, Malawi, begin preparing the soil for their next set of experiments. (Photo: Emma Orchardson/CIMMYT)

Out of the classroom and into the field

Written by Emma Orchardson on April 23, 2020. Posted in Features.

When farmers in rural Kasungu, Malawi, are asked to list some of the challenges they face, much of what they say is to be expected. Crop pests, climate change, low soil fertility, and lack of improved seed and purchasing power — these are faced by smallholders across districts and the country as a whole.

But there is one surprising response. “Sometimes it’s difficult to get feedback from research centers on what does and doesn’t work,” says Maxwell Phiri.

Capacity building and knowledge transfer are key elements of agricultural development work, but there is often a gap between research, outreach and extension to farmers. New techniques and crop varieties tested at experimental stations can take a while to reach rural communities, who want solutions to the challenges they are facing in real time.

“But now it’s easier for us because the research is being done here.” Phiri points to the farmer field school in Msambafumu, a few hectares of communal land where 23 smallholders from the surrounding area meet regularly to learn about new technologies and farming techniques.

At the school they have been able to learn first-hand about improved and new agricultural practices and technologies. Following an introduction to climate-smart agriculture practices, they have moved on to agroforestry, learning about the benefits of intercropping drought-tolerant maize with pigeon peas and fruit trees. “We’ve even started practicing climate-smart agriculture in our own fields and planting agroforestry trees,” says Ntendeleza Mwale, a member of the field school in Msambafumu and chair of a network of 17 schools in the district. “Now everybody is growing fruit trees at home.”

“We didn’t know that potatoes, millet and sorghum could grow here, because we thought the soil wasn’t suitable, but the school has showed us what is possible,” explains Maxwell Phiri (first from left). “You learn a lot of things in a group that you might not learn on your own.” (Photo: Emma Orchardson/CIMMYT)

Back to school

A farmer field school is a group of 25-30 farmers, led by a master trainer, who come together to solve common challenges faced in their local area, such as soil degradation or poor water availability. Since 2014, the Government of Malawi has been using this innovative approach to help farmers learn about and improve their production systems through the KULIMA project. With support from a CGIAR consortium led by the International Potato Center (CIP), 15 schools have been established across the districts of Kasungu, Mulanje and Mzuzu, including master training hubs and outreach centers run by NGOs.

The overall objective is to increase agricultural productivity and diversification by upscaling climate-smart technologies,” explains Mathinda Sopo, a monitoring and evaluation specialist and project manager at the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT). “Master trainer candidates are selected in each district and then invited to sit down with researchers and identify their core production challenges. The plans are then developed collaboratively and based on agroecological zone.”

In February 2020, a new cohort of trainees arrived at the Lisasadizi Regional Training Center in Kasungu, where the Ministry of Agriculture coordinates trainings on four key topics — soil health, climate change, pests and diseases and nutrition — in collaboration with the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and the CGIAR consortium, supported by the German development agency GIZ.

The 13-week residential course is mostly practical but does include some classroom-based study and a community outreach component. Guided by a facilitator — usually a researcher or extension worker — participants are encouraged to learn from their experiences as they conduct experiments in their own fields, make observations and evaluate results throughout the cropping season. Outside of the core curriculum, they are free to investigate additional topics of their own choice.

After completing the course, master trainers move back to their respective areas to help train facilitators, who are ultimately responsible for running the field schools with support from NGO extension staff.

“The CGIAR centers bring in technologies they want to promote like improved crop varieties, but there are ongoing evaluations throughout the process to respond to newly emerging challenges such as fall armyworm,” says Sopo. “There’s also a review at the end of each season to discuss lessons learned and knowledge gaps.”

CIMMYT, for example, is focusing on promoting drought-tolerant, quality protein maize (QPM), and provitamin A maize, as well as climate-smart agriculture practices. At Msambafumu, the group have been comparing five improved maize varieties with local ones. “So far we’ve seen that the new varieties have bigger yields and cob sizes,” says Mwale. “Varieties like Chitedze 2 QPM and MH43A are also early maturing and are more nutritious.”

Farmers at the field schools in Msambafumu and Tiyese, in Malawi, have been surprised to find that banana trees can be grown in their area. (Photo: Emma Orchardson/CIMMYT)

At the field school in Tiyese, Malawi, farmers are using two adjacent maize plots to compare the effects of leaving crop residue on their field. (Photo: Emma Orchardson/CIMMYT)

Learning by doing

A few kilometers down the road, in Galika village, members of the Tiyese field school have been learning how to control a variety of pests and diseases. So far, they have been taught about different pesticides and the benefits of using inoculant on soya beans and ground nuts to improve soil fertility, and how to identify and mitigate disease in susceptible potato varieties. They have also been learning how to apply Aflasafe while crops are still in the field to reduce aflatoxins in maize and groundnuts.

But the most pressing challenge is fall armyworm, says Matolino Zimba, a member of the Tiyese field school. “We’ve been trying new methods for controlling it,” he explains. “Last year we planted mucuna beans in our banana orchard as a cover crop. Later we soaked mucuna leaves in water and poured the solution on the infested maize and noticed that the worms were dying.”

Zimba is satisfied with the learning methods at the field school. “This approach is better for us because we get to see the process, rather than just receiving an explanation.”

Emily Kaponda agrees. She first joined the group after noticing that participating farmers were getting higher yields by using new planting methods. “The school has a smaller plot of land than I do, but their bundles of maize were much larger,” she explains.

Since joining the field school, she has learned how to increase her yields, how to conserve moisture in the soil using zero-tillage farming and the importance of diversifying her family’s diets. “We’re learning how we can use cassava or sweet potato as a starch, instead of only using maize.”

Zimba and Kaponda are both excited to be trying out QPM and provitamin A maize varieties, as well as new varieties of cassava, orange-fleshed sweet potato, improved groundnuts, biofortified beans and bananas. Much like their peers at Msambafumu, they had not known that many of these could be grown in the area, and the group has already started planning to multiply planting materials to use in their own fields next year.

“These groups are really inspirational,” says Sopo. “Most members are already practicing things they’ve learned at their school and are getting positive results.”

Sopo is already seeing success stories from schools established one year ago, but collaboration will need to be sustained to ensure lasting progress. A new research initiative, Development-Smart Innovations through Research in Agriculture (DeSIRA), will help to maintain the positive feedback loop by investigating emerging issues raised during on-farm experiments. “We can take farmer observations from the study plots to DeSIRA for further research, and the outputs from that will complement KULIMA.”

Farmers at the field school in Msambafumu, Malawi, begin preparing the soil for their next set of experiments. (Photo: Emma Orchardson/CIMMYT)

Matolino Zimba checks on the emerging maize crop, which has been covered in crop residue to conserve moisture, at the field school in Tiyese, Malawi. (Photo: Emma Orchardson/CIMMYT)

IFPRI, IRRI, CIMMYT, WorldFish make joint call for measures to avert risk to food system

Written by Mary Donovan on April 22, 2020. Posted in In the media.

World’s leading food security think-tank and research centres have recommended Bangladesh to ensure transportation of food from rural to urban areas and the flow of crucial inputs to farmers through market systems so that risk to food system during Covid-19 pandemic can be averted.

KULIMA Promoting Farming in Malawi

Written by Emma Orchardson on April 22, 2020. Posted in Uncategorized.

KULIMA stands for ‘Kutukula Ulimi m’Malawi’, which means ‘promoting farming in Malawi’ in the country’s main local language, Chichewa. KULIMA aims to sustainably increase agricultural productivity and diversification of smallholder farmers based on market demand, while increasing income generation by farm enterprises and creating jobs through developing local value addition of raw agricultural products. It also seeks to stimulate better information supply on agricultural policy, investments and their outcomes to both government actors and the general public.

Within KULIMA Action, CGIAR Centers are working to make their expertise and technologies more easily available to more people. In coordination with GIZ and FAO, they provide guidance on the suitability of technologies and inputs in different agroecological zones in Malawi, successful agricultural practices, and the application of relevant innovations and technologies to address the issues affecting agricultural production systems in a holistic manner.

CIMMYT’s role within the project is to contribute towards increasing agricultural productivity and diversification through upscaling climate-smart agriculture technologies. To achieve this, CIMMYT supports production and utilization of drought tolerant and nutritious maize along with sustainable intensification practices that protect the soil and enhance soil fertility, commonly referred to as conservation agriculture. The focus is on creating demand for these technologies among smallholders by increasing awareness through farmer training, extension messaging and demonstrating the yield benefits of using drought tolerant versus unimproved non-drought tolerant varieties, and sustainable intensification practices versus conventional ones. CIMMYT is working in collaboration with NGOs and community-based organizations to train lead farmers and extension agents to reach out to smallholder farmers.

The project is financed under the 11th European Development Fund and is being implemented in ten districts of Chitipa, Chiradzulu, Karonga, Kasungu, Mzimba, Mulanje, Nkhata Bay, Nkhotakota, Salima and Thyolo.

Objectives

Increase agricultural productivity and diversify production in a participatory, sustainable and climate-change resilient manner
Establish agricultural value chains and create related income and employment opportunities
Strengthen agricultural sector governance

Big data analytics for climate-smart agricultural practices in South Asia (Big Data2 CSA)

Written by Emma Orchardson on April 21, 2020. Posted in Uncategorized.

Heterogeneity in soils, hydrology, climate, and rapid changes in rural economies including fluctuating prices, aging and declining labor forces, agricultural feminization, and uneven market access are among the many factors that constrain climate-smart agriculture (CSA) in South Asia’s cereal-based farming systems.

Most previous research on CSA has employed manipulative experiments analyzing agronomic variables, or survey data from project-driven initiatives. However, this can obscure the identification of relevant factors limiting CSA, leading to inappropriate extension, policy, and inadequate institutional alignments to address and overcome limitations. Alternative big data approaches utilizing heterogeneous datasets remain insufficiently explored, though they can represent a powerful alternative source of technology and management practice performance information.

In partnership with national research systems and the private sector in Bangladesh, India and Nepal, Big data analytics for climate-smart agricultural practices in South Asia (Big Data²CSA) is developing digital data collection systems to crowdsource, data-mine and interpret a wide variety of primary agronomic management and socioeconomic data from tens of thousands of smallholder rice and wheat farmers.

The project team analyzes these data by stacking them with spatially-explicit secondary environmental, climatic and remotely sensed data products, after which data mining and machine learning techniques are used to identify key factors contributing to patterns in yield, profitability, greenhouse gas emissions intensity and resilience.

These approaches however must be practical in order for them to be useful in agricultural development and policy. As such, the project’s analytical results will be represented through interactive web-based dashboards, with gender-appropriate crop management advisories deployed through interactive voice recognition technologies to farmers in Bangladesh, India and Nepal at a large-scale. Big Data² CSA is supported by the CGIAR Research Program on Climate Change, Agriculture and Food Security (CCAFS) Flagship 2 on Climate-Smart Technologies and Practices.

Objectives

Develop ICT tools enabling digital collection of crop management data and a cloud-based database that can be managed by next-users
Support advanced degree-level students to engage in field and data science research
Create a digital data collection platform enabling crowd sourcing of crop management information to evaluate contributions to CSA
Create interactive and customizable web-based dashboards presenting post-season research results and providing CSA management recommendations
Organize CSA and big data policy briefings on mainstreaming processes and policy workshops

Blast and rust forecast

Written by Matthew O'Leary on April 20, 2020. Posted in Features. 1 Comment on Blast and rust forecast

An early warning system set to deliver wheat disease predictions directly to farmers’ phones is being piloted in Bangladesh and Nepal by interdisciplinary researchers.

Experts in crop disease, meteorology and computer science are crunching data from multiple countries to formulate models that anticipate the spread of the wheat rust and blast diseases in order to warn farmers of likely outbreaks, providing time for pre-emptive measures, said Dave Hodson, a principal scientist with the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT) coordinating the pilot project.

Around 50,000 smallholder farmers are expected to receive improved disease warnings and appropriate management advisories through the one-year proof-of-concept project, as part of the UK Aid-funded Asia Regional Resilience to a Changing Climate (ARRCC) program.

Early action is critical to prevent crop diseases becoming endemic. The speed at which wind-dispersed fungal wheat diseases are spreading through Asia poses a constant threat to sustainable wheat production of the 130 million tons produced in the region each year.

“Wheat rust and blast are caused by fungal pathogens, and like many fungi, they spread from plant to plant — and field to field — in tiny particles called spores,” said Hodson. “Disease strain mutations can overcome resistant varieties, leaving farmers few choices but to rely on expensive and environmentally-damaging fungicides to prevent crop loss.”

“The early warning system combines climate data and epidemiology models to predict how spores will spread through the air and identifies environmental conditions where healthy crops are at risk of infection. This allows for more targeted and optimal use of fungicides.”

CIMMYT consultant Madan Bhatta conducts field surveys using Open Data Kit (ODK) in the mid-hills of Nepal. (Photo: D. Hodson/CIMMYT)

Initial efforts focused on adapting the wheat stripe and stem rust model from Ethiopia to Bangladesh and Nepal have been successful, with field surveillance data appearing to align with the weather-driven disease early warnings, but further analysis is ongoing, said Hodson.

“In the current wheat season we are in the process of comparing our disease forecasting models with on-the-ground survey results in both countries,” the wheat expert said.

“Next season, after getting validation from national partners, we will pilot getting our predictions to farmers through text-based messaging systems.”

CIMMYT’s strong partnerships with governmental extension systems and farmer associations across South Asia are being utilized to develop efficient pathways to get disease predictions to farmers, said Tim Krupnik, a CIMMYT Senior Scientist based in Bangladesh.

“Partnerships are essential. Working with our colleagues, we can validate and test the deployment of model-derived advisories in real-world extension settings,” Krupnik said. “The forecasting and early warning systems are designed to reduce unnecessary fungicide use, advising it only in the case where outbreaks are expected.”

Local partners are also key for data collection to support and develop future epidemiological modelling, the development of advisory graphics and the dissemination of information, he explained.

The second stage of the project concerns the adaptation of the framework and protocols for wheat blast disease to improve existing wheat blast early warning systems already pioneered in Bangladesh.

Example of weekly stripe rust spore deposition forecast in Nepal. Darker colors represent higher predicted number of spores deposited. The early warning system combines weather information from the Met Office with field and mobile phone surveillance data and disease spread modeling from the University of Cambridge. (Graphic: University of Cambridge and Met Office)

Strong scientific partnership champions diversity to achieve common goals

The meteorological-driven wheat disease warning system is an example of effective international scientific partnership contributing to the UN Sustainable Development Goals, said Sarah Millington, a scientific manager at Atmospheric Dispersion and Air Quality Group with the Met Office.

“Diverse expertise from the Met Office, the University of Cambridge and CIMMYT shows how combined fundamental research in epidemiology and meteorology modelling with field-based disease observation can produce a system that boosts smallholder farmers’ resilience to major agricultural challenges,” she said.

The atmospheric dispersion modeling was originally developed in response to the Chernobyl disaster and since then has evolved to be able to model the dispersion and deposition of a range of particles and gases, including biological particles such as wheat rust spores.

“The framework together with the underpinning technologies are transferable to forecast fungal disease in other regions and can be readily adapted for other wind-dispersed pests and disease of major agricultural crops,” said Christopher Gilligan, head of the Epidemiology and Modelling Group at the University of Cambridge.

Fungal wheat diseases are an increasing threat to farmer livelihoods in Asia

Wheat leaf rust can be spotted on a wheat plant of a highly susceptible variety in Nepal. The symptoms of wheat rust are dusty, reddish-orange to reddish-brown fruiting bodies that appear on the leaf surface. These lesions produce numerous spores, which are spread by wind and splashing water. (Photo: D Hodson/CIMMYT)

While there has been a history of wheat rust disease epidemics in South Asia, new emerging strains and changes to climate pose an increased threat to farmers’ livelihoods. The pathogens that cause rust diseases are continually evolving and changing over time, making them difficult to control.

Stripe rust threatens farmers in Afghanistan, India, Nepal and Pakistan, typically in two out of five seasons, with an estimated 43 million hectares of wheat vulnerable. When weather conditions are conducive and susceptible cultivars are grown, farmers can experience losses exceeding 70%.

Populations of stem rust are building at alarming rates and previously unseen scales in neighboring regions. Stem rust spores can spread across regions on the wind; this also amplifies the threat of incursion into South Asia and the ARRCC program’s target countries, underscoring the very real risk that the disease could reemerge within the subcontinent.

The devastating wheat blast disease, originating in the Americas, suddenly appeared in Bangladesh in 2016, causing wheat crop losses as high as 30% on a large area, and continues to threaten South Asia’s vast wheat lands.

In both cases, quick international responses through CIMMYT, the CGIAR research program on Wheat (WHEAT) and the Borlaug Global Rust Initiative have been able to monitor and characterize the diseases and, especially, to develop and deploy resistant wheat varieties.

The UK aid-funded ARRCC program is led by the Met Office and the World Bank and aims to strengthen weather forecasting systems across Asia. The program is delivering new technologies and innovative approaches to help vulnerable communities use weather warnings and forecasts to better prepare for climate-related shocks.

The early warning system uses data gathered from the online Rust Tracker tool, with additional fieldwork support from the Cereal Systems Initiative for South Asia (CSISA), funded by USAID and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, both coordinated by CIMMYT.

Fall Armyworm R4D and Management

Written by Emma Orchardson on April 17, 2020. Posted in Uncategorized.

The fall armyworm (Spodoptera frugiperda; FAW), an insect-pest native to the Americas, has been a persistent and serious pest of maize for over a century. Public and private sector scientists in the Americas – particularly in Brazil and the United States – have developed and deployed effective strategies to control the pest.

Incidence of fall armyworm was first reported in Nigeria in January 2016, and subsequently in over 40 countries across Africa. In Asia, the pest was first reported in India in mid-2018, and has since emerged in several countries in the Asia-Pacific. Strategies for fall armyworm management in both Africa and the Asia-Pacific can benefit immensely from those already fine-tuned in the Americas, with necessary customization to fit local agroecologies and farming systems. There is also a need to intensively work on various aspects of integrated pest management (IPM) for effective and sustainable fall armyworm management. This includes Research-for-Development (R4D) for discovering, validating and piloting best-bet technological interventions or management practices.

This project brings together the expertise of key institutions with long-standing experience in effectively dealing with transboundary insect-pests to strengthen the capacities of Africa- and Asia-based institutions in fall armyworm management. The goal is to develop and disseminate comprehensive, expert approved, IPM-based fall armyworm pest management practices that will enable various stakeholders – especially farmers, extension agents, and pest control advisors – to effectively scout, determine the need for, and appropriately apply specific interventions to control the fall armyworm in maize and other crops in Africa and Asia.

Objectives

Develop, publish and disseminate comprehensive, expert-approved, IPM-based information resources for various stakeholder groups
Integrate traits for fall armyworm resistance into the CIMMYT breeding pipeline
Establish a fall armyworm Research-for-Development (R4D) Consortium

Conservation agriculture key to better income, environment protection: Study

Written by Mary Donovan on April 17, 2020. Posted in In the media.

Resorting to conservation agriculture would not only increase crop yield, income and reduce the use of natural resources, but would also confer climate change benefits, according to a study by Indian agricultural scientists and others published in an international journal on Thursday.

The study, published in the journal Nature Sustainability, also showed that conservation agriculture was key to meeting many of the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) such as no poverty, zero hunger, good health and well-being, climate action and clean water. Conservation agriculture can offer positive contributions to several SDGs, said M. L. Jat, a Principal Scientist at the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT) and first author of the study.

Breaking Ground: Sylvanus Odjo finds the right technology for each farmer

Written by Emma Orchardson on April 16, 2020. Posted in Features.

A series of coincidences led Sylvanus Odjo to study agronomy. It was only after finishing his first degree that he learned that his namesake, Silvanus, was the Latin deity of forests and fields.

Spurred by a curiosity about the natural world, he spent several years working at the National Institute of Agriculture in his native Benin, before pursuing advanced degrees in Belgium, where he developed his interest in cereals research.

“Obviously by that point I knew about the CGIAR centers and the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center,” he explains. “If you’re working on maize, you’ll know about CIMMYT.”

He joined the organization as a postdoctoral researcher in 2017 and now works as a postharvest specialist. He coordinates a network of platforms which evaluates and validates potential solutions and transfers them to farmers across Mexico and Latin America.

“All the projects I’m working on now have the same objective: finding ways to avoid and reduce postharvest losses.” These, Odjo estimates, can be as high as 40% in some parts of Mexico, with dramatic consequences for smallholder farmers whose food security is directly linked to the amount of grain they have. They are also the most likely to be affected by the effects of climate change.

“A lot of people think postharvest just means storage,” he points out, “but it actually encompasses everything from the moment of harvest and includes processes like drying, shelling, technical and economic activities.”

A drying specialist by training, Odjo now works across the entire postharvest system. There are two central components to his work. The first involves testing postharvest technologies to develop recommendations for farmers, conducting trials under controlled conditions on CIMMYT research stations and with local collaborators across Mexico and assessing how drying and storage technologies fare under different conditions. The second, and perhaps more challenging, is promoting the successful ones, such as hermetic grain storage bags, among farmers and providing training on how to use them appropriately.

“We see a lot of publications agreeing that we need to promote hermetic technologies, which is true.” The question, Odjo asks, is how to do it. “How can we succeed in making a solution available to farmers? And once that has happened, how do we convince them to use it? Those are big questions which people were asking 50 years ago but they’re still being discussed today.”

Odjo demonstrates the use of a handheld grain moisture tester in Comitán de Dominguez, Chiapas, Mexico. (Photo: Juan Carlos Reynoso)

Finding answers to the big questions

“The potential solutions sound so simple, but when you actually try to implement these things it can be very complex.”

Odjo can reel off a list of postharvest interventions which seem straightforward initially but fail at the moment of implementation. Farmers might be instructed to harvest their grain at a particular time, which turns out to conflict with the timing of an important traditional ceremony, which cannot be rescheduled. Elsewhere they may be encouraged to avoid reducing moisture levels by purchasing a dryer but lack the resources to do so.

Much of Odjo’s work involves conducting research into the process of technology transfer and the scaling of postharvest technologies, working with a number of projects in Mexico to find the most efficient ways of training farmers and providing them with the tools they need to use improved practices and technologies.

“What we’re looking for is the right technology for each farmer,” he explains. “Because the conditions in the highlands of Guanajuato are not the same as in coastal Yucatán, or any of the other locations we work in.” Hermetic technology has been proven to be effective in most conditions, but the choice to use hermetic silos, hermetic bags, or a cocoon storage container ultimately depends on farmer preferences and the specific conditions in their local area. “We noticed, for example, that in the highlands pests tend to pose less of a threat to stored grain, so we need to use a different strategy than we would at sea level, where humidity can significantly increase the risk of grain becoming contaminated.”

Odjo and his team have also noted that in Mexico, although many postharvest activities such as shelling are led by women, men are more likely to attend farmer trainings, which makes it harder to ensure that they are reaching their target demographic. “Gender has emerged as a key parameter that we need to take into account, so we’re working with an excellent gender specialist at CIMMYT to find ways of making sure we transfer knowledge and technologies efficiently.”

While it can be challenging coordinating with so many different stakeholders, each with their distinct priorities and interests, Odjo is adamant that postharvest research can only be successful when it is fully interdisciplinary and collaborative. Though farmers are their core audience, he and his team make sure they work with extension agents, government actors, researchers and development practitioners to find solutions. “I can’t do anything alone so I’m open to collaboration,” he adds. “We always need fresh ideas.”

“A lot of people think postharvest just means storage, but it actually encompasses everything from the moment of harvest and includes processes like drying, shelling, technical and economic activities,” Odjo explains. (Photo: Francisco Alarcón/CIMMYT)

Sharing knowledge in 140 characters

Up until quite recently, Odjo was reluctant to join Twitter because he felt that he had nothing to share. It was only when colleagues encouraged him to use social media as a platform for discussing postharvest issues that he discovered the app is an effective way of sharing recommendations directly with farmers and agricultural service providers. “One of my lecturers used to say that you can understand something if you’re capable of explaining it to a kindergarten-aged child. If you don’t succeed, it means you haven’t understood.”

“That’s become a part of my job that I really enjoy: figuring out how to share research and results of investigations with different audiences in a simple manner.”

His newfound social media presence has also proved useful for connecting with researchers on a global level. In late 2019, researchers in Laos interested in learning about postharvest technologies reached out to Odjo, who was able to arrange for colleagues to travel to the country and share practices developed with local extension agents and blacksmiths in Mexico. “And do you know how they found me? Through my Twitter account.”

Moving forward, Odjo hopes to extend the scope of his activities beyond Latin America and carry out more knowledge exchange with his peers across the world. “In research, a lot of people are working on the same topics, but we don’t always share the information. I’m open to sharing my experience, because I’m sure I can learn a lot from others that will be useful for my job.”

Kenya in particular stands out as a case study he can learn from, where a high incidence of aflatoxins in maize, heavy government intervention and fierce market competition among providers of hermetic bags have allowed for the successful scaling of postharvest technologies. “It would be great to be able to analyze their scaling process and learn from it. Not to replicate it entirely, because obviously the conditions aren’t the same, but there will undoubtedly be lessons we can take and apply here in Mexico and Latin America.”

During a conservation agriculture course, a young trainee operates a Happy Seeder mounted on a two-wheel tractor, for direct seeding of wheat in smallholder systems. (Photo: CIMMYT)

Conservation agriculture key in meeting UN Sustainable Development Goals

Written by Alison Doody on April 16, 2020. Posted in Press releases. 2 Comments on Conservation agriculture key in meeting UN Sustainable Development Goals

An international team of scientists has provided a sweeping new analysis of the benefits of conservation agriculture for crop performance, water use efficiency, farmers’ incomes and climate action across a variety of cropping systems and environments in South Asia.

The analysis, published today in Nature Sustainability, is the first of its kind to synthesize existing studies on conservation agriculture in South Asia and allows policy makers to prioritize where and which cropping systems to deploy conservation agriculture techniques. The study uses data from over 9,500 site-year comparisons across South Asia.

According to M.L. Jat, a principal scientist at the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT) and first author of the study, conservation agriculture also offers positive contributions to the Sustainable Development Goals of no poverty, zero hunger, good health and wellbeing, climate action and clean water.

“Conservation agriculture is going to be key to meet the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals,” echoed JK Ladha, adjunct professor at the University of California, Davis, and co-author of the study.

Scientists from CIMMYT, the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR), the University of California, Davis, the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) and Cornell University looked at a variety of agricultural, economic and environmental performance indicators — including crop yields, water use efficiency, economic return, greenhouse gas emissions and global warming potential — and compared how they correlated with conservation agriculture conditions in smallholder farms and field stations across South Asia.

A combine harvester equipped with the Super SMS (left) harvests rice while a tractor equipped with the Happy Seeder is used for direct seeding of wheat. (Photo: Sonalika Tractors)

Results and impact on policy

Researchers found that many conservation agriculture practices had significant benefits for agricultural, economic and environmental performance indicators, whether implemented separately or together. Zero tillage with residue retention, for example, had a mean yield advantage of around 6%, provided farmers almost 25% more income, and increased water use efficiency by about 13% compared to conventional agricultural practices. This combination of practices also was shown to cut global warming potential by up to 33%.

This comes as good news for national governments in South Asia, which have been actively promoting conservation agriculture to increase crop productivity while conserving natural resources. South Asian agriculture is known as a global “hotspot” for climate vulnerability.

“Smallholder farmers in South Asia will be impacted most by climate change and natural resource degradation,” said Trilochan Mohapatra, Director General of ICAR and Secretary of India’s Department of Agricultural Research and Education (DARE). “Protecting our natural resources for future generations while producing enough quality food to feed everyone is our top priority.”

“ICAR, in collaboration with CIMMYT and other stakeholders, has been working intensively over the past decades to develop and deploy conservation agriculture in India. The country has been very successful in addressing residue burning and air pollution issues using conservation agriculture principles,” he added.

With the region’s population expected to rise to 2.4 billion, demand for cereals is expected to grow by about 43% between 2010 and 2050. This presents a major challenge for food producers who need to produce more while minimizing greenhouse gas emissions and damage to the environment and other natural resources.

“The collaborative effort behind this study epitomizes how researchers, policy-makers, and development practitioners can and should work together to find solutions to the many challenges facing agricultural development, not only in South Asia but worldwide,” said Jon Hellin, leader of the Sustainable Impact Platform at IRRI.

Related publications:

Conservation agriculture for sustainable intensification in South Asia.

Interview opportunities:

M.L. Jat, Principal Scientist and Cropping Systems Agronomist, International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT)

For more information, or to arrange interviews, contact:

Rodrigo Ordóñez, Communications Manager, CIMMYT. r.ordonez@cgiar.org

Acknowledgements:

Funders of this work include the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR), the Government of India and the CGIAR Research Programs on Wheat Agri-Food Systems (CRP WHEAT) and Climate Change, Agriculture and Food Security (CCAFS).

About CIMMYT:

The International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT) is the global leader in publicly-funded maize and wheat research and related farming systems. Headquartered near Mexico City, CIMMYT works with hundreds of partners throughout the developing world to sustainably increase the productivity of maize and wheat cropping systems, thus improving global food security and reducing poverty. CIMMYT is a member of the CGIAR System and leads the CGIAR Research Programs on Maize and Wheat and the Excellence in Breeding Platform. The Center receives support from national governments, foundations, development banks and other public and private agencies. For more information, visit staging.cimmyt.org.

The value of research on plant resistance to insects

Written by Alison Doody on April 15, 2020. Posted in Videos.

Crop pest outbreaks are a serious threat to food security worldwide. Swarms of locusts continue to form in the Horn of Africa, threatening food security and farmer livelihoods ahead of a new cropping season. The devastating fall armyworm continues cause extensive damage in Africa and South Asia.

With almost 40% of food crops lost annually due to pests and diseases, plants resistance to insects is more important than ever. Last month, a group of wheat breeders and entomologists came together for the 24th Biannual International Plant Resistance to Insects (IPRI) Workshop, held at the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT) global headquarters outside Mexico City.

Watch Mike Smith, entomologist and distinguished professor emeritus at Kansas State University explain the importance of working with economists to document the value of plant insect resistance research, and why communication is crucial for raising awareness of the threat of crop pests and insect resistance solutions.

A farmer weeds a maize field in Pusa, Bihar state, India. (Photo: M. DeFreese/CIMMYT)

Concerned experts ask world leaders to head off a global food security crisis from COVID-19

Written by Mike Listman on April 15, 2020. Posted in News. 2 Comments on Concerned experts ask world leaders to head off a global food security crisis from COVID-19

Alarmed by the risk of global and regional food shortages triggered by the COVID-19 pandemic, a coalition of businesses, farmers’ groups, industry, non-governmental organizations, and academia has called on world leaders urgently to maintain open trade of their surplus food products.

Published by the Food and Land Use Coalition (FOLU) on April 9, 2020, and signed by 60 experts, the call to action urges world leaders to keep food supplies flowing, specially support vulnerable people, and finance sustainable, resilient food systems.

Covered by major world media, the declaration encourages governments to treat food production, processing, and distribution as an essential sector — similar to public health care — and thus to support continued, safe, and healthy activities by farmers and others who contribute to the sector, according to Martin Kropff, director general of the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT) and a signatory of the call to action.

“Consumers in low-income countries face the greatest threat of food insecurity,” said Kropff. “Their tenuous access to nutritious food is jeopardized when surplus food-producing nations choose to close trade as a defensive measure.”

Kropff added that many households in low-income countries depend on agriculture or related activities for their food and livelihoods. Their productivity and food security are compromised by illness or restrictions on movement or working.

“The call to action resonates with the findings of a landmark 2015 study by Lloyd’s of London,” he explained. “That work highlighted the fragility of global food systems in the event of coinciding shocks, an outcome that seems entirely possible now, given the health, cultural, and economic impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic.”

At the same time, the work of CIMMYT, other CGIAR centers, and their partners worldwide helps to stabilize food systems, according to Kropff.

“Our research outputs include high-yielding, climate-resilient crop varieties and more productive, profitable and sustainable farming methods,” he said. “These give farmers — and especially smallholders — the ingredients for more efficient and effective farming. They are grounded in reality through feedback from farmers and local partners, as well as socioeconomic studies on markets and value chains for food production, processing, and distribution.”

A maize farmer in southern Ethiopia. (Photo: S. Samuel/CCAFS)

A less risky business

Written by Rodrigo Ordóñez on April 14, 2020. Posted in News.

A maize farmer in southern Ethiopia. (Photo: <a href="https://flic.kr/p/2hp5uoS">S. Samuel/CCAFS</a>) — A maize farmer in southern Ethiopia. (Photo: S. Samuel/CCAFS)

Because of unpredictable climate conditions, agricultural production in Ethiopia faces uncertainties during both the growing and harvesting seasons. The risk and uncertainty are bigger for smallholder farmers, as they can’t protect themselves from climate-related asset losses. Access to insurance schemes, climate information and other tools could help to minimize climate risks for smallholder farmers.

A new collaborative project launched in Ethiopia aims to reduce agricultural investment risk. The Capacitating African Stakeholders with Climate Advisories and Insurance Development (CASCAID-II) project builds on learnings from the CASCAID-I project in West Africa. It will target Ethiopia, Ghana and Senegal, focusing not only on smallholder farmers but on the food value chain as a whole. In a context of increasing integration of farmers into urban markets, the project will improve agricultural productivity, food security and profitability of agricultural enterprises.

The International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT) will partner with the International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT) and the University of Florida, with the support of the CGIAR research program on Climate Change, Agriculture and Food Security (CCAFS).

Kindie Tesfaye, CIMMYT, presents an overview of climate services in Ethiopia. (Photo: Simret Yasabu /CIMMYT)

Physical and digital tools across the value chain

In October 2019, thirty partners gathered for the CASCAID-II project launch and meeting in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. They agreed on the project goals, a set of priority research questions and a schedule of activities for the next two years.

Partners also reviewed the tools that could be used to deliver climate advisories and agricultural insurance products, ensuring that all the actors in the value chain are engaged from the start. Team members aim to embed services in existing physical and digital (“phygital”) data infrastructures and to collect user feedback, so performance can be improved. Users will be segmented according to advanced socioeconomic and agro-ecological factors, so they can be targeted more efficiently with appropriate services and climate-smart agriculture options. The project will draw on real-time and multi-scale yield forecasting for better preparedness and decision-making.

Project partners agreed to start with the CCAFS Regional Agricultural Forecasting Tool (CRAFT) for sub-national yield forecasting in Ethiopia and to develop climate advisories and insurance services in line with the needs of the Ministry of Agriculture.

Participants of the launch of the digital agro-climate advisory platform gather for a group photo. (Photo: Semu Yemane/EIAR)

Precise data from scientists to farmers

In a related development, Ethiopia recently launched a digital agro-climate advisory platform, which offers great potential to improve farmers’ management of climate-induced risks, facilitate technology adoption and improve livelihoods.

Speaking at the platform’s launch ceremony, Eyasu Abraha, advisor to the Minister of Agriculture, thanked development partners for supporting the establishment of the platform in the timely move towards digitalization and use of precise data.

The platform incorporates location-specific climate information, as well as soil- and crop-specific best-bet agronomic management recommendations for farmers, development agents and extension officers. It automates crop-climate modeling and uses technologies such as text messaging, interactive voice response (IVRS) and smartphone apps for dissemination.