funder_partner: CGIAR

https://www.cgiar.org/

Stepping up the fight against maize lethal necrosis in Eastern Africa

Written by on August 1, 2013. Posted in News.

MLN-Eastern-Africa1 “I can now identify with accuracy plants affected with maize lethal necrotic disease,” stated Regina Tende, PhD student attached to CIMMYT, after attending the CIMMYT-Kenya Agricultural Research Institute (KARI) “Identification and Management of Maize Lethal Necrosis” workshop in Narok, Kenya, during 30 June-3 July 2013. This was not the case a few weeks ago when Tende, who is also a senior research officer at KARI-Katumani, received leaf samples from a farmer for maize lethal necrosis (MLN) verification.

Tende is one of many scientists and technicians who experienced difficulty in differentiating MLN from other diseases or abiotic stresses with similar symptoms. According to Stephen Mugo, CIMMYT Global Maize Program (GMP) principal scientist and organizer of the workshop, this difficulty encouraged CIMMYT and KARI to organize this event to raise awareness about MLN among scientists, technicians, and skilled field staff; provide training on MLN diagnosis especially at field nurseries, trials, and seed production fields; train on MLN severity scoring to improve the quality of data generation in screening trials; and introduce MLN management in field screening sites to scientists, technicians, and skilled staff. The workshop brought together over 80 scientists and technicians from CIMMYT, KARI, and other national agricultural research systems (NARS) partners from Tanzania, Uganda, Rwanda, and Zimbabwe.

“It is important that all the people on the ground, particularly the technicians who interact daily with the plants and supervise research activities at the stations, understand the disease, are able to systematically scout for it, and have the ability to spot it out from similar symptomatic diseases and conditions like nutrient deficiency,” stated GMP director B.M. Prasanna.

Proper and timely identification of the MLN disease, which is a pre-requisite for effective control, is not easy. CIMMYT maize breeder Biswanath Das explains: “First of all, the disease is caused by a combination of two viruses, Maize chlorotic mottle virus (MCMV) and Sugarcane mosaic virus (SCMV). Secondly, its symptoms –severe mottling of leaves, dead heart, stunted growth (shortened internode distance), leaf necrosis, sterility, poor seed set, shriveled seeds– are not always unique to MLN but could be due to other fungal diseases and abiotic conditions.” The training workshop was one of CIMMYT/KARI initiatives to combat the disease threatening all the gains made so far in maize breeding. “With nearly 99% of the commercial maize varieties so far released in Kenya being susceptible to MLN, it is important that institutions like CIMMYT and KARI, in strong collaboration with the seed sector, develop and deploy MLN disease resistant varieties in an accelerated manner,” stated Prasanna. One of the key initiatives in this fight is the establishment of a centralized MLN screening facility under artificial inoculation for Eastern Africa at the KARI Livestock Research Farm in Naivasha. Plans are also underway to establish a network of MLN testing sites (under natural disease pressure) in the region to evaluate promising materials from artificial inoculation trials in Naivasha. The state of the art maize doubled haploid (DH) facility currently under construction in Kiboko will also play a crucial role in accelerating MLN resistant germplasm development. “The DH technology, in combination with molecular markers, can help reduce by half the time taken for developing MLN resistant versions of existing elite susceptible lines,” stated Prasanna.

MLN-Eastern-Africa2 During his opening speech, Joseph Ng’etich, deputy director of Crop Protection, Ministry of Agriculture, noted that about 26,000 hectares of maize in Kenya were affected in 2012, resulting in an estimated loss of 56,730 tons, valued at approximately US$ 23.5 million. Seed producers also lost significant acreages of pre-basic seed in 2012: Agriseed lost 10 acres in Narok; Kenya Seed lost 75; and Monsanto 20 at Migtyo farm in Baringo, according to Dickson Ligeyo, KARI senior research officer and head of Maize Working Group in Kenya.

While this loss represents only 1.7%, Ligeyo assured everyone that Kenya is not taking any chances and has come up with a raft of measures and recommendations: farmers in areas where rainfall is all year round or maize is produced under irrigation are advised to plant maize only once a year; local quarantine has been enforced and farmers are to remove all infected materials from the fields and stop all movement of green maize from affected to non-affected areas; seed companies must ensure that seeds are treated with appropriate seed dressers at recommended rates, they must also promote good agricultural practices, crop diversification, and rotation with non-cereal crops.

Throughout the workshop, participants learned about theoretical aspects of MLN, such as the disease dynamics, management of MLN trials and nurseries, and identification of germplasm for resistance to MLN. They also participated in practical sessions on artificial inoculation, and identification and scoring. Several CIMMYT scientists played an active role in organizing the workshop, including breeders Stephen Mugo, Biswanath Das, Yoseph Beyene, and Lewis Machida; entomologist Tadele Tefera; and seed systems specialist Mosisa Regasa. They were accompanied by KARI scientist Bramwel Wanjala, KEPHIS regulatory officer Florence Munguti, and NARS maize research leaders Claver Ngaboyisonga (Rwanda), Dickson Ligeyo (Kenya), Julius Serumaga (Uganda), and Kheri Kitenge (Tanzania). During his closing remarks, KARI Food Crops program officer Raphael Ngigi, on behalf of KARI director, urged participants to rigorously implement what they had learnt during the workshop in their respective countries or Kenya regions to help combat MLN at both research farms and farmers’ fields.

Commenting on the usefulness of the workshop, technical officer at KARI-Embu Fred Manyara stated: “I will no longer say I do not know or I am not sure, when confronted by a farmer’s question on MLN.”

Research battles wheat spot blotch disease

Written by on July 19, 2013. Posted in News.

wheat-spot-blotch-disease After screening some 500 wheat lines and varieties at 6 sites in Bangladesh, India, and Nepal, a group of scientists were able to identify 35 genotypes that resist spot blotch. This is the number-one disease of wheat in the Eastern Gangetic Plains, seriously damaging the crops of farmers—who are mostly smallholders—on some 9 million hectares.

The results were reported at a meeting of participants in two projects of WHEAT, the CGIAR Research Program on this crop, at Mohanpur Campus of IISER-Kolkata, India, on 24 June 2013. Funded through multi-year competitive grants from WHEAT, the two project are “Deciphering phytohormone signaling in modulation of resistance to spot blotch disease for identification of novel resistance components for wheat improvement,” led by Shree P. Pandey, IISER-Kolkata, and “Spot blotch of wheat: Delivering resistant wheat lines and diagnostic and molecular markers for resistance,” led by Ramesh Chand of Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi. Among other things, participants discussed year-one outcomes and laid plans for the coming crop cycle.

Chand reported on the seedling stage resistance found in the wheat tested. In this type of resistance, the pathogen is present on wheat seedlings for up to 25 days without any infection, exhibiting responses such as lesion mimic and tissue necrosis, which appear to attenuate pathogen effects. The resistance gene Sr2 was also found in most of the resistant seed.

Exciting moments in the meeting were the discussions of biochemical and histo-pathological parameters and their possible integration in the resistance screening. Pandey and his team reported novel research to understand phytohormone signals that regulate wheat’s resistance against Bipolaris sorokiniana–the causal pathogen of spot blotch—and which are synthesized in response to the pathogen’s attack. The IISER group is assembling a dictionary of signaling genes that can serve as genomic tools for resistance breeding in wheat. “Expression of these DNA ‘words’ changes when plants are attacked by the spot blotch pathogen,” said Pandey. “Deciphering this word choice can elucidate the chain of command in plants in to the pathogen, helping breeders to design plants better-equipped with resistance genes.”

Finally, there was a report on the field performance of the 500 lines at two other locations, UBKV Coochbehar and RAU Pusa.

In addition to the scientists mentioned above, participants included WHEAT manager Victor Komerell; CIMMYT researcher Arun Joshi; Prof. V.K. Mishra, BHU, Varanasi; Prof. Apurba Chowdhury; Dr. P.M. Bhattacharya, UBKV; and Dr. Rajiv Kumar, Rajendra Agricultural University, Pusa, Bihar; as well as other wheat researchers from IISER-K.

“The partners here submitted separate proposals for the projects,” said Komerell. “This meeting furnishes an example of how WHEAT has encouraged them to collaborate.”

International scientists compare hot models at CIMMYT

Written by on July 3, 2013. Posted in News.

AgMIP_workshop_original-cropped Hot models were the main topic of conversation at El Batan during 19-21 June 2013, when international experts from 18 leading research institutions participated in a workshop on “Modeling Wheat Responses to High Temperature.”

This workshop was organized by CIMMYT’s Wheat Physiology group and funded by the CGIAR Research Program on Climate Change, Agriculture and Food Security (CCAFS) in collaboration with the Agricultural Model Intercomparison and Improvement Project (AgMIP).

One key goal of CCAFS and AgMIP is to enhance global climate change impact assessment and adaptation capacity.

This workshop focused on understanding where and why crop simulation models diverge in their simulation of wheat responses to high temperatures. According to one of the workshop organizers, CIMMYT post-doc Phillip Alderman, “Previous studies by AgMIP-Wheat showed that temperature effects are one of the largest limitations in modeling the impacts of climate change. We hope that this workshop will enhance our understanding of wheat responses to high temperatures and facilitate further discussions on improving modeling to predict climate change impacts on wheat.”

The AgMIP-Wheat team will now embark on a systematic analysis of temperature response algorithms, as well as continuing their evaluation of wheat models, using CIMMYT wheat physiology data from high temperature environments.

This research is expected to instigate better policy decisions aimed at improving the food security of thousands of smallholder farmers in least-developed countries who depend on wheat as a staple food and who are most likely to be impacted by climate change.

Nebraska Declaration on Conservation Agriculture signed

Written by on June 17, 2013. Posted in News.

8623227856_28319de0bf_z After months of discussions and debates on the scientific evidence regarding conservation agriculture for small-scale, resource-poor farmers in Sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia, a group of 40 scientists reached a consensus on the goals of conservation agriculture and the research necessary to reach these goals. The discussions leading to the signing of the Nebraska Declaration on Conservation Agriculture on 5 June 2013 began during a scientific workshop on “Conservation agriculture: What role in meeting CGIAR system-level outcomes?” organized by the CGIAR Independent Science and Partnership Council (ISPC) at the University of Nebraska, Lincoln, USA, during 15-18 October 2012. Several CIMMYT scientists contributed to the Lincoln workshop and the subsequent draft of the convention. “Not every participant agreed to sign. It went too far for some conservation agriculture purists and not far enough for others. This is usually the case when a consensus between 50 scientists and experts is sought,” said Bruno Gerard, director of CIMMYT’s Global Conservation Agriculture Program (GCAP), pointing to an interesting read in that respect, ‘Conservation agriculture and smallholder farming in Africa: The heretics’ view’ by Giller et al. (2009).

According to the Declaration, most efforts to date in developing countries have promoted conservation agriculture as a package of three practices: minimum disturbance of soil, retention of sufficient crop residue, and diversified cropping patterns. However, the situation on the ground shows limits of this strict definition, as there is little evidence of conservation agriculture wide adoption in Sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia, but there is some evidence of adoption of one or two of the components. To play a significant role in low-productivity, resource-poor agricultural systems, broader efforts going beyond a focus on the package of the three main practices are necessary. Emphasis needs to be placed on diagnostic agronomy and participatory on-farm research to identify the constraints faced by farmers and to guide farmers in finding solutions to them. As there is a range of sound agronomic, economic, and/or social reasons for choosing not to adopt the three-component conservation agriculture package, it is necessary to systematically assess the suitability and viability of management options and practices while considering farmers’ objectives and constraints, the Declaration stresses.

Rigorous and coordinated research is needed to assess and better understand the process of adoption of conservation agriculture. Unless the farmers’ reasons for choosing to adopt or not to adopt a certain practice are known, a wider adoption of conservation agriculture practices is unlikely.

“I think the declaration is useful as conservation agriculture principles should be seen as a way to sustainable intensification and not an end by itself,” commented Gerard. “The declaration fits well with the present efforts of GCAP and the Socioeconomics Program to put conservation agriculture in a broader context, and to better understand adoptability and constraints to adoption, which are agroecology-, site-, and farm-specific. Furthermore, it stretches the importance of systems research to integrate field level agronomy work within a multi-scale and multi-disciplinary framework.”

Promising CIMMYT maize inbreds and pre-commercial hybrids identified against maize lethal necrosis (MLN)

Written by on June 14, 2013. Posted in News.

The maize lethal necrosis (MLN) disease first appeared in Kenya’s Rift Valley in 2011 and quickly spread to other parts of Kenya, as well as to Uganda and Tanzania. Caused by a synergistic interplay of maize chlorotic mottle virus (MCMV) and any of the cereal viruses in the family, Potyviridae, such as Sugarcane mosaic virus (SCMV), Maize dwarf mosaic virus (MDMV), or Wheat streak mosaic virus (WSMV), MLN can cause total crop loss if not controlled effectively.

A regional workshop on MLN and the control strategies was organized by CIMMYT and KARI during February 12-14, 2013 in Nairobi, which was attended by some 70 scientists, seed company breeders and managers, and representatives of ministries of agriculture and regulatory authorities in Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, and the USA. The Workshop led to identification of important action points steps for effectively controlling the disease.

CIMMYT scientists have been working closely with virology experts from USDA-ARS and Kenya Agricultural Research Institute (KARI) to develop suitable protocols for testing the responses of maize germplasm against MLN, and to identify promising inbred lines and hybrids with resistance to MLN. During the 2012-2013 crop season, the CIMMYT-KARI team undertook extensive screening of inbred lines, pre-commercial and commercial hybrids in Naivasha and Narok in Kenya, under high natural disease pressure and artificial inoculation, respectively.

A trial featuring 119 commercial maize varieties (released in Kenya) under artificial inoculation during 2012-2013 revealed that as many as 117 varieties were susceptible to MLN. Another set of trials including 335 elite inbred lines, 366 pre-commercial hybrids and 7 commercial hybrids (as checks) under MLN artificial inoculation in Narok, and another set of trials comprising 350 elite inbred lines and 135 pre-commercial hybrids under natural disease pressure in Naivasha, led to identification of some promising CIMMYT inbred lines as well as pre-commercial hybrids showing resistance or moderate resistance. These results offer considerable hope to combat, through breeding efforts, the deadly MLN disease that has severely affected maize harvests and discouraged farmers from growing maize in eastern Africa.

Notes on trial results

The details of the promising CIMMYT elite inbred lines and pre-commercial hybrids against MLN are presented in Table 1 and Table 2, respectively. The results presented in Table 1 are based on evaluation of CIMMYT inbred lines in four independent trials, two under artificial inoculation (Narok) and two under natural disease pressure (Naivasha) during 2012-2013. In each trial, entries were replicated (minimum two), and MLN severity scores (on a 1-5 scale basis) were recorded three or more times during the crop cycle, from the vegetative to the reproductive stage. The highest average MLN severity score (max. MLN score), recorded at any stage during the trial, is presented as representative of a given entry.

The data must be critically assessed and cautiously used by stakeholders and partners. More weight should be given to data from artificially inoculated trials, since trials under natural disease pressure are more liable to ‘disease escapes’ and identification of false positives. Caution must be exercised when using specific lines identified as potentially resistant (R) or moderately resistant (MR), especially when classification is based on data from only one trial (even under artificial inoculation). Please note that in such cases, the responses of the lines need to be validated by CIMMYT through further trials.

CIMMYT is working closely with both public and private sector partners to significantly expand the MLN evaluation network capacity in eastern Africa, and will continue the intensive efforts to identify/develop and deliver new sources of resistance to MLN.

For further information on:
MLN research-for-development efforts undertaken by CIMMYT, please contact: Dr BM Prasanna, Director, Global Maize Program, CIMMYT, Nairobi, Kenya; Email: b.m.prasanna@cgiar.org.
Availability of seed material of the promising lines and pre-commercial hybrids, please contact: Dr Mosisa Regasa (m.regasa@cgiar.org) if your institution is based in eastern Africa, or Dr James Gethi (j.gethi@cgiar.org) if your institution is based in southern Africa or outside eastern and southern Africa.

Additional resources

UPDATE: Promising CIMMYT maize inbreds and pre-commercial hybrids identified against maize lethal necrosis (MLN) in eastern Africa
Maize lethal necrosis (MLN) disease in Kenya and Tanzania: Facts and actions (Download )
KARI-CIMMYT maize lethal necrosis (MLN) screeing facility (1.43 MB)
Maize lethal necrosis: Scientists and key stakeholders discuss strategies as the battle continues

Videos

MLN: A farmer’s plea

Maize lethal necrosis disease: A new challenge
for maize scientists in eastern Africa

Media coverage

Deadly maize disease resurfaces in N. Rift. Business Daily, 31 May 2013.

Fresh viral maize disease worries farmers. Daily Nation, 31 May 2013.

Alert out in Coast over maize disease. Daily Nation, 31 May 2013.

Generating drought tolerant maize varieties in Latin America

Written by on May 15, 2013. Posted in News.

S03TLWN-ears-Colombia On 26-27 April 2013, the FONTAGRO “Generation and validation
of drought tolerant maize varieties to stabilize and reduce mycotoxin damage resulting from climate change” project held its end-of-project meeting in La Ceiba, Honduras, along with the Central American Cooperative Program for the Improvement of Crops and Animals (PCCMCA) meeting (21-26 April). The event highlighted the advances to date, the project’s products, and recommendations for follow-up to ensure that the products reach farmers.

Since 2009, the project generated 5,000 doubled haploid (DH) lines which are currently being evaluated by CIMMYT. The populations were developed from inbred lines identified for drought tolerance, ear rot resistance, and reduced mycotoxin accumulation. The project also identified a set of inbred lines with high levels of ear rot and mycotoxin resistance. The information has been shared with project partners and other breeders for wide use, and CIMMYT will distribute these lines to interested parties. CIMMYT maize breeder Luis Narro commented on the research on diseases, ear rots in particular. “Ear rot is increasing in incidence and severity in South America. Evaluation of 18 commercial hybrids in Peru revealed ear rot incidences as high as 42% on susceptible hybrids in some locations,” he said. “Ear rot tolerant hybrids identified in this project will play an important role in mitigating the detrimental effects posed by ear rots and mycotoxin contamination. These need to be promoted to reach farmers rapidly.” As far as mycotoxins are concerned, the team also identified promising hybrids from validation trials documenting the natural incidence of mycotoxins in Peru, Colombia, and Mexico. This study showed that fumonisins are the most prevalent mycotoxin in South America (compared to aflatoxin and deoxynivalenol).

“The project has generated many products and validated some that are now being released in several countries,” said the project leader George Mahuku. Among those are four varieties released in Honduras (three white and one yellow); one white variety in Colombia; two varieties (one yellow, one white) and a yellow hybrid in Nicaragua, and three varieties (two yellow and one white) in Panama. Three hybrids outperforming the local commercial checks are under validation in Peru. Furthermore, two varieties showing the stability and rustic nature of CIMMYT-generated varieties were released in Colombia, Honduras, and Nicaragua. All the released cultivars are moderately tolerant to the tar spot complex disease which is becoming more common in Latin America.
CIMMYT maize breeder Felix San Vicente presented on the advances that have been made in breeding for drought tolerance and ear rot resistance. “We need to establish and maintain a regional network to test our products in marginal areas,” he noted. “We hope that we will be able to leverage funding from the CRP [MAIZE] to continue the validation and dissemination of these important and promising products in the region.” During the meeting, scientists presented 29 papers, 5 of which contained results from the FONTAGRO project. The papers of CIMMYT colleagues Román Gordon and Oscar Cruz were awarded for their contributions to the maize section of the project: Gordon received the first prize for his paper “Selection of maize varieties for tolerance to water stress in Panama 2010-2012,” and Cruz received the second prize for his paper on “Participatory validation of white and yellow maize varieties in two regions of Honduras.”

Fontagro-Laceiba-Honduras-019 The project has generally been considered very successful. “We now know which mycotoxins are important in the region and we have the products to potentially minimize the risk,” commented Mahuku. “What we need is to widely test and disseminate the products so that they reach as many farmers as possible. With a little infusion of resources, the dedication demonstrated by this group, and support from policy makers, I have no doubt that we will get there.”

During 23-25 July, FONTAGRO will hold its annual meeting (VIII Taller de Seguimiento Técnico de Proyectos FONTAGRO) in Uruguay. The “Generation and validation of drought tolerant maize varieties to stabilize and reduce mycotoxin damage resulting from climate change” is one of five projects finishing this year; its representatives were invited to present their results and compete for a financial award given to the best project. If the project wins, the financial resources could help with continued and wider validation of products generated by this project.

Far in the South and seeking food security: East Timor farmers adopt improved maize seed

Written by on April 3, 2013. Posted in Features.

CIMMYT photo — Buddhi Kunwar, Informal Seed Production Advisor, Seeds of Life Program, MAF-East Timor (third from right wearing a hat and with sunglasses hanging from shirt) with members of Community Seed Production Group at ‘Sele’ maize harvest ceremony.”

Through five years of on-farm trials supported by the governments of East Timor and Australia using locally-suited crop varieties provided by five centers of the CGIAR-Consortium, small-scale farmers in East Timor learned about and acquired seed of improved varieties of maize and other key food crops, as well as improved cropping practices. The hungry season for the major staple, maize, was significantly reduced among the adopters and, with more recent support from the “Seed of Life” project and East Timor’s Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries, farming communities are producing improved maize seed to satisfy local demand.

A mountainous nation at the very end of the 4,200 kilometer-long Indonesian Archipelago in the Indian Ocean, East Timor has poor soils and limited irrigation that barely support farming of its staple crops, maize and rice. It has one of the fastest-growing economies in the world, but 80% of East Timor’s working population practices agriculture. The struggles leading up to the country’s independence in 1999 left widespread food insecurity. Rural inhabitants—particularly in the uplands—suffer a several-month-long hungry season, when annual stocks of the staples and of root crops (cassava, sweet potato, taro, arrowroot) run out.

Launched in 2000 with support from the governments of Australia and East Timor, the Seeds of Life initiative organized more than 3,000 on-farm demonstrations in the initial 5 years of the project to raise awareness among farmers about improved varieties and cropping practices for maize, rice, groundnut, sweet potato, and cassava. Through more than 1,000 on-farm trials during 2006-10, East Timor’s Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries (MAF) found that an improved open-pollinated maize variety “Sele,” derived from CIMMYT breeding programs, yielded nearly 50% more grain on average than traditional varieties. During 2008-11, nearly 28,000 households obtained seed of Sele and by 2010 more than 70% of those families (up from only 58% in 2006-07) were harvesting enough maize grain for their entire year’s food needs. Overall, Seeds of Life’s efforts to identify, multiply, and distribute seed of higher-yielding, more nutritional varieties of the food crops farmers grow have measurably improved the food security and general welfare of participating households.

“A major bottleneck for maize has been the shortage of quality seed of improved varieties,” says Buddhi Kunwar, Informal Seed Production Advisor of MAF who has been working in Seeds of Life. “Despite intensive efforts, the supply of MAF-released Sele seed was only 32 tons in 2011 and 89 tons in 2012, far below the nation’s total maize seed requirement. To address this, we have included community-based seed production as a key part of the Seeds of Life’s most recent phase, which began in 2011 and runs through 2016.”

In community-based seed production, organized groups of farmers operating close to their homes produce, store, and market maize seed, initially with training and other backstopping from MAF or non-government organizations (see the list below). Each group eventually operates on its own, once members gain experience in producing quality seed and marketing or distributing it within the group and their community.

During 2011, more than 700 community-based seed production groups were facilitated by MAF and non-government organizations. Of these, 320 were growing Sele, using 5 kilograms of certified seed they received to sow a 2,000 m² seed plot. That year 289 groups produced a total of 46 tons of seed, which was stored in airtight steel drums and used to meet the seed requirements of group members and, with the seed left over, for barter or sale.

One problem encountered was grazing animals: these consumed the entire maize seed crops of 31 groups. “During the 2012-13 maize cropping season, MAF and NGO extension officers have selected seed plots that are well protected by fencing in most locations,” says Kunwar, “and a few communities have introduced ‘tara bandu’–a traditional social rule to restrain animals–to protect seed plots.”

In 2012-13 Seeds of Life operates in 11 of East Timor’s 13 districts, including 45 sub-districts and 135 villages. There are 680 community-based seed producer groups supported by MAF extension and another 400 groups supported by non-government organizations. According to Kunwar, Phase 3 of Seeds of Life runs from February 2011 through January 2016 and will support more than 1,000 community seed production groups for subsistence seed production and 50 farmer associations for commercial seed production, covering all 13 districts. The groups produce seed of maize as well as seed of improved varieties of rice and peanuts and cuttings of cassava and sweet potato.

For more information: B.M. Prasanna, Director, Global Maize Program, CIMMYT (b.m.prasanna@cgiar.org), or Buddhi Kunwar, Seeds of Life Program, MAF (buddhi.kunwar@seedsoflifetimor.org)

Australian funding for Seeds of Life comes through the Australian Agency for International Development (AusAID) and ACIAR; it is managed by ACIAR. The Centre for Legumes in Mediterranean Agriculture (CLIMA) within The University of Western Australia coordinates Australian-funded activities. Adapted lines of food crops for on-farm tests were provided by CIMMYT, IRRI, CIP, ICRISAT, and CIAT. Field work has been led by the Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries (MAF), with facilitation by non-government organizations such as CARE-International, Mercy Corps, Hivos, USC-Canada, World Vision International (WVI), and Catholic Relief Services (CRS).

Water-saving techniques salvage wheat in drought-stricken Kazakhstan

Written by on March 21, 2013. Posted in Features.

Kazakhstan’s 2012 drought and high temperatures cut the country’s wheat harvests by more than half from 2011 output, but wheat under zero-tillage practices gave up to three times more grain than conventionally cultivated crops. Two million hectares are currently under zero tillage, making Kazakhstan one of the top-ten countries for conservation agriculture and helping to avoid severe wheat shortages.

“If no-till practices had not been used this period of drought, we would have gotten nothing. It would have been an absolute catastrophe,” says Valentin Dvurechenskii, Director General of the Kostanay Agricultural Research Institute in Kazakhstan, giving his verdict on the 2012 wheat crop.

After farmers planted their wheat in April, Kostanay—the country’s main wheat growing region—went two months without rain. Making matters worse, daily temperatures were several degrees above normal. At the time, farmer and Director General of the Agrofirm Dievskaya, Oleg Danilenko, echoed the view of peers: “I’ve been a farmer for 35 years, and I’ve never seen anything like this.” Danilenko said the harsh conditions pointed up the advantages of conservation agriculture, which involves reduced or zero tillage, keeping crop residues on the soil, and rotating crops. “No other results have been nearly as successful.”

Wheat on Kazakhstani farms using conventional agriculture has been severely affected by 2012's drought and high temperatures. According to farmer Idris Kozhebayev, wheat crops in Akmola Region normally average 42 grains per spike, but this year are producing only 2-4 grains per spike. — Wheat on Kazakhstani farms using conventional agriculture has been severely affected by 2012’s drought and high temperatures. According to farmer Idris Kozhebayev, wheat crops in Akmola Region normally average 42 grains per spike, but this year are producing only 2-4 grains per spike.

Lack of rain darkens crop outlook

In the village of Tonkeris, 45 km from the capital Astana in the Akmola region, farmers’ fields had received no rainfall between May and September. According to farmers in the area, drought conditions used to be rare but are becoming more frequent. “I’ve been a farmer for 30 years,” said Idris Kozhabayev. “There was drought like this in 2000 and 2010. In recent years, it’s getting worse.”

Cultivated using conventional practices, the fields of Akmola were expected to produce only enough wheat for next year’s seed. “The farmers’ fields I work with all look like this. Some are worse,” said Daniyar Andibayev, an agronomist in the region.

Meanwhile, in Kostanay, many farmers had adopted conservation agriculture techniques that protected them from drought’s worst effects. With these, farmers reported yields of 2 tons per hectare, while some farmers using conventional practices lost their entire crop.

Wheat grown under conservation agriculture in the Kostanay region of Kazakhstan has stayed healthy and is set to give a good yield despite the year's severe drought and high temperatures. — Wheat grown under conservation agriculture in the Kostanay region of Kazakhstan has stayed healthy and is set to give a good yield despite the year’s severe drought and high temperatures.

Conserving where it counts

Kazakhstan is the world’s sixth largest wheat exporter. More than 14 million of the country’s 15 million hectares of wheat is rainfed, meaning the crop relies on precipitation and is thus vulnerable to dry weather. Reports in January 2013 said the 2012 drought had shrunk the wheat crop 57% from 2011’s record harvests.

Farmers are initially attracted to zero tillage and conservation agriculture because the approaches dramatically cut costs: farming this way requires less labor, machinery use, fuel, water, or fertilizers. In rainfed cropping, conservation agriculture can also boost yields.

Research has shown that conservation agriculture increases soil moisture by as much as 24% on most fields. In Kazakhstan the practices capture snow on the surface and improve water retention under heavy snowfall and subzero temperatures. Zero tillage also augments soil organic matter and cuts erosion by 75-100%. All this has helped to nearly double average wheat yields, from 1.4 to 2.6 tons per hectare, according to Dvurechenskii. In December 2011 Dvurechenskii was awarded the “Gold Star” medal and the rank “Hero of Labor of Kazakhstan” by the country’s President, in recognition of his work to promote conservation agriculture.

The findings of a 2012 FAO-Investment Centre mission to Kazakhstan^₁ suggest that adoption of zero tillage and conservation agriculture had raised domestic wheat production by almost 2 million tons. According to the mission report, this represents some US$ 0.58 billion more income over 2010-12, enough grain to satisfy the annual cereal requirements of almost 5 million people, and the sequestering of about 1.8 million additional tons of CO₂ per year.

Pushing out with better practices

With the support of CIMMYT, FAO, ICARDA, the World Bank, the Ministry of Agriculture of Kazakhstan, and other international organizations and donors, Kazakhstan went from practically nothing under conservation agriculture in 2000 to 0.5 million hectares in 2007. In 2012, as a result of ongoing farmer engagement through demonstration plots, field days, and close work with farmer unions, conservation agriculture is now practiced on 2.0 million hectares—13% of the country’s wheat-growing area.”This amazing adoption is thanks to a few scientists who saw the potential, but more importantly to the pioneer farmers who perfected the techniques and put them into practice; farmers believe farmers,” says conservation agriculture expert Pat Wall, who, together with CIMMYT colleagues Alexei Morgounov and Muratbek Karabayev, initiated field trials with Kazakhstani scientists in the country’s northern steppes in 2000.

“The main achievement of CIMMYT in Kazakhstan has been the changing of the minds of farmers and scientists,” observes Bayan Alimgazinova, head of the Crop Production Department of KazAgroInnovation, a specialized organization created by the Ministry of Agriculture to increase the competitiveness of the country’s agricultural sector. Based on the positive results of research trials and tests in farmers’ fields, Kazakhstan’s current state policy calls for every province to pursue zero tillage.

“Kazakhstan has a wheat growing area of 15 million hectares presently and can increase it up to 20 million hectares,” added Murat Karabayev, CIMMYT representative in Kazakhstan. “This is extremely important for the food security of the country, the Central Asian region, and globally. There is a real opportunity to double yields using new advanced technologies and improved varieties. We’ve already seen this through conservation agriculture.”

For more information: Muratbek Karabayev, CIMMYT Representative in Kazakhstan (m.karabayev@cgiar.org)
CIMMYT’s conservation agriculture activities in Kazakhstan have been funded by the different sources, including from CIMMYT’s own resources and the comprehensive World Bank Agriculture Competitiveness Project (ACP). CIMMYT received two grants between 2008 and 2010 from the World Bank’s ACP to promote conservation agriculture practices in Kazakhstan.

Muratbek Karabayev, CIMMYT Representative in Kazakhstan (left) and Auyezkhan K. Darinov, President–Chairman, Republic Public Union of Farmers of Kazakhstan.

Interview: Auyezkhan K. Darinov, 2012

Auyezkhan K. Darinov has been a farmer since 1993, and represents two million of his fellows as President-Chairman of the”Kazakhstan Farmers Union”. He works to unite and provide a voice to small and medium-scale farmers in Kazakhstan and to promote pro-farmer policies with the Ministry of Agriculture.

What are the main activities of the Kazakhstan Farmers Union?
We work with farmers to influence the government and to push for policies that can benefit farmers. The government sometimes doesn’t understand the issues farmers are facing. We meet with the Prime Minister, ministers, other officials every week to push for ideas for farmers. We organize events, meetings, and seminars and this has been our best strategy for getting conservation agriculture to farmers.

What strategies do you use to introduce conservation agriculture to farmers?
The Farmers Union was established in 2000. Since 2002, we have been working with farmers to introduce them to the merits of conservation agriculture. Now, we are working with farmers in all of the provinces and districts. Through our representatives, we have established a network of farmers who work on spreading the technology of conservation agriculture throughout the country. We are the largest NGO in Kazakhstan and we represent the interests of farmers in all levels of the social-economic and political spheres of the country. We are working with the government to develop policies for next year and to draft programs.

What does this year’s drought mean for farmers?
There are estimates of expected yields for this year which are being reported. However since we know the stories of farmers and the real situation of farmers’ fields, we know that the official estimates are higher than the reality. We’re expecting up to 2 million tons of grain less than official estimates. This year, many farmers are in crucial situations and need assistance from the government.

Do you think more farmers will be convinced to start using conservation agriculture following the drought?
Conservation agriculture is still a challenge in some areas, like Southern Kazakhstan. However, on the whole, farmers are already convinced of the merits of conservation agriculture, but it’s a problem of resources. There have to be changes in the agriculture system to equip small and medium-sized farmers with equipment that they can’t afford. It’s an expensive venture to make the shift from traditional practices to new technologies. That’s why we’re working with farmers to form cooperatives so equipment can be shared and lent to farmers.

What role has CIMMYT played in Kazakhstan?
Kazakhstan is now the most experienced in conservation agriculture in Central Asia. We worked with pioneers of conservation agriculture technologies such as Ken Sayre and Pat Wall. CIMMYT was one of the first and the best in conservation agriculture. In all large projects, CIMMYT invites the Farmers’ Union and similarly, the Farmers’ Union invites CIMMYT.

What are some of the main challenges you see for agriculture in Kazakhstan in the future?
All irrigation water is coming from neighboring countries. We need to change the agriculture system to use less water and produce higher yields. There is also a need to develop new varieties which are drought tolerant. That’s where the work of CIMMYT comes in. That’s why the work of CIMMYT in Kazakhstan is so important.

Wheat seems to have a special importance to farmers here. Why is that?
Wheat… it is our money. Basically, if farmers have wheat, they have money. We are a wheat and meat country. Other crops have importance, but not like wheat. Changing the volume of wheat changes the national economy. Farmers cannot imagine how they would survive without wheat. Farmers knew that this year would be dry. But nevertheless, they planted wheat. That’s how important wheat is in Kazakhstan.

¹ Unpublished; see also a 2009 Investment Centre report on zero tillage in Kasakhstan.

Bill Gates and Carlos Slim Partner to Support Innovation for Farmers

Written by on February 13, 2013. Posted in Features.

Daimoniz Miondo is one of 800 farmers in Chipeni, Mvera Extension Planning Area, Dowa District, Malawi, who has adopted conservation agriculture practices in recent years with joint support from Malawi’s Department of Agricultural Extension Services, the NGO Total LandCare, and CIMMYT. “I’m harvesting between 30 and 40 bags of maize now per acre, where I used to get only 15 or 20 bags,” says Miondo, who farms to support a household of seven. “Before conservation agriculture, there was a lot of erosion and the rain would wash away the fertilizer and affect the yields.” Conservation agriculture practices cut labor and other farm costs, as well as helping to capture and hold rainfall, thus salvaging harvests when drought hits. Photo credit: Trevor Samson/CIMMYT

Originally posted on the Impatient Optimists blog (Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation) on 13 February 2013.

We are extremely pleased to welcome Bill Gates and Carlos Slim Helú to CIMMYT headquarters near Mexico City today. They have come to inaugurate major infrastructure improvements for CIMMYT supported by their respective foundations. The nearly 20,000 square meters of construction include badly-needed advanced laboratories, greenhouses, and training facilities. They will be used for cutting-edge research by CIMMYT to help speed the access of developing country farmers to the benefits of science and innovation.

Where are we now and what have we learned?

The repeated food price hikes of recent years most sorely affect the poor, who spend as much as three-quarters of their daily income simply to eat. We know that 0.8 billion human beings are not eating enough.

We’ve not seen the last of food price crises. Widespread, severe droughts of 2012 have devastated global grain harvests, further reduced food stocks, made export markets skittish. Because the world relies heavily on a few, high-production “bread basket” countries, low stocks superimposed on financial speculation will surely bring further, seismic shocks to global food markets.

From the 2007-08 food price peaks, which fueled food riots in more than 30 countries, it should be clear that global food security is everyone’s concern, in both developed and developing countries.

Not all is gloom and doom: Innovation can support more precise and productive science and farming.

There is hope, and more bountiful harvests and sustainable agriculture are key parts of the solution. In many developing countries farming continues to employ large segments of the populace and plays a central role in national economies. There is enormous potential for farmers to boost productivity, reduce reliance on destructive practices, move beyond subsistence, and power development at large. Best of all, new, exciting science is available to adapt to small-scale farmers’ needs, and these farmers are actually looking to policymakers and research and extension organizations to support them.

CIMMYT partners with those actors and others worldwide to offer farmers improved options: better seed and knowhow, improved cropping systems, more secure crop storage methods. Progressive farmers begin to view their daily occupation as an enterprise, rather than mere subsistence, so the focus shifts onto science and innovation to gain precision. Several examples:

DNA analysis to home in on high-value maize and wheat traits for better yields, disease resistance, heat and drought tolerance.
Doubled haploids to speed the creation of genetically pure inbred lines and new maize hybrids.
Conservation and precision agriculture, including more targeted application of irrigation water and fertilizer to boost system output while saving resources and the environment.
Cell phone services so farmers can access precise, locally-tailored information on weather, markets, recommended crops and practices for their fields.

An extraordinary initiative funded by and co-coordinated with Mexico—known as MasAgro, the Sustainable Modernization of Traditional Agriculture—is taking these and other innovations directly to Mexican farmers and sequencing the DNA of CIMMYT’s vast maize and wheat seed collections. Similarly innovative partnerships in Africa and Asia feature cropping systems approaches to increase yields and the resilience of the resource base, while supporting farmers’ direct involvement to test and promote new practices. Millions of smallholder farmers and consumers in sub-Saharan Africa are benefiting from the adoption of drought tolerant maize varieties developed using advanced breeding techniques.

The work of all these partners, including CIMMYT, would not be possible without the support of other key partners: national governments, foundations, development banks, and other public and private agencies, including the CGIAR Consortium, who represent the political will and commitment of their constituents through their donations and engagement. The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation provides not only momentous funding for our work, but invaluable technical guidance and political support.

Returning to today’s inauguration, thanks to the generous support of the Carlos Slim Foundation and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, we have effectively doubled our research capacity here in Mexico.

We can accelerate our efforts to unlock the tremendous potential of wheat and maize using modern information and communications technology, combined with the improved and more sustainable agricultural practices. The very personal and proactive engagement in CIMMYT’s mission of visionary personalities such as Mr. Slim Helú and Mr. Gates, and the on-going support of their respective foundations for our relatively little-known research institute, send a strong signal to the world that something important must be going on here. Indeed there is.

Tropicalized maize haploid inducers for doubled haploid-based breeding

Written by on December 28, 2012. Posted in Features. 1 Comment on Tropicalized maize haploid inducers for doubled haploid-based breeding

tropicalized-maize-haploid The doubled haploid (DH) technology enables rapid development of completely homozygous maize lines and offers significant opportunities for fast-track development and release of elite cultivars. Besides simplified logistics and reduced costs, use of DH lines in conjunction with molecular markers significantly improves genetic gains and breeding efficiency. DH lines also are valuable tools in marker-trait association studies, molecular marker-assisted or genomic selection-based breeding, and functional genomics.

Generating DH lines involves four major steps: (1) In vivohaploid induction; (2) haploid seed identification using morphological markers; (3) chromosome doubling of putative haploids; and (4) generating D1 (DH) seed from D0 seedlings. In vivo haploid induction is achieved by crossing a specially developed maize genetic stock called an “inducer” (as male) with a source population (as female) from which homozygous DH lines are developed.

What are tropicalized haploid inducers?
Adoption of DH technology by public maize breeding programs and small- and mediumscale enterprise (SME) seed companies, especially in developing countries, is limited by the lack of inducers adapted to the tropical/subtropical conditions. The CIMMYT Global Maize Program, in collaboration with the Institute of Plant Breeding, Seed Science and Population Genetics of the University of Hohenheim (UHo) now has tropical haploid inducers for sharing with the interested institutions under the terms outlined below.

The tropically adapted inducer lines (TAILs) developed by CIMMYT and UHo showed high haploid induction capacity (~8-10%) and better agronomic performance than temperate inducers, in trials at two CIMMYT experiment stations in Mexico. A haploid inducer hybrid developed using these TAILs revealed heterosis for plant vigor and pollen production under tropical conditions, while maintaining similar haploid induction rates (~8-10%). CIMMYT and UHo decided to share the seed and grant authorization for use of one of the tropicalized haploid inducer lines (one of the parents of a hybrid inducer) and the hybrid inducer to interested applicants, after signing of the relevant material transfer agreement (MTA) and with restrictions to protect the intellectual property rights of both institutions for the inducer lines.

Process of indenting for the tropicalized haploid inducers
Interested applicants should send a letter of intent or an expression of interest in the tropicalized haploid inducers. CIMMYT may seek more information, if required, and will share the relevant MTA template for signing by applicants. The general guidelines to obtain inducers for research use and commercial use are as follows.

For research use by publicly-funded national agricultural research systems
Publicly-funded institutions interested in access to the haploid inducers for specific purposes (e.g., to develop DH lines for breeding programs) may send a letter of intent or expression of interest to CIMMYT. For eligible institutions, the haploid inducers will be provided free-of-charge by CIMMYT and UHo, after signing of a Research Use MTA. Commercial use of the inducers by institutions or others should be in accordance with a separate license agreement for commercial use (as given below).

For commercial use
Applicants may access the inducers for commercial use pursuant to signing of a Material Transfer and License Agreement with CIMMYT and UHo. Applicants shall pay UHo a one-time licence fee of USD 25,000 for provision of seed of two haploid inducers; these include one of the parents of a tropicalized haploid inducer hybrid and the haploid inducer hybrid itself. If applicants wish to access the other parent of the haploid inducer hybrid, an additional one-time licence fee of $10,000 will be payable to UHo.

Acknowledgments
Generous support for joint research on doubled haploids by CIMMYT and the University of Hohenheim has come from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation; the Howard G. Buffett Foundation; SAGARPA, the Mexican Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock, Rural Development, Fisheries and Food.; USAID (US Agency for International Development); Dr. Dr. h. c. Herrmann Eiselen and the Foundation fiat panis, Ulm, Germany; the Tiberius Services AG, Stuttgart, Germany; Vilmorin Seed Company; DTMA (Drought Tolerant Maize for Africa) project.;MAIZE CGIAR Research Program; and the International Maize Improvement Consortium (IMIC) project under MasAgro (Sustainable Modernization of Traditional Agriculture).

For further details, please contact:

Dr. BM Prasanna, Director, Global Maize Program, CIMMYT ( b.m.prasanna@cgiar.org), or
Dr. Vijay Chaikam, DH Specialist, Global Maize Program, CIMMYT ( v.chaikam@cgiar.org)

Maize Doubled Haploid Facility for Africa (3.17 MB)

The doubled haploid (DH) technology enables rapid development of completely homozygous maize lines and offers significant opportunities for fast-track development and release of elite cultivars. Besides simplified logistics and reduced costs, use of DH lines in conjunction with molecular markers significantly improves genetic gains and breeding efficiency. DH lines also are valuable tools in marker-trait association studies, molecular marker-assisted or genomic selection-based breeding, and functional genomics.

For further details, please contact:

Dr. BM Prasanna, Director, Global Maize Program, CIMMYT ( b.m.prasanna@cgiar.org), or
Dr. Vijay Chaikam, DH Specialist, Global Maize Program, CIMMYT ( v.chaikam@cgiar.org)

Body blow to grain borer

Written by on May 14, 2012. Posted in Features.

CIMMYT E-News, vol 4 no. 9, September 2007

sep04 The larger grain borer is taking a beating from CIMMYT breeders in Kenya as new African maize withstands the onslaught of one of the most damaging pests.

Scientists from CIMMYT, working with the Kenya Agricultural Research Institute (KARI), have developed maize with significantly increased resistance to attack in storage bins from a pest called the larger grain borer. In just six months this small beetle can destroy more than a third of the maize farmers have stored. The new maize varieties, which dramatically decrease the damage and increase the storability of the grain, will be nominated by KARI maize breeders to the Kenya national maize performance trials run by the Kenya Plant Health Inspectorate Services (KEPHIS). The same varieties will also be distributed for evaluation by interested parties in other countries through the CIMMYT international maize testing program in 2008.

“This is a major achievement and will be of great help to farmers in Kenya and more than 20 African countries, who have had few options to control this pest for nearly 30 years” says Stephen Mugo, the CIMMYT maize breeder who headed the CIMMYT-KARI collaboration, which has been funded in part by the Syngenta Foundation for Sustainable Agriculture.

The larger grain borer, native to Central America, was first observed in Africa in Tanzania in the late 1970s and early 1980s. A particularly severe drought struck eastern Africa in 1979 and there was little local maize. The world responded with large shipments of maize as aid. The borer may well have been an uninvited guest in a food aid shipment.

sep06 Even in Latin America, where it has co-evolved with natural predators, losses are significant. In Africa, where there are no similar predators to control the insect, its spread has been most dramatic. Attempts to introduce some of those predators to Africa to control the borer (a technique called biological control) have met with limited success and regionally concerted action is essential if biological control is to be effective across borer-infested areas. Researchers also studied the habits of the borer, hoping to find ways to reduce the damage it does. They discovered that it needs a solid platform, such as that provided by maize kernels still on the cob, before it will bore into a kernel. Unfortunately African farmers often store maize on the cob, increasing the potential for borer damage. By shelling the maize and storing the kernels off the cob, the damage can be reduced by small amounts, but losses are still very high. This is what makes the development of new varieties, where the resistance lies in the seed, so exciting.

“Having the solution in the seed itself makes adoption much easier for farmers,” says Marianne Banziger, the director of CIMMYT’s Global Maize Program. “There is no added workload or expense to the farmer, no longstanding practices or habits to change.” But Banziger cautions that resistant maize is not a silver bullet solution to the grain borer problem. “We strongly encourage the use of the new varieties in combination with other measures,” she says. “The varieties are more resistant but as time progresses there will still be some damage, though much less than before.”

sep05 CIMMYT researchers found resistance to the borer in the Center’s germplasm bank, in maize seed originally from the Caribbean. The bank holds 25,000 unique collections of native maize races. By using conventional plant breeding techniques, crossing those plants with maize already adapted to the conditions found in eastern Africa, Mugo and the breeding team were able to combine the resistance of the Caribbean maize with the key traits valued by Kenyan maize farmers. The maize was tested for resistance at the KARI research station in Kiboko, Kenya. Larger grain borers were placed in glass jars with a known weight of maize. Weight changes to the maize and a visual assessment of damage were recorded, allowing researchers to select the best lines. The result is new maize varieties that will benefit farmers in Kenya and help reduce Kenya’s dependence on imported maize for national food security.

Testing by Kenya Plant Health Inspectorate Services and by national seed authorities in other countries is expected to take 1-3 years, after which seed of the new maize hybrids and open pollinated varieties will be available to seed companies for seed production and sale to farmers.

For more information: Stephen Mugo, Maize breeder (s.mugo@cgiar.org)

Steady as she goes: Improved maize and wheat varieties actually lower farmers’ risks

Written by on May 14, 2012. Posted in News.

CIMMYT E-News, vol 3 no. 7, July 2006

jul04 A USAID-funded study by Williams College economist Douglas Gollin shows that modern maize and wheat varieties not only increase maximum yields in developing countries, but add hundreds of millions of dollars each year to farmers’ incomes by guaranteeing more reliable yields than traditional varieties.

Modern crop varieties developed through scientific crop breeding clearly produce higher yields than farmers’ traditional varieties. But critics have long maintained that, in developing countries, yields of modern varieties vary more from season to season than the traditional varieties, thereby exposing producers and consumers to greater risk.

Gollin’s study analyzed changes in national-level yield stability for wheat and maize across developing countries and related them directly to the diffusion of modern varieties. “The outcomes strongly suggest that, over the past 40 years, there has actually been a decline in the relative variability of grain yields—that is, the absolute magnitude of deviations from the yield trend—for both wheat and, to a lesser extent, for maize in developing countries,” says Gollin. “This reduction in variability is statistically associated with the spread of modern cultivars, even after controlling for expanded use of irrigation and other inputs.”

The value to farmers of reduced risk

Valuing these reductions in yield variability requires assumptions about society’s willingness to trade off risk against return. Using a standard analytic framework, the study finds that the reductions in variability are as valuable as small increases in average yield. Assuming a moderate level of risk aversion on farmers’ part and taking estimates for the magnitude of reductions in yield variability, the results suggest that the reductions in yield variability due to modern varieties are worth about 0.3% of annual production in the case of wheat and 0.8% of production in the case of maize. These appear to be small effects, but the sheer scale of wheat and maize production in the developing world means that the benefits from improved yield stability are large in absolute terms. At appropriate world prices, the benefits are about US$143 million for wheat and about US$149 million for maize, on an annual and recurring basis.

The study drew on country-level data for the diffusion of modern wheat and maize varieties compiled by Robert Evenson of Yale University, as well as aggregate data on production and yields from FAOSTAT, the global food information database of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. The analysis also made novel use of a mathematical tool called the Hodrick-Prescott filter to disentangle changes in long term trends from annual fluctuations. The filter is most often used in macroeconomics.

According to Gollin, the benefits are not attributable to any particular research theme or program. “They reflect longstanding efforts in breeding for disease and pest resistance, drought tolerance, and improved cropping systems, to name a few,” he says. “By reducing the fluctuations in maize and wheat grain yields, scientists have played a vital role in making modern crop technology attractive, accessible, and beneficial to farmers and consumers around the globe.”

For more information contact John Dixon (j.dixon@cgiar.org)

Improving wheat for world food security

Written by on May 14, 2012. Posted in Features.

cimmyt-wheat In order to contribute to world food security, the International Research Initiative for Wheat Improvement (IRIWI), supported by research organisations and funding agencies from about ten countries, has been adopted by the Ministers of Agriculture of the G20. INRA, with the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (UK) and the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT, Mexico), will contribute to the coordination activities of the IRIWI during the first four years of the project.

The historic agreement between the Ministers of Agriculture of the G20 on 23 June 2011 in Paris underlines the importance of increasing world agricultural production, in particular that of wheat, to resolve the urgent challenges of hunger and food price volatility. Already very active on this issue, INRA, together with other national and international research and funding organisations from about ten countries, will launch the International Research Initiative for Wheat Improvement (IRIWI) in 2011. This initiative aims at reinforcing synergies between bread and durum wheat national and international research programmes to increase food security, nutritional value and safety while taking into account societal demands for sustainable and resilient agricultural production systems.

Wheat is one of the main staple crops in the world but the present production levels do not satisfy demand. With a world population of 9 billion in 2050, wheat demand is expected to increase by 70%. Annual wheat yield increases must jump from the current level of below 1% to at least 1.7%.

Repeated weather hazards in a context of global change, the constant rise in oil prices, speculation on agricultural markets are some of the factors reinforcing volatility of wheat prices and aggravating food insecurity in numerous countries.

Strengthening coordination of world wheat research

IRIWI will coordinate worldwide research efforts in the fields of wheat genetics, genomics and agronomy. Both Northern and Southern countries share the need to improve wheat yield, tolerance to stress, pathogens and pests, as well as wheat resource use efficiency. Improved agronomic practices and development of innovative cropping systems are also a priority. Several large national research programmes on wheat have been launched recently in Northern countries. CIMMYT and ICARDA have presented a new CGIAR research programme called WHEAT for the developing world.

As part of its activities, IRIWI will provide a forum to facilitate communication between research groups, identify potential synergies and encourage collaborations among major existing or emerging nationally, regionally and internationally (public and private) funded wheat research programmes. It will also support the development of publicly available integrated databases and platforms and establish and periodically update priorities for wheat research of global relevance.

Sharing resources, methods and expertise to improve and stabilise yields

The on-going efforts to decipher the wheat genome sequence, as well as the development of high throughput genotyping and phenotyping tools, will provide new ways to exploit more efficiently the available genetic diversity and create new wheat varieties by public and private breeders. Development and adoption of precise and site-specific management techniques will lead to the improvement of production systems. The IRIWI will facilitate and ensure the rapid exchange of information and know-how between researchers, and will organize knowledge transfer to breeders and farmers.

These actions will allow the creation of improved wheat varieties and the dissemination of better agronomic practices worldwide in the next 15 years. These new wheat varieties and agronomic practises will allow farmers to stably produce more and better wheat in different environments.

Presentation of the International Research Initiative for Wheat Improvement (pdf)

IRIWI reinforces INRA’s long-term involvement in research in wheat improvement. Recently, the BREEDWHEAT project was selected by the French Stimulus Initative. BREEDWHEAT is carried out in coordination with or contributes to other international initiatives, such as the WHEAT-Global Alliance project for food security in Southern countries, conducted by the CIMMYT and the International Wheat Sequencing Programme coordinated by the IWGSC.

wheat-food-security

Zero-tillage a winner for winter wheat in Turkey

Written by on May 14, 2012. Posted in Features.

CIMMYT E-News, vol 4 no. 8, August 2007

aug06 Zero-tillage trials in rainfed, winter wheat-fallow systems show smallholder farmers on the Anatolian Plains a way to double their harvests.

Muzzafer Avci is an agronomist with the Central Field Crops Research Institute of the Turkish Ministry of Agriculture. In recent years he has been working with CIMMYT wheat agronomist, Ken Sayre, and over time has become an advocate of zero-tillage—the direct seeding of a crop into the residues of a previous crop, without plowing—for rainfed winter wheat, a key crop for small-scale farmers on the Anatolian Plateau. On this day, he completes a drought impact forecast for the Ministry and drives the three hours east of Ankarato to the Ilci Cicekdagi farm, where the Royal Netherlands Embassy in Turkey has funded zero-tillage trials.

On the Anatolian Plateau, farms are typically less than 10 hectares in size. Wheat farmers obtain just a single harvest every second season from each field. Sowing takes place in autumn before the onset of winter. The wheat germinates quickly, lies dormant over the winter, and matures the following summer. After harvest the field is left fallow for a year before being sown to wheat again. During the fallow, farmers plow the weeds under two or three times. Even with the long fallow, which one would suppose helps conserve or improve soil fertility, typical wheat harvests on these farms reach only 2 tons per hectare, far below the crop’s genetic potential. Once highly productive, the winter wheat farming system has become more and more dependent on fertilizer as soils degrade, making it unsustainable.

Model farm showcases zero-tillage

aug04
A former state farm that was recently privatized, the Ilci Cicekdagi farm is not typical. It comprises 1,700 hectares and supports modern, diversified farming involving dairy and beef cattle, sheep, and many crops, among them wheat. The farm owner and managers believe they have a responsibility to assist less well-endowed, smallholder farmers in the area. So they hold demonstrations and field days for the local community. Farm manager Nedim Tabak says he hopes the farm will be a model for local farmers. He is proud of his zero-tillage trials and shows them off to Avci and to Carla Konsten, Agricultural Counselor from the Royal Netherlands Embassy in Ankara. The Netherlands, Canada, and Australia have funded pilot zero-tillage work in Turkey for the past two years and representatives of those countries’ funding agencies are pleased with the result. “This technology will clearly benefit farmers on the Anatolian Plateau,” says Avci, who learned about zero-tillage first-hand at a CIMMYT course on the topic.

aug05 Retired agronomist Mufit Kalayci, recently brought back to the Anatolian Agricultural Research Center in Eskisiher, Turkey, to mentor a new team, sees the value of zero-tillage in intensive, irrigated systems with more than a single crop per year, but is skeptical about using it with traditional rainfed wheat farms. “I don’t think you can retain enough moisture over the fallow period.” he says. For that reason, one of the goals of the zero-tillage experiment was to see if a second crop other than weeds could be grown during the fallow season. This question will be answered in coming years.

Zero-tillage: A lot to like

Of course, use of zero-tillage and retaining crop residues on the soil do more than simply capture and hold soil moisture. The practices reduce production costs and diesel fuel burning, and help prevent topsoil erosion from the strong winds that often sweep the Plateau during fallow. The elimination of repeated tillage to bury weeds also helps retain soil structure, aiding aeration and water filtration. The zero-tillage trials have obtained demonstration yields of more than 4 tons per hectare—double what farmers currently get.

Farm manager Tabak says his trials were sown late for lack of timely access to a zero-tillage seeder. He is planning to modify one of the seeders on the farm for next season. Already some local farmers have looked at his test plots and said they will try zero-tillage too next season.

For more information: Julie Nicol, Wheat Nematologist (j.nicol@cgiar.org)

When papa said no

Written by on May 14, 2012. Posted in News.

CIMMYT E-News, vol 3 no. 7, July 2006

jul06 A daring move by a young farmer in India has changed his life and his father’s.

Durgesh Kumar Singh shoulders a huge responsibility. When his father became too ill to work his small farm near Varanasi in the eastern Indo-Gangetic Plains, the 24- year-old student had little choice but to take on managing both the farm and his studies. His father was always there to give advice and share his farming knowledge, so when Durgesh decided to defy his father’s instructions, he was taking a big risk.

A team from the CIMMYT-convened Rice Wheat Consortium (RWC) for the Indo-Gangetic Plains had visited the villagers to enlist their cooperation in a demonstration of zero-till seeding technology. The team wanted village farmers to plant some of their wheat crop without plowing the soil first. Like people living on much of the vast plain below the foothills of the Himalayan Mountains, the farmers of Durgesh’s village plant wheat in the dry season, after harvesting the rainy-season rice crop. Preparing the land takes time and labor and for every day of delay after the optimal planting time, farmers lose about 1% of their potential harvest. A ten-day advance in wheat seeding results in 10% higher harvests. Plowing means waiting until a crew with a tractor and plow is available.

jul05

When the RWC team, which included Ramesh Chand and UP Singh from Banaras Hindu University, first visited the village, people laughed. “How can you expect the seed to germinate if you just throw it on the ground?” they joked. After two weeks of cajoling and pointing out that zero-tillage saves time, labor, and scarce water, the team convinced one farmer, Surindra Sharma Mayaran, to set aside a very small piece of his land for a trial. “If it works, OK, and if it doesn’t, OK,” he said. Even though the wheat germinated and grew, most villagers remained skeptical, especially Durgesh Singh’s father. He told Durgesh that he would die if his son tried to plant that way.

But seeing in that first trial a possibility for a brighter future, Durgesh decided to try zero-tillage for wheat on a small field that his father could not see from the house. He harvested at least as much as with the old methods, but gained something more precious. “We now have enough time to read,” he says. “My golden time is what I am saving.” This has not only let him continue his studies, but has reduced farm labor costs, making the family wheat crop more profitable. Now most of the villagers who were at first so skeptical are following his lead.

Even those who are nearly landless see benefits. Ram Dhari is what the village calls a “minimum landholder” with just a tenth of a hectare. He is extremely poor. He did not have the money to rent the zero-till seeding machinery, so the rest of the village let him use it for free and Banaras Hindu University provided seed. He had watched the others and wanted to follow. “I am looking forward to the profits,” he says.

This is one of countless stories of the success of a broad range of resource-conserving technologies on smallholder farms in India. RWC work, in India funded in large measure by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), has won praise and awards. Recently the Minister of Agriculture for India, Sharad Pawar, said the use of such technologies, especially zero-tillage, was essential to the improvement of Indian agriculture.

Durgesh Singh, Ram Dhari and Surindra Mayaran see the impact in their village every day. At first Durgesh was a laughing stock. Now his zero-till fields have produced, and produced well. The father who said he would die if is son tried out such a foolish thing as planting without plowing now asks “Why didn’t you do the whole farm this way?”

For more information contact Raj Gupta (r.gupta@cgiar.org)