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Nepal-CIMMYT partnerships reach the unreached

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nov1More than two decades of joint efforts between researchers from Nepal and CIMMYT have helped boost the country’s maize yields 36% and those of wheat by 85%, according to a report compiled to mark the 25th anniversary of the partnership. As a result, farmers even in the country’s remote, mid hill mountain areas have more food and brighter futures.

Anywhere else, peaks above 3,000 meters would be called “mountains,” but a nation whose collective psyche has been shaped by the towering Himalayas refers to its rugged heartland as merely the “mid-hills.” Comprising deep river valleys and high ridge tops, peppered toward the north with sloping farm terraces, the mid-hills account for more than four-tenths of Nepal’s total land area. They are home to isolated villages whose inhabitants’ lives hold strongly to tradition.

One such villager is Bishnu Maya Nepali, 45 from, Belhara village of Dhankuta district. She is a farmer and a single mother of three. Maya is a “dalit,” one of the poorest castes in the Nepal’s traditional caste hierarchical system.

Up until a few years ago, Maya maintained a hardscrabble existence by planting maize, the region’s main food crop. Like many area farmers, it wasn’t enough. Her farm–which is roughly the size of a soccer field–didn’t produce enough food to feed her family.

Maya’s life began to change in 2006 when she was approached by members of the HMRP. Maya was asked to test maize varieties bred for the mid-hills by the Nepal Agriculture Research Council (NARC) with CIMMYT as one of the partners. She agreed and eventually decided to plant a type of maize, called Manakamana 3, which produced two large ears per plant and which had a shorter, sturdier stalk. To her delight, the new plant thrived. Maya’s maize harvests grew 20-50%. She also discovered the plant stayed green as it matured, providing better forage for her livestock. The project advised Maya to plant vegetables in addition to maize. These intercrops also did well, bringing Maya additional food and income. Maya grew enough food to feed her three children all year long. “Now I have enough food and can sell some surplus to pay for my children’s education,” she said. Maya’s additional income allowed her to put her children into school and even make modest improvements to her homestead.

Support for an agrarian way of life
Nepal is a nation of incredible diversity that depends heavily on agriculture. Of the Nepalese population, 84% live in rural areas and, during the growing season, four of every five adults of the rural population are engaged in agriculture.

In September 2010, Nepal and CIMMYT celebrated 25 years of partnership in developing and spreading improved maize and wheat varieties and cropping practices in benefit of Nepalese farmers and researchers. Given the country’s reliance on agriculture and its financial constraints, the partnership has been invaluable. “Maya’s case is just one example of this,” says Guillermo Ortíz-Ferrara, researcher and liaison officer for CIMMYT’s office in Nepal. The joint efforts have helped raise maize yields 36% and those of wheat by 85%, while 170 Nepali researchers have benefited from CIMMYT training and joint research or fellowships. “The partnership that CIMMYT has maintained over the past 25 years with our research and development institutions in Nepal has been very useful and of significant value to increase maize and wheat production,” says Dr. K.K. Lal, one of the very first CIMMYT maize trainees and former Joint Secretary in the Ministry of Agriculture and Cooperatives of Nepal. “This partnership should continue and be strengthened.”

Fig. 1 Major shift in food security in HMRP collaborating households
Fig. 1 Major shift in food security in HMRP collaborating households

An internal report on HMRP outcomes for 2008-10 by the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation showed significant improvements in food security for the more than 21,000 households taking part in the project, with particular focus on women and disadvantaged groups like dalits: the proportion of the population in the groups having food sufficiency throughout most or all of the year (first two sets of bars) grew, while the proportion of the food-insecure—those with enough food for less than six months of the year (last set of bars)—fell.

The Hill Maize Research Program
Begun in 1999 with the cooperation of the National Maize Research Program (NMRP) of the Nepal Agriculture Research Council (NARC), the Hill Maize Research Program (HMRP) promotes the development and adoption of new technologies (improved varieties and crop management) in the hills of Nepal. Funded by the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC), the HMRP works with government, non-government organizations, farmers groups and cooperatives and the private sector to develop and disseminate maize technologies that benefit poor farmers in the Nepali hills. With HMRP-CIMMYT support, NMRP has developed 12 improved maize varieties for commercial production and identified more than 15 promising inbred lines, including 4 QPM lines. These 12 improved maize varieties were released by National Seed Board (NSB) of Government of Nepal. By 2009, 174 farmers groups had produced 664 tons of improved maize seed, increasing maize productivity by at least 30%. A new 2010-14 phase of the HMRP continues the focus on improving the food security and incomes of Nepal hill farm families, especially the poor and disadvantaged. Partners include the Ministry of Agriculture and Cooperatives (MoAC), the Nepal Agricultural Research Council (NARC), the Department of Agriculture (DoA), more than 26 NGOs/CBOs, and thousands of poor farmers. The new phase is jointly funded by SDC and the United States Agency for International Development (USAID).

Winning with wheat
Along with maize, the importance of wheat as a food and cash crop has grown in Nepal. As a result of high-yielding Mexican varieties introduced through CIMMYT during the mid-1960s and intensive research and development efforts by the national partners, Nepal’s wheat area has increased 7-fold, its production 14-fold, and its productivity 2-fold. Overall, yield gains from the release of new varieties in Nepal have averaged 3.5% per year since 1985, which equals or exceeds the yield gains seen in neighboring countries where the Green Revolution began.

nov07During 1997-2008, Nepal’s National Wheat Research Program (NWRP) worked in partnership with CIMMYT, involving farmers in varietal selection and distributing regional nurseries—sets of experimental wheat lines sent out for widespread testing and possible use in breeding programs. Two wheat varieties distributed this way, and bred by the NWRP, have been released in Bangladesh, and a significant number of other Nepali breeding lines have been used in research programs of Nepal and in eastern India.

Farming systems for a tough future
The Nepal-CIMMYT partnership has addressed important farming concerns with research and recommendations on varieties for timely and late sown conditions, appropriate weed management, balanced application of fertilizers, irrigation schedules, and resource-conserving practices such as surface seeding, zero and minimum tillage, and bed planting. The best results have included reduced costs for cropping, greater efficiency of input use, and increases of a ton or more per hectare in grain yields.

“South Asia will suffer particularly harsh effects from climate change, according to experts,” says Mr. Kamal Aryal, Agriculture/Climate Change Researcher, ICIMOD, Kathmandu, Nepal. “More input-efficient cropping systems will help farmers face the challenges expected.”

For more information: Guillermo Ortiz-Ferrara, cereal breeder (g.ortiz-ferrara@cgiar.org)

Workshop on enabling technologies and environments for climate resilient future farming systems in Jharkhand, India

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A two-day workshop on potential technologies and policy environments for smallholder rainfed maize farming systems of Jharkhand state, India was organized jointly by Birsa Agriculture University (BAU), CIMMYT, and the International Plant Nutrition Institute (IPNI) during 16-17 April, 2012 at Ranchi, Jharkhand, India. The outcomes of the workshop will form part of CIMMYT’s IFAD-funded project on “Sustainable Intensification of Smallholder Maize-Livestock Farming Systems in Hill Areas of South Asia” and the MAIZE CGIAR Research Program (CRP).

There were 69 participants in total, including scientists, extension agents (KVKs), and students from BAU; key officials from the state department of agriculture National Food Security Mission (NFSM); and scientists from IPNI, the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI), and CIMMYT. The workshop was inaugurated by BAU vice chancellor M.P. Pandey, while sessions and break-out group discussions were facilitated by Kaushik Majumdar, director of IPNI’s South Asia Program; JS Choudhary, state NFSM director; AK Sarkar, dean of the College of Agriculture at BAU; ILRI scientist Nils Teufel; CIMMYT scientists M. L. Jat and Surabhi Mittal; and IPNI deputy director T. Satyanarayana.

The workshop was made up of presentations on key topics, break-out group discussions, and a brainstorming session. The overall key themes were: (1) current status, constraints, and opportunities in different regions of Jharkhand , (2) conservation agriculture in maize and wheat systems, (3) approaches for crop-livestock integration, (4) integrated farming systems for food and nutritional security, (5) optimizing nutrient management for improved yield and profitability, and (6) approaches for inclusive growth for Jharkhand.

The five break-out groups discussed conservation agriculture (CA); site-specific nutrient management (SSNM); integrated farming systems and crop livestock interactions; enabling policies; and knowledge gaps, partnerships, networks and scaling-out strategies. The discussion outcomes were particularly focused on technology targeting and enabling environments and policies.

Agriculture in Jharkhand is at very low cropping intensity (~114%), despite good rainfall in most districts. The most critical issues include: rolling topography with very small holdings, leading to severe erosion due to lack of appropriate rainwater harvesting; soil acidity; lack of high-yielding stress-tolerant cultivars; very limited mechanization; and poor farmer access to inputoutput markets, coupled with resource poverty.

Building on the experience of CIMMYT’s hill maize project in the state, the participants agreed that optimizing cropping systems deploying CA practices could alleviate many of these problems, and sustainably increase crop production and productivity. Integrating CA with SSNM has shown promising results in improving nutrient use efficiency, currently another bottleneck in productivity gains due to inappropriate nutrient use. Crop-livestock integration is also key, as animals dominate farming in Jharkhand.

To implement these technologies and practices on a large scale, policy support is crucial. The outcomes of the workshop are being documented to serve as a policy paper for prioritization and implementation of technologies by the state, with the goal of arresting land degradation, improving crop productivity, and improving resource use efficiency and farm profitability.

Jharkhand8

Australia’s Foreign Affairs Minister praises SIMLESA achievements in Africa

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“Agricultural research will remain pivotal to lifting agricultural productivity in the next 50 years as it has over the past 50 years.”

This was one of the key messages of Australia’s Foreign Affairs Minister Kevin Rudd in a plenary address closing the 5th World Congress on Conservation Agriculture, held in Brisbane, Australia during 26-29 September 2011. Rudd spoke in depth on the importance of agricultural research in ensuring global food security, recognizing the contributions of CIMMYT and other Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR) centers. “Food security requires that governments, global organizations, policymakers, scientists and farmers work in partnership to develop the best possible strategies to rise to this great global challenge of our time.”

The minister singled out the impressive achievements of the initiative on Sustainable Intensification of Maize-Legume Cropping Systems for Food Security in Eastern and Southern Africa (SIMLESA) since its launch in early 2010. “This particular project is helping to develop drought and disease-tolerant maize and legume varieties and to educate farmers about new farming technologies in conservation agriculture in five African countries. In the first eighteen months of the program, we’ve helped train more than 150 agricultural researchers from Malawi, Mozambique, Kenya, Ethiopia and Tanzania and trialed conservation agriculture in 215 fields owned by local farmers. It’s on track to reaching its target of increasing crop productivity of maize and legumes by 30% on around half a million African small farms within 10 years.”

DSC02242SIMLESA is funded by the Australian Center for International Agricultural Research (ACIAR), and led by CIMMYT. It is being implemented in collaboration with the national agricultural research systems of Ethiopia, Kenya, Malawi, Mozambique, and Tanzania; the International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT); and Australian partners including the Queensland Department of Employment, Economic Development and Innovation (QDEEDI), Murdoc University, and the University of Queensland. These partnerships with Australian universities, as well as with universities in Africa, have been key to building capacity through short-term training and postgraduate fellowships for researchers. Adopting the Innovation Platform framework, further co-operation with a range of private and public sector organizations, NGOs, and famers’ organizations in Africa has meant the project has been able to quickly and effectively reach farmers on the ground with outputs such as varieties and technologies.

Rudd emphasized the value of investing in partnerships like these, particularly with respect to the growing field of conservation agriculture, the theme of the congress. “Conservation agriculture is one of the newest success stories in this quest to impart Australian knowledge to help feed the world,” he said. He reminded his listeners that Australia is both a world leader in agricultural research and a major international donor, mentioning the country’s role as a core supporter of the CGIAR.

Affirming Australia’s commitment to agricultural research and ending his address, he said “we need a new Agricultural Revolution of the 21st century if we are to feed a further 3 billion members of the human family. As a responsible global citizen, Australia stands ready to play our part.”

Complementing Rudd’s address at the congress, Mulugetta Mekuria, CIMMYT socio-economist and SIMLESA program coordinator, was interviewed by Australian media, including the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) and several radio stations, on SIMLESA’s potential role in contributing to enhanced food security in eastern and southern Africa. He acknowledged the role of partners in national agricultural research systems who are helping to implement activities in Ethiopia, Kenya, Malawi, Mozambique, and Tanzania; Australian institutions, regional and international partners for their technical backstopping; the support of the Australian government and ACIAR; and CIMMYT’s leadership of the program. “SIMLESA was designed to have impacts at both the household and regional level”, says Mekuria. “We want to increase food security and incomes while driving economic development through improved productivity from more resilient and sustainable farming systems. Project activities focus on integrated cropping systems, the use of innovation platforms to test and promote promising practices, and ensuring positive and measurable impacts.”

ATMA project 2nd Phase launched

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By P.H. Zaidi

The project launch for Phase Two of Abiotic Stress Tolerant Maize for Asia (ATMA) was held at the Institute of Plant Breeding, University of Hohenheim (UH) in Stuttgart, Germany during 30 May-01 June 2011. Phase One of the project, also known by its unabridged name, “Abiotic stress tolerant maize for increasing income and food security among the poor in South and Southeast Asia,” began in 2008 and is funded by Germany’s Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development.

 The meeting was attended by scientists from collaborating institutions including India’s Directorate of Maize Research (DMR), Vietnam’s National Maize Research Institute (NMRI), the Institute of Plant Breeding at the University of Philippines, the University of Hohemheim (UH), and CIMMYT.

To begin the launch, UH’s Albrecht E. Melchinger welcomed all the participants with a recap of the over 20 years of collaborative research partnership between his institution and CIMMYT. M. Kruse, UH Dean of Studies, then gave an overview of the research activities at the Institute and its current collaborations with CGIAR institutions.

In the opening session, the participants discussed “Target environment and country perspectives,” with special reference to drought and water-logging prone maize growing areas in South and Southeast Asia. This was followed by country profiles during which a representative from each participating country gave an overview of their nation’s progress. tour of the facilities; including farm, seed storage, bio-gas plant, and farm machinery. Participants then visited the UH research station to see ongoing field activities focused on utilizing doubled haploid (DH) technology to advance maize. Participants were excited to learn about DH technique and see UH’s breeding facilities first hand. The meeting proved a wonderful success as the participants revisited the accomplishments of Phase One and solidified plans to make Phase two equally successful. Thanks to everyone who participated! Phase Two was kicked-off with an air of excitement as the meeting recapped the many success of Phase One, such as the development of new germplasm tolerant to drought and water-logging stress, the improvement of crop management strategies specifically tailored to abiotic stress-prone environments, QTL-mapping achievements, and socio-economic progress.

CIMMYT Senior Maize Physiologist P.H. Zaidi then switched the focus to the future of ATMA by discussing the objectives, project activities, outputs and intended project milestones of Phase Two.

The group discussed important components to Phase Two such as the project work-plan, the creation of an ATMA webpage, and the project budget and governance.

The third day was devoted to field visits, in which participants visited Dow Seeds, also in Stuttgart. The visit included a presentation on Dow’s global maize program and a tour of the facilities; including farm, seed storage, bio-gas plant, and farm machinery. Participants then visited the UH research station to see ongoing field activities focused on utilizing doubled haploid (DH) technology to advance maize. Participants were excited to learn about DH technique and see UH’s breeding facilities first hand.

The meeting proved a wonderful success as the participants revisited the accomplishments of Phase One and solidified plans to make Phase two equally successful. Thanks to everyone who participated!

CIMMYT’s commitment to Malawi’s agricultural development recognized

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On 02 August 2010, Malawi’s Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security held a meeting in Lilongwe, Malawi, for all donor-funded agriculture projects coordinated by international centers operating in the country. This meeting was organized by the Agriculture Sector Wide Approach Program (ASWAP) in order to review how contributions from these projects complement national agricultural initiatives, and to inform the donor community of how their support is making an impact.

CIMMYT, one of eight CGIAR centers working in Malawi, received special recognition from Dr. Andrew Daudi, Malawi’s Principal Secretary for Agriculture, and from Dr. Jeff Luhanga, Controller of Technical and Extension Services. Both acknowledged CIMMYT as a key collaborative partner for maize production technologies, which have helped improve Malawi’s maize-based food security. Specific CIMMYT achievements in Malawi include the development, release, and dissemination of improved maize varieties; the promotion of metal silo technology; training of national scientists; and the adoption of conservation agriculture practices for smallholder farmers.

At the meeting, Mulugetta Mekuria, CIMMYT regional liaison officer and SIMLESA project leader, presented on CIMMYT’s works, focusing on the center’s strong science, partnerships, and capacity building. He also distributed related project briefs from the center. These documents impressed Daudi, who requested that all centers develop similar informational and communicative materials. Meeting attendees all agreed to follow one shared format for these materials to be used in future publications.

Specific CIMMYT initiatives operating in Malawi include: the New Seed Initiative for Maize in Southern Africa (NSIMA); Drought Tolerant Maize for Africa (DTMA); the Effective Grain Storage Project; Sustainable Intensification of Maize Legume Cropping Systems for Food Security in Eastern and Southern Africa (SIMLESA); the Soil Fertility Consortium for Southern Africa (SOFECSA); and work on conservation agriculture in maize-based farming systems.

For more information on CIMMYT’s work in Malawi, see CIMMYT’s June 2010 e-news Maize farmers and seed businesses changing with the times in Malawi.

CIMMYT strengthens its socioeconomic presence in Ethiopia

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Girma1Girma Tesfahun, post doctoral fellow based at CIMMYT’s office in Addis Ababa, was elected president of the Agricultural Economics Society of Ethiopia (AESE) for the next two years. The AESE’s general assembly elected Tesfahun at their 12th annual conference from 14-15 August 2009 in Addis Ababa. The executive committee has five members and includes senior economists from universities, national agricultural research programs, the private sector, and staff from the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR) who are based in Addis Ababa.

“This appointment will help CIMMYT strengthen its collaboration with Ethiopian agricultural economists,” said Roberto La Rovere, CIMMYT impacts specialist, who recently relocated to Addis Ababa to support regional impact assessment efforts. “It may also provide opportunities for publishing Ethiopia-relevant work and facilitate partnerships with other research and development players in the region, especially given the new strength of the CIMMYT socioeconomic presence in Addis Ababa.” CIMMYT’s Olaf Erenstein also moved to Addis Ababa this year to fill the agricultural economist position within the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation-funded Drought Tolerant Maize for Africa (DTMA) Project.

Lumpkin on the move

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After attending the Ug99 conference in New Delhi (5-8 November), DG Tom Lumpkin traveled to Ethiopia to meet with CIMMYT collaborators and visit regional offices. His travels across Africa will also include Kenya, Zimbabwe, and Mozambique, where he will attend the Annual General Meeting of the Consultative Group on International Agriculture Research (CGIAR) 4-5 December in Maputo before returning to Mexico in mid- December. During his absence Jonathan Crouch, director of CIMMYT’s Genetic Resources, will assume designated DG responsibilities.

While in Ethiopia, Lumpkin learned first-hand about the work of CIMMYT maize breeder Strafford Twumasi Afriyie, pictured here with BH660, a popular hybrid. Afriyie and his team are converting the hybrid into quality protein maize (QPM) as part of a CIDA-funded project that also involves village-level QPM effectiveness studies, taste trials with njira (the local starchy staple) made from QPM, and other breeding efforts.

Work on transgenic drought tolerance

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Takashi Kumashiro (Director, Biological Resources Division) and Kazuo Nakashima (Senior Scientist, Biotechnology Lab of Dr. Yamaguchi-Shinozaki) from the Japan International Research Center for Agricultural Sciences (JIRCAS) visited CIMMYT during 29-30th November for the first mid-year year review meeting of a new five year project funded by the Japanese Ministry of Fisheries and Food (MAFF).

The project is the second phase of a JIRCAS-CGIAR collaborative initiative to develop transgenic drought tolerance in a range of tropical staple crops—an initiative launched by Masa Iwanaga when he was Director of the Biological Resources Division of JIRCAS. The current project involves the use of a second generation of drought responsive elements (DREB genes) generated by JIRCAS scientists and other transgenes (especially transcription factors) generated by the Gene Discovery Research Team of the Plant Science Center of the RIKEN Yokohama Institute. Led by GREU director Jonathan Crouch, the current project is a joint wheat and rice initiative through collaborations between CIMMYT, CIAT and IRRI.

Asian Cereals Conference

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The 2nd Central Asian Cereals Conference took place on June 13-16, 2006 in Aurora Sanatorium near Cholpon-Ata town of Issyk-Kul Lake region in the Kyrgyz Republic. The Lake Issyk-Kul is a natural pearl of the country and the region. Surrounded by the mountains at the altitude of almost 1600 m it is a memorable location. The natural beauty of the mountains and the lake contributed to the productive atmosphere of the conference of which CIMMYT was a co-organizer.

The main conference objective was to assess the status of research and cooperation on cereals in Central Asia in the fields of cereals breeding, genetics, physiology, seed production, grain quality, plant protection, biotechnology, cultivation technologies under irrigated and rainfed conditions, and genetic resources including information exchange between scientists from Central Asia and foreign countries.

There were 210 participants from 17 countries, including the members of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) and Western countries. Representatives came from Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Russia, Denmark, Sweden, Turkey, Belgium, Australia, USA, Brazil, Mexico, Syria, Nepal, UAE, and Zimbabwe. Sanjaya Rajaram (ICARDA CIMMYT Wheat Program) and Alexei Morgounov (Regional Representative of CIMMYT in CAC, Kazakhstan but now at the CIMMYT office in Turkey) attended and spoke at the event.

During the technical researchers and crop science specialists reported on achievements and current research conducted at their institutions and on the progress in joint international projects with, among others, CIMMYT and ICARDA.