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Improving women farmer’s access to agricultural information and training in India

Written by on June 20, 2014. Posted in News.

By Anuradha Dhar/CIMMYT

On a hot summer day in the Muzaffarpur District of Bihar State, India, 345 women farmers gathered to talk about the challenges they face in agriculture with a visiting team from the U.S. Agency for International Development and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. During the event, which was organized by the Cereal Systems Initiative for South Asia (CSISA), one woman said, “Brothers, if you are farmers, so are we.” The group responded with loud claps and whistles. The women then discussed their day-to-day issues and shared their enthusiasm to learn about new agricultural technologies and management practices.

It is relatively uncommon to see women in rural India – where gender discrimination runs deep and women often are not empowered to speak or make decisions – talk openly and passionately about their lives. The farmers who attended the CSISA meeting are members of the new initiative Kisan Sakhi, meaning “a woman farmer friend,” jointly started by CSISA and the Bihar Mahila Samakya, an Indian government program on women’s equality.

Women farmers discussing their training needs with the CSISA team. Photo: Madhulika Singh

Women work extensively on farms across India – participating in sowing, weeding and harvesting – and are responsible for managing farm work and household chores. However, their contribution in agriculture remains largely unseen and unacknowledged. According to the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations, women account for 43 percent of the agricultural labor force in developing countries and produce 60 percent of the food, yet compared with men farmers most women don’t have land rights or equal access to education or training.

Kisan Sakhi aims to empower women farmers in Bihar by disseminating new climate-resilient and sustainable farming technologies and practices that will reduce women’s drudgery and bridge the gender gap in agriculture. FAO estimates that the productivity gains from ensuring equal access to fertilizer, technology and tools could raise the total agricultural output in developing countries and reduce the number of hungry people.

“In spite of doing all kinds of work in the field, I never got the respect as a farmer that men farmers would get,” said Sumintra Devi, who is now a member of Kisan Sakhi. She is being introduced to new technologies and management practices such as improved weed management, maize intercropping, intensification of cropping systems with summer green gram, machine transplanting of rice under non-puddled conditions and nursery management. “We have discussions with the group members during which they identify the training needs and practices they would like to adopt,” said CSISA gender specialist Sugandha Munshi. In one such discussion, the women mentioned the painful and tedious process of shelling maize by hand. CSISA organized training that demonstrated post-harvest technologies such as a hand-powered maize sheller and “super bags” for effective grain storage (see photos on page 8). Six geographical areas – Aurai, Bandra, Bochaha, Gai Ghat, Kudhni and Musahri – in Muzaffarpur District have been identified for the pilot work. “Women farmers recognize that receiving information and skill is more important than short-term monetary support from a project,” said R.K. Malik, the leader of CSISA’s Objective 1 and the Bihar and eastern Uttar Pradesh hub manager.

CSISA has also started helping women farmers to become entrepreneurs. As part of Kisan Sakhi, four women self-help groups in the Bandra area are pooling resources to buy a rice-transplanting machine, which will help them to earn income by offering custom-hire services. “It is part of a major shift in perception of participating women groups. CSISA and its partnership with the government of Bihar now see an opportunity to involve women for adoption of new technologies and facilitate them to become service providers,” said Malik.

International Women’s Day 2014: “Equality for women is progress for all”

Written by on March 10, 2014. Posted in Blogs.

Nearly 40 years after the United Nations established March 8 as International Women’s Day, we have seen great progress in achieving equality for women – there is greater parity in primary education between boys and girls, maternal mortality has declined by around two-thirds and 4 of every 10 jobs in the non-agricultural sector are held by a woman. However, despite a push through the Millennium Development Goals, gender equality and the empowerment of women still have not been achieved. Women continue to face discrimination in access to economic assets, work, education, health care and political participation. As a result, women are more likely to live in poverty, have less access to finance and information and fewer opportunities to break free from this cycle, especially in agricultural sectors.

At CIMMYT, we are working hard to close the gender gap and generate gains in agricultural output, food security, economic growth and social welfare. Across our projects in Africa, Asia and Latin America, CIMMYT actively seeks women’s participation in breeding and seed sector development, the value chain and agricultural mechanization. CIMMYT is working to integrate gender into the project design cycle and into project implementation. Both the CGIAR Research Programs on MAIZE and WHEAT have an approved gender integration strategy and in 2014 and 2015 all CRPs will jointly conduct a cross-gender study.

Women are the backbone of the rural economy in the developing world; they constitute much of the agricultural labor force but receive only a fraction of the land, financial credit and training compared to men. The gender gap in agriculture imposes costs not only on women themselves, but on their families, society and the sector as a whole. The FAO estimates that if women had access to the same resources as men they could increase yield on their farms by 20 to 30 percent and would spend this additional income on improving the health, nutrition and education outcomes of their children. If women had equal access to resources, agricultural production in developing countries would be 2.5 to 4 percent greater, feeding up to 150 million more people.

These are important achievements, but the job is not yet done and CIMMYT must place even more emphasis on gender and diversity. Promoting equal access to resources, improving gender awareness in CIMMYT projects and involving women in decision-making at all levels can help to close the gender gap in agriculture. This March, let us look for new avenues to empower women and think about how our interventions empower men and women alike.

International Women’s Day:
How it all Started
In 1908, 15,000 women took to the streets demanding better working conditions, shorter working hours and better pay as part of a garment workers’ strike in New York City. Inspired by these events, International Women’s Day was first celebrated in 1911 with more than 1 million men and women attending rallies across Europe. By World War I, International Women’s Day became a tool for protest. In 1917, Russian women began a strike for “bread and peace,” demanding an end to food shortages and an end to the war. They initiated the February Revolution, the first of two Russian revolutions. The women’s protest started on March 8. Since it was born out of the socialist movement, International Women’s Day was subsequently celebrated chiefly in communist and socialist countries. However, in 1977 the U.N. General Assembly adopted a resolution declaring March 8 a United Nations Day for Women’s Rights and International Peace.

For more information:

http://www.internationalwomensday.com/

http://www.un.org/en/events/womensday/history.shtml

http://www.genderinag.org/content/gender-agriculture-sourcebook

The Borlaug Summit on Wheat for Food Security: CIMMYT and Norman Borlaug

Written by on January 30, 2014. Posted in Features.

In March, CIMMYT will celebrate the life and legacy of Dr. Norman E. Borlaug with the Borlaug Summit on Wheat for Food Security. By uniting some of the brightest minds in agriculture and food security, we will commemorate the 100th anniversary of Borlaug’s birth. The event will take place in Ciudad Obregón, Mexico, where some of his most important work began.
CIMMYT’s Mike Listman takes a look at Borlaug’s life and how he helped shape CIMMYT into what it is today:

borlaug

This year, the world will commemorate the extraordinary legacy of Dr. Norman E. Borlaug, the late agronomist, advocate for food security and Nobel Peace Laureate who died in 2009. During his long and distinguished career Borlaug worked with thousands of people around the world and numerous organizations; many will observe the 100th anniversary of Borlaug’s birth on 25 March. CIMMYT will also celebrate the 70th anniversary of the beginning of Borlaug’s work in Mexico for the organization that later became CIMMYT and which placed him on the path to the Nobel Peace Prize.

As part of a special Mexico-Rockefeller Foundation program in the 1940s-50s to raise Mexico’s farm productivity, Borlaug led the development and spread of high-yielding, disease-resistant wheat varieties and better farming practices. During the 1960s-70s, those innovations brought Mexico wheat self-sufficiency and South Asia a productivity explosion and subsequently, freedom from famine. This in turn helped fuel the widespread adoption by developing world farmers of improved seed and farming practices in a movement called the Green Revolution.

Those successes and Borlaug’s model – field-based, farmer-focused research, training of a global cadre of young agronomists and a pragmatic, apolitical approach – caught the imagination of the media and policymakers and led to the creation of a consortium of international agricultural research centers. Dr. Borlaug’s ideals and fierce drive are strongly reflected at CIMMYT, the direct successor of the Mexico-Rockefeller Foundation program. Borlaug served as a principal scientist and research leader at CIMMYT from the center’s launch in 1966 until his formal retirement in 1979, and from then on as a senior consultant in residence for several months each year until his death in 2009.

At CIMMYT, Borlaug helped craft a wheat breeding program unparalleled in global partnerships and impacts. Improved, CIMMYT-derived wheat is sown on more than 60 million hectares in developing countries – over 70 percent of the area planted with modern wheat varieties in those nations. These improved wheat varieties are responsible for bigger harvests that bring added benefits to farmers of at least US$ 500 million annually.¹With the supply of that much more grain, for many years and in much of the world food prices fell and food security rose. For example, the price paid for wheat by consumers in India dropped by about 2 percent each year during 1970-95, benefiting both the rural and urban poor.²

Norman Borlaug (fourth right) in the field showing a plot of Sonora-64, one of the semi-dwarf, high-yield, disease-resistant varieties that was key to the Green Revolution, to a group of young international trainees, at what is now CIMMYT's CENEB station (Campo Experimental Norman E. Borlaug, or The Norman E. Borlaug Experiment Station), near Ciudad Obregón, Sonora, northern Mexico. Photo credit: CIMMYT. — Norman Borlaug (fourth right) in the field showing a plot of Sonora-64, one of the semi-dwarf, high-yield, disease-resistant varieties that was key to the Green Revolution, to a group of young international trainees, at what is now CIMMYT’s CENEB station (Campo Experimental Norman E. Borlaug, or The Norman E. Borlaug Experiment Station), near Ciudad Obregón, Sonora, northern Mexico.Photo credit: CIMMYT.

As stated in a 1999 Atlantic Monthly article: “Norman Borlaug has already saved more lives than any other person who ever lived…Borlaug is responsible for the fact that throughout the post-war era, except in Sub-Saharan Africa, global food production has expanded faster than the human population, averting the mass starvations that were widely predicted.”³ Although a trained scientist, Borlaug was down-to-earth and preferred practical action to pure academia. He famously admonished understudies that “…you can’t eat research papers.” Despite this, his research at CIMMYT and its predecessor program featured both scientific rigor and real innovation. His big ideas include a worldwide wheat varietal testing and distribution network involving hundreds of partners, the practice of “shuttle breeding” – successive selection of breeding lines at two or three locations of separated latitudes that expedites breeding and broadens the breeding lines’ adaptation, careful attention by breeders to disease resistance and milling and baking quality, close ties to farmer groups and valuing improved cropping systems on a par with high-yielding seed.

Borlaug also championed the development and promotion of quality protein maize, a product for which Eva Villegas (a CIMMYT researcher who had been a Borlaug protégé) and Surinder K. Vasal (a CIMMYT distinguished scientist) were awarded the World Food Prize in 2000. For Borlaug, the science was there to serve a higher humanitarian purpose, and this vision is the real legacy of his long career at CIMMYT. These words of Borlaug appear on a 2006 United States bronze medal minted in his honor: “The first essential component of social justice is adequate food for all mankind.” Humanitarian science and fierce dedication were the core values that Borlaug bequeathed to the organization created in his image and which was his home for 43 years.

October 2014 also marks 70 years from when Borlaug first arrived in Mexico to join the Mexico-Rockefeller Foundation program. Borlaug was hard at work on a CIMMYT research station in Central Mexico in 1970 when his wife came to inform him that he would receive the Nobel Prize for the Green Revolution successes. His dedication was so complete that when she shouted the news to him across an irrigation canal he simply absorbed the information and then went back to work.

1. This is in 2005 US$; see http://apps.cimmyt.org/english/docs/ impacts/impwheat_02.pdf; in addition to the benefits cited for increased yield per se, a 2006 study estimated the annual benefits to farmers from improved yield stability through use of CIMMYT-derived wheat varieties at more than $140 million.

2. http://journals.cambridge.org/download.php?file=%2FAGS%2FAGS144_06%2FS0021859606006459a.pdf&code=19f5c00a27f8982c83c2e95bce65491e

3. Easterbrooke, G. 1999. “Forgotten benefactor of humanity.” Atlantic Monthly, January.

Conservation agriculture machines brought to Afghanistan

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

CIMMYT is taking the next step in bringing Afghanistan a much-needed intervention to improve wheat research and production, an official for the country said at a meeting last month. With support from the Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research (ACIAR), CIMMYT-Afghanistan held the “Conservation Agriculture: Concept and Application” training event in Kabul from 28 to 29 October.

Thirty-five participants from the Afghanistan Agricultural Extension Project (AAEP), the Agricultural Research Institute of Afghanistan (ARIA), CIMMYT, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), the International Center for Agricultural Research in the Dry Areas (ICARDA), Kabul University and other stakeholder organizations attended the program. Wheat accounts for 60 percent of an average Afghan’s caloric intake, but domestic wheat production falls short of the country’s needs. This happens in part because more than half of Afghanistan’s wheat is rainfed, but rainfall is often scarce and irregular in those areas. Moreover, wheat is often the sole crop for those farmers, making them food-insecure and economically vulnerable.

“Conservation agriculture is a set of practices that includes reducing or eliminating traditional tillage, keeping crop residues on the soil and using intercropping or crop rotations,” said Rajiv Sharma, senior scientist and country liaison officer for CIMMYT-Afghanistan. “Its benefits include saving resources like time, labor and fuel, as well as reducing farmers’ risk, promoting diversified cropping and more effectively capturing and retaining rainfall in the soil.”

In his inaugural speech, Mir Aminullah Haidari, deputy minister for technical affairs for Afghanistan’s Ministry of Agriculture, Irrigation and Livestock (MAIL), congratulated CIMMYT for its work in support of the country’s wheat research and production. Mohammad Qasem Obaidi, director of ARIA, welcomed the participants and thanked CIMMYT for organizing the training. Sharma said he hoped ARIACIMMYT would use the 2013-14 season to experiment with conservation agriculture interventions throughout Afghanistan.

Harminder Singh Sidhu, senior research engineer for CIMMYT, introduced the participants to different types of conservation machines available and used globally, which were imported by CIMMYT for the event. Attendees watched field demonstrations of two- and four-wheel zero tillage seed drills, raised bed planters and two-wheel tractors. H.S. Jat, CIMMYT agronomist, introduced conservation agriculture concepts, principles and procedures. He later helped wheat agronomists from six ARIA stations plan conservation agriculture experiments relevant to their local conditions. Participants expressed satisfaction and were excited to try new machines and new ways of conserving resources at their experiment stations and in farmers’ fields.

Training on mycotoxins supports Peruvian maize exports

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

By Sam Storr/CIMMYT

HENRY-NGUGI To bolster maize exports to the European Union (EU), Peru is taking measures to ensure its grain is free from mycotoxins, according to CIMMYT maize pathologist Henry Ngugi. “They wanted to establish a testing mechanism because they are trading maize, for which they have to meet strict European Union (EU) standards. They have a project with CIMMYT, which brings them to me” explained Ngugi, who at the request of SENASA, the Peruvian National Agrarian Health Service, led a training course on the subject in Mexico from 21 October to 1 November.

Toxic compounds released by fungal infections in common food grains, mycotoxins spoil 25 percent of global food production, according to the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO). Beyond the economic losses they cause, mycotoxins are associated with cancer, stunted growth, birth defects and, on occasion, with mass casualties. Course participants were trained to set up an affordable laboratory with all necessary safety features, and on rapid and affordable methods of analysis for aflatoxins and fumonisins in food commodities. Aflatoxin B1 is the most potent carcinogen known in nature, and fumonisins have been linked to the neural tube defect in embryo formation.

The training emphasized the use of laboratory sessions to prepare trainees to perform the analyses themselves upon returning to their home countries. Although testing for mycotoxins is an established practice in the developed world, a lack of expertise can hinder the participation of other countries in trade. The World Bank believes that EU restrictions on mycotoxins cost Africa US $670 million in lost exports each year. The potential benefits to Peruvian maize farmers and exporters are clear, but Ngugi, an expert with more than 10 years of experience in Toxic compounds released by fungal infections in common food grains, mycotoxins spoil 25 percent of global food production, according to the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO).

Beyond the economic losses they cause, mycotoxins are associated with cancer, stunted growth, birth defects and, on occasion, with mass casualties. Course participants were trained to set up an affordable laboratory with all necessary safety features, and on rapid and affordable methods of analysis for aflatoxins and fumonisins in food commodities. Aflatoxin B1 is the most potent carcinogen known in nature, and fumonisins have been linked to the neural tube defect in embryo formation. The training emphasized the use of laboratory sessions to prepare trainees to perform the analyses themselves upon returning to their home countries.

Although testing for mycotoxins is an established practice in the developed world, a lack of expertise can hinder the participation of other countries in trade. The World Bank believes that EU restrictions on mycotoxins cost Africa US $670 million in lost exports each year. The potential benefits to Peruvian maize farmers and exporters are clear, but Ngugi, an expert with more than 10 years of experience in consuming contaminated grains in the last few years,” Ngugi said. “Because of that, this issue does not draw as much attention, but in the long run it could have a lot of consequences.”

Many Latin American staples – such as maize, nuts, chili peppers and beans – are vulnerable to mycotoxin contamination. A 2004 study conducted by the United States Department of Health (USDA) in Guatemala found that half of maize samples collected from local markets would exceed World Health Organization (WHO) guidelines for fumonisin consumption if eaten regularly. “We know the problem exists,” Ngugi said. “But we cannot attract donor funding because if you ask people, they don’t have data.”

Mexico and CIMMYT shine for diplomats at El Batán

Written by Mike Listman on October 15, 2013. Posted in News.

From left to right: Thomas Lumpkin, Elizabeth Amarillas, Ravi Singh, Jalal Kalantari, Luis A. Fourzan, Ashleigh McArthur, Malkhaz Mikeladze, Irena Valkyova and Hristo Georgiev Gudjev. Photo: Xochiquetzal Fonseca/CIMMYT

Mexico is pleased with the role of CIMMYT in national agricultural development and with the synergies that have arisen through the initiative MasAgro – the Sustainable Modernization of Traditional Agriculture, said Belisario Domínguez Méndez, Director General for Productivity and Technological Development of Mexico’s Secretariat of Agriculture, Livestock, Rural Development, Fisheries and Food (SAGARPA). “The government feels very proud that MasAgro is not only part of Mexico but is now sharing results with other countries,” said Domínguez, opening the 2013 Ambassadors Day event in El Batán, Mexico, on 10 October, on behalf of Mexican Secretary of Agriculture Enrique Martínez y Martínez. “The partnership with CIMMYT is a fundamental strategy for our country.”

Launched in 2010 and coordinated by SAGARPA and CIMMYT, MasAgro is helping strengthen national food security through research, capacity building and the transfer of technology for rural areas. Partners develop and promote the adoption of cuttingedge knowledge and practices among small- and intermediate-scale farmers of maize, wheat and small grains, to improve their incomes and mitigate the effects of climate change in Mexico. Ambassadors Day participants included members of the diplomatic corps in Mexico of 20 nations – including countries where CIMMYT works – as well as representatives of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), the Inter-American Institute for Cooperation in Agriculture (IICA), SAGARPA, the Technical and Scientific Cooperation Division of Mexico’s Foreign Affairs Secretariat (Secretaria de Relaciones Exteriores, or SRE) and CIMMYT staff.

The day’s program featured discussions, lab and field tours and expert briefings on CIMMYT activities and outputs, such as maize and wheat genetic resources, wheat disease resistance breeding and bread wheat quality and maize breeding and biofortification. CIMMYT staff from the home countries of the visiting dignitaries were on hand to answer questions and offer hospitality. At a gala luncheon, the debut presentation of a new general video on CIMMYT aired to many favorable comments. In his address to the visitors, CIMMYT Director General Thomas A. Lumpkin emphasized that an expanding population, changing diets, limited natural resources, demand for bio-fuels and increasingly variable climates are all putting extraordinary pressure on the global food system. “In summary, we will have huge demand for food crops coupled with worsening conditions for crop production,” Lumpkin said. “This highlights the need for improved technology.” The Ambassador of Palestine, Munjed M.S. Saleh, was impressed by CIMMYT´s presentation and said his country is already giving several countries technical support to improve water-use efficiency. He indicated that he is arranging a visit for his Minister to Mexico, and, if confirmed, will include a visit to CIMMYT.

The representative of the Embassy of Venezuela, Alba Mendez, expressed interest in working with the country’s ambassador to propose collaborating with CIMMYT to strengthen agricultural research in Venezuela. She also said she is interested in a training program for farmers. Other ambassadors and representatives wrote to Isabel Peña, Head of Latin America Institutional Relations and event organizer, to say they were impressed by the professionalism and organization of the event and learned about CIMMYT’s impact worldwide. Peña thanks all support staff, scientists and directors who presented to or interacted with the visitors. She said collaboration with other countries and institutions are strengthened by events like this one.

A smart solution: agricultural innovation and gender-aware approaches

Written by on October 15, 2013. Posted in Features.

If rural women in developing countries had the same access to land, technology, credit, education and markets as men, their yields could increase by 20 to 30 percent. Estimates show this alone would raise agricultural production in developing countries by 2.5 to 4 percent,¹ which could lift 100 to 150 million people out of hunger. Research also shows that the reduction of gender disparities and the empowerment of women leads to better food and nutrition security for households and significantly strengthens other development outcomes such as child education.^2,3 Yet, more than 1.1 billion women worldwide do not have equal access to land, inputs and extension.

The work of CIMMYT researchers Lone Badstue and Tina Beuchelt focuses on gender relations in wheat and maize-based systems. Aiming to strengthen the linkages between gender equality and nutrition- and climate-smart agricultural technologies, their research is a collaboration between CIMMYT; CGIAR Research Program on Climate Change, Agriculture and Food Security (CCAFS); and CGIAR Research Program MAIZE. Beuchelt and Badstue won the silver prize for their poster, “Towards nutrition- and climate-smart agriculture: discussing trade-offs from a gender and intragenerational perspective” at the recent Conference on Global Food Security in the Netherlands.

Beuchelt explained it is not always possible to predict how the introduction of new agricultural technologies will affect labor patterns, resource allocation and land allocation between men and women. “To successfully achieve equal access to technologies and benefits from agricultural research for development, we need to be aware of gender and social equity perspectives throughout the whole project cycle,” Beuchelt said. “Starting from the planning and design stage, opportunities and trade-offs of agricultural interventions need to be assessed and addressed.”

Beuchelt added that it can also be difficult to predict whether a new technology will be adopted and who will benefit. Both intended and unintended impacts can occur at the individual, household and community levels.

Male and female stakeholders need to work together to develop solutions to mitigate trade-offs or strengthen gender and social equity impacts. These can include gender-responsive measures (acknowledging and addressing gender disparities) or gender-transformative measures (commitment to bringing about equity in gender relations).

Agricultural research often focuses on technological innovations but does not always consider social disparities or differing effects on men and women. In their paper, Beuchelt and Badstue discuss conservation agriculture and its potential for nutrition- and climate-smart food production and argue for “smart combinations” of technologies and gender aware approaches. The smart combination of technology could include using conservation agriculture (with long-term benefits) and maize-bean intercropping (with short-term benefits) informed by gender analysis.

“It is important to acknowledge the whole complexity of the food system and the linkages between its different elements,” Beuchelt said. “Gender should not be an add-on, but a fully integrated part of the research and development intervention in order to achieve equity for all.”

CIMMYT and FAO partner in efforts to improve subsistence farming in Mexico

Written by on September 23, 2013. Posted in News.

By Miriam Shindler/CIMMYT

Left to right: Horacio Rodríguez, MasAgro Extension Coordinator; Víctor López, MasAgro Institutional Relations Manager; Nuria Urquía, FAO Representative in Mexico; Thomas A. Lumpkin, CIMMYT Director General; and Julio César Rosette Castro, PESA Director General Photo: Xochiquetzal Fonseca/CIMMYT — Left to right: Horacio Rodríguez, MasAgro Extension Coordinator; Víctor López, MasAgro Institutional Relations Manager; Nuria Urquía, FAO Representative in Mexico; Thomas A. Lumpkin, CIMMYT Director General; and Julio César Rosette Castro, PESA Director General
Photo: Xochiquetzal Fonseca/CIMMYT

Representatives of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) and the Strategic Project for Food Security (PESA) visited CIMMYT’s headquarters in El Batán to discuss collaborative opportunities and tour the Germplasm Bank and the Conservation Agriculture trial plots on 12 September.

Thomas A. Lumpkin, director general of CIMMYT, and representatives of the Sustainable Modernization of Traditional Agriculture (MasAgro) program met with Nuria Urquía, FAO representative in Mexico, and Julio César Rosette Castro, director general of PESA. The leaders shared information on their work in Mexico and expressed an interest in making concerted efforts to contribute to Sin Hambre – the National Crusade Against Hunger program. The aim of this cooperation is to strengthen synergies between the two institutions to increase the productivity of subsistence farmers in Mexico.

To find out more about MasAgro in either English or Spanish, visit MasAgro. Sin Hambre – the National Crusade Against Hunger – is a national strategy to guarantee food security and better nutrition for 7.4 million Mexicans who live in conditions of extreme poverty.

Víctor López (center)illustrates the use of CIMMYT’s low-cost seed planters to Nuria Urquía and Julio César Rosette Castro. Photo: Miriam Shindler/CIMMYT — Víctor López (center)illustrates the use of CIMMYT’s low-cost seed planters to Nuria Urquía and Julio César Rosette Castro.
Photo: Miriam Shindler/CIMMYT

Urquía welcomed the meeting as an opportunity “to strengthen the collaboration between CIMMYT and the FAO and to form future partnerships that will strengthen the work for farmers in marginalized areas.” According to Lumpkin, “CIMMYT, the FAO and PESA are working towards a collective goal of increasing agricultural production, reducing hunger and extreme poverty in Mexico. Working together as part of the National Crusade Against Hunger will lead to a greater exchange of technologies and information that will benefit Mexican famers.” CIMMYT maintains one of the largest wheat and maize germplasm bank in the world, with 28,000 accessions of maize and more than 140,000 accessions of wheat.

Funded by the Japanese government, the state-of-the-art center has a storage capacity of more 450,000 seed samples and is one of only three germplasm banks globally to achieve ISO certification (and the first outside of Europe). MasAgro is financially supported by Mexico’s Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock, Rural Development, Fisheries and Food (SAGARPA).

Pathology Research Greenhouse opened in Ankara, Turkey, honors researcher

Written by on September 13, 2013. Posted in News.

A new greenhouse opened at the Central Field Crop Research Institute in Ankara, Turkey, honoring Senior Pathologist Lutfi Cetin for his contribution to wheat pathology research. The new, state-of-the-art greenhouse allows independent work on yellow, leaf, and stem rust throughout the year. The greenhouse has three sections—one for each of the rusts studied—and can maintain its temperature throughout winter frosts and hot summers. Its construction was supported by the Ministry of Food, Agriculture and Livestock of Turkey, FAO, and IFAD. Turquía

The pathogen collected in June of this year has been already multiplied in the greenhouse. The pathology group of the Central Field Crop Research Institute represents one of the few labs in the region dealing with rust at all stages and plays important role in research, breeding, and training. A half-day workshop was held on 27 August 2013 at the institute to recognize Mr. Cetin’s contributions.
Mr. Cetin started his wheat carrier more than 30 years ago and has been closely associated with the International Winter Wheat Improvement Program (Turkey-CIMMYT-ICARDA) in developing yellow rust resistant germplasm for the past 20 years. In the mid-1990s, when the cooperative work started, the frequency of yellow rust resistant entries did not exceed 20 to 30%. The pathology screening field with artificial inoculation was established in Haymana near Ankara with reliable and heavy infection by yellow and other rusts. This work later developed into broader rust pathology research including monitoring, pathotype identification, and screening in the seedling stage. The pathology group now annually evaluates 6,000 to 8,000 lines and populations from IWWIP in the field and around 1,000 in the seedling stage.

The struggle of maize against climate change in Zimbabwe

Written by on August 21, 2013. Posted in News.

usar-esta-foto-Foto-2 “Maize production is likely to suffer the most due to climate change compared to other crops in Southern Africa,” said CIMMYT physiologist Jill Cairns, who presented on CIMMYT work under the CGIAR Research Program on Climate Change, Agriculture and Food Security (CCAFS) at the FAO Agriculture Coordination & Information Forum in Harare, Zimbabwe, on 25 July 2013. During her presentation on future climate scenarios in Zimbabwe, Cairns focused on adaptation strategies to climate change, temperature and rainfall projections for 2050, and climate change implications for maize production.

CIMMYT’s ongoing research in Zimbabwe shows an increase in extreme temperature events and the intensity of droughts, which are conditions likely to reduce harvests and affect the suitability of current crops. Discussing the key adaptation strategies for Zimbabwe, including improved varieties, redefined agro-ecological zones, new policies, and better management, Cairns stressed that the initial climate change projections are not downscaled enough to make decisions at the country level. This is important as agricultural responses to climate change cannot be determined and priorities for adaptation strategies cannot be set without the ability to accurately predict future climate scenarios.

The major climate-related threats to maize in Zimbabwe right now are low rainfall and drought stress under high temperatures. “CIMMYT research in Southern Africa has shown that maize production linearly decreases with every accumulated degree above 30 degrees,” said Cairns. “While the amount of rainfall during the maize growing season in the drought-prone areas may increase slightly, it is unlikely to translate into higher yields as evapotranspiration will increase under higher temperatures.”

The challenges are not easy to tackle, but there are opportunities to offset losses. To mitigate the effect of increased temperature, maize lines with tolerance to combined drought and heat stress need to be developed. Such lines have been already identified and can be used to adapt maize production to climate change in Southern Africa.

The presentation, prepared by Cairns with significant input from CIMMYT specialist in geographic information systems, Kai Sonder, was well received by the FAO representatives.

Conservation agriculture: The Green Revolution for Africa?

Written by on June 25, 2013. Posted in Features.

The Global Conservation Agriculture Program (GCAP) works closely with partners all over the world toward an ultimate vision of widespread use of sustainable systems by smallholder farmers, based on the principles of conservation agriculture (CA). Our key partner in Africa is the African Conservation Tillage Network (ACT). We asked their Executive Secretary, Saidi Mkomwa, about the current status and future of CA in Africa.

ACT was established in 1998. Has Africa seen a big change in CA adoption since then?

Mkomwa: The adoption rate isn’t very big, but we think it’s good. It took Brazil 17 years to get the first one million hectares under CA; it’s been a shorter time in Africa and we have almost reached one million hectares already. It is happening at a slower rate than we would want, but it’s getting there. We have seen partial adoption of CA principles across the continent. For example, during one of our exchange visits to Zambia, we met a woman – we nicknamed her Barefoot Woman – who had no shoes but she was rich and she was proud to be a farmer. She wasn’t practicing all three principles, only reduced tillage combined with some mechanization, but it’s a start.

Why do you think that CA is key in improving food security in Africa?

Mkomwa: The Green Revolution that has been so helpful in Asia has passed by and Africa has not benefited from it. We think it’s primarily because of the continent’s poor infrastructure: getting fertilizers to people is a problem because transportation is difficult; farmers don’t have cash and there are no banks to borrow from. But even when farmers can efficiently utilize fertilizers and improved seeds, their work is hampered by degraded soil, inadequate soil moisture, and inadequate access to water. For Africa to benefit, the soil has to improve. We believe that the Green Revolution in Africa has to start with smallholder rainfed farmers and CA is a possible intervention, more affordable than, for example, building irrigation schemes.

We have been promoting CA a lot by looking at the yields. A lot of people will ask how much the yield increase is. I’ll say that we should also be looking at the annual productivity of the land, annual productivity of labor. You can have a modest yield of 3 tons per hectare, but if you can have two crops in there instead of one, we’re looking at 6 tons per hectare per year in the end. This is affordable intensification. And it’s not only that: CA also increases the soil moisture retention, thus increasing annual productivity of the land and – through the use of crop residues – decreasing the dependency on external inputs, such as fertilizers, which farmers fail to acquire.

What are the biggest challenges you’re facing in your work?

Mkomwa: One is that people don’t know about CA. We organize a lot of awareness creation activities, from conferences to exchange visits. What makes this worse, though, is that many of our colleges are still training their graduates to work in conventional systems. We are telling people not to plough and the professors are training the next generation of extension staff to plough. We have established a community of practice of researchers and academia through which we try to sensitize the professors themselves so that they can change their curricula. Changing people’s mindset is another challenge. They have been farming a certain way all their lives and, all of a sudden, we come and tell them to do something different.

However, the challenges differ depending on the farming system and farmers’ resources. You cannot be prescriptive; you have to work with the farmers to create a solution relevant to them. In an agropastoralist system, you have to integrate livestock, although we have seen promoters of CA seeing livestock as a threat. In reality, livestock integration benefits the farming system; it can increase the value of our cereals: instead of taking grains to the market, you take milk or eggs. In West Africa, you literally can’t talk about leaving crop residues on the field as soil cover. People will think you’re crazy, since some of the crop residues have a higher value as livestock feed. Again, you have to look into alternatives, such as shrubs and trees.

Are there any downsides to CA?

Mkomwa: So far we have not encountered any. CA should create a win-win-win situation: provide more food for farmers, reverse environmental degradation, and arrest climate change for future generations.

Does the climate change argument help convince African farmers to adopt CA?

Mkomwa: It is one of the biggest promoters of CA. Farmers practicing CA have proven to their neighbors that they’re able to get some crop when conventional agriculture gets zero. Then we don’t need to say anything. The resilience of CA fields is much higher. The message is straightforward.

If I was an African smallholder farmer, how would you convince me to adopt CA?

Mkomwa: You’ve been farming for the last 40 years, can you tell me how far has this farming taken you? The reflection on how conventional farming has managed to feed farmers’ families is important: it has failed to feed them and they have to look at alternatives. And we’re offering one. But if you’re an African farmer, we should take you to your nearest neighbor who is doing well so that you can talk to them. If we talk to you as scientists or development workers, you might think we’re adding salt to the benefits. That’s the challenge we’re facing: having enough model farmers.

How is CIMMYT helping your work?

Mkomwa: CIMMYT is an important partner in capacity building and research. We don’t have a research system in place and GCAP is thus a great asset to our work. CIMMYT is also leading the ‘Farm power and conservation agriculture for sustainable intensification’ (FACASI) project. We are part of this project and as we see mechanization as one of the bottlenecks hindering CA adoption in Africa, it is a very valuable partnership. Furthermore, we are jointly organizing – with CIMMYT, FAO, and NEPAD – the upcoming Africa Congress on Conservation Agriculture (18-21 March 2014, Lusaka, Zambia). With farmers at the center of the Congress, we hope to hear about their problems and progress. We need them to move forward as we believe that an increase in CA adoption would have a great impact on food security on both national and continental level.

Conservation agriculture in Central Asia: A bumpy road to food security?

Written by on April 30, 2013. Posted in News.

Conservation agriculture methods enable producers to sustainably intensify production, improve soil health, and minimize or avoid negative externalities. However, these practices have not yet taken off in most Central Asian countries. The FAO Sub-Regional Office for Central Asia, in cooperation with CIMMYT, ICARDA, and the national counterparts, conducted a study on the status of conservation agriculture in Central Asia to develop policy recommendations for its promotion. The document titled “Conservation Agriculture in Central Asia: Status, Policy, Institutional Support, and Strategic Framework for its Promotion” presents the existing opportunities for adoption and uptake of conservation agriculture techniques, as well as the conditions that need to be taken into account in designing and promoting policy and institutional support strategies for its up-scaling.

The challenges facing the dissemination and adoption of conservation agriculture practices in the region include development of enabling government policies and institutional environment to mainstream conservation agriculture, changing the farmers’ tillage mind-set, training to operate conservation agriculture equipment, and availability and accessibility of suitable implements. However, the authors believe that there is a great potential to revitalize the withered economies of Central Asian countries via improved productivity and higher total output through conservation agriculture based agricultural development. Kazakhstan, the only country that has actively embraced conservation agriculture, provides great evidence for such claims. With the support of CIMMYT, FAO, ICARDA, the World Bank, the Ministry of Agriculture of Kazakhstan, and other international organizations and donors, Kazakhstan began adoption of conservation agriculture practices in 2000; by 2012 there were 2 million hectares —13% of the country’s wheat growing area— under conservation agriculture. According to the FAO Investment Center mission to Kazakhstan, the adoption of zero tillage and conservation agriculture had raised domestic wheat production by almost 2 million tons, which equals 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. CIMMYT’s work in Kazakhstan demonstrates that the challenges facing Central Asia regarding conservation agriculture can be overcome. “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. Auyezkhan K. Darinov, president-chairman of the Republic Public Union of Farmers of Kazakhstan adds: “Kazakhstan is now the most experienced in conservation agriculture in Central Asia.” Hopefully, the practices and experience will spread to other Central Asian countries seeking to ensure food security.

For the full FAO report: Conservation Agriculture in Central Asia: Status, Policy, Institutional Support, and Strategic Framework for its Promotion.

For more information on conservation agriculture in Kazakhstan: Water-saving techniques salvage wheat in drought-stricken Kazakhstan.

Pakistan: Innovation to boost agriculture

Written by on March 26, 2013. Posted in News.

NARC-17 Pakistan ushered in a new era of agricultural research earlier this month when the Ministry of Food Security and Research, CIMMYT, USAID, the Pakistan Agricultural Research Council (PARC), and key agricultural leaders from throughout Pakistan gathered in Islamabad on 08 March 2013 to announce the Pakistan ‘Agricultural Innovation Program’ (AIP). This $30 million project seeks to revitalize the contribution of science-supported innovation to the economic growth of Pakistan’s agricultural sector by utilizing the Agricultural Research for Development paradigm.

“Pakistan’s agricultural productivity has fallen behind comparable countries with similar agroecologies,” said Thomas Lumpkin, CIMMYT Director General. “There is a tremendous potential for growth, but we must act now.” Under AIP, commissioned projects and competitive grants will address key objectives to increase productivity within the cereals/cereal systems, livestock, and horticulture sectors. Whilst CIMMYT will manage and take responsibility for the overall AIP portfolio and the cereals/cereal systems component, the program will also draw on the expertise of the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI), The World Vegetable Center (AVRDC), the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) and the University of California, Davis. UC Davis will also assist in linking Pakistan research systems to agriculture science and innovation in the USA via the human resources development component of AIP; which will make a particular effort to engage women scientists in Pakistan. PARC is the hosting partner and will also oversee the competitive grants portfolio and ensure that AIP is led and executed by national partners.

The relationship between CIMMYT and Pakistan spans five decades. In 1961, Pakistani FAO trainee Manzoor Bajwa, who was working with Norman Borlaug, selected Mexipak, a high-yielding wheat that went on to become the country’s most popular variety and one of the original megavarieties of the Green Revolution. After a large import of Mexipak seed from Mexico, Pakistan harvested 7 million tons of wheat in 1968, making it the first country in Asia to become self-sufficient in the crop. Most of Pakistan’s wheat crop (24 million tons in 2012) is produced with varieties derived from the CIMMYT/Pakistan collaboration. During the 1990s-early 2000s, CIMMYT helped Pakistani research to launch conservation agriculture in South Asia.

Now, AIP hopes to foster a demand-driven, results-oriented science research community and enhance linkages between Pakistan’s agricultural research and innovation communities, the wider global community of agricultural scientists, and the private and civil society sectors. Research is one among many contributors to increase food security and economic growth; but by creating a dynamic, responsive, and competitive system of science and innovation partnerships, the Agricultural Innovation Program hopes to rapidly boost agricultural production, productivity, and value.

For additional information contact Interim AIP project leader Rick Ward (r.ward@cgiar.org) or CIMMYT Pakistan Country Liaison Officer Muhammad Imtiaz (m.imtiaz@cgiar.org)

Discussing future research and development in Afghanistan

Written by on March 22, 2013. Posted in News.

Afghanistan1 For over 10 years, CIMMYT has been working assiduously with the national agriculture research system of Afghanistan to contribute to the war-torn country’s sustainable agricultural growth and research and development. So far, the joint efforts have led to the release of 12 wheat, 4 maize, and 2 barley varieties. As wheat and maize together account for about 84% of cereal acreage and production in Afghanistan, the work continues. During 5-7 March 2013, CIMMYT director general Thomas Lumpkin visited Afghanistan to observe CIMMYT activities and initiate a dialogue on further cooperation.

During a tour of the Kabul-based research station of the Agricultural Research Institute of Afghanistan (ARIA) at Darulaman, station manager Gul Zaman informed Lumpkin that 70-80% of the field experiments carried out at the station were ARIA-CIMMYT wheat trials. Lumpkin observed that the station was in dire need of reconstruction, as it lacked proper infrastructure and all farm machinery was kept outside. Lumpkin also met with Qasem Obaidi (ARIA director), Abdullahjan Ahmadzai (Agricultural Extension and Development director general), Nasrullah Bakhtani (Policy and Planning director general), Haqiqatpal Rabani (Statistics and Marketing director), and S.D. Pakbin (ARIA technical advisor) to assess the needs of Ministry of Agriculture, Irrigation and Livestock (MAIL). Ahmadzai updated Lumpkin on the current involvement of CIMMYT-Afghanistan in drafting a longterm R&D strategy document for the country. “CIMMYT could also bring in the latest technologies, such as conservation agriculture, precision agriculture, and the use of cell phones for extension services,” commented Lumpkin. Other areas requiring assistance, according to Obaidi, include a gene bank, soil and pathological laboratories, technical support in basic research, capacity building, and R&D for agricultural machinery.

Abdul Ghani Ghuriani, deputy minister for technical affairs at MAIL, then hosted a dinner reception for Lumpkin and representatives from ICARDA, FAO, USDA, USAID, JICA, private seed enterprises, MAIL officials, and other partners. During the lively dinner discussion, the deputy minister suggested that CIMMYT submits a proposal to establish a permanent facility to provide long term R&D support to the national agriculture research system and other stakeholders in the country. Mir Dad Panjsheri, MAIL chief advisor, then highlighted the issue of sustainability of any intervention brought by development agencies, acknowledged the continued support from CIMMYT, and suggested new collaboration areas: “It is important to carry out multi-crop, interdisciplinary research. We would appreciate CIMMYT’s assistance with diversification of the cropping sequence in farmers’ fields, genetic resource conservation, and support of home-grown breeding programs.”

Prior to his departure, Lumpkin held a series of discussions with Kabul-based USAID, USDA, AusAID, and ACIAR officials. Both USAID and AusAID welcomed the idea of a BISA-type facility in Afghanistan, as it could act as a platform for other CG centers, in-country partners, and foreign universities to address Afghanistan’s R&D gaps programmatically and sustainably. Afghanistan2

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.