funder_partner: HarvestPlus

HarvestPlus aims to reduce hidden hunger and provide micronutrients to billions of people directly through the staple foods that they eat. We use a novel process called biofortification to breed higher levels of micronutrients directly into key staple foods. For more information, visit http://www.harvestplus.org/.

Solving the Zinc Problem from Field to Food

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

January, 2005

Thanks to pioneering research in Turkey, the links between zinc-deficient soils, plants, people, and continued malnutrition and poverty have been clearly articulated. Few other countries in the world are as well placed to show how plant breeding research can limit the impact of zinc deficiency on crop and human health. So what’s the next step?

In her work as a medical doctor and nutritionist, Prof. Ayhan Çavdar saw many women who could not give birth to healthy children. They had repeated miscarriages and stillbirths. Their babies had agonizing defects of the central nervous system, such as spina bifida, in which the spine fails to close properly, and anencephaly, characterized by an undeveloped brain and incomplete skull. One 18-year-old woman had already miscarried two anencephalitic fetuses. This devastating condition had a surprisingly simple treatment. Çavdar measured the levels of zinc in the young woman’s blood serum, plasma, and hair. They were extremely low. She prescribed zinc supplements for five months. The young woman conceived and gave birth to a healthy child after an uneventful pregnancy.

Zinc deficiency is implicated in health problems throughout the world (see box). The causes and consequences of the problem have been particularly well studied in Turkey, where Çavdar says “a nutrition-related, zinc-deficient milieu exists.”

Wheat is part of that milieu. Most people in Turkey and neighboring countries rely heavily on wheat as a staple. In rural areas, people can consume more than 500 grams of bread every day. Throughout West Asia and North Africa, wheat can constitute from 40 to 60% of daily caloric intake, compared with 21% in Europe or 20% worldwide. People risk zinc deficiency when they subsist on white bread, white rice, or other cereals and consume few vegetables, red meat, or other animal protein.

The Missing Zinc

The widespread zinc deficiency in Turkey’s soils and crops, including wheat, is considered a major
reason for the relatively high incidence of zinc deficiency in its people. In the early 1990s, researchers started a NATOsponsored project in Central Anatolia, Turkey’s major wheat growing area, to investigate the extent and significance of zinc deficiency in soils, plants, foods, and people. Partners included Çukorova University in Adana, the Transitional Zone Agricultural Research Institute in Eskisehir, the Bahri Dagdas International Agricultural Research Center in Konya, the Research Institute of Rural Affairs in Sanliurfa, CIMMYT and Advanced Research Institutes in Australia, Germany, and the USA.

The project, led by Prof. Ismail Çakmak (then with Çukurova University, now with Sabanci University), built on the work of Dr. Robin Graham from Adelaide University in Australia and Mufit Kalayci from the Transitional Zone Agricultural Research Institute in Eskisehir, who had shown the effects of zinc on plant growth and yield. Some wheat varieties, especially those developed from local landraces, used zinc much more effectively than others. Zinc application increased wheat yields by 5-500%, depending on location and soil zinc levels. Also seed that had higher zinc content yielded better than seed with low content.

Çakmak recalls that “when farmers saw the results with zinc fertilizer, they said, ‘Something good like aspirin has come!’ ”Because of the impressive project’s findings, fertilizer companies started producing zinc fertilizer. “Today, ten years after the problem was solidly diagnosed, Turkey uses 300,000 tons of zinc fertilizer. This is a success story,” emphasizes Çakmak. The Ministry of Agriculture estimates that the economic benefit from zinc fertilization in Turkey is about USD 150 million per year.

No Happy Ending—Yet

Plants that get a high dose of zinc fertilizer do not necessarily accumulate enough zinc in the grain to improve human nutrition. Some varieties cannot draw much zinc from the soil. Others easily extract zinc from the soil but cannot make good use of it. Finally, not every farmer can afford zinc fertilizer, and not every country provides it.

“Wheat varieties and landraces, and wheat’s wild relatives, have the genes to solve the zinc problem,” says Hans-Joachim Braun, director of CIMMYT’s Rainfed Wheat Systems Program and participant in the NATO project.

Getting Good Genes

Turkish wheat landraces and cultivars that use zinc efficiently are being combined with wheat varieties developed in the Turkey- CIMMYT-ICARDA International Wheat Improvement Program (IWWIP) that have resistance to yellow rust and root diseases. “We’re evaluating about 180 wheat lines with these traits right now,” says Çakmak. “They’re showing very high levels of zinc efficiency when grown in zinc-deficient soils.” Çakmak and colleagues also found that wild relatives of wheat (Triticum monococcum, T. diccocoides, and Aegilops tauschii) tolerate zinc-deficient soils well compared to bread wheat. “Many of the wild wheats and Aegilops species that exhibit very high tolerance to zinc-deficient soils originated in Turkey,” says Çakmak, “very probably because Turkey has such zincdeficient soils.” They feel this valuable trait can easily be passed to improved bread wheats. Researchers also have high hopes that rye can contribute a similar genetic advantage to wheat.

With funding from DANIDA, CIMMYT evaluated accessions from its wheat genebank for cultivars that produced zinc-rich grain, and considerable variation was found. Çakmak and his team, together with collaborators from Çukurova University (Hakan Ozkan),Tel Aviv University (Eitan Millet), and Haifa University (Eviatar Nevo), have identified wild and primitive wheats from the Fertile Crescent that have grain with seven times as much zinc as modern wheat varieties. Preliminary results also suggest that the grain of wild species has higher levels of proteins and amino acids that make it easier for people to absorb micronutrients such as zinc.

“We have access to nearly 10,000 unique accessions of wild relatives from the Fertile Crescent,” observes Çakmak. “Other research groups are not working with these materials. Because Turkey has zinc deficiency not only in soils and plants but also in people, we’re ideally suited to screen a range of crops for the HarvestPlus program.” (See box below)

HarvestPlus for a More Nutritious Harvest

Zinc deficiencies have serious consequences for health. Because there is no widely accepted method for measuring zinc deficiency, no firm estimates are available on the number of people who are zinc deficient. But billions are at risk for zinc deficiency, with the prevalence highest for South and Southeast Asia and Africa. Zinc supplementation has been shown to reduce by a third the effects of common childhood infections, especially diarrhea, pneumonia, and possibly malaria. In addition, zinc deficiency is an important cause of stunting.

harvestplus2 As part of its contribution to HarvestPlus, the CGIAR’s global alliance to breed and disseminate crops for better nutrition, CIMMYT is developing nutritionally enhanced wheat varieties that will automatically increase people’s intake of essential dietary elements like zinc. Given that CIMMYTderived spring bread wheat varieties are planted on 80% of the global spring wheat area, the impacts could be wide-ranging.

The white bars in the figure above show the zinc content of wheat lines that are far along in the breeding process, of excellent agronomic type, and into which CIMMYT breeders have incorporated high levels of zinc (172% of check, in the best line). The best will be used to transfer this trait to other wheat varieties and for studies in which DNA markers will help researchers identify genes associated with high zinc content.

For more information: h.j.braun@cgiar.org

CIMMYT trustee wins prize for work on boosting yields and zinc in wheat

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

June, 2005

Ismail Cakmak, recently appointed to the CIMMYT Board of Trustees, accepted the International Crop Nutrition Award from the International Fertilizer Industry Association (IFA) this month for his work in Turkish agriculture to improve the grain yield and amount of zinc in wheat. In addition to the potential health benefits, his work has allowed farmers to reap an economic benefit of US $100 million each year.

In a NATO-Science for Stability program, Cakmak, a longtime CIMMYT partner, and colleagues from the University of Cukurova in Adana and National Research Institutions of the Ministry of Agriculture in Konya and Eskisehir, found that wheat harvests in Turkey were limited by a lack of zinc in the soil. When the plants were fed zinc-fortified fertilizer, researchers noticed spectacular increases in wheat yields. Ten years after the problem was diagnosed, Turkish farmers now apply 300,000 tons of the zinc-fortified fertilizers per year and harvest wheat with twice the amount of zinc.

HarvestPlus, a CGIAR Challenge Program, estimates that over 1.3 billion South Asians are at risk for zinc deficiency. Finding a more sustainable way to enrich the level of zinc in wheat is a goal for Cakmak, his CIMMYT colleagues, and HarvestPlus, which breeds crops for better nutrition. “Providing grain with high zinc content to people in Turkey should lead to significant improvements in their health and productivity. One can achieve this goal by applying fertilizers, a short-term answer, or through a more cost-effective and sustainable solution—breeding,” Cakmak says.

Zinc fertilizer was applied to the soil beneath

CIMMYT and HarvestPlus are set to do this and have already bred high-yielding wheat varieties with 100% more zinc than other modern varieties. CIMMYT agronomist and HarvestPlus Wheat Crop Leader Ivan Ortiz-Monasterio says, “We intend to have modern, disease resistant varieties be the vehicle for getting more micronutrients into people’s diets.” Further research this year involves testing the bioavailability of the grain’s doubled zinc content to see if it can improve human health in Pakistan.

“Today, a large number of the world’s peoples rely on wheat as a major source of dietary energy and protein. For example in Turkey, on average, wheat alone provides nearly 45% of the daily calorie intake, it is estimated that this ratio is much higher in rural regions,” Cakmak says. It is hoped that this project, which uses agricultural practices to address public health while improving crop production, can be extrapolated to other zinc-deficient areas of the world.

For further information, contact Ismail Cakmak (cakmak@sabanciuniv.edu) or Ivan Ortiz-Monasterio (i.ortiz-monasterio@cgiar.org).

Bidding to Balance Color with Quality

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

CIMMYT E-News, vol 2 no. 8, August 2005

auction1 Experimental auctions in Kenya gauge farmer interest in vitamin A-enriched maize.

Kenyan farmers bid for color or quality in experimental auctions to determine how well maize with enriched vitamin A will catch on. Traditionally, East Africans prefer white maize, but vitamin A maize, being developed by CIMMYT and HarvestPlus, the CGIAR Biofortification Challenge Program, will be yellow because of the increased beta-carotene content. Will the nutritional value of the yellow maize overcome East Africans’ color bias?

CIMMYT researchers tried to answer this question in a series of novel experimental auctions held in Vihiga and Siaya, western Kenya. By giving consumers real money to bid for real maize meal, they hoped to properly estimate a customer’s willingness to pay for vitamin A-enriched maize. The highest bidders won the auction and exchanged their bag of maize for their choice of white, yellow, or white vitamin-enriched maize, after paying the money. By creating an active market, researchers found a way to determine how much demand there would be for maize with perhaps an unpopular color but superior quality.

The HarvestPlus Challenge Program, an international consortium of collaborative partners that includes CIMMYT, aims to produce new crop varieties to reduce micronutrient malnutrition, also known as “hidden hunger.” They are working to develop maize that will have higher levels of vitamin A available to those who eat it. Vitamin A deficiencies plague over 50 million people in sub-Saharan Africa and Latin America. According to HarvestPlus, this deficiency damages the eye and severely weakens the immune system.

auction2 Determining how consumers will balance their desire for nutritionally superior maize while sacrificing the color to which they are accustomed sheds light on whether or not biofortified maize will be readily adopted. “Despite a need for this knowledge, very few consumer studies of the rural poor in sub-Saharan Africa have been done,” says Hugo De Groote, CIMMYT economist.

“The results from the maize auctions agree with our previous consumer surveys of city dwellers,” says fellow scientist Simon Kimenju, “The auction was very realistic—these prices are similar to those found in Kenyan markets and grocery stores.” Although the auction was found to be the most realistic compared to other methods, it was also more expensive and took more preparation and training time.

In addition to discovering an accurate way to gauge consumer preferences, researchers found another upside of the auctions: “The one-on-one interactive nature of the auctions, using real products, and real money makes it great fun for the participants!” exclaims De Groote.

A full paper on this topic was presented at the African Econometric Society Conference, Nairobi, Kenya, 6–8 July 2005. It is available in PDF form here (270 kb).

For further information, contact Simon Kimenju (s.kimenju@cgiar.org) or Hugo De Groote (h.degroote@cgiar.org).

The Color Orange: Key to More Nutritious Maize?

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

CIMMYT E-News, vol 2 no. 10, October 2005

colorOrange The HarvestPlus Maize group examines progress toward breeding maize with enhanced pro-vitamins A, iron, and zinc.

CIMMYT maize scientists and colleagues from national programs in the key countries targeted by HarvestPlus reported significant progress in identifying maize with elevated concentrations of iron, zinc, and pro-vitamins A (chemicals the human body can convert to vitamin A) in their elite maize varieties and germplasm collections. The results of two years of work were presented at the second HarvestPlus Maize meeting hosted by EMBRAPA, the national agricultural research program of Brazil at their maize and sorghum research station in Sete Lagoas.

Maize is a key target crop for nutritional enhancement because it is so widely consumed in areas where high malnutrition—especially vitamin-A deficiency—exists. Scientists working in the HarvestPlus program hope eventually to breed high-quality, high-yielding maize with enhanced pro-vitamins A, iron, and zinc content. These micronutrients in maize will have to be in a form that survives processing and can be utilized by the human body.

The first planning meeting for the maize scientists was held in 2003 in Ethiopia. “We’ve come a long way since we first met two years ago,” says Kevin Pixley, the HarvestPlus Maize coordinator and Director of CIMMYT’s Tropical Ecosystems Program. “But we have also realized that this is a very complex subject with many assumptions that have to be validated.”

colorOrange2
CIMMYT maize breeder Dave Beck showed the group results of screening of CIMMYT elite highland and transition zone maize germplasm for enhanced levels of pro-vitamins A, zinc, and iron. HarvestPlus nutritionists have set minimum targets for the concentrations of these micronutrients in maize. The good news is that for zinc, CIMMYT has identified material that was already above the threshold. For iron the picture is less promising as existing lines identified have only 60 percent of the required minimum level for iron. For pro-vitamins A CIMMYT has examined hundreds of lines. The best CIMMYT lines have about 75 percent of the minimum requirement, but sources identified by project partners in the USA have the minimum required level of pro-vitamins A. The CIMMYT team is now breeding to enhance pro-vitamins A concentration for highland, transition zone, mid-altitude, and lowland-adapted materials.

A topic of keen interest at the meeting was how to convince people to adopt any nutritionally enhanced maize varieties that might be developed. In much of eastern and southern Africa, white maize is preferred over yellow maize. Scientists in Zambia and Zimbabwe had conducted studies about the acceptability of yellow maize. Both studies found that yellow maize is associated with food aid and that was one reason people did not want to eat it. Scientists know there is a strong correlation between the color of the maize and the total level of carotenoids. Some of these carotenoids are precursors for vitamin A “pro-vitamins A.” Torbert Rocheford, a professor of plant genetics at the University of Illinois, suggested that the debate should not actually be about yellow maize in many parts of Africa. He said what we should be talking about is orange maize—something new that will not carry the stigma of yellow maize but will have high pro-vitamins A content.

For further information, contact Kevin Pixley (k.pixley@cgiar.org).

Kernels with a kick: Quality protein maize improves child nutrition

Written by on May 14, 2012. Posted in Features. 1 Comment on Kernels with a kick: Quality protein maize improves child nutrition

Throughout the developing world, 32% of children under the age of five are stunted and 20% are underweight. Improving the quality of protein in maize can help alleviate this problem in areas where people eat a lot of maize. Here a mother feeds her child QPM during a QPM feeding program hosted by Self-Help International in Ghana.

It looks and tastes like any other maize, but hidden inside each bite of quality protein maize (QPM) are specialized natural molecules waiting to give the diner an extra boost. A new study evaluates the nutritional impact of QPM on target populations.

Eating quality protein maize (QPM) increases the growth rate of moderately malnourished children who survive on a maize-dominated diet, according to a new study co-authored by five scientists, including two CIMMYT maize experts.

QPM grain is a biofortified, non-transgenic food that provides improved protein quality to consumers. It looks and tastes like normal maize, but QPM contains a naturally-occurring mutant maize gene that increases the amount of two amino acids—lysine and tryptophan—necessary for protein synthesis in humans. The total amount of protein in QPM is not actually increased, but rather the protein is enhanced so that it delivers a higher benefit when consumed by monogastric beings, like humans and pigs. Drawing on three decades of previous studies on QPM and using sophisticated statistical analysis, the paper “A meta-analysis of community-based studies on quality protein maize,” published in Food Policy, shows that when children suffering from malnutrition in maize-dependent areas consume QPM instead of conventional maize, they benefit from a 12% increased growth rate for weight and a 9% increased growth rate for height.

“We tried to bring together all the relevant work we could find on QPM and analyze and discuss it as transparently as possible,” said Nilupa Gunaratna, statistician at the International Nutrition Foundation and the paper’s lead author. “We discussed all the strengths and weaknesses of past studies, and took these into account in our evaluation. We also proceeded very conservatively, trying different methods, studying the effects of individual studies and outliers. In every approach, we came to the same conclusion: QPM has a positive effect on the growth of undernourished infants and young children for whom maize is a staple food.”

Scientists use a light box to select maize seed expressing the quality protein trait. Light is projected through the seed, and kernels that appear dark at the base but translucent elsewhere are prime QPM candidates.

Give the people what they eat
Maize is the third-most important cereal crop for direct consumption (after rice and wheat), and is particularly significant in developing areas, such as Africa, where it is the main food source for more than 300 million people. In 12 developing countries, it accounts for more than 30% of total dietary protein. And though maize alone cannot provide all the nutrients needed for a healthy diet, maize with extra essential nutrients can go a long way toward helping the nearly 200 million children in poor nations who suffer stunted growth from malnutrition and for whom a diversified diet is currently unattainable.

“Staple foods are the cheapest foods, and the poorer you are, the more you depend on them, which often does not provide a balanced diet,” said co-author Kevin Pixley, who divides his time between CIMMYT and HarvestPlus. “We would all prefer to see each and every person eating a healthy and balanced diet, but that isn’t always possible. Biofortification is one part of the strategy to help combat malnutrition.”

QPM complexities
Though QPM is more nutritious than conventional maize and many of its varieties yield as well as or better than popular conventional maize varieties, widespread acceptance of QPM remains elusive. Of the 90 million hectares of maize grown in Mexico, Central America, sub-Saharan Africa, and Asia, only an estimated 1% or less is QPM.

Many seed companies lack interest in QPM because of the research costs and challenges of assuring its superior nutritional quality. If QPM is grown next to fields of conventional maize, cross-pollination will dilute the QPM trait, and QPM also requires separate storage and quality testing/monitoring. This and the fact that the enhanced maize brings no market premium—largely because its quality trait is not visibly distinguishable—have often deterred seed companies from marketing QPM altogether.

Yet in areas where there has been a substantial effort to promote it and make quality seed available, QPM has gained ground. For example, in 1992 Ghana released its first QPM variety, Obatanpa. Obatanpa is an open-pollinated variety, meaning its grain can be saved by farmers and re-sown as seed without any major decline in yield. In 2005, it was calculated that Obatanpa accounted for over 90% of improved seed sales in Ghana. In 2008, Wayne Haag of the Sasakawa Africa Association estimated that 350,000 hectares of QPM were grown in Ghana, making it the world’s largest QPM grower. Strong support and effort by multidisciplinary institutions, including the Ghanaian government, made this possible. Four of the QPM studies used in the meta-analysis were based in Ghana. Obatanpa’s high and stable yields and end-use quality have made it popular not only in Ghana but in several other sub-Saharan African countries, where it has been released under other names.

Nilupa Gunaratna, the paper’s main author, helps a farmer and his daughter fill out a QPM survey in Karatu, Tanzania.

Fortifying future research

The authors of the QPM meta-analysis—two statisticians, an economist, a nutritionist, and a plant breeder—hope its clear results will finally dissuade QPM critics, many of whom have questioned whether QPM offers nutritional benefits for humans, and that the paper will lead to renewed efforts to explore improved nutrition through biofortified crops. “While there is still interesting and important nutritional research to be done on QPM, I hope the focus will start to shift from whether QPM has a benefit to how QPM can be promoted, disseminated, and used by farmers and consumers to have the most impact,” said Gunaratna. CIMMYT is currently involved in several QPM projects, including the QPM Development (QPMD) project in Africa, which is funded by the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA). Launched in 2003, the project uses QPM as a key tool for improving food security, nutrition, and the incomes of resource-poor farming families in four countries (Ethiopia, Kenya, Tanzania, and Uganda). In the project’s first five years, seven new QPM varieties were released (bringing the total in the region to 12) and education efforts resulted in 270 field days attended by over 37,000 farmers, roughly 40% of whom were women. CIDA also funds AgroSalud, a five-year project that started in 2005 to extend the benefits of nutritionally improved staple crops to Latin America and the Caribbean. In 2002, two CIMMYT scientists received the World Food Prize for their work to develop QPM.

What will Yunnan farmers do when the rain stops?

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

Farmers in Yunnan Province are increasingly reacting to climate change by using maize seed for drought conditions developed by CIMMYT in collaboration with the Yunnan Academy of Agricultural Sciences.

Forming part of southwest China’s rugged terrain, the Yunnan Province mountain chains create spectacular vistas in every direction. Unfortunately, the scenic landscapes also make life tough for farmers. Only 5% of the province is cultivated land. Still, agriculture is a pillar of the provincial economy, and maize is the most commonly grown crop.

Faced with a mean elevation of over 2,000 meters and average slopes as steep as 19 degrees, Yunnan farmers have adapted by growing maize on the hills and mountains. This so-called “down-slope cultivation” has fed Yunnan for generations, but it has drawbacks, like increased erosion. Yunnan is one of the areas in China most seriously affected by erosion.

Missing the monsoon?
Besides their tremendous ability to adapt, farmers have one other ally in the continual struggle to grow maize in this unlikely environment: the monsoon. Yunnan Province has a subtropical climate and an average annual rainfall of more than a meter—very generous for maize—and most of which normally falls during the growing season, May to October.

But today’s farmers in Yunnan have a new concern: what happens when the monsoon fails to appear? It’s not a hypothetical question. In 2010, severe weather in southwest China resulted in the region’s worst drought in a century. In the months prior, large swaths of Yunnan hadn’t received adequate rainfall. Then the rainy season ended early, temperatures rose, and drought set in, ultimately affecting more than 60 million people and destroying billions of dollars worth of crops. In 2011, drought re-occurred in eastern Yunnan, affecting a large area of maize.

Now farmers are left wondering if these phenomena are flukes or part of a larger trend. In fact, climate change models suggest the fluctuations in rainfall will continue and increase in intensity. Yunnan’s maize farmers may no longer be able to count on the monsoon.

Better maize: Part of the answer
The solution, put simply, is to change. And helping farmers to change from the only thing they’ve ever known takes patient expertise. Some of that has come from a team led by Dr. Fan Xingming, Director General, Institute of Food Crops, Yunnan Academy of Agricultural Sciences (YAAS), in partnership with CIMMYT.

Drawing on sources from CIMMYT’s maize and wheat seed bank—which conserves 27,000 unique collections of maize seed—Fan and his group have developed 22 hybrids, several of which possess improved performance under drought and multiple disease resistance. Because they produce consistently higher yields and better incomes for Yunnan farmers, the hybrids have been a hit. Today they cover approximately 200,000 hectares—15% of Yunnan’s annual maize area—and have increased farmers’ incomes by approximately USD 200 million between 2000 to 2010. One of those developed, Yunrui 47, is drought tolerant and performed well in 2011 in severely droughted areas in Yunnan, including Zhaotong, Wenshan, Xuanwei, and Huize.

Some are more resistant to insect infestation and rot than older maize varieties. Because of this, their grain can be stored longer. Instead of selling their harvest in January when prices are low, farmers can keep it until June, when prices are better. The hybrid Yunrui 88 is high-yielding and resistant to several of the region’s most damaging maize diseases, according to Dan Jeffers, a CIMMYT maize breeder based in Kunming. “Yunrui 88 has been highly resistant to maize dwarf mosaic, resistant to leaf blights, and shows intermediate resistance to ear rot,” he says. “In addition, it yields an average of around 9 tons per hectare of grain.”

Another of the hybrids, Yunrui 8, is an example of quality protein maize, a high-lysine and high-oil hybrid that is more nutritious for humans and farm animals, as well as being highly resistant to ear rots. Yunrui 8 has been recommended by the Ministry of Agriculture of China as the leading national variety in 2010. It is the most popular hybrid in Yunnan, with a cumulative coverage of 0.5 million hectares in the province.

Farmers have testified to the nutritional quality of the hybrid grain. Huan Yuanmin and her husband grew Yunrui 8 on 4.6 hectares for 3 years. Utilizing the profits from their surplus harvests, they bought 200 pigs and fed them hybrid maize grain. “We noticed that with the hybrid maize, our animals grew faster and were more robust,” says Huan. “The sows gave more milk, so suckling pigs could be weaned three-to-five days ahead of the normal of 28 days.” This in turn raised the family’s profits. “Even the skin and hair of the pigs became shinier,” she added.

International partnerships bring benefits for farmers
Staff of YAAS began collaborating with CIMMYT in 1976. Over the decades, that relationship was strengthened by the personal visits of CIMMYT regional maize staff and the late Nobel Peace Prize Laureate and wheat breeder, Dr. Norman Borlaug. According to Fan, CIMMYT germplasm was the basis for Yunnan’s strong maize production and breeding program. “CIMMYT experts have helped Yunnan in many ways, including training and sharing expertise,” he said. “I really appreciate this and sincerely hope we can continue cooperating, progressing in maize breeding, and developing more hybrids that will allow farmers to contribute to the food security of people in less developed areas.”

For more information: Dan Jeffers, maize breeder (d.jeffers@cgiar.org)

Related story:

HarvestPlus-China field day exhibits maize hybrids in southwestern China

Wheat biofortification meeting held in India

Written by on March 12, 2012. Posted in News.

IndiaGroup Meeting was held in the Indian holy city of Varanasi during 27 February to 01 March 2012. It was organized jointly by Banaras Hindu University (BHU), HarvestPlus, and CIMMYT to discuss wheat biofortification research outputs and future plans. The meeting was attended by about 40 scientists, including Hans Braun, Ravi Singh, Kevin Pixley, Velu Govindan, Etienne Duveiller, Arun Joshi, and Iván Ortiz-Monasterio from CIMMYT, along with participants from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, HarvestPlus, the Indian national agricultural research system, the private sector, and more than 200 farmers from the eastern part of the state of Uttar Pradesh.

This meeting was inaugurated by the Honorable Vice-Chancellor of BHU, Dr Lalji Singh, which he followed by a meeting with the press. He honored CIMMYT distinguished scientist Ravi Singh as BHU’s greatest alumnus for his ongoing efforts in developing improved bread wheat varieties that are grown across the world. Standing out in a week of fruitful meetings, the highlight for many was the farmer field day on 29 February, during which more than 200 farmers participated in discussions and expressed their interest in CIMMYT-derived biofortified wheat varieties.

HarvestPlus-China field day exhibits maize hybrids in southwestern China

Written by on October 24, 2011. Posted in News.

The HarvestPlus-China (HPC) Annual Meeting for 2011 was held in Lijiang, Yunnan Province, China, during 27-30 September 2011, with 66 national and international scientists participating, including Howarth Bouis (HarvestPlus Director), Markus Palenberg (HP Program Strategy Advisor), and Jeroen Bordewijk (HP Program Advisory Committee Member). Prior to the meeting, many of the participants attended a Maize Field Day in Yun County, organized by the HPC high provitamin A maize team, Fan Xingming, Yunnan Academy of Agricultural Sciences (YAAS), and Li Jiansheng, China Agricultural University (CAU), together with members of the Lincang Agricultural Technical Extension Center office in Yun Xian.

group-photo1
Two YAAS-developed hybrids, Yunrui 8 and YR506, were the focus of the field day. Yunrui 8 is a high quality maize hybrid developed using CIMMYT germplasm and an elite YAAS inbred. It was released in Yunnan in 2005, and was recommended by the Ministry of Agriculture for use in southern China in 2010. Uptake by farmers in the region has been rapid, and the hybrid has been planted on a cumulative area of 0.5 million ha between 2005-2011; providing the farmers with a USD 118 million net increase in income.

The village of Mangzhou in Yun County started growing Yunrui 8 in 2005 and during the field day it could be seen extensively planted throughout the valley and surrounding hills, with high acceptance by the local farmers and those in the neighboring villages. Due to its high yield, resistance to foliar diseases and ear rot, quality grain traits, and storability, the hybrid meets the needs of the farmers who market the grain, as well as using it for animal feed. A higher oil content and improved lysine levels means that farmers can also raise their animals to market standards quicker than with normal maize.

YR506 is finishing its second year of regional testing and offers farmers the first high yielding, provitamin A hybrid adapted to their needs. It is derived from national program germplasm and high provitamin A germplasm from HarvestPlus collaborations with the US.

Farmers attending the field day described the excellent performance of Yunrui 8, and how it has had a positive impact on their livelihoods. Luo Yaowu, Director of the Yun County Agricultural Bureau, expressed the importance of these two nutritionally enriched hybrids, and his appreciation of the efforts of HarvestPlus- China in developing them to improve the livelihoods of local farmers. Special thanks were given to all members of the organizing team for the success of the field day, and to Director Shi Zehai and his team from the Agricultural Technical Extension Center.

Benefits of biofortification explored during meeting in Zambia

Written by on April 20, 2010. Posted in News.

Over 50 experts gathered in Lusaka, Zambia during 15-18 March 2010 for HarvestPlus’s 5th Maize Team Meeting. The meeting, organized by CIMMYT and hosted by the Zambia Agricultural Research Institute (ZARI), included overviews of progress reports, four field visits, and identification of needs and development plans for further success.

HarvestPlus is a CGIAR Challenge Program that uses biofortification to improve the nutritional value of staple foods.

A key topic at the meeting was the development and use of maize varieties with high amounts of provitamin A and their potential benefits for consumers in Zambia. Between one third and half of all Zambian children suffer from vitamin A deficiency, which weakens their vision and immune systems, makes them more vulnerable to various diseases, and reduces their productivity and quality of life. Maize is Zambia’s staple food. HarvestPlus uses conventional breeding to create maize hybrids and open-pollinated varieties with a high density of pro-vitamin A.

ZARI and private companies are currently evaluating advanced experimental varieties for yield and agronomic characteristics; the best of these will be tested for pro-vitamin A content. Additionally, a new generation of varieties with higher amounts of pro-vitamin A than today’s best hybrids is now being bred. New information on a crucial gene that increases pro-vitamin A has made this possible. This information was published in a March 2010 article in Nature Genetics.

During the meeting, attendees presented and discussed several other topics and studies. These included socio-economic work to assess the likely consumer acceptance of biofortified orange maize; food technology to assess the effects of food preparation on the nutritional value of maize; biochemistry to assess the causes and losses of pro-vitamin A during milling and storage; and nutrition to assess the health impacts on children who eat biofortified maize.

A particularly fruitful session involved several stakeholders from Zambia, including representatives from the Ministry of Health, nongovernmental organizations, ZARI, and seed companies. Partnerships with these and other Zambian colleagues are essential for the delivery of biofortified maize to farmers and consumers. CIMMYT attendees included Kevin Pixley, Natalia Palacios, Hugo de Groote, John MacRobert, Sebastian Mawere, and Amsal Tarekegne.

Goodbye party for Pixley

Written by on November 6, 2009. Posted in News.

Pixley2 Coworkers, family, and friends gathered on 23 October 2009 in El Batán’s Rincón Mexicano to say goodbye to Kevin Pixley, former associate director of the Global Maize Program (GMP), who will start work at the University of Wisconsin in November. He will remain involved with CIMMYT activities as a partnered scientist and will dedicate 50% of his time to HarvestPlus, an international, interdisciplinary program to alleviate nutritional deficiency through breeding micronutrient-enriched staple foods.

“I hope it isn’t too unfair of me to enjoy a goodbye party, since I will be coming back frequently to continue working on old projects, and hopefully new ones as well,” Pixley joked after a round of emotional goodbyes and well wishes.

Pixley joined CIMMYT in 1990 as a Ph.D. student and moved three years later to Zimbabwe to work as a maize breeder and later as the director of the regional program. He then spent time as the director of CIMMYT’s Tropical Ecosystems Program and coordinator of HarvestPlus maize, altogether totaling nearly 20 years with CIMMYT.

During the farewell party, colleagues bestowed Pixley with three plaques—presented by Marianne Bänziger, deputy director general for research and partnerships; Raymundo López, Agua Fría Station superintendent; and Ignacia García, program assistant who presented on behalf of GMP-Colombia—and many remarked upon his outstanding leadership and teaching qualities. “When I first came into the (Global Maize) program, all I knew about maize was how to eat it,” laughed George Mahuku, senior scientist/pathologist, adding that under Pixley’s guidance he has learned a lot. After speeches, gifts, and a moving piano and vocal rendition of “Hey Jude,” by Marcelo Pérez, Pixley and his wife Jill were serenaded by mariachis and enjoyed a video about Pixley’s time at CIMMYT.

“It’s not easy to leave a job that offers daily challenges and opportunities to contribute meaningfully—even in a small way—toward a better world,” Pixley wrote in a goodbye email. “I’ve seen many changes at CIMMYT, but a shared passion and dedication to our mission remains the force that brings each of us to CIMMYT, lures each of us daily to the field, lab, office, meeting room, airport… and defines our individual and institutional character. It has been my great pleasure and privilege to work with you, and I thank you all!”

A World Tour: Program Director Profiles

Written by on February 14, 2005. Posted in Features. 1 Comment on A World Tour: Program Director Profiles

kpixley Now that all of CIMMYT’s new program directors have been officially installed, it is time to get acquainted with them, as well as their ideas and plans for the programs. This month we feature Kevin Pixley, director of the Tropical Ecosystems Program.

After growing up in Latin America and working in Africa for over a decade, Kevin Pixley is eager to extend the benefits of CIMMYT’s work in Asia, following the legacy of Nobel Peace Laureate and former CIMMYT wheat breeder, Norman E. Borlaug. “I read about Dr. Borlaug while attending high school in Mexico City,” says Pixley. “Wanting to learn more, I convinced one of my teachers to take our class on a field trip to CIMMYT’s headquarters in Mexico. Little did I know then how familiar this place would become to me, or that I would be seeing Dr. Borlaug fairly often.”

The Tropical Ecosystems Program he heads will focus on developing hardy, productive maize varieties for resource-poor farmers in lowland and highland tropical environments. “Across tropical Latin America, Southeast Asia, and Southern China, agriculture suffers from problems like drought, diseases and insects, and infertile and acidic soils,” says Pixley. “The demand for maize is increasing, but the profitability of maize farming—especially for small-scale producers—is declining. Improving the livelihoods and food security of those farmers is one of our key goals.” More nutritious maize will be another output of the program, including varieties with high-lysine and pro-vitamins A. “On the latter, we’re working with HarvestPlus, the CGIAR’s global alliance to breed and disseminate crops for better nutrition,” he says.

For the farmers in Latin America, where nearly 27 million hectares of maize are grown, the Program is developing and testing varieties that tolerate highly acidic soils, which cover large tracts in South America, and is also trying to reach the many small-scale farmers in remote, highland areas who have missed out on the Green Revolution. “Despite progress in Latin America, millions are still trapped in pockets of rural poverty with no access to markets or viable alternative livelihoods,” says Pixley. “We know that farming is central to their lives and that our work can make a difference.”

A citizen of the US, Pixley completed his BSc at Purdue University and his PhD at Iowa State, and in 1990 joined CIMMYT as a post doctorate in maize breeding—his Spanish language skills coming in handy. After three years he moved with his family to CIMMYT’s office in Zimbabwe to work as a maize breeder, and later became coordinator of the center’s regional program. During his tenure from 1993-2004, the southern Africa group and its partners worked extensively with farmers to test drought tolerant maize and make quality seed available. This year, enough seed was produced to sow more than a million hectares of drought tolerant maize. “Many things inspired me in southern Africa,” Pixley says, “but the commitment of local scientists, who work for very little money and under tough conditions, still strikes me as extraordinary.”