funder_partner: Kenya Agricultural Research Institute (KARI)

National Wheat Coordinator Ruth Wanyera (third from right) gives a lesson to pathology interns in the field of a fungicide efficiency trial at KALRO Njoro Research Station, Nakuru, Kenya.

“Let there be food to eat”

Written by Madeline Dahm on December 9, 2020. Posted in News.

“We want to feed the people, we don’t want them to go hungry. We have to do something to make sure there is food on the table. That is where my motivation is… Let there be food to eat.”

— Ruth Wanyera, 2019

The International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT) has long attributed its widespread impact and reach to strong collaborations with national agricultural research systems (NARS) around the world. Today, CIMMYT — and especially the Global Wheat Program and the CGIAR Research Program on Wheat — wish to honor one long-term collaborator whose work and dedication to wheat research has had abiding positive effects beyond her home region of sub-Saharan Africa.

Ruth Wanyera, national wheat research program coordinator at the Kenya Agricultural and Livestock Research Organization (KALRO), has spent her more than 30-year career dedicated to plant protection research, fueled by her motivation to “feed the people.” She was one of the first scientists to recognize stem rust in east Africa and has been one of CIMMYT’s strongest allies in fighting the devastating wheat disease, stem rust Ug99.

Wanyera recently won both the Norman Borlaug Lifetime Achievement Award from the Borlaug Global Rust Initiative and the Kenya Agricultural Research (KARA) Award at the High Panel Conference on Agricultural Research in Kenya. Wanyera’s team at KALRO has also been recognized with the prestigious Borlaug Global Rust Initiative (BGRI) Gene Stewardship Award.

A long-term relationship with CIMMYT

Sridhar Bhavani, senior scientist and head of Rust Pathology and Molecular Genetics at CIMMYT has worked closely with Wanyera and her team since the mid-2000s.

“Ruth is a passionate researcher who has tirelessly dedicated her entire career to cereal pathology, and as a team, we coordinated the stem rust phenotyping platform for over a decade and had great successes on multiple international projects,” he said.

CIMMYT’s relationship with Wanyera’s team strengthened when Nobel Prize Laureate Norman Borlaug visited the Kenyan research facility to observe the emerging threat of stem rust. Upon witnessing how serious the outbreak had become, Borlaug organized an emergency summit in Nairobi in 2005, famously “sounding the alarm” for swift and concerted action on stem rust, and ultimately leading to the establishment of the BGRI.

“Ruth and her team of dedicated scientists from KALRO have not only made Kenya proud but have also made a remarkable contribution to the global wheat community in mitigating the threat of stem rust Ug99,” says Bhavani. “Ruth has mentored master’s and PhD students who are now leading researchers at KALRO. She has elevated the research capacity of KALRO to international repute.”

Two recent wheat breeding projects helped extend the CIMMYT-KALRO partnership beyond Kenya. The Durable Rust Resistance in Wheat (DRRW) and Delivering Genetic Gain in Wheat (DGGW) projects brought in a partnership with the Ethiopia Institute for Agricultural Research (EIAR) to establish and operate stem rust phenotyping platforms that addressed the global threat of Ug99 and other serious stem rust races, and helped provide solutions for the region. Thanks to KALRO’s screening efforts at the CIMMYT-KALRO Stem Rust Screening Platform in Njoro, Kenya, CIMMYT-derived rust-resistant varieties now cover more than 90% of the wheat farming area in Kenya and Ethiopia.

Ruth Wanyera receives the Kenya Agricultural Research Award (KARA), during the High Panel Conference on Agricultural Research in Kenya. (Photo: CIMMYT)

The partnership continues to grow

Continued collaboration with Ruth’s team at KALRO will be essential in the new Accelerating Genetic Gains in Maize and Wheat for Improved Livelihoods (AGG) project. AGG — which aims to accelerate the development and delivery of more productive, climate-resilient, gender-responsive, market-demanded, and nutritious wheat varieties in in sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia — has a particular focus on enhanced collaboration with national partners such as KALRO.

Its success is also closely tied to the Njoro Stem Rust Screening Platform — which, since its establishment in 2008, has conducted crucial screening for over 600,000 wheat lines, varieties, varietal candidates, germplasm bank accessions and mapping populations. Wanyera’s leadership in the Platform, alongside that of CIMMYT wheat scientist Mandeep Randhawa, plays a major role in screening, monitoring, and clearing seed in time for sowing.

As Hans Braun, former director of the CIMMYT Global Wheat Program said, “Without our national agriculture research system partnerships, CIMMYT would become obsolete.”

Indeed, the unparalleled wealth of knowledge, skills, and research facilities of the CGIAR as a whole would not be so uniquely impactful if it weren’t for the 3000+ partnerships with national governments, academic institutions, enthusiastic farmers, private companies and NGOs that help carry out this work.

CIMMYT’s historic and continued impact depends on close international partnerships with scientists and leaders like Ruth Wanyera, and we congratulate her on her numerous awards, thank her for her collaboration, and wish her a pleasant retirement.

Honoring the life and legacy of Fred Palmer

Written by Mike Listman on June 27, 2019. Posted in News.

Fred Palmer, former CIMMYT maize agronomist, in his office at Egerton University, Kenya, in 1994.

With sorrow we report the passing on June 14 of Anthony F. E. (Fred) Palmer, former maize agronomist and physiologist who contributed notably to the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT) networking and capacity building during crucial periods.

A British national, Palmer joined CIMMYT as a post-doctoral fellow in 1968 and retired from the center in 1996. With undergraduate studies in Agronomy at the University of Reading, Palmer completed masters and doctoral degrees in Crop Physiology at Cornell University. His early years at CIMMYT headquarters included work in maize physiology, agronomy and training.

In 1972 Palmer moved to Pakistan, serving as a production agronomist in that key Green Revolution setting until 1978, when he returned to Mexico as a training officer. “Fred was a true gentleman as a researcher and trainer,” said Stephen Waddington, retired CIMMYT maize agronomist who worked with Fred in Africa. “He was a mentor and friend to many junior CIMMYT staff, including myself, and countless trainees and visiting scientists from partner countries.”

Capitalizing on his experience and accomplishments, in 1985 CIMMYT posted Palmer to Nairobi, Kenya, as the team leader of the East African Cereal Project, funded by the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA). During the project’s third phase, Palmer helped to establish and guide an entry-level crop management training program, in conjunction with the Kenya Agricultural Research Institute (KARI) and Egerton University, targeting maize researchers from eastern and southern Africa. Based at the university’s Njoro campus, the effort included construction of training facilities and guest rooms and Palmer successfully prepared Egerton administrators and faculty to take over the program, according to Joel Ransom, a North Dakota State University professor who served as a CIMMYT maize agronomist in Asia and sub-Saharan Africa.

“Scores of young agronomists mastered the fundamentals of on-farm research through that program,” Ransom said. “Palmer’s mentoring, training, and leadership greatly advanced the professional development of African maize and wheat scientists.”

Matthew Reynolds, CIMMYT distinguished scientist and wheat physiologist, recalls talking to Palmer about the latter’s efforts to apply fledgling tools for measuring photosynthesis in the field, a topic in which he had specialized at Cornell. “Fred was a very kind and unassuming man who treated everyone with respect, qualities that made him a great training officer and a well-regarded colleague,” said Reynolds.

Palmer firmly believed that national partners needed the capacity to train staff, particularly those fresh out of university studies, strengthening both their knowledge and professional linkages.

“By bringing young scientists together and working with them as a multidisciplinary research team,” Palmer wrote in a report on CIMMYT training in eastern and southern Africa, “it is anticipated that these scientists will learn to value each other’s work as essential to successful research.”

The CIMMYT community sends its warmest condolences to the Palmer family.

Stepping up the fight against maize lethal necrosis in Eastern Africa

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Notes on trial results

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

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

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

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