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funder_partner: United States Agency for International Development (USAID)

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Matthew Reynolds talks about climate change

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The US government has temporarily satisfied its hunger for information on how to adapt agriculture to climate change. On 14 September 2009, Matthew Reynolds, CIMMYT wheat physiologist, joined around 15 other agriculture experts just outside of Washington, DC, USA, to present at a conference titled: “Adapting Agriculture to Climate Change: What Will It Take?”

The conference, sponsored by the US Department of State, opened with a keynote by John Holdren, science adviser to the President of the United States, and was followed by four main panel topics: Impacts of Climate Change on Agriculture; Research in the Public Sector; Research in the Private Sector; and Alternative Crops, Sustainable Management, and Integrative Strategies. The goal of the event was to explore strategies and raise awareness about adaption measures that are required—or will be required in the future—to maintain sufficient global food production.

“It is reassuring to know that the US government is taking the issue of food security in the context of climate change seriously,” said Reynolds, who presented on adapting the major cereal crops (including maize and wheat) to climate change. “The State Department was not the only government program represented at the conference; the broad spectrum of speakers and government officials (including USDA and USAID) present shows that they are considering a comprehensive approach to the issue.”

A position paper based on the outcomes of the conference will be prepared for the US government. It will also be published in Science magazine.

CSISA takes off: Official program launch

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csisa1The Cereal Systems Initiative for South Asia (CSISA) was formally initiated 29 April 2009 in Delhi, India. This large project, which is jointly funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and USAID, brings together public- and private-sector organizations and international agricultural research centers (IRRI, CIMMYT, IFPRI, and ILRI) to reduce hunger and increase food and income security for resource-poor farm families in South Asia. The launch of this project comes at a critical time for South Asia, home to 40% of the world’s poor with nearly half a billion people subsisting on less than USD 1 a day. The project’s targeted countries of Bangladesh, India, Nepal, and Pakistan are struggling to boost grain supplies in the wake of growing demand and strained natural resources. CSISA aims to increase the cereal crop yields of at least 6 million farmers in these regions by at least 0.5 t/ha. With this huge task ahead, time is precious and so many parallel planning activities and interviews for local staff positions were conducted alongside the launch to speed the project’s progress.

In addition, several planning workshops preceded the official program launch. CSISA objectives discussed included the widespread delivery and adaptation of production and post-harvest technologies to increase cereal production and raise incomes, and crop and resource management practices for sustainable cereal-based systems. The meetings were attended by many CIMMYT scientists, all of whom will play a role in the project: Hans Braun, Etienne Duveiller, Olaf Erenstein, Raj Gupta, Ravi Gopal Singh, Enam Haque, Arun Joshi, Petr Kosina, Guillermo Ortiz Ferrara, IvĂĄn Ortiz-Monasterio, Ken Sayre, Jagadish Timsina, Pat Wall, and P.K. Zaidi.

The launch meeting was followed by a three-day stakeholder workshop to establish a Certified Crop Advisor Program (CCA) in South Asia. CCA is an agricultural extension certification system developed by the American Society of Agronomy for North America. As part of CSISA’s Objective 7, the CCA program will be adapted for local needs in South Asia to create a highly-qualified professional workforce for private and public sector extension and to support continued education of program participants.

Laying the foundation for CSISA knowledge hubs

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A new project designed to decrease hunger and increase food and income security for resource-poor farm families in South Asia will officially launch next month. This project, the Cereal System Initiative for South Asia (CSISA), is led by the International Rice Research Institute and funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and the USAID. It will use timely development and wide-spread dissemination of new varieties, sustainable management technologies, and policies to accelerate regional cereal production.

On 31 March to 2 April, over 50 CSISA stakeholder representatives met in India at the Extension Education Institute in Nilokheri, Karnal to create a local forum for the Karnal “hub.” A hub is location that serves as a connection point for project partners and where information for rapid adoption and intensification of improved cereal seed and crop management practices can be delivered to farmers. The CSISA project is initially focusing on eight hubs in various areas of Bangladesh, India, and Nepal.

At the meeting, participants discussed the management principles for Karnal knowledge hub and built consensus on technologies and knowledge-sharing processes for cereal farmers. Lively group discussions resulted in three new cropping system recommendations for farmers; other talking points were the use of laser leveling, residue management, and systems diversification.

One emphasis was to quickly identify what information would be distributed to farmers and project partners for the upcoming cropping season. As part of this effort, participants assembled basic technical information to be transformed into farmer-friendly extension materials. The workshop also included preliminary discussions on different stakeholders’ roles and their potential demands for knowledge bank materials, as well as discussion about the role of the India Rice Knowledge Management Portal and its potential interaction with the CSISA knowledge hubs. It was agreed that the differences in the demands for technology and knowledge between small-scale farmers and “champion farmers,”—medium to large-scale farmers who traditionally have received attention from international centers—should be recognized and addressed.

CGIAR highlights in World Bank 2009 Rural Week

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Rodomiro Ortiz, CIMMYT director of resource mobilization, gave a presentation titled “CGIAR’s best bet technologies: From lab to farm” on 3 March during the World Bank’s Rural Week 2009 held at their headquarters in Washington, D.C. The session was organized by EijaPehu (senior adviser, Agriculture and Rural Development, World Bank) and chaired by Indira Ekanayake (senior agriculturalist, Latin America and Caribbean Region, World Bank).

“The CGIAR can assist with technological backstopping and participate in relevant development organizations’ meetings that deal with agriculture,” said Ortiz, speaking on behalf of the Alliance of CGIAR centers.“Such interactions will help to build the needed impact pathways with a wide range of partners to succeed in this endeavor,” he added.

“Best bets” are promising approaches, practices, or technology that have been tested through experimental and on-farm research. They may include results from quasi-experimental research and wisdom from practitioners working in the field, according to Ortiz. Josette Lewis, director, Office of Agriculture, United States Agency for International Development (USAID), contextualized the discussion in a broader research and development continuum. She pointed out that this information was critical in the USAID response to the soaring food price crisis of last year, and invited other development investors to consider supporting the CGIAR “best bets” through their funding.

Ortiz also stressed the need for investments in national capacitybuilding (e.g. on strengthening national agricultural research and extension systems); infrastructure (on roads, markets, irrigation); promotion of institutions (e.g. farmers’ groups and cooperatives); support of local small and medium enterprises; and investment in agri-businesses as well as providing an enabling environment through a national government policy for agriculture.

During debate follow-up, some CGIAR members indicated that they were pleased to hear about the potential use of the ‘best bets’ for boosting crop yields in sub-Saharan Africa, said Ortiz. Some participants also indicated their support for the CGIAR’s ongoing change management process. Maria Iskandarani, CGIAR secretariat, will follow up with Pehu to explore institutional mechanisms to better link CGIAR research-for-development with World Bank operations; the goal is to make technical assistance more effective and improve collaboration between the two organizations.

Soil carbon experts gather at CIMMYT

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Ever heard of the terms “carbon trading” or “carbon inventories?” They are now routinely bandied about by governments seeking to balance economic development with reduced impacts on global climates. In the context of today’s report by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), which mentions agriculture as a key factor for mitigating climate change, this week CIMMYT hosted eight international experts as part of the workshop “New Technologies to Assess Soil Carbon Levels,” organized by wheat agronomist Ken Sayre and held at El BatĂĄn on Monday, 30 April 2007. After the workshop, participants spent the remainder of the week running tests on the station.

“CIMMYT’s long-term trials on conservation agriculture, which feature a range of practices and residue levels, provide a valuable platform for testing our instruments and methods for measuring soil carbon,” says Charles Rice, Professor of Soil Microbiology at Kansas State University, USA, and US National Director of the Consortium for Agricultural Soil Mitigation of Greenhouse Gases.

Also participating were CĂ©sar Izaurralde, leader of the USAID project on advanced soil carbon technologies, and Jorge Etchevers, Professor of Soil Fertility at the Colegio de Postgraduados, Mexico, who with former CIMMYT wheat director Tony Fischer helped launch the long-term conservation agriculture trial at El BatĂĄn.

CIMMYT hosts high level visitors

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Showing our best to some high level donor representatives was the name of the game the week of March 20 as CIMMYT played host to several important visitors. Ms Jacqueline Schafer, Assistant Administrator Bureau of Economic Growth Agriculture and Trade (EGAT), USAID came with three colleagues. Their original plan to leave in mid afternoon was shelved when Ms Schafer decided to stay longer and spend more time with CIMMYT staff. Among the stops on her tour – an explanation of conservation agriculture work for small holder farmers. Mr. Fernando Delgado, Field Superintendent in Toluca came to make an enthusiastic presentation on the long term conservation agriculture plots at El Batan.

Former Japanese Prime Minister, Mr. Ryutaro Hashimoto, also visited. He was escorted on his tour by Director General Iwanaga and several of CIMMYT’s Japanese scientists. These visits gave CIMMYT staff the chance to talk about the impact of agricultural research for development and key roles Centers like CIMMYT play in helping alleviate poverty. This message is especially important at a time when donor countries are assessing their funding priorities. A

Also visiting CIMMYT headquarters were the Palestinian Minister of Agriculture, Dr. Walid Abed Rabboh, and Dr. Amor Chermiti Director General of INRA, the national agricultural research program of Tunisia.

 

Published 2006