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Tackle food insecurity with homegrown education, Food Prize delegates say

Written by on October 17, 2016. Posted in Features.

mk-bg-wfp — CIMMYT Director General Martin Kropff (L) and Bram Govaerts, strategy lead for sustainable intensification in Latin America and Latin America Regional Representative, in the Iowa State Capitol in Des Moines attending the 2016 World Food Prize ceremony. CIMMYT/Julie Mollins

DES MOINES, Iowa (CIMMYT) – Africa must develop a strong educational infrastructure to address the challenges of poverty, malnutrition and food insecurity, said experts at the World Food Prize Borlaug Dialogue in Des Moines, Iowa, recommending reforms at both the institutional and individual level to help smallholder farmers.

Almost 220 million people of the 1.2 billion people who live in Africa are undernourished. In sub-Saharan Africa, which lags behind regional and global trends, hunger affects about one out of every four people, according to the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization.

“African countries must become more self-reliant when it comes to education, building on historical achievements to establish a strong infrastructure – not focused only on academic research, but with a practical ‘science for impact’ component as well,” said Martin Kropff, director general of the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT).

“Many people think education and capacity building are just about training or earning a doctoral degree, but it’s more extensive than that. It’s important to develop a proper framework for training individuals and institutions to ensure countries can achieve development goals.”

CIMMYT trains scientists throughout the developing world to become maize and wheat breeders. In Africa, where CIMMYT conducts 40 percent of its work, a screening facility for maize lethal necrosis disease and a center for double haploid breeding are also used as training facilities for capacity building, also helping to bolster national agricultural systems.

Kropff, who served as rector of Wageningen University and Research Center in the Netherlands before joining CIMMYT in 2015, is laying the groundwork for a “CIMMYT Academy.” The academy will pull together a range of existing training programs, uniting them into a coherent set of activities affiliated with universities throughout Africa to help breeders learn a variety of skills that can broaden their knowledge base.

“The key is to take a unified approach, sometimes a maize or wheat breeder needs also to learn technological and socioeconomic aspects of the work — we need integration – a more well-rounded approach – to really have impact,” Kropff said, adding that each innovation has a socioeconomic component and technological component.

“If we want to help countries in Africa struggling to establish a functional seed distribution system, we have to involve the private sector, so we also need to train people to become entrepreneurs,” he added.

FOUNDATION AND GROWTH

In the 1960s and 1970s, the international community helped set up the first educational development programs throughout Africa creating leadership candidates who subsequently trained many people, said Gebisa Ejeta, the 2009 World Food Prize laureate whose drought-resistant sorghum hybrids have increased food supply for millions of people throughout sub-Saharan Africa. Over time, these programs have provided the necessary foundation upon which to build institutions, he said.

“Nothing is more foundational for development than having native capacity at the human level as well as at the institutional level to really take more experiential learning forward and that way also to benefit greatly from development assistance,” Ejeta added. “Otherwise, it becomes an activity of external programs coming in and out.”

Africa has benefited over the past 10 years from being part of a new global landscape, Ejeta said, pointing to the expansion of infrastructure resulting from assistance from China, the World Bank and the African Development Bank. Simultaneously, Africa is also beginning to invest directly internally.

“Africa needs to benefit from valuable lessons from China, India and Brazil,” Ejeta said. “Each one of them is different, but the common denominator is that they all invested systematically in human and institutional capacity building in their countries to really drive involvement processes taking place to bring about transformative change.”

We need to shift the center of gravity to African governments and scientists, said Joyce Banda, who served as president of Malawi from 2012 to 2014, adding that a major challenge is a lack of extension – many people don’t know how to properly grow crops, use technology or about improved seeds due to a lack of farmer education.

Good agricultural production goes side-by-side with good governance, Banda said. “We need to fight and make sure that our resources are safe for the benefit of agriculture and food security across Africa. Africa needs to educate for change because men are eating first, best and most, but women are growing the food, storing the food, processing the food, cooking the food and eating last and less.”

The average age of an African farmer is 60, but 65 percent of Africans are young people, Banda said, adding that it is a lost opportunity if young people aren’t introduced to agriculture and trained.

CONFRONTING RISKS

Comprehensive individual and institutional capacity building can demonstrate modern agricultural techniques to inspire younger people to embrace farming, said Bram Govaerts, strategy lead for sustainable intensification in Latin America and Latin America Regional Representative at CIMMYT.

“Farmers must be made aware of new farm technology, taught how to apply scientific research to agricultural practices and get opportunities to innovate – education can facilitate the creative process, said Govaerts who won the 2014 Borlaug Award for Field Research and Application endowed by the Rockefeller Foundation and presented by the World Food Prize foundation.

“We need to first make sure partners can produce enough nutritious food for their families and then connect them to networks that can track data and crops all the way from farm to consumer,” he said. “We need to take a holistic approach to innovative post-harvest processes.”

For example, a small sensor placed in a post-harvest storage silo could measure temperature and humidity to protect the crop, but can also connect to a market network, allowing farmers to easily find buyers and prevent food waste.

“Millions of farmers in African countries are suffering from poverty, malnutrition and food insecurity, and a lack of technology prevents them from maximizing their potential contributions to their families and communities,” Govaerts said.

“I’m more and more convinced that change is going to come from innovation networks and the enabling tools that will generate them.”

New generation of hunger fighters needed, says Julie Borlaug at CIMMYT 50th anniversary

Written by on September 26, 2016. Posted in News.

Julie Borlaug (R) stands with her mother, Jeannie Laube Borlaug, beside a statue of her grandfather Norman Borlaug at the Mexico headquarters of the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center in El Batan. CIMMYT/Marcelo Ortiz

EL BATAN, Mexico (CIMMYT) – Encouraging youth willing to become “hunger fighters” to take up the challenges of farming despite erratic weather caused by climate change, drought, dwindling water supplies and nutrient-depleted soil, is key to future food security, said Julie Borlaug, associate director for external relations at the Norman Borlaug Institute for International Agriculture at Texas A&M University.

These hunger fighters must embrace technological innovation, creativity, bold ideas and collaborate across all disciplines, while also effectively engaging smallholder farmers and private and public sectors to come up with sustainable solutions, Borlaug said, adding that the average age of a farmer in the United States and Africa is well over 50 years.

Julie Borlaug, the granddaughter of 1970 Nobel Peace Prize laureate Norman Borlaug, a former key wheat breeder at the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT) known internationally as the father of the Green Revolution, will address delegates at the CIMMYT 50^th anniversary conference on September 27, 2016 with a speech titled, “CIMMYT’s future as a Borlaug legacy.”

After 50 years, CIMMYT remains relevant in the fight for food security and an important part of the Borlaug legacy, Borlaug said, adding that technological innovation is needed to address agriculture and the challenge of climate change.

“Since the seven years of his passing, I know my grandfather would be pleased by the leadership team and all at CIMMYT. As hunger fighters and the next generation, they have made CIMMYT their institution and continue to advocate strongly for improvement in science and technology to feed the world,” she said.

Her grandfather, who started work on wheat improvement in the mid-1940s in Mexico, where CIMMYT is headquartered near Mexico City, led efforts to develop semi-dwarf wheat varieties in the mid-20th century that helped save more than 1 billion lives in Pakistan, India and other areas of the developing world. In his Nobel Peace Prize acceptance speech, Norman Borlaug paid tribute to the “army of hunger fighters” with whom he had worked.

Borlaug shared some views on CIMMYT and the future of agriculture in the following interview.

Q: What are the key challenges the world faces into the future?

In my opinion, the entire agricultural community should focus on addressing three major challenges: the first is climate change and erratic weather patterns. Droughts and a decline of limited natural resources such as water and soil are of major consequence to agricultural productivity. The second major challenge is the societal resistance to new technologies and innovation. And the third major challenge we are facing is how to engage the next generation to work in the agricultural sector.

To address the first challenge, we must have biotechnology and technological innovation across the board to address issues that will stem from climate change. The utilization of drought, heat and saline tolerant crops, informatics, and other innovations will be a necessity. Technology will be part of the integrated solution that creates better farming systems, more nutritious foods and addresses all the issues that come with climate change and sustainability.

It is important to understand the societal resistance to new technologies and innovation. I understand their skepticisms and confusion. It is important to note that when speaking to these critics, we keep in mind the campaigns that have been mounted against our industry and have spread fear and inaccurate information that the public has accepted as fact. In my opinion, the agricultural industry has to improve in explaining to the public why modern agriculture is so important to our future and why the opposition to it cannot be permitted to deprive millions of people of its promise.

Q: What is significant about CIMMYT: What role has CIMMYT played in your area of work?

CIMMYT is both personally and professionally significant to me. Personally, I have grown up knowing how deeply invested, protective and grateful my grandfather was to the role CIMMYT played in his career, the Green Revolution and as a leader in international maize and wheat research. CIMMYT was not just a place in which my grandfather was employed but part of his family. All who met, worked with my grandfather or had the opportunity to have an early morning CIMMYT breakfast with him, remember the deep interest he had in their careers and research as well as his often too candid assessment of their current & future work. His passion for CIMMYT never faded and in the end of his life his return “home” to his Yaqui Valley wheat fields in Sonora, Mexico, gave him hope for the future of CIMMYT, the CGIAR system as a whole and international research and development in agriculture.

Professionally for me, CIMMYT has helped me learn more about my grandfather professionally but it has also broadened my depth and knowledge of maize and wheat research as well as the importance for the CG system. At the Borlaug Institute at Texas A&M, we work in international agriculture development and have had the opportunity to partner with CIMMYT on many occasions. I promised my grandfather that I would help to bring all the Borlaug Legacy Institutions together to work collaboratively and not competitively as we once had. CIMMYT was the first Borlaug legacy institution to join us in working collectively towards my grandfather legacy to end hunger and poverty.

World Food Prize laureate Rajaram honored at World Food Forum

Written by on April 28, 2015. Posted in News.

From right to left: Alejandro Violic, retired CIMMYT training specialist, Sanjaya Rajaram and Juan Izquierdo, FAO consultant. Photo: Juan Izquierdo, FAO consultant

Sanjaya Rajaram, recipient of the 2014 World Food Prize, told more than 200 participants at the World Food Forum in Santiago, Chile, on 14 April, that he held hopes for a “second Green Revolution.”

Speaking to an audience that included the Chilean Minister of Agriculture, Carlos Furche Guajardo, Rajaram talked about feeding the world’s growing population and the challenges that farmers face to achieve this, which include rising temperatures and more extreme and erratic rainfall. Rajaram emphasized the importance of small-scale agriculture, genetically-modified crops and biofortified crop varieties to provide more nutritious food.

The event included a special recognition for Rajaram’s outstanding work at CIMMYT, along with Dr. Norman Borlaug, to develop more than 500 wheat varieties.

The Forum was organized by CROPLIFE,whose members include Dow, FMC, DuPont, BASF, Bayer, Monsanto, Syngenta and Arista.

Former CIMMYT Global Wheat Program Director wins 2014 World Food Prize

Written by on June 26, 2014. Posted in News.

CIMMYT is delighted that the World Food Prize 2014 has been awarded to distinguished wheat breeder Dr. Sanjaya Rajaram for his achievements in plant research and food production.

Continuing the legacy: Rajaram donates $20,000 to the Global Wheat Program to support training for the next generation of wheat breeders.

According to Hans Braun, Director of CIMMYT’s Global Wheat Program, “Rajaram is the most successful wheat breeder alive.” Rajaram cultivated a generation of wheat scientists and taught them about wheat improvement and key CIMMYT methods. Rajaram studied genetics and plant breeding under Prof. M.S. Swaminathan at the Indian Agricultural Research Institute in New Delhi in 1964 before joining Dr. Borlaug in Mexico in 1969.

At CIMMYT, Borlaug became a mentor to Rajaram and they worked side by side in the fields of El Batán, Toluca and Ciudad Obregón. Rajaram – known affectionately as “Raj” — led bread wheat breeding research at CIMMYT for more than three decades. His leadership and commitment to wheat improvement resulted in the release of more than 480 varieties of bread wheat with increased yield potential and stability, along with wide adaptation and resistance to important diseases and stresses.

Rajaram with his mentor Dr. Norman Borlaug in the wheat fields of Obregón. Photos: CIMMYT files

These varieties include the spring and winter wheat cross Veery, which was released in 36 countries; new approaches to disease resistance, for instance ‘slow-rusting’ wheatvarieties; and largely reduced foliar blight susceptibility in semi-dwarf wheat. Rajaram’s wheats are grown on some 58 million hectares worldwide and approximately 30 million hectares in South Asia. One of his wheats, PBW 343, is India’s most popular wheat variety. His varieties have increased the yield potential of wheat by 20 to 25 percent.

He also led efforts at CIMMYT to apply the concept of durable resistance to rusts — the most damaging wheat disease across the world. His accomplishments include training or mentoring more than 700 scientists from dozens of developing countries. The World Food Prize was established by Norman Borlaug in 1986 to honor the achievements of individuals who have “advanced human development by improving the quality, quantity or availability of food in the world.”

The first recipient of the World Food Prize was M.S. Swaminathan, the man who brought Borlaug’s semi-dwarf, high-yield, disease-resistant wheat varieties to India – thus earning him the title “Father of the Indian Green Revolution.” Rajaram was nominated for the World Food Prize by Dr. Thomas Lumpkin, Director General and Dr. Hans Braun, Director of the Global Wheat Program at CIMMYT, with support from national agricultural research institutes around the world.

Congratulations Raj, from the entire CIMMYT staff! We continue to be inspired by your work, which has benefited millions of farmers and consumers all over the world.

Biography:

Dr. Sanjaya Rajaram was born on a small farm in rural Uttar Pradesh, India, in 1943. Unlike most children in his socioeconomic position, he was encouraged to pursue an education by his parents, and graduated from secondary school as the top-ranked student in the entire Varanasi District. Rajaram went on to earn a B.Sc. in agriculture from the University of Gorakhpur, a M.Sc. in genetics and plant breeding from the Indian Agricultural Research Institute in New Delhi and a Ph.D. in plant breeding from the University of Sydney. Rajaram’s outstanding career at CIMMYT began in 1969 working as a wheat breeder alongside Dr. Norman Borlaug. In 1972, at the age of 29, Borlaug appointed him as head of CIMMYT’s Wheat Breeding Program. After 33 years at CIMMYT, including seven as Director of the Global Wheat Program, Rajaram joined the International Center for Agricultural Research in the Dry Areas (ICARDA) as Director of Integrated Gene Management before formally retiring in 2008. During his distinguished career, Rajaram’s work resulted in the release of more than 480 varieties of bread wheat in 51 countries, which are grown on more than 58 million hectares worldwide. Rajaram is a Mexican citizen and resides in Mexico.

Fellows Program, World Food Prize Laureates Highlight Borlaug’s 90th

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

March, 2004

borlaug_photo1 US Secretary of State Colin Powell paid tribute to Iowa and in particular to one man, known as the father of the Green Revolution, who was born there 90 years ago.

“On behalf of the American people, on behalf of President Bush, we gather to thank heaven for the great state of Iowa,” Powell said at a State Department ceremony to announce the 2004 World Food Prize Laureates on 29 March. “Most of all, we salute Iowa’s own, Norman Borlaug, for creating the World Food Prize and for his own prize winning work against hunger.”

US Secretary of Agriculture Ann Veneman joined Powell in honoring Dr. Borlaug’s 90th birthday in Washington DC. In front of more than 200 guests, including FAO Director General Jacques Diouf, USAID Administrator Andrew Natsios, World Bank Vice President and CGIAR Chair Ian Johnson, CGIAR Director Francisco Reifschneider, and CIMMYT Director General Masa Iwanaga, Veneman described the Norman E. Borlaug Agricultural Science and Technology Fellows Program to be inaugurated by the United States Department of Agriculture.

“Thanks to Dr. Borlaug’s pioneering work in the 1960’s to develop varieties of high-yielding wheat, countless millions of men, women and children, who will never know his name, will never go to bed hungry,” Powell said. “Dr. Borlaug’s scientific breakthroughs have eased needless suffering and saved countless lives. And Dr. Borlaug has been an inspiration to new generations across the globe who have taken up the fight against hunger and have made breakthroughs of their own.”

A tribute to Dr. Borlaug’s individual pursuit of using science and technology to fight hunger, the Fellows Program will focus on strengthening agriculture in developing countries by incorporating and advancing new science and technology. Proposed by Texas A&M University’s Agriculture Program and established by the USDA, it will give scientific training to fellows from developing countries and support exchanges among university faculty, researchers, and policy makers.

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The program aims to prepare professionals who want to lead developing countries in agricultural research and education while embracing the values that Dr. Borlaug’s life and work represent. It will be managed by the USDA’s Foreign Agricultural Service, the US Agency for International Development, the US Department of State, land grant colleges, and Texas A&M University, where Dr. Borlaug is professor emeritus.

In 2004, an initial group of fellows from around the world—especially Africa, Latin America, and Asia—will begin training or research programs at US schools, government agencies, private companies, international agricultural research centers such as CIMMYT, and nonprofit institutions. The program will span such diverse areas as biotechnology, food safety, marketing, economics, and natural resource conservation, and it will include studies of policies and regulations to foster the use of new technology.

The US$ 2 million research grant given to the Texas Agriculture Experiment Station by USDA-Cooperative State Research, Education, and Extension Service will be managed by a Consultative Committee, which comprises representatives from universities, foundations, government agencies, and countries affiliated with Dr. Borlaug’s work. This committee will serve as a donor council, advise on the selection and placement of fellows, and evaluate the program.

At the US State Department, Secretary of State Powell named the new World Food Prize Laureates: Yuan Long Ping of China and Monty Jones of Sierra Leone, who have made advances in high-yielding rice.

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Borlaug founded the World Food Prize in 1986 to honor people who have made important contributions to improving the world’s food supply. Endowed since 1990 by businessman and philanthropist John Ruan, this international award recognizes achievements of people who have improved the quality, amount, or accessibility of food in the world to advance human development.

World Food Prize Laureate Yuan has revolutionized rice cultivation in China. Known as the Father of Hybrid Rice, he helped cultivate the first successful and widely grown hybrid rice varieties in the world. More than 20 countries have adopted his hybrid rice, and his breeding methods have helped provide food for tens of millions of people.

World Food Prize Laureate Jones, formerly a rice breeder at WARDA—the Africa Rice Center—in Côte d’Ivoire, successfully made fertile inter-specific African and Asian rice crosses that combined the best characteristics of both gene pools. This “New Rice for Africa,” or NERICA, has higher yields and better agronomic characteristics for African conditions.

Jones and Yuan will receive a $250,000 prize to share in October.

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Dr. Borlaug has dedicated 60 years to building knowledge and fostering development in poor countries. Since the mid-1940s, when he arrived in Mexico to work on an agricultural project that was the forerunner of CIMMYT, he has worked tirelessly in the cause of international agricultural research. The innovative wheat varieties that he and his team bred in Mexico in the 1950s enabled India and Pakistan to prevent a massive famine in the mid-1960s and to initiate the Green Revolution. This achievement earned Dr. Borlaug the Nobel Prize in 1970 and created extensive support for a network of international agricultural research centers, known as the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR).

In order to meet the 1996 World Food Summit goal of cutting in half the number of chronically hungry people by 2015, Powell said the international community must reduce the number of undernourished people by an average rate of 22 million people per year. The current rate is only a decrease of 6 million people per year. Of the more than 800 million severely malnourished people in the world, 80 percent are women and children, he said, but famine is entirely preventable in the 21st century.

More information on the Borlaug Fellows Program: http://www.usda.gov/Newsroom/0125.04.html

More information on the World Food Prize: http://www.worldfoodprize.org