Skip to main content

Location: Ethiopia

For more information, contact CIMMYT’s Ethiopia office.

Nutritious Maize for Ethiopia and gender

Written by on . Posted in News.

8212177139_56b53c6eea_n The Nutritious Maize for Ethiopia (NuME) aims to develop and promote quality protein maize (QPM) in the major maize growing areas of Ethiopia, including the highlands and the dry lands, to improve nutritional status of children. The project has a strong gender component, ensuring women’s full participation in all activities and equal share of benefits, which was discussed during a Gender Analysis and Strategy workshop at the ILRI campus in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, on 16 April 2013. The purpose of the event was to present gender analysis and gender strategy developed by Kidist Gebreselasie, NuME gender consultant, to implementation partners, receive partners’ input, agree on strategy, and discuss future developments. The workshop was attended by representatives from the Ethiopian Institute of Agricultural Research (EIAR), ministries of health and agriculture, the Ethiopian Health and Nutrition Research Institute (EHNRI), SG2000, FRI, the Ethiopian Seed Enterprise, other seed companies, Hawassa University, Harvard Institute of Public Health, and CIDA (the project’s funder). CIMMYT was represented by Dagne Wegary (interim project coordinator), Dennis Friesen (project advisor/consultant), Vongai Kandiwa (gender specialist), and Hugo De Groote (agricultural economist).

In the opening session of the workshop, Gebreselasie presented her synthesis developed in collaboration with CIMMYT scientists and based on literature review, analysis of a baseline survey (both men and women were interviewed), and an indepth study of two target areas (including focus group discussions and key informant interviews). Gebreselasie found that while men are responsible for plowing and purchase of inputs, including seed, women are responsible for household chores such as cooking and child care. However, both men and women contribute to harvesting and weeding. Planting is either a shared activity, or one done by men. Children are also involved in agricultural activities as they play an important role in herding animals and providing feed and water. Dairy and poultry production management is largely a women’s responsibility; although women receive a substantial part of the income resulting from these activities, their access to resources, as compared to men’s, is largely limited, particularly when it comes to extension services. The agricultural extension system focuses on men and female-headed households; wives are expected to learn from their husbands. Women are also rarely invited to agricultural trainings, especially when they take place outside of their own farm. It is much easier for women to access health extension than agricultural extension workers.

Gebreselasie then outlined a gender strategy to address the above listed constraints and to improve women’s participation in project activities. This involves increasing women’s attendance at QPM demonstrations by inviting them directly and by organizing separate sessions for women during field days, ensuring that the time and place is convenient for them. Gebreselasie suggested involvement of health extension workers in QPM promotion and higher level of women’s involvement in farm radio activities (targeting women). Furthermore, partners should be given incentives to involve women more, and they should also be provided gender training at all levels.

After the presentation, the workshop participants reviewed their organizations’ experiences in gender activities and their responses to the analysis, and discussed ways to incorporate the strategy in their activities.

The NuME gender strategy was later presented and discussed during a meeting of the Project Steering Committee on 23 May at ILRI. CIDA representative Stefna Pacquette emphasized that the strategy needs to involve women in a meaningful way beyond simple participation in project activities. “While focusing on nutrition, NuME can provide a vehicle for strengthening women’s role in the household,” Pacquette noted. “It can also get men to feel more comfortable with women’s presence and participation in traditional male roles.” The next necessary step for NuME is the recruitment of a gender specialist to aid implementation of the strategy.

SIMLESA progressing and gearing up for Phase II

Written by on . Posted in News.

IMG_0883Over 200 researchers, policy makers, donors, seed companies, and NGO representatives from Africa and Australia gathered in Chimoio, Mozambique, during 17-23 March 2013 for the third SIMLESA (Sustainable Intensification of Maize-Legume Systems for Food Security in Eastern and Southern Africa) annual regional planning and review meeting to discuss the project’s progress and achievements, share lessons learned throughout the last three years, and deliberate over better ways to design and implement future activities in the SIMLESA target (Ethiopia, Kenya, Tanzania, Malawi, and Mozambique) and spillover countries (Botswana, Uganda, South Sudan, and Zambia).

“SIMLESA had attained a ‘steady flight path’ and is on track to deliver significant impacts,” noted Derek Byerlee, Program Steering Committee (PSC) co-chair, and the Mid-Term Review (MTR) conducted last year supports his words: “The MTR Team has reviewed progress by objectives and the overall execution of the Program, and finds that in general it has made very good progress in its first two years.” Bekele Shiferaw, Program Management Committee chair, then highlighted MTR’s recommendations, including the following: SIMLESA should take concrete steps to overcome current socio-economic research capacity constraints in national agricultural research systems and in the areas of value chains, informal analyses, business management, participatory agronomy, and breeding research; focus on ‘smart’ sequences for testing conservation agriculture technologies with farmers resulting in step-wise adoption; and create representative and effective innovation platforms with clear roles, structures, and functions.

As SIMLESA Phase I is ending next year, participants brainstormed on key issues anticipated in Phase II, concluding that the overall approach should be holistic, flexible in dealing with complex systems, and should aim to devise effective ways to target different group of farmers, as one size does not fit all. Furthermore, it was noted that Phase II should focus on changing the mindset of farmers. “There are so many different technologies bombarding farmers. The real work therefore lies in dealing with the psychological, social, cultural, and environmental factors of the farmer that will determine the adoption of introduced technologies,” noted one of the participating groups during the plenary session. Following the discussion on Phase II, Byerlee shared PSC’s vision: apply a broader approach to system intensification (conservation agriculture elements, soil fertility, pest management, and diversification); be more country specific; create empowering, location-specific, and sustainable innovation platforms; and pay more attention to institutions and policies vis-à-vis technology.

In the words of Inacio Maposse, Agricultural Research Institute of Mozambique (IIAM) director general and PSC member, Phase II is not necessary only because Phase I is ending but also “because we want to add another dimension to the program, and perhaps a different philosophy, one that will lead us to success. And for me, success means to get farmers smile sustainably. Smile because they are better off. For this to happen, we have to design Phase II with heart and wisdom. We need Phase II because we are yet to produce significant adoption and impact on the farming communities.” John Dixon (senior advisor for cropping systems and economics and principal regional coordinator for Africa and South Asia, Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research) added another reason for why to continue with SIMLESA: “Where resources are limited, sustainable intensification is the only option to feed the extra two billion people by 2050.”

Mellissa Wood, Australian International Food Security Centre (AIFSC) director, then explained some of the reasons behind the close cooperation between Australia and Africa: “Australia and Africa share many common agricultural challenges, including limiting soils, highly variable climates, pests, and diseases.” Consequently, AIFSC aims to accelerate adoption; bridge the gap between research and development; find new ways to support African agricultural growth through adoption, policy, scale-out, improved market access, diversification, and nutrition.

In her closing remarks, Marianne BĂ€nziger (CIMMYT deputy director general for research and partnerships) called on the Phase II planners to design holistic packages that entail success and ensure SIMLESA provides farmers in the five target countries with diverse opportunities for improving their livelihoods. “Farmers should be able to get incomes not only from maize and legumes but also from other farm enterprises. You should come up with possible and realistic interventions in realistic time frames,” BĂ€nziger concluded.

Throughout the meeting, implementing partners, researchers, and seed companies showcased their achievements and products at the ‘SIMLESA poster village.’ Participants learned about farmers’ perspectives and practices through field visits to Sussudenga maize breeding and exploratory trial sites, participatory variety trials in Vanduzi and Polytechnic Institute of Manica, and conservation agriculture and innovation platforms scaling out sites in Makate.

Farm mechanization & conservation agriculture for sustainable intensification project launched

Written by on . Posted in News.

If asked “What is the most limiting factor to cereal production in sub-Saharan Africa,” most agronomists would say water, nitrogen, or phosphorus. Could farm power also have a place in this list? From 25 to 30 March 2013, a multidisciplinary group of 40 agronomists, agricultural engineers, economists, anthropologists, and private sector representatives from Kenya, Tanzania, Australia, India, and other countries attended a meeting in Arusha, Tanzania, to officially launch the ‘Farm Mechanization & Conservation Agriculture for Sustainable Intensification’ project, supported by the Australian International Food Security Centre (AIFSC) and managed by the Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research (ACIAR). The meeting focused largely on planning for activities that will take place in Kenya and Tanzania, but the project will eventually explore opportunities to accelerate the delivery and adoption of two-wheel tractors (2WTs) based conservation agriculture (CA) and other 2WT-based technologies (transport, shelling, threshing) by smallholders in Ethiopia, Kenya, Tanzania, and Zimbabwe. This project will be implemented over the next four years by CIMMYT and its partners.

Why do these issues matter? In many countries, the number of tractors has declined in the past decades (as a result of structural adjustment plans, for example), and so did the number of draught animals in many parts of the continent (due to biomass shortage, droughts, diseases, etc.). As a result, African agriculture increasingly relies on human muscle power. This problem is compounded by labor shortages arising from an ageing population, rural-urban migration, and HIV/ AIDS. Even in areas where rural population is increasing faster than the cultivated area, labor may be in short supply during critical field operations due to competition with more rewarding sectors, such as construction and mining. One consequence of low farm mechanization is high labor drudgery, which disproportionately affects women, as they play a predominant role in weeding, threshing, shelling, and transport by head-loading, and which makes farming unattractive to the youth. Sustainable intensification in sub-Saharan Africa appears unlikely if the issue of inadequate and declining farm power is not addressed. Power supply could be increased through appropriate and equitable mechanization, while power demand could be reduced through power saving technologies such as CA. Synergies can be exploited between these two avenues: for example, the elimination of soil inversion in CA systems reduces power requirements —typically by a factor of two— making the use of lower powered and more affordable tractors such as 2WTs a viable option. 2WTs are already present in Eastern and Southern Africa, albeit in low numbers and seldom used for CA in most countries. Several CA planters adapted for 2WTs have also been developed recently and are now commercially available. These are both manufactured outside (e.g. China, Brazil) and in the region (e.g. in Kenya and Tanzania).

The first set of the project’s activities will aim at identifying likely farmer demand by defining main sources of unmet power demand and labor drudgery. This will help determine the choice of technologies – from the 2WT-based technologies available for CA (seed drilling, strip tillage, ripping, etc.) and non-CA operations (transport, threshing, shelling) – to evaluate on-station and on farm, with participation of farmers and other stakeholders involved in technology transfer. The second set of activities will aim at identifying and testing site-specific unsubsidized business models – utilizing private sector service providers to support market systems – that will enable efficient and equitable delivery of the most promising 2WT-based technologies to a large number of smallholders; technologies affordable to the resource-poor and women-headed households. The project will also examine the institutional and policy constraints and opportunities that may affect the adoption of 2WT-based technologies in the four countries. Finally, it will create awareness on 2WT-based technologies in the sub-region and share knowledge and information with other regions, thanks to the establishment of a permanent knowledge platform hosted by the African Conservation Tillage network.

Resource-conserving practices for smallholder farmers in Africa

Written by on . Posted in News.

“Today Embu farmers are reaping benefits associated with conservation agriculture, where SIMLESA started activities in 2010,” said Charles Wanjau, District Agricultural Officer, Embu East. “We hope that through CASFESA, the benefits that accrued from the SIMLESA project will spread to many more farmers in Embu and beyond for improved food security.”

Wanjau was referring to the project “Conservation Agriculture and Smallholder Farmers in Eastern and Southern Africa,” that begun in June 2012 in Ethiopia and January 2013 in Kenya, with EU-IFAD funding for a period of two and half years. The project will leverage institutional innovations and policies for sustainable intensification and food security in Ethiopia, Kenya, and Malawi, and demonstrate conservation agriculture as a sustainable and profitable farming practice in randomly selected villages. The effort is also meant to assess the effects of markets and institutions on adoption and impacts, through baseline and impact studies in both treatment and counterfactual (control) villages. In Kenya, activities are under way in 15 villages mainly in Embu-West and Embu-East Districts to establish researcher/farmer managed demonstration plots on the farms of two volunteer farmers per village. The demo plots are planted with farmer’s preferred maize and bean varieties using locally recommended seed rates and fertility inputs.

The first CASFESA stakeholder workshop in Kenya was held at Embu on 22 February 2013 and attended by 30 farmers hosting demo plots, 16 officers (mostly frontline extension agents) from the Ministry of Agriculture, and scientists from CIMMYT and the Kenyan Agricultural Research Institute (KARI). Other participants included the Kenyan Equity Bank, Kilimo Salama and Organic Africa representatives, providing farming credits insurance and inputs, respectively. The workshop included updates on project objectives and work plans, along with planning for the next year.

CIMMYT agronomist Fred Kanampiu presented on the fine points of conservation agriculture, followed by KARI-Embu agronomist, Alfred Micheni, who shared the KARI-SIMLESA experiences and take-aways for the CASFESA work plan. CIMMYT socioeconomist Moti Jaleta gave an in-depth talk on project objectives, meth odologies, selected sites, and plans for coming months.

Subsequent workshop discussions centered on demonstration planting details: between row and within row seed spacings, crop varieties to be sown, and land preparation. In-depth observations were drawn from farmers and the extension providers’ experiences. Also discussed were the Ministry of Agriculture recommendations, which encourage tillage, and when to inter-crop maize and beans. The varied labor roles of women and men came up in conversations, with the conclusion that women typically do the bulk of planting, weeding, and harvesting. There was an on-station demonstration of conservation agriculture practices— particularly ridge planting for maize—under the supervision of Kanampiu and Micheni. This was important because all (farmers and extension providers) needed to see a successful case before embarking on establishment of proposed demos based on furrows and tillage conservation tillage practice. The workshop ended with some notable positives, such as an agreement among stakeholders regarding planting procedures and periods, as well as great enthusiasm among farmers.

CASFESA-stakeholkders-planning-meeting_Embu_Kenya

Women entering the workforce raises wheat consumption

Written by on . Posted in Features.

MasonNicole Mason is an assistant professor of International Development at the Department of Agricultural, Food, and Resource Economics at Michigan State University.

Currently on long-term assignment with the Indaba Agricultural Policy Research Institute in Lusaka, Zambia, Mason completed her PhD in Agricultural Economics at MSU in August 2011. Her research focuses on various dimensions of agricultural input and output subsidy programs in Africa, including political economy aspects as well as program effects on smallholder farmer behavior, poverty, inequality, and maize market prices. Prior to joining MSU, Mason served as a Peace Corps volunteer in Guinea and worked with the Partnership to Cut Hunger & Poverty in Africa. Mason was an invited speaker at the conference “Wheat for food security in Africa: Science and policy dialogue about the future of wheat in Africa,” held in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, during October 2012, and organized by the Ethiopian Institute of Agricultural Research (EIAR), CIMMYT, ICARDA, IFPRI, the African Union, and WHEAT-the CGIAR research program.

What drew you to international development research and outreach?

During my undergraduate studies at Allegheny College, I took a class entitled “Understanding Environmental Problems in Africa,” taught by the applied economist and returned Peace Corps volunteer Dr. Terrence Bensel. He piqued my interest in Africa and the Peace Corps, and I decided to join the Peace Corps after college. I had the privilege of serving as a volunteer in the rural community of Dalein in the Fouta Djallon region of Guinea in West Africa. I worked with smallholder farmers and women’s gardening cooperatives and saw firsthand the critical role that agriculture plays in the livelihoods of so many rural Africans. These experiences inspired me to pursue a career in international agricultural development research, capacity building, and outreach.

What drew you to work on the trends and drivers of wheat consumption in sub-Saharan Africa?

In the summer of 2007, I worked with colleagues from the Food Security Research Project and the Zambia Central Statistical Office to implement an Urban Consumption Survey in four cities in Zambia (Lusaka, Kitwe, Mansa, and Kasama). We interviewed over 2,000 households and asked them about all of the food and non-food items they had consumed in the preceding 30 days. We also visited many food retail outlets in the four cities, including supermarkets, bakeries, small grocers, and roadside and mobile vendors. I was struck by how popular bread and other wheat products were among respondents of all income groups. It was also interesting to see the long queues for bread in the supermarkets and the vendors selling bread at a slight markup right outside the supermarket to people who wanted to avoid the long lines inside. I learned that similar things were happening in other African cities and towns, and decided to work with MSU agricultural economist Thomas S. Jayne and CIMMYT socioeconomist Bekele Shiferaw to delve into the factors driving rising wheat consumption in Africa.

What did you discover?

I expected urbanization to be a key factor driving rising wheat consumption in Africa but surprisingly, our results suggest that after controlling for other factors like GDP, total population, and the prices of bread and products that are complements or substitutes for bread, changes in the percentage of the total population that resides in urban areas don’t have a significant effect on country-level wheat consumption. This was surprising because in most countries in Africa (Ethiopia is an exception), wheat consumption is much higher in urban than in rural areas. We’re still investigating this finding to unpack what is going on. One possibility is that it’s not urbanization per se that drives wheat consumption but rather the demographic and socioeconomic changes that go along with it. These are things like rising incomes and increased labor force participation by women.

What did you observe about gender and wheat consumption in Africa?

A key finding of our study related to gender is that rising labor force participation by women—especially if it rises faster than labor force participation by men—has a significant, positive effect on country-level wheat consumption. We suspect that this is because wheat products (bread, pasta, chapati, etc.) take less time to prepare than many other popular staple carbohydrates like maize meal porridge (called nshima in Zambia and consumed widely in eastern and southern Africa). When women work more outside of the home, they have less time to devote to food preparation and may prefer quicker options like these wheat products.

What types of changes (policy, research, etc.) do you think would help women and families in sub-Saharan Africa?

This is really broad. But in general, I believe women provide most of the labor for agricultural production in Africa but often don’t have much control over the revenue from the sales of products they helped to produce. Women also tend to have less access to productive assets and technologies that could help raise agricultural productivity. Empowering women—for example, through formal education as well as adult education on improved farming practices and business/management skills, improving their access to credit, etc.—is critical not only for improving the well-being of women but also that of their children, families, and communities.

To see the full study on rising wheat consumption in sub-Saharan Africa by Mason, Jayne, and Shiferaw,  please visit http://fsg.afre.msu.edu/papers/idwp127.pdf

 

Published 2013

One size doesn’t fit all: training on farm household typology

Written by on . Posted in News.

Since adopting a one-size-fits-all approach in technology generation and dissemination is unlikely to bring positive results, it is necessary to understand what intervention works for whom, where, and how in order for a program to be successful. Developing farm household typologies to target technology with respect to farmers’ endowments and environmental setting is one of the key components of the SIMLESA (Sustainable Intensification of Maize and Legume Cropping Systems in Southern and Eastern Africa) initiative. To identify farm household typologies from baseline surveys carried out in Ethiopia, Kenya, Tanzania, Malawi, and Mozambique, the initiative organized a two-week workshop between November and December 2012 at the University of Queensland, Brisbane, Australia. The event was attended by economists from the five SIMLESA countries and organized by Daniel Rodriguez, leader of Queensland Australia component of the SIMLESA project.

The first week consisted of lectures by experts in household typologies and household modeling in developing countries, econometric modeling of adoption and impact (facilitated by Menale Kassie of CIMMYT and John Asfau of the University of Queensland), household survey data mining, and the use of survey data to parameterize household models. The participants then prepared and delivered brief presentations covering the objectives, research questions, and hypotheses of the key publications distributed among them; methods and main results; and implications of the publications to their own work.

Reflecting their respective survey datasets, the workshop participants then developed a methodology to identify farm household typologies and, subsequently, a new tool using the free R statistical software. The tool was distributed to each of the participants. The utilized approach not only automates the process, but also ensures that the same methodology is applied to each country’s survey dataset, thereby enabling an easier comparison of the results. The workshop was concluded by a short presentation from each participant outlining their findings.
The feedback on the workshop was very positive: many participants intend to instruct their colleagues in their home countries on the techniques they learned to use during the workshop. The Australian SIMLESA team will continue to provide support on the use of R, as well as access to the script to identify household typologies.
typology

Value chain analysis training: putting farmers first

Written by on . Posted in News.

Value-chain-trainingUnderstanding the value chain of maize and legume crops and the ability to define various actors as well as their contributions and constraints along the value chain is crucial in identifying feasible interventions. Since these activities fall within the scope of the SIMLESA (Sustainable Intensification of Maize and Legume Cropping Systems in Southern and Eastern Africa) initiative, national partners and CIMMYT staff took part in a training and writing workshop on value chain analysis held in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, from 09 to 16 January 2013. The workshop was attended by 14 participants (8 national partners from Ethiopia, Kenya, Tanzania, and Mozambique, and 6 CIMMYT employees), and facilitated by Mot Jaleta (CIMMYT). Its objectives included capacity building and finalizing of pending reports related to Objective 1 of the program (to develop and target opportunities for impact through baseline studies and analysis of input and output value chains with particular reference to maize and legume seed systems and local markets), and among the topics covered were basic concepts of value chain analysis, quantitative methods in value chain analysis, and the identification of opportunities, constraints, and interventions at various stages along the value chain.

In his opening remarks, SIMLESA program leader Mulugetta Mekuria stressed the importance of the socioeconomic component of SIMLESA for technology development and dissemination through interaction with local communities and other stakeholders. “The Objective 1 team should be part and parcel of the technology development process, constantly monitoring and evaluating, and not only waiting till the project ends to do an ex-post study,” stated Mekuria. He also emphasized the importance of understanding the opportunities and constraints underlying the SIMLESA maize and legume input and output markets and highlighted the need for SIMLESA to continue placing the interests of smallholder farmers at the center of the program.

The workshop was concluded by presentations on the progress made on the value chain analysis reports by individual countries. Menale Kassie, SIMLESA socioeconomic component coordinator, then thanked all participants for their attendance and contributions. The participants considered the training a successful platform for learning and sharing experiences, and partners requested more similar technical trainings in the future.

Gender integration and data analysis: a better way to move forward

Written by on . Posted in News.

Data-analysisGender mainstreaming in agricultural development is on the agenda of national governments and the international development community (for more information on CIMMYT and gender mainstreaming see “Integrating gender into WHEAT and MAIZE CRPs: A leap forward”). Building upon the 2012 World Development Report: Gender Equality and Development warning that the failure to recognize the roles, differences, and inequities between men and women could pose a serious threat to the effectiveness of agricultural development strategies, the Australian International Food Security Center (AIFSC) approved the Adoption Pathways project in Eastern and Southern Africa. The project aims to collect gender disaggregated data to achieve better understanding of technology adoption, agricultural productivity, and food security in the regions.

To contribute to the objective, the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) facilitated a training on gender integration and analytical tools in agricultural research and gender disaggregated survey instruments design. The training took place during 08-12 January 2013 in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, and was attended by over 20 participants from 5 countries (Ethiopia, Kenya, Malawi, Mozambique, and Tanzania) involved in the Adoption Pathways project and the SIMLESA (Sustainable Intensification of Maize and Legume Cropping Systems in Southern and Eastern Africa) initiative. The training materials were based on case studies from IFPRI projects such as the Gender, Agriculture, and Assets Project (GAAP), and the training itself focused on the concepts of gender; gender in agricultural research; gender livelihood conceptual framework; qualitative methods; the relationship between gender, agriculture, and assets; Women’s Empowerment in Agriculture Index (WEAI); and the need for gender disaggregated surveys. The training also provided concrete advice and feedback on how to analyze gender disaggregated data and covered the needs and opportunities for dissemination and outreach, including ways to share results and plans to synthesize lessons learned. Finally, it enabled participants to identify plans for next steps, including updating and refining the SIMLESA survey instrument with gender component.

CIMMYT mourns the passing of Twumasi-Afriyie, creator of the quality protein maize Obatanpa

Written by on . Posted in Features.

Dr-TwumasiOn 03 January 2013, 63-year-old Ghanaian-born maize breeder Strafford Twumasi-Afriyie succumbed to cancer, leaving a substantive legacy that includes the creation of the world’s most widely-sown quality protein maize (QPM) variety, Obatanpa. His demise represents a huge loss to family, friends, hundreds of colleagues and collaborators, and many thousands of farmers. A highly-committed and knowledgeable scientist, Twumasi is remembered by all for his kind, gentle demeanor and modesty, as well as for building strong partnerships.

Twumasi worked at the Crops Research Institute (CRI), Ghana, through much of his career. Following the completion of his MSc at the University of Guelph, Canada, in 1981, he returned to Ghana to serve with former CIMMYT maize physiologist Greg Edmeades as Joint Coordinator of the Ghana Grains Development Project funded by the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA). It was during this period and under the aegis of the GGDP that he used CIMMYT germplasm during the early 1990s to develop Obatanpa, which by 2005 was sown on more than half of Ghana’s maize area. With support from Sasakawa-Global 2000, the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA), and CIDA, Obatanpa has been released in numerous countries of Africa, including Uganda where as “Nalongo” it is among the most popular maize varieties.

Twumasi joined CIMMYT in 1997 to develop maize varieties for African highland areas in a project supported initially by the Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development, Germany and later the Ethiopian Institute of Agricultural Research (EIAR), CIMMYT, the Association for Strengthening Agricultural Research in Eastern and Central Africa (ASARECA), and CIDA. Releases from that effort are still gaining popularity in high-altitude zones of Ethiopia.

As a breeder in CIDAfunded research in Ethiopia beginning in 2003, Twumasi worked with EIAR to develop a QPM version of the hybrid BH660, which accounts for some 60% of seed sales in Ethiopia. These and other superior varieties developed are being promoted through the new “Nutritious Maize for Ethiopia” project that Twumasi was leading. “The National Maize Program recognizes the relentless work of Dr. Twumasi for small-scale farmers of Ethiopia in particular and Africa in general,” says Berhanu Tadesse, Ethiopia’s National Maize Research Coordinator.

Edmeades remembers Twumasi as scrupulously honest, slow to judgment but always fair, and one of nature’s true gentlemen. “He was not afraid to take risks as a scientist and promote QPM when many others declared it a lost cause,” says Edmeades. “As my counterpart in Ghana I very much enjoyed working with him and came to appreciate his wry sense of humor and his lovely smile.”

Twumasi’s mentorship and tutelage helped several maize researchers from the region develop as strong breeders in their own right. His academic background included a BSc in agriculture from the University of Ghana (1975) and a PhD in plant breeding from the University of Missouri, USA (1989).

The CIMMYT family extends its sympathies to Twumasi’s beloved wife, Veronica, his daughters Mame and Truelove, and his son Kwaku in this difficult time.

Improving wheat seed system and end-use quality in Ethiopia

Written by on . Posted in News.

“My work in Africa is not finished,” Jeanie Borlaug quoted her father, Dr Norman Borlaug, during her opening statement for wheat seed system field day bringing together farmers, researchers, seed growers, and development enterprises experts to discuss improved seed system and end-use quality issues in Ethiopia. The field day was held at the Kulumsa Research Center (KRC), Ethiopia, on 15 November 2012 and was followed by an end-use quality workshop on 16 November. Both events were organized by KRC and CIMMYT and sponsored by Cornell University’s Durable Rust Resistance in Wheat Project (DRRW).

Continue reading

CIMMYT graduate research fellow wins recognition for protein maize PhD project

Written by on . Posted in News.

Abdu Rahman Beshir (in the middle) with winners in BSc Hons and MSc categories
Abdu Rahman Beshir (in the middle) with winners in BSc Hons and
MSc categories

Abdu Rahman Beshir, a CIMMYT graduate research fellow from Ethiopia, received an award for the best project in the PhD category at a recent Postgraduate Students’ Symposium on Botany and Plant Biotechnology at the University of Johannesburg (UJ) for his paper titled ‘Quality Protein Maize: towards achieving the Millennium Development Goals through better nutrition and stable yields.’ His presentation highlighted the severity of malnutrition in parts of sub-Saharan Africa and the ways quality protein maize (QPM) seeks to address the issue.

Beshir conducted his field research between July 2009 and December 2011 at CIMMYT Kenya, Zimbabwe, and Ethiopia in collaboration with national programs and with support from the Drought Tolerant Maize in Africa (DTMA) Initiative and the Quality Protein Maize Development project. Beshir focuses on the evaluation of yield and secondary traits of early maturing QPM cultivars (both hybrids and open pollinated varieties) under different mega environments of sub-Saharan Africa (his research was featured in Informa 1689). Beshir –is studying at the University of the Free State (UFS) under the supervision of Maryke Labuschagne and Angie Van Biljon (UFS), and Dan Makumbi (CIMMYT) and Peter Setimela (CIMMYT). “I would like to acknowledge the invaluable support from CIMMYT. This award is an indication of the relevance of research conducted at CIMMYT globally,” said Beshir. “There are many people who are looking for such opportunities, who can make a difference and contribute more to science; hence CIMMYT’s efforts are highly commendable,” added Beshir, thanking all who contributed to his studies and career growth.

The UJ symposium is an annual platform for postgraduate students from different universities to present their research findings. These findings are judged by a panel of professors based on the significance of the project, the quality of the content, and delivery.

SIMLESA-Kenya: achievements and future goals

Written by on . Posted in News.

IMG_7836The Kenya Annual Review and Planning Meeting (ARPM) was held during 5-6 November 2012 at the Kenya Agricultural Research Institute (KARI). The meeting was attended by 33 participants from the Queensland Alliance for Agriculture and Food Innovation (QAAFI), KARI, Ministry of Agriculture, Agriculture Research Council (ARC-SA), International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT), Association for Strengthening Agricultural Research in Eastern and Central Africa (ASARECA), Royal Tropical Institute, Resource Projects Kenya (local NGO), and FRESHCO Seeds (local private seed company). Present were also Stephen Njoka (KARI-Embu) and Francis Muyekho (KARI-Kakamega), who chaired some of the sessions.

Joseph Mureithi, KARI deputy director and SIMLESA program steering committee member for Kenya, welcomed all participants and informed them on the adoption of a new value chain innovation platform, bringing major stakeholders on board to address farmers’ constraints and promote commercialization of agriculture. Ephraim Mukisira then officially opened the meeting by summarizing the outcomes of the KARI Biannual Conference. He discussed the current needs of Kenyan farmers and stressed that “there is need to commercialize the farming business in Kenya in order to empower local farmers.” Besides commercialization, more effort needs to be invested in the SIMLESA initiative. Maize, as the foundation staple in the Kenyan diet, should be promoted together with legumes supplying proteins to the farmers’ families. While the population is rapidly increasing, farm sizes are declining; hence there is a pressing need to increase productivity levels while using the same land area. To realize the program’s impact within the current time constraints, the program aims to assist 50,000 farmers in both Eastern and Western Kenya.

Later on, Mekuria Mulugetta, SIMLESA program leader, provided a detailed background of SIMLESA objectives. He emphasized SIMLESA’s focus on building KARI’s organizational capacity, reminded the participants of the recently published baseline survey report for Kenya, and thanked AusAID for their continuing financial support of the SIMLESA-Ethiopia Expansion program for the next two years. As part of the meeting, the participants travelled to Tanzania, Kenya, and Ethiopia to observe field experiments conducted by SIMLESA, ICRISAT, and national partners.

Recent conference gets wheat back on Africa’s map

Written by on . Posted in News.

DSCN0042Wheat is increasingly in demand in sub-Saharan Africa as a result of income growth and the demand for convenience foods as more women enter the workplace, but sub-Saharan countries and Africa as a whole produce only about 30% and 40%, respectively, of their domestic requirements, causing a heavy dependence on imports and making the region highly vulnerable to global market and supply shocks.

This was one conclusion reached by some 250 researchers, policymakers, farmer, and seed company representatives who attended the conference “Wheat for food security in Africa: Science and policy dialogue about the future of wheat in Africa,” held in Addis Ababa during 08-12 October 2012. Organized by Ethiopian Institute of Agricultural Research (EIAR), CIMMYT, ICARDA, IFPRI, the African Union, and WHEAT-the CGIAR research program, the event was intended to raise awareness about the potential to grow wheat and reduce the region’s imports of the crop, as well as to discuss policy, institutional, and infrastructure constraints. “In 2012, African countries will spend about US$12 billion to import some 40 million tons of wheat,” said Hans Braun, director of CIMMYT’s global wheat program. “If Africa does not push for wheat self-sufficiency, it could face more hunger, instability and even political violence, as bread riots in North Africa showed in recent years.”

Participants hailed from 23 African nations, as well as from Asia, Europe, and the Americas, and included 4 ministers of agriculture (Burundi, Ethiopia, Sudan, and Zimbabwe) and the directors of national agricultural research programs of 16 countries in Africa. Deemed a great success by participants and organizers, the event and the issues discussed were reported widely in regional and global media, including major outlets such as Nature, New Scientist, Le Monde, BBC Radio, and Deutsche Welle, as well as key wire services like Reuters-Thomson, Associated Press, and Bloomberg. An equally important outcome was the “Addis Declaration” formulated by conference participants and intended to get wheat onto Africa’s policy map as a strategic product for food security, according to Bekele Shiferaw, director of CIMMYT’s socioeconomics program and a co-author of a major report1 on wheat farming in Africa. “Unlocking the potential of wheat will require changes in attitudes, policy and donor support for adapting farming systems, empowering African farmers, and developing value chains for seeds, input supply, and output markets,” Shiferaw said.

The busy four-day agenda included visits to Ethiopia’s premier agricultural research stations at Kulumsa and Debre Zeit. The conference program committee would like to thank all who contributed, but special recognition goes to logistics team of Petr Kosina, Bekele Abeyo, and Dave Hodson. Presentations, publications, media reports, and posters are available on the conference web page.

DTMA III holds annual meeting

Written by on . Posted in News.

The Drought Tolerant Maize for Africa (DTMA) Initiative held its first annual meeting of phase 3 during 24- 28 September 2012 at the Nairobi Safari Club Hotel in Kenya. The meeting was attended by 83 participants representing national programs, training institutions from DTMA partner countries (Angola, Benin, Ethiopia, Ghana, Kenya, Malawi, Mali, Mozambique, Nigeria, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia, and Zimbabwe), project’s advisory board members, and seed companies. The participants reviewed and discussed the progress made during the first year of the project, and visited the Western Seed company production fields in Rongai, Nakuru County.

DTMA has produced 105 maize varieties, 48 hybrids, and 57 open-pollinated varieties between 2007 and 2012. In addition, the project has trained technicians, breeders, and seed companies in seed business management in Eastern, Western, and Southern Africa. The meeting highlighted the varieties developed by DTMA for drought-prone areas, whose performance also matches or exceeds that of commercial varieties under optimum conditions. In Southern Africa, on-farm trials of drought-tolerant (DT) hybrids produced 20-30 % more yield than the common check variety. In Western Africa, DT open-pollinated varieties produced up to 40 % more yield than farmer varieties during on-farm trials.

There is a surge in new DT varieties, particularly hybrids, being registered and coming into production in all DTMA countries. In addition, uptake of DT lines by companies holding important market shares (e.g. Seed Co and Kenya Seed Company) is increasing. The total production of DT varieties in the 13 DTMA countries reached more than 25,000 MT in 2012, with the largest amount being produced in Kenya, Zimbabwe, Zambia, and Malawi. Seed policy workshops have created conditions for national governments to address maize seed sector development.

drying-maize-seed-in-the-sun

W4A Day Five: Ending on a high and a declaration of commitment

Written by on . Posted in Features.

As so often happens at the end of conferences, I have to dash for a plane, so I’ll make it brief. You may have seen on our live twitter feed (#W4A) that today was a day for proposals and promises at the Wheat for Food Security in Africa conference. Participants from each country gathered together to discuss and present how they intended to move forward from these meetings.

Almost all the countries agreed that there is a need to initiate some form of ‘wheat task force’. This would act to liaise with governments, conduct research, and establish capacity building in the key areas of extension and technology adoption. Organizations such as these could also address the issues which have been raised so many times this week: smallholder farmers’ access to credit, inputs such as fertilizer, the correct agronomic practices for their region and efficiency within the value chain between researchers, extension workers, farmers, markets, millers, and consumers.

Participants also raised the issue of germplasm exchange. This needs to be made easier between countries, while making sure that IP rights are protected and the spread of diseases such as Ug99 prevented, which cannot be done without international collaboration. All participants indicated that they would be very willing to work together in the future and to convince others in their countries to work with their international partners. Linked to this, some argued that the involvement of the private sector is key if we are to promote the development of a profitable African wheat industry. For this too we need to develop sound and consistent IP practices.

Another major issue discussed was the current situation with wheat imports. Many African countries subsidize wheat imports so much that it is cheaper to buy wheat abroad than to grow it nationally. This, argued participants, is not a healthy or sustainable practice. Governments need to reduce subsidies to make wheat farming more attractive for producers and/or introduce a levy of e.g. $2/ton on wheat imports, and invest this money in wheat research to develop varieties and agronomic practices suitable for the region.

The conference concluded with the signing of a declaration which will be presented by the Minister of Ethiopia at the African Union Joint Conference of African Ministers of Agriculture and Ministers of Trade, 29 October – 2 November 2012, with the full support of conference participants and the Ministers of Sudan, Zimbabwe, and Burundi. The declaration “urgently recommends to include wheat as one of Africa’s strategic products” and stresses that policy options are proposed to “promote and develop domestic wheat production
 and to scale-up investment to the national and international wheat value chain.”

In closing the conference, Thomas Lumpkin, CIMMYT Director General, concluded: “I am committed, CIMMYT is committed, ICARDA is committed, to improving wheat in Africa
 African farmers want to change. They don’t want to be museums of ancient practices. They want to evolve, become more productive.” And this is the message that will be taken forward and presented to Africa as a continent.