Participants of the kick-off meeting for the Ukama Ustawi Initiative stand for a group photo in Nairobi, Kenya. (Photo: Mwihaki Mundia/ILRI)
Partners of CGIARâs new regional integrated Initiative in eastern and southern Africa held a kick-off meeting in Nairobi on March 2â3, 2022. Eighty-five people participated, including national agricultural research extension programs, government representatives, private sector actors, funders and national and regional agricultural research and development organizations.
Entitled Ukama Ustawi, the Initiative aims to support climate-smart agriculture and livelihoods in 12 countries in eastern and southern Africa: Kenya, Zambia, Ethiopia and Zimbabwe (in Phase 1); Malawi, Rwanda, Tanzania and Uganda (in Phase 2); and Eswatini, Madagascar, Mozambique and South Africa (in Phase 3).
The Initiative aims to help millions of smallholders intensify, diversify and de-risk maize-mixed farming through improved extension services, institutional capacity strengthening, targeted farm management bundles, policy support, enterprise development and private investment.
Ukama Ustawi is a bilingual word derived from the Shona and Swahili languages. In Shona, Ukama refers to partnerships, and in Swahili, Ustawi means well-being and development. Together, they resemble the vision for the Initiative to achieve system-level development through innovative partnerships.
The meeting brought together partners to get to know each other, understand roles and responsibilities, identify priorities for 2022, and review the cross-cutting programmatic underpinnings of Ukama Ustawi â including gender and social inclusion, capacity strengthening and learning.
Baitsi Podisi, representing the Centre for Coordination of Agricultural Research and Development for Southern Africa (CCARDESA), said he is excited to be part of the Initiative: “CCARDESA, in its cooperation and coordination mandate, can learn a lot from CGIAR in restructuring to respond to the changing times.â Podisi supported the partnership with CGIAR in the Initiativeâs embedded approach to policy dialogue, working with partners such as CCARDESA, the Association for Strengthening Agricultural Research in Eastern and Central Africa (ASARECA) and the Food, Agriculture and Natural Resources Policy Analysis Network (FANRPAN).
Similarly, FANRPANâs Francis Hale emphasized the need not to re-invent the wheel but to work with partners who already have a convening power, to advance the policy agenda for diversification and sustainable intensification.
What were key issues discussed?
One of the features of Ukama Ustawi is the use of four interconnected platforms: a scaling hub, a policy hub, an accelerator program and a learning platform. These will provide spaces for exchange and learning with partners across all CGIAR Initiatives in the region. Partners conducted a series of âfishbowlâ interactions across work packages to review the planned activities and provide a clearer understanding of deliverables, identify synergies, potential overlaps, common partners and countries, and set timelines.
The Initiative will work with innovative multimedia platforms to change knowledge, attitudes and practices of millions of farmers in eastern and southern Africa. One key partner in this area is the Shamba Shape Up TV show and the iShamba digital platform. Sophie Rottman, Producer of Shamba Shape Up, said she is looking forward to the work with Initiative partners, that will help expand the show to Uganda and Zambia.
Jean Claude Rubyogo, representing the Pan-Africa Bean Research Alliance (PABRA) said: âIt is time we move away from CGIAR-initiated to country-initiated development activities. This is what Ukama Ustawi is all aboutâ.
Martin Kropff, Global Director of Resilient Agrifood Systems at CGIAR, explained CGIARâs regional integrated initiatives are designed to respond to national/regional demands. âThe initiatives will start by working with partners to assess the food and nutritional challenges in the region, and tackle them by bringing in innovative solutions.â
The event was concluded by agreeing on the implementation of the inception phase of the Ukama Ustawi Initiative, and follow-on discussions to finalize key activities in 2022.
Sorghum field in Kiboko, Kenya. (Photo: E Manyasa/ICRISAT)
As part of the One CGIAR reform, the Global Science Group on Genetic Innovation will implement a crop breeding and seed systems project for key crops including groundnut, sorghum and millet, across western and eastern African countries.
The International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT), a leader in innovative partnerships, breeding and agronomic science for sustainable agri-food systems, will lead the project.
The Accelerated Varietal Improvement and Seed Delivery of Legumes and Cereals in Africa (AVISA) project aims to improve the health and livelihoods of millions by increasing the productivity, profitability, resilience and marketability of nutritious grain, legumes and cereal crops. The project focuses on strengthening networks to modernize crop breeding by CGIAR and national program partners, and public-private partnerships to strengthen seed systems. The project currently works in Burkina Faso, Ethiopia, Ghana, Mali, Nigeria, Uganda and Tanzania.
âSorghum, groundnut and millets are essential staples of nutritious diets for millions of farmers and consumers and are crucial for climate-change-resilient farming systems,â explained CIMMYT Deputy Director General and Head of Genetic Resources, Kevin Pixley. âThe oversight of this project by CGIARâs Genetic Innovation Science Group will ensure continued support for the improvement of these crops in partnership with the national agricultural research and extension systems (NARES) that work with and for farmers,â he said.
âCIMMYT is delighted to lead this project on behalf of the Genetic Innovations Science Group and CGIAR,â confirms CIMMYT Director General, Bram Govaerts.
âWe look forward to contributing to co-design and co-implement with partners and stakeholders the next generation of programs that leverage and build the strengths of NARES, CGIAR and others along with the research to farmers and consumers continuum to improve nutrition, livelihoods, and resilience to climate change through these crops and their cropping systems.â
From October 31 to November 12, all eyes and cameras turned to Glasgow, where the 26th Conference of the Parties of the United Nations Convention against Climate Change (COP26) took place in a hybrid format. With temperatures rising around the world and extreme weather events becoming increasingly frequent, country leaders and climate experts came together in Scotland to discuss the next steps in the fight against climate change.
Together with other CGIAR Centers, the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT) took part in this crucial conversation, drawing attention to the impact of climate change on smallholder agriculture and echoing CGIARâs call for increased funding for agricultural research and innovation.
Hereâs a summary of the events in which CIMMYT researchers and scientists participated.
âBecause farmers feed us all: using climate for a resilient food systemâ
November 6, 2021
Sponsored by the UK Met Office, this event focused on the effects of climate change on the resilience of food systems and how this impact is factored into decision-making. Speakers discussed the real-life application of climate risk information, highlighting the importance of global collaboration and multi-stakeholder partnerships in developing context-specific climate services.
Focusing on CIMMYTâs work in Ethiopia, research associate Yoseph Alemayehu and senior scientist Dave Hodson provided some insights on the wheat rust early warning system. This revolutionary mechanism developed by CIMMYT and partners helps farmers in developing countries predict this disease up to a week in advance.
âCOP26 highlighted the vulnerability of different agriculture sectors to climate change, including increased threats from pests and pathogens. From the work in Ethiopia on wheat rust early warning systems, strong partnerships and the application of advanced climate science can play an important role in mitigating some of the effects.â – Dave Hodson
âDeveloping Climate Resilient Food Systems Pathways: Approaches From Sub-Saharan Africaâ
November 8, 2021
Putting an emphasis on participatory governance and community-centered technologies, this event showcased innovative approaches to strengthen the resilience of African food systems, calling for increased investment in the scale-up of climate-smart agriculture practices to meet growing demand.
Joining from Zimbabwe, Christian Thierfelder, Principal Cropping Systems Agronomist gave an overview of CIMMYTâs work in southern Africa, explaining how the introduction of conservation agriculture back in 2004 helped farmers overcome low crop yields and boost their incomes.
âIf one thing was made clear at COP26, it is the urgent need for a change in the way we do agriculture. The status quo is not an option and we, as CIMMYT and part of the One CGIAR, will continue to generate the scientific evidence and climate-smart solutions to accelerate this change and address the climate challenges ahead of us, with farmers at the core of our work.â – Christian Thierfelder
â4 per 1000â Initiative Day
November 10, 2021
The “4 per 1000” Initiative, a multi-stakeholder partnership of more than 650 members on food security and climate change, held a day-long hybrid event to explore how healthy soils can help agriculture and forestry adapt to and mitigate climate change.
At the Partner Forum, Bram Govaerts, Director General of CIMMYT, stressed the urgent need to fund soil science to achieve its carbon sequestration potential, reiterating CIMMYTâs commitment to supporting this science with results-oriented actions that scale out sustainable practices and technologies.
âFor me, the main take-away of the summit is the growing consensus and understanding that we need to transform agriculture and food systems to achieve global emissions targets on time.â – Bram Govaerts
Cover photo: The action zone and the globe at the Hydro, one of the venues in Glasgow where COP26 took place. (Photo: Karwai Tang/UK Government)
The ever-changing environmental conditions and the urgency to improve food production and productivity for growing populations have ushered in the necessity for smallholder farmers to have widespread access to improved seed in the last mile. However, adequate access to the preferred, good-quality seeds that are climate-resilient and nutrition-dense is essential to farmersâ food and livelihood security. While seed security is an important first step to improved food production in developing countries and well examined in disaster situations, it remains understudied concerning long-term seed sector development, says a new study.
The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) describes seed security as âready access by rural households, particularly farmers and farming communities, to adequate quantities of quality seeds adapted to their agro-ecological conditions and socioeconomic needs, at planting time, under normal and abnormal weather conditions.â In 2016, FAO specified two elements: varietal suitability (traits that respond to farmersâ preferences) and resilience (stability of seed system in the context of shocks) in addition to seed quantity, quality, and access identified in the earlier conceptualization of seed security.
Widespread seed insecurity
The study analyzed farmersâ seed use and preferences (demand-side) and the role of actors and institutions (supply-side) to understand farmersâ seed security. The latter was examined within the context of the recently adopted Pluralistic Seed System Development Strategy (PSSDS) of Ethiopia to understand how they affect the availability, quantity, quality, accessibility, and suitability of seeds from different sources. They focused on seed systems in two districts in Central Ethiopia â subsistence teff-growing and commercial wheat-growing districts. Since it started its operation in Ethiopia, CGIARâs International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT) has been one of the major actors in the commercial wheat district covered in this study. CIMMYT has contributed to the capacity building of Kulumsa Agricultural Research Center, a center of excellence for wheat research and development in East Africa that has released over 70 improved bread wheat and durum wheat varieties.
Despite great strides made in improving the seed sector in Ethiopia, the study found that the farmers in the two districts predominantly rely on the informal seed systems, concluding widespread seed insecurity in both regions. The study reported discrepancies between seeds farmers say they prefer and those they actually use. This discrepancy is due to the limited availability of improved varieties and specially certified seeds of these varieties, challenges with seed quality from some sources, and inequitable access to preferred seed and information according to sex, age, and wealth.
Explaining the finding concerning the widespread seed insecurity observed in the study districts, Teshome Hunduma, the lead author of the study, noted: âWe were able to reveal some of the social, political, and institutional constraints and opportunities that underlie chronic seed insecurity among smallholder farmers in the two districts in Ethiopia. The country has a good seed sector development policy, for instance, the PSSDS, but these constraints limited its implementation.â
Women empowerment and access to certified seeds
In the study districts where CIMMYT operates, wealthy farmers aligned with the Ethiopian government received a privileged position as model farmers enjoyed increased seed access. Likewise, female-headed households targeted by the extension services had improved access to certified seeds. The presence of development actors, including CIMMYT alongside its partners such as Kulumsa Agricultural Research Center, actively contributed to the âunusual empowerment of women in the predominantly wheat-growing districts,â according to Hunduma. Hunduma referred to the following excerpt from the study to confirm his upbeat impression during his field research.
The study reports: âthe women focus group participants highlighted unexpectedly positive empowerment of female heads of household and their related access to improved agricultural technologies [improved wheat]:
Unfortunately, all of us are on our own, i.e., we are widows and divorcees. ( . . . ) We do everything that most men do in farming. In the past, women, including widows and divorcees, were not considered equal to men. Now, we have more freedom and voice. We equally participate in meetings, trainings, and access inputs as men. We express our ideas in public gatherings⊠We learnt new techniques and gained skills in agriculture. We have better savings; some of us have saved between 70,000 to 100,000 ETB. We have full control over our incomes and resources. We hire labor and rent land to expand our production.
According to Hunduma, âdevelopment actors, including CGIAR and its partners, targeted female heads of households for varietal adaptation trial, seed multiplication, extension and credit services, which led to a significant push for a gender-sensitive approach to agricultural development.â
Over the past two decades, Ethiopia has also achieved high wheat production levels and productivity due to the germplasm that CGIAR introduced in the country in collaboration with its partners. This strategy has firmly put the country on the right path towards wheat self-sufficiency.
As national seed policies and programs in developing countries have primarily focused on the formal seed supply system, farmersâ use of seeds from the formal seed system remains limited. The pluralistic seed system approach could appear to provide a path to seed security in developing countries. Nevertheless, political, organizational, and economic interests within key institutions represent significant obstacles, which need to be addressed. The study concludes that efforts to support farmersâ access to seeds should recognize the complementarity of formal and informal seed systems. Thus the study advocates a pluralistic approach to seed sector development by promoting complementarity of activities between value-chain components of each seed system.Â
Cover photo: Part of Ethiopiaâs Southeastern wheat belt in the Heexosa district, where the pioneering Green Revolution project started in Ethiopia. (Credit: Joshua Masinde/CIMMYT)
In sub-Saharan Africa, smallholder production is characterized by low agricultural productivity which is often cited as a major factor of  food insecurity in the region. Recent research from multiple countries in the region suggests that average maize yields of around 1.7 t/ha in 2010 must increase to 6.8 t/ha to meet estimated demand in 2050. To achieve this, per-hectare maize output must grow by about 3.5% per year. Although addressing this challenge seems daunting, estimates suggest that such high yields are technically feasible. However, a shared understanding of the investments and policies required remain elusive.
Under the Taking Maize Agronomy to Scale in Africa (TAMASA) project, scientists from Wageningen University and the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT) conducted research on this question, using uniquely detailed farm surveys which provide integrated information about smallholdersâ agronomic practices and farm management, soil health and other biophysical characteristics, as well as socioeconomic and other characteristics of farm households.
Decomposing yield gaps
Yield gaps for rainfed crops are defined as the difference between the water-limited yield potential and the actual yield observed in farmersâ fields. One framework to explain yield gaps decomposes the yield gap into efficiency, resource and technology components (Figure 1).
The study disaggregated maize yield gaps in Ethiopia based on field level and farming systems information (Figure 2), which helps to consider the variation in biophysical and socio-economic conditions observed in the country.
Major drivers of yield (and yield gap) outcomes in Ethiopia
The study showed that income from non-farm sources, value of productive assets, education and shorter plot distance from home reduced the efficiency yield gap. The resource yield gap was attributed to sub-optimal input use, specifically of pesticide and nitrogen. The technology yield gap comprised the largest share of the total yield gap, mostly due to limited use of fertilizer and improved varieties and not using the right type and placement of fertilizers and of improved seeds
The investigation further showed that crop residue and weeding frequency affected maize yield only when nitrogen was applied. In a related study, the authors also showed that maize yield reponse to fertilizer application was dependent on other inputs, specifically type of maize variety, manure application and high rainfall implying the need to integrate agricultural technologies in order to improve and sustain the maize productivity. The authors conclude that targeted but integrated policy design and implementation is required to narrow the overall maize yield gap and improve food security.
“Disaggregating and explaining maize yield gaps is essential to identify potential pathways that can narrow the yield gaps,” said Banchayehu Assefa from CIMMYT. “This can help guide policy and investments to be more effective at raising smallholder productivity.”
How to improve fertilizer profitability
Modern maize varieties and mineral fertilizers use have been increasing over time and are believed to be among the factors behind the maize yield improvements observed in Ethiopia. However, maize yield response to fertilizer depends on other inputs and management factors and higher fertilizer application rates may not always lead to higher profitability. Using the details of management decisions and biophysical and marketing context, the authors estimated a maize yield response function and evaluated fertilizer yield responses and economic profitability of fertilizer investments by smallholder maize producers. They found that maize yield response to fertilizer was variable with an average value of 7.3 kg maize/ kg N, and it varied from -9 to 18 kg maize /kg. The degree of response was positively affected by phosphorus input and type of maize variety, and negatively by manure input and high rainfall. The key pathways identified to increase the profitability of nitrogen fertilizer use by smallholder maize producers are: improving yield responses with better management (e.g. use of improved maize varieties, complementary use of phosphorus where appropriate); addressing risk aversion (e.g. via crop insurance) in order to strengthen economic incentives for fertilizer investments; enabling the delay of crop sales to take advantage of higher output prices (possibly through expanded access to storage facilities and/or post-harvest loans to alleviate liquidity needs); and improving farm gate price ratios through improved access to markets.
Implications and further research
Even though maize yields have improved recently, under existing management practices smallholdersâ maize yield still falls far below the water-limited potential yield. This urges revising the maize sector in terms of input provision, extension services and output markets. Fertilizer use was highly variable and maize response to fertilizer use depended on other management choices. The study suggests that integrated management practices that work for specific conditions need to be identified, instead of sticking to blanket policy and management recommendations.
This work further points at the importance of additional detailed empirical research on the role of agronomic management practices, to decrease yield gaps. Studying the constraining factors that hinder timely input provision to the farmers might also help to improve input use and hence productivity. In addition, maize prices are too low to advance maize commercialization. Investigating potentials and constraints along the maize value chain might help to improve market participation.
Cover photo: Harvesting maize in East Shoa, Oromia, Ethiopia. (Photo: Banchayehu Assefa/CIMMYT)
At the launch event, workshop participants reviewed the ADAPT-Wheat projectâs objectives, outputs, activities, impact pathways, partners and management. (Photo: Enawgaw Sisay/CIMMYT)
The Adaptation, Demonstration, and Piloting of Wheat Technologies for Irrigated Lowlands of Ethiopia (ADAPT-Wheat) project was launched on October 19, 2021, with an inception workshop held in Adama, Ethiopia.
The project, led by the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT), aims to transform the irrigated lowlands of Ethiopiaâs Awash valley from a cotton monoculture to a cotton-wheat rotation. This transformation will improve local wheat production and make important strides towards helping the country reach its goal of wheat self-sufficiency.
Wheat is the second most important staple crop in Ethiopia and a major pillar for food security. CIMMYT has a longstanding role in helping Ethiopiaâs wheat farmers adopt improved, high-yielding, and disease-resistant varieties. This close collaboration became evident in 2018, when DNA fingerprinting analysis showed that 87% of all wheat varieties grown in Ethiopia are CIMMYT-derived.
Thanks to improved farmer access to better varieties, the adoption of a number of agronomic practice recommendations, conducive marketing, and strong supply chains, domestic wheat production and productivity in Ethiopia have nearly doubled over the past 15 years. Nevertheless, due to population growth, higher incomes, and accelerated urbanization, the demand for wheat in Ethiopia is increasing faster than productivity.
Scientists believe wheat grain yields of four tons per hectare are possible in low land areasâwhich include the Afar and Oromia regionsâif wheat production is increased through appropriate mechanization, proven agronomic practices, and high-yielding, early-maturing, heat-tolerant, rust-resistant wheat varieties.
When the three-year ADAPT-Wheat project is fully implemented, it will contribute to Ethiopiaâs goal for wheat self-sufficiency by 2023.
Participants in the ADAPT-Wheat workshop record their attendance (Photo: Enawgaw Sisay/CIMMYT)
A space for discussion
At the launch event, participants gathered to share feedback and experiences, identify gaps, and clarify roles and responsibilities among the implementing partners. The meeting also allowed project leaders to confirm participating kebeles (small administrative units), and plan and endorse project activities.
âThe forum was a good opportunity to speak about irrigated wheat, get to know each other, and understand the role of each office and its contribution to the success of the project,â said Bekele Abeyo, wheat breeder and CIMMYTâs Country Representative for Ethiopia.
Participants in the workshop included scientists from a number of Ethiopian research institutes, representatives of public and private seed enterprises, heads of bureaus of Agriculture (including those of the Afar and Oromia regions), and local administrations, and representatives of Germanyâs Agency for International Cooperation (GIZ).
The discussion included an introduction of CIMMYT and an overview of its global impact, history, and current activities in Ethiopia. An overview of the ADAPT-Wheat projectâs objectives, outputs, activities, impact pathways, partners and management was also presented in the forum.
Participants also discussed the key agronomy, breeding, and mechanization activities that will be assessed, validated, scaled up, and scaled out during the project in seven districts, two in the Afar region and five in the Oromia region.
âThe inception and planning workshop has a common understanding on how to tackle the bottlenecks ahead of the implementation of the project. The forum was a good opportunity for implementing partners to make a commitment for the new project by realizing the contribution of lowland irrigated wheat in achieving the goal of wheat self-sufficiency by 2023,â Bekele said.
Wheat is the second most important staple crop in Ethiopia and a major pillar for food security. Based on fingerprinting analysis from 2018, about 87% of all wheat varieties grown in Ethiopia are CIMMYT-derived.
Domestic wheat production and productivity has nearly doubled over the past 15 years, due to improved farmer access to better varieties, agronomic practice recommendations and conducive marketing and supply chain policies. Nevertheless, due to population growth, higher incomes and accelerated urbanization, the demand for wheat in Ethiopia is increasing faster than productivity, with the demand for an additional 1.5 million tons of wheat per year satisfied through imports.
In 2018, the Government of Ethiopia set a policy to achieve wheat national self-sufficiency by 2023. Additional production would come primarily from the irrigated lowlands of the Awash valley, in the Afar and Oromia regions, where the current cotton mono-culture would be converted to a cotton-wheat rotation.
Preliminary yield trials conducted by Werer Agricultural Research Center and based on experiences in Sudan where climate conditions are similar, on-farm wheat grain yields of 4 tons per hectare can be achieved. The potential area for irrigated wheat-cotton is at present around 500,000 hectares, which, when fully implemented, has the potential to make Ethiopia self-sufficient for wheat production.
The challenges to develop the current lowland into productive farming systems are significant and include identifying high yielding, early maturing, heat-tolerant, rust-resistant wheat varieties with appropriate end-use quality.
Appropriate mechanization will be required to allow farmers to facilitate rapid preparation of fields for wheat sowing after harvesting cotton, as well as for mechanized harvesting. Tested packages of agronomic and land management practices will be needed to optimize the production systems while mitigating against soil salinization.
In coordination with the national research and extension systems, this project will evaluate and pilot wheat technologies and packages of practices to reach 1,000 smallholders and medium commercial farmers in the Awash valley, and enable them to use these technologies and practices on 10,000 hectares of irrigated land in the first year, following the conclusion of this project.
Objectives
Capacity of research and development practitioners working on irrigated lowland wheat developed.
Improved wheat elite lines evaluated, and pre-release seed multiplication initiated of variety candidates.
Tested package of agronomic practices are ready for scaling.
Demonstration and piloting of appropriate machineries (modern mechanization) for irrigated wheat production.
Dryland Crops, formerly known as the Accelerated Varietal Improvement and Seed Systems in Africa (AVISA) project, aims to improve the livelihoods of small-scale producers and consumers of sorghum, millet, groundnut, cowpea and bean. Project partners focus on improving the breeding and seed systems of these crops in their key geographies in Burkina Faso, Ethiopia, Ghana, Mali, Nigeria, Tanzania and Uganda. Other crops receiving growing attention in the project include finger millet, pigeon pea and chickpea.
Although significant adoption of improved seed of dryland cereals and legume crops in Africa has been reported, its overall use remains low. There is a growing interest in these crops, particularly because of their resilience to climate-change; however, the seed sector is constrained by lack of product information, dearth of knowledge of the size and scale of the business opportunity, and inadequate access to early generation seed.
Dryland Crops will address these constraints by contributing to the establishment of robust systems that:
Enable networks to work synergistically across countries with common challenges and opportunities.
Support national agricultural research systems to access research, professional development and infrastructure-building opportunities.
Increase the quantity and quality of data substantiating varietal superiority and the demand for seed and grain of improved varieties.
Boost the availability of early generation seed and strengthen links between the research system and private- and public-sector actors.
The aspiration is to codevelop, validate by co-implementation, and continuously improve with partners research-to-farm-to-consumer models that achieve positive impacts on farmersâ livelihoods and consumersâ wellbeing.
The Alliance of Bioversity and CIAT and IITA will lead initiatives for common bean and cowpea, respectively. For sorghum, pearl millet and groundnut breeding, CIMMYT will design programs that support crop improvement networks, including CGIAR and national agricultural research systems, and incorporate best approaches, principles, and tools, particularly those availed through the Excellence in Breeding (EiB) platform.
The project is committed to gender equity as a guiding principle, considering the critical role women play in choosing legume and cereal varieties and seed sources. Women seed entrepreneurs and women-led seed companies will garner special attention for capacity development. Partnerships with actors through the value chain, platforms and demonstrations will ensure women have equal access to improved technologies.
The previous phase of the AVISA project was led by the International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT).
In a small workshop in Ethiopiaâs Oromia region, mechanic Beyene Chufamo and his technician work on tractor repairs surrounded by engines and spare machinery parts.
Established in Meki in 2019, Beyeneâs workshop provides maintenance, repair and overhaul services for two-wheel tractors and their accessories, and it acts as a point of sale for spare parts and implements such as planters, threshers and water pumps. Beyene also works as a tractor operation instructor, providing trainings on driving, planter calibration and how to use threshers and shellers.
The city already had a well-established mechanics and spare parts industry based around four-wheel tractors and combine harvester hire services, as well as motorcycle and tricycle transportation services. But now, as market demand for two-wheel tractor hire services rises among smallholder farming communities and entrepreneurial youth race to become local service providers, business is booming.
A two-wheel tractor with an improved driver seat and hydraulic tipping trailer system sits in from of Beyene Chufamoâs workshop in Meki, Ethiopia. (Photo: CIMMYT)
Building a business
Beyeneâs business has benefitted from support from the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT) and the German development agency GIZ since its formation. Beyene was initially trained as a mechanic through the Innovative Financing for Sustainable Mechanization in Ethiopia (IFFSMIE) project, which promotes small-scale mechanization in the area through demand creation, innovative financing mechanisms and the development of private sector-driven business. He went on to receive additional technical and business skills development training to enable him to run his own enterprise.
His ongoing association with the project and its new leasing scheme has helped Beyene establish connections with local service providers, while also improving his own skills portfolio. Currently, he helps maintain the smooth operation of machinery and equipment at CIMMYT project sites in Amhara, Oromia and Tigray. This involves everything from training other local mechanics and troubleshooting for service providers, to facilitating the delivery of aftersales services in project areas.
In addition to this, Beyene receives orders for maintenance, repair and overhaul services for two-wheel tractors and implements. He sources replacement parts himself, though the cost of purchase is covered by his clients. In some cases â and depending on the distance travelled â CIMMYT covers the transport and accommodation costs while Beyene services equipment from service providers and sources equipment from local distributors. When individual parts are not readily available, he often purchases whole two-wheel tractors from the Metals and Engineering Corporation (METEC) and breaks them down into individual parts.
Tools and spare machinery parts lie on the ground during at Beyene Chufamoâs workshop in Meki, Ethiopia. (Photo: CIMMYT)
The way forward for sustainable mechanization
âMechanization take-off relies heavily on skilled staff and appropriate infrastructure to perform machinery diagnostics, repair and maintenance,â said Rabe Yahaya, a CIMMYT agricultural mechanization expert based in Ethiopia.
âAgricultural machinery should be available and functional any time a famer wants to use it â and a workshop can support this. Beyeneâs work in Meki reflects the way forward for sustainable mechanization success in Ethiopia.â
Creating an agricultural machinery workshop from scratch was a challenging task, Rabe explained, but support and guidance from partners like CIMMYT and GIZ helped to make it happen. âAlso, Beyeneâs commitment and flexibility to travel to CIMMYT project sites anywhere and at any time â even on bad roads in difficult weather conditions â really helped him achieve his goal.â
A sign hangs on the entrance of Beyene Chufamoâs agricultural machinery workshop in Meki, Ethiopia. (Photo: CIMMYT)
Beyene is excited about how quickly the local two-wheel tractor market has grown in the past few years. He currently has 91 service providers as regular clients at CIMMYT project sites â up from just 19 in 2016.
Trends show that â with support from local microfinance schemes and the removal of domestic taxes on imported machinery â aftersales services will continue to evolve, and the number of service providers will rise alongside increased market demand for mechanization services, both at farm level and beyond.
With this in mind, Beyene aims to remain competitive by diversifying the services offered at his workshop and expanding his business beyond CIMMYT project sites. As a starting point he plans to hire more staff, altering his organizational structure so that each mechanic or technician is dedicated to working with a specific type of machinery. Longer term, he hopes to transform his workshop into one that can also service four-wheel tractors and combine harvesters, and establish a mobile dispatch service team that can reach more locations in rural Ethiopia.
For now, however, he simply remains grateful for CIMMYTâs support and investment in his business. âI am happy that I have been able to secure an income for myself, my family and my staff through this workshop, which has changed our lives in such a positive way.â
Cover photo: Workshop owner Beyene Chufamo (left) speaks to CIMMYT researcher Abrham Kassa during a visit to Meki, Ethiopia. (Photo: CIMMYT)
Scientists at the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT) have been harnessing the power of drones and other remote sensing tools to accelerate crop improvement, monitor harmful crop pests and diseases, and automate the detection of land boundaries for farmers.
A crucial step in crop improvement is phenotyping, which traditionally involves breeders walking through plots and visually assessing each plant for desired traits. However, ground-based measurements can be time-consuming and labor-intensive.
This is where remote sensing comes in. By analyzing imagery taken using tools like drones, scientists can quickly and accurately assess small crop plots from large trials, making crop improvement more scalable and cost-effective. These plant traits assessed at plot trials can also be scaled out to farmers’ fields using satellite imagery data and integrated into decision support systems for scientists, farmers and decision-makers.
Here are some of the latest developments from our team of remote sensing experts.
An aerial view of the Global Wheat Program experimental station in Ciudad ObregĂłn, Sonora, Mexico (Photo: Francisco Pinto/CIMMYT)
Measuring plant height with high-powered drones
A recent study, published in Frontiers in Plant Science validated the use of drones to estimate the plant height of wheat crops at different growth stages.
The research team, which included scientists from CIMMYT, the Federal University of Viçosa and KWS Momont Recherche, measured and compared wheat crops at four growth stages using ground-based measurements and drone-based estimates.
The team found that plant height estimates from drones were similar in accuracy to measurements made from the ground. They also found that by using drones with real-time kinematic (RTK) systems onboard, users could eliminate the need for ground control points, increasing the dronesâ mapping capability.
Recent work on maize has shown that drone-based plant height assessment is also accurate enough to be used in maize improvement and results are expected to be published next year.
A map shows drone-based plant height estimates from a maize line trial in Muzarabani, Zimbabwe. (Graphic: CIMMYT)
Advancing assessment of pests and diseases
CIMMYT scientists and their research partners have advanced the assessment of Tar Spot Complex â a major maize disease found in Central and South America â and Maize Streak Virus (MSV) disease, found in sub-Saharan Africa, using drone-based imaging approach. By analyzing drone imagery, scientists can make more objective disease severity assessments and accelerate the development of improved, disease-resistant maize varieties. Digital imaging has also shown great potential for evaluating damage to maize cobs by fall armyworm.
Scientists have had similar success with other common foliar wheat diseases, Septoria and Spot Blotch with remote sensing experiments undertaken at experimental stations across Mexico. The results of these experiments will be published later this year. Meanwhile, in collaboration with the Federal University of Technology, based in Parana, Brazil, CIMMYT scientists have been testing deep learning algorithms â computer algorithms that adjust to, or âlearnâ from new data and perform better over time â to automate the assessment of leaf disease severity. While still in the experimental stages, the technology is showing promising results so far.
CIMMYT researcher Gerald Blasch and EIAR research partners Tamrat Negash, Girma Mamo and Tadesse Anberbir (right to left) conduct field work in Ethiopia. (Photo: Tadesse Anberbir)
Improving forecasts for crop disease early warning systems
Early detection is crucial to combatting disease epidemics and CIMMYT researchers and partners have been working to develop a world-leading wheat rust forecasting service for a national early warning system in Ethiopia. The forecasting service predicts the potential occurrence of the airborne disease and the environmental suitability for the disease, however the susceptibility of the host plant to the disease is currently not provided.
CIMMYT remote sensing experts are now testing the use of drones and high-resolution satellite imagery to detect wheat rusts and monitor the progression of the disease in both controlled field trial experiments and in farmersâ fields. The researchers have collaborated with the expert remote sensing lab at UCLouvain, Belgium, to explore the capability of using European Space Agency satellite data for mapping crop type distributions in Ethiopia. The results will be also published later this year.
CIMMYT and EIAR scientists collect field data in Asella, Ethiopia, using an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) data acquisition. (Photo: Matt Heaton)
Delivering expert irrigation and sowing advice to farmers phones
The project has now ended, with the team delivering a webinar to farmers last October to demonstrate the app and its features. Another webinar is planned for October 2021, aiming to engage wheat and maize farmers based in the Yaqui Valley in Mexico.
CIMMYT researcher Francelino Rodrigues collects field data in Malawi using a UAV. (Photo: Francelino Rodrigues/CIMMYT)
Detecting field boundaries using high-resolution satellite imagery
In Bangladesh, CIMMYT scientists have collaborated with the University of Buffalo, USA, to explore how high-resolution satellite imagery can be used to automatically create field boundaries.
Many low and middle-income countries around the world donât have an official land administration or cadastre system. This makes it difficult for farmers to obtain affordable credit to buy farm supplies because they have no land titles to use as collateral. Another issue is that without knowing the exact size of their fields, farmers may not be applying to the right amount of fertilizer to their land.
Using state of the art machine learning algorithms, researchers from CIMMYT and the University of Buffalo were able to detect the boundaries of agricultural fields based on high-resolution satellite images. The study, published last year, was conducted in the delta region of Bangladesh where the average field size is only about 0.1 hectare.
A CIMMYT scientist conducts an aerial phenotyping exercise in the Global Wheat Program experimental station in Ciudad ObregĂłn, Sonora, Mexico. (Photo: Francisco Pinto/CIMMYT)
Developing climate-resilient wheat
CIMMYTâs wheat physiology team has been evaluating, validating and implementing remote sensing platforms for high-throughput phenotyping of physiological traits ranging from canopy temperature to chlorophyll content (a plantâs greenness) for over a decade. Put simply, high-throughput phenotyping involves phenotyping a large number of genotypes or plots quickly and accurately.
Recently, the team has engaged in the Heat and Drought Wheat Improvement Consortium (HeDWIC) to implement new high-throughput phenotyping approaches that can assist in the identification and evaluation of new adaptive traits in wheat for heat and drought.
The team has also been collaborating with the Accelerating Genetic Gains in Maize and Wheat (AGG) project, providing remote sensing data to improve genomic selection models.
Cover photo: An unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV drone) in flight over CIMMYT’s experimental research station in Ciudad Obregon, Mexico. (Photo: Alfredo Saenz/CIMMYT)
In Ethiopia, farming systems rely heavily on animal and human power, reducing productivity and efficiency. In recent years, the government and development partners have made significant efforts to modernize agriculture.
In 2013, CIMMYT introduced one-axel multipurpose tractors in various districts of Amhara, Oromia, South and Tigray regions. This new technology has helped to improve farmersâ lives and phase out outdated farming practices. Farmers have reduced drudgery, improved productivity and gained higher profits. This short video shows the impacts the two-wheel tractor brough to smallholder farmers in Ethiopia.
Financial support for this initiative came from the German development agency GIZ, USAID and the Australian government.
Field workers in Ethiopia weight the grain. (Photo: Hailemariam Ayalew/CIMMYT)
Quantifying agricultural productivity relies on measures of crop production and land area. Those measures need to be accurate, but it is often difficult to source reliable data. Inaccurate measurements affect our understanding of the relationship between agricultural productivity and land area.
Researchers examined the sensitivity of empirical assessments of this relationship to alternative measurement protocols. Scientists from the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT), Trinity College Dublin and the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) analyzed different methods of plot-level production and area measurement.
The study, to be published, is said to be the first to evaluate errors along the two dimensions âproduction and area â in all available measurement techniques.
Researchers found that errors from both production and area measurements explain the estimated inverse productivity-size relationship. When using a combination of the most accurate measures for yield and area â full plot harvest and total station â the inverse relationship vanishes. Consistent with previous studies, the study also shows that addressing one of the other sources of error â for example, either production or area estimates â does not eliminate the bias associated with measurement error.
For this study, the research team collected and used a unique dataset on maize production from Ethiopia, addressing measurement issues commonly found in other datasets that hinder accurate estimation of the size-productivity relationship. Specifically, the researchers considered six alternative land area measures: farmersâ self-reported estimates; estimates from low-cost old generation consumer-grade dedicated GPS receivers that have frequently been used in field data collection by research organizations over the past decade; estimates from single- and dual-frequency mobile phone GPS receivers; compass-and-rope estimates; and total station theodolite measurement.
An enumerator in Ethiopia measures grain moisture. (Photo: Hailemariam Ayalew/CIMMYT)
Most cost-effective measurement methods
The study also provides a cost-effectiveness analysis of the different measurement methods. According to the researchers, the most expensive combination to use is full harvest yield with total station measurement. The cost is potentially prohibitively high for traditional surveys involving large samples.
It concludes that the optimal combination is crop-cut random quadrant measurements coupled with GPS measurement. This offers the best value for money of all the methods considered, since the results for the productivity-size regressions are like what is found when the gold-standard for yield and area measurement protocols are used.
East African Seed Company has a rich history of nearly 50 years, serving farmers with improved climate-resilient seed varieties. Established in 1972, the company produces and sells improved seed, through a wide distribution network in at least 15 countries in sub-Saharan Africa. It also markets agrochemicals and other farm inputs, and has ambitions of expanding to the rest of Africa, trading as Agriscope Africa Limited.
Smallholder farmers in sub-Saharan Africa continue to face multiple biotic and abiotic stresses as they try to improve their farmsâ productivity and their livelihoods. Maize seed that guarantees high yield is a key trait, coupled with other key attributes such as drought tolerance, disease and pest resistance, early seedling vigor as well as suitability for food and animal feed.
With the varieties serving both small- and large-scale commercial farmers, challenges such as the fall armyworm, diminishing soil fertility and erratic rains have persisted in recent years and remain as key farming obstacles. âSuch challenges diminish crop production and the grain quality thereby, lessening farmersâ profitability,â says Rogers Mugambi, Chief Operating Officer of East African Seed Company.
Scientists at the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT), in collaboration with partners in the national agriculture research systems and the commercial seed sector, continue to develop seed varieties that can guarantee decent yield even in times of climatic, disease and pest stress.
General view of the East African Seed warehouse. (Photo: Jerome Bossuet/CIMMYT)
Top-notch research trickles down to farmers
Over the years, East African Seed has inked partnerships with CIMMYT, national research institutes and other agencies in the countries where it operates. Such partnerships have been the driving force to its success and the impacts within the farming communities in sub-Saharan Africa.
âOur collaboration with CIMMYT began in 2008 with germplasm acquisition. The cooperation has expanded to include testing networks for new hybrids, early-generation seed production and marketing. The overall beneficiary is the smallholder farmer who can access quality seeds and produce more with climate-smart products,â Mugambi says.
Apart from the multi-stress-tolerant varieties developed and released over time by the national agricultural research programs, CIMMYT recently announced a breakthrough: fall armyworm-tolerant elite maize hybrids for eastern and southern Africa. This success followed three years of rigorous research and experiments conducted in Kenya and signified a key milestone in the fight against fall armyworm.
As part of the partnership in the Drought Tolerant Maize for Africa (DTMA) and Stress Tolerant Maize for Africa (STMA) projects, East African Seed Company (Agriscope Africa Limited) established demonstration farms and conducted field days in Kenya, reaching thousands of farmers as a result. It was also able to produce early generation seed, which supported production of 2,000 metric tons of certified seed. This partnership now continues in the Accelerating Genetic Gains in Maize and Wheat (AGG) project.
The company has contracted large- and small-scale growers across the country to meet its seed production targets.
âMost of our small-scale growers are clustered in groups of up to 30 farmers with less than five acres of farmland. The large growers have advanced irrigation facilities such as the pivot system and seed processing plants. The seed from the fields is pre-cleaned and dried in the out-grower facilities before delivery to our factory for further cleaning and processing,â Mugambi explains.
A handful of improved maize seed from the drought-tolerant variety TAN 250, developed and registered for sale in Tanzania through CIMMYT’s Drought Tolerant Maize for Africa (DTMA) project. (Photo: Anne Wangalachi/CIMMYT)
Out with the drought
Currently, of the 1,300 metric tons of drought-tolerant hybrid seeds it produces yearly, 500 metric tons constitute those derived from the partnership in the STMA project. Two notable hybrids, Â HODARI (MH501) and TOSHEKA (MH401), were derived during the DTMA and STMA projects. Released in 2014 and accepted for regional certification through the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA)âs regional catalogue, the MH501 is a mid-altitude adapted and medium maturing three-way cross hybrid. The yield advantage of 15% over the local commercial checks triggered widespread adoption by the farmers, according to Mugambi. In Kenya, it was used as a commercial check during national performance trials, from 2017 to 2019.
The MH401, an early maturing hybrid with moderate drought tolerance, has been adopted in lowland and mid-altitude dry ecologies of Kenya and Tanzania. It has a 20% yield advantage over the local commercial checks.
As part of its varietal replacement, East African Seed Company looks to steadily retire older varieties such as KH600-15A and WE1101 and promote new ones including TAJIRI (EASH1220), TAJI (MH502) and FARAJA (MH503).
To promote new varieties and successfully reach smallholders, the company conducts field days, farm-level varietal demonstrations, road shows and radio programs. It also disseminates information on the benefits of new varieties while also dispensing promotional materials such as branded t-shirts and caps.
âAdditionally, we organize annual field days at our research farm in Thika, where key and influential farmers and other stakeholders are invited from across Kenya and neighboring countries to learn about our new agricultural technologies,â Mugambi says.
Representing CIMMYT, Kinde Tesfaye (on the left) took part in the live radio programs. (Photo: CIMMYT)
The continuing increase in the number of farming families has led to a growing emphasis on approaches on how to reach more people at a time. Among others, individual, group and mass-media approaches to agricultural extension and advisory services have been used concurrently.
This year, the global COVID-19 pandemic presented yet another challenge to the agriculture sector due to travel restrictions and limited face-to-face interactions. This has obstructed capacity building for farmers as well as development agents to deliver seasonal and intra-seasonal agroclimate advisories for farmers to support farm decisions.
Realizing the importance of mass media in extension, the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT) in collaboration with the Ministry of Agriculture, the Ethiopian Institute of Agricultural Research (EIAR) and Climate Change, Agriculture and Food Security (CCAFS)-EA used live show radio program on Sunday mornings to provide climate advisories on the 2020 Kiremt (main cropping) season to farmers and extension workers on a two-weekly basis between June and November. The live show also allows listeners to call in and ask questions and provide feedback. Besides the climate agro-advisories, COVID-19 alerts and precautionary measures were provided to the radio audience.
Extremely low climate induced risk perception
CIMMYT-CASCAID II project baseline assessment indicates that the rural communities in the project intervention areas have an extremely low climate induced risk perception and are also quite resistant to change. The areas are also highly prone to recurring droughts. Erratic rainfall distribution and dry spells are common. Large areas of barren and uncultivable land, water shortage, poor soil quality, soil erosion due to high run off rate are adversely affecting the farming systems. Research shows that simple adaptation actions such as watershed management, changing planting dates and crop varieties could greatly reduce the climate variability and change impacts. However, communities being poorly linked to scientists and policy makers lack information about climate change adaptation options and government schemes related to the same. There are also challenges of communicating scientific research in simplified ways that are appropriate to local stakeholder needs.
In recent years, the use of improved technologies has been increasing due to the progressive national agricultural development policy and strategy that is in place coupled with advisories provided to help farmers to make timely and appropriate farm level decisions and practices.
Agroclimate advisory – the fourth production factor
The provision of agroclimate advisory is considered as the fourth production factor after labor, land, and capital and critical to the agricultural sector as climate and its associated adverse effects can negatively affect agricultural activities and productivities. Thus, ensuring the accessibility of relevant time sensitive forecast based advisory information to farming communities helps improve productivity and yields higher returns.
The advice will also assist smallholder farmers to manage climate risks through informed decisions such as identifying optimum planting time/sowing windows, planting density at the start of the rainy season, while at the same time managing fertilizer application. Moreover, it also benefits farmer decisions and practices on soil water, weeds, diseases, and pest management throughout the growing season. By monitoring weather and crop growth during the season, the same forecast information can assist in predicting crop yields well in advance of crop maturity and to allow farmers to decide whether to sell the product immediately after harvest or store it until it commands better prices later in the year.
Radio for disseminating agroclimate information
In Ethiopia, the use of ICT for the accumulation and dissemination of agroclimate information and other agricultural updates is still low. Radio transmission covers a large percentage of the country with most of the households own a radio. This makes the use of radio programs one of the most cost-effective channels for conveying weather forecast information and agricultural knowledge to rural communities which ultimately facilitate informed decision-making and adoption of new technologies and practices.
In collaboration with its partners, the CIMMYT-CASCADE II project through Fana FM radio implemented a six-month (June-November 2020) live radio program providing seasonal advisories at the start of the main season in June using seasonal forecast from the National Meteorology Agency which was downscaled to Woreda/Kebele level by EIAR, CCAFS-EA and CIMMYT. This was followed by a biweekly or monthly Wereda specific agro-climate advisories which focus on fertilizer application, weeding, crop protection, soil and water management and climate extremes such as flood and droughts.
The program also included experts from the Ministry of Agriculture, EIAR, and CGIAR Centers to provide professional explanations and updates from the perspective of in situational readiness to support issues coming from the radio audience. The program created an opportunity for the federal government to prepare in time on some activities like importing agricultural inputs such as pesticides and fungicides to control the outbreak of pests and diseases (e.g., desert locust infestation and wheat rust outbreak). The platform also provided an opportunity to reach to millions of farmers to convey COVID-19 prevention messages such as physical distancing, use of masks, handwashing and other precautions that need to be taken while working in groups.
The food security and livelihoods of smallholder farming families in sub-Saharan Africa depend on maize production. The region accounts for up to two-thirds of global maize production, but is facing challenges related to extreme weather events, climate-induced stresses, pests and diseases, and deteriorating soil quality. These require swift interventions and innovations to safeguard maize yields and quality.
In this Q&A, we reflect on the results and impact of the long-term collaborative work on drought-tolerant maize innovations spearheaded by two CGIAR Research Centers: the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT) and International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA). This innovative work has changed guises over the years, from the early work of the Drought Tolerant Maize for Africa (DTMA) and Drought Tolerant Maize for Africa Seed Scaling (DTMASS) projects through later iterations such as Stress Tolerant Maize for Africa (STMA) and the newest project, Accelerating Genetic Gains in Maize and Wheat (AGG).
In this Q&A, three leaders of this collaborative research reflect on the challenges their work has faced, the innovations and impact it has generated for smallholder farmers, and possible directions for future research. They are: B.M Prasanna, director of CIMMYTâs Global Maize Program and of the CGIAR Research Program on Maize (MAIZE); Abebe Menkir, a maize breeder and maize improvement lead at IITA; and Cosmos Magorokosho, project lead for AGG-Maize at CIMMYT.
Briefly describe the challenges confronting small-scale farmers prior to the introduction of drought-tolerant maize and how CIMMYT and IITA responded to these challenges?
B.M.P.: Maize is grown on over 38 million hectares in sub-Saharan Africa, accounting for 40% of cereal production in the region and providing at least 30% of the populationâs total calorie intake. The crop is predominantly grown under rainfed conditions by resource-constrained smallholder farmers who often face erratic rainfall, poor soil fertility, increasing incidence of climatic extremes â especially drought and heat â and the threat of devastating diseases and insect pests.
Around 40% of maize-growing areas in sub-Saharan Africa face occasional drought stress with a yield loss of 10â25%. An additional 25% of the maize crop suffers frequent drought, with yield losses of up to 50%. Climate change is further exacerbating the situation, with devastating effects on the food security and livelihoods of the millions of smallholder farmers and their families who depend on maize in sub-Saharan Africa. Therefore, the improved maize varieties with drought tolerance, disease resistance and other farmer-preferred traits developed and deployed by CIMMYT and IITA over the last ten years in partnership with an array of national partners and seed companies across sub-Saharan Africa are critical in effectively tackling this major challenge.
A.M.: Consumption of maize as food varies considerably across sub-Saharan Africa, exceeding 100 kg per capita per year in many countries in southern Africa. In years when rainfall is adequate, virtually all maize consumed for food is grown in sub-Saharan Africa, with a minimal dependence on imported grain. Maize production, however, is highly variable from year to year due to the occurrence of drought and the dependence of national maize yields on seasonal rainfall. One consequence has been widespread famine occurring every five to ten years in sub-Saharan Africa, accompanied by large volumes of imported maize grain as food aid or direct imports.
This places a significant strain on resources of the World Food Programme and on national foreign exchange. It also disincentivizes local food production and may not prevent or address cyclical famine. It also leaves countries ill-equipped to address famine conditions in the period between the onset of the crisis and the arrival of food aid. Investment in local production, which would strengthen the resilience and self-sufficiency in food production of smallholder farming families, is a far better option to mitigate food shortages than relying on food aid and grain imports.
C.M.: Smallholder farmers in sub-Saharan Africa face innumerable natural and socioeconomic constraints. CIMMYT, in partnership with IITA and national agricultural research system partners, responded by developing and catalyzing the commercialization of new maize varieties that produce reasonable maize yields under unpredictable rainfall-dependent growing season.
Over the life of the partnership, more than 300 new climate-adaptive maize varieties were developed and released in more than 20 countries across sub-Saharan Africa where maize is a major staple food crop. Certified seed of over 100 stress-tolerant improved maize varieties have been produced by seed company partners, reaching more than 110,000 tons in 2019. The seeds of these drought-tolerant maize varieties have benefited more than 8 million households and were estimated to be grown on more than 5 million hectares in eastern, southern and west Africa in 2020.
A farmer in Mozambique stands for a photograph next to her drought-tolerant maize harvest. (Photo: CIMMYT)
In what ways did the drought-tolerant maize innovation transform small-scale farmersâ ability to respond to climate-induced risks? Are there any additional impacts on small scale farmers in addition to climate adaptation?
B.M.P.: The elite drought-tolerant maize varieties can not only provide increased yield in drought-stressed crop seasons, they also offer much needed yield stability. This means better performance than non-drought-tolerant varieties in both good years and bad years to a smallholder farmer.
Drought-tolerant maize varieties developed by CIMMYT and IITA demonstrate at least 25-30% grain yield advantage over non-drought-tolerant maize varieties in sub-Saharan Africa under drought stress at flowering. This translates into at least a 1 ton per hectare enhanced grain yield on average, as well as reduced downside risk in terms of lost income, food insecurity and other risks associated with crop yield variability. In addition to climate adaptation, smallholder farmers benefit from these varieties due to improved resistance to major diseases like maize lethal necrosis and parasitic weeds like Striga. We have also developed drought-tolerant maize varieties with enhanced protein quality â such as Quality Protein Maize or QPM â and provitamin A, which improve nutritional outcomes.
We must also note that drought risk in sub-Saharan Africa has multiple and far-reaching consequences. It reduces incentives for smallholder farmers to intensify maize-based systems and for commercial seed companies to invest and evolve due to a limited seed market.
Drought-tolerant maize is, therefore, a game changer as it reduces the downside risk for both farmers and seed companies and increases demand for improved maize seed, thus strengthening the commercial seed market in sub-Saharan Africa. Extensive public-private partnerships around drought-tolerant maize varieties supported the nascent seed sector in sub-Saharan Africa and has enabled maize-based seed companies to significantly grow over the last decade. Seed companies in turn are investing in marketing drought-tolerant maize varieties and taking the products to scale.
A.M.: The DTMA and STMA projects were jointly implemented by CIMMYT and IITA in partnership with diverse national and private sector partners in major maize producing countries in eastern, southern and western Africa to develop and deploy multiple stress-tolerant and productive maize varieties to help farmers adapt to recurrent droughts and other stresses including climate change.
These projects catalyzed the release and commercialization of numerous stress-resilient new maize varieties in target countries across Africa. Increasing the resilience of farming systems means that smallholder farmers need guaranteed access to good quality stress resilient maize seeds. To this end, the two projects worked with public and private sector partners to produce large quantities of certified seeds with a continual supply of breeder seeds from CIMMYT and IITA. The availability of considerable amount of certified seeds of resilient maize varieties has enabled partners to reach farmers producing maize under stressful conditions, thus contributing to the mitigation of food shortages that affect poor people the most in both rural and urban areas.
C.M.: The drought-tolerant maize innovation stabilized maize production under drought stress conditions in sub-Saharan Africa countries. Recent study results showed that households that grew drought-tolerant maize varieties had at least half a ton more maize harvest than the households that did not grow the drought-tolerant maize varieties, thus curbing food insecurity while simultaneously increasing farmersâ economic benefits. Besides the benefit from drought-tolerant innovation, the new maize varieties developed through the partnership also stabilized farmersâ yields under major diseases, Striga infestation, and poor soil fertility prevalent in sub-Saharan Africa.
How is the project addressing emerging challenges in breeding for drought-tolerant maize and what opportunities are available to address these challenges in the future?Â
Margaret holds an improved ear of drought-tolerant maize. Margaretâs grandmother participated in an on-farm trial in Murewa district, 75 kilometers northeast of Zimbabweâs capital Harare. (Photo: Jill Cairns/CIMMYT)
B.M.P.: A strong pipeline of elite, multiple-stress-tolerant maize varieties â combining other relevant adaptive and farmer-preferred traits â has been built in sub-Saharan Africa through a strong germplasm base, partnerships with national research partners and small- and medium-sized seed companies, an extensive phenotyping and multi-location testing network, and engagement with farming communities through regional on-farm trials for the identification of relevant farmer-preferred products.
CGIAR maize breeding in sub-Saharan Africa continues to evolve in order to more effectively and efficiently create value for the farmers we serve. We are now intensively working on several areas: (a) increasing genetic gains (both on-station and on-farm) through maize breeding in the stress-prone environments of sub-Saharan Africa by optimizing our breeding pipelines and effectively integrating novel tools, technologies and strategies (e.g., doubled haploids, genomics-assisted breeding, high-throughput and precise phenotyping, improved breeding data management system, etc.); (b) targeted replacement of old or obsolete maize varieties in sub-Saharan Africa with climate-adaptive and new varieties; (c) developing next-generation climate-adaptive maize varieties with traits such as native genetic resistance to fall armyworm, and introgressed nutritional quality traits (e.g., provitamin A, high Zinc) to make a positive impact on the nutritional well-being of consumers; and (d) further strengthening the breeding capacity of national partners and small and medium-sized seed companies in sub-Saharan Africa for a sustainable way forward.
A.M.:Â The DTMA and STMA projects established effective product pipelines integrating cutting-edge phenotyping and molecular tools to develop stress-resilient maize varieties that are also resistant or tolerant to MLN disease and fall armyworm. These new varieties are awaiting release and commercialization. Increased investment in strengthening public and private sector partnerships is needed to speed up the uptake and commercialization of new multiple stress-resilient maize varieties that can replace the old ones in farmersâ fields and help achieve higher yield gains.
Farmersâ access to new multiple-stress-tolerant maize varieties will have a significant impact on productivity at the farm level. This will largely be due to new varietiesâ improved response to fertilizer and favorable growing environments as well as their resilience to stressful production conditions. Studies show that the adoption of drought-tolerant maize varieties increased maize productivity, reduced exposure to farming risk among adopters and led to a decline in poverty among adopters. The availability of enough grain from highly productive and stress-resilient maize varieties can be the cheapest source of food and release land to expand the cultivation of other crops to facilitate increased access to diversified and healthy diets.
C.M.: Â The project is tackling emerging challenges posed by new diseases and pests by building upon the successful genetic base of drought-tolerant maize. This is being done by breeding new varieties that add tolerance to the emerging disease and pest challenges onto the existing drought-tolerant maize backgrounds. Successes have already been registered in breeding new varieties that have high levels of resistance to MLN disease and the fall armyworm pest.
Opportunities are also available to address new challenges including: pre-emptively breeding for threats to maize production challenges that exist in other regions of the world before these threats reach sub-Saharan Africa; enhancing the capacity of national partners to build strong breeding programs that can address new threats once they emerge in sub-Saharan Africa; and sharing knowledge and novel high-value breeding materials across different geographies to immediately address new threats once they emerge.
Cover photo: Alice Nasiyimu stands in front of a drought-tolerant maize plot at her family farm in Bungoma County, in western Kenya. (Photo: Joshua Masinde/CIMMYT)
