Location: Ethiopia

For more information, contact CIMMYT’s Ethiopia office.

Spraying locusts before they can fly key for effective control

Written by Alison Doody on February 27, 2020. Posted in News. 2 Comments on Spraying locusts before they can fly key for effective control

The locust invasion is the biggest in Ethiopia and Somalia in 25 years, and the biggest in Kenya in 70 years, according to the FAO. Photo: Ben Curtis/AP

East African countries are battling the worst desert locust invasion in decades. The locusts are devouring crops and pasture leaving in their wake a region that is staring at a potential food crisis. The swarms have swept across Djibouti, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Kenya, South Sudan, Somalia, Sudan, Tanzania and Uganda, with some of these countries reporting the worst outbreak in 70 years.

Experts have warned of a second round of the flare-up, as the eggs laid along the locust path hatch. Both aerial and ground spraying with insecticides continue but such interventions have not yielded much success.

Stephen Njoka, Director of the Desert Locust Control Organization for Eastern Africa (DLCO-EA) and Hugo De Groote, Agricultural Economist at the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT) share some insights on the outbreak, effective control measures and what can be done to mitigate the damage currently and in potential future outbreaks.

Q: What is your opinion on the locust invasion across the eastern Africa region?

A: The current locust invasion in the eastern Africa region is one of the most serious occurrences in decades. For Ethiopia and Kenya, this is the worst outbreak in over 25 years and 70 years respectively. The locusts have caused significant damage in pastoral regions, where they have devoured pasture and tree leaves. They are now reaching some of the major maize growing areas where they are likely to cause a lot of damage to the crops.

Q: Why are they called desert locusts?

A: They breed in the wet desert sands. In west Africa for instance, they would breed in the border areas between the Sahel and the Sahara Desert. They go through six stages; five of which are the non-flying phases. Once they reach adult stage, they start flying, mating and laying eggs, and the cycle continues.

They are usually solitary in nature, but occasionally move into their gregarious state, in which they alter their behavior and physical appearance, form swarms and migrate over long distances following the winds. This is what differentiates locusts from grasshoppers. When they land at a particular location, they cause a lot of damage in that specific area. Apart from that local destruction, however, they may not cause much harm on a national scale.

Q: How serious of a problem is this invasion to the food security status of countries like South Sudan that are just recovering from decades of conflict and a recent drought?

A: The invasion could pose a serious food security challenge in some areas as these insects consume their own weight in a day (one insect weighs 2 grams and a swarm can contain over 50 million insects).

For countries like South Sudan and Somalia where conflicts can hamper locust control efforts, the food insecurity situation gets compounded. Pastures are the worst hit as locusts tend to prefer hotter climates where livestock keeping is the main source of livelihood.

Q: In your experience, what is the best way to deal with such an invasion? What are the most effective control measures?

A: The best way to deal with such an invasion is to conduct aerial spraying using Ultra Low Volume (ULV) chemical or biological pesticides at the early stages for effective control. It is important to identify the egg-laying sites early on so that the emerging hoppers are sprayed before they can fly.

Q: We understand that this is the worst invasion in Kenya in about 70 years and the worst in 25 years in some neighboring countries such as Ethiopia. Should we expect another infestation a few years from now?

A: It is unlikely that we can expect another invasion of this magnitude in the near future. The current invasion may have been driven by climatic changes in the breeding areas of the Red Sea coast, war-torn Yemen and Somalia.

Q: How can we be better prepared given that such invasions are cyclical in nature and may happen again after some years or decades?

A: Continued monitoring and forecasting of the locust population in the traditional breeding sites should be a priority. Countries in the invasion areas should establish Locust Control Units under the appropriate ministries. These units should frequently get updates from the FAO Desert Locust Information Service (DLIS) in Rome and take precautionary steps as advised.

As the eastern Africa region, member countries of DLCO-EA should step up their support for the organization by acquiring modern aircrafts, which can conduct aerial spraying more effectively and efficiently.

Q: What monitoring measures are in place for the surveillance and recommended remedial measures, especially in periods of low densities just before they become gregarious? Who does the monitoring and how frequently is the monitoring done?

A: Locust scouting teams in the breeding areas are charged with monitoring and surveillance of these pests. The exercise is continuous and largely supported by FAO DLIS using appropriate equipment like elOCUST 3, a data recording and transmission system for crop pest monitoring, currently used as a detection and early warning tool for desert locusts.

Q: Are mitigation measures such as compensation for affected farmers an option?

A: Where farmers are seriously hit, government, intergovernmental agencies or non-governmental organizations may consider easing the farmers’ losses by offering food and/or financial support.

Q: We have seen efforts such as aerial or ground spraying of the pests. How effective are these interventions? What implications does this control measure have on the environment and people’s health?

A: The safe use of pesticides remains the best choice for control of insects occurring in such big numbers. It is important to use environmentally safe products which cause minimum harm to non-targets. Spray teams should be well trained on how to handle the pesticides.

People living in the invaded areas should also be alerted on keeping themselves and their livestock safe by not getting into the sprayed areas as advised. One effective biological control is the use of the Metarhizium, which the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA) developed out of the locust skin fungus.

Nevertheless, some chemicals may cause more harm to the environment, especially when aerial spraying is applied on swarms in flight. The pesticides can contaminate the environment, water, crops and can cause skin rashes or respiratory, neurological or eye problems. They can also cause harm to animals and aquatic species.

In times of locust outbreaks, like now, there is a tendency to procure large quantities of pesticides. However, once the locusts are gone, stockpiles of the unused pesticides remain. This brings about a new challenge of destroying or safely disposing of the old or obsolete pesticide stock.

Q: Can the locusts be eaten?

A: Many communities in the world eat locusts and other insects. It is, however, important to caution against eating sprayed locusts. Additionally, locust swarms can contain billions of locusts, so catching them for food may not have a significant effect in reducing their population.

‘Sharing’ or ‘sparing’ land?

Written by Rodrigo Ordóñez on February 14, 2020. Posted in Blogs. 4 Comments on ‘Sharing’ or ‘sparing’ land?

Any fifth grader is familiar with the Cretaceous-Tertiary mass extinction, which saw dinosaurs — and three quarters of all species alive at that time — disappear from Earth, probably after it was struck by a very large asteroid. However, few people are aware the planet is currently going through a similar event of an equally large magnitude: a recent report from the World Wide Fund for Nature highlighted a 60% decline in the populations of over 4,000 vertebrate species monitored globally since 1970. This time, the culprit is not an asteroid, but human beings. The biggest threat we represent to other species is also the way we meet one of our most fundamental needs: food production.

As a response, scientists, particularly ecologists, have looked for strategies to minimize trade-offs between agriculture and biodiversity. One such strategy is “land sparing,” also known as the “Borlaug effect.” It seeks to segregate production and conservation and to maximize yield on areas as small as possible, sparing land for nature. Another strategy is “land sharing” or “wildlife-friendly farming,” which seeks to integrate production and conservation in the same land units and make farming as benign as possible to biodiversity. It minimizes the use of external inputs and retains unfarmed patches on farmland.

A heated debate between proponents of land sparing and proponents of land sharing has taken place over the past 15 years. Most studies, however, have found land sparing to lead to better outcomes than land sharing, in a range of contexts. With collaborators from CIFOR, UBC and other organizations, I hypothesized that this belief was biased because researchers assessed farming through a narrow lens, only looking at calories or crop yield.

Many more people today suffer from hidden hunger, or lack of vitamins and minerals in their diets, than lack of calories. Several studies have found more diverse and nutritious diets consumed by people living in or near areas with greater tree cover as trees are a key component of biodiversity. However, most of these studies have not looked at mechanisms explaining this positive association.

Forests for food

Studying seven tropical landscapes in Bangladesh, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Ethiopia, Indonesia, Nicaragua and Zambia, we found evidence that tree cover directly supports diets in four landscapes out of seven. This may be through the harvest of bushmeat, wild fruits, wild vegetables and other forest-sourced foods. The study further found evidence of an agroecological pathway — that forests and trees support diverse crop and livestock production through an array of ecosystem services, ultimately leading to improved diets — in five landscapes out of seven. These results clearly demonstrate that although land sparing may have the best outcomes for biodiversity, it would cut off rural households from forest products such as forest food, firewood and livestock feed. It would also cut off smallholder farms from ecosystem services provided by biodiversity, and smallholders in the tropics tend to depend more on ecosystem services than on external inputs.

In Ethiopia, previous research conducted by some of the same authors has demonstrated that multifunctional landscapes that do not qualify as land sparing nor as land sharing may host high biodiversity whilst being more productive than simpler landscapes. They are more sustainable and resilient, provide more diverse diets and produce cereals with higher nutritional content.

The debate on land sparing vs. sharing has largely remained confined to the circles of conservation ecologists and has seldom involved agricultural scientists. As a result, most studies on land sparing vs. sharing have focused on minimizing the negative impact of farming on biodiversity, instead of looking for the best compromises between agricultural production and biodiversity conservation.

To design landscapes that truly balance the needs of people and nature, it is urgent for agronomists, agricultural economists, rural sociologists and crop breeders to participate in the land sparing vs. sharing debate.

This study was made possible by funding from the UK’s Department for International Development (DFID), the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) through the project Agrarian Change in Tropical Landscapes, and by the CGIAR Research Programs on MAIZE and WHEAT.

Ephrem Tadesse

Written by Rodrigo Ordóñez on January 31, 2020. Posted in Uncategorized.

Ephrem Tadesse is a Business Development Manager at CIMMYT.

He studies the economic viability of different technologies for smallholder farmers in different geography and crop patterns. For the last three and half year, he has been testing and identifying best-bet technologies in Ethiopia, together with local research institutes and private sector companies. Based on the performance of the machine and the economic viability for farmers and service providers, he has been working on adoption and scaling of technologies, through market linkages and facilitating access to finance.

Farmers see a demonstration of how the two-wheel tractor functions. (Photo: Simret Yasabu/CIMMYT)

Leasing scheme helps farmers purchase small-scale agricultural machinery

Written by Rodrigo Ordóñez on January 27, 2020. Posted in Features.

A new small-scale agricultural machinery leasing scheme became operational in Amhara region, Ethiopia, in December 2019. The initiative offers farmers and group of farmers the opportunity to buy agricultural machineries with only 15-20% advance payment and the rest to be paid during a three-year period. Three farmers participated in the pilot phase of the project.

This initiative, led by the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT) and the German Development Agency (GIZ), is one more step to expand small-scale agricultural mechanization in Ethiopia. CIMMYT and GIZ have explored this area of work since 2015, in collaboration with government and private partners.

Subsistence modes of production, shortage of quality agricultural inputs and farm machinery services are some of the impediments to expand agricultural productivity and enhance food security in Ethiopia.

Small-scale agricultural mechanization, in the Ethiopian context, improves the quality of field operations. For example, farmers are benefiting from row planting, optimal plant population, more precise seed and fertilizer placement, efficient utilization of soil moisture during planting window. The timing of operations is also very important — delays in planting could have a serious negative impact on yield, and harvesting and threshing must be done at a time when there is no labor shortages. Small-scale mechanization drastically saves time and labor compared to conventional crop establishment systems, and reduces yield loss at the time of harvesting and threshing.

Farmers walk by irrigated potato fields during a field day to learn about the use of small-scale agricultural mechanization. (Photo: Simret Yasabu/CIMMYT)

Despite these advantages, the adoption rate has been too low. A survey conducted by IFPRI and Ethiopia’s Central Statistical Agency in 2015 shows that only 9% of farmers in Ethiopia use machine power to plough their land, harvest their output, or thresh their crops. A significant number of farmers continues to use conventional farming systems, using animal and human labor.

Ephrem Tadesse, small-scale mechanization project agribusiness specialist with CIMMYT, said that most of the land holdings in Ethiopia are small and fragmented, and thus not suitable for large agricultural machineries.

CIMMYT and its partners introduced the two-wheel tractor and tested it in different parts of the country. One of the challenges has been the issue of access to finance to buy tractors and their accessories, because of their relatively high costs for individual farmers to buy with their own cash, noted Ephrem.

CIMMYT and GIZ have been working with selected microfinance institutes to pilot a machinery leasing scheme for small-scale agricultural mechanization. For several years, they have partnered with Waliya Capital Goods Finance Business Share in the Amhara region and with Oromia Capital Goods Lease Finance Business Share Company in the Oromia region. In December 2019, three farmers in the Machakel district of the Amhara region were the first ones to receive their machines through this scheme.

Farmers in the district of Machakel participate in a field day to learn about the use of small-scale agricultural mechanization. (Photo: Simret Yasabu/CIMMYT)

Tesfaw Workneh is the father of one of the beneficiaries. “This is great opportunity for farmers like my son to access small-scale agricultural machinery,” said Tesfaw. His son only paid 30,000 Ethiopian birr, about $1,000 — that is 20% of the total cost to own the different agricultural implements. Now, he is able to provide service to other farmers and get income, he explained.

Several types of machinery are being considered for this leasing scheme, using the two wheel-tractor as the source of power: planters, harvesters/reapers, threshers/shellers, trailers and water pumps.

For farmers like Alemayew Ewnetu, this kind of machinery is a novelty that makes farming easier. “Today, my eyes have seen miracles. This is my first time seeing such machineries doing everything in a few minutes. We have always relayed on ourselves and the animals. Now I am considering selling some of my animals to buy the implements,” said Alemayew.

Demelsah Ynew, Deputy Director of Waliya Capital Goods Finance Business Share, noted that his company was established six years ago to provide services in the manufacturing sector. However, after a discussion with CIMMYT and GIZ, the company agreed to extend its services to the agriculture sector. When revising our role, he noted, we considered the limitations farmers have in adopting technologies and the vast opportunity presented in the agricultural sector. Demelsah explained that to benefit from the leasing scheme, farmers will have to fulfill a few minimal criteria, including being residents of the area and saving 15-20% of the total cost.

Vast Locust Swarm Casts Shadow Over East African Food Security

Written by Mary Donovan on January 25, 2020. Posted in In the media.

The worst desert-locust plague in Kenya in 70 years is threatening to spread further into East Africa, jeopardizing food security.

Swarms of the insects are already devouring crops and pasture in Ethiopia and Somalia, and they’re breeding in Djibouti, Eritrea and Sudan — all areas that are prone to drought and food shortages. There’s a high risk they may soon enter northeast Uganda and southeast South Sudan, the United Nations’ Food and Agriculture Organization said Friday.

In Kenya, the locusts have mainly ravaged pasture, putting livestock production at risk, Hugo de Groote, an agricultural economist with the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center, said by phone. There is a need to monitor and control the insects to ensure swarms don’t reach the more southerly counties that grow corn, tea and coffee, he said.

A farm worker applies fertilizer in a field of Staha maize for seed production at Suba Agro's Mbezi farm in Tanzania. (Photo: Peter Lowe/CIMMYT)

Study calls for better understanding of fertilizer prices faced by African smallholder farmers

Written by Rodrigo Ordóñez on January 15, 2020. Posted in News. 1 Comment on Study calls for better understanding of fertilizer prices faced by African smallholder farmers

Crop yields in sub-Saharan Africa are generally low. This is in large part because of low fertilizer use. A recent study of six countries in sub-Saharan Africa showed that just 35% of farmers applied fertilizer. Some possible reasons for this could be that farmers may be unaware of the efficacy of fertilizer use; or have degraded soils that do not respond to fertilizer; they may not have the cash to purchase it; or because unpredictable rainfall makes such investments risky. It may also be because local fertilizer prices make their use insufficiently profitable for many farmers.

To better understand the potential fertilizer demand in a particular location, it is important to know how crops respond to fertilizer under local conditions, but it is critical to understand crop responses in terms of economic returns. This requires information about local market prices of fertilizers and other inputs, as well as the prices that a farmer could receive from selling the crop.

While national-level fertilizer prices may be available, it is necessary to consider the extent to which prices vary within countries, reflecting transportation costs and other factors. In the absence of such data, analysis of household-level behaviors requires assumptions about the prices smallholder farmers face — assumptions which may not be valid. For example, evaluations of the returns to production technologies settings have often assumed spatially invariant input and output prices or, in other words, that all farmers in a country face the same set of prices. This is at odds with what we know about economic remoteness and the highly variable market access conditions under which African smallholders operate.

An obstacle to using empirical data on sub-national disparities in fertilizer prices is the scarcity of such data. A new study focused on the spatial discrepancies in fertilizer prices. The study compiled local market urea price in eighteen countries in sub-Saharan Africa for the period between 2010-2018 and used spatial interpolation models — using points with known values to approximate values at other unknown points — to predict local prices at locations for which no empirical data was available. It was conducted by scientists at University of California, Davis, the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT) and the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI). The authors note that this is the first major attempt to systematically describe the spatial variability of fertilizer prices within the target countries and test the ability to estimate the price at unsampled locations.

Predicted relative urea price (local price divided by the observed median national price) for areas with crop land in eight East African countries.

“Our study uncovers considerable spatial variation in fertilizer prices within African countries and gives a much more accurate representation of the economic realities faced by African smallholders than the picture suggested by using national average prices,” said Camila Bonilla Cedrez, PhD Candidate at University of California, Davis. “We show that in many countries, this variation can be predicted for unsampled locations by fitting models of prices as a function of longitude, latitude, and additional predictor variables that capture aspects of market access, demand, and environmental conditions.”

Urea prices were generally found to be more expensive in remote areas or away from large urban centers, ports of entry or blending facilities. There were some exceptions, though. In Benin, Ghana and Nigeria, prices went down when moving away from the coast, with the possible explanation being market prices in areas with higher demand are lower. In other locations, imports of fertilizer from neighboring countries with lower prices may be affecting prices in another country or region, much like political influence. Politically, well-connected villages can receive more input subsidies compared to the less connected ones.

“The performance of our price estimation methods and the simplicity of our approach suggest that large scale price mapping for rural areas is a cost-effective way to provide more useful price information for guiding policy, targeting interventions, and for enabling more realistic applied microeconomic research. For example, local price estimates could be incorporated into household-survey-based analysis of fertilizer adoption,” explained Jordan Chamberlin, CIMMYT spatial economist. “In addition, such predictive ‘price maps’ can be incorporated into targeting and planning frameworks for agricultural investments. For example, to target technology promotion efforts to the areas where those technologies are most likely to be profitable.”

Predicted relative urea price (local price divided by the observed median national price) for areas with crop land in nine West African countries.

“The evidence we have compiled in this paper suggests that, while investments in more comprehensive and spatially representative price data collection would be very useful, we may utilize spatial price prediction models to extend the value of existing data to better reflect local price variation through interpolation,” explained Robert J. Hijmans, professor at University of California, Davis. “Even if imperfect, such estimates almost certainly better reflect farmers’ economic realities than assumptions of spatially constant prices within a given country. We propose that spatial price estimation methods such as the ones we employ here serve for better approximating heterogeneous economic market landscapes.”

This study has illustrated new ways for incorporating spatial variation in prices into efforts to understand the profitability of agricultural technologies across rural areas in sub-Saharan Africa. The authors suggest that an important avenue for future empirical work would be to evaluate the extent to which the subnational price variation documented is a useful explanatory factor for observed variation in smallholder fertilizer use in sub-Saharan Africa, after controlling for local agronomic responses and output prices. One way to do that may be to integrate input and output price predictions into spatial crop models, and then evaluate the degree to which modeled fertilizer use profitability predicts observed fertilizer use rates across different locations.

Read the full study:
Spatial variation in fertilizer prices in Sub-Saharan Africa

Ethiopia, great mobilization against wheat rust

Written by Mary Donovan on November 28, 2019. Posted in In the media.

To protect crops, a rapid alert system has been developed which is able to predict the spread of wheat rust and warns policy makers and farmers allowing timely and targeted interventions.

The project involved a multidisciplinary team – biologists, meteorologists, agronomists, IT and telecommunications experts – and the system was developed by the University of Cambridge, the Met Office of Great Britain, the Ethiopian Agricultural Research Institute (EIAR), the Ethiopian Agricultural Transformation Agency (ATA) and the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT).

At the base of it all is the data. Read more here.

A farmers group stands for a photograph at a demonstration plot of drought-tolerant (DT) maize in the village of Lobu Koromo, in Ethiopia’s Hawassa Zuria district. (Photo: P. Lowe/CIMMYT)

New publications: Understanding changes in farming systems to propose adapted solutions

Written by Natasha Nagarajan on November 28, 2019. Posted in Publications.

Farming systems are moving targets. Agricultural Research and Development (R&D) must understand where they come from and where they are going to offer solutions that are adapted. This is one of the main objectives of the Trajectories and Trade-offs for Intensification of Cereal-based systems (ATTIC), project funded by the CGIAR Research Program on Maize (MAIZE) and implemented by the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT) and the Farming System Ecology group at Wageningen University & Research.

A recent study led by Yodit Kebede — who obtained her PhD last year under the ATTIC project — examined the drivers of change affecting smallholder farming in southern Ethiopia, farmer’s responses to these changes, and consequences for agricultural landscapes.

As in many parts of the developing world, small farms in southern Ethiopia have become smaller. Population increase and urban expansion have been major drivers of this change. Population has been increasing over 3% annually in Ethiopia, the second most populated country in Africa. Grazing areas and forests were converted to cropland, putting stress on the availability of livestock feed and fuelwood.

Farmers responded to these changes through three broad trajectories: diversification — mixed cropping and intercropping, particularly for the smallest farms —, specialization — often in high-value but non-food crops — and consolidation — maintenance or increase of farm area. Each of these trajectories has its own specific R&D needs, although farms following a consolidation trajectory are often favored by R&D programs. The same three trajectories can be identified in many rural areas where rural transformation has not taken place yet, in Africa and elsewhere in the developing world.

The loss of grassland and forest produced a landscape more susceptible to erosion and loss of soil fertility. However, all outcomes from these landscape changes may not be negative. Another study conducted by the same authors in the same study area demonstrated that an increasingly fragmented agricultural landscape may lead to increased pest control by natural enemies.

While aiming to mitigate against negative outcomes from landscape changes — for example, land degradation — policies should be careful not to inadvertently reduce some of the positive outcomes of these changes, such as increased pest control. As concluded by the study, “a better understanding of interlinkages and tradeoffs among ecosystem services and the spatial scales at which the services are generated, used, and interact is needed in order to successfully inform future land use policies”.

Read the full study:
Drivers, farmers’ responses and landscape consequences of smallholder farming systems changes in southern Ethiopia

See more recent publications by CIMMYT researchers:

Estimation of hydrochemical unsaturated soil parameters using a multivariational objective analysis. 2019. Lemoubou, E.L., Kamdem, H.T.T., Bogning, J.R., Tonnang, H. In: Transport in Porous Media v. 127, no. 3, p. 605-630.
Analyses of African common bean (Phaseolus vulgaris L.) germplasm using a SNP fingerprinting platform : diversity, quality control and molecular breeding. 2019. Raatz, B., Mukankusi, C., Lobaton, J.D., Male, A., Chisale, V., Amsalu, B., Fourie, D., Mukamuhirwa, F., Muimui, K., Mutari, B., Nchimbi-Msolla, S., Nkalubo, S., Tumsa, K., Chirwa, R., Maredia, M.K., He, Chunlin In: Genetic Resources and Crop Evolution v.66, no. 3, p. 707-722.
Deep blade loosening increases root growth, organic carbon, aeration, drainage, lateral infiltration and productivity. 2019. Hamilton, G.J., Bakker, D., Akbar, G., Hassan, I., Hussain, Z., McHugh, A., Raine, S.R. In: Geoderma v. 345, p. 72-92.
Maize crop nutrient input requirements for food security in sub-Saharan Africa. 2019. Berge, H.F.M. ten., Hijbeek, R., Loon, M.P. van., Rurinda, J., Fantaye, K. T., Shamie Zingore, Craufurd, P., Heerwaarden, J., Brentrup, F., Schröder, J.J., Boogaard, H., Groot, H.L.E. de., Ittersum, M.K. van. In: Global Food Security v. 23 p. 9-21.
Primary hexaploid synthetics : novel sources of wheat disease resistance. 2019. Shamanin, V., Shepelev, S.S., Pozherukova, V.E., Gultyaeva, E.I., Kolomiets, T., Pakholkova, E.V., Morgounov, A.I. In: Crop Protection v. 121, p. 7-10.
Understanding the factors influencing fall armyworm (Spodoptera frugiperda J.E. Smith) damage in African smallholder maize fields and quantifying its impact on yield. A case study in Eastern Zimbabwe. 2019. Baudron, F., Zaman-Allah, M., Chaipa, I., Chari, N., Chinwada, P. In: Crop Protection v. 120 p. 141-150.
Predicting dark respiration rates of wheat leaves from hyperspectral reflectance. 2019. Coast, O., Shahen Shah, Ivakov, A., Oorbessy Gaju, Wilson, P.B., Posch, B.C., Bryant, C.J., Negrini, A.C.A., Evans, J.R., Condon, A.G., Silva‐Pérez, V., Reynolds, M.P. Pogson, B.J., Millar A.H., Furbank, R.T., Atkin, O.K. In: Plant, Cell and Environment v. 42, no. 7, p. 2133-2150.
Morphological and physiological responses of Guazuma ulmifolia Lam. to different pruning dates. 2019. Ortega-Vargas, E., Burgueño, J., Avila-Resendiz, C., Campbell, W.B., Jarillo-Rodriguez, J., Lopez-Ortiz, S. In: Agroforestry Systems v. 93 no. 2 p. 461-470.
Stripe rust resistance in wild wheat Aegilops tauschii Coss.: genetic structure and inheritance in synthetic allohexaploid Triticum wheat lines. 2019. Kishii, M., Huerta-Espino, J., Hisashi Tsujimoto, Yoshihiro Matsuoka. In: Genetic Resources and Crop Evolution v. 66, no. 4, p. 909-920.
Comparative assessment of food-fodder traits in a wide range of wheat germplasm for diverse biophysical target domains in South Asia. 2019. Blummel, M., Updahyay, S.R., Gautam, N.R., Barma, N.C.D., Abdul Hakim, M., Hussain, M., Muhammad Yaqub Mujahid, Chatrath, R., Sohu, V.S., Gurvinder Singh Mavi, Vinod Kumar Mishra, Kalappanavar, I.K., Vaishali Rudra Naik, Suma S. Biradar., Prasad, S.V.S., Singh, R.P., Joshi, A.K. In: Field Crops Research v. 236, p. 68-74.
Comment on ‘De Roo et. al. (2019). On-farm trials for development impact? The organization of research and the scaling of agricultural technologies. 2019. Wall, P.C., Thierfelder, C., Nyagumbo, I., Rusinamhodzi, L., Mupangwa, W. In: Experimental Agriculture v. 55 no. 2 p. 185-194.
High-throughput phenotyping enabled genetic dissection of crop lodging in wheat. 2019. Singh, D., Xu Wang, Kumar, U., Liangliang Gao, Muhammad Noor, Imtiaz, M., Singh, R.P., Poland, J.A. In: Frontiers in Plant Science v. 10 art. 394.
Differential response from nitrogen sources with and without residue management under conservation agriculture on crop yields, water-use and economics in maize-based rotations. 2019. Jat, S.L., Parihar, C.M., Singh, A.K., Hari S. Nayak, Meena, B.R., Kumar, B., Parihar M.D., Jat, M.L. In: Field Crops Research v. 236, p. 96-110.
Drip irrigation and nitrogen management for improving crop yields, nitrogen use efficiency and water productivity of maize-wheat system on permanent beds in north-west India. 2019. Sandhu, O.S., Gupta, R.K., Thind, H.S., Jat, M.L., Sidhu, H.S., Singh, Y. In: Agricultural Water Management v. 219 p. 19-26.
Impact of tillage and crop establishment methods on crop yields, profitability and soil physical properties in rice–wheat system of Indo‐gangetic plains of India. Kumar, V., Gathala, M.K., Saharawat, Y.S., Parihar, C.M., Rajeev Kumar, Kumar, R., Jat, M.L., Jat, A.S., Mahala, D.M., Kumar, L., Hari S. Nayak, Parihar M.D., Vikas Rai, Jewlia, H.R., Bhola R. Kuri In: Soil Use and Management v. 35, no. 2, p. 303-313.
Increasing profitability, yields and yield stability through sustainable crop establishment practices in the rice-wheat systems of Nepal. 2019. Devkota, M., Devkota, K.P., Acharya, S., McDonald, A. In: Agricultural Systems v. 173, p. 414-423.
Identification of donors for low-nitrogen stress with maize lethal necrosis (MLN) tolerance for maize breeding in sub-Saharan Africa. 2019. Das, B., Atlin, G.N., Olsen, M., Burgueño, J., Amsal Tesfaye Tarekegne, Babu, R., Ndou, E., Mashingaidze, K., Lieketso Moremoholo |Ligeyo, D., Matemba-Mutasa, R., Zaman-Allah, M., San Vicente, F.M., Prasanna, B.M., Cairns, J.E. In: Euphytica v. 215, no. 4, art. 80.
On-farm trials as ‘infection points’? A response to Wall et al. 2019. Andersson, J.A., Krupnik, T.J., De Roo, N. In: Experimental Agriculture v. 55, no. 2 p. 195-199.
Doing development-oriented agronomy: Rethinking methods, concepts and direction. 2019. Andersson, J.A., Giller, K.Ehttps://repository.cimmyt.org/handle/10883/20154. In: Experimental Agriculture v. 55, no. 2, p. 157-162.
Scale-appropriate mechanization impacts on productivity among smallholders : Evidence from rice systems in the mid-hills of Nepal. 2019. Paudel, G.P., Dilli Bahadur KC, Rahut, D.B., Justice, S., McDonald, A. In: Land Use Policy v. 85, p. 104-113.

A wheat field in Ethiopia. (Photo: Apollo Habtamu/ILRI)

CIMMYT is ready to support Ethiopia’s move toward — and beyond — wheat self-sufficiency

Written by Rodrigo Ordóñez on November 19, 2019. Posted in Features. 1 Comment on CIMMYT is ready to support Ethiopia’s move toward — and beyond — wheat self-sufficiency

Ethiopia has huge potential and a suitable agroecology for growing wheat. However, its agriculture sector, dominated by a traditional farming system, is unable to meet the rising demand for wheat from increasing population and urbanization. Wheat consumption in Ethiopia has grown to 6.7 million tons per year, but the country only produces about 5 million tons per year on 1.7 million hectares. As a result, the country pays a huge import bill reaching up to $700 million per year to match supply with demand.

A new initiative is aiming to change this scenario, making Ethiopia wheat self-sufficient by opening new regions to wheat production.

“We have always been traditionally a wheat growing country, but focusing only in the highlands with heavy dependence on rain. Now that is changing and the government of Ethiopia has set a new direction for import substitution by growing wheat in the lowlands through an irrigated production system,” explained Mandefro Nigussie, director general of the Ethiopian Institute of Agricultural Research (EIAR). Nigussie explained that several areas are being considered for this initiative: Awash, in the Oromia and Afar regions; Wabeshebelle, in the Somali Region; and Omo, in the Southern Nations, Nationalities and Peoples Region (SNNPR).

A delegation from the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT) recently met Ethiopian researchers and policymakers to discuss CIMMYT’s role in this effort. Ethiopia’s new Minister of Agriculture and Natural Resources, Oumer Hussien, attended the meeting.

“We understand that the government of Ethiopia has set an ambitious project but is serious about it, so CIMMYT is ready to support you,” said Hans Braun, director of the Global Wheat Program at CIMMYT.

Hans Braun (center), director of CIMMYT’s Global Wheat Program, speaks at the meeting. (Photo: Simret Yasabu/CIMMYT)

Strong collaboration

CIMMYT and the Ethiopian government have identified priority areas that will support the new government initiative. These include testing a large number of advanced lines to identify the right variety for the lowlands; developing disease resistant varieties and multiplying good quality and large quantity early generation initial seed; refining appropriate agronomic practices that improve crop, land and water productivity; organizing exposure visits for farmers and entrepreneurs; implementing training of trainers and researchers; and technical backstopping.

CIMMYT has been providing technical support and resources for wheat and maize production in Ethiopia for decades. As part of this support, CIMMYT has developed lines that are resistant to diseases like stem and yellow rust, stress tolerant and suitable for different wheat agroecologies.

“This year, for example, CIMMYT has developed three lines which are suitable for the lowlands and proposed to be released,” said Bekele Abeyo, wheat breeder and CIMMYT Country Representative for Ethiopia. “In India, the green revolution wouldn’t have happened without the support of CIMMYT and we would also like to see that happen in Ethiopia.”

“With our experience, knowledge and acquired skills, there is much to offer from the CIMMYT side,” Abeyo expressed. He noted that mechanization is one of the areas in which CIMMYT excels. Through a business service providers model, CIMMYT and its partners tested the multipurpose two-wheel tractors in Oromia, Amhara, Tigray and the southern regions. Good evidence for impact was generated particularly in Oromia and the south, where service providers generated income and ensured food security.

“Import versus export depends on a comparative advantage and for Ethiopia it is a total disadvantage to import wheat while having the potential [to grow more],” said Hussien. “The Ministry of Agriculture is thus figuring out what it can do together with partners like CIMMYT on comparative advantages.”

Hussien explained that the private sector has always been on the sidelines when it comes to agriculture. With the new initiative, however, it will be involved, particularly in the lowlands where there is abundant land for development under irrigation and available water resources, with enormous investment potential for the private sector. This, he noted, is a huge shift for the agricultural sector, which was mainly taken care of by the government and smallholder farmers, with support from development partners.

Ethiopia’s Minister of Agriculture, Oumer Hussien, speaks about the new initiative. (Photo: Simret Yasabu/CIMMYT)

Thinking beyond the local market

As it stands now, Ethiopia is the third largest wheat producing country in Africa and has great market potential for the region. With more production anticipated under the new initiative, Ethiopia plans to expand its market to the world.

“We want our partners to understand that our thinking and plan is not only to support the country but also to contribute to the global effort of food security,” Hussien explained. However, “with the current farming system this is totally impossible,” he added. Mechanization is one of the key drivers to increase labor, land and crop productivity by saving time and ensuring quality. The government is putting forward some incentives for easy import of machinery. “However, it requires support in terms of technical expertise and knowledge transfer,” Hussien concluded.

Cover photo: A wheat field in Ethiopia. (Photo: Apollo Habtamu/ILRI)

Ethiopia: Launching Digital Agro-Climate Advisory Platform in Ethiopia

Written by Mary Donovan on November 16, 2019. Posted in In the media.

In the midst of Ethiopia’s exponential population climb and the strikes of the climate emergency with erratic rains, dry spells, sharp floods and failed crops, the country launched a digital agro-climate advisory platform, called EDACaP, to put resilience at the center of agricultural livelihoods.

A team effort led by the Ethiopian Institute of Agricultural Research (EIAR) in partnership with the Ministry of Agriculture (MoA) and the National Meteorological Agency (NMA), alongside numerous research centers and programs: the International Center for Tropical Agriculture (CIAT), the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT), the CGIAR Research Program on Climate Change, Agriculture and Food Security (CCAFS) and the International Research Institute for Climate and Society (IRI), with support from the Agricultural Growth Program (AGP), the EDACaP has come to life.

Launching digital agro-climate advisory platform in Ethiopia

Written by Mary Donovan on November 16, 2019. Posted in In the media.

In this era of climate emergency, what is left when traditional knowledge is no longer enough?

Scientists develop an early warning system that delivers wheat rust predictions directly to farmers’ phones

Written by Rodrigo Ordóñez on November 4, 2019. Posted in Press releases.

One of the researchers behind the study, Yoseph Alemayehu, carries out a field survey in Ethiopia by mobile phone. (Photo Dave Hodson/CIMMYT)

TEXCOCO, Mexico — Using field and mobile phone surveillance data together with forecasts for spore dispersal and environmental suitability for disease, an international team of scientists has developed an early warning system which can predict wheat rust diseases in Ethiopia. The cross-disciplinary project draws on expertise from biology, meteorology, agronomy, computer science and telecommunications.

Reported this week in Environmental Research Letters, the new early warning system, the first of its kind to be implemented in a developing country, will allow policy makers and farmers all over Ethiopia to gauge the current situation and forecast wheat rust up to a week in advance.

The system was developed by the University of Cambridge, the UK Met Office, the Ethiopian Institute of Agricultural Research (EIAR), the Ethiopian Agricultural Transformation Agency (ATA) and the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT). It works by taking near real-time information from wheat rust surveys carried out by EIAR, regional research centers and CIMMYT using a smartphone app called Open Data Kit (ODK).

This is complemented by crowd-sourced information from the ATA-managed Farmers’ Hotline. The University of Cambridge and the UK Met Office then provide automated 7-day advance forecast models for wheat rust spore dispersal and environmental suitability based on disease presence.

All of this information is fed into an early warning unit that receives updates automatically on a daily basis. An advisory report is sent out every week to development agents and national authorities. The information also gets passed on to researchers and farmers.

Example of weekly stripe rust spore deposition based on dispersal forecasts. Darker colors represent higher predicted number of spores deposited. (Graphic: University of Cambridge/UK Met Office)

Timely alerts

“If there’s a high risk of wheat rust developing, farmers will get a targeted SMS text alert from the Farmers’ Hotline. This gives the farmer about three weeks to take action,” explained Dave Hodson, principal scientist with CIMMYT and co-author of the research study. The Farmers’ Hotline now has over four million registered farmers and extension agents, enabling rapid information dissemination throughout Ethiopia.

Ethiopia is the largest wheat producer in sub-Saharan Africa but the country still spends in excess of $600 million annually on wheat imports. More can be grown at home and the Ethiopian government has targeted to achieve wheat self-sufficiency by 2023.

“Rust diseases are a grave threat to wheat production in Ethiopia. The timely information from this new system will help us protect farmers’ yields, and reach our goal of wheat self-sufficiency,” said EIAR Director Mandefro Nigussie.

Wheat rusts are fungal diseases that can be dispersed by wind over long distances, quickly causing devastating epidemics which can dramatically reduce wheat yields. Just one outbreak in 2010 affected 30% of Ethiopia’s wheat growing area and reduced production by 15-20%.

The pathogens that cause rust diseases are continually evolving and changing over time, making them difficult to control. “New strains of wheat rust are appearing all the time — a bit like the flu virus,” explained Hodson.

In the absence of resistant varieties, one solution to wheat rust is to apply fungicide, but the Ethiopian government has limited supplies. The early warning system will help to prioritize areas at highest risk of the disease, so that the allocation of fungicides can be optimized.

Example of weekly stripe rust environmental suitability forecast. Yellow to Brown show the areas predicted to be most suitable for stripe rust infection. (Graphic: University of Cambridge/UK Met Office)

The cream of the crop

The early warning system puts Ethiopia at the forefront of early warning systems for wheat rust. “Nowhere else in the world really has this type of system. It’s fantastic that Ethiopia is leading the way on this,” said Hodson. “It’s world-class science from the UK being applied to real-world problems.”

“This is an ideal example of how it is possible to integrate fundamental research in modelling from epidemiology and meteorology with field-based observation of disease to produce an early warning system for a major crop,” said Christopher Gilligan, head of the Epidemiology and Modelling Group at the University of Cambridge and a co-author of the paper, adding that the approach could be adopted in other countries and for other crops.

“The development of the early warning system was successful because of the great collaborative spirit between all the project partners,” said article co-author Clare Sader-Allen, currently a regional climate modeller at the British Antarctic Survey.

“Clear communication was vital for bringing together the expertise from a diversity of subjects to deliver a common goal: to produce a wheat rust forecast relevant for both policy makers and farmers alike.”

RELATED PUBLICATIONS:

An early warning system to predict and mitigate wheat rust diseases in Ethiopia
https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/ab4034

INTERVIEW OPPORTUNITIES:

Dave Hodson, Senior Scientist, International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT)

FOR MORE INFORMATION, OR TO ARRANGE INTERVIEWS, CONTACT:

Marcia MacNeil, Communications Officer, CIMMYT. m.macneil@cgiar.org, +52 (55) 5804 2004 ext. 2070.

Rodrigo Ordóñez, Communications Manager, CIMMYT. r.ordonez@cgiar.org, +52 (55) 5804 2004 ext. 1167.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS:

This study was made possible through the support provided by the BBSRC GCRF Foundation Awards for Global Agriculture and Food Systems Research, which brings top class UK science to developing countries, the Delivering Genetic Gains in Wheat (DGGW) Project managed by Cornell University and funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and the UK Department for International Development (DFID). The Government of Ethiopia also provided direct support into the early warning system. This research is supported by CGIAR Fund Donors.

ABOUT CIMMYT:

The International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT) is the global leader in publicly-funded maize and wheat research and related farming systems. Headquartered near Mexico City, CIMMYT works with hundreds of partners throughout the developing world to sustainably increase the productivity of maize and wheat cropping systems, thus improving global food security and reducing poverty. CIMMYT is a member of the CGIAR System and leads the CGIAR Research Programs on Maize and Wheat and the Excellence in Breeding Platform. The Center receives support from national governments, foundations, development banks and other public and private agencies. For more information, visit staging.cimmyt.org.

ABOUT THE ETHIOPIAN INSTITUTE OF AGRICULTURAL RESEARCH (EIAR):

The Ethiopian Institute of Agricultural Research (EIAR) is one of the oldest and largest agricultural research institutes in Africa, with roots in the Ethiopian Agricultural Research System (EARS), founded in the late 1940s. EIAR’s objectives are: (1) to generate, develop and adapt agricultural technologies that focus on the needs of the overall agricultural development and its beneficiaries; (2) to coordinate technically the research activities of Ethiopian Agricultural Research System; (3) build up a research capacity and establish a system that will make agricultural research efficient, effective and based on development needs; and (4) popularize agricultural research results. EIAR’s vision is to see improved livelihood of all Ethiopians engaged in agriculture, agro-pastoralism and pastoralism through market competitive agricultural technologies.

Researchers visit maize fields in Ethiopia's Wondo Genet Agricultural Research Center. (Photo: Peter Lowe/CIMMYT)

New tools guide interventions against acid soils in Africa using lime

Written by Jérôme Bossuet on October 31, 2019. Posted in Blogs.

One major reason why maize productivity in sub-Saharan Africa is very low is poor soil health. Soil acidity is often mentioned because of its impact on crop yields and the extent of acid soils in the region. A recent soil mapping exercise, conducted by the Ethiopian Soil Information System (EthioSIS) under the administration of the Ethiopian Agricultural Transformation Agency (ATA), estimated that 43% of arable lands were affected by acid soils and that 3.6 million people, about 10% of the total rural population, live in areas with acidic soils.

Very acid soils — those with a pH below 5.5, roughly one hundred times more acidic than neutral soils — are associated with certain toxicities, like aluminum and iron excess, and some nutrient deficiencies. Soil acidity pushes soil nutrients out of reach of the plant, leading to stunting of root system and plant. As a result, the plant becomes also less tolerant to drought.

Soil acidification depends on soil nature, agroecology and farming systems. It happens through natural leaching of CO2 after rainfall and excess application of nitrogenous fertilizer or organic matter, for instance.

As a result, soil acidity significantly affects maize yields. In Ethiopia, studies have revealed substantial impacts on crop productivity related to acid soils and the importance of acid soil management for Ethiopia’s food security. The Ethiopian Institute of Agricultural Research (EIAR) estimated that soil acidity on wheat production alone costed the country over 9 billion Ethiopian Birr, about $300 million per year.

Acidic soils in the limelight

Preliminary analysis led by the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) suggests that yields of major cereal crops, such as wheat and barley, could increase by 20 to 40% with the application of lime in acidic areas of the country.

While these preliminary results are significant, we need to know more about local farmers’ experience with acidic soil and their mitigation strategies. Such impact assessments are however typically determined at either the national or experimental plot level and do not map where mitigating against acid soils would be the most profitable.

To improve acid soils, farmers may apply lime on their fields to raise the pH, a practice known as liming. How much lime to apply will depend on the crop, soil type but also on the quality of lime available. Liming has multiple beneficial effects like improving nitrogen fixation of legume nodules, boosting yields of legume crops.

But liming has a cost. It can quickly become a very bulky affair as we need to apply 3 to 4 tons per hectare for sandy soils and up to 8 tons per hectare for clay and humifere soils.

Furthermore, existing lime markets are quite limited or even non-existent in many areas, even those where acidic soils are prevalent. Developing supply chains from scratch is difficult and costly. Understanding the costs and potential returns to such investments is important. There are many questions to ask at different levels, from the farm and farming system to the lime supply chain. What are the available lime sources — calcitic, dolomite or blend — and lime quality? Where are the lime processing units and how could you assess the transport cost to the farms? What could be the crop yield response depending on the lime application?

User-friendly and scalable dashboard

IFPRI, in collaboration with EIAR, the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT) and the German aid agency GIZ, developed a pilot in Ethiopia’s Amhara region to help better target lime interventions for a greater impact. Amhara region was chosen because of the importance of acid soils, and access to extensive soil data.

Combination of several spatial datasets on soil quality, agroecological, weather, long-term agronomic trials and crop modelling tools enabled to generate at scale, georeferenced estimates of crop yield responses for different lime applications. Calibration of this spatial model for wheat estimated a yield increase of approximately 30% increasing the pH from 5.5 to 6.5, which is relatively consistent with general research data and expert opinion.

Mapped estimates of the grain prices and the delivered costs of lime, based on the location of the lime crushers in the region and transport costs, enables then to map out the spatial profitability of lime operations.

Initial calculations revealed a great variability of lime costs at the farmgate, with transportation representing at least half of total lime costs. It showed also that farmers often do not use the most cost-effective combination of inputs to tackle soil acidity.

Another possible application is to determine maize growing areas where lime benefits outweigh the costs, which would be ideal sites for demonstrating to farmers the positive impact lime applications could have to their livelihoods.

This Amhara lime dashboard prototype demonstrated its scalability. A national dashboard is currently being developed, which includes lime sources GPS location, grain prices and district-level soil quality mapping. This approach is tested also in Tanzania.

CIMMYT and its partners plan to package such tool in a user-friendly open-access web version that can be rapidly updated and customized depending on the area of intervention, for instance integrating a new lime source, and applied for different crops, and across the Eastern African region. Such dashboards will help development organizations and government make better informed decisions regarding lime investments.

Rose Aufi shows some of her maize grain reserves. (Photo: Shiela Chikulo/CIMMYT)

Rural women of eastern and southern Africa gain ground

Written by Shiela Chikulo on October 14, 2019. Posted in Photos.

Join us on this visual journey across Ethiopia, Kenya, Malawi and Zimbabwe, where you will meet farmers who demonstrate every day what it means to be RURAL: Resilient, United, Reaping benefits, Adopter and Learner.

These women have adopted climate-smart practices in their production systems to ensure optimal yields while learning about drought-tolerant varieties of maize to counter the harsh effects of dry spells, heat stress, pests and diseases. These rural women are exemplary leaders in their communities, as evidenced by their successful farming practices and the food and income they secure for their families.

R is for Resilient

Lughano Mwangonde (center) holds her granddaughter and stands for a portrait with her daughters. (Photo: Shiela Chikulo/CIMMYT)

Farming families in southern Africa are confronted with the adverse effects of climate change, particularly in Malawi, Mozambique and Zimbabwe. A report by FEWS NET indicates negative impacts like declining yields, increase in grain prices during peak lean seasons and widespread food insecurity. However, Lughano Mwangonde from Malula, southern Malawi, has been practicing climate-smart agriculture since 2004 through a CIMMYT project, which has improved the food security of her family. In the midst of increasing climate variability, Lughano is cushioned against the harsh effects of droughts and heavy downpours through the practices she adopted. For example, she uses crop rotation of maize and legumes, like cowpea and pigeon pea.

Sequare Regassa sorts maize grain. (Photo: Simret Yasabu/CIMMYT)

Climate change affects men and women differently. Rural women farmers tend to be more susceptible to drought and the additional labor associated with household tasks. As such, building resilience against climate change is critical. For Sequare Regassa, in Ethiopia’s Oromia region, this means shifting to drought-tolerant maize varieties such as BH661, which have better performance and increased yield, even under heat and other stress conditions.

U is for United

Sequare Regassa (wearing green) and her family stand for a group photo at their farm. (Photo: Simret Yasabu/CIMMYT)

Sequare Regassa is the family’s breadwinner, looking after her four children and working closely with her extended family on their 8-hectare farm in Ethiopia’s Oromia region. “Getting a good maize harvest every year, even when it does not rain much, is important for my family’s welfare,” she says. Although her children are now grown and living with their own families, the family farm unites them all in producing adequate grain to feed themselves. Read more about how Regassa and other farmers are weatherproofing their livelihoods.

R is for Reaping benefits

Tabitha Kamau examines drought-tolerant KDV4 maize in her plot in the village of Kavilinguni, Machakos County, Kenya. (Photo: Joshua Masinde/CIMMYT)

Rural women farmers are taking up improved drought-tolerant and high yielding varieties with early maturity thanks to participatory maize varietal selection. “If I am able to harvest in three and a half months or less, compared to four months or more for other varieties, I can sell some grain to neighbors still awaiting their harvest who want to feed their families,” says Tabitha Kamau. She is a smallholder farmer in Machakos County, Kenya, who plants drought-tolerant maize on her plot. Read about how farmers in her area are choosing the varieties that work best for them.

Rose Aufi explains how her family of seven children and three grandchildren are food-secure thanks to the climate-smart agriculture techniques she practices on her farm in Matandika, southern Malawi. She and her husband have obtained a good harvest since they started participating in a CIMMYT project and adopted climate-smart agricultural practices. Aufi says technologies such as mulching and crop rotation are there to simplify the workload in the field.

A is for Adopter

Alice Nasiyimu holds four large cobs of maize harvested at her family farm in Bungoma County, in western Kenya. (Photo: Joshua Masinde/CIMMYT)

Dolly Muatha shows maize from her farm in Makueni County, eastern Kenya. (Photo: Joshua Masinde/CIMMYT)

Dolly Muatha, a 49-year-old farmer with four children in Kenya’s Makueni County, has been growing SAWA drought-tolerant maize for three years. She has witnessed the performance of this variety in her demo plot. “It matures early and yields two to three beautiful cobs per plant” she says.

L is for Learner

Ruth Kanini Somba (left) stands for a portrait with her husband Alex and their 8-year-old son. (Photo: Jerome Bossuet/CIMMYT)

Ruth Kanini Somba adopted SAWA maize in 2017 after seeing a demonstration plot at Dolly Muatha’s farm. She points out that SAWA performs better than other varieties because of its early maturity and resistance to grey leaf spot and weevils. The drought-tolerant attribute of the SAWA maize also makes the maize crop cope well when rainfall is erratic.

Agnes Nthambi (left) and other farmers evaluate maize varieties developed through CIMMYT’s Stress Tolerant Maize for Africa (STMA) project. (Photo: Joshua Masinde/CIMMYT)

Improved agricultural techniques, such as optimum spacing, enables farmers such as Agnes Nthambi to get better crops. This farmer from Kenya’s Machakos County hosted a demonstration plot she and other farmers in her area were able to learn new growing techniques. “On this trial, I learned that spacing was about two times shorter than we are generally used to. Even with the more constricted spacing, the maize has performed much better than what we are used to seeing,” Nthambi explained.

Smallholder farmers’ multi-front strategy combats rapidly evolving wheat rust in Ethiopia

Written by Leslie Domínguez on September 18, 2019. Posted in News. 1 Comment on Smallholder farmers’ multi-front strategy combats rapidly evolving wheat rust in Ethiopia

Ethiopian wheat planting. (Photo: CIMMYT)

New research shows that smallholder farmers in Ethiopia used various coping mechanisms apart from fungicides in response to the recent wheat rust epidemics in the country. Scientists from the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT) and the Ethiopian Institute of Agricultural Research (EIAR) call for continuous support to research and extension programs to develop and disseminate improved wheat varieties with resistant traits to old and newly emerging rust races.

Rising wheat yields cannot catch up rising demand

Wheat is the fourth largest food crop in Ethiopia cultivated by smallholders, after teff, maize and sorghum. Ethiopia is the largest wheat producer in sub-Saharan Africa and average farm yields have more than doubled in the past two decades, reaching 2.74 tons per hectare on average in 2017/18. Farmers who use improved wheat varieties together with recommended agronomic practices recorded 4 to 6 tons per hectare in high-potential wheat growing areas such as the Arsi and Bale zones. Yet the country remains a net importer because demand for wheat is rapidly rising.

The Ethiopian government has targeted wheat self-sufficiency by 2023 and the country has huge production potential due to its various favorable agroecologies for wheat production.

However, one major challenge to boosting wheat production and yields is farmers’ vulnerability to rapidly evolving wheat diseases like wheat rusts.

The Ethiopian highlands have long been known as hot spots for stem and yellow wheat rusts caused by the fungus Puccinia spp., which can spread easily under favorable climatic conditions. Such threats may grow with a changing climate.

Recurrent outbreaks of the two rusts destroyed significant areas of popular wheat varieties. In 2010, a yellow rust epidemic severely affected the popular Kubsa variety. In 2013/14, farmers in the Arsi and Bale zones saw a new stem rust race destroy entire fields of the bread wheat Digalu variety.

In response to the 2010 yellow rust outbreak, the government and non-government organizations, seed enterprises and other development supporters increased the supply of yellow rust resistant varieties like Kakaba and Danda’a.

Fungicide is not the only solution for wheat smallholder farmers

Two household panel surveys during the 2009/10 main cropping season, before the yellow rust epidemic, and during the 2013/14 cropping season analyzed farmers’ exposure to wheat rusts and their coping mechanisms. From the survey, 44% of the wheat farming families reported yellow rust in their fields during the 2010/11 epidemic.

Household data analysis looked at the correlation between household characteristics, their coping strategies against wheat rust and farm yields. The study revealed there was a 29 to 41% yield advantage by increasing wheat area of the new, resistant varieties even under normal seasons with minimum rust occurrence in the field. Continuous varietal development in responding to emerging new rust races and supporting the deployment of newly released rust resistant varieties could help smallholders cope against the disease and maintain improved yields in the rust prone environments of Ethiopia.

The case study showed that apart from using fungicides, increasing wheat area under yellow rust resistant varieties, increasing diversity of wheat varieties grown, or a combination of these strategies were the main coping mechanisms farmers had taken to prevent new rust damages. Large-scale replacement of highly susceptible varieties by new rust resistant varieties was observed after the 2010/11 epidemic.

The most significant wheat grain yield increases were observed for farmers who increased both area under resistant varieties and number of wheat varieties grown per season.

The additional yield gain thanks to the large-scale adoption of yellow rust resistant varieties observed after the 2010/11 epidemic makes a very strong case to further strengthen wheat research and extension investments, so that more Ethiopian farmers have access to improved wheat varieties resistant to old and newly emerging rust races.

Read the full study on PLOS ONE:
https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0219327