Location: Kenya

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Artificial inoculation of maize germplasm at the Naivasha MLN screening site, Kenya. (Photo: B.Wawa/CIMMYT)

New online portal offers information to curb maize lethal necrosis in Africa

Written by on July 24, 2017. Posted in News.

The new maize lethal necrosis (MLN) online portal provides up-to-date information and surveillance tools to help researchers control and stop the spread of the deadly disease.

MLN was first reported in Kenya in 2011 and has since then been reported in several countries in eastern Africa, especially the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ethiopia, Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania and Uganda. The disease kills plants before they can grow, and the pathogens are transmitted by insects or contaminated seed. Serious damage to the region’s maize production from MLN has impacted household food security.

The online portal, found at mln.cimmyt.org, details the spread of MLN, where the disease has been managed and controlled, and how to identify it in the field. It also provides key MLN publications, surveillance software, MLN incidence maps, information on the MLN Screening Facility, and MLN-tolerant hybrids that are either released or in pipeline.

One tool on the portal is the MLN surveillance and monitoring system that provides real-time data to identify the presence and spread of the disease across five endemic countries in eastern Africa, and three selected non-endemic countries in southern Africa. The system was developed by scientists collaborating with the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT), with support from the United States Agency for International Development (USAID).

In 2016, MLN surveillance was successfully conducted in Malawi, Zambia and Zimbabwe – three major seed producing countries in Africa – and the data is presented in the portal, detailing MLN’s status across 652 surveyed maize fields. Future data gathered in other affected countries will also be uploaded to the portal as surveillance teams conduct fieldwork using Global Positioning System online survey tools, to assess the spread and severity of the disease in these countries. Ongoing surveillance in endemic countries allows stakeholders to see real-time updates on the spread of MLN.

MLN susceptible hybrids compared to a CIMMYT-derived MLN-tolerant hybrid. Photo: CIMMYT

Since the disease was first reported, collaborative efforts have resulted in the establishment of a MLN Screening Facility at the Kenya Agricultural & Livestock Research Organization (KALRO) center at Naivasha in 2013. The facility, managed by CIMMYT, has so far screened nearly 100,000 maize germplasm entries — 56 percent from CIMMYT — against MLN under artificial inoculation over the last four years.

Nine CIMMYT-derived MLN-tolerant hybrids have been already released in three countries – seven in Kenya, one in Uganda and one in Tanzania. Eleven second generation hybrids are currently in national performance trials in these countries. Intensive efforts are currently being made by seed companies in Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda to expand the delivery of MLN-tolerant maize seed to the smallholders.

The MLN portal enables researchers to comprehensively assess the situation with regard to MLN, helps strengthen the national disease monitoring and diagnostic systems by providing faster and accurate data, and offers access to CIMMYT-offered MLN phenotyping services.

Farmers at center of sustainable agriculture in Kenya

Written by on June 30, 2017. Posted in News.

Muli Mutiso, one of the trial host farmers based in Wote, Kenya, doubled his harvest of maize and beans, respectively, by intercropping. Photo: K. Kaimenyi/CIMMYT — Muli Mutiso, one of the trial host farmers based in Wote, Kenya, doubled his harvest of maize and beans by intercropping. Photo: K. Kaimenyi/CIMMYT

NAIROBI (CIMMYT) – Climate change’s impact in eastern and southern Africa has driven many farmers to seek new planting techniques that maintain or increase crop production, despite fewer resources.

The World Bank forecasts show that climate change will push Africa to surpass Asia as the most food insecure region in the world, inhabiting up to 50 percent of undernourished people globally in 2080. Variations in temperature and precipitation, coupled with prolonged droughts and floods during El Nino events is predicted to have a devastating impact in the region where 95 percent of all agriculture is dependent on rainfall.

Farmers in eastern and southern Africa are already feeling the impacts of climate change, and changing the way they make a living because of it through new agricultural adaptation strategies.

Sustainable practices like growing two or more crops among each other, or intercropping, have become popular with smallholder farmers in Africa who often plant multiple crops. When used in combination with improved seeds with traits like drought or disease resistance, these farmers are able to have successful harvests despite challenges imposed by climate change.

Knowing how to manage an intercropping system is vital to its success. Cereals and legumes in an intercrop system must have different growth habits and rooting patterns to reduce competition for nutrients, light and water.

According to Leonard Rusinamhodzi, an agronomist at the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT), farmers also need to reduce herbicide use in intercropping systems.

“It’s difficult to apply selective herbicides in systems with both narrow and broad leaf crops,” said Rusinamhodzi, who is working with farmers to apply the best fertilizer practices to their intercropped plots. “Maize will require mostly nitrogen, phosphate and potassium basal fertilizer, while legumes will require mostly phosphate and potassium, and micronutrients such as zinc and boron. Proper rates and proportions for all fertilizers and nutrients is crucial to ensure both crops are properly nourished.”

Another major consideration of intercropping is arrangement of crops in the field. A common approach is to alternate one row of maize with one row of a legume, but in Kenya, two rows of a legume alternating with two rows of maize is preferred. This arrangement, known as the MBILI system (mbili meaning “two” in Kiswahili) in Kenya, reduces competition between the maize and legumes, which leads to higher yield for both crops.

Arrangements of intercrops: Left, the MBILI system characterized by two rows of a legume alternating with two rows of maize. On the right is the commonly used intercropping arrangement with alternating rows of component crops, that is, one row of maize followed by one row of the legume.

CIMMYT promotes the adoption of intercropping and other sustainable agriculture techniques through participatory farmer evaluations (PFEs) eastern and southern Africa. PFEs allow farmers to assess crops at demonstration plots and compare a range of improved seed products against local and traditional seed.

Participatory farmer evaluations allow farmers themselves to assess crops at demonstration plots, to compare a range of improved seed products against local/ traditional seed. Photo: K. Kaimenyi/CIMMYT

In Makueni County, Kenya, where most farmers grow cereals and legumes together, on-station intercropping trials comprising five drought tolerant maize varieties, six bean varieties and six pigeonpea varieties were set up in 2016 and replicated on several smallholder farmers’ plots. In 2017, the Participatory Evaluation and Application of Climate Smart Agriculture – PEACSA – project invited farmers to score and rate the performance of the crop varieties planted right before harvest time through a PFE.

By comparing crop performance, smallholder farmers are able to see first-hand that when used in combination with improved seed, sustainable techniques like intercropping are key to successful yields and quality seed. Because of this PFEs also create awareness of new products while simultaneously delivering detailed technical knowledge in a more convincing, hands-on manner.

About PEACSA:

Participatory Evaluation and Application of Climate Smart Agriculture (PEACSA) is a flagship project of the Research Program on Climate Change, Agriculture and Food Security (CCAFS), in collaboration with different agricultural research organizations, including CIMMYT. Through the PEACSA project a variety of best-bet CSA practices are applied at both on station and on farm levels, in an effort to test and evaluate appropriate technologies to increase agricultural productivity and enhance food security. With participatory evaluation, uptake and adoption of new technologies, especially improved seed varieties, is greatly increased because farmers take stock of the traits that matter to them. Cob size, kernel type, and length of maturity are just some of the characteristics farmers can rate in a participatory evaluation exercise.

About DTMASS:

Led by the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT) and funded by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), the Drought Tolerant Maize for Africa Seed Scaling (DTMASS) project works in six countries in eastern and southern Africa to produce and deploy affordable drought tolerant, stress resilient, and high-yielding maize varieties for smallholder farmers. In 2016, DTMASS conducted PFEs in Mozambique and Zambia in collaboration with partners, and aims to conduct dozens more in 2017, across all project target countries.

Kenyan maize nutrition and safety get boost from ancient Mexican technique

Written by on May 6, 2016. Posted in News.

A milling machine for preparing nixtamalized maize dough was presented to KALRO through the Mexican Embassy. Photo: B. Wawa/CIMMYT — A milling machine for preparing nixtamalized maize dough was presented to Kenya Agricultural & Livestock Research Organization by the Mexican embassy in Nairobi, Kenya. CIMMYT/Brenda Wawa

NAIROBI, Kenya (CIMMYT) — Although maize is a staple food for millions of Kenyans it is usually consumed in one of five ways: roasted or boiled; mixed with beans, or in ugali (a dough-like dish made from maize flour, millet flour or sorghum flour) and porridge. This is nothing compared to over 600 dishes derived from maize in Mexico, about 300 of them made through a process called nixtamalization or lime-cooking.

The process includes cooking and steeping dried maize grain in water and food-grade lime (calcium hydroxide), rinsing the maize to remove the outer kernel cover (pericarp) and milling it to produce dough that can be consumed in different ways, according to Natalia Palacios, maize quality specialist at the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT). This method, first developed in Mesoamerica where the crop was originally cultivated, has existed in the region for thousands of years.

If adapted, modern nixtamalization technology could increase maize uses and offer Kenyans invaluable benefits. Food-grade lime is rich in calcium, providing nutritional and health benefits. Nixtamalized food products such as tortillas (small circular-shaped flatbreads) are said to have same nutritional value as milk. About 94 percent of Mexicans eat tortillas, with 79 kilograms (174 pounds) per capita being consumed in rural areas and 57 kilograms per capita in urban areas every year.

By removing the pericarp, the technology contributes to reduce aflatoxin fungal contamination levels in maize kernels by 30 to 60 percent. Due to aflatoxins, Kenya has suffered maize production losses and, more importantly, a loss of human lives. In 2004, 124 people died due to aflatoxin contamination, and 155,000 90-kilogram bags of maize had to be discarded, according to government reports. Nixtamalization technology may therefore also contribute to increasing food safety for Kenyan consumers, who, according to the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization, are not fully aware of the harvest, drying and storage techniques necessary to prevent mycotoxin growth and contamination.

Participants prepare tortillas from nixtamalized dough. Photo: B. Wawa/CIMMYT — Participants prepare tortillas from nixtamalized dough. Photo: CIMMYT/Brenda Wawa

The benefits of nixtamalization will soon become a reality for Kenyans following the official presentation of nixtamalized maize mills to the Cabinet Secretary of Kenya’s Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock and Fisheries by Mexico’s ambassador to Kenya, Erasmo Martínez, which took place on 4 April 2016 in Nairobi. This event marked the official launch of a new project titled “Expanding maize utilization as food and enhancing nutrition improved health and development in Kenya through processing technologies from Mexico,” which will contribute to disseminating new technology across the country. The three-year project will be led by the Kenya Agricultural Livestock and Research Organisation (KALRO).

The launch was followed by a week of training of 27 trainers from the public and private sectors led by CIMMYT and its collaborators from the tortilla industry in Mexico City and the National Autonomous University of Mexico. The training focused on building the capacity of partners who will be the major drivers of the commercialization of nixtamalized products.

“Geographically Mexico is very far from Kenya, but we want to bring a technology that is benefiting millions of people in Mexico every day, and it’s my hope that this will go beyond Kenya,” Martínez said, lauding this milestone. The Mexican embassy and the Mexican Agency for International Cooperation and Development played a crucial role in bringing the technology to Kenya.

“This technology is important because of its value addition to our food sector through reduction of aflatoxin exposure, increased market and income opportunities for youth and women, which will attract and improve their involvement in agribusiness,” said Sicily Kariuki, Cabinet Secretary for Public Service and Youth, who played a key role in the initial discussion on transferring this technology to Kenya.

KALRO will support raising awareness of the technology among small- and medium-sized companies, increasing their investment opportunities. KALRO is the custodian of the equipment donated by the Mexican government that is being used for training. CIMMYT will support this work by providing technical and capacity building expertise.

“We will help to evaluate and monitor grain quality besides developing resilient maize to ensure we have improved materials that fit the purpose of an efficient nixtamalization,” Palacios said. CIMMYT will also continue to collaborate with its partners on research aimed at finding further scientific evidence of the use of nixtamalization as a way of decreasing aflatoxin exposure.