Skip to main content

Location: Mozambique

CIMMYT researcher Demewoz Negera at the Ambo Research Center in Ethiopia. (Photo: Peter Lowe/CIMMYT)

Collaborating to accelerate genetic gains in maize and wheat

Written by Marta Millere on . Posted in Features.

Stakeholders in the Accelerating Genetic Gains in Maize and Wheat for Improved Livelihoods (AGG) project have pledged to strengthen efforts to deliver desirable stress tolerant, nutritious and high-yielding maize and wheat varieties to smallholder farmers in a much shorter time. The alliance, comprising funders, national agricultural research systems (NARS), private seed companies, non-governmental organizations, the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT) and, for the maize component the International Institute for Tropical Agriculture (IITA), made these assurances during virtual events held in July and August 2020, marking the inception of the 5-year AGG project.

The initiative seeks to fast-track the development of higher-yielding, climate resilient, demand-driven, gender-responsive and nutritious seed varieties for maize and wheat, two of the world’s most important staple crops. The project is funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office (FCDO), the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), and the Foundation for Food and Agriculture Research (FFAR).

Tackling current and emerging threats

Jeff Rosichan, scientific program director of the Foundation for Food and Agricultural Research (FFAR),  acknowledged the significant and ambitious aim of the project in tackling the challenges facing maize and wheat currently and in the future. “We are seeing the emergence of new pests and pathogens and viral diseases like never before. A lot of the work of this project is going to help us to tackle such challenges and to be better prepared to tackle emerging threats,” he said.

AGG builds on gains made in previous initiatives including Drought Tolerant Maize for Africa (DTMA), Improved Maize for African Soils (IMAS), Water Efficient Maize for Africa (WEMA), Stress Tolerant Maize for Africa (STMA) and Delivering Genetic Gain in Wheat (DGGW), with support from partners in 17 target countries in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) and South Asia.

Hailu Wordofa, agricultural technology specialist at the USAID Bureau for Resilience and Food Security, underscored his expectation for CIMMYT’s global breeding program to use optimal breeding approaches and develop strong collaborative relationships with NARS partners, “from the development of product profiles to breeding, field trials and line advancement.”

Similarly, Gary Atlin, senior program officer at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation lauded the move toward stronger partnerships and greater emphasis on the CIMMYT and IITA breeding programs. “The technical capacity of partners has increased through the years. It is prudent to ensure that national partnerships continue. It is always a challenging environment, this time multiplied by the COVID-19 crisis, but through this collaboration, there is a greater scope to strengthen such partnerships even more,” he said.

Anne Wangui, Maize Seed Health Technician, demonstrates how to test maize plants for maize dwarf mosaic virus (MDMV). (Photo: Joshua
Anne Wangui, Maize Seed Health Technician, demonstrates how to test maize plants for maize dwarf mosaic virus (MDMV). (Photo: Joshua Masinde/CIMMYT)

Symbiotic partnerships with great impact

“From the NARS perspective, we are committed to doing our part as primary partners to deliver the right seed to the farmers,” said Godfrey Asea, director of the National Crops Resources Research Institute at the National Agriculture Research Organization (NARO), Uganda. “We see an opportunity to review and to use a lot of previous historical data, both in-country and regionally and to continue making improved decisions. We also reiterate our commitment and support to continuously make improvement plans in our breeding programs.”

Martin Kropff, director general of CIMMYT, recognized the tremendous impact arising from the longstanding cooperation between CIMMYT’s maize and wheat programs and national programs in countries where CIMMYT works. “A wheat study in Ethiopia showed that 90% of all the wheat grown in the country is CIMMYT-related, while an impact study for the maize program shows that 50% of the maize varieties in Africa are CIMMYT-derived. We are very proud of that – not for ourselves but for the people that we work for, the hundreds of millions of poor people and smallholder farmers who really rely on wheat and maize for their living and for their incomes,” he said.

Founder and Chief Executive Officer of East Africa-based Western Seed Company Saleem Esmail expressed optimism at the opportunities the project offers to improve livelihoods of beneficiaries. “I believe we can do this by sharing experiences and by leveraging on the impacts that this project is going to bring, from new technologies to new science approaches, particularly those that help save costs of seed production.”

He, however, observed that while the target of fast-tracking varietal turnover was great, it was a tough call, too, “because farmers are very risk averse and to change their habits requires a great deal of effort.”

On his part, director of Crop Research at the Oromia Agricultural Research Institute (OARI) in Ethiopia Tesfaye Letta revealed that from collaborative research work undertaken with CIMMYT, the institute has had access to better-quality varieties especially for wheat (bread and durum). These have helped millions of farmers to improve their productivity even as Ethiopia aims for wheat self-sufficiency by expanding wheat production under irrigation.

“We expect more support, from identifying wheat germplasm suitable for irrigation, developing disease resistant varieties and multiplying a sufficient quantity of early generation seed, to applying appropriate agronomic practices for yield improvement and organizing exposure field visits for farmers and experts,” he said.

Challenges and opportunities in a time of crisis

Alan Tollervey, head of agriculture research at Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) and the UK representative to the CGIAR System Council, emphasized the need for continued investment in agricultural research to build a resilient food system that can cope with the demands and pressures of the coming decades. This way, organizations such as CIMMYT and its partners can adequately deliver products that are relevant not only to the immediate demands of poor farmers in developing countries – and the global demand for food generally – but also to address foreseen threats.

“We are at a time of intense pressure on budgets, and that is when projects are most successful, most relevant to the objectives of any organization, and most able to demonstrate a track record of delivery. CIMMYT has a long track history of being able to respond to rapidly emerging threats,” he said.

Felister Makini, the deputy director general for crops at the Kenya Agricultural Research Organization (KALRO) lauded the fact that AGG not only brings together maize and wheat breeding and optimization tools and technologies, but also considers gender and socioeconomic insights, “which will be crucial to our envisioned strategy to achieve socioeconomic change.”

Zambia Agriculture Research Organization (ZARI) maize breeder Mwansa Kabamba noted that the inclusion of extension workers will help to get buy-in from farmers especially as far as helping with adoption of the improved varieties is concerned.

In its lifecycle, the AGG project aims to reduce the breeding cycles for both maize and wheat from 5-7 years currently to 3-4 years. By 2024, at least 150,000 metric tons of certified maize seed is expected to be produced, adopted by 10 million households, planted on 6 million hectares and benefit 64 million people. It also seeks to serve over 30 million households engaged in wheat farming the target countries.

Cover photo: CIMMYT researcher Demewoz Negera at the Ambo Research Center in Ethiopia. (Photo: Peter Lowe/CIMMYT)

Farmers evaluate traits of wheat varieties, Ethiopia. (Photo: Jeske van de Gevel/Bioversity International)

Reaching women with improved maize and wheat

Written by Marcia MacNeil on . Posted in Features.

By 2050, global demand for wheat is predicted to increase by 50 percent from today’s levels and demand for maize is expected to double. Meanwhile, these profoundly important and loved crops bear incredible risks from emerging pests and diseases, diminishing water resources, limited available land and unstable weather conditions – with climate change as a constant pressure exacerbating all these stresses.

Accelerating Genetic Gains in Maize and Wheat for Improved Livelihoods (AGG) is a new 5-year project led by the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT) that brings together partners in the global science community and in national agricultural research and extension systems to accelerate the development of higher-yielding varieties of maize and wheat.

Funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the UK Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office, the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) and the Foundation for Food and Agriculture Research (FFAR), AGG fuses innovative methods to sustainably and inclusively improve breeding efficiency and precision to produce seed varieties that are climate-resilient, pest- and disease-resistant, highly nutritious, and targeted to farmers’ specific needs.

AGG seeks to respond to the intersection of the climate emergency and gender through gender-intentional product profiles for its improved seed varieties and gender-intentional seed delivery pathways.

AGG will take into account the needs and preferences of female farmers when developing the product profiles for improved varieties of wheat and maize. This will be informed by gender-disaggregated data collection on current varieties and preferred characteristics and traits, systematic on-farm testing in target regions, and training of scientists and technicians.

Farmer Agnes Sendeza harvests maize cobs in Malawi. (Photo: Peter Lowe/CIMMYT)
Farmer Agnes Sendeza harvests maize cobs in Malawi. (Photo: Peter Lowe/CIMMYT)

To encourage female farmers to take up climate-resilient improved seeds, AGG will seek to understand the pathways by which women receive information and improved seed and the external dynamics that affect this access and will use this information to create gender-intentional solutions for increasing varietal adoption and turnover.

“Until recently, investments in seed improvement work have not actively looked in this area,” said Olaf Erenstein, Director of CIMMYT’s Socioeconomics Program at a virtual inception meeting for the project in late August 2020. Now, “it has been built in as a primary objective of AGG to focus on [
] strengthening gender-intentional seed delivery systems so that we ensure a faster varietal turnover and higher adoption levels in the respective target areas.”

In the first year of the initiative, the researchers will take a deep dive into the national- and state-level frameworks and policies that might enable or influence the delivery of these new varieties to both female and male farmers. They will analyze this delivery system by mapping the seed delivery paths and studying the diverse factors that impact seed demand. By understanding their respective roles, practices, and of course, the strengths and weaknesses of the system, the researchers can diagnose issues in the delivery chain and respond accordingly.

Once this important scoping step is complete, the team will design a research plan for the following years to understand and influence the seed information networks and seed acquisition. It will be critical in this step to identify some of the challenges and opportunities on a broad scale, while also accounting for the related intra-household decision-making dynamics that could affect access to and uptake of these improved seed varieties.

“It is a primary objective of AGG to ensure gender intentionality,” said Kevin Pixley, Director of CIMMYT’s Genetic Resources Program and AGG project leader. “Often women do not have access to not only inputs but also information, and in the AGG project we are seeking to help close those gaps.”

Cover photo: Farmers evaluate traits of wheat varieties, Ethiopia. (Photo: Jeske van de Gevel/Bioversity International)

Drought tolerant maize route out of poverty for community-based seed producer, Kenya. (Photo: Anne Wangalachi/CIMMYT)

New project to ramp up genetic gains in maize for better livelihoods

Written by Alison Doody on . Posted in News.

Drought tolerant maize route out of poverty for community-based seed producer, Kenya. (Photo: Anne Wangalachi/CIMMYT)
Drought tolerant maize route out of poverty for community-based seed producer, Kenya. (Photo: Anne Wangalachi/CIMMYT)

As plant pests and diseases continue to evolve, with stresses like drought and heat intensifying, a major priority for breeders and partners is developing better stress tolerant and higher yielding varieties faster and more cost effectively.

A new project, Accelerating Genetic Gains in Maize and Wheat for Improved Livelihoods (AGG), seeks to achieve these results by speeding up genetic gains in maize and wheat breeding to deliver improved, stress resilient, nutritious seed to smallholders in 13 countries in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) and four in South Asia. The 5-year AGG project is funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the UK Department for International Development (DFID), the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), and the Foundation for Food and Agriculture Research (FFAR).

The maize component of the project brings together diverse partners, including the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT) and the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA) as co-implementers; national agricultural research systems (NARS); and small and medium-sized (SME) seed companies.

Ambitious targets

At the inception meeting of the maize component of AGG on July 10, 2020, project leaders, partners and funders lauded the ambitious targets that aim to bolster the resilience and better the livelihoods, food and nutritional security of millions of smallholder farmers in SSA. At least 150,000 metric tons of certified seed is expected to be produced, adopted by 10 million households, planted on 6 million hectares by 2024 and benefiting 64 million people.

“We are developing climate resilient, nutritious, efficient, productive maize varieties for the farming community in sub-Saharan Africa. We will continue to work closely with our partners to develop product profiles, which are centered on the varieties that are really needed,” said CIMMYT Interim Deputy Director for Research Kevin Pixley.

AGG draws a solid foundation from previous projects such as Drought Tolerant Maize for Africa (DTMA), Improved Maize for Africa Soils (IMAS), Water Efficient Maize for Africa (WEMA) and Stress Tolerant Maize for Africa (STMA). Several high-yielding maize varieties that tolerate and/or resist diseases such as maize lethal necrosis (MLN), gray leaf spot (GLS), northern corn leaf blight, maize streak virus (MSV), turcicum leaf blight (TLB) and are drought-tolerant (DT), were developed and released to farmers across SSA. Varieties with nutritional traits such as nitrogen use efficiency (NUE) and quality protein maize (QPM) were also developed in the preceding initiatives.

Drought Tolerant Maize for Africa (DTMA) project monitoring and evaluation takes place in Tanzania. (Photo: Florence Sipalla/CIMMYT)
Drought Tolerant Maize for Africa (DTMA) project monitoring and evaluation takes place in Tanzania. (Photo: Florence Sipalla/CIMMYT)

A matter of “life or death”

“When farmers are confronted by aggressive farming challenges, they want products that address those challenges at the earliest opportunity. Waiting for years could mean the difference between life and death,” remarked David Chikoye, the director of Southern Africa Hub at IITA.

A key focus of AGG is to incorporate gender-intentionality – special attention to the needs of women farmers and consumers – from the traits bred into new varieties, through the communication and technology deployment strategies.

“AGG provides an excellent opportunity to reorient our maize breeding, seed scaling and delivery strategies for greater impact on the livelihoods of smallholder farmers, especially women and the disadvantaged communities that are not well reached so far,” said B.M. Prasanna, director of CIMMYT’s Global Maize Program and the CGIAR Research Program on Maize. “Our vision is to accelerate genetic gains to 1.5-2 percent annually across different breeding pipelines in the 13 participating countries in SSA and to reach over 10 million households with improved varieties.”

AGG will strengthen the capacity of partners to achieve and sustain accelerated variety replacement — or turnover — and increase genetic gains in farmers’ fields.

Old vs new

Many improved varieties have been released in the past decade. However, the turnover of old and obsolete varieties with new and improved ones is not happening as quickly as anticipated.

“We are producing good products and getting them out, but not at the speed that farmers need. How do we make it possible and profitable for seed companies to quickly introduce new hybrids?” posed Gary Atlin, program officer at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. “We need to move towards a breeding and seed system where we know that we can develop a new product in 4 or 5 years and then get it to the farmers much more quickly. This is a complex problem.”

To enhance AGG’s ability to identify new products that perform well for farmers under their challenging circumstances, on-farm testing will be scaled up significantly.

Guest of honor, Ethiopia’s Minister of State for Agriculture Mandefro Nigussie, lauded CIMMYT’s support in improving the resilience and productivity of maize and wheat in the country. He observed that this has helped improve maize productivity in Ethiopia from around 2 tons/ha to about 4 tons/ha over the past two decades.

“We consider such a huge accomplishment as a combination of efforts in germplasm development and breeding efforts of CIMMYT and the Ethiopian national programs. That partnership will flourish further in this new project,” he said.

Accelerating Genetic Gains in Maize and Wheat (AGG)

Written by Rodrigo Ordóñez on . Posted in Uncategorized.

Accelerating Genetic Gains in Maize and Wheat (AGG)

Accelerating Genetic Gains in Maize and Wheat (AGG), a project led by the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT), brings together partners in the global science community and in national agricultural research and extension systems to accelerate the development of higher-yielding varieties of maize and wheat — two of the world’s most important staple crops.

Specifically focusing on supporting smallholder farmers in low- and middle-income countries, the project uses innovative methods that improve breeding efficiency and precision to produce varieties that are climate-resilient, pest- and disease-resistant, and highly nutritious, targeted to farmers’ specific needs.

The maize component of the project serves 13 target countries: Ethiopia, Kenya, Malawi, Mozambique, South Africa, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia and Zimbabwe in eastern and southern Africa; and Benin, Ghana, Mali, and Nigeria in West Africa. The wheat component of the project serves six countries: Bangladesh, India, Nepal, and Pakistan in South Asia; and Ethiopia and Kenya in sub-Saharan Africa.

This project builds on the impact of the Delivering Genetic Gain in Wheat (DGGW) and Stress Tolerant Maize for Africa (STMA) projects.

Objectives

The project aims to accelerate the development and delivery of more productive, climate-resilient, gender-responsive, market-demanded, and nutritious maize and wheat varieties in support of sustainable agricultural transformation in sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia.

To encourage adoption of new varieties, the project works to improve equitable access, especially by women, to seed and information, as well as capacity building in breeding, disease surveillance, and seed marketing.

Funders

Project funding is provided by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the UK Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office, the United States Agency for International Development and the Foundation for Food and Agricultural Research (FFAR).

Key partners

The primary partners for this project are the national agricultural research systems in the project target countries and, for the maize component, the International Institute for Tropical Agriculture (IITA) and small and medium enterprise (SME) seed companies.

Scientific and technical steering committees

We are grateful to our excellent maize and wheat scientific and technical steering committees for their suggestions and thoughtful question on key issues for the success of AGG. Read about the recommendations from the maize steering committee here and the wheat steering committee here.

Year 1 Executive Summary

In its first year of operation, AGG has made great strides in collaboration with our national partners towards the project goals –despite the unprecedented challenges of working through a global pandemic. For specific milestones achieved, we invite you to review our AGG Year 1 Executive Summary and Impact Report (PDF).

Year 2 Executive Summary

AGG has made progress towards all outcomes. Our scientists are implementing substantial modifications to breeding targets and schemes. AGG is also in a continuous improvement process for the partnership modalities, pursuing co-ownership and co-implementation that builds the capacities of all involved. For specific milestones achieved, we invite you to review our AGG Year 2 Executive Summary and Impact Report (PDF).

CIMMYT’s adult plant resistance breeding strategy

Download a summary of CIMMYT’s breeding strategy for adult plant resistance (PDF).

Subscribe to the AGG newsletter

TELA Maize Project

Written by Emma Orchardson on . Posted in Uncategorized.

The name TELA is derived from the Latin word tutela, which means “protection.” The TELA Maize Project is a public-private partnership led by the African Agricultural Technology Foundation (AATF) working towards the commercialization of transgenic drought-tolerant and insect-protected (TELAÂź) maize varieties to enhance food security in sub-Saharan Africa. Launched in 2018, the TELA Maize Project builds on progress made from a decade of breeding work under the Water Efficient Maize for Africa (WEMA) Project.

Africa is a drought-prone continent, making farming risky for millions of smallholders who rely on rainfall to water their crops. Climate change will only worsen the problem. Identifying ways to mitigate drought risk, stabilize yields, and encourage small-scale farmers to adopt best management practices is fundamental to realizing food security and improved livelihoods for the continent. Drought is just one of the many challenges facing sub-Saharan African farmers. Insects pose additional challenges as farmers in the developing world have little or no resources to effectively manage them. Insect protection complements and protects yield made possible through research and development.

Through TELA, AATF and its partners are pursuing the regulatory approval and dissemination of new biotech/genetically-modified maize seeds containing either an insect-resistant trait or the stacked insect-resistant and drought-tolerant traits across seven target countries in Africa (Ethiopia, Kenya, Mozambique, Nigeria, South Africa, Tanzania and Uganda). The transgenic technology, including gene constructs, transformation and other recombinant DNA technologies, and other proprietary information and materials regarding the transgenes, owned by Bayer CropScience LP (formerly Monsanto Company), is licensed royalty-free to the partners for use in the project.

To the extent where their germplasm is transformed/incorporated into finished lines, Bayer and CIMMYT further grant AATF the license to commercially release the transgenic maize varieties within the partner countries, provided that no royalty fee shall be charged by AATF/its sublicensees, and subject to compliance with all regulatory, biosafety and stewardship requirements. CIMMYT’s non-transgenic parental lines which may be used for introgression in this project have been shared under the terms of the Standard Material Transfer Agreement (SMTA) of the Plant Treaty, and remain available to other third parties outside the project in the same way. The partner countries are in different stages of the approval process to test and commercialize TELA¼ hybrids, which will determine when farmers can access the improved TELA seeds.

Seed companies can receive license rights to produce and commercialize the new TELAÂź hybrids under their private brand from AATF in due course. Licensed seed companies will access the technology royalty-free for them to produce and sell the seeds to farmers at prevailing market prices. Better yield performance, combined with improved seed quality, will deliver more value to farmers and create more demand and potential for the seed brand.

Smallholder farmers benefit from TELA maize, as it provides better drought tolerance, protection against stem borers, and partial but significant protection against fall armyworm. As a result, smallholders will spend less money on insecticides and reduce their exposure to these chemicals, besides benefiting from improved yields and better grain quality.

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 . Posted in News. 1 Comment on Study calls for better understanding of fertilizer prices faced by African smallholder farmers

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)
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)

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.
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.
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

A community health worker in Rwanda talks to people on hygiene and the importance of a balanced diet, as part of the SUSTAIN project. (Photo: CIP)

Millions at lower risk of vitamin A deficiency after six-year campaign to promote orange-fleshed sweet potato

Written by Rodrigo Ordóñez on . Posted in Press releases.

A community health worker in Rwanda talks to people on hygiene and the importance of a balanced diet, as part of the SUSTAIN project. (Photo: CIP)
A community health worker in Rwanda talks to people on hygiene and the importance of a balanced diet, as part of the SUSTAIN project. (Photo: CIP)

STOCKHOLM, Sweden — Millions of families in Africa and South Asia have improved their diet with a special variety of sweet potato designed to tackle vitamin A deficiency, according to a report published today.

A six-year project, launched in 2013, used a double-edged approach of providing farming families with sweet potato cuttings as well as nutritional education on the benefits of orange-fleshed sweet potato.

The Scaling Up Sweetpotato through Agriculture and Nutrition (SUSTAIN) project, led by the International Potato Center (CIP) and more than 20 partners, reached more than 2.3 million households with children under five with planting material.

The project, which was rolled out in Kenya, Malawi, Mozambique and Rwanda as well as Bangladesh and Tanzania, resulted in 1.3 million women and children regularly eating orange-fleshed sweet potato when available.

“Vitamin A deficiency (VAD) is one of the most pernicious forms of undernourishment and can limit growth, weaken immunity, lead to blindness, and increase mortality in children,” said Barbara Wells, director general of CIP. “Globally, 165 million children under five suffer from VAD, mostly in Africa and Asia.”

“The results of the SUSTAIN project show that agriculture and nutrition interventions can reinforce each other to inspire behavior change towards healthier diets in smallholder households.”

Over the past decade, CIP and partners have developed dozens of biofortified varieties of orange-fleshed sweet potato in Africa and Asia. These varieties contain high levels of beta-carotene, which the body converts into vitamin A.

Just 125g of fresh orange-fleshed sweet potato provides the daily vitamin A needs of a pre-school child, as well as providing high levels of vitamins B6 and C, manganese and potassium.

Under the SUSTAIN project, families in target communities received nutritional education at rural health centers as well as cuttings that they could then plant and grow.

For every household directly reached with planting material, an additional 4.2 households were reached on average through farmer-to-farmer interactions or partner activities using technologies or materials developed by SUSTAIN.

The project also promoted commercial opportunities for smallholder farmers with annual sales of orange-fleshed sweet potato puree-based products estimated at more than $890,000 as a result of the project.

Two women sort orange-fleshed sweet potato in Faridpur district, Bangladesh. (Photo: Sara Quinn/CIP)
Two women sort orange-fleshed sweet potato in Faridpur district, Bangladesh. (Photo: Sara Quinn/CIP)

Perspectives from the Global South

The results of the initiative were published during the EAT Forum in Stockholm, where CGIAR scientists discussed the recommendations of the EAT-Lancet report from the perspective of developing countries.

“The SUSTAIN project showed the enormous potential for achieving both healthy and sustainable diets in developing countries using improved varieties of crops that are already widely grown,” said Simon Heck, program leader, CIP.

“Sweet potato should be included as the basis for a sustainable diet in many developing countries because it provides more calories per hectare and per growing month than all the major grain crops, while tackling a major nutrition-related health issue.”

At an EAT Forum side event, scientists highlighted that most food is grown by small-scale producers in low- and middle-income countries, where hunger and undernutrition are prevalent and where some of the largest opportunities exist for food system and dietary transformation.

“There are almost 500 million small farms that comprise close to half the world’s farmland and are home to many of the world’s most vulnerable populations,” said Martin Kropff, director general of the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT).

“Without access to appropriate technologies and support to sustainably intensify production, small farmers — the backbone of our global food system — will not be able to actively contribute a global food transformation.”

Matthew Morell, director general of the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI), added: “If the EAT-Lancet planetary health diet guidelines are to be truly global, they will need to be adapted to developing-world realities — such as addressing Vitamin A deficiency through bio-fortification of a range of staple crops.

“This creative approach is a strong example of how to address a devastating and persistent nutrition gap in South Asia and Africa.”

This story is part of our coverage of the EAT Stockholm Food Forum 2019.
See other stories and the details of the side event in which CIMMYT is participating.

For more information or interview requests, please contact:

Donna Bowater
Marchmont Communications
donna@marchmontcomms.com
+44 7929 212 434

The International Potato Center (CIP) was founded in 1971 as a research-for-development organization with a focus on potato, sweet potato and Andean roots and tubers. It delivers innovative science-based solutions to enhance access to affordable nutritious food, foster inclusive sustainable business and employment growth, and drive the climate resilience of root and tuber agri-food systems. Headquartered in Lima, Peru, CIP has a research presence in more than 20 countries in Africa, Asia and Latin America. CIP is a CGIAR research center. www.cipotato.org

CGIAR is a global research partnership for a food-secure future. CGIAR science is dedicated to reducing poverty, enhancing food and nutrition security, and improving natural resources and ecosystem services. Its research is carried out by 15 CGIAR centers in close collaboration with hundreds of partners, including national and regional research institutes, civil society organizations, academia, development organizations and the private sector. www.cgiar.org

 

Paswel Marenya

Written by Emma Orchardson on . Posted in Uncategorized.

Paswel Marenya is a Senior Scientist at the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT). He is the global coordinator of the SIMLESA project, based in Nairobi.

Marenya holds an MSc in Applied Economics and a PhD in Natural Resources Policy and Management, both from Cornell University. His research focuses on maize-based smallholder systems in eastern and southern Africa, and on the analysis of pathways and impacts of technology adoption within the framework of sustainable intensification.

He has published research on farmer policy, farmer preferences for supporting technology adoption among maize farmers in Malawi, soil quality mediated returns to fertilizer, and the macro impacts of disease tolerant varieties. He is currently working on understanding the most effective investment priorities for strengthening climate-smart agriculture in eastern and southern Africa.

Delegates of the meeting organized by CIMMYT and ASARECA pose for a group photo. (Photo: Jerome Bossuet)

Conservation agriculture works for farmers and for sustainable intensification

Written by JĂ©rĂŽme Bossuet on . Posted in Features.

The International Maize and Wheat Improvement Centre (CIMMYT) and the Association for Strengthening Agricultural Research in Eastern and Southern Africa (ASARECA) gathered agriculture leaders, experts,  ministers and permanent secretaries from 14 countries in the region May 2-4, 2019 in Kampala, Uganda. These experts reflected on the lessons learned from the eight year-long Sustainable Intensification of Maize and Legumes farming systems in Eastern and Southern Africa (SIMLESA) project, funded by the Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research (ACIAR).

During this regional SIMLESA policy forum, ministers of agriculture signed a joint communiqué calling for mainstreaming conservation agriculture practices and enabling sustainable intensification of African agriculture, in response to the ongoing agroecological crisis and fast-growing population.

The minister of agriculture, animal industry and fisheries of Uganda, Vincent Ssempijja, reminded that “Africa is paying a high price from widespread land degradation, and climate change is worsening the challenges smallholder farmers are facing.” Staple crop yields are lagging despite a wealth of climate-smart technologies like drought-tolerant maize varieties or conservation agriculture.

“It is time for business unusual,” urged guest speaker Kirunda Kivejinja, Uganda’s Second Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of East African Affairs.

Research conducted by CIMMYT and national partners in Ethiopia, Kenya, Malawi, Mozambique, Rwanda, Tanzania and Uganda under the SIMLESA project provided good evidence that sustainable intensification based on conservation agriculture works — it significantly increased food crop yields, up to 38%, as well as incomes, while sustainably preserving soil health.

In Malawi, where conservation agriculture adoption rose from 2% in 2011 to 35% in the 2017/18 season, research showed increases in water infiltration compared to the conventional ridge-and-furrow system of up to 90%, while soil organic carbon content increased by 30%. This means that soil moisture is better retained after rainfall, soil is more fertile, and plants grow well and cope much better during dry spells.

The SIMLESA project revealed that many farmers involved in CIMMYT research work, like Joseph Ntirivamunda in Rwanda, were interested in shifting towards more sustainable intensification practices. However, large-scale adoption still faces many hurdles.

“You cannot eat potential,” pointed out CIMMYT scientists and SIMLESA project leader Paswel Marenya. “The promise of conservation agriculture for sustainable intensification needs to be translated into more food and incomes, for farmers to adopt it widely.”

CIMMYT's director general Martin Kropff (left) greets Uganda's second deputy prime minister, Kirunda Kivejninja. (Photo: Jerome Bossuet)
CIMMYT’s director general Martin Kropff (left) greets Uganda’s second deputy prime minister, Kirunda Kivejninja. (Photo: Jerome Bossuet)

The scale conundrum

Farmers’ linkages to markets and services are often weak, and a cautious analysis of trade-offs is necessary. For instance, more research is needed about the competing uses of crop residues for animal feed or soil cover.

Peter Horne, General Manager for ACIAR’s global country programs, explained that science has an important role in informing policy to drive this sustainable transformation. There are still important knowledge gaps to better understand what drives key sustainable farming practices. Horne advised to be more innovative than the traditional research-for-development and extension approaches, involving for instance the private sector.

Planting using a hoe requires 160 hours of labor per hectare. A two-wheel tractor equipped with a planter will do the same work in only 3 hours.

One driver of change that was stressed during the Kampala forum was the access to appropriate machinery, like the two-wheel tractor equipped with a direct planter. While hoe planting requires 160 hours of labor per hectare, the planter needs only 3 hours per hectare, enabling timely planting, a crucial factor to respond effectively to the increased vagaries of the weather and produce successful harvests. While some appropriate mechanization options are available at the pilot stage in several African countries like Ethiopia or Zimbabwe, finding the right business models for service provision for each country is key to improve access to appropriate tools and technologies for smallholder farmers. CIMMYT and ACIAR seek to provide some answers through the complementary investments in the Farm Mechanization and Conservation Agriculture for Sustainable Intensification (FACASI) project.

CASI can be scaled but requires tailoring sustainable intensification agronomic advices adapted to local environment and farming systems. Agricultural innovation platforms like the Mwanga mechanization youth group in Zimbabwe are one way to co-create solutions and opportunities between specific value chain actors, addressing some of the constraints farmers may face while implementing conservation agriculture practices.

Providing market incentives for farmers has been one challenging aspect, which may be overcome through public-private partnerships. Kilimo Trust presented a new consortium model to drive sustainable intensification through a market pull, linking smallholder farmers with food processors or aggregators.

“SIMLESA, as a long-term ambitious research program, has delivered remarkable results in diverse farming contexts, and conservation agriculture for sustainable intensification now has a more compelling case,” said Eric Huttner, ACIAR research program manager. “We should not ignore the complexity of conservation agriculture adoption, as shifting to new farming practices brings practical changes and potential risks for farmers, alongside benefits,” he added. As an immediate step, Huttner suggested research to define who in the public and private sectors is investing and for what purpose — for example, access to seed or machinery. Governments will also need further technical support to determine exactly how to mainstream conservation agriculture in  future agricultural policy conversations, plans and budgets.

“Looking at SIMLESA’s evidence, we can say that conservation agriculture works for our farmers,” concluded Josefa Leonel Correia Sacko, Commissioner for Rural Economy and Agriculture of the African Union. During the next African Union Specialized Technical Committee in October 2019, she will propose a new initiative, scaling conservation agriculture for sustainable intensification across Africa “to protect our soils and feed our people sustainably.”

Josefa Leonel Correia Sacko, Commissioner for Rural Economy and Agriculture of the African Union, speaks at the SIMLESA regional forum. (Photo: Jerome Bossuet)
Josefa Leonel Correia Sacko, Commissioner for Rural Economy and Agriculture of the African Union, speaks at the SIMLESA regional forum. (Photo: Jerome Bossuet)

Book launch: Lead farmers in eastern and southern Africa

Written by Carolyn Cowan on . Posted in News. 1 Comment on Book launch: Lead farmers in eastern and southern Africa

Tackling the challenges of climate change and increasing scarcity of resources like arable land and water requires that farming and food systems around the world undergo fundamental shifts in thinking and practices. A new book draws on experiences of men and women farmers across eastern and southern Africa who have been associated with the Sustainable Intensification of Maize-Legume Systems for Food Security in Eastern and Southern Africa (SIMLESA) project. The inspiring and moving accounts tell the story of how these farmers have bravely embraced change to improve their farming methods and consequently the lives and livelihoods of their families.

The maize-growing regions of southern and eastern Africa face many challenges, including lower than average yields, crop susceptibility to pests and diseases, and abiotic stresses such as droughts that can be frequent and severe. There is also widespread lack of access to high-yielding stress resilient improved seed and other farming innovations, presenting a need for scalable technologies, adapted to farmers’ growing conditions.

Maize is the most important staple crop in the region, feeding more than 200-300 million people across Africa and providing food and income security to millions of smallholder farmers. Prioritization of cost reducing, yield enhancing and resource conserving farming methods is vital to catalyze a shift towards sustainable and resilient maize agri-food systems. Conservation agriculture (CA) is one promising approach.

Launched in 2010, SIMLESA is led by the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT) and funded by the Australian Center for International Agricultural Research (ACIAR). The project supports farmers and partner organizations to achieve increased food production while minimizing pressure on the environment by using smallholder farmers’ resources more efficiently through CA approaches. SIMLESA is implemented by national agricultural research systems, agribusinesses and farmers in partner countries including, Ethiopia, Kenya, Malawi, Mozambique, Rwanda, Tanzania and Uganda.

The farmers’ words in this book drive home the core philosophy of SIMLESA: that critical paradigm shifts in smallholder farming are possible and can lead to positive and potentially lasting impacts.

The candid accounts of the benefits yielded from adopting new practices like CA are a testimony to this idea:  “Now we have seen with our own eyes these new methods are beneficial, and we want to continue what we are doing
.my field is a school where others can learn,” said Maria Gorete, a farmer in Mozambique.

Policy makers and scientists from eastern and southern Africa met in Uganda at a regional forum convened by the Association for Strengthening Agricultural Research in Eastern and Central Africa (ASARECA), on 3-4 May 2019. The forum discussed ways to scale up the learnings of SIMLESA and a joint communique recommending policy actions was signed by the Ministers of Agriculture of the Republic of Burundi, the Republic of the Congo, the Democratic Republic of Congo, the State of Eritrea, the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, the Republic of Kenya, the Republic of Madagascar,  the Republic of Rwanda, the Republic of South Sudan, the Republic of the Sudan, the United Republic of Tanzania, the Republic of Uganda, the Republic of Malawi and the Republic of Mozambique of the high level Ministerial Panel on Sustainable Intensification of Maize-Legume Cropping Systems for Food Security in Eastern and Southern Africa (SIMLESA).

Isaiah Nyagumbo

Written by Rodrigo Ordóñez on . Posted in Uncategorized.

Isaiah Nyagumbo is a cropping systems agronomist working with CIMMYT’s Sustainable Agrifood Systems (SAS) program. He is passionate about soil and water conservation technologies, and participatory technology development for farmers.

Prior to joining CIMMYT in 2010, he completed a DPhil on seasonal water balance in conservation tillage systems and spent several years working as a lecturer at the University of Zimbabwe.

As part of the SIMLESA team, he has mainly works on developing sustainable and resilient conservation agriculture-based production systems in southern Africa, where he is regional coordinator of agronomy activities.

Improved Maize for African Soils (IMAS)

Written by Mary Donovan on . Posted in Uncategorized.

African maize farmers must deal with drought, weeds, and pests, but their problems start with degraded, nutrient-starved soils and their inability to purchase enough nitrogen fertilizer. Maize yields of smallholder farmers in sub-Saharan Africa are a fraction of those in the developed world, due mainly to the region’s poor soils and farmers’ limited access to fertilizer or improved maize seed. On average, such farmers apply only 9 kilograms of fertilizer per hectare of cropland. Of that small amount, often less than half is captured by the crop; the rest is leached deep into the soil where plants cannot recover it or otherwise lost.

The Improved Maize for African Soils Project (IMAS) develops maize varieties that are better at capturing the small amount of fertilizer that African farmers can afford, and that use the nitrogen they take up more efficiently to produce grain. Project participants will use cutting-edge biotechnology tools such as molecular markers—DNA “signposts” for traits of interest—and transgenic approaches to develop varieties that ultimately yield 30 to 50 percent more than currently available varieties, with the same amount of nitrogen fertilizer applied or when grown on poorer soils.

The varieties developed will be made available royalty-free to seed companies that sell to the region’s smallholder farmers, meaning that the seed will become available to farmers at the same cost as other types of improved maize seed.

In four years or less, African farmers should have access to IMAS varieties developed using conventional breeding that offer a 20 percent yield advantage over current varieties. Improved varieties developed using DNA marker techniques are expected to be introduced within seven to nine years, and those containing transgenic traits are expected to be available in approximately 10 years, pending product performance and regulatory approvals by national regulatory and scientific authorities, according to the established laws and regulatory procedures in each country.

IMAS is being led by CIMMYT and funded with $19.5 million in grants from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and the U.S. Agency for International Development. The project’s other partners — DuPont-Pioneer, Kenya Agricultural Livestock and Research Organization and the Agricultural Research Council of South Africa — are also providing significant in-kind contributions including staff, infrastructure, seed, traits, technology, training, and know-how.

The second phase of IMAS continues to be implemented through the Seed Production Technology for Africa (SPTA) project.

OBJECTIVES

  • Conventional and marker assisted breeding to develop hybrids and OPVs with improved nitrogen use efficiency (NUE) adapted to southern and eastern Africa
  • Identification and deployment of native trait alleles to enhance yield under low nitrogen conditions through association mapping and Quantitative Trait Loci mapping
  • Development of transgenic maize varieties adapted to southern and eastern Africa with increased yield under severe nitrogen limitation
  • Managing NUE varieties for sustainability in African maize cropping systems
  • Project stewardship, public awareness and capacity building
  • NUE variety registration, release and dissemination in southern and eastern Africa

Water Efficient Maize for Africa (WEMA)

Written by Mary Donovan on . Posted in Uncategorized.

The Water Efficient Maize for Africa partnership was launched in March 2008 to help farmers manage the risk of drought by developing and deploying maize varieties that yield 24 to 35 percent more grain under moderate drought conditions than currently available varieties. The higher and more reliable harvests will help farmers to feed their families and increase their incomes.

The varieties are being developed using conventional breeding, marker-assisted breeding, and biotechnology, and will be marketed royalty-free to smallholder farmers in Sub-Saharan Africa through African seed companies. The current, second phase of the project (2013–2017) includes breeding for resistance to stem borers—insect pests that seriously damage maize crops in the field—as well as product and production management, promotion with seed companies and farmers, and product stewardship activities.

The project focuses on Kenya, Mozambique, South Africa, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia and Zimbabwe. The second phase of the project began on February 1, 2013.

OBJECTIVES

  • Product development. Develop and test drought tolerant and and insect-pest resistant maize varieties through conventional, molecular, and genetic engineering breeding approaches.
  • Regulatory affairs and compliance. Support multi-location testing and commercial release of drought tolerant and insect-pest resistant maize hybrids in the Water Efficient Maize for Africa partner countries.
  • Product deployment: Product and production management. Facilitate the marketing and stewardship of drought tolerant and insect-pest resistant hybrid maize seeds, and stimulate private sector investments for sustainable seed production, distribution and us
  • Communications and outreach. Support testing, dissemination, commercialization, adoption, and stewardship of conventional and transgenic drought tolerant and insect-pest resistant hybrids in the five target countries.
  • Legal and licensing support. Develop and implement appropriate licensing and intellectual property protection mechanisms for Water Efficient Maize for Africa products.

FUNDING INSTITUTIONS

  • Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation
  • Howard G. Buffett Foundation
  • U.S. Agency for International Development

PRINCIPAL COORDINATOR

Stephen Mugo

Sustainable Intensification of Maize-Legume Systems for Food Security in Eastern and Southern Africa (SIMLESA)

Written by Rodrigo Ordóñez on . Posted in Uncategorized.

The Sustainable Intensification of Maize-Legume Systems for Food Security in Eastern and Southern Africa (SIMLESA) program aims to improve maize and legume productivity by 30 percent and to reduce the expected downside yield risk by 30 percent on approximately on approximately 650,000 farm households by 2023. Launched in 2010, the focal countries of program research are Australia, Botswana, Burundi, Ethiopia, Kenya, Malawi, Mozambique, Tanzania, South Sudan, Uganda, Rwanda, Zambia and Zimbabwe.

The main thrust of the SIMLESA program is increasing farm-level food security, productivity and incomes through promotion of maize-legume intercropping systems in the context of reduced climate risk and change.

The program has also laid the foundation for developing conservation agriculture based sustainable intensification options, including integration of improved maize and legume varieties identified for their compatibility with CA-based practices; promoting technology adoption by both female and male farmers; capacity building for national agricultural research systems of partner countries; creating enhanced partnerships and collaboration with established innovation platforms for coordinated scaling-out of SIMLESA-generated options and practices.

Funding Institutions: Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research (ACIAR)

Partners: National agricultural systems of Ethiopia, Kenya, Malawi, Mozambique and Tanzania, as well as international and local research centers, extension agencies, non-governmental organizations, universities and agribusinesses along the value chain.

Read the final report of the SIMLESA project