Location: Africa

CIMMYT’s work in Africa helps farmers access new maize and wheat systems-based technologies, information and markets, raising incomes and enhancing crop resilience to drought and climate change. CIMMYT sets priorities in consultation with ministries of agriculture, seed companies, farming communities and other stakeholders in the maize and wheat value chains. Our activities in Africa are wide ranging and include: breeding maize for drought tolerance and low-fertility soils, and for resistance to insect pests, foliar diseases and parasitic weeds; sustainably intensifying production in maize- and wheat-based systems; and investigating opportunities to reduce micronutrient and protein malnutrition among women and young children.

Over 10,400 delegates from 113 countries participated in the 2020 edition of the African Green Revolution Forum. (Photo: AGRA)

Tangible agricultural solutions shine at first online AGRF

Written by Marta Millere on September 29, 2020. Posted in Features.

For ten years now, the African Green Revolution Forum (AGRF) has been an unmissable event. Every September, the premier forum for African agriculture has brought people together to share experiences about transforming agriculture, raising productivity for farmers and increasing incomes.

The theme of the 2020 summit — Feed the Cities, Grow the Continent: Leveraging Urban Food Markets to Achieve Sustainable Food Systems in Africa — was a call to action to rethink our food systems to make them more resilient and deliver better nourishment and prosperity for all.

This year, the summit went virtual. Delegates could not mingle, visit booths and network over lunch, but attendance reached new heights. Over 10,400 delegates from 113 countries participated in this edition of the AGRF, compared to 2,300 delegates last year.

As in the previous years, CGIAR centers, including the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT), maintained an active presence among speakers and attendees.

With over 50 projects and hundreds of staff based across nine countries, Africa holds a significant position in CIMMYT’s research agenda. CIMMYT’s work in Africa helps farmers access new maize and wheat system-based technologies, information and markets, raising incomes and enhancing crop resilience to drought and climate change. CIMMYT sets priorities in consultation with ministries of agriculture, seed companies, farming communities and other stakeholders in the maize and wheat value chains.

Striving for excellence

CGIAR leveraged AGRF 2020’s highly diversified and international audience to launch the Excellence in Agronomy 2030 initiative (EiA 2030) on September 7, 2020. EiA’s impressive group of experts plans to hit the ground running in 2020 and work toward speeding up progress in tailoring and delivering nutrients and other agronomic solutions to smallholder farmers in Africa and other regions.

“Across agricultural production systems, low crop yields and inadequate incomes from agriculture are the rule rather than the exception,” said Martin Kropff, Director General of CIMMYT and Chair of One CGIAR Transition Advisory Group (TAG) 2 on Research. “At the same time, the ‘asks’ of agriculture have evolved beyond food security. They now include a broader range of Sustainable Development Goals, such as sustainable land management, climate change mitigation, provision of heathy diets, and inclusive economic growth. None of these goals will be achieved without the large-scale adoption of improved and adapted agronomic practices. To this end, we have initiated the creation of a CGIAR-wide EiA 2030 initiative aiming at reducing yield and efficiency gaps for major crops at scale.”

EiA 2030 is funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, supported by the Big Data Platform and co-created by AfricaRice, CIAT, CIMMYT, CIP, ICARDA, ICRAF, ICRISAT, IITA and IRRI.

Martin Kropff (first row, fourth from left), Bram Govaerts (second row, first from left) and Lennart Woltering (second row, third from left) spoke at the "Scaling and Food Systems Transformation in the PLUS-COVID-19 era" panel. — Martin Kropff (first row, fourth from left), Bram Govaerts (second row, first from left) and Lennart Woltering (second row, third from left) spoke at the “Scaling and Food Systems Transformation in the PLUS-COVID-19 era” panel.

Scaling agriculture beyond numbers

On September 7, 2020, a group of experts, including Lennart Woltering, Scaling Catalyst at CIMMYT and chair of the Agriculture and Rural Development (ARD) working group of the Community of Practice on Scaling, gathered to explore how organizations are supporting scaling food systems in a post-COVID-19 world.

As Martin Kropff mentioned in a video address, One CGIAR aims to deliver on its commitments by building on its experience with pioneering integrated development projects, such as CSISA, CIALCA and AVISA. “One CGIAR plans to be actively involved and help partners to scale by delivering on five One CGIAR impact areas at the regional level. How? By taking integrated regional programs from strategic planning to tactical implementation in three steps: strategic multi-stakeholder demand-driven planning process, tactical plan development based on the integration of production and demand, and implementation of multi-stakeholder innovation hubs. An integrated regional approach will deliver at scale,” Kropff said.

“CIMMYT has developed different scenarios regarding what agri-food systems will look like in 2025 with the COVID-19 shock. Whatever may unfold, integrated systems are key,” highlighted Bram Govaerts, Director of the Integrated Development Program and one of CIMMYT’s interim Deputy Directors General for Research, during the session.

“Diversity and proactive mindsets present at the #AGRF2020 High-Level Ministerial Roundtable. An example of how we can shape the future, listening to what’s needed, investing in agriculture and making resilient food systems to resist the impact of #COVID19 #AgricultureContinues,” tweeted Bram Govaerts (first row, second from left) along with a screenshot of his Zoom meeting screen.

Putting healthy diets on the roundtable

Later in the week, CIMMYT experts took part in two key events for the development of Africa’s agriculture. Govaerts stepped in for Kropff during the High-Level Ministerial Roundtable, where regional leaders and partners discussed reaching agricultural self-sufficiency to increase the region’s resilience toward shocks such as the ongoing pandemic.

At the Advancing Gender and Nutrition policy forum, Natalia Palacios, Maize Quality Specialist, spoke about engaging nutritionally vulnerable urban consumers. Palacios echoed the other speakers’ calls for transforming agri-food systems and pointed out that cereals and effective public-private partnerships are the backbone of nutritionally vulnerable and poor urban customers’ diets.

According to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the UN, in 30 years, the population of Africa is projected to double to a number as high as 2.7 billion, from 1.34 billion in 2020. Considering only the projected population, by 2050 Africa will have to supply 112.4 to 133.1 million tons of wheat and 106.5 to 126.1 million tons of maize to ensure food security of the burgeoning population. “We are living in a very challenging time because we need to provide affordable, nutritious diets — within planetary boundaries,” Palacios said.

Cover photo: Over 10,400 delegates from 113 countries participated in the 2020 edition of the African Green Revolution Forum. (Photo: AGRA)

The search is on for nontoxic solutions to fall armyworm across Africa

Written by Mary Donovan on September 29, 2020. Posted in In the media.

Last year, AgBiTech launched a partnership between the United States Agency for International Development, FAO, International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center, and Centre for Agriculture and Bioscience International in South Sudan to train farmers in using Fawlingen. These farmers have shown a 63% increase in yield compared to untreated plots and the pilot is being scaled to reach thousands of farmers this season.

Researchers from ZARI check for wheat blast in experimental plots. (Photo: Batiseba Tembo/ZARI)

Wheat blast has made the intercontinental jump to Africa

Written by Madeline Dahm on September 28, 2020. Posted in Press releases.

Scientists observe wheat blast in Zambia's Mpika district. (Photo: Batiseba Tembo/ZARI) — Scientists observe wheat blast in Zambia’s Mpika district. (Photo: Batiseba Tembo/ZARI)

Wheat blast, a fast-acting and devastating fungal disease, has been reported for the first time on the African continent. In an article published in the scientific journal PLoS One, a team of scientists confirmed that symptoms of wheat blast first appeared in Zambia during the 2018 rainy season, in experimental plots and small-scale farms in the Mpika district, Muchinga province.

Researchers from the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT), the US Department of Agriculture – Foreign Disease Weed Science Research Unit (USDA-ARS) and the Zambian Agricultural Research Institute (ZARI) participated in this study.

Wheat blast poses a serious threat to rain-fed wheat production in Zambia and raises the alarm for surrounding regions and countries on the African continent with similar environmental conditions. Worldwide, 2.5 billion consumers depend on wheat as a staple food and, in recent years, several African countries have been actively working towards reducing dependence on wheat imports.

“This presents yet another challenging biotic constraint to rain-fed wheat production in Zambia,” said Batiseba Tembo, wheat breeder at ZARI and lead scientist on the study.

A difficult diagnosis

“The first occurrence of the disease was very distressing. This happened at the spike stage, and caused significant losses,” Tembo said. “Nothing of this nature has happened before in Zambia.”

Researchers were initially confused when symptoms of the disease were first reported in the fields of Mpika. Zambia has unique agro-climatic conditions, particularly in the rainfed wheat production system, and diseases such as spot blotch and Fusarium head blight are common.

“The crop had silvery white spikes and a green canopy, resulting in shriveled grains or no grains at all… Within the span of seven days, a whole field can be attacked,” Tembo explained. Samples were collected and analyzed in the ZARI laboratory, and suspicions grew among researchers that this may be a new disease entirely.

Tembo participated in the Basic Wheat Improvement Course at CIMMYT’s global headquarters in Mexico, where she discussed the new disease with Pawan Singh, head of Wheat Pathology at CIMMYT. Singh worked with Tembo to provide guidance and the molecular markers needed for the sample analysis in Zambia, and coordinated the analysis of the wheat disease samples at the USDA-ARS facility in Fort Detrick, Maryland, United States.

All experiments confirmed the presence of the fungus Magnaporthe oryzae pathotype Triticum (MoT), which causes the disease.

“This is a disaster which needs immediate attention,” Tembo said. “Otherwise, wheat blast has the potential to marginalize the growth of rain-fed wheat production in Zambia and may threaten wheat production in neighboring countries as well.”

Wheat blast spreads through infected seeds and crop residues, as well as by spores that can travel long distances in the air. The spread of blast within Zambia is indicated by both mechanisms of expansion.

Wheat blast has expanded rapidly since it was initially discovered in Brazil in 1985. (Map: Kai Sonder/CIMMYT)

A cause for innovation and collaboration

CIMMYT and the CGIAR Research Program on Wheat (WHEAT) are taking action on several fronts to combat wheat blast. Trainings and international courses invite participants to gain new technical skills and knowledge in blast diagnostics, treatment and mitigation strategies. WHEAT scientists and partners are also studying the genetic factors that increase resistance to the disease and developing early warning systems.

“A set of research outcomes, including the development of resistant varieties, identification of effective fungicides, agronomic measures, and new findings in the epidemiology of disease development will be helpful in mitigating wheat blast in Zambia,” Singh said.

“It is imperative that the regional and global scientific communities join hands to determine effective measures to halt further spread of this worrisome disease in Zambia and beyond,” Tembo expressed.

Read the study:

Detection and characterization of fungus (Magnaporthe oryzae pathotype Triticum) causing wheat blast disease on rain-fed grown wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) in Zambia

Interview opportunities:

Pawan Kumar Singh, Senior Scientist and Head of Wheat Pathology, International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT)

Batiseba Tembo, Wheat Breeder, Zambian Agricultural Research Institute (ZARI)

For more information, or to arrange interviews, contact the media team:

Rodrigo Ordóñez, Communications Manager, CIMMYT. r.ordonez@cgiar.org

Acknowledgements

Financial support for this research was provided by the Zambia Agriculture Research Institute (ZARI), the CGIAR Research Program on Wheat (WHEAT), the Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research (ACIAR), and the US Department of Agriculture’s Agricultural Research Service (USDA-ARS).

The Basic Wheat Training Program and Wheat Blast Training is made possible by support from investors including the Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research (ACIAR), WHEAT, the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR), Krishi Gobeshona Foundation (KGF), the Swedish Research Council (SRC) and the United States Agency for International Development (USAID).

The Accelerating Genetic Gains in Maize and Wheat (AGG) project is funded 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).

About CIMMYT

The International Maize and What 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 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.

Unlike white maize varieties, vitamin A maize is rich in beta-carotene, giving it a distinctive orange color. This biofortified variety provides consumers with up to 40% of their daily vitamin A needs. (Photo: HarvestPlus/Joslin Isaacson)

Partners in nutrition

Written by Steven M on September 28, 2020. Posted in Features.

It is no secret that Africa is urbanizing at breakneck speed. Consider Lagos. In 1950 the Nigerian city boasted a population of a few hundred thousand. Today that number has soared to around 14 million. It is estimated that by 2025 half of Africa’s population will live in urban areas.

This demographic transformation has had dramatic consequences for human health and nutrition. Urban dwellers are far more likely to rely on cheap highly-processed foods, which are shelf-stable but poor on nutrients.

These statistics, presented by moderator Betty Kibaara, Director of the Food Initiative at The Rockefeller Foundation, framed the 2020 African Green Revolution Forum’s policy symposium on “Advancing Gender and Nutrition.” The forum comprised two tracks. One focused on addressing the needs of nutritionally vulnerable urban consumers, particularly women; the other on gender-based financing in the African agri-food system

Speaking in the first track, Natalia Palacios, maize quality specialist at the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT), underlined the enormity of the challenge. “We need to provide affordable, nutritious diets … within planetary boundaries,” she said.

Many of the panelists pointed out further dimensions of the challenge — from evidence deficits around the continent’s urban populations to the amplifying effects of the COVID-19 crisis. Palacios stressed that the bedrock of any response must be effective partnerships between governments, companies and non-profit actors working in this area.

“The really important thing is to start working together,” she said, “to start developing the strategies together instead of providing things or demanding things.” Speaking to the role of organizations like CIMMYT, Palacios highlighted the need to work closely with the private sector to understand the demand for agricultural raw materials that can be converted into nutritious diets.

Rich nutrition within reach

Palacios’ most recent research efforts focus on precisely this question. She and a team of researchers, including CIMMYT senior scientist Santiago Lopez-Ridaura, explored how various innovations in maize production have improved the macro- and micro-nutrient content of the grain and led to healthier maize-based agri-food systems.

This is significant because for millions of the estimated 2 billion people globally who suffer from “hidden hunger” a more diversified diet rich in costly, perishable, nutrient-dense foods is not economically feasible. In low- and middle-income countries across Africa, Asia and Latin America, it estimated that rice, maize and wheat account for 55 to 70% of calories.

CIMMYT, HarvestPlus and the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA), together with several stakeholders, have been deeply involved in work to improve the nutritional quality of staple-dependent food systems. In partnership with a broad network of national and private-sector partners, they have released over 60 improved maize and wheat varieties fortified with zinc or provitamin A in 19 countries.

Cover photo: Unlike white maize varieties, vitamin A maize is rich in beta-carotene, giving it a distinctive orange color. This biofortified variety provides consumers with up to 40% of their daily vitamin A needs. (Photo: HarvestPlus/Joslin Isaacson)

Farmers going home for breakfast in Motoko district, Zimbabwe. (Photo: Peter Lowe/CIMMYT)

CIMMYT and IITA collaborate to increase adoption of conservation agriculture in southern Africa

Written by Rodrigo Ordóñez on September 21, 2020. Posted in Press releases.

The International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA) and the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT) recently launched a project that aims to research the drivers and barriers to adoption of conservation agriculture in southern Africa, and to develop strategies for achieving adoption and impact at scale.

The project, Understanding and Enhancing Adoption of Conservation Agriculture in Smallholder Farming Systems of Southern Africa (ACASA), will apply social and scaling science to understand the biophysical, socioeconomic, institutional, and policy drivers and barriers to the adoption of conservation agriculture technologies and practices.

The ACASA project is supported by the Norwegian Agency for Development Cooperation (Norad) and will be implemented in Malawi, Zambia, and Zimbabwe in collaboration with partners and farmers in the region.

The project was officially launched online on September 16, 2020. Zambia’s Minister of Agriculture, Michael Katambo, noted that it is a timely intervention, as the livelihoods and food security of smallholder farmers in southern Africa are increasingly being threatened by climate change and variability, which have led to a steady decline in the production of food staples and an increase in the number of food and nutrition-insecure people.

“It is now clear that current productivity and production levels cannot be expected to meet our requirements for food and nutrition security,” Katambo said in a speech read on his behalf by Moses Mwale, Director of the Department of Agriculture. “Conservation agriculture has a proven potential to increase and stabilize crop yields, and to support sustainable and resilient production systems and rural livelihoods.”

Proven benefits

Conservation agriculture — a farming system that promotes minimum soil disturbance, permanent soil cover and diversification of plant species — can efficiently increase agricultural productivity while reducing land degradation and improving soil health for more productive, profitable, and sustainable farming.

Substantial on-farm evidence has been generated on the agronomic and economic benefits of conservation agriculture, first introduced in the 1970s in South Africa. Consequently, donors and governments have made a lot of investments to promote and scale conservation agriculture technologies and practices among smallholder farmers in the region. Despite all these efforts, however, the adoption rate among smallholder farmers remains low.

“We should not let the low adoption of conservation agriculture discourage us. Let us use this opportunity to reflect and identify the missing link and come up with more sustainable solutions to the problem,” said the IITA Director for Southern Africa, David Chikoye.

“Although adoption of improved practices by most resource-poor farmers is primarily determined by the potential immediate benefits on crop yields, profits, risk, and livelihoods, there are a number of biophysical, socioeconomic, institutional, and policy factors that promote or hinder adoption of conservation agriculture. The project, therefore, aims to identify the adoption drivers and barriers, and to develop pathways and strategies for inclusive scaling of conservation agriculture practices,” said Arega Alene, Agricultural Economist at IITA and leader of the ACASA project.

Christian Thierfelder, Principal Cropping Systems Agronomist at CIMMYT, highlighted some of the bottlenecks for conservation agriculture adoption, noting they were linked more to socioeconomic and cultural factors rather than biophysical. “Conservation agriculture is a viable and proven climate-smart farming system. Future research efforts should go towards understanding farmers’ decision-making and behavioral change, as well as profitability,” Thierfelder said.

Other key partners include the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), the African Conservation Tillage Network (ACT) and Centre for Coordination of Agricultural Research and Development for Southern Africa (CCARDESA).

The project launch was attended by policymakers, donors, members of national and regional conservation agriculture taskforces, national and international research institutions, universities, international development institutions, private seed companies, non-governmental organizations, and farmer organizations.

Interview opportunities:

Arega Alene, Agricultural Economist, IITA.

Christian Thierfelder, Principal Cropping Systems Agronomist, CIMMYT

For more information, or to arrange interviews, contact the media team:

Genevieve Renard, Director of Communications, CIMMYT. g.renard@cgiar.org

Katherine Lopez, Head of Communication, IITA. k.lopez@cgiar.org

About CIMMYT:

About IITA:

The International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA) is a not-for-profit institution that generates agricultural innovations to meet Africa’s most pressing challenges of hunger, malnutrition, poverty, and natural resource degradation. Working with various partners across sub-Saharan Africa, we improve livelihoods, enhance food and nutrition security, increase employment, and preserve natural resource integrity. IITA is a member of CGIAR, a global agriculture research partnership for a food-secure future.

Wheat fields at CIMMYT’s Campo Experimental Norman E. Borlaug (CENEB) in Ciudad Obregón, Mexico. (Photo: CIMMYT)

Retrospective quantitative genetic analysis and genomic prediction of global wheat yields

Written by Marcia MacNeil on September 17, 2020. Posted in Publications.

The process for breeding for grain yield in bread wheat at the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT) involves three-stage testing at an experimental station in the desert environment of Ciudad Obregón, in Mexico’s Yaqui Valley. Because the conditions in Obregón are extremely favorable, CIMMYT wheat breeders are able to replicate growing environments all over the world and test the yield potential and climate-resilience of wheat varieties for every major global wheat growing area. These replicated test areas in Obregón are known as selection environments (SEs).

This process has its roots in the innovative work of wheat breeder and Nobel Prize winner Norman Borlaug, more than 50 years ago. Wheat scientists at CIMMYT, led by wheat breeder Philomin Juliana, wanted to see if it remained effective.

The scientists conducted a large quantitative genetics study comparing the grain yield performance of lines in the Obregón SEs with that of lines in target growing sites throughout the world. They based their comparison on data from two major wheat trials: the South Asia Bread Wheat Genomic Prediction Yield Trials in India, Pakistan and Bangladesh initiated by the U.S. Agency for International Development Feed the Future initiative and the global testing environments of the Elite Spring Wheat Yield Trials.

The findings, published in Retrospective Quantitative Genetic Analysis and Genomic Prediction of Global Wheat Yields, in Frontiers in Plant Science, found that the Obregón yield testing process in different SEs is very efficient in developing high-yielding and resilient wheat lines for target sites.

The authors found higher average heritabilities, or trait variations due to genetic differences, for grain yield in the Obregón SEs than in the target sites (44.2 and 92.3% higher for the South Asia and global trials, respectively), indicating greater precision in the SE trials than those in the target sites. They also observed significant genetic correlations between one or more SEs in Obregón and all five South Asian sites, as well as with the majority (65.1%) of the Elite Spring Wheat Yield Trial sites. Lastly, they found a high ratio of selection response by selecting for grain yield in the SEs of Obregón than directly in the target sites.

“The results of this study make it evident that the rigorous multi-year yield testing in Obregón environments has helped to develop wheat lines that have wide-adaptability across diverse geographical locations and resilience to environmental variations,” said Philomin Juliana, CIMMYT associate scientist and lead author of the article.

“This is particularly important for smallholder farmers in developing countries growing wheat on less than 2 hectares who cannot afford crop losses due to year-to-year environmental changes.”

In addition to these comparisons, the scientists conducted genomic prediction for grain yield in the target sites, based on the performance of the same lines in the SEs of Obregón. They found high year-to-year variations in grain yield predictabilities, highlighting the importance of multi-environment testing across time and space to stave off the environment-induced uncertainties in wheat yields.

“While our results demonstrate the challenges involved in genomic prediction of grain yield in future unknown environments, it also opens up new horizons for further exciting research on designing genomic selection-driven breeding for wheat grain yield,” said Juliana.

This type of quantitative genetics analysis using multi-year and multi-site grain yield data is one of the first steps to assessing the effectiveness of CIMMYT’s current grain yield testing and making recommendations for improvement—a key objective of the new Accelerating Genetic Gains in Maize and Wheat for Improved Livelihoods (AGG) project, which aims to accelerate the breeding progress by optimizing current breeding schemes.

This work was made possible by the generous support of the Delivering Genetic Gain in Wheat (DGGW) project funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and the UK Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office (FCDO) and managed by Cornell University; the U.S. Agency for International Development’s Feed the Future initiative; and several collaborating national partners who generated the grain yield data.

Read the full article: Retrospective Quantitative Genetic Analysis and Genomic Prediction of Global Wheat Yields

This story was originally posted on the website of the CGIAR Research Program on Wheat (wheat.org).

Cover photo: Wheat fields at CIMMYT’s Campo Experimental Norman E. Borlaug (CENEB) in Ciudad Obregón, Mexico. (Photo: CIMMYT)

Harvesting golden spikes of wheat in Ethiopia. (Photo: Peter Lowe/CIMMYT

East Africa partners welcome “new era” in wheat breeding collaboration

Written by Marcia MacNeil on September 15, 2020. Posted in Features.

Representatives from ministries of agriculture and national agricultural research systems (NARS) in Ethiopia and Kenya recently joined funder representatives and technical experts from the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT) to renew a long-standing collaboration under the auspices of an ambitious new project, Accelerating Genetic Gains in Maize and Wheat for Improved Livelihoods (AGG).

AGG is a 5-year project 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 — two of the world’s most important staple crops. Funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the UK Foreign, Commonwealth, and Development Office (FCDO), the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) and the Foundation for Food and Agriculture Research (FFAR), AGG fuses innovative methods that improve breeding efficiency and precision to produce varieties that are climate-resilient, pest- and disease-resistant, highly nutritious, and targeted to farmers’ specific needs.

Ethiopia and Kenya: CIMMYT’s longstanding partners

The inception meeting for the wheat component of AGG in East Africa drew more than 70 stakeholders from Ethiopia and Kenya: the region’s primary target countries for wheat breeding. These two countries have long-standing relationships with CIMMYT that continue to deliver important impacts. Ninety percent of all wheat in Ethiopia is derived from CIMMYT varieties, and CIMMYT is a key supporter of the Ethiopian government’s goal for wheat self-sufficiency. Kenya has worked with CIMMYT for more than 40 years, and hosts the world’s biggest screening facilities for wheat rust diseases, with up to 40,000 accessions tested each year.

AGG builds on these successes and on the foundations built by previous projects, notably Delivering Genetic Gain in Wheat, led by Cornell University. The wheat component of AGG works in parallel with a USAID-funded “zinc mainstreaming” project, meeting the demand for increased nutritional quality as well as yield and resilience.

CIMMYT Director General Martin Kropff gave key remarks at the stakeholder gathering, which took place Thursday, August 20.

“Cooperation between CIMMYT and Ethiopia and Kenya – as in all the countries where CIMMYT works – has had tremendous impact,” he said. “We are proud, not for ourselves, but for the people we work for: the hundreds of millions of poor people and smallholders who rely on wheat and maize for their daily food and incomes.”

“AGG will raise this spirit of global cooperation to a new level.”

AGG Project Leader and CIMMYT Interim Deputy Director General for Research Kevin Pixley introduced the new project as a “unique and important” project that challenges every stakeholder to grow.

“What we would like to achieve is a step change for all of us, he told the stakeholders. “Each of us has the opportunity and the challenge to make a difference and that’s what we’re striving to do.”

Representatives from the agricultural research communities of both target countries emphasized the significance of their long collaboration with CIMMYT and their support for the project.

The Honorable Mandefro Nigussie, Ethiopia’s State Minister of Agriculture, confirmed the ongoing achievements of CIMMYT collaboration in his country.

“Our partnership with CIMMYT […] has yielded several improved varieties that increased productivity twofold over the last 20 years. He referred to Ethiopia’s campaign to achieve self-sufficiency in wheat. “AGG will make an immense contribution to this. The immediate and intermediate results can help achieve the country’s ambitious targets.”

A holistic and gender-informed approach

Deputy Director of Crops at the Kenya Agriculture and Livestock Organization (KALRO) Felister Makini, representing the KALRO Director General Eliud Kireger, noted the project’s strong emphasis on gender-intentional variety development and gender-informed analysis to ensure female farmers have access to varieties that meet their needs and the information to successfully adopt them.

“The goal of this new project will indeed address KALRO’s objective of enhancing food security and nutrition in Kenya,” she said. “This is because AGG not only brings together wheat breeding and optimization tools and technologies, but also considers gender and socioeconomic insights, which will be pivotal to our envisaged strategy to achieve socioeconomic change.”

Funding partners keen for AGG to address future threats

Before CIMMYT wheat experts took the virtual floor to describe specific workplans and opportunities for partner involvement, a number of funder representatives shared candid and inspiring thoughts.

“We are interested in delivery,” said Alan Tollervey of FCDO, formerly the UK Department for International Development. “That is why we support AGG, because it is about streamlining and modernizing the delivery of products […] directly relevant to both the immediate demands of poor farmers in developing countries and the global demand for food – but also addressing the future threats that we see coming.”

Hailu Wordofa, Agricultural Technology Specialist at the Bureau for Resilience and Food Security at USAID highlighted the importance of global partnerships for past success and reiterated the ambitious targets of the current project.

“We expect to see genetic gains increase and varieties […] replaced by farmer-preferred varieties,” he reminded stakeholders. “To make this happen, we expect CIMMYT’s global breeding program to use optimal breeding approaches and develop strong and truly collaborative relationships with NARS partners throughout the entire process.”

“Wheat continues to be a critical staple crop for global food security and supporting CIMMYT’s wheat breeding program remains a high priority for USAID,” he assured the attendees.

He also expressed hope that AGG would collaborate other projects working in parallel, including the Feed the Future Innovation Lab for Applied Wheat Genomics at Kansas State University, and the International Wheat Yield Partnership.

FFAR Scientific Program Director Jeff Rosichan called AGG a “really ambitious project that takes a comprehensive look at the research gaps and challenges and how to translate that research into farmers’ fields.”

Agriculture prevails even under COVID-19

The global COVID-19 pandemic was not ignored as one of several challenges during this time of change and transition.

“As we speak today, despite the challenge that we have with the COVID-19, I am proud to say that work on the nurseries is on-going. We are able to apply [our] skills and deliver world-class science,” said Godwin Macharia, center director at KALRO-Njoro.

“This COVID-19 pandemic has shown us that there is a great need globally to focus on food equity. I think this project allows that to happen,” said Jeff Rosichan from FFAR.

Transformations are also happening at the research organization and funding level. CIMMYT Director General Martin Kropff noted that “demand-driven solutions” for “affordable, efficient and healthy diets produced within planetary boundaries” are an important part of the strategy for One CGIAR, the ongoing transformation of CGIAR, the world’s largest public research network on food systems, of which CIMMYT is a member.

Hans Braun, director of CIMMYT’s Global Wheat Program reminded attendees that, despite these changes, one important fact remains. “The demand for wheat will continue to grow for many years to come, and we must meet it.”

Cover photo: Harvesting golden spikes of wheat in Ethiopia. (Photo: Peter Lowe/CIMMYT)

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 September 11, 2020. 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 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)

In Ethiopia, scattered trees in crop fields have been practiced for centuries. (Photo: Tesfaye Shiferaw /CIMMYT)

Matching nutrients to agroforestry systems for greater maize and wheat yields

Written by Marta Millere on September 11, 2020. Posted in Features.

Globally, the COVID-19 pandemic and associated lockdowns have created bottlenecks across the agricultural value chain, including disrupting the supply of fertilizer. This could negatively impact the already low yields in smallholders’ fields in the Global South. Livelihoods of these resource-poor farmers and food security of those they feed call for innovations or smarter application of existing knowledge to avoid increasing food insecurity.

In a recent study, a team of scientists from the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT) and Plant Production Systems, Wageningen University, found that there are clever ways to mix and match maize and wheat varieties with mineral fertilizers in tree-crop systems for greater nutrient use efficiency. The study explored the impact of different combinations of nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (P) fertilizers on crop yield in tree crop systems. It also identified mineral fertilizer-tree combinations that maximize agronomic nutrient use efficiencies under different contexts.

Tree-crop-fertilizer interactions for wheat growing under Faidherbia albida and maize growing under Acacia tortilis and Grevillea robusta through omission trials of N and P were explored in open fields and fields under tree canopy, using a split plot design. The experiments were conducted under different agroecologies in Ethiopia (Meki and Mojo) and Rwanda, where retaining scattered trees in fields has been practiced for centuries. The trials were replicated four times and over two seasons. Trees with approximately similar ages, crown structures and pruning history were used for a researcher-led and farmer-managed on-farm experiment.

The results demonstrated that different on-farm tree species interact uniquely with crops, resulting in different responses to N and P fertilization. Except for F. albida, perhaps the most ‘ideal’ agroforestry species, the other two tree species under the current study raised the question of tree-crop compatibility for optimum productivity. F. albida significantly improved N and P use efficiencies, leading to significantly higher grain yields in wheat. The P use efficiency of wheat under F.albida was double that of wheat grown in an open field. By contrast, G. robusta and A. tortilis trees lowered nutrient use efficiencies in maize, leading to significantly less maize grain yields compared with open fields receiving the same fertilization. The case study also identified probabilities of critically low crop yields and crop failure to be significantly greater for maize growing under the canopy of these species.

A tree-crop system in Ethiopia. (Photo: Tesfaye Shiferaw /CIMMYT)

In conclusion, the study demonstrated that tree-crop interactions are mediated by the application of N and P fertilizers in tree-crop systems. In F. albida-wheat agroforestry systems, N fertilizers could be saved, with localized application of P fertilizers close to tree crowns. Such adaptable application may help smallholder farmers cope with COVID-19-imposed fertilizer limitations. In G.robusta-maize and A.tortilis-maize agroforestry systems, maize did not respond to N and P fertilizers applied at recommended rates, although the application of these nutrients compensated for competition. This implies mineral fertilizers can offset the effect of competition, while they fail to provide the yield advantages like mono-cropping situations.

The researchers underlined the fact that fertilizer recommendations need to be adapted to agroforestry systems. However, in order to quantify the exact magnitude and nature of fertilizer-tree interaction in agroforestry systems accurately, factorial application of higher and lower rates of mineral fertilizer is needed. They also called for further research to identify fertilization rates that minimize tree-crop competition for G. robusta-maize and A. tortilis-maize systems, while additional studies are needed to identify the rates and timing of application that optimize F. albida-wheat facilitation.

This work was carried out by the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT) and Plant Production Systems, Wageningen University

Download your copy of the publication: Should fertilizer recommendations be adapted to parkland agroforestry systems? Case studies from Ethiopia and Rwanda

Development Partners Explore Scaling Up Food Systems Transformation in Africa Post-COVID-19

Written by Mary Donovan on September 10, 2020. Posted in In the media.

The COVID-19 crisis is highlighting many fragilities in contemporary food systems. But the pandemic has also created opportunities for local organizations and technologies to quickly mitigate these fragilities while showcasing the resilience, innovation and adaptation of African food and agricultural systems.

African Green Revolution Forum (AGRF) panel discussed solutions to food security challenges.

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 September 8, 2020. 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)

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)

Building resistance in wheat: International collaboration fights Septoria tritici blotch disease

Written by Alison Doody on September 1, 2020. Posted in News.

Phenotypic selection of resistant lines (Ms. H. Kouki Field technician and consultant A. Yahyaoui) at the Septoria Precision Phenotyping Platform at Kodia/INGC. (Photo: Septoria Precision Phenotyping Platform)

Tunisia has been a major durum wheat producer and consumer since Roman times, a crop used now for couscous, bread and pasta dishes throughout North Africa and the Mediterranean Basin.

However, a persistent disease known as Septoria tritici blotch (STB) has been threatening durum wheat harvests across the country thanks to its increasing resistance to fungicides and adaptability to harsher climatic conditions. The disease, which is caused by the fungus Zymoseptoria tritici, thrives under humid conditions and can cause up to 60% yield loss in farmers’ fields.

To help fight this disease, the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT) established the Septoria Precision Phenotyping Platform in collaboration with the Institution of Agricultural Research and Higher Education of Tunisia (IRESA) and the International Center for Agricultural Research in the Dry Areas (ICARDA) in Tunisia in 2015.

The platform aims to accelerate the transfer of STB resistance genes into elite durum wheat lines from national and international breeding programs, particularly CIMMYT and ICARDA breeding programs. Researchers at the platform have tested an impressive diversity of durum wheat lines for resistance to the disease from research institutes across Tunisia, Morocco, Algeria, Mexico, France, Italy, the UK, USA and Canada.

STB field reactions showing typical necrotic symptoms containing pycnidia on an infected adult plant leaf of wheat. (Photo: Septoria Precision Phenotyping Platform)

“New and more virulent strains of the pathogen are constantly emerging, which results in previously resistant wheat varieties becoming more susceptible,” said Sarrah Ben M’Barek, head of the laboratory at the Septoria Precision Phenotyping platform.

Field phenotyping – the use of field-testing to identify desired plant traits — is the heart of the platform. Scientists can test as many as 30,000 plots each year for STB resistance.

Evaluations are conducted at two main field research stations managed by the Regional Field Crop Center (CRRGC) and the National Institute of Field Crops (INGC), based at two major hotspots for the disease in Beja and Kodia. This work is complemented by laboratory research at the National Agronomic Institute of Tunisia (INAT) at Tunis.

“The platform plays a critical role in identifying STB resistant wheat germplasm and characterizing the resistance genes they possess. These resistant sources be can further utilized in hybridization schemes by durum wheat breeders worldwide to develop durable resistant varieties,” explained CIMMYT consultant and platform coordinator Amor Yahyaoui.

With the help of data from the platform, breeders hope to combine multiple resistance genes in an individual variety to create a genetically complex “lock” whose combination the fungus will not easily break.

According to Ben M’Barek, the huge genetic diversity in wheat and its ancestors has helped breeders to develop new varieties for almost a century. However, the adoption of new varieties has typically been slow.

Farmers in Tunisia traditionally rely on fungicides to manage the disease. However, with the pathogen recently becoming more resistant to fungicides and more adaptive to harsher climatic conditions, interest in STB resistant varieties is increasing.

Field disease reactions of a susceptible wheat cultivar. (Photo: Septoria Precision Phenotyping Platform)

A hub for training and collaboration

The platform is also a hub for training and capacity development for national and international scientists, field research and lab. assistants, students and farmers. It brings together research staff and technicians from different institutions within Tunisia including the CRRGC, INGC, the National Institute of Agricultural Research of Tunisia (INRAT), INAT and the University of Jendouba.

Farmer’s organizations and regional extension services, as well as private organizations such as Comptoir Multiservices Agricoles (CMA), seed and chemical companies also collaborate with the platform. The result is a team effort that has generated a tremendous wealth of data, made only possible through the dedication of Yahyaoui, said Ben M’Barek.

“Spending a few days at the platform each year is a like a crash course on STB resistance. All subjects are covered and great experts around the world come together to discuss all details of this host-pathogen interaction,” said Filippo Bassi, senior durum wheat breeder at ICARDA.

“Sending young scientists to spend some time at the platform ensures that they learn all about the mechanisms of resistance and take them back to their home country to deploy them in their own breeding programs. It is like a true university for STB.”

Yet, the platform still has a lot of work to do, according to Ben M’Barek. Scientists at the platform are now working on raising awareness on crop and pest management such as integrated management approaches amongst farming communities, setting up on-farm field trials and developing disease early warning surveillance.

Next year the platform will provide a unique podium for students, academics and researchers to exchange ideas and research findings on cereal leaf blight diseases. The International Symposium on Cereal Leaf Blights will take place on May 19-21, 2021 in Tunisia. Details can be found here.

The Septoria Precision Phenotyping Platform is led by the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT), in collaboration with the Institution of Agricultural Research and Higher Education of Tunisia (IRESA) and the International Center for Agricultural Research in the Dry Areas (ICARDA) and is supported by the CGIAR Research Program in Wheat (WHEAT).

Septoria Precision Phenotyping Platform at Oued Béja (CRRGC). (Photo: Gert Kema/Wageningen University)

Maize and other food crops on sale at Ijaye market, Oyo State, Nigeria. (Photo: Adebayo O./IITA)

New publications: Power, agency and benefits among women and men maize farmers

Written by Emma Orchardson on August 27, 2020. Posted in Publications.

For smallholder farmers in sub-Saharan Africa, new agricultural technologies such as improved maize varieties offer numerous benefits — increased incomes, lower workloads and better food security, among others. However, when new technologies are introduced, they can denaturalize and expose gender norms and power relations because their adoption inevitably requires women and men to renegotiate the rules of the game. The adoption of new varieties will often be accompanied by a number of related decisions on the allocation of farm labor, the purchase and use of inorganic fertilizers, switching crops between women- and men-managed plots, and the types of benefit household members expect to secure may change.

In an article published this month in Gender, Technology and Development, researchers from the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT) explore how women in Nigeria negotiate these new power dynamics to access and secure the benefits of improved maize varieties and, more broadly, to expand their decision-making space.

Using focus group and interview data collected as part of the GENNOVATE project, the authors draw on case studies from four villages — two in the northern states of Kaduna and Plateau; two in the southwestern state of Oyo — to develop an understanding of the relationship between gender norms, women’s ability and willingness to express their agency, and the uptake of agricultural technologies. “This is an important step toward improving the capacity of agricultural research for development to design and scale innovations,” say the authors. “Achieving this ambition is highly relevant to maize.”

The results were similar across all four sites. The authors found that women in each area were constrained by powerful gender norms which privilege male agency and largely frown upon women’s empowerment, thus limiting their ability to maximize the benefits from improved varieties or realize their agency in other domains.

All women respondents remarked that improved maize varieties were easy to adopt, have higher yields and mature quickly, which meant that income flows started earlier and helped them meet household expenditures on time. They prioritized the contribution of improved maize to securing household food security, which helped them meet their ascribed gender roles as food providers.

“At the same time though, women felt they could not maximize their benefits from improved maize varieties due to men’s dominance in decision-making,” the authors explain. “This was particularly the case for married women.”

“Men are meant to travel far – not women”

Woman selling white maize at Bodija market in Ibadan, Nigeria. (Photo: Adebayo O./IITA)

Embedded gender norms – particularly those relating to mobility – infuse the wider environment and mean that women’s access to opportunities is considerably more restricted than it is for men.

The findings demonstrate that both women and men farmers secure benefits from improved maize varieties. However, men accrue more benefits and benefit directly, as they have unfettered mobility and opportunity. They can access markets that are further away, and the maize they sell is unprocessed and requires no transformation. Additionally, men do not question their right to devote profits from maize primarily to their own concerns, nor their right to secure a high level of control over the money women make.

On the other hand, women respondents — regardless of age and income cohort — repeatedly stated that while it is hard to earn significant money from local sales of the processed maize products they make, it is also very difficult for them to enter large markets selling unprocessed, improved maize.

The difficulties women face in trying to grow maize businesses may be partly related to a lack of business acumen and experience, but a primary reason is limited personal mobility in all four communities. For example, in Sabon Birni village, Kaduna, women lamented that though the local market is not large enough to accommodate their maize processing and other agri-business ventures, they are not permitted travel to markets further afield where ‘there are always people ready to buy’.

“Women’s benefits relate to the fact that improved maize varieties increase the absolute size of the ‘maize cake’,” say the authors. “They expect to get a larger slice as a consequence. However, the absolute potential of improved varieties for boosting women’s incomes and other options of importance to women is hampered by gender norms that significantly restrict their agency.”

The implications for maize research and development are that an improved understanding of the complex relational nature of empowerment is essential when introducing new agricultural technologies.

Read the full paper:
Unequal partners: associations between power, agency and benefits among women and men maize farmers in Nigeria

Other recent publications from GENNOVATE:

Continuity and Change: Performing Gender in Rural Tanzania

Engaging men in gender-equitable practices in maize systems of sub-Saharan Africa

Cover photo: Maize and other food crops on sale at Ijaye market, Oyo State, Nigeria. (Photo: Adebayo O./IITA)

Read more recent publications by CIMMYT researchers:

Phenotypic characterization of Canadian barley advanced breeding lines for multiple disease resistance. 2019. Osman, M., Xinyao He, Capettini, F., Helm, J., Singh, P.K. In: Cereal Research Communications v. 47, no. 3, pg. 484-495.
Tillage and crop rotations enhance populations of earthworms, termites, dung beetles and centipedes: evidence from a long-term trial in Zambia. 2019. Muoni, T., Mhlanga, B., Forkman, J., Sitali, M., Thierfelder, C. In: Journal of Agricultural Science v. 157, no. 6, pg. 504-514.
Genética de la resistencia a roya amarilla causada por Puccinia striiiformis f. sp. tritici W. en tres genotipos de trigo (Triticum aestivum L.) = Genetics of the resistance to yellow rust caused by Puccinia striiformis f. sp. tritici W. in three genotypes of wheat (Tritcum aestivum L.). 2019. Rodriguez-Garcia, M.F., Rojas Martínez, R.I., Huerta-Espino, J., Villaseñor Mir, H.E., Zavaleta Mejía, E., Sandoval-Islas, S., Crossa, J. In: Revista Fitotecnia Mexicana v. 42, no. 1, pg. 31-38.
Mapping of maize storage losses due to insect pests in central Mexico. 2019. García-Lara, S., García-Jaimes, E., Bergvinson, D.J. In: Journal of Stored Products Research v. 84, art. 101529.
Analysis of distribution systems for supply of synthetic grain protectants to maize smallholder farmers in Zimbabwe: implications for hermetic grain storage bag distribution. 2019. Govereh, J., Muchetu, R.G., Mvumi, B.M., Chuma, T. In: Journal of Stored Products Research v. 84, art. 101520.
Agronomic performance and susceptibility of seven Ghanaian improved sweet potato varieties to the sweet potato weevil, Cylas spp. (Coleoptera: Brentidae) in Coastal Savanna zone of Ghana. 2019. Adom, M., Fening, K.O., Wilson, D.D., Adofo, K., Bruce, A.Y. In: African Entomology v. 27, no. 2, pg. 312-321.
Validation of candidate gene-based markers and identification of novel loci for thousand-grain weight in spring bread wheat. 2019. Sehgal, D., Mondal, S., Guzman, C., Garcia Barrios, G., Franco, C., Singh, R.P., Dreisigacker, S. In: Frontiers in Plant Science v. 19, art. 1189.
Genomic prediction and genome-wide association studies of flour yield and alveograph quality traits using advanced winter wheat breeding material. 2019. Kristensen, P.S., Jensen, J., Andersen, J.P., Guzman, C., Orabi, J., Jahoor, A. In: Genes v. 10, no. 9, art. 669.
Identification of superior doubled haploid maize (Zea mays) inbred lines derived from high oil content subtropical populations. 2019. Silva-Venancio, S., Preciado-Ortiz, R.E., Covarrubias-Prieto, J., Ortíz-Islas, S., Serna-Saldivar, S.O., García-Lara, S., Terron Ibarra, A., Palacios-Rojas, N. In: Maydica v. 64, no. 1, pg. 1-11.
Tillage and residue-management effects on productivity, profitability and soil properties in a rice-maize-mungbean system in the Eastern Gangetic Plains. 2019. Rashid, M.H., Timsina, J., Islam, N., Saiful Islam. In: Journal of Crop Improvement v. 33, no. 5, pg. 683-710.
Mapping of genetic loci conferring resistance to leaf rust from three globally resistant durum wheat sources. 2019. Kthiri, D., Loladze, A., N’Diaye, A., Nilsen, K., Walkowiak, S., Dreisigacker, S., Ammar, K., Pozniak, C.J. In: Frontiers in Plant Science v. 10, art. 1247.
Compost amended with N enhances maize productivity and soil properties in semi-arid agriculture. 2019. Shahid Iqbal, Arif, M., Khan, H.Z., Yasmeen, T., Thierfelder, C., Tang Li, Khan, S., Nadir, S., Jianchu Xu In: Agronomy Journal v. 111 no. 5, pg. 2536-2544.
Simulation-based maize–wheat cropping system optimization in the midhills of Nepal. 2019. Laborde, J.P., Wortmann, C.S., Blanco-Canqui, H., McDonald, A., Lindquist, J.L. In: Agronomy Journal v. 111, no. 5, pg. 2569-2581.
Affordability linked with subsidy: impact of fertilizers subsidy on household welfare in Pakistan. 2019. Ali, A., Rahut, D.B., Imtiaz, M. In: Sustainability v. 11, no. 19, art. 5161.
Field-specific nutrient management using Rice Crop Manager decision support tool in Odisha, India. 2019. Sharma, S., Rout, K.K., Khanda, C.M., Tripathi, R., Shahid, M., Nayak, A.D., Satpathy, S.D., Banik, N.C., Iftikar, W., Parida, N., Kumar, V., Mishra, A., Castillo, R.L., Velasco, T., Buresh, R.J. In: Field Crops Research v. 241, art. 107578.
Balanced nutrient requirements for maize in the Northern Nigerian Savanna: parameterization and validation of QUEFTS model. 2019. Shehu, B.M., Lawan, B.A., Jibrin, J. M., Kamara, A. Y., Mohammed, I.B., Rurinda, J., Shamie Zingore, Craufurd, P., Vanlauwe, B., Adam, A.M., Merckx, R. In: Field Crops Research v. 241, art. 107585.
Factor analysis to investigate genotype and genotype × environment interaction effects on pro- vitamin A content and yield in maize synthetics. 2019. Mengesha, W., Menkir, A., Meseka, S., Bossey, B., Afolabi, A., Burgueño, J., Crossa, J. In: Euphytica v. 215, no. 11, art. 180.
Agricultural productivity and soil carbon dynamics: a bioeconomic model. 2019. Berazneva, J., Conrad, J.M., Güereña, D. T., Lehmann, J., Woolf, D. In: American Journal of Agricultural Economics v. 101, no.4, pg. 1021-1046.
Effect of manures and fertilizers on soil physical properties, build-up of macro and micronutrients and uptake in soil under different cropping systems: a review. 2019. Dhaliwal, S.S., Naresh, R.K., Mandal, A., Walia, M.K., Gupta, R.K., Singh, R., Dhaliwal, M.K. In: Journal of Plant Nutrition v. 42, no. 2, pg. 2873-2900.
Combined study on genetic diversity of wheat genotypes using SNP marker and phenotypic reaction to Heterodera filipjevi. 2019. Majd Taheri, Z., Tanha Maafi, Z., Nazari, K., Zaynali Nezhad, K., Rakhshandehroo, F., Dababat, A.A. In: Genetic Resources and Crop Evolution v. 66, no. 8, pg. 1791-1811.
Characterization of QTLs for seedling resistance to tan spot and septoria nodorum blotch in the PBW343/Kenya Nyangumi wheat recombinant inbred lines population. 2019. Singh, P.K., Sukhwinder-Singh, Zhiying Deng, Xinyao He, Kehel, Z., Singh, R.P. In: International Journal of Molecular Sciences v. 20, no. 21, art. 5432.
Rapid identification and characterization of genetic loci for defective kernel in bread wheat. 2019. Chao Fu, Jiuyuan Du, Xiuling Tian, He Zhonghu, Luping Fu, Yue Wang, Dengan Xu, Xiaoting Xu, Xianchun Xia, Zhang Yan, Shuanghe Cao In: BMC Plant Biology v. 19, no. 1, art. 483.
Nitrogen fertilizer rate increases plant uptake and soil availability of essential nutrients in continuous maize production in Kenya and Zimbabwe. 2019. Pasley, H.R., Cairns, J.E., Camberato, J.J., Vyn, T.J. In: Nutrient Cycling in Agroecosystems v. 115, no. 3, pg. 373-389.
Identification of a conserved ph1b-mediated 5DS–5BS crossing over site in soft-kernel durum wheat (Triticum turgidum subsp. durum) lines. 2019. Ibba, M.I., Mingyi Zhang, Xiwen Cai, Morris, C.F. In: Euphytica v. 215, art. 200.
Optimum and decorrelated constrained multistage linear phenotypic selection indices theory. 2019. Ceron Rojas, J.J., Toledo, F.H., Crossa, J. In: Crop Science v. 59, no. 6, pg. 2585-2600.
Comparison of weighted and unweighted stage-wise analysis for genome-wide association studies and genomic selection. 2019. Tigist Mideksa Damesa, Hartung, J., Gowda, M., Beyene, Y., Das, B., Fentaye Kassa Semagn, Piepho, H.P. In: Crop Science v. 59, no. 6, pg. 2572-2584.
Effects of drought and low nitrogen stress on provitamin a carotenoid content of biofortified maize hybrids. 2019. Ortiz-Covarrubias, Y., Dhliwayo, T., Palacios-Rojas, N., Thokozile Ndhlela, Magorokosho, C., Aguilar Rincón, V.H., Cruz-Morales, A.S., Trachsel, S. In: Crop Science v. 59, no. 6, pg. 2521-2532.
Designing interventions in local value chains for improved health and nutrition: insights from Malawi. 2019. Donovan, J.A., Gelli, A. In: World Development Perspectives v. 16, art. 100149.

Unique partnership to transform maize breeding and production in Africa

Written by Marta Millere on August 26, 2020. Posted in Features.

Scientists part of the Seed Production Technology for Africa (SPTA) and the Maize Lethal Necrosis Gene Editing projects are leveraging innovative technologies to transform seed production systems and speed up the delivery of disease resistance in elite new hybrids. This research is helping smallholder farmers in sub-Saharan Africa to access high-quality seed of new hybrids that were bred to perform under stressful low-input, drought-prone conditions, including farming regions impacted by maize lethal necrosis (MLN).

Fast delivery of MLN-tolerant varieties

The fight against maize lethal necrosis (MLN) has persisted for almost ten years now.

Collaborative efforts in diagnostics, management and systematic surveillance have limited its spread and confined the disease to the eastern Africa region. However, ongoing work is required to efficiently develop MLN-tolerant varieties for smallholders in endemic areas and prepare for the potential further movement of the disease.

“Maize lethal necrosis still exists. It has not been eradicated. Even though it has reduced in its prevalence and impact, it is still present and is a latent threat in Ethiopia, Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania and Uganda, with potential to spread further,” said B.M. Prasanna, director of CIMMYT’s Global Maize Program and the CGIAR Research Program on Maize.

“That is why the work of the gene editing project is critical to rapidly change the genetic component of those susceptible parent lines of popular hybrids into MLN-tolerant versions,” said Prasanna. Scientists will edit the four parent lines of two popular hybrids, currently grown by farmers in Kenya and Uganda, which are susceptible to MLN. The edited MLN-tolerant lines will be used to make MLN-tolerant versions of these drought-tolerant hybrids.

Through gene editing technology, the time it takes to develop hybrids using traditional breeding methods will be cut in half. By 2025, the edited MLN-tolerant hybrids will be available for planting on approximately 40,000 hectares by about 20,000 Kenyan farmers.

A non-pollen-producing maize plant (on the left) on farm trial in Zimbabwe. (Photo: Jill Cairns/CIMMYT)

Business as unusual

The unique seed production technology developed by Corteva Agriscience seeks to transform the seed production process in sub-Saharan Africa. This technology utilizes a dominant non-pollen producing maize gene to create female plants that are unable to produce pollen.

Seed companies that use seed production technology eliminate the need to detassel the female parent: a manual process through which tassels are removed from plants to prevent self-pollination and ensure that the intended male parent is the only source of pollen in the hybrid seed production field. Targeted small and medium-size seed companies could make significant savings to the cost of production if they were to eliminate manual detasseling. The method also helps to ensure the purity of the hybrid seed by removing the risk of unintentional self-pollination.

Hybrids produced using the seed production technology, characterized as 50 percent non-pollen producing (FNP), are unique since only half of the plants will produce pollen in the field. FNP hybrids re-allocate energy from the tassel and pollen production to grain formation, thus delivering an additional 200 kilograms per hectare yield advantage to the farmer. This represents a 10 percent productivity boost for farmers who will harvest approximately 2 tons per hectare, the average maize yield across sub-Saharan Africa. Farmers engaged in participatory research have demonstrated preference for FNP hybrids and associate the trait with higher yield and larger ear size.

As the first phase of Seed Production Technology for Africa (SPTA) wraps up, the collaborators are preparing for the next phase that will focus on commercializing, scaling up and increasing smallholders’ access to FNP. “This is among the unique partnerships funded by the foundation and I am hopeful that this incredible work will continue through the next phase,” said Gary Atlin, program officer at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.

Resistant hybrid (on the right) grows beside a susceptible commercial check at the Kenya Plant Health Inspectorate Services' (KEPHIS) National Performance Trial. (Photo: CIMMYT) — Resistant hybrid (on the right) grows beside a susceptible commercial check at the Kenya Plant Health Inspectorate Services’ (KEPHIS) National Performance Trial. (Photo: CIMMYT)

A win-win collaboration

Research and development work under the SPTA and the MLN Gene Editing projects has immensely benefited from the support of public and private partners. Seed companies and national institutions have contributed to improving access to and knowledge of these technologies as well as creating a crucial link with farmers. Ongoing engagement with regulatory agencies through the different stages of the projects ensures transparency and fosters understanding.

In order to assess the progress of these two initiatives, representatives from regulatory agencies, seed trade associations, seed companies, national agricultural institutions and funders came together for a virtual meeting that was hosted on July 29, 2020.

“KALRO embraces partnerships such as those that are delivering these two projects. That synergy helps us to resolve challenges faced by farmers and other actors in various agricultural value chains,” observed Felister Makini, deputy director general of Crops at KALRO.

As the primary technology provider, Corteva Agriscience provides the seed production technology system on a royalty-free basis and grants access to key gene editing technologies, which are the foundation for the two projects. Corteva Agriscience is also actively involved in project execution through collaborative scientific support.

“We have appreciated the opportunity to work with CIMMYT, KARLO, Agricultural Research Council (ARC) of South Africa and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to bring some of the technologies and tools from Corteva to address significant challenges facing smallholder farmers in Africa. We could not have done this alone, it requires the partnerships that exist here to bring forth these solutions,” said Kevin Diehl, director of the Global Seed Regulatory Platform at Corteva Agriscience.

Gender Dynamics in Seed Systems in Sub-Saharan Africa and Worldwide Lessons workshop

Lessons for gender in seed systems

Written by Mary Donovan on August 20, 2020. Posted in Videos.

Seed systems are complex and dynamic, involving diverse, interdisciplinary actors. Women play an important role in the seed value chain, although underlying social and cultural norms can impact their equal participation. Gender-sensitive seed systems will create more opportunities for women and increase food security.

The International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT) convened a multi-stakeholder technical workshop titled, “Gender dynamics in seed systems in sub-Saharan Africa and worldwide lessons” on December 2, 2019, in Nairobi, Kenya. Researchers and development practitioners operating in the nexus of gender and seed systems shared lessons learned and research findings to identify knowledge gaps and exchange ideas on promising — and implementable — interventions and approaches that expand opportunities for women in the seed sector.