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.

WEMA prepares for commercial release of new varieties

Written by on October 2, 2012. Posted in News.

Stephen-Mugo-explaining-WEMA-trials-to-Seed-Company Twenty-nine drought-tolerant, early maturing, disease-resistant hybrids developed by the Water Efficient Maize for Africa (WEMA) project are getting ready to be released, a huge success for WEMA and all its stakeholders. “The 29 hybrids advanced to national performance trials is a record release by an entity in Africa in all times. These high performing hybrids yield 20–35 % more grain under moderate drought compared to 2008 commercially available hybrids,” said Stephen Mugo, CIMMYT principal scientist and co-chair of the WEMA Product Development Team. “Let us seize the technological opportunities that are there to boost productivity and people’s welfare,” he added. The white hybrids resistant to stem borers, maize weevils, and large grain borer, and to diseases such as grey leaf spot, northern leaf blight, and maize streak virus will complement other drought tolerant hybrids developed and released by the Drought Tolerant Maize for Africa (DTMA) initiative. These first WEMA hybrids were developed from CIMMYT’s drought tolerant germplasm accelerated using the doubled haploid technology from the Monsanto platform.

Moderate drought is a major production constraint for small-scale farmers in Africa who rely on rainfed agriculture, and this rapid progress is thus great news for African farmers. WEMA stakeholders from Kenya, Uganda, Mozambique, Tanzania, and South Africa met in Nairobi, Kenya, during 10-13 September 2012 for the WEMA Project Second Regional Stakeholders and Seed Company Meetings organized by CIMMYT, Monsanto, and the African Agriculture Technology Foundation (AATF) to discuss the project. Denis Kyetere, AATF executive director and executive advisory board member, explained that WEMA is a public-private partnership with the goal of developing and deploying royalty-free African drought-tolerant and insect-pest resistant climate change ready maize. Wilson Songa, Kenya’s Agriculture Secretary and the chief guest at the meetings, noted that Africa’s agriculture must be competitive and must ensure that productivity is meeting the continent’s needs. This can be achieved by advancing the cause of science and technology in the midst of climate change, an approach taken by WEMA and appreciated by Ephraim Mukisira, WEMA executive advisory board member and the director of Kenya Agricultural Research Institute (KARI). “We in the agricultural sector must strive to cut the hunger and improve the welfare of thousands who rely on agriculture. We would like to see the expansion of maize production area but, more importantly, maize productivity. We must embrace science and technology to achieve these goals,” said Mukisira.

According to Sylvester Oikeh, WEMA project manager, the first conventionally bred hybrid seeds will be available in 2014 to farmers in Kenya, Uganda, and South Africa, and in 2015 to farmers in Mozambique and Tanzania. Reiterating Monsanto’s excitement and commitment to WEMA, Kinyua MMbijjewe, Monsanto’s Africa Corporate Affairs manager, warned that Africa cannot afford to rely on maize imports: “Africa should strive to be self-reliant in maize production. Those areas suitable for maize production should be made more robust through the adoption of appropriate technologies.”

The stakeholders later visited WEMA trials at KARI-Kiboko. They were impressed by the performance of the varieties on display in the demonstration plots, as many have outperformed some of the best local hybrid checks on the market. After seeing the trial fields, seed companies from Kenya, Uganda, and South Africa expressed their readiness to take up the promising varieties for commercialization, noting that it is a great business opportunity. According to Norah Olembo, Africa Biotechnology Stakeholders Forum executive director, rapid release of the varieties to the farmers is also critical for improving productivity, food security, and livelihoods, considering that 75 % of agricultural land in sub-Saharan Africa is drought prone.

Honorable Casimiro Pedro Sacadura Huate, Mozambican Member of Parliament and deputy chairman of the Commission on Agriculture, Rural Development, Economic Architecture and Services, assured the project implementers of the government’s support. His counterpart from Uganda, Honorable Binta Lukumu, member of the Parliamentary Standards Committee on Agriculture, promised to promote the project in Uganda and urged the project implementers to bring on board other members of parliament in WEMA countries to help them understand and champion the course of the project and argue for favorable decisions in their respective countries.

Partners meet in Ethiopia to launch Adoption Pathways

Written by on October 1, 2012. Posted in News.

The first planning and inception meeting of the ‘Identifying socioeconomic constraints to and incentives for faster technology adoption: Pathways to sustainable intensification in Eastern and Southern Africa’ (Adoption Pathways project) took place at the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI) campus in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, during 13-15 September 2012. The meeting was attended by over 25 participants from 5 universities and research institutes (Ethiopia, Kenya, Tanzania, Malawi, and Mozambique), international partner universities (University of Queensland, Australia, and Norwegian University of Life Sciences), International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI), CIMMYT, Australian International Food Security Center (AIFSC), Australian Center for International Agriculture Research (ACIAR), and resource persons from US universities.

The Adoption Pathways project is a continuation of a fruitful partnership between ACIAR and African researchers which began under the Sustainable Intensification of Maize-Legume Systems for Food Security in Eastern and Southern Africa (SIMLESA) initiative led by CIMMYT. It is funded by the newly established AIFSC, which is housed in ACIAR and whose mission is to “accelerate demand-driven research, delivery and adoption of innovations to improve food security.”

The project focuses on the socioeconomic, policy, institutional, risk, and agro-climatic constraints and/or incentives that affect farmers’ technology-adoption behavior. Building on the success of SIMLESA, the Adoption Pathways project will systematically collect and analyze household, plot, and village level data from sentinel villages representing maizelegume based farming systems in Ethiopia, Kenya, Tanzania, Malawi, and Mozambique. Data collected from the sentinel villages will help monitor longterm trends and development changes, and fill the knowledge gaps in designing programs and policies that accelerate technology adoption, stimulate productivity growth, and lead to sustainable agricultural intensification pathways. The planned activities will be implemented in close collaboration with the SIMLESA team to ensure that the knowledge and outputs generated by this project will help bridge the gap between agricultural research and adoption of research outputs. Bronnie Anderson-Smith, AIFSC executive officer, and John Dixon, ACIAR senior adviser/research program manager, highlighted the unique opportunity provided by the project to contribute towards three core strategic focal areas of AIFSC: access to food; education, training, and gender research; and building resilient farming systems.

Throughout the meeting, project participants became familiar with methodological innovations in adoption and impact analysis, gender integration in household level data collection, modeling approaches to determine vulnerability and risk management strategies, conducting risk experiments, and developing econometric and economy-wide models to estimate the impact of technology adoption.

During the closing session, Lisa Filipetto, the Australian Ambassador to Ethiopia, emphasized the important role economists play in integrating the elements of marketing, value-chain analysis, and income generation in technology adoption. “Participants should get involved in policy dialogue in their respective countries so that the ‘adoption pathways’ lead to outcomes and impacts,” she said, adding that “this meeting symbolizes the beginning of the start of a pioneering partnership between AIFSC, CIMMYT, and other national and international partners.”

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Conservation agriculture in Zambia: less labor and higher yields

Written by on September 24, 2012. Posted in News.

Zambia To reduce farm labor, improve soil productivity and crop yields, and contribute towards food security of farming households in the changing climate environment, CIMMYT, the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA), and the Zambian Agriculture Research Institute (ZARI) introduced and expanded conservation agriculture (CA) in Zambia. The activities are implemented under the Sustainable Intensification of Maize-Legume based Cropping Systems for Food Security in Eastern Province of Zambia (SIMLEZA) project funded by USAID.

CA entails reduced or no tillage systems, keeping crop residue on the soil surface as mulch, and using crop rotation. It increases the infiltration of water in the soil and thus reduces soil erosion and surface run-off of water that is desperately needed for plant production. This is a crucial change in regions like Zambia’s Eastern Province, where most smallholder farmers engage in the traditional ridge and furrow farming and planting maize in monocropping. While ridging was once promoted as a measure against erosion and high intensity rainfall, it now shows its drawbacks: ridge preparation, mostly done by women and children, is long, tedious, and difficult as most farmers use hoes. Furthermore, farm productivity in Eastern Zambia is already generally low due to increasingly erratic rainfall, low fertilizer use, soil degradation, pests and diseases in the monocropped maize, and weeds, which leads to yields too low to sustain households’ food requirements from one harvest to the next. Crop rotation and diversification help farmers arrest the spread of disease and reduce the risk of crop failure. In addition, they enable farmers to grow cereals and legumes, a source of cash and food crops to boost household incomes.

To address these issues, CIMMYT organized community meetings to raise awareness on CA and conducted training sessions for extension officers and farmers to build knowledge, capacity, and skills. Facilitators from CIMMYT and IITA led a hands-on training for extension officers in November 2011. The extension officers then went on to train farmers in their communities and facilitated the establishment of demonstration plots, where they showcased successful examples of CA systems. The demonstration plots serve as learning centers for farmers in each community. Farmers also have a chance to share information on CA through farmer-to-farmer exchange visits, field days, and community meetings.

Maren Tembo, who hosts a demonstration plot in the Mangena community in Chipata District, is excited about this new technology: “The practice demands less labor, which enables me to grow other crops such as groundnuts, tobacco, and cotton. I’m looking forward to earning additional income from these crops to supplement my current household budget.” Another farmer from the district, Mulenga Zulu, has also benefitted from the project. “My crop shows greater yields than before. I anticipate higher profits as a result of applying CA on my farm,” he says. Like Tembo, he is also happy about the reduced labor demands.

Menkir-and-group-IITA-Training-Aug-2012_JohnMacRobert Having experienced CA, both Tembo and Zulu hope that more farmers will adopt the practice. “This project should continue so that others can learn from us that we do things differently now,” she added. Learning about CA has enabled Tembo to lessen the challenges her family faces, especially the tedious labor in preparing the field. Zulu is proud to see that other farmers admire what they see on his farm.

The future of the project is promising: with testimonies from fellow farmers, assistance from dedicated extension workers, and community media broadcasts, more farmers in the neighboring districts are bound to pick up the practice. Besides higher yields for less work, there is an added long-term bonus for the farmers: their interaction with service providers, initiated through the project, will improve their market access for both farm inputs and outputs.

CIMMYT and IITA training on management of seed production and maize field trials

Written by on September 21, 2012. Posted in News.

Menkir-and-group-IITA-Training-Aug-2012_JohnMacRobert During 27 August – 1 September 2012, the Drought Tolerant Maize in Africa (DTMA) project held a training course on management of field trials and nurseries and seed production of open pollinated and hybrid maize varieties. The course took place at the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA) in Ibadan, Nigeria, and was attended by 30 participants from Ghana and Nigeria, including CIMMYT scientists Peter Setimela and John MacRobert. The resource persons were drawn from Nigerian universities, the National Agriculture Research System, IITA, and CIMMYT.

The training session was opened by Nteranya Sanginga, IITA director general, who commended the collaboration between IITA and CIMMYT in implementing DTMA and working towards its vision of producing more than 70,000 tons of drought tolerant maize seed. Sanginga also spoke of the importance of training to empower maize technicians from the national maize programs and seed companies to manage field trials and produce quality seed needed by smallholder farmers in Ghana and Nigeria.

The training course emphasized the importance of good trial management, advanced experimental designs, management of maize nurseries and variety trials, and key aspects of seed production. Training included practical field sessions during which participants applied appropriate experimental designs for various fields and learnt how to lay out a field trial. They also tried various pollinating techniques used in maize breeding and variety maintenance.

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SIMLESA researchers discuss monitoring and evaluation

Written by on September 20, 2012. Posted in News.

Simlesa-prgram-ME The fourth workshop on monitoring and evaluation (M&E) organized by the Sustainable Intensification of Maize-Legume Systems for Food Security in Eastern and Southern Africa (SIMLESA) initiative took place at the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI) campus, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, during 27 July – 1 August 2012. Following recommendations from the previous meeting in Nairobi, Kenya, the workshop aimed to update SIMLESA country performance monitoring plan and train M&E focal persons and country objective coordinators in qualitative data collection, participatory design of data collection tools, and data quality management for Ethiopia, Kenya, Malawi, Mozambique, and Tanzania.

The workshop was opened by Enock Warinda (Association for Strengthening Agricultural Research in Eastern and Central Africa– ASARECA) and attended by 16 participants, including CIMMYT scientists, Dagne Wegary and Menale Kassie. Participants shared their experiences with data collection under SIMLESA and discussed potential ways to strengthen the data collection system. At the end of the workshop, the country M&E focal persons were tasked to develop M&E concepts for their respective countries to be funded and implemented through ASARECA and CIMMYT. To follow up on these activities, Peter Beine (ASARECA) and Austin Ngindi (CIMMYT-SIMLESA) will visit SIMLESA countries to assist with data quality assessment.

SIMLESA embraces innovation platforms and partnerships in Mozambique

Written by on September 3, 2012. Posted in News.

IPmeetint_Mozam For the past three years the SIMLESA project has been working towards its target of improving maize/legume productivity by 30 percent and reducing downside risk by 30 percent. Over a ten-year span, the project hopes to impact 100,000 farmers with conservation agriculture (CA) and maize/legume technologies.

One of SIMLESA’s key objectives is to increase the uptake of CA and maize/legume technologies amongst smallholder farmers in Mozambique. Mozambique remains one of the countries in southern Africa with low average maize yields (0.73 t/ha) due to low uptake of fertilizer (<4%) and improved maize varieties (<10%), impacting both food security and incomes.

To address these issues, key private sector stakeholders and NGOs met in Chimoio, Mozambique, on 20 August 2012. Among the topics discussed was how best to strengthen innovation platforms and partnerships to further disseminate SIMLESA activities among smallholder farmers, a subject highlighted in the opening speech by David Mariote, Central Region Director of the Instituto de Investigação Agrária de Moçambique (IIAM).

SIMLESA highlights to date were expounded by Isaiah Nyagumbo, Cropping Systems Agronomist, and Munyaradzi Mutenje, Agricultural Economist, from CIMMYT’s Southern Africa Regional Office, and Domingos Dias, Senior Agronomist and SIMLESA Coordinator at IIAM. Achievements include CA trials and treatments established in the provinces of Manica (Manica and Sussundenga districts), Sofala (Gorongosa district), and Tete (Angonia district). The trials focus on testing CA-based rotations/ intercrops of maize with common beans or cowpea. Different crop establishment methods using CA equipment such as animal traction direct seeders and rippers, and manual traction seeders, such as jab planters, are also being tested. Work on seed development has been accelerated through the seed road map via seed multiplication and participatory variety selection activities that actively involve farmers’ associations such as IDEAA-CA.

The meeting was attended by 25 participants from 15 institutions. Stakeholders included agrodealers (seed houses and fertilizer suppliers), NGOs (International Fertilizer Development Centre and Total Land Care), and financial and academic institutions.

The participating institutions expressed great interest in providing a platform for SIMLESA’s current and future objectives in new communities. Most of the planned joint initiatives are expected to be formally launched during the next SIMLESA Annual Review and Planning Meeting scheduled for 3-4 September 2012 in Chimoio, Mozambique.

DTMA strengthens research and extension links in Southern Africa

Written by on August 28, 2012. Posted in News.

Largely because commercial farmers have shifted to cash crops such as tobacco and horticulture, smallholder farmers now account for 70-80% of food production in Zimbabwe, and they have little access to credit, according to Danisile Hikwa, Principal Director of the Department of Research and Specialist Services in the Ministry of Agriculture, Mechanization and Irrigation Development. “There is simply no money,” said Hikwa, explaining that the lack of credit schemes for small homesteads hinders food growers’ access to inputs such as seed and fertilizer.

Discussions on this and other important topics emerged as part of recent interactions with researchers, government officials, and representatives from seed companies and non-governmental organizations in Malawi, Zimbabwe, and Zambia by Drought Tolerant Maize in Africa (DTMA) project leader Tsedeke Abate. “Government officials in the three countries appreciated the role that CIMMYT is playing to improve maize production in the region,” said Abate.

In the company of CIMMYT maize breeder Cosmos Magorokosho, maize physiologist Jill Cairns, and seed systems specialist Peter Setimela, in Zimbabwe Abate visited the extension department, Ministry of Agriculture Mechanization and Irrigation Development, and met with acting Technical Director Kennedy Mabehla and the acting Deputy Director and Training Specialist Godfrey Tore. Touring field experiments in Save Valley and Chiredzi, the CIMMYT group complimented technical assistant Stanley Gokoma and his team on how well managed the sites were. They also identified droughtprone Chisumbanje and Zaka as potential areas to pilot DTMA varieties. The team visited CIMMYT partner and leading seed producer Seed Co Limited, hosted at the Rattray Arnold Research Centre. “Zimbabwe has an important history in maize seed production,” said Abate. “They introduced maize hybrids on a commercial scale in 1932—the second country to do so after the USA.”

During a National Coordination Unit meeting in Zambia, Abate joined stakeholders who discussed holistic approaches for addressing livelihood and development challenges in the maize value chain. One topic was the low levels of fertilizer use in Africa—on average only 9 kilograms per hectare, due to the high price of this input and national and farm-level resource constraints. An MSc student from the University of Zambia demonstrated a coating material (Agrotain) for fertilizer applications which increases the efficiency of fertilizer use by 50%.

The DTMA team visited government officials and representatives of seed companies and of World Vision in Malawi, where the drought tolerant open pollinated maize varieties ZM309 and ZM523 are available to farmers and drought tolerant hybrids are in the pipeline. Alfred Mtukuso, Director of the Department of Agricultural Research Services (DARS), expressed his appreciation for CIMMYT’s partnership, which benefits smallholder farmers in Malawi. “Research capacity building efforts by CIMMYT have also contributed to the professional growth of young scientists,” he added.

Also praising DTMA contributions in Malawi, Principal Secretary of Agriculture Jeffrey Luhanga said the government is pursuing a subsidy scheme whereby farmers will receive seed and fertilizer coupons and the opportunity to select varieties, including ZM309 (farmers’ favorite as green mealie) and ZM523. The scheme is expected to benefit an estimated 1.5 million households initially and will be scaled up to reach 100,000 more through President Joyce Banda’s Initiative on Poverty and Hunger Reduction. As part of its support for agriculture, the government provides free airtime for radio and television broadcasts of agricultural technology promotions.

Achievements for drought tolerant maize breeding in southern Africa

Written by on August 21, 2012. Posted in News.

Breeding-Award-Zimbabwe-2012 Maize plays a pivotal role in the livelihoods of people in southern Africa: its annual per capita consumption is around 85 kg. In the past season, however, farmers in Angola, Botswana, Lesotho, Swaziland, and much of Zimbabwe experienced a severe drought that significantly reduced their harvests.

Despite the negative effects for many farmers in the region, the drought has allowed CIMMYT breeders to assess the real value of new maize varieties and to improve crop productivity and resilience in the face of variable climate. To present the results of their research, partners in the southern Africa maize seed value chain gathered for an annual collaborators meeting in August. The meeting was attended by stakeholders from national maize working groups of 10 countries, including scientists from the national agricultural research organizations, seed companies, and NGOs. During his opening speech, Ngoni Masoka, Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Agriculture, Mechanization and Irrigation Development of the Government of Zimbabwe, acknowledged and commended CIMMYT for its long and sustained support of maize research in southern Africa, and Zimbabwe in particular.

Prasanna-Masoka-2 Participants discussed some of their notable achievements from 2011-12. Angola began its first commercial-scale production of the drought tolerant hybrid seed with Agropequária Kambondo and produced significant quantities of the drought tolerant openpollinated variety (OPV) ZM523. Farmers in the Democratic Republic of the Congo produced 80 tons of the drought tolerant OPV ZM623 through community-based seed schemes. Lesotho released a quality protein maize variety, and Zambia’s national program made significant progress in breeding for drought tolerance. Local emerging seed companies in Mozambique have begun production of one drought tolerant OPV and three drought tolerant hybrids.

The annual meeting also provided an opportunity to recognize the national programs that have excelled in breeding and seed dissemination in 2011/12. Zimbawbe was awarded Best Drought Tolerance Breeding Team for maintaining an excellent track record in developing and releasing improved drought tolerant varieties. The Runner-up Breeding Team Award went to Angola for the significant invigoration and improvement of breeding efforts at Huambo. The Best Drought Tolerance Dissemination Team Award went to Malawi for the great increase in drought tolerant OPV seed production and uptake amongst small-holder farmers, and the Runner-up Award in this category was presented to Mozambique for notable efforts and new initiatives in promotion and production of drought tolerant varieties.

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Capacity building in gender mainstreaming for SIMLESA

Written by on August 15, 2012. Posted in News.

The Sustainable Intensification of Maize-Legume Systems for Food Security in Eastern and Southern Africa (SIMLESA) initiative held its third workshop on gender mainstreaming at the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI) campus, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, during 24-27 July 2012. Following recommendations from the previous meeting in Tanzania, this workshop aimed to compile field-related case studies on gender mainstreaming activities, and to harmonize gender mainstreaming action plans for five SIMLESA countries: Ethiopia, Kenya, Malawi, Mozambique, and Tanzania. Twenty participants from these five countries attended, and, for the first time, extension officers from SIMLESA sites in each of the five countries also participated. The workshop was opened by Dagne Wegary on behalf of SIMLESA Program Coordinator Mulugetta Mekuria, and facilitated by Forough Olinga, Gender Expert at the Association for Strengthening Agricultural Research in Eastern and Central Africa (ASARECA), Enock Warinda, Monitoring and Evaluation Unit leader at ASARECA, Daisy Namono, Consultant, and Ruth Nankinga, Administrative Assistant at ASARECA. Bekele Shiferaw, CIMMYT Socioeconomics Program Director, and Menale Kassie, Socioeconomist and SIMLESA Objective 1 Coordinator, also contributed encouragement and insight on mainstreaming gender within SIMLESA. The extension officers shared their field experiences which were then used to identify good practices and potential case studies for further development. At the end of the workshop, the participants developed country gender mainstreaming action plans to be funded and implemented, created a format for the case studies, and agreed to submit at least eight case studies to Olinga and Namono for evaluation by 26 August 2012. To follow up, Namono will visit SIMLESA countries to finalize the case studies for publication before the end of the year.

Scientists from SIMLESA Spillover countries visit Kenya

Written by on August 14, 2012. Posted in News.

A delegation of scientists from South Sudan, Rwanda, and Uganda —the spillover countries of the Sustainable Intensification of Maize-Legume Systems for Food Security in Eastern and Southern Africa (SIMLESA) initiative— visited Embu, Kenya, during 18-20 July 2012, to gain hands-on experience in implementing the program and to learn about its impact on livelihoods of smallholder farmers.

The delegation comprised Leonidas Dusengemungu, Albert Ruhakana, and Alphonse Nyobanyire from Rwanda; Luka Atwok, Anna Itwari, and Cirino Oketayoyt from South Sudan; and Drake N. Mubiru, William Nanyenya, and Godfrey Otim from Uganda. The scientists found the visit very educative and informative. They learned about the implementation of SIMLESA in Kenya and the role of national agricultural research institutions, the Kenya Agricultural Research Institute (KARI) in particular, in the process. They also gained insights into the innovation platform establishment and arising challenges, maize-beans intercropping and timing, challenges and coping strategies for the implementation of SIMLESA, and the level of adaptation of SIMLESA technologies in Kenya.

In his introductory remarks, Stephen Njoka, KARI-Embu Center Director, explained the Center’s mandate, activities, opportunities, and challenges in conducting agricultural research in Kenya. He noted that research programs at KARI-Embu range from food crops and crop health, natural resource management, horticultural and industrial crops, animal production and health research, outreach and partnerships, to cross-cutting programs, such as socioeconomics and applied statistics. The Center also offers advisory services, such as technical support for partners and capacity development for other service providers, including extension service providers and NGOs. Alfred Micheni, KARI Agronomist and SIMLESA Site Coordinator for eastern Kenya, explained that the western and eastern sites in Kenya had been selected because of their potential for the highest impact. This was determined by their agricultural production constraints: low soil fertility, erratic rainfall, high cost of farm inputs, high incidences of pests and diseases, high cost of credit, and small land sizes.

The scientists had a chance to interact with farmers participating in SIMLESA during a farmers’ field day in Kyeni Division, Embu County, on 20 July 2012. The field day was hosted by the Kyeni Innovation Platform and showcased various treatments under conservation agriculture (CA): maize-legume intercrop, minimum tillage, furrows and ridges, use of herbicides, residue retention, and variety selection. The scientists also had the opportunity to compare the robust crops under CA with those under conventional agricultural practices which were unable to cope with the prolonged drought in the region.

Charles Nkonge, SIMLESA National Coordinator, stressed the importance of the innovation platforms used by the program to evaluate and scale out maizelegume intensification technologies and knowledge in a participatory manner. Other strategies for scaling out include farmer exchange visits and participatory exploratory demonstrations. Nkonge stressed the importance of the participatory nature of the evaluations; through cooperation between the farmers and other collaborators, experimental designs of some of the treatments were adjusted to achieve more efficiency. For instance, the design of maize-pigeon pea intercropping trial was changed from intercropping of one pigeon-pea row between two rows of maize, giving one crop of maize and pigeon pea per season, to five rows of maize between two rows of pigeon pea and one row of common beans between two rows of maize. With the new design, two crops of maize, two crops of beans, and one crop of pigeon pea are harvested every year. This demonstration of successful practices allowed the representatives from SIMLESA Spillover countries to leave Kenya feeling optimistic about the new partnership.

Expanding SIMLESA to the Kalahari

Written by on August 7, 2012. Posted in News.

With plans to expand to more countries in the region, the Sustainable Intensification of Maize-Legume cropping systems for food security in Eastern and Southern Africa (SIMLESA) program has included Botswana as a spill-over country, reflecting its recognition of the importance of crop-livestock interaction in the farming system. To initiate the spill-over activities, the Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research (ACIAR) has allocated a research grant to Botswana through the CIMMYT-SIMLESA project.

During 23-25 July 2012, SIMLESA project coordinator Mulugetta Mekuria and cropping systems agronomist Isaiah Nyagumbo visited Gaborone, Botswana, to introduce SIMLESA to the Botswana National Agriculture Research System officials and to develop a work plan for the newly funded Spillover project. The project seeks to draw lessons from five core SIMLESA countries and share these with Botswana, Rwanda, Uganda, and South Sudan. It will also carry farming systems characterization studies on sites to be identified for subsequent SIMLESA activities. In Botswana, the primary activities will include exchange visits by Botswana scientists to core SIMLESA countries, surveys and characterization studies, and capacity building through short-term training.

The meeting was attended by more than 20 participants from different research stations in Botswana. Mekuria highlighted the SIMLESA project rationale, objectives, impact pathways, and partnership modalities, and outlined the linkages and synergies between SIMLESA and other CIMMYT projects and programs, including Drought Tolerant Maize for Africa (DTMA), New Seed Initiative for Maize in Southern Africa (NSIMA), and Conservation Agriculture (CA). Nyagumbo then facilitated discussions on the anticipated outcomes of the Spillover project, focusing on the following objectives: developing an understanding of SIMLESA in Botswana, identifying kick-start investigatory activities leading to larger action plans linked to the SIMLESA program, and integrating Botswana scientists into SIMLESA capacity building activities.

The group work and plenary discussions resulted in a draft workplan which will be finalized shortly. According to this plan, the project will focus on CA, crop-livestock linkages, fodder crops production, and multiplication of suitable maize varieties for Botswana’s arid to semi-arid environment. The Botswana team showed a high level of interest in the project, and Stephen Chite, Chief Agricultural Research Officer and Head of arable crops research, expressed his appreciation to CIMMYT for its continued support for the national maize research program and to ACIAR for its financial support.

Yunnan Academy of Agricultural Sciences explores collaboration and partnership in Southern Africa

Written by on August 3, 2012. Posted in News.

CIMMYT-Southern Africa in Harare, Zimbabwe, hosted a delegation from the Yunnan Academy of Agricultural Sciences (YAAS), China, on 20 July 2012. The delegation was led by He Xingze, Chief and Chairman of Board of Trustees, who was accompanied by long-time CIMMYT collaborator Fan Xingming, director general of the Institute of Food Crops of YAAS. The delegation explored opportunities to strengthen and support maize breeding capacity in Southern Africa.

Fan acknowledged the long-standing collaboration between CIMMYT and the Chinese agricultural research institutions, as well as CIMMYT’s range of collaborative research activities and presence in China. Mulugetta Mekuria, Isaiah Nyagumbo, Jill Cairns, and Cosmos Magorokosho presented highlights of CIMMYT-Southern Africa research activities and partnership modalities. Progress and achievements of the Drought Tolerant Maize in Africa (DTMA), NSIMA (New Seed Initiative for Maize in Southern Africa), Improved Maize for African Soils (IMAS), Sustainable Intensification of Maize-Legume Cropping Systems in Eastern and Southern Africa (SIMLESA), and Conservation Agriculture (CA) projects were discussed, and the delegation visited the station facilities and met the support staff. They had the opportunity to meet Danisile Hikwa, principal director of Department of Research and Specialist Services of Zimbabwe. They are traveling to South Africa to visit the University of Natal and ARCGrain Crops Institute of South Africa.

The delegation expressed their intention to visit the region again for a substantive technical discussion with CIMMYT and its partners.

They wished to thank the senior CIMMYT management for arranging and facilitating their visit and for the hospitality accorded to them in Harare.

Visiting CIMMYT-Kenya to improve competency in breeding insect-resistant maize

Written by on August 1, 2012. Posted in News.

During 1-8 July 2012, scientists from Malawi, Mozambique, and Tanzania visited CIMMYT-Kenya to get hands-on experience in developing insect-resistant maize using conventional approaches. Among the visiting scientists were Patrick Paulo (Meru Agro Seed Company, Tanzania), Charles Makangala (Selian Agricultural Research Institute (SARI), Tanzania), Pedro Fato (National Institute of Agronomic Research (IIAM), Mozambique), Sheila Juma (IIAM-Chokwe), and Charles Singano and Kesbell Kaonga (both from the Ministry of Agriculture, Malawi).

The visit was organized and facilitated by the Insect Resistance Maize for Africa (IRMA Conventional III) project and focused on management of stem borer pests in maize production, breeding for resistance to stem borers and postharvest pests, and mass rearing of stem borer pests for use in a practical maize breeding program. Stephen Mugo, CIMMYT principal scientist/maize breeder and IRMA project coordinator, noted that the visit provided a forum to share experiences in mass rearing, breeding, and pest control among participating countries. “The visit was a great opportunity for the visiting scientists to learn about improving the quality of phenotyping data for insect resistance, and thus increase breeding gains,” said B.M. Prasanna, Global Maize Program director.

To understand how mass rearing facility is set up, equipped, and managed, the scientists visited a functional stem borer insectary at the Kenya Agricultural Research Institute (KARI)-Katumani, Machakos. They also visited IRMA field trials at KARI’s Kiboko and Embu research stations to observe stem borer trials and nurseries, as well as trials for storage pests and scoring of leaf damage by stem borers.

A visit to a postharvest pest resistance screening facility at Kiboko provided an opportunity to carry out a sample analysis for maize weevils and larger grain borers, scoring in the multiple choice trial on maize cob damage, and artificial infestation using the borer Chilo partellus. Tadele Tefera, CIMMYT scientist/ entomologist, facilitated the field and lab practices.

Paulo called the visit an “eyeopener” and a great learning opportunity for the visiting scientists. “I have improved my knowledge on breeding for insect resistance and improved my skills in scoring techniques and insect mass rearing,” added Makangala. Mugo called on the scientists to use their newly acquired knowledge, as well as technologies, to improve livelihoods of the people in their countries by reducing losses due to pests.

Boosting adoption and utilization of orange maize in Zambia

Written by on July 17, 2012. Posted in News.

In Zambia, 54 percent of children are Vitamin A-deficient; a condition resulting in poor eyesight, low immunity, and high rates of mortality. The HarvestPlus Challenge Program is hoping to rectify this situation through the development and widespread adoption of orange maize varieties containing provitamin A carotenoids that the body converts to Vitamin A. The orange maize not only provides vital nutrients, it is also tasty and especially appealing to children because of its distinctive color.

However, consumers need reassurance that orange maize contains the quantities of carotenoids claimed by producers. “Zambia does not currently have the capacity to undertake carotenoid testing in its laboratories. Samples of orange maize were always sent to Mexico for provitamin A carotenoid analysis,” stated Eliab Simpugwe, HarvestPlus Zambia country manager. “Though this is now set to change with the support from CIMMYT Mexico laboratories,” he added.

Two Zambians have been trained in Mexico and follow-up training in Zambia was conducted with ten other participants from the Tropical Disease Research Centre (TDRC), Ndola, and the Zambia Agriculture Research Institute (ZARI), Lusaka. Octavio Custodio (who was in Zambia from 11-16 June 2012), a research assistant in the CIMMYT maize quality lab enjoyed sharing technical details of the process with his Zambian colleagues, and said he “remains optimistic on their capacity to fine-tune these methods in their labs.”

The capacity building will continue in 2013 with an inter-laboratory proficiency test in which both TDRC and ZARI will participate to have their laboratories certified. “There is great interest from other crop-projects in Zambia to have carotenoid analysis performed in laboratories in-country instead of shipping samples to other countries for analysis,” said Fabiana DeMoura, HarvestPlus nutrition coordinator.

The provitamin A maize breeding program in Zambia will also benefit as their pipeline material will be analyzed in house. “The challenge remains to prove and sustain this service in order to be part of a solution to nutrition and agricultural productivity of the region,” said Tembo Howard, lab manager at ZARI and one of the trainees.

Grain storage technologies to reduce post-harvest losses

Written by on July 16, 2012. Posted in News.

A Launch and Inception Planning Workshop for the Effective Grain Storage for Sustainable Livelihoods of African Farmers (EGSP) Phase-II Project was held in Lusaka, Zambia, during 28-29 June 2012. Building on the successes of the previous phase (2008-2011), EGSP-II (2012-2016) aims to improve food security and reduce vulnerability of resource-poor farmers, particularly women farmers, in eastern and southern Africa, through the dissemination of effective grain storage technologies, especially metal silos and super grain bags.

Current regional post-harvest grain losses are estimated at USD 4 billion annually, according to project coordinator, Tadele Tefera. This is equivalent to a decade of food aid for the region, or enough annual calories for about 48 million people. With the support of the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC), phase I implemented the project in Kenya and Malawi, and its activities will now be extended to Zambia and Zimbabwe in phase II. Use of similar technologies in Latin America has significantly reduced post-harvest losses in the region. For this reason, EGSP-II “should go a long way in reducing post-harvest losses,” said Elizabeth Diethelm-Schneller, SDC deputy director for Southern Africa. B.M. Prasanna, director of the CIMMYT Global Maize Program, noted that the metal silo is one of the most effective technologies against some of the most destructive post-harvest pests, such as the large grain borer and the maize weevil.

The meeting allowed CIMMYT scientists, partners, and collaborators in the Southern African Development Community (SADC) to exchange ideas, information, and research outputs on the effective grain storage project; raise awareness on promotion and dissemination of effective grain storage technologies in SADC; and consult stakeholders on effective post-harvest technology, policy environment, and market issues, for the purpose of refining, updating, and implementing EGSP-II. Bekele Shiferaw, director of the CIMMYT Socioeconomics Program, called for a holistic approach in the project implementation. “Enabling policy environment and market linkages have a strong bearing on investments in post-harvest handling,” said Shiferaw. “Reliable markets that allow capturing of benefits from quality and seasonal price gains enable storage investments,” he added.

Presiding over the launch on behalf of Emmanuel Chenda, Honorable Minister of Agriculture and Livestock, Republic of Zambia, Deputy Minister Rodgers Mwewa noted that the project could not have come at a better time for the region. The benefit of bumper harvests has been negated by insufficient storage capacity and resulting post-harvest losses. “Due to a lack of awareness and access to appropriate technologies, farmers end up selling their maize soon after harvest, when prices are at their lowest, partly to curb the loss to post-harvest pests and partly to meet other financial needs. The same farmers are forced to buy the grains back at more than twice the price later in the season, resulting in a continual poverty trap,” added Chenda, in a speech read on his behalf by his deputy.

Maize provides food and income to over 300 million resource-poor smallholders in eastern and southern Africa. Therefore, postharvest losses fuel food insecurity and impoverishment. “We have to find lasting solutions to postharvest losses,” said Chenda. “The potential impact of increased maize productivity on poverty reduction and greater livelihood security will not be realized unless technological and institutional innovations are identified and deployed to overcome the chronic syndrome of ‘sell low and buy high,’” he concluded.

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