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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.

CIMMYT and China join forces to tackle wheat disease in Africa

Written by Julian Bañuelos-Uribe on . Posted in News.

While wheat acreage has been increasing across the whole of Africa, the sub-Saharan countries account for a significant proportion of the total growth and yield, equaling an area of approximately 3.1 million hectares and a production of more than 9 million tons. However, in recent years, Fusarium head blight (FHB) or head scab has become a major disease in the region, causing significant reductions in yield and quality due to the lack of resistant varieties and management tools.

In China, a successful wheat shuttle breeding program by the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences (CAAS) and CIMMYT for improving FHB has existed since the 1980s. Additionally, CIMMYT and the Jiangsu Academy of Agricultural Sciences (JAAS) have provided an FHB screening station in Nanjing since 2019. With a wealth of experience in confronting the disease, this ongoing partnership can help to solve the challenges currently faced by farmers in Africa.

To this end, CAAS, JAAS, and CIMMYT organized a training workshop on FHB management for Africa, which took place with financial support from China Aid in Beijing and Nanjing, China, between 10 and 23 April 2024. Twenty participants, 45% of which were women, attended the workshop, with specialists in wheat breeding, pathology, seed quarantine, and other related fields at public institutions in Ethiopia, Zambia, and Lesotho.

“This is the first time China has worked with an international organization to conduct an agricultural training workshop for sub-Saharan Africa,” said Zhonghu He, CIMMYT distinguished scientist and country liaison officer in China.

A hands-on demonstration at the Jiangsu Academy of Agricultural Sciences (JAAS) and CIMMYT Fusarium head blight (FHB) precision phenotyping platform helps scientists in Africa to better understand and fight the wheat disease. (Photo: Liu Xiyan/CAAS)

Practical tools to target FHB

Experts from China and CIMMYT shared their successful experiences of FHB management, including breeding resistant varieties. The trainees benefitted from hands-on experience of FHB identification, disease screening (including inoculum preparation, inoculation, and scoring), mycotoxin quantification techniques, and wheat breeding.

At the end of the workshop, the participants were extremely pleased to observe the impressive progress made in China on wheat FHB both on breeding and disease control, and they expressed strong willingness to contribute to collaboration between Africa, China, and CIMMYT on more wheat breeding and research. Netsanet Bacha Hei from the Ethiopian Institute of Agricultural Research (EIAR) was impressed with the scientific and technical expertise provided in the training and mentioned that sub-Saharan Africa needs similar practical trainings to mitigate the threat of FHB. Similar opinions were echoed by Doreen Malekano Chomba from the Zambian Plant Quarantine and Phytosanitary Service (PQPS), who discussed the need to have an effective in-country surveillance and monitoring to assess and manage FHB in the region.

Participants gather for the opening ceremony of the workshop at the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences (CAAS) in Beijing. (Photo: Li Simin/CAAS)

Xu Zhang, who heads the FHB research program at JAAS, is very appreciative of the collaborative work that has been going on for several decades between CIMMYT and China, highlighting that the workshop represents another step in understanding and managing FHB in sub-Saharan Africa and beyond, Zhang said, JAAS and CIMMYT has grown together through strong partnership.

“This training lays firm groundwork for future China-Africa-CIMMYT collaboration on mitigating the threat of FHB and improving wheat production and food security in sub-Saharan African countries,” said He.

Agricultural stakeholders devise means to tame effects of soil acidity

Written by dmedina on . Posted in In the media.

Agricultural stakeholders in Tanzania, including CIMMYT, are preparing to implement a major project to combat soil acidity, affecting 32.7 million hectares of land. Led by the Tanzania Agricultural Research Institute (TARI), the initiative aims to improve crop production by promoting the use of agricultural limes and enhancing soil health management. This effort is part of the GAIA project, focusing on equipping farmers with essential agronomic knowledge to boost yields and productivity.

Read the full story.

US$2M poultry project targets youth, women farmers in Dodoma

Written by dmedina on . Posted in In the media.

In Dodoma, Tanzania, CIMMYT, ILRI and TALIRI with USAID funding of US$2M, launch the AID-L project to enhance poultry farming among youth and women. Targeting 18,000 farmers, it involves cost-sharing, advisories, and media resources to reduce poultry morbidity. Implemented across eight districts, the initiative aims to benefit 3 million people as part of the broader AID-I project, addressing a significant contributor to Tanzania’s agricultural GDP.

Read the full story.

Translating strategy into scientific action

Written by Julian Bañuelos-Uribe on . Posted in Blogs.

Participants at the SAS Africa implementation roadmap retreat. (Photo: Maria Monayo/CIMMYT)

Stronger partnerships, innovation, and agile science for impact were resounding themes when CIMMYT researchers from the Sustainable Agrifood Systems (SAS) program in Africa gathered in Nairobi to develop the program’s implementation roadmap in alignment with the CIMMYT 2030 Strategy.

The three-day retreat from 25-28 March, attended by research teams from the eastern, western, southern, and Horn regions of Africa, provided a platform to share insights and chart a course towards sustainable agricultural development for the continent.

Routes to amplifying research impact

In her opening remarks, SAS Program Director, Sieglinde Snapp, emphasized the importance of grounding the CIMMYT 2030 Strategy in the African context and the urgent need for actionable plans to address pressing challenges in agrifood systems. Snapp drew attention to the significance of collaboration with public, private, and civil society stakeholders, highlighting how inclusive partnerships are essential for driving meaningful change. She urged the team to focus on turning strategic vision into tangible plans, with clear milestones to track progress.

“Humanity pulled together and got to the moon in the 60s. Conventional science and engineering got us there,” said Snapp. “However, when we have high uncertainty and high-value conflicts, we need to have all stakeholders at the table. We need to do action science and think of what the actual science looks like.”

Christian Witt, senior program officer at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, delivered a keynote address focusing on the importance of advancing agronomy globally and exploring opportunities at the national level. He advocated for a balanced approach to tackling macroeconomic challenges while fostering grassroots innovation that augments impact. He also underscored the CIMMYT 2030 Strategy’s critical role across CGIAR, calling for a pivot in funder influence towards a unified, demand-driven research methodology.

Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation Senior Program Officer, Christian Witt, gives a keynote speech on advancing global agronomy. (Photo: Maria Monayo/CIMMYT)

Deep diving into the strategy

The retreat also featured a panel discussion on the CIMMYT 2030 Strategy. From the value of strategic partnerships to the need for excellence in research and delivery, the panel highlighted the key pillars of CIMMYT’s strategy and underscored the importance of aligning efforts with global priorities and challenges.

Participants discussed the role of data systems for agile agronomy, noting the need for innovative methodologies to harness the vast amount of data available. They placed key focus on empowering farmers, particularly through initiatives like the BACKFEED Farmer Agency. This inclusive feedback system enables knowledge co-creation via mobile phones, fostering networking among farmers of diverse backgrounds. Regular and spontaneous interactions facilitate data collection, addressing social exclusion in agricultural information channels faced by those with multiple vulnerabilities.

Paswel Marenya, SAS associate program director for Africa, shared thought-provoking insights on the Pathways to Impact​. He demonstrated how complementarity and bundled approaches, impact orientation, evidence-supported scaling, subsidiarity, localization, and training of farmers and communities, and inclusive seed systems, can transform food systems.

During an analysis of the strategy in the African context, central inquiry focused on identifying areas where SAS could deliver the greatest value. Discussions revealed a consensus on several key priorities: the need of developing and implementing policies from the ground up, addressing the specific needs of smallholder farmers, enhancing capacity for sustainable development, ensuring inclusivity for youth and women, expanding innovative solutions, and encouraging regional collaboration. These common themes highlight a united drive towards comprehensive and impactful agricultural advancement across Africa’s diverse landscapes.

On implementing the strategy, attendees discussed a range of plans and proposals:

  • Diversify from maize to alternative crops, such as pigeon peas.
  • Engage stakeholders in agile agronomy discussions to identify impact pathways.
  • Train the private and public sectors for climate-smart agriculture.
  • Address concerns regarding prevailing inefficiencies within the formal seed system and the lack of business models for non-hybrid seeds like groundnut or wheat.
  • Identify opportunities for financial inclusion through aggregator and off-taker models.
  • Consider the importance of mechanization policies, markets, and extension services.
  • Engage strategically in the humanitarian-development-peace nexus, as the majority of food insecurity is found in conflict areas.
  • Improve nutrition education and meet local demand for nutritious crops like pigeon pea and groundnut.
  • Consider the role of data and analytics in humanitarian-development-peace pathways, policy engagement for building value chains, and the significance of impact pathways.
  • Promote the importance of open science, data sharing, and addressing gaps between product enhancement and production.
Participants discuss how SAS can further contribute to CIMMYT’s 2030 Strategy. (Photo: Maria Monayo/CIMMYT)

Eyes on the future

In reflections at the end of the retreat, Snapp reiterated the importance of investing in soil resilience through agile agronomy and participatory research to foster collaboration and inclusivity in decision-making processes. She focused on the significance of foresight targeting and market intelligence, particularly in regions grappling with soil degradation and the impact of the climate crisis. Her presentation highlighted key priorities for driving impactful agricultural development, including effective data management, climate adaptation, and alignment of existing solutions with climate goals. The interconnectedness of foresight targeting, seed systems, and agile agronomy was underscored, emphasizing the importance of collaboration and addressing essential topics like nitrogen and climate change. Additionally, Snapp reiterated the crucial role of collaborative efforts between different teams and organizations in effectively advancing agricultural research and development initiatives.

To cap off three days of intense discussions and strategy-building, participants took part in fun team-building activities that echo CIMMYT’s core values of excellence, integrity, and teamwork.

Opinion: Aid competes with long-term solutions to Sudan’s hunger crisis

Written by dmedina on . Posted in Blogs, Director General's corner.

This terrible season of global conflict just hit a particularly grim milestone in Sudan with the one-year anniversary of the violent civil war last month. One consequence of the conflict is that Sudanese families are beginning to starve — and while emergency food aid is needed, so is investment in longer-term food production.

Political, economic, and social upheaval in the country has displaced over 8 million people and left nearly 25 million people in need of urgent food assistance, including more than 14 million children. The anniversary saw major donors mark the day with more than $2 billion in new aid pledges.

While these pledges are important, the international community also needs to rethink some of its aid strategies. Emergency food assistance for those at immediate risk of starvation is understandably a high priority now, but restoring food production within the country is just as important — otherwise donors risk racing from crisis to crisis and always falling short. It is time to break away from an aid-dependency model and invest directly in farmers.

In fact, challenges to Sudan’s agriculture were likely a contributing factor to the current conflict. The livelihoods of most people in Sudan depend on the agri-food sector, which has been under pressure in recent years. Economic stagnation, weather shocks, land conflicts, high inflation, and health crises made 9.8 million Sudanese severely food-insecure by 2021.

Sudan’s already low-yielding cropping system has been hit by global tightening in fertilizer supplies. The livestock sector represents 60% of Sudan’s agricultural GDP, and has been suffering from diminished rangelands, water shortages, flood events, and lack of animal health services.

Sudan is not alone, and it’s important that the donor community understand how. Eight out of 10 of the world’s worst food crises are driven by war, persecution, and conflict, in places such as Sudan, Yemen, the Palestinian territories, Myanmar, and the Democratic Republic of Congo. The confluence of conflict, state fragility, climate change, and poverty is already overwhelming the international community’s ability to respond to escalating humanitarian needs. The international community has to put more emphasis on anticipatory action, because reaction is just not going to be enough anymore.

The need to get ahead of the growing scale of humanitarian disasters has provoked new thinking and partnerships among research, development, and humanitarian organizations, such as ours.

We are investing in better risk assessment, preparation for future food crises, and accelerated learning about how climate change is affecting agricultural productivity and production. The significant resources and expertise of the international research-for-development community can make humanitarian responses in fragile and conflict-affected states more effective and optimal.

Sudan will hopefully show how this kind of intervention can work. Our organizations are part of an international effort to partner with Sudan’s farmers to improve livelihoods in the country. We had started operating across six Sudanese states just before the outbreak of the current conflict, training farmers on how to manage their crops, livestock, and natural resources, and supporting them to access drought-tolerant seeds, with a specific focus on last-mile delivery to women and youth. When the civil war started last year, we quickly pivoted to supporting farmers in safer locations and focusing on the needs of internally displaced people in new areas.

Make no mistake: Implementing these interventions in the current conditions is a heavy lift. Roadblocks, skyrocketing fuel costs, denied travel permits, and breakdowns in telephone service all impede communication with farmers and the delivery of seeds, tools, and training. The threat of emergent violence is driving displacement and staff turnover.

Nonetheless, our coalition has continued to operate. Local partners, including cooperatives, microfinance institutions, and private sector players have shown themselves to be especially effective as the conflict has escalated. These cooperatives, strengthened by farmer training, enable farmers to improve their production and incomes by pooling their resources.

For example, the 72-member Al Etihad women-led farmer cooperative in South Kordofan has initiated multiple enterprises, guided by a structured business plan that steers them toward a more empowered role in local food value chains.

Through the program, last-mile seed retailers have helped nearly 6,000 farmers access agronomic advisories and seeds at a subsidized price. This has empowered farmers like Fatna Mohammed, a 48-year-old widow and mother of three, to build a better livelihood from her small-scale groundnut and vegetable production. She reports that an increased harvest of 18 sacks of groundnut, up from five sacks, enabled her to invest in her farm and better feed her family.

This unique last-mile delivery network, carefully tailored to local realities and drivers, is helping Sudanese communities to survive the current crisis and it can be activated for the rebuilding period — which cannot come soon enough.

Sudan, as with many war-affected nations, is caught in a doom loop of insecurity: Any restoration of political stability requires economic activity, but any economic activity requires political stability. Both depend on physical security, which is hard to achieve without political stability and economic activity.

While a cessation of violence and the restoration of civil order is ultimately up to the parties to the conflict, a direct, international investment in farmers is a way to potentially break the cycle, simultaneously addressing the growing hunger crisis and helping build the preconditions for peace.

Read the original piece on Devex

How improved seeds empower women farmers in South Kordofan

Written by Julian Bañuelos-Uribe on . Posted in Blogs.

Fanta Mohamed, a 48-year-old widow with three children, lives in Aldagag village in South Kordofan. For years, Fanta has worked on her small farm to feed her children. Fanta used local seeds, and her agricultural yield was very poor. It made her wonder where she was going wrong. Fanta, like thousands of women farmers in remote and hard-to-reach areas of South Kordofan in central Sudan, has limited access to quality inputs and agricultural extension services.

In South Kordofan, Mercy Corps, aided by USAID-funded Sustainable Agrifood Systems Approach for Sudan (SASAS), trained 15 local farmers and producers in the Farmer Field School methodology and climate-smart agriculture with the support of officials from the State Ministry of Agriculture.

“At SASAS, we work to empower women farmers, especially those who live in remote areas such as South Kordofan. We help them with agricultural inputs such as improved seeds, new agricultural skills, and techniques to increase their production and help enhance food security amid the looming food crisis in Sudan,” said Abdelrahman Kheir, SASAS chief of party.

Women farmers apply new agricultural techniques in South Kordofan. (Photo: CIMMYT)

To address the challenges of poor seed quality, Mercy Corps contracted local supplier Alzahra Seed for Trade to sell improved seeds at a subsidized price and expand access by establishing last-mile seed retail networks. Alzahra Seed for Trade would also deliver agronomic extension training to farmers in remote villages such as Aldagag.

Fanta recalls how she and other women farmers came to know about the improved seeds. “We were at a coffee gathering at my neighbor’s house, when one of the women told us that Alzahra Seed for Trade’s retail agent had brought improved seeds from Dilling town for sale. We were not even aware of the existence of improved seeds,” she said.

With accessible and affordable improved seeds in Aldagag, Fanta was one of the smallholder farmers who bought seeds from a retailer in her village. She bought groundnut and vegetable seeds and received basic agronomic extension training from the retailer who offered it as an embedded service. In addition to getting access to improved seeds, Fanta was visited by an extension officer from Alzahra Seed for Trade.

Women farmers participate in an agronomic extension training. (Photo: CIMMYT)

Fanta recalls how she managed her farm before she was introduced to improved seeds. “In the seasons before I got the training, my farm looked disorganized. Like other farmers in my area, I didn’t care about the distances between the plants. Local seeds yielded about four or five sacks of groundnut per one feddan (unit of area in Sudan),” she shared. Post training, Fanta planted two feddans of groundnut using the improved seeds and followed the agronomic guidance. “I harvested 18 sacks from the two feddans–much higher than before.”

Increased income provides women farmers with greater financial resources, and many of them feel empowered. “Women famers in my area who have used improved seeds and followed new agricultural techniques have become stronger and feel confident enough to have a voice within our community,” said Fanta.

A sustainable agrifood systems approach in conflict-ridden Sudan

Written by Julian Bañuelos-Uribe on . Posted in Blogs, Multimedia, Videos.

Sudan, the third largest country in Africa, has long been an epicenter of food production, due to its fertile lands and rich history of agricultural cultivation. But modern Sudan faces chronic food insecurity rooted in social and geopolitical challenges. A situation that has been exacerbated by the outbreak of war on April 15, 2023. The armed conflict has caused a sudden, further decline in agricultural productivity, displacing large populations and pushing millions of Sudanese into high levels of malnutrition and food insecurity.

In response to this crisis, CIMMYT, through the USAID-funded Sustainable Agrifood Systems Approach for Sudan (SASAS), is supporting agricultural development by creating robust and sustainable food production systems. SASAS adapts a modular and multi-crop approach to implement an integrated agrifood system that underpins food security, employment, and equity.

As the planting season of 2024 approaches, the project strives to strengthen food production to support the people of Sudan during these challenging times.

Experts speak: SASAS focuses on five key areas

Abdelrahman Kheir, SASAS chief of party, highlights how the agricultural innovations of the project are impacting multiple regions in Sudan. The focus of the project is on five broad intervention areas: promoting agricultural production for smallholder farmers, improving value chains and business development, supporting community management of natural resources, and providing horticultural and livestock services such as vaccination campaigns.

Further in the video, Murtada Khalid, country coordinator for Sudan, explains how the SASAS Food Security Initiative (SFSI) will provide 30,000+ farmers with a diversified package of four inputs: fertilizer, seeds, land preparation, and agricultural advisory services, to prepare for the upcoming 2024 sorghum and groundnut planting season. SFSI is a critical element of SASAS that uniquely provides agricultural development aid during a time of conflict to directly improve the food security situation in Sudan.

How women farmers benefit from SASAS

SASAS works directly with women farmers and pastoralists to ensure an equitable approach to food security in the country. Hear farmers from the women-led El-Harram Agricultural Cooperative in Kassala, Sudan, explain how SASAS has positively impacted their lives and families.

Ali Atta Allah, a farmer in Kassala expresses her gratitude for SASAS support. “They provided us with seeds including jute, mallow, okra, and sweet pepper. We planted them, and they thrived.” Ali highlighted the financial gains—a bundle of jute mallow sells for 500 Sudanese Pound (SDG). The income from the entire area amounts to 200,000 to 300,000 SDG. “The seeds provided by SASAS are of superior quality,” she affirmed.

Aziza Haroun from El-Ghadambaliya village, shares her story of how improved seeds provided by SASAS activities helped double her yields compared to previous years. “We used to farm in the same land and the yield was poor. Mercy Corps, a SASAS partner, introduced us to a new method of planting legumes as natural fertilizer. Now our yield has increased significantly,” she said.

Roots of resilience: my journey as a Conservation Agriculture champion

Written by Julian Bañuelos-Uribe on . Posted in Features.

I am Grace Malaicha, a proud native of the Zidyana Extension Planning Areas in Central Malawi, where my journey with Conservation Agriculture (CA) began. In 2005, I observed neighboring farmers practicing CA techniques on their land. Intrigued and inspired, I decided to embark on this path myself, joining the CA program initiated by CIMMYT and Total LandCare in 2006. I started practicing it on my demonstration plot and observed that yields were getting higher from the second year onwards.

My dedication to CA has changed not only myself but also influenced other members of my farming community. As a mother trial host farmer under the CGIAR Initiative: Diversification for resilient agribusiness ecosystems in East and Southern Africa today, I have been implementing different treatments, which include maize doubled-up legume system and improved drought-tolerant maize varieties planted under CA on flat land and comparing it to the traditional ridge tillage system that involves substantial soil movement.

But what does CA mean to me? It is more than just a set of principles that I apply like minimum soil disturbance, mulching, and crop rotation. CA reduces drudgery, secures yields, and maintains productivity in times of climate change. CA has changed my approach to farming, transforming my once conventional maize monocrop into a diverse maize-legume system. By intercropping with two crops, I have spread the risk of unanticipated crop failure, while incorporating groundnut, cowpeas, and pigeon pea into the mix, which are more drought tolerant. I increased the land area under CA and tried it on many other crops including different legumes as rotation or intercrops, birds-eye chili, vegetables, and cassava.

Over the years, I have witnessed firsthand the harsh realities of a changing climate in central Malawi, from intense heat to prolonged droughts and erratic rainfall patterns. This year, 2024, has even been worse due to the prolonged dry spells between January and February, and the erratic rainfall during this time. Despite these challenges, our CA plots have continued to thrive, showcasing the resilience and adaptability of climate-smart farming practices.

Grace trains farmers on Conservation Agriculture. (Photo: Christian Thierfelder/CIMMYT)

Recognizing the power of knowledge sharing and from the encouragement by CIMMYT and Total LandCare, I started to train fellow farmers, both locally and across borders. At first, I worked with women groups around my homestead and trained about 100 female farmers on the principles of CA. I was fortunate to be given the opportunity to train other farmers in other districts of Malawi. Since 2008, I have also trained farmers in eastern Zambia and from Mozambique where all farmers speak my language Chichewa. Farmers believe other farmers more and are now realizing the benefits of implementing CA in their own fields.

I enrolled to be a local trainer in CA within my community in 2016. My passion for teaching and catalyzing change has led to the adoption of CA by numerous farmers. I embrace my commitment to ongoing learning through carefully implementing these CA trials and playing an active role during awareness meetings.

My life had changed so much. I was speaking on the radio and television. In 2012, the Minister of Agriculture visited my plot, and I was asked to speak in front of a Parliamentary Committee about my experiences as a smallholder woman farmer in Malawi. I spoke about what women can do in agriculture and what changes I made on my land. From representing my country at high level meetings, each step has shaped me into a resilient and empowered woman.

However, my journey has not been without obstacles, including hardships in my personal relationship. In 2012, I made the decision to join my husband in South Africa where I took up menial jobs to earn a living, abandoning my plot back home. But my true passion lay in farming, and I decided to make the bold decision to come back home, leaving my husband and continue with farming. Through perseverance and determination, I have overcome these challenges, and I am now much stronger.

Grace Malaicha stands in her field. (Photo: Christian Thierfelder/CIMMYT)

Today, I stand with pride in front of my CA plot, not only sustaining my family but also sending all my children to school. I now converted all my land to conservation agriculture, 3ha are under maize and 2ha under groundnuts. Beyond farming, I have investments in housing, claiming rentals in the nearby town of Salima to sustain my financial income and expand in farming.

I will continue on this path as I learned so much over the years and believe that CA may be the only climate-smart agriculture response in reach of smallholder farmers that everybody can apply, and I will continue to support others as a champion of CA.

Kenyan researchers release armyworm-resistant maize seeds

Written by dmedina on . Posted in In the media.

Kenyan researchers at KALRO, in partnership with CIMMYT, have developed new maize varieties resistant to the fall armyworm, enhancing food security. These varieties, approved after rigorous testing, are expected to increase maize production. The development is supported by a $500,000 grant from CIMMYT, which also funds infrastructure improvements to aid in seed distribution.

Read the full story.

Ghana hosts West African consultative meeting to transform dryland agriculture

Written by dmedina on . Posted in In the media.

The West Africa Regional Consultation Conference, organized by CIMMYT and the African Drylands Crop Improvement Network in Accra, addressed pressing issues in the region’s agricultural sector, notably in dryland farming amid climate change. CIMMYT’s Dr. Paswel Marenya emphasized the need to boost yields of crucial cereals like sorghum and millet through innovative practices discussed at the conference. With 47 scientists from nine countries participating, the event aimed to foster collaboration and drive tangible improvements in food security and livelihoods across West Africa.

Read the full story.

Women farmers enhance agricultural production in conflict-torn Sudan

Written by Julian Bañuelos-Uribe on . Posted in Blogs.

Women farmers show their harvested vegetables, Kassala, East Sudan. (Photo: CIMMYT)

The ongoing conflict in Sudan continues to contribute to a food crisis threatening the lives of over 18 million people. Farmers, especially smallholders and vulnerable women, are facing extraordinary challenges in obtaining needed agricultural inputs, and access to markets is diminishing.

In Kassala State, East Sudan, which hosts hundreds of thousands of people displaced by ongoing armed conflict including Ethiopian and Eritrean refugees, the USAID-funded Sustainable Agrifood Systems Approach for Sudan (SASAS) is working with women farmers to prepare and safeguard the upcoming growing season. This work is critical to help meet the unprecedented demand for vegetables in the region and achieve sustainable development goals.

“At SASAS, we are working to empower women farmers, especially those who lost their traditional livelihood resources, and help them to acquire skills and techniques to increase their agricultural production to help improve food security,” said Abdelrahman Kheir, SASAS chief of party in Sudan.

Women farmers participate in a training on vegetable growing, Kassala, East Sudan. (Photo: CIMMYT)

SASAS works with the El-Haram Agricultural Cooperative, a women-led farmers group, based in Kassala, to help increase vegetable production. SASAS trains El-Haram Agricultural Cooperative members on modern agricultural techniques, irrigation techniques, pest control, and organic fertilizers to increase crop yields.

“SASAS trained us on new ploughing and land preparation techniques, which we never used before and then provided us with improved seeds of okra, tomato, chili, and mallow, and encouraged us to use legumes as organic fertilizers,” said Imtithal Atta, a farmer from the Alsawagi neighborhood in Kassala. “In the past, I used to buy vegetable seeds from the local market, but they grow poorly. The improved seeds given by SASAS are germinating extremely well. My income has doubled; I almost made $250 from my first harvest of vegetables.”

The ongoing conflict has interrupted traditional livelihood activities in many regions. In some areas, farmers missed the harvest, leading to a dramatic reduction in agricultural production and debilitating price increases for cereals and vegetables. SASAS is helping to restore agricultural production in key growing regions by ensuring farmers have timely access to necessary production inputs, including fertilizer and climate-adapted seeds.

SASAS staff examine the germination of vegetables in women-led farms, Kassala, East Sudan. (Photo: CIMMYT)

“For years, I have worked tirelessly on my family’s farm, season after season, without earning a good income, and I was not sure what was wrong. Luckily, this cultivation season, SASAS trained us on new ploughing techniques to better prepare the land for cultivation, using organic fertilizers to enrich the soil and offering us improved vegetable seeds,” said Fatima Ahmed, a woman farmer and a mother of three children from the El-Haram Agricultural Cooperative.

“Thanks to SASAS, both the quality and the quantity of my agricultural products have greatly improved. I am so happy that I got some good money from my vegetables. I feel empowered and now I can have a strong voice within my community. I am more confident and gained the courage to participate in important decision-making processes within my family and express my opinions without fear,” said Ahmed.

A critical part of SASAS are efforts to diversify food production in Kassala, where malnutrition among children under 5 years old, and breastfeeding, lactating, and pregnant women, are prevalent.

Women farmers process their onions, Kassala, East Sudan. (Photo: CIMMYT)

“I used to go to the main market in town to get my daily needs from vegetables, but now I buy what I need from women farmers closer to my home. They are selling me fresh vegetables at a good price. The taste of the vegetables is quite fresh and healthy, this is something I have been missing for a long time,” said Hanan, a resident of Alswagi.

“The vegetables produced by members of the El-Haram Agricultural Cooperative has led to an increased supply in the local market. I buy vegetables from women farmers and sell them here in the neighborhood market. This has cut my transportation cost as I used to buy vegetables from markets a long distance away,” said Osman, vegetables trader, also in Alswagi.

A sense of belonging: fostering gender equality and social inclusion in agricultural research

Written by Sarah McLaughlin on . Posted in Features.

Efforts to improve gender equality and social inclusion are under the spotlight in many workplaces around the world. At CIMMYT, where values of Excellence, Integrity, and Teamwork guide the organization through its 2030 Strategy, commitment to shaping a more inclusive workplace is changing the face of scientific research.

In alignment with the CGIAR Gender, Diversity and Inclusion (GDI) Action Plan for 2023-2024 to achieve gender parity goals, CIMMYT has implemented multiple initiatives to make improvements across its workstreams and geographical locations.

“This is the start of a journey to harness and empower talent from across CIMMYT’s employee base,” said Director General, Bram Govaerts. “Starting with the actions outlined below, CIMMYT aims to become a leader in promoting gender equality and social inclusion in agricultural research and development.”

Empowering women

At CIMMYT, our commitment to gender equality is reflected in our global workforce. During the first half of 2023, women represented one in every three staff members. Across all roles, the current hiring rate for women is 43% in 2023 compared to 21% in 2020, with a particularly positive trend in regional offices, where the percentage has increased from 24% in 2021 to 43% in 2023. Annual improvements are also visible in the number of internationally recruited female staff, as 46% of these roles are filled by women in 2023, compared to 19% in 2022.

In our headquarters in Mexico, there is no major gender gap above 10%, even at the highest level, and 35-40% of employees are women. 50% of the members of the senior leadership team are women, with a significant number of women from diverse backgrounds forming part of our broader management structure. Progress is also visible in our regional offices. In Kenya and Türkiye, 43% and 40% of team members are women respectively, with both countries reaching the CGIAR target of 40/40/20 parity. For the first time, women represented at least 20% of employees in Bangladesh and Nepal in 2023.

However, we recognize there are still areas where CIMMYT must improve gender parity. While the overall gender balance continues to improve, the proportion of women working at CIMMYT globally rests at 32.5%, which is a statistic that can be increased. Gender gaps exceeding 10% can be observed in India and Nepal, where efforts are bridging gaps and forming environments where talent knows no gender.

Advancing equality by region

The impressive diversity of our workforce is one of our greatest strengths, and CIMMYT always seeks new ways to champion its people. As a global organization with presence in 88 countries, benefits are tailored to each region to target the specific needs of employees in each locality.

  • The creation of a Gratuity and Provident Trust Fund in Bangladesh, fostering gender equality by providing equal opportunities for financial stability and growth.
  • Standardized benefits in India, such as a uniform transport allowance and upgraded housing allowance that ensures fair financial benefits for all employees regardless of job grade.
  • Enhanced food coupons and savings funds for employees in Mexico, as well as an after-school program for the children of colleagues working at the headquarters.
  • Responding to economic challenges in Pakistan with a 20% general salary increase, a bonus of US $400, and the introduction of a gender-neutral transport allowance.
  • An increased allowance for children’s education in Zimbabwe.

In addition, Flexible Work Arrangements (FWA), parental leave, disability access improvements, and translation services showcase CIMMYT’s dedication to equality and inclusion.

Fulfilling careers for all

Investing in our people means ensuring that learning opportunities are equally accessible to all, empowering employees to reach their maximum capabilities. “We actively work to foster a culture and environment where all staff feel confident sharing their perspectives, their contributions are highly valued, and they see a path for growth within the organization,” said Deputy Director of Human Resources, Jean-Flavien Le Besque.

In 2023, 1,189 staff members participated in 431 training courses, with the number of participants increasing by nearly 23% in the same year. Additional e-learning opportunities available in both English and Spanish provide opportunities for professional development in health and safety, communications, personal efficiency, and critical thinking, all which aid staff with the development of valuable skills. These online courses supplement regular training on teamwork, hostile environment awareness, and diversity, equity, and inclusion.

The CIMMYT Academy also plays a significant role in training staff to be future leaders. In 2022, 52 students enrolled into the Academy; 52% of these students are women, underscoring CIMMYT’s commitment to developing everyone’s talent. Staff can also access a Tuition Grant scheme to pursue a higher-level degree.

Next steps

While these initiatives have strengthened gender equality and social inclusion at CIMMYT, further efforts are required to achieve true equity in all corners of the organization. These projects so far are just a glimpse into ongoing work to achieve the CGIAR GDI aims and will be built upon using employee feedback and specialist expertise.

“These successes are just the start of our pledge to ensure CIMMYT is inclusive and safe for all,” said Associate Scientist and Cropping Systems Agronomist, Mazvita Chiduwa. “We want to be an organization that is renowned not just for scientific excellence, but also for the way we champion all groups to reach the best of their ability, thrive in the workplace, and enjoy a positive work-life balance.”

Unanswered questions and unquestioned answers

Written by Julian Bañuelos-Uribe on . Posted in Publications.

Over the past few decades, Conservation Agriculture (CA) has moved from theory to practice for many farmers in southern Africa. CA is a system that involves minimum soil disturbance, crop residue retention, and crop diversification among other complimentary agricultural practices. One reason for its increasing popularity is its potential to mitigate threats from climate change while increasing yields.

However, there are limits to the adaptation of CA, especially for smallholder farmers. Challenges are both agronomic (e.g. lack of sufficient crop residues as mulch, weed control, pest and disease carryover through crop residues), socio-economic, and political (both locally and regionally).

A recent paper, Unanswered questions and unquestioned answers: the challenges of crop residue retention and weed control in Conservation Agriculture systems of southern Africa, published in the journal Renewable Agriculture and Food Systems in February 2024, led by CIMMYT and CGIAR scientists examines two specific challenges to more widespread CA adaptation: how to deal with trade-offs in using crop residue and finding alternatives to herbicides for weed control.

For crop residue, the two most prevalent actions are using leftover crop residue for soil cover or feeding it to livestock. Currently, many farmers allow livestock to graze on crop residue in the field, leading to overgrazing and insufficient ground cover. This tradeoff is further challenged by other multiple household uses of residues such as fuel and building material. The most common way to control weeds is the application of herbicides. However, inefficient and injudicious herbicide use poses a threat to human health and the environment, so the research team set out to identify potential alternatives to chemical weed control as the sole practices in CA systems.

“The answer to the question ‘how should farmers control weeds?’ has always been herbicides,” said lead author Christian Thierfelder, CIMMYT principal cropping systems agronomist. “But herbicides have many negative side effects, so we wanted to question that answer and examine other potential weed control methods.”

What to do with crop residue

Previous research from the region found that ungrazed areas had long-term positive effects on soil fertility and crop yields. However, it is common practice for many farmers in Malawi, Zambia, and Zimbabwe to allow open grazing after the harvest in their communities. Livestock are free to graze wherever they wander, which results in overgrazing.

“Open grazing systems help keep costs down but are very inefficient in terms of use of resources. It leads to bare fields with poor soil,” said Thierfelder.

Maize on residues. (Photo: CIMMYT)

While it is easy to suggest that regulations should be enacted to limit open grazing, it is difficult to implement and enforce such rules in practice. The authors found that enforcement is lacking in smaller villages because community members are often related, which makes punishment difficult, and there is an inherent conflict of interest among those responsible for enforcement.

Controlling weeds

Weeding challenges in CA systems have been addressed worldwide by simply using herbicides. However, chemical weeding is often not affordable and, sometimes, inaccessible to the smallholder farmers and environmentally unfriendly.

Using herbicides, though effective when properly applied, also requires a degree of specialized knowledge, and without basic training, this may be an unviable option as they may pose a risk to the health of the farmers. Thus, alternatives need to be identified to overcome this challenge.

Some alternatives include mechanical methods, involving the use of handheld tools or more sophisticated tools pulled by animals or engines. While this can be effective, there is the possibility of high initial investments, and intercropping (a tenet of CA) forces farmers to maneuver carefully between rows to avoid unintended damage of the intercrop.

Increasing crop competition is another potential weed control system. By increasing plant density, reducing crop row spacing, and integrating other crops through intercropping, the crop competes more successfully with the weeds for resources such as light, moisture, and nutrients. When the crop seed rate is increased, the density of the crops increases, providing more cover to intercept light, and reducing the amount of light reaching the weeds thereby controlling their proliferation.

A holistic approach

“What we learned is that many of the crop residue and weed challenges are part of broader complications that cannot be resolved without understanding the interactions among the current scientific recommendations, private incentives, social norms, institutions, and government policy,” said Thierfelder.

Continuing research into CA should aim to examine the social and institutional innovations needed to mainstream CA as well as strengthen and expand the research on weed control alternatives and focus on the science of communal grazing land management to enhance their productivity.

Sustaining Conservation Agriculture initiatives: lessons from Malawi

Written by Julian Bañuelos-Uribe on . Posted in Blogs, Publications.

Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) has experienced the worst impacts of climate change on agriculture over the past decades and projections show such effects are going to intensify in the coming years. Diminished agricultural production has been the primary impact channel given the high reliance on rainfed agriculture in the region. Combined with a growing population, food security for millions of people is threatened.

Conservation Agriculture (CA) is a sustainable cropping system that can help reverse soil degradation, augment soil health, increase crop yields, and reduce labor requirements while helping smallholder farmers adapt to climate change. It is built on three core principles of minimum soil disturbance, crop residue retention, and crop diversification.

CA was introduced in southern Africa in the 1990s, but its adoption has been patchy and often associated with commercial farming. A group of researchers, led by Christian Thierfelder, principal cropping systems agronomist at CIMMYT, set out to understand the reasons why smallholder farmers adopt CA, or why they might not or indeed dis-adopt. Their results were published in Renewable Agriculture and Food Systems on March 12, 2024.

Conservation Agriculture plot. (Photo: CIMMYT)

“Conservation Agriculture can cushion farmers from the effects of climate change through its capacity to retain more soil water in response to high water infiltration and increased soil organic carbon. It is therefore a viable option to deal with increased heat and drought stress,” said Thierfelder. However, even with these benefits, adoption of CA has not been as widespread in countries like Malawi.

“There are regions within Malawi where CA has been promoted for a long time, also known as sentinel sites,” said Thierfelder. “In such places, adoption is rising, indicating that farmers are realizing the benefits of CA over time. Examining adoption dynamics in sentinel sites can provide valuable lessons on scaling CA and why some regions experience large rates of non- or dis-adoption.”

Thierfelder and his co-authors, Innocent Pangapanga-Phiri of the Center for Agricultural Research and Development (CARD) of the Lilongwe University of Agriculture and Natural Resources (LUANAR), and Hambulo Ngoma, scientist and agricultural economist at CIMMYT, examined the Nkhotakota district in central Malawi, one of the most promising examples of widespread CA adoption.

Total LandCare (TLC), a regional NGO working in Malawi has been consistently promoting CA in tandem with CIMMYT in the Nkhotakota district since 2005.

Results from both individual farmer interviews and focused group discussions revealed that farmers that implement CA saw higher yields per hectare than those who practiced conventional tillage practices. In addition, farmers using CA indicated greater resilience in times of drought, improved soil fertility, and reduced pest infestation.

Why adopt CA?

The primary factors enhancing CA adoption in the Nkhotakota district were the availability of training, extension and advisory services, and demonstration plots by the host farmers. Host farmers are farmers that have been trained by a TLC extension officer and have their own plot of land to demonstrate CA methods. In addition, host farmers train other farmers and share knowledge and skills through farmer field days and other local agricultural exhibitions.

“Social networks among the farmers serve a vital role in CA adoption,” said Ngoma. “Seeing tangible success carries significant weight for non-adopter farmers or temporal dis-adopters which can persuade them to adopt.”

Maize demonstration plot. (Photo: CIMMYT)

During focus group discussions facilitated by the authors, farmers indicated that demonstration plots also removed fear for the unknown and debunked some myths regarding CA systems, for example, that practitioners show ‘laziness’ if they do not conventionally till their land.

“This suggests that CA uptake could be enhanced with increased, targeted, and long-term promotion efforts that include demonstration plots,” said Ngoma.

Similarly, the longer duration of CA exposure positively influenced farmers’ decisions to adopt CA methods as longer exposure might allow farmers to better understand the benefits of CA practices.

Why not adopt CA?

Farmers reported socioeconomic, financial, and technical constraints to adopt CA. An example is that farmers might not have the labor and time available for weed control, a necessary step in the first few years after the transition to CA.

“Weed control is an important challenge during the early years of CA adoption and can be seen as the ‘Achilles heel’ of CA adoption,” said Thierfelder. CIMMYT scientists therefore focused a lot of research in recent years to find alternative weed control strategies based on integrated weed management (IWM) using chemical, biological, and mechanical control options.

Examining the stover in a maize plot. (Photo: CIMMYT)

In most cases, the benefits of CA adoption are seen only after 2 to 5 years. Having such a long-term view is not always possible for smallholder farmers, who often must make decisions based on current conditions and have immediate family obligations to meet.

As a contrast to adopters of CA, non-adopters reported a lack of knowledge about CA as a whole and a lack of specific technical knowledge needed to transition from more traditional methods to CA.

This scarcity of technical support is often due to the lack of strong agriculture extension support systems. Since CA adoption can be complex, capacity building of both farmers and extension agents can therefore foster adoption and implementation of CA. This reinforces that farmer-to-farmer approaches through host farmers could complement other sources of extension to foster adoption.

Next steps

The authors identified three policy recommendations to accelerate CA adoption. First, there is a need to continue promoting CA using farmer-centric approaches more consistently, e.g., the host farmer approach. Using a farmer-centered approach facilitates experiential learning and can serve as a motivation for peer-to-peer exchange and learning and can reduce misinformation. The host farmer approach can be augmented by mega-demonstrations to showcase CA implementation at scale. In addition, rapid and mass extension delivery can be enhanced by using digital technologies.

Second, CA promotion should allow farmers the time to experiment with different CA options before adoption. What remains unclear at the policy level is the types of incentives and support that can be given to farmers to encourage experimentation without creating economic dependence. NGOs and extension workers could help farmers deal with the weed pressure soon after converting from full to minimum tillage by providing herbicides and training.

Third, there is a need to build and strengthen farmer groups to facilitate easier access to training, to serve as conduits for incentive schemes such as payments for environmental services, and conditional input subsidies for CA farmers. Such market-smart incentives are key to induce initial adoption in the short term and to facilitate sustained adoption.

Stakeholders call for a holistic approach to managing Kenya’s dryland crop seed system

Written by dmedina on . Posted in In the media.

In February 2024, the Kenya Drylands Crop Seed Systems Workshop, co-hosted by CIMMYT and KALRO in Nairobi, focused on enhancing seed systems for key dryland crops like pigeon pea and sorghum. The workshop aimed to align innovative breeding with effective seed distribution, crucial for improving agricultural productivity and food security in Kenya’s semi-arid regions.

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