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Kelvin Mulungu is an Agricultural Economist whose main research interests lie at the intersection of natural resources, food, and climate change. He has extensive experience in development work in several African countries, including Uganda, Kenya, Tanzania, Ivory Coast, Nigeria, Malawi, Zambia, and some Asian countries. His current research at CIMMYT focuses on understanding social enablers and barriers to adoption, assessing the impact of different agricultural technologies, and testing social incentives to improve farmer adoption of agricultural technologies. He is interested in applying the latest econometric advances to provide rigorous evidence on development challenges in developing countries.
Prior to joining CIMMYT, Kelvin was a research manager at HarvestPlus Zambia, a postdoctoral researcher at AfricaRice, and most recently a postdoctoral fellow at the International Center of Insect Physiology and Ecology (icipe) in Nairobi, Kenya. He holds a PhD in Agricultural and Resource Economics from Colorado State University (USA), an MSc in Agricultural and Applied Economics from Egerton University (Kenya), and a BSc in Agricultural Economics from the University of Zambia.
Harnessing Change was the theme of the 2023 Borlaug Dialogue, an annual summit of international thought leaders, development specialists, researchers, farmers, and practitioners, designed to promote global food systems transformation and food security, and is organized by the World Food Prize Foundation.
This iteration of the Borlaug Dialogue, held in Des Moines, Iowa, October 24-26, 2023, was the site of the inauguration of a collaboration between CIMMYT and the Gorongosa Restoration Project to improve climate resilience, food security and nutrition in Mozambique’s Gorongosa National Park.
“These kinds of collaborations exemplify what the Borlaug Dialogue is all about,” said CIMMYT Director General Bram Govaerts. “The annual event and the work of the World Food Prize Foundation year-round is dedicated to bringing people and organizations together to work better and smarter. CIMMYT is proud to be a part of it.”
CGIAR Centers based in the Americas host discussion on Latin America’s food security challenges and opportunities
CIMMYT, the International Potato Center (CIP), the Alliance of Bioversity International and the International Center for Tropical Agriculture, and International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) co-organized the side event Maximizing Latin America and the Caribbean’s Contributions to Global Agriculture and Biodiversity Solutions at Dialogue.
Govaerts moderated the panel discussion and the Q&A session that followed with members of the audience.
Panelists, including Elsa Murano, director of the Norman E. Borlaug Institute for International Agriculture & Development, Rob Bertram, chief scientist for the Bureau for Resilience and Food Security at the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), and María (pilu) Giraudo, honorary president of Argentina’s No Till Farmers Association, shared views on Latin America’s role in global agriculture from academic, development and farming offer academic insights, international cooperation recommendations and farmer perspectives.
CIMMYT and USAID co-host panel focused on AID-I’s impact at the Borlaug Dialogue
The discussion labelled, Harnessing Innovation to Rapidly Respond to Crises, aimed to present AID-I’s innovative approach to addressing systemic weaknesses in agriculture by accelerating the market-based delivery of improved seeds, fertilizers, and critical information to farmers.
(Left to right) Bram Govaerts, Kevin Kabunda and Dina Esposito. (Photo: CIMMYT)
Dina Esposito, USAID’s Global Food Crisis coordinator and assistant to the Administrator for the Bureau for Resilience, Environment and Food Security, described how AID-I is “turning crisis into opportunity” by improving farmers’ resilience and profitability.
“We joined CIMMYT and went to Zambia, and the partnership was a glimmer in our eyes,” said Esposito, referring to a recent visit to a model farm with AID-I partners.
Reporting progress in Zambia, Malawi and Tanzania, Kevin Kabunda, CIMMYT’S AID-I chief of party in southern Africa, noted that the private sector had produced 13,000 tons of maize in the first year.
“The extended or increased potential for every farmer who uses fall armyworm-tolerant varieties translates to US$100 dollars,” said Kabunda who estimated AID-I reached 1.3 million farmers in its first year generating an aggregated value of at least US$65 million dollars.
In addition, Mtieyedou (Abdou) Konlambigue, AID-I chief of party in the Great Lakes Region, pointed out that the project has given access to new bean varieties and fertilizer recommendations to over 500,000 farmers in Rwanda, Burundi and the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
Farmers take the stage
Two champion farmers, María (pilu) Giraudo and Guillermo Bretón joined CIMMYT’s Director General, Bram Govaerts, and CGIAR Board Chair, Lindiwe Majele Sibanda, during a main stage session of the Borlaug Dialogue organized by the World Food Prize Foundation on Tuesday, October 24.
The event, MasAgro Taking it to the Farmer, reported on progress achieved and milestones reached by one of CIMMYT’s flagship projects, Crops for Mexico (MasAgro), which began 14 years ago and earned Govaerts the 2014 Norman E. Borlaug Award for Field Research and Application endowed by The Rockefeller Foundation.
Giraudo, an Argentinian farmer who co-founded the Rural Women Network and serves as honorary president of Argentina’s no till farmer association Aapersid, said that the best way to acknowledge MasAgro’s work is to seize the opportunity to offer women farmers the possibility of having full access to science and technology.
Bretón, a farmer from Mexico’s state of Tlaxcala, described MasAgro as a disruptive way of understanding agriculture. “Investing in our soils is better than investing in a one-cycle crop,” he said.
CGIAR Board Chair Lindiwe Majele Sibanda was enthusiastic about the project’s trajectory and proud of its evolution into CIMMYT’s ongoing efforts, including adapting MasAgro to southern Africa.
Sibanda expressed her excitement about MasAgro-inspired activities in Africa and praised the diversified seed systems that today include dryland crops sold in smaller seed bags by young entrepreneurs who are taking up businesses in villages without having to go to urban centers.
Govaerts moderated the event and thanked Dina Esposito, and U.S. Special Envoy for Global Food Security, Cary Fowler, for facilitating the establishment of MasAgro programs in southern Africa.
CIMMYT and partners in Kenya recently marked the 10th anniversary of two major facilities that have been crucial for maize breeding in sub-Saharan Africa. The Maize Doubled-Haploid (DH) facility and the Maize Lethal Necrosis (MLN) screening facility at the Kenya Agriculture and Livestock Research Organization (KALRO) centers in Naivasha and Kiboko, respectively, have made immense contributions to the rapid development of higher-yielding, climate-resilient and disease-resistant maize varieties for smallholder farmers across the continent.
An aerial photo of the Naivasha Research Center. (Photo: CIMMYT)
“These two facilities have been instrumental in furthering KALRO’s mission to utilize technology in the service of Kenya’s smallholder farmers,” said KALRO Director General/CEO, Eliud Kireger. “They also exhibit the spirit of cooperation and collaboration that is necessary for us to meet all the challenges to our food systems.”
“Deploying a higher yielding maize variety may not be impactful in eastern Africa if that variety does not have resistance to a devastating disease like MLN,” said CIMMYT’s Director General Bram Govaerts. “These two facilities demonstrate the holistic methods which are key to working towards a more productive, inclusive and resilient agrifood system.”
Maize DH facility
Hybrid maize varieties have much higher yields than open-pollinated varieties and are key to unlocking the agricultural potential of maize producing countries. The doubled haploid process is an innovative technology producing within a year genetically true-to-type maize lines that serve as building blocks for improved maize hybrids.
Unlike conventional breeding, which takes at least 7 to 8 generations or crop seasons to develop parental lines, DH lines are generated within two seasons, saving significant time, labor and other resources. DH maize lines are highly uniform, genetically stable, and are more amenable to the application of modern molecular tools, making them perfect resources for breeding elite maize hybrids.
Workers in the Kiboko Double Haploid facility. (Photo: CIMMYT)
The aim of CIMMYT’s maize DH facility is to empower the breeding programs throughout the low-and middle-income countries in Africa by offering a competitive, accessible, not-for-profit DH production service that will accelerate their rate of genetic gain and fast-track development of improved maize varieties for farming communities.
Since 2017, the DH facility has delivered 280,000 DH lines from 1,840 populations of which 20% were delivered to public and private sector partners. CIMMYT maize breeding programs and partner organizations have embraced the use of DH technology, with many of the newest maize hybrids released in Africa being derived from DH lines. The facility has also served as a training ground so far for over 60 scientists and hundreds of undergraduate students in modern breeding technologies.
“Before 2013, DH technology was mainly employed by private, multinational corporations in North America, Europe, Asia and Latin America,” said CIMMYT’s DH Facility Manager, Vijay Chaikam. “But the DH facility operated by CIMMYT at the KALRO Kiboko research station is specifically targeted at strengthening the maize breeding programs by the public sector institutions as well as small-and medium-size enterprise seed companies in Africa.”
The maize DH facility at Kiboko, Kenya, was established with funding support from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and inaugurated in September 2013. The facility includes an administrative building, seed quality laboratory, training resources, artificial seed dyer, a cold-storage seed room, a chromosome doubling laboratory, greenhouse and a state-of-the-art irrigation system to support year-round DH production in the 17-hectare nursery.
MLN screening facility
MLN is a devastating viral disease that can decimate farmers’ fields, causing premature plant death and unfilled, poorly formed maize ears, and can lead to up to 100 percent yield loss in farmers’ fields. Though known in other parts of the world for decades, the disease was first identified in eastern Africa in 2011. By 2015, MLN had rapidly spread across eastern Africa, including Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, South Sudan, Rwanda, Democratic Republic of Congo and Ethiopia. CIMMYT scientists quickly discovered that almost all the commercial maize cultivars in eastern Africa were highly susceptible to the disease.
Against this backdrop, CIMMYT and KALRO recognized the urgent need for establishing a screening facility to provide MLN phenotyping service and effectively manage the risk of MLN on maize production through screening of germplasm and identifying MLN-resistant sources. The facility was built with funding support from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and the Syngenta Foundation for Sustainable Agriculture, and inaugurated in September 2013.
Resistant and susceptible line at the Maize Lethal Necrosis facility. (Photo: CIMMYT)
“The MLN screening facility is a key regional resource in breeding for resistance to a devastating viral disease. The facility is indeed one of the key factors behind successful management of MLN and helping stem the tide of losses in eastern Africa,” said Director of the Global Maize Program at CIMMYT and One CGIAR Plant Health Initiative, B.M. Prasanna. “Fighting diseases like MLN, which do not respect political boundaries, requires strong regional and local collaboration. The successes achieved through the MLN Screening facility in the past 10 years embody that spirit of collaboration.” Indeed, farmers in the region now have access to over twenty genetically diverse, MLN-tolerant/resistant maize hybrids released in eastern and southern Africa.
The facility is the largest dedicated MLN screening facility in Africa and has evaluated over 230,000 accessions (over 330,000 rows of maize) from CIMMYT and partners, including over 15 national research programs, national and multinational seed companies. The facility covers 20 hectares, of which 17 hectares are used for field screening of germplasm. Dedicated laboratories and screen houses cover the remaining 3 hectares.
“MLN phenotyping service is conducted under stringent quarantine standards and the high-quality data is shared with all the CGIAR and public and private partners. The MLN screening service has helped breeding programs across the continent, aided in undertaking epidemiological research activities, and supported capacity building of students from diverse institutions, and regional stakeholders regarding MLN diagnosis and best management practices,” said CIMMYT’s Maize Pathologist in Africa, L.M. Suresh.
“The output of MLN resistant lines and hybrids has been remarkable,” said Director of Phytosanitary and Biosecurity at the Kenya Plant Health Inspectorate Service (KEPHIS), Isaac Macharia. “And the facility has strictly adhered to quarantine regulations.”
In Uganda, the MLN facility was crucial in the “release of the first-generation MLN tolerant hybrids and dissemination of MLN knowledge products that minimized the economic impact of MLN,” said the Director of Research of the National Crops Resources Research Institute, Godfrey Asea.
Peter Mbogo, maize breeder with Seed Co Group, said, “This is the only quarantine facility in the world where you can screen against MLN under artificial inoculation. It has been an excellent return on investment.”
Many people on the islands of Zanzibar face food insecurity and nutritional challenges. The Southern Africa Accelerated Innovation Delivery Initiative (AID-I) MasAgro Africa Rapid Delivery Hub, implemented by CIMMYT, has partnered with the World Vegetable Center (WorldVeg) to directly distribute health diet seed kits to vulnerable households, while prioritizing vulnerable groups such as pregnant and lactating mothers and children under five.
The kits contain a diverse selection of nutrient-rich vegetables specifically chosen for their high nutritional value, ensuring optimal health and development.
The kits contain traditional African vegetables. (Photo: CIMMYT)
To date, the partnership has reached an impressive number of households in Zanzibar. Over 1,350 health diet seed kits have been distributed, or one seed kit per household, benefiting approximately 4,050 individuals (considering at least three people per household). These numbers showcase the tangible impact AID-I has made in addressing the root causes of malnutrition and hidden hunger, providing a sustainable pathway towards improved health and a brighter future for Zanzibar.
The World Vegetable Center (WorldVeg) conducts research, builds networks, and carries out training and promotion activities to raise awareness of the role of vegetables for improved health and global poverty alleviation.
“This initiative holds tremendous promise in fostering long-term improvements in food security, nutrition, and overall well-being for the communities in Zanzibar and shows the power of collaboration,” said Kevin Kabunda, CIMMYT lead for the AID-I project.
Seed variety encourages improved nutrition
A key strength of the seed kits lies in their diversity. Each kit comprises a range of seeds for various crops, including legumes and nutrient-rich vegetables. This includes amaranth consumed as leafy and grain, African eggplant, Ethiopian mustard, African nightshade, and cowpea. The combination of these diverse crops ensures a more resilient and nutritious food supply, essential to combating malnutrition and fostering agricultural sustainability in the islands.
The seed kits are tailored to suit the local agroecological conditions, considering the specific needs and preferences of farmers in Zanzibar. This localization approach enhances the adoption of the kits and maximizes their potential impact on food security and dietary diversity.
“The partnership between WorldVeg and CIMMYT has been invaluable in driving the success of this activity in Zanzibar,” said Jeremiah Sigalla, WorldVeg technical lead for the AID-I project in Zanzibar. “By providing farmers with these healthy diet seed kits, we aim to promote the cultivation of diverse crops that are essential for a balanced and nutritious diet and its attendant benefits, particularly among vulnerable communities.”
By raising awareness about the significant benefits of incorporating diverse vegetables into daily diets, the partnership has inspired and encouraged the community to fully embrace the intervention. This collaboration between CIMMYT and WorldVeg is a testament to the potential of collective action, highlighting sustainable solutions and community empowerment as essential elements in combating malnutrition and enhancing overall well-being in Zanzibar.
The Ministry of Agriculture, Irrigation, Natural Resources and Livestock delivers a health diet seed kit. (Photo: CIMMYT)
The Honorable Shamata Shame Khamis, the minister of Agriculture, Irrigation, Natural Resources and Livestock in Zanzibar joined a health diet seed kit distribution event at Michiweni district in Pemba, on June 30, 2023, where he commented that the consumption of nutritious vegetables in Zanzibar is very low, and malnutrition-related cases are increasing because of poor daily diets. He also extended his appreciation to the AID-I project, recognizing that this initiative is not only important but also timely, as it serves to meet the urgent need for promoting and enhancing the availability of nutritious vegetables in Zanzibar.
East and Southern Africa is a climate hotspot, with more than US$45 billion in agricultural production at risk from higher temperatures, shorter growing seasons and more extreme droughts and floods. Maize, a staple crop covering up to 75% of cropland in parts of the region, is particularly vulnerable and is projected to face yield declines of 15%, among other climate impacts if no adaptation measures are taken. Many of the affected areas already have serious levels of hunger and malnutrition, with the highest burden experienced by women and youth from marginalized and vulnerable communities. If these systems are sustainably diversified, they can contribute to stabilizing regional and global agrifood systems.
The next decade will be critical for strengthening food, land and water systems in East and Southern Africa. The agribusiness ecosystem for both regions has been identified as a critical engine for agricultural and economic development, climate change adaptation and gender and youth empowerment. Investment in innovation, capabilities and supportive environments will be essential for driving sustainable growth.
Objective
This Initiative aims to support climate-resilient agriculture and livelihoods in 12 countries in East and Southern Africa by helping millions of smallholders intensify, diversify and reduce the risks in maize-based farming through improved extension services, small and medium enterprise development, supporting governance frameworks and increased investment with a gender and social inclusion lens.
Activities
This objective will be achieved through:
Diversifying and sustainably intensifying production by assessing needs and options for the introduction of crops, livestock, mechanization and irrigation, applying innovations in value chains and building capacity while scaling to larger farming communities.
Reducing risk and digitalizing value chains by co-designing and delivering “Innovation Package” bundles of digital agro-advisory systems and research management products — including mobile apps, TV programs and social media — to build resilience and improve productivity.
Supporting and accelerating value chain business enablers in maize mixed systems by using CGIAR’s expertise and partner network to unlock access to funding, investment and tailored technical assistance.
Promoting the governing and enabling of multifunctional landscapes for sustainable diversification and intensification with a focus on strengthening the evidence base for decision-makers.
Empowering and engaging women and youth in agribusiness ecosystems by mapping challenges and opportunities to address gender and social inequality and applying inclusive and coordinated interventions for transformative change.
Scaling innovations and coordinating CGIAR and partner activities in the region through a scaling hub that uses the “scaling readiness” approach to inform, activate and bring to scale innovations that respond to regional or country demand.
Representatives from various sectors in Tanzania met to discuss the challenges and opportunities in the country’s groundnut value chain, with the aim of establishing a platform for dialogue among stakeholders involved in groundnut production and distribution.
Participants attentively listen to a presentation at the groundnut value chain stakeholders’ meeting in Tanzania. (Photo: CIMMYT)
The meeting was organized by TEMNAR Co. Ltd., and brought together key stakeholders including farmers, government officials, research institutes, NGOs, and partners such as Ruvuma Commercialization and Diversification of Agriculture (RUCODIA), SWISSAID, and Vodacom. All participants affirmed the meeting’s overall impact and significance, acknowledging that the event would help lay a strong foundation for the growth of groundnut farming, particularly in Mtwara and Lindi regions.
The meeting featured presentations from scientists at the Tanzania Agricultural Research Institute (TARI) — who addressed topics such as groundnut agronomy and seed technology — and representatives from TEMNAR, who outlined strategies to facilitate effective collaboration among stakeholders and achieve mutually beneficial outcomes. Discussions centered on topics such as groundnut varieties, market demands, and the importance of quality and cleanliness throughout the production process. Trust in business relationships was identified as a key factor for success.
Participants at the meeting shared innovative ideas and identified opportunities for strengthening the sector. They highlighted, for example, the need for aggregators to specify their groundnut volume requirements and the application of simple technologies — such as hand push planters and threshing machines — to increase production efficiency. They also emphasized the importance of planting new TARI-bred groundnut varieties to meet market demand, and the establishment of additional seed multiplication farms to increase seed availability.
: A participant examines displayed groundnuts at the groundnut value chain stakeholders’ meeting in Tanzania (Photo: CIMMYT).
Another key component of the meeting was assessing the challenges faced by local groundnut farmers. These include the shortage of good groundnut seed, limited agronomical knowledge, and the labor-intensive nature of planting, harvesting, and picking the crop. To address these challenges, participants suggested making agricultural inputs and tools more accessible to farmers, conducting technology demonstrations, and establishing seed multiplication farms across different districts.
Both farmers and aggregators expressed their commitment to making changes in their farming practices; aggregators are now able to access groundnuts easily through phone calls, while farmers enjoy improved access to markets and better prices. A number of follow-up actions have also been planned as a result of the meeting, such as product buyback initiatives during the harvest season and the establishment of field days to help reach more farmers and aggregators at the local level.
After years of struggles, a group of women farmers in a remote rural area of Tanzania are finally profiting and forging an enterprise based on local farmers’ high demand for certified seed of sorghum, a dryland crop first domesticated in Africa and used in food and drink, livestock feed and even building materials.
Based in Usoche village, Momba District, Songwe Region, Tanzania, the Jitegemee womens group formed in 2018 to improve their livelihoods through sorghum production. In 2022 the group produced and marketed over 3 tons of certified seed, benefiting from access to foundation and certified seed with support from project partnerships and linkages to global and local initiatives.
“Through us, many women are now educated and motivated to engage in seed production,” said Rodha Daudi Tuja, a representative of the Jitegemee group. “I think in the next season we are going to have many women seed entrepreneurs.”
Based on seed companies’ inability to fully satisfy farmers’ high demand for quality seed of sorghum, the social and behavior change interventions component of the Dryland Crops program of CIMMYT, an international research organization with longstanding partnerships and impacts in eastern and southern Africa, worked with Tanzania’s Centre for Behaviour Change and Communication (CBCC) to encourage youth and women to engage in the seed business, including marketing. Banking on previous experience, the initiative helped the women raise awareness among farmers about the value of quality, improved seed, using fliers, posters, t-shirts and caps.
“The CIMMYT behavior change interventions and CBCC reached us through youth champions who trained us on the features and benefits of improved sorghum seed,” explained Tuja.
Jitegemee women’s group members proudly showcase the sorghum seeds they offer for sale. (Photo: CBCC)
Especially important was training the women received to grow “quality declared seed” (QDS) at an event for 18 women and youth in Mbozi district conducted by The Tanzania Official Seed Certification Institute (TOSCI). QDS offers reliable quality in seed at an affordable price to farmers but is not formally inspected by official seed certification systems.
Immediately after the training, the group purchased 12 kilograms of foundation seed—genetically uniform seed that, when grown under controlled results, produces seed of ensured genetic purity and varietal identity—of the popular Macia sorghum variety from the Tanzania Agricultural Research Institute (TARI) at Hombolo. They multiplied that seed following meticulous quality protocols on a leased, 1.6-hectare farm.
A previous arrangement to grow seed for a local company had fallen through after one cropping season, and the Jitegemee group ended up recycling the seed and growing it for grain for sale. Still, the group realized that selling seed could be a lucrative business, if they could only gain access to foundation seed or certified seed. As part of growing pains during that period, the group lost half its members.
“Before our contact with the CIMMYT project we had a lot of challenges,” Tuja said. “First, we did not know about improved seed, we couldn’t access information about new farming technologies, and we were doing subsistence agriculture. However, after the project we were able to access seed and information at the Youth Quality Centres and through radio programs.”
“I advise youth and my fellow women to join us because, before, we had no hope in sorghum production but now we are prospering. The demand for sorghum seed is very high, a lot of farmers are now demanding improved seeds, and our group alone cannot meet the growing demand for seed.”
We gratefully acknowledge Florian Ndyamukama, Centre for Behaviour Change and Communication (CBCC), Tanzania, for contributing this story.
AID-I staff inspect germination in Malawi (Photo: CIMMYT)
Accelerated delivery with a difference is underway in Malawi, Tanzania, and Zambia to ensure access to stress-tolerant seeds for underserved farmers in remote areas. Supported by USAID, the Accelerated Innovation Delivery Initiative (AID-I) project brings public-private and civil society together to address the impacts of climate change, pests and diseases, and food shocks on maize and legume systems.
One simple and cost-effective solution to tackle these threats is last mile delivery of stress-tolerant and nutritious seeds. Ensuring that farmers have access to a diverse range of seeds means they can choose the best varieties to suit their needs and their local environment.
Through AID-I, scientists at the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT) are working with over 20 global, regional, national, and local partners to strengthen maize and legume seed systems in Malawi, Tanzania, and Zambia.
So far, in 2023, the team has set up over a hundred mega-demonstrations across Malawi and Zambia, to raise awareness and increase seed production by exposing communities to improved, climate-adapted and nutritious crop varieties. As learning centers, the mega-demonstrations give farmers a chance to see for themselves the advantages of improved maize and legume varieties and better farming practices including conservation agriculture and doubled up legumes systems.
Farmers plant mega-demonstration plots in Malawi (Photo: CIMMYT)
Spotlighted were drought-tolerant and nutritious varieties, expected to play a crucial role in the recovery of regional maize production. The Zambian and Malawian governments have also just released maize hybrids tolerant to fall armyworms, which will be scaled through the AID-I. The fall armyworm is an invasive pest that attacks more than 80 different crops but has a particular preference for maize. Without proper control measures, the pest can decimate crops, threatening food security, incomes, and livelihoods.
Alongside maize, the AID-I team is making seed of improved legume varieties, including beans, soybean, pigeon peas, cowpea, and groundnuts available at the last mile. Legumes are nutritious and good for the soil, providing valuable nutrients like nitrogen (N) so farmers can use less fertilizer, save money, and protect soil health.
AID-I supports strengthening of strategically located seed stockists of improved legume varieties and linking seed growers and buyers. These stockists, called agricultural development agents will also receive training in community seed production. Through connection with hundreds of agricultural development agents in the first farming season with seed suppliers, hundreds of thousands of farmers will be able to access a wide variety of improved seed.
Members of the CIMMYT leadership team with representatives from the U.S. Department of State and the U.S. Agency of International Development (USAID) visit AfriSeed in Zambia (Photo: CIMMYT)
Building strong relationships between public and private sector organizations is an integral part of the project. On January 16, 2023, long-term CIMMYT collaborator and AID-I key partner, AfriSeed hosted senior government officials from the United States Department of State (DOS) and U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID). The visitors gained valuable insight into how private seed companies involved in the marketing and distribution of maize and legume seeds operate in Zambia and showed their crucial role in the country’s seed sector.
Sieg Snapp, Tek Sapkota, and partners photographed during AIM for Climate (Photo: CIMMYT)
As climate change threats accelerate, new technologies, products, and approaches are required for smallholder farmers to mitigate and adapt to current and future threats. Targeting smallholder farmers will benefit not only the farmers but the entire agri-food system through enhanced locally relevant knowledge that harnesses handheld sensors and advisories on management options, soil status, weather, and market information.
The Agriculture Innovation Mission for Climate (AIM for Climate / AIM4C) seeks to address climate change and global hunger by uniting participants to significantly increase investment in, and other support for, climate-smart agriculture and food systems innovation over five years (2021–2025).
The International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT), as a partner of AIM for Climate, organized a breakout session titled “Smart Smallholder Fertilizer Management to Address Food Security, Climate Change, and Planetary Boundaries” during the AIM for Climate Summit in Washington DC, May 8-10, 2023.
Fertilizers are essential for increasing crop yields and ensuring food security, yet fertilizer use for food and fodder is severely skewed at the global level, leading to over-fertilization in some regions and under-fertilization in others.
Farmers in low-income countries are highly vulnerable to fertilizer supply shortages and price spikes, which have direct consequences for food prices and hunger. Improving fertilizer efficiency and integrated organic and inorganic sources is important globally as nutrient loss to the environment from inappropriate input use drives greenhouse gas emissions and pollution.
Innovation Sprint
Because smallholder farmers are the primary managers of land and water, the CIMMYT-led AIM4C Innovation Sprint, Climate-Resilient soil fertility management by smallholders in Africa, Asia, and Latin America is designed to implement and scale-up a range of climate robust nutrient management strategies in 12 countries, and to reach tens of millions of smallholder farmers in close collaboration with nearly 100 public-private partners organizations.
Sieg Snapp called for more investments in data synthesis (Photo: CIMMYT)
Strategies include innovations in extension where digital tools enable farmer-centered private and public advisories to increase the uptake of locally adapted nutrient management practices. Connecting farmers to investors and markets provides financial support for improved nutrient management.
By tailoring validated fertility management practices to their specific conditions, and integrated use of legumes and manure, smallholders will optimize productivity, enhance climate resilience, and mitigate greenhouse gas emissions. Research from other organizations has determined that improved fertilizer management can increase global crop yield by 30% while reducing greenhouse gas emissions.
Right place, right time
“We need locally adapted fertilizer management approaches that work for smallholder farmers. By tailoring validated fertility management practices to their specific conditions, smallholders will optimize productivity, enhance climate resilience, and mitigate greenhouse gas emissions,” said Sieg Snapp, CIMMYT’s Sustainable Agricultural Systems Program Director. She continued, “What is needed now is major investment in data synthesis. Through this SPRINT we are exploring options to enable taking sensors to scale, to reach tens of millions of farmers with hyper-local soils information.”
Inequality is the core of the problem in fertilizer management: some regions apply more than the required amount, where in other regions fertilizer application is insufficient for plant needs, leading to low yields and soil degradation.
Tek Sapkota spoke on fertilizer management (Photo: CIMMYT)
“Fertilizer efficiency can be improved through application of the right amount of fertilizer using the right source employing the right methods of application at the right time of plant demand,” said Tek Sapkota, CIMMYT Senior Scientist, Agricultural System/Climate Change.
The session included presentations by the Foundation for Food & Agriculture Research (FFAR), UN Foundation, Pakistan Agricultural Research Council (PARC), Stockholm International Water Institute (SIWI), USDA, and Alliance of CIAT-Bioversity. Highlights sustainable and climate-smart practices in Pakistan, novel plant genetics for improved nitrogen cycling, and soil water and nutrient management in the Zambezi to tackle food security and climate change challenges.
Inadequate seed supply and delivery systems, sometimes also misaligned with user and market demand, mean that smallholders often recycle seed or use older varieties, leaving them more vulnerable to pests and diseases. Small-scale farmers, especially women and other disadvantaged groups, are particularly vulnerable to climate-related challenges, such as more frequent and severe droughts and erratic rainfall. Additionally, farmers may not be well informed about varietal options available to them or may be reluctant to experiment with new varieties. These challenges threaten agricultural production and can compromise their ability to meet their own food, nutrition and income needs.
Improved varieties, innovations and approaches developed and promoted by CGIAR and partners could transform agrifood systems and reduce yield gaps, “hunger months” and other disparities. However, limited access to and use of affordable, quality seed of well-adapted varieties with desired traits, means these bottlenecks remain.
This Initiative aims to support the delivery of seed of improved, climate-resilient, market-preferred and nutritious varieties of priority crops, embodying a high rate of genetic gain to farmers, ensuring equitable access for women and other disadvantaged groups.
This objective will be achieved through:
Supporting demand-driven cereal seed systems for more effective delivery of genetic gains from One CGIAR cereal breeding, as well as improving government, private sector and farmer-based capacity to deliver productive, resilient and preferred varieties to smallholders.
Boosting legume seed through a demand-led approach that builds on growing demand for grain legumes. This multistakeholder approach will strengthen partnerships to provide efficient, more predictable and demand-led access to quality seed of new varieties.
Scaling and delivering vegetatively propagated crop seed through sustainable enhanced delivery pathways that efficiently target different market segments and farmer preferences.
Supporting partnerships (including with smallholders), capacity building and coordination to ensure uptake of public-bred varieties and other innovations by providing technical assistance for national agricultural research and extension systems (NARES) and foundation seed organizations in early-generation seed production and on-farm demonstrations.
Developing and implementing policies for varietal turnover, seed quality assurance and trade in seeds by leveraging global expertise and experience to generate both the evidence and engagement necessary to advance efficient, sustainable, and inclusive seed markets that promote varietal turnover and wider adoption.
Scaling equitable access to quality seed and traits in order to reach the unreached and provide inclusive accesswhile addressing gender and social constraints and the digital divide.
Engagement
This Initiative will work in Bangladesh, Ethiopia, India, Kenya, Mozambique, Nepal, Nigeria, Rwanda, Uganda and Tanzania as a priority,followed by other countries in Latin America, South and Southeast Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa.
Outcomes
Proposed 3-year outcomes include:
Robust tools developed and used by funders, developers, researchers and extension staff to sustainably measure and monitor key seed system metrics.
Increase of 10% in the quantity of quality seed of improved “best-fit” and farmer-preferred varieties available to farmers in representative crops and geographies due to increased capacity of seed companies and other seed multipliers (including farm-based seed actors).
Public and private seed enterprises adopting innovative and transformative models for accessing, disseminating and multiplying quality early-generation seed, reducing cost and increasing output.
Reduction of 5% in weighted average varietal age for priority crops in selected countries.
Government partners in policy design and implementation actively promote policy solutions to accelerate varietal turnover, adoption and quality seed use.
Resource-poor farmers in low-income and middle-income countries will hugely benefit from improved crop varieties that perform better in terms of nutritional quality, income generation, water and nutrient use, stability of yields under climate change, and the needs of both women and men as farmers and as consumers.
However, many smallholder farmers still grow old varieties, in part because they derive inadequate benefits from recent breeding efforts. To trigger timely adoption, new varieties must be widely available and affordable to farmers, and offer a step-change in performance through higher rates of genetic gain. A faster pace of varietal turnover is critical – to enable farmers to adapt and advance rapidly as climatic and market conditions change.
Breeding programs also need a greater focus on developing farmer- and consumer- preferred varieties adapted to distinct production environments, markets and end uses. This can be facilitated by smarter design of breeding programs; stronger partnerships between CGIAR, National Agricultural Research and Extension Systems (NARES) and small and medium enterprises (SMEs); and strengthened organizational capacity.
This Initiative aims to develop better-performing, farmer-preferred crop varieties and to decrease the average age of varieties in farmers’ fields, providing real-time adaptation to climate change, evolving markets and production systems.
The objective will be achieved through:
Re-focusing breeding teams and objectives on farmers’ needs, in particular the needs of women, through achievable product profiles and breeding pipelines targeting prioritized regions and market segments.
Reorganizingbreeding teams to drive efficiency gains through the coordinated engagement of specialists and processes using a common organizational framework, stage gates, key performance indicators and handover criteria.
Transforming towards inclusive, impactful CGIAR-NARES-SME breeding networks with empowered partners, along with customized capacity building, standardized key performance indicators, and by dividing labor and resources across partners according to comparative advantage and aligned with national priorities.
Discovering optimum traits and deployments through agile, demand-driven and effective trait discovery and deployment pipelines, and development of elite donor lines with novel and highly valuable traits.
Acceleratingpopulation improvement and variety identification through optimizing breeding pipelines (trailing, parent selection, cycle time, use of Breeding Resources tools and services, etc.), with the goal of assuring all programs deliver market-demanded varieties that deliver greater rates of genetic gain per dollar invested.
Engagement
This Initiative will work with breeding programs serving countries in Sub-Saharan Africa, and South Asia, along with Asia and Latin America.Priority countries for the Initiative includeGhana, Kenya, Nigeria, Senegal, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia and Zimbabwe in Africa, and Bangladesh and India in South Asia.
Outcomes
Proposed 3-year outcomes include:
At least 75% of breeding pipelines are oriented towards specific market segments, enabling greater focus on farmers’ needs, drivers of adoption, distinct impact areas and the strategic allocation of resources.
At least 70% of breeding pipelines use a revised organizational framework that provides operational clarity and effectiveness for specialized teams pursuing breeding outputs.
At least 80% of the breeding networks have implemented documented steps toward stronger partnership models where NARES and SMEs have increased breeding capacity, and make greater scientific, operational and decision-making contributions to the breeding process.
At least 50% of breeding pipelines are supported by a dedicated trait discovery and deployment program that delivers high-impact traits in the form of elite parental lines.
At least 70% of breeding pipelines have increased the rate of genetic gain in the form of farmer-preferred varieties, with at least 50% providing significantly improved varieties delivered to seed system recipients.
Happy Makuru Daudi, Head of Groundnut Research Program at the Tanzania Agricultural Research Institute (TARI) based at Naliendele Research Center in Mtwara, is a plant breeder specializing in groundnut. For the United Nations International Day of Women and Girls in Science, she shares with us her passion for what she does and why more women should venture into plant breeding.
What inspired you to get into your career?
I was in love with science and my intention was to be a doctor but later I changed my mind. I loved biology a lot and that set my focus on my academic path. At university I had good mentors who influenced my career direction as well.
When I achieved my first degree, I was recruited by the Government of Tanzania as an agricultural officer. My then boss, Omar Mponda, inspired me to be a plant breeder. He encouraged me and I went ahead to study plant breeding for both my Masters and PhD. My first degree was in Agronomy, I then did a Masters in Crop Science, specializing in Plant Breeding, and eventually completed a PhD in Plant Breeding as well.
What did you love about plant breeding?
I realized breeders are very active people. Always trying to improve and change things. Always looking for ways to make a difference. This desire to make a change makes us active lifelong learners.
The other thing I learnt from breeders is that they can change the life of farmers. Most smallholder farmers are women. I love my crop (groundnut) because it is a ‘woman’s crop’. If the breeder develops a product such as groundnut with high impact, it means they have changed the life of women. I realized I work a lot with women in my field and even if I only change the smallest of things, it means I get to change their lives and boost them from one step to the next.
Please elaborate on why you refer to groundnut as a woman’s crop.
Groundnut is a nutritious crop and is used a lot in processing and preparing children’s food, hence most women value it and engage in farming the crop, even though in small plots of land, in order to have nutritious food for their families’ health.
Most women especially in Tanzania view groundnut as their ATM, in that when they need money for use at home, they only need to sell some of their harvested groundnut and get cash to meet their home’s needs, such as buying schoolbooks for their children.
Women are involved in the entire groundnut value chain, that is from farming the crop in the field up to the processing stages, unlike men who mostly only come in at the market stage to sell the produce. Therefore, groundnut is source of income for many women in Tanzania.
Happy Makuru Daudi presents at the Drylands Legumes and Cereals Crop Improvement Review and Planning meeting in Ghana in January 2023. (Photo: Susan Otieno/CIMMYT)
Has the International Maize and Wheat Center (CIMMYT) and the CGIAR at large contributed in any way to your career growth?
Yes! They have contributed a lot. First in building my capacity and, as I work with them in the Accelerated Varietal Improvement and Seed Systems in Africa (AVISA) project. My PhD was sponsored by the Tropical Legumes III Project. I remember when interacting with scientists from these organizations, I observed how they carried themselves with confidence, both the women and men; it motivated me and built my confidence.
What was the focus of your PhD?
My PhD was on breeding for groundnut resistance for rust and high yield in Tanzania.
What is your message for young women and girls interested in getting into science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) careers?
First, they need to trust themselves. They can do anything in this world. They should not be fearful. For instance, those interested in breeding might observe that most breeders are men, and they may tell themselves that it is a difficult career and run away from it. But I would like them to tell themselves they can be and do even better than men. They only need to trust themselves and build their confidence.
Tell me about the formation of your team – are you intentional in working with women in your team?
Yes, I’m usually intentional about this. I always give equal chance to both genders but when I get an opportunity to hire for my team, it makes me happier if a woman lands the job. I realized women are good workers and ready to learn. Most of my casual laborers on my team are also women. They work meticulously. The main work for breeders entails crossing. The best people for crossing are women! I have observed that the success rate of the crosses is higher with women! Crossing is intensive work, physically as well, and needs utmost concentration. So, I trust them in this.
Is there anything else you would like to add?
I want to encourage women not to run away from sciences, and especially agricultural sciences such as breeding. We want more women breeders. They can change this world and help more people put food on the table. The agricultural sector, especially the farms, are dominated by women, and it is easier for them when they interact with other women. When we go meet them in the fields, it is easier for us to understand their needs and change their lives. So, I call girls and women to come on board in this sector and change the lives of many.
Cover photo: Happy Makuru Daudi (center) discussing groundnut varieties with colleagues from TARI and CIMMYT in Mtwara, Tanzania, in 2022. (Photo: Susan Otieno/CIMMYT)
Grace Mwai is an innovative and strategic leader with more than 18 years of progressive leadership experience in international development programs. She has spearhead implementation projects of US$23M-$320M funding, while leading teams across 19 countries with more than 14 international and bilateral donors. Mwai holds a Doctor of Business Administration, Masters of Science in Organization Development, Masters of Business Administration, and is a Certified Public Accountant and Corporate Governance Trainer.
She has a keen ability to identify inefficiencies and create sustainable systems enabling consistent, on-time completion, regardless of project complexity. Her lived experience on both sides of the donor and recipient dividing lines affords her a nuanced understanding of stakeholder needs and the intricacies of donor requirements.
To test solutions that could mitigate the impacts of drought, the study used randomized control trials to test the impact of combining drought-resistant seeds and index insurance in Mozambique and Tanzania.
Results show that combining these two technologies expands their benefits: using the improved seeds reduces insurance costs, and having insurance to begin with counteracts the risk of adopting the seeds. Farmers who use both technologies have greater resilience to drought in the short- and long-term.
Demonstrating the benefits to farmers and informing the scaling-up of the solution-bundling approach was also found to be important.
Smallholder farmers, the backbone of food systems around the world, are already facing negative impacts because of climate change. Time to adapt climate mitigation strategies is not a luxury they have. With that in mind, the Agriculture Innovation Mission for Climate (AIM4C) facilitates innovation sprints designed to leverage existing development activities to create a series of innovations in an expedited timeframe.
At the UN COP27 in Egypt, AIM4C announced its newest round of innovation sprints, including one led by the International Center for Maize and Wheat Improvement (CIMMYT) to enable smallholder farmers to achieve efficient and effective nitrogen fertilizer management. From 2022 to 2025, this sprint will steer US $90 million towards empowering small-scale producers in Africa (Kenya, Malawi, Morocco, Tanzania, and Zimbabwe), Asia (China, India, Laos and Pakistan), and Latin America (Guatemala and Mexico).
“When we talk to farmers, they tell us they want validated farming practices tailored to their specific conditions to achieve greater productivity and increase their climate resilience,” said Sieg Snapp, CIMMYT Sustainable Agrifood Systems (SAS) program director who is coordinating the sprint. “This sprint will help deliver those things rapidly by focusing on bolstering organic carbon in soil and lowering nitrous oxide emissions.”
Nitrogen in China
Working with the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences (CAAS), the sprint will facilitate the development of improved versions of green manure crops, which are grown specifically for building and maintaining soil fertility and structures which are incorporated back into the soil, either directly, or after removal and composting. Green manure can significantly reduce the use of nitrogen-based fertilizers, which prime climate culprits.
“There are already green manure systems in place in China,” said Weidong Cao from CAAS, “but our efforts will integrate all the work being done to establish a framework for developing new green manure crops aid in their deployment across China.”
Triple wins in Kenya
The Kenya Climate Smart Climate Project, active since 2017, is increasing agricultural productivity and building resilience to climate change risks in the targeted smallholder farming and pastoral communities. The innovation sprint will help rapidly achieve three wins in technology development and dissemination, cutting-edge innovations, and developing sets of management practices all designed to increase productive, adaption of climate smart tech and methods, and reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions.
Agricultural innovations in Pakistan
The Agricultural Innovation Program (AIP), a multi-disciplinary and multi-sectoral project funded by USAID, led by CIMMYT, and active in Pakistan since 2015, fosters the emergence of a dynamic, responsive, and competitive system of science and innovation that is ‘owned’ by Pakistan and catalyzes equitable growth in agricultural production, productivity, and value.
“From its beginning, AIP has been dedicated to building partnerships with local organizations and, smallholder farmers throughout Pakistan, which is very much in line with the objectives and goal as envisioned by Pakistan Vision 2025 and the Vision for Agriculture 2030, as Pakistan is a priority country for CIMMYT. However, a concerted effort is required from various players representing public and private sectors,” said Thakur Prasad Tiwari, senior scientist at CIMMYT. “Using that existing framework to deliver rapid climate smart innovations, the innovation sprint is well-situated to react to the needs of Pakistani farmers. “
Policies and partnerships for innovations in soil fertility management in Nepal
The Nepal Seed and Fertilizer (NSAF) project, funded by USAID and implemented by CIMMYT, facilitates sustainable increases in Nepal’s national crop productivity, farmer income, and household-level food and nutrition security. NSAF promotes the use of improved seeds and integrated soil fertility management technologies along with effective extension, including the use of digital and information and communications technologies. The project facilitated the National Soil Science Research Centre (NSSRC) to develop new domain specific fertilizer recommendations for rice, maize, and wheat to replace the 40 years old blanket recommendations.
Under NSAFs leadership, the Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock Development (MOALD) launched Asia’s first digital soil map and has coordinated governmental efforts to collect and analyze soil data to update the soil map and provide soil health cards to Nepal’s farmers. The project provides training to over 2000 farmers per year to apply ISFM principles and provides evidence to the MOALD to initiate a balanced soil fertility management program in Nepal and to revise the national fertilizer subsidy policy to promote balanced fertilizers. The project will also build efficient soil fertility management systems that significantly increase crop productivity and the marketing and distribution of climate smart and alternative fertilizer products and application methods.
Public-private partnerships accelerate access to innovations in South Asia
The Cereal Systems Initiative for South Asia (CSISA), established in 2009, has reached more than 8 million farmers by conducting applied research and bridging public and private sector divides in the context of rural ‘innovation hubs’ in Bangladesh, India, and Nepal. CSISA’s work has enabled farmers to adopt resource-conserving and climate-resilient technologies and improve their access to market information and enterprise development.
“Farmers in South Asia have become familiar with the value addition that participating in applied research can bring to innovations in their production systems,” said Timothy Krupnik, CIMMYT systems agronomist and senior scientist. “Moreover, CSISA’s work to address gaps between national and extension policies and practices as they pertain to integrated soil fertility management in the context of intensive cropping systems in South Asia has helped to accelerate farmers’ access to productivity-enhancing innovations.”
CSISA also emphasizes support for women farmers by improving their access and exposure to improved technological innovations, knowledge, and entrepreneurial skills.
Sustainable agriculture in Zambia
The Sustainable Intensification of Smallholder Farming systems in Zambia (SIFAZ) is a research project jointly implemented by the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), Zambia’s Ministry of Agriculture and CIMMYT designed to facilitate scaling-up of sustainable and climate smart crop production and land management practices within the three agro-ecological zones of Zambia. “The Innovation Sprint can take advantage of existing SIFAZ partnerships, especially with Zambia’s Ministry of Agriculture,” said Christian Thierfelder, CIMMYT scientist. “Already having governmental buy-in will enable quick development and dissemination of new sustainable intensification practices to increase productivity and profitability, enhance human and social benefits while reducing negative impacts on the environment.”
Cover photo: Paul Musembi Katiku, a field worker based in Kiboko, Kenya, weighs maize cobs harvested from a low nitrogen trial. (Florence Sipalla/CIMMYT)
