Location: Tanzania

Of maize farmers, coming calves, waxing oxen, and comely camels

Written by on November 30, 2015. Posted in Features.

Valeria and her daughters and part of their bountiful maize harvest from ‘ngamia’ seed. B. Wawa/CIMMYT

About her last maize harvest in August 2015, Valeria Pantaleo, a 47-year-old wife and mother of four from Olkalili village, northern Tanzania, waxes lyrical: “I finally managed to buy a calf to replace my two oxen that died at the beginning of the year due to a strange disease.” Valeria relies on the oxen to plow her two-acre land.

Valeria beams as she looks at her newly acquired calf. From her joy, one would be forgiven for assuming that the village enjoyed a good season. More so since Valeria had a handsome harvest that gave her a surplus four 50-kilogram bags of maize which she sold to buy the calf.

But nothing could be further from the truth. Farmers from her village suffered from exceptionally low rains during the main planting season in January–February 2015. To make matters worse, the rains were very late and poorly distributed. And as Olkalili is semi-arid, scanty rains are the biggest challenge for farming. “The rains came in late February, fell for just one day and only came back towards end of March for a few days,” laments Valeria.

For this reason, many farmers did not anticipate any substantial harvest even from an improved new maize variety – HB513 – introduced to them by Anthony Mwega, a community leader. The variety is locally known as ngamia, Kiswahili for ‘camel’, a testimonial moniker coined by ngamia suppliers, Meru Agro Tours and Consultant Limited, to symbolize the variety’s proven resilience during drought, compared to other varieties.

A boon in drought

“We heard about this new seed from Mwega who also sells hybrid seeds. But since it was my first time to use it, and given that the rains were really low, I did not expect much,” explains Valeria. “This of course was a big worry for me and my family,” she adds.

However, despite the patchy rains, Valeria managed to harvest 10 bags of 50 kilograms each from the one acre on which she planted 10 kilograms of HB513 seed – half of her farm. “I got so much harvest and yet I planted this seed very late, and with no fertilizer,” exclaims Valeria. What is special about HB513 seed is that it is both drought-tolerant and nitrogen-use efficient (see Kenya equivalent). So, compared to other varieties, it not only yields more during moderate drought, but also utilizes what little nitrogen there is in the soil more efficiently. HB513 is one of the 16 hybrid varieties developed for Tanzania by the Drought Tolerant Maize for Africa Project. Besides giving farmers the benefit of nearly 49 percent more grain during moderate drought, this hybrid seed offers them an opportunity to make best use of what little fertilizer they can afford to apply.

More enriching than just meat, and reaching more

For Valeria, it means that her family has enough maize to last them until February 2016. And a ‘meaty’ more: at sowing and growing time, since Valeria did not anticipate such a good harvest given the devastation drought portends, she resolved to work extra-hard in her small grocery business to raise enough money for the calf. “Even then, it would have taken me at least nine months to raise enough money for the calf,” she recalls. “But thanks to my unexpected bonus maize harvest, I got the calf within five months! This was such a huge relief and a blessing to me. Now I will have the much-needed help to plow my land in the next planting season.”

Through partnership with the Improved Maize for Africa Project, in 2015 alone, Meru Agro produced and sold 427 tons of ngamia seed. The result? Approximately 65,000 smallholder farmers across major maize-growing areas in northern, southern highland, central and northwest regions of Tanzania including Valeria’s village have benefited from this variety. And the good news is that the plan is to reach even more farmers in the coming years with the ‘gospel’ of ngamia.

What is the bigger picture for Tanzanian maize farmers? Meru Agro has committed to increase production of ngamia seed in 2016. “We foresee a much higher demand for ngamia because farmers are now more aware of this seed. Our plan is to produce more than 1,000 tons,” says Chacha Watanga, Meru Agro Managing Director.

Meru Agro will not be working alone. CIMMYT, through its Drought Tolerant Maize for Africa Seed Scaling (DTMASS) Project, will continue to partner with Meru Agro and other small- and medium-scale seed companies to increase production of improved maize varieties such as ngamia to reach 2.5 million people in seven target countries across eastern and southern Africa (Ethiopia, Kenya, Malawi, Mozambique, Tanzania, Uganda and Zambia). “Within its three-year lifespan, DTMASS will support production of about 12,000 metric tons of certified seed to reach smallholders who need this seed to overcome the big challenge of drought,” adds Tsedeke Abate, DTMASS Project Leader. Watch this space!

Further reading:

Scorecard as a marathon maize project winds up after eight years
Improved Maize for African Soils
Drought Tolerant Maize for Africa
About Drought Tolerant Maize for Africa Seed Scaling

Boosting nutrition for Ethiopian children

Written by on August 24, 2015. Posted in News.

During 26-28 March 2012, CIMMYT scientists, partners, and collaborators met in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, for the Inception Planning Workshop of the NuME project. NuME (Nutritious Maize for Ethiopia) is a new five-year USD 13 million project that aims to significantly reduce malnutrition, especially among young children, and increase food security and household income of resource-poor smallholder farmers in Ethiopia through the widespread adoption, production, and utilization of quality protein maize (QPM). QPM contains more than twice as much lysine and tryptophan as conventional maize, giving its protein a nutritive value that is roughly 90% that of milk.

The project, led by CIMMYT and supported by the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA), is being implemented in collaboration with the Ethiopian Institute of Agricultural Research (EIAR), the Ministry of Agriculture (MoA), the Ministry of Health, the Ethiopian Health and Nutrition Research Institute (EHNRI), Sasakawa Africa Association (SAA), Sasakawa Global 2000 (SG2000), other NGOs, universities, and public and private seed companies. The purpose of the meeting was to present the approved project to partners; review, organize, and agree on the project’s management structure; review and agree on partner roles and responsibilities; and develop detailed work plans and budgets.

Project coordinator S. Twumasi-Afriyie gave an overview of the status of QPM in Ethiopia and pointed out that NuME was building on the achievements of the previous and largely successful CIDA-funded QPMD project that was implemented in Ethiopia, Kenya, Tanzania, and Uganda during 2003-2010.

Underscoring NuME’s importance, Twumasi said that diets in eastern and central Africa are largely based on maize, for it provides up to 80% of the calories consumed and is a primary weaning food for children. However, it is poor in two essential amino acids, lysine and tryptophan, putting infants who consume maize without protein supplements at risk for malnutrition and stunted growth and development. The problem is more acute in Ethiopia, where 47% of children are stunted, 38% are underweight, and 11% suffer from wasting.

Consequently, the project has targeted areas with high maize production and consumption, areas where farmers grow BH660 or other conventional maize varieties that now have QPM versions, and most importantly, areas with high malnutrition, according to Hugo De Groote, CIMMYT socio-economist.

Andreas Oswald, SAA director of crop productivity enhancement, outlined the strategies planned for demonstrating new QPM technologies, improved crop management practices, and post-harvest handling and processing to farmers, and for improving their knowledge and skills. Increasing the participation of women in NuME activities and identifying ways to ensure that they benefit substantively from QPM technologies are key goals of the project.

The project will also partner with Farm Radio International (FRI), which will work with Ethiopian radio stations to develop a gender sensitive campaign to help women and men farmers gain a better understanding of nutrition and protein, and to raise awareness of QPM and other strategies for improving the nutrition and health of families, especially children.

Zimbabwe and CIMMYT to establish maize lethal necrosis quarantine facility

Written by on August 12, 2015. Posted in News.

A modern quarantine facility to safely import maize breeding materials to southern Africa, and to enable local institutions to proactively breed for resistance against Maize Lethal Necrosis (MLN) disease, will be established this year at Mazowe, just outside Harare in Zimbabwe.

After the signing ceremony, BM Prasanna, MAIZE CRP Director, shakes hands with Ringson Chitsiko, the Permanent Secretary of Zimbabwe’s Ministry of Agriculture. Looking on, is Mulugetta Mekuria, CIMMYT-SARO Regional Representative. Photo: Johnson Siamachira

The announcement was made on 3 August 2015 at the signing ceremony of a Memorandum of Agreement (MoA) between CIMMYT and the Government of Zimbabwe. Ringson Chitsiko, the Permanent Secretary of Agriculture, Mechanization and Irrigation Development, signed on behalf of the Government of Zimbabwe while BM Prasanna, Director of MAIZE CRP and CIMMYT’s Global Maize Program, represented CIMMYT.

“MLN is a reality that cannot be ignored. We have to work together to control its spread. We need to focus on finding practical solutions to tackle this complex challenge, including strengthening MLN disease diagnostic and surveillance capacity, while we continue with intensive inter-institutional efforts to develop and deploy improved maize varieties that incorporate MLN resistance. The commercial seed sector must also play a key role by producing and delivering MLN-free healthy seed to farmers,” said Prasanna during the MoA signing ceremony.

The MLN Quarantine Facility, the first of its kind in southern Africa, will be set up by CIMMYT before the end of this year at the Plant Quarantine Institute in Mazowe, Mashonaland Central Province, one of Zimbabwe’s important research facilities run by the Department of Research and Specialist Services (DR&SS).

MLN was first detected in Kenya’s Rift Valley region in September 2011, and has since been reported in Tanzania, Uganda, Democratic Republic of Congo, Rwanda and Ethiopia. It is caused by a double infection of maize plants by two viruses: maize chlorotic mottle virus and sugarcane mosaic virus. There is an urgent need to prevent the deadly disease from moving further south.

Prior to signing of the MoA, Joseph Made, Zimbabwe’s Minister of Agriculture, discussed with Prasanna and CIMMYT-Southern Africa Regional Office (CIMMYT-SARO) senior staff how to strengthen maize research and development in Zimbabwe. “The Government of Zimbabwe is honored to be selected to host the new facility, which is important for stopping the spread and impact of MLN,” said Made.

To strengthen the phytosanitary work at the MLN Quarantine Facility, CIMMYT will also offer capacity building to DR&SS researchers through trainings, technical assistance, and advisory services, according to Prasanna. “This MLN Quarantine Facility, and the collaborative efforts between institutions of the Government of Zimbabwe, especially DR&SS and CIMMYT-SARO, are key in our efforts to prevent the possible spread of MLN in Africa,” said Prasanna.

Mulugetta Mekuria, CIMMYT-SARO Regional Representative said that the new collaboration to set up the MLN Quarantine facility in Zimbabwe would further enrich the long-standing and successful partnership between CIMMYT-SARO and DR&SS.
After the signing ceremony, officials from CIMMYT and DR&SS visited the site at the Plant Quarantine Institute at Mazowe where the MLN Quarantine Facility will be established, and discussed implementation arrangements, including steps for strengthening the national phytosanitary capacity.

Government of Zimbabwe and CIMMYT to establish maize lethal necrosis quarantine facility at Mazowe

Written by on August 11, 2015. Posted in News.

MLN was first detected in Kenya’s Rift Valley region in September 2011, and has since been reported in Tanzania, Uganda, Democratic Republic of Congo, Rwanda and Ethiopia. It is caused by a double infection of maize plants by two viruses: maize chlorotic mottle virus and sugarcane mosaic virus. There is an urgent need to prevent the deadly disease from moving further south.

After the signing ceremony, officials from CIMMYT and DR&SS visited the site at the Plant Quarantine Institute at Mazowe where the MLN Quarantine Facility will be established, and discussed implementation arrangements, including steps for strengthening the national phytosanitary capacity.

Maize that packs a punch in face of adversity: unveiling new branded varieties for Africa

Written by on July 14, 2015. Posted in Features.

Even in the best years, significant swathes of sub-Saharan Africa suffer from recurrent drought. Drought wreaks havoc on the livelihoods of millions of Africans – livelihoods heavily leaning on rain-dependent agriculture without irrigation, and with maize as a key staple. And that is not all: drought makes a bad situation worse. It compounds crop failure because its dry conditions amplify the susceptibility of maize in farmers’ fields to disease-causing pests, whose populations soar during drought.

Providing maize farmers with context-specific solutions to combat low yields and chronic crop failure is a key priority for CIMMYT and its partners, such as those in the Water Efficient Maize for Africa (WEMA) Project.

“Our main focus is to give famers durable solutions,” remarks Dr. Stephen Mugo, CIMMYT Regional Representative for Africa and a maize breeder, who also coordinates CIMMYT’s work in WEMA. “These seeds are bred with important traits that meet the needs of the farmers, with ability to give higher yields within specific environments.”

Farmers in Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania and South Africa will soon access WEMA’s high-yielding drought-tolerant maize hybrids. In total, 13 hybrids were approved for commercial production by relevant authorities in these countries. These approvals were spread between October 2014 and March 2015 in the various countries.

Kenya’s National Variety Release Committee (NVRC) approved four hybrids in February 2015 (WE2109, WE2111, WE2110 and WE2106), while neighboring Uganda’s NVRC also approved four hybrids at the end of 2014 (WE2101, WE2103, WE2104 and WE2106). Across Uganda’s southern border, in March 2015, the Tanzania Official Seed Certification Institute approved for commercial release WE3117, WE3102 and WE3117. Still further south, South Africa’s Department for Agriculture registered two hybrids (WE3127 and WE3128) in October 2014.

In each country, all the hybrids successfully underwent the mandatory National Performance Trials (NPTs) and the Distinctness, Uniformity and Stability (DUS) tests to ascertain their qualities and suitability for use by farmers.

Varieties that pack a punch
In Kenya, these new WEMA varieties boast significantly better yields when compared to varieties currently on the market as well as to farmer varieties in drought-prone areas of upper and lower eastern, coastal, central and western Kenya.

And that is not all: across them, the new hybrids also have resistance to rampant leaf diseases like maize streak virus, turcicum leaf spot and gray leaf spot.

Dr. Murenga Mwimali of the Kenya Agricultural and Livestock Research Organization, who is also WEMA’s Country Coordinator in Kenya, explains: “These hybrids are expected to give farmers an average yield of three tonnes per hectare in moderate drought and eight tonnes in good seasons. These are better seeds that will help Kenyans fight hunger through increased productivity.” According to the UN Food and Agricultural Organization, Kenya’s national average productivity in 2013 was a meager 1.6 tonnes per hectare. This compares poorly with South Africa’s 6 tonnes, Egypt’s 9 tonnes and USA’s 9–12 tonnes, as generally reported in other statistics.

Where to find them
The seed of these new varieties should be available in the market once selected seed companies in Uganda and Tanzania produce certified seeds by end of August 2015.

Dr. Allois Kullaya, WEMA Country Coordinator in Tanzania, applauded this achievement and the partnership that has made it possible. “Through the WEMA partnership, we have been able to access improved seed and breeding techniques. The hybrids so far released were bred by our partner CIMMYT and evaluated across different locations. Without this collaboration, it would not have been possible to see these achievements.” said Dr. Kullaya.

In South Africa, close to 10,000 half-kilo seed packs of WE3127 were distributed to smallholder farmers to create awareness and product demand through demonstrations to farmers and seed companies.

This seed-pack distribution was through local extension services in the provinces of Eastern Cape, Free State, KwaZulu–Natal, Limpopo, Mpumalanga and North-West.

Three seed companies also received the hybrid seed to plant and increase certified seed for the market.

Where it all begins – the CIMMYT ‘cradle’, crucible and seal for quality assurance
“In the WEMA partnership, CIMMYT’s role as the breeding partner has been to develop, test and identify the best hybrids for yield, drought tolerance, disease resistance and adaptability to local conditions,” says Dr. Yoseph Beyene, a maize breeder at CIMMYT and WEMA Product Development Co-leader.

To do this, more than 10, 000 new hybrids combinations are evaluated each year to identify new hybrids that will perform most consistently in various conditions. Hybrids that look promising are subjected to a rigorous WEMA-wide area testing. Only those that pass the test get the CIMMYT nod and ‘seal of approval’. But the tests do not end there: for independent and objevhe verfication, the final test is that these select few advance to – and are submitted for – country NPTs.

Dr. Beyene explains: “Because of these rigorous testing, hybrids that are adapted in two or three countries have been identified and released for commercial production to be done by regional and multinational seed companies which market hybrids in different countries. This eases the logistics for seed production, distribution and marketing.”

How to recognize the new varieties – distinctive shield against drought
All the hybrids released under the WEMA project will be sold to farmers under the trade-name DroughtTEGO™. ‘Tego’ is Latin for cover, protect or defend. The African Agricultural Technology Foundation (AATF), which coordinates the WEMA Project, has sub-licensed 22 seed companies from the four countries to produce DroughtTEGO™ seeds for farmers to buy.

WEMA’s achievements are premised on a powerful partnership of scientists from CIMMYT, national agricultural research institutes from the five WEMA target countries (Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, Mozambique and South Africa), AATF and Monsanto.

WEMA is funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the United States Agency for International Development and the Howard G. Buffet Foundation.

Links: More on WEMA | WEMA 2015 annual meeting in Mozambique | Insect Resistant Maize in Africa Project (completed in 2014)

“In Mozambique, you cannot talk about food security without talking about maize”

Written by on May 13, 2015. Posted in Features.

IIAM's site for confined field trials at Chokwe. — IIAM’s site for confined field trials at Chokwe.

Good news from Africa! Policy breakthroughs on transgenic research in Mozambique and Tanzania have led to approval of confined field trials (CFTs) and a more research-friendly regulatory framework, respectively.

Mozambique’s CFTs will be at the Instituto de Investigação Agrária de Moçambique (IIAM; Agricultural Research Institute of Mozambique) research station at Chokwe, some 200 kilometers north of the country’s capital, Maputo.

Next door in Tanzania, an erstwhile stringent policy that was prohibitive in terms of the onerous liability it placed on researchers has been favorably revised. What all this means is that the two countries – which have been somewhat lagging behind on account of policy constraints – can now more substantively engage in the Water Efficient Maize for Africa (WEMA) project to a fuller extent, and be more in step with other WEMA partners.

These momentous breakthroughs were revealed at the 7th WEMA Project Review and Planning Meeting in Maputo, Mozambique, which took place February 8–12, 2015. In his opening remarks, Dr. Inacio Mapossé (pictured left), IIAM’s Director General, said that Mozambique’s Ministry of Agriculture had been renamed to the Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security. This, he emphasized, was not just an exercise in words, but also underscored the importance of projects such as WEMA. In his words, “In Mozambique, you cannot talk about food security without talking about maize.” True. Statistics show that nearly all (95 percent) of Mozambique’s smallholders grow maize (report forthcoming), and that maize covers nearly half (40 percent) of the land devoted to annual crops. Hence, the ministry could well have been renamed to ‘The Ministry of Maize’ and the cap would have fitted!

But back to policy and regulatory frameworks, despite the recent breakthroughs, more remains to be done. In Kenya, the 2012 ban on importation of genetically modified organisms is still in force. And while there has been remarkable progress in Tanzania and the policy is less stringent on transgenic research, there is still more ground to be covered. Uganda is yet to pass the Biosafety Bill.

The CIMMYT team at the WEMA meeting. Back row, left to right: Yoseph Beyene, Kassa Semagn, Lewis Machida, Jarett Abramson, Mosisa Regasa, Tadele Tefera, Bruce Anani and Amsal Tarekegne. Front row, left to right: Vongai Kandiwa, B.M. Prasanna, Stephen Mugo and James Gethi.

The menace posed the maize lethal necrosis (MLN) disease was high and hot on the agenda, given its threat to Africa’s food security. MLN diagnostics and management call for concerted action by all players in the maize value chain, with regulatory frameworks playing a key role. CIMMYT has an open call for MLN screening for the cropping season starting at the end of this month.

CIMMYT participants at the WEMA annual meeting included, among others, Dr. B.M. Prasanna, CIMMYT’s Director of the Global Maize Program and a member of WEMA Executive and Advisory Board, and Dr. Stephen Mugo, Coordinator of CIMMYT activities in WEMA.

Led by the African Agricultural Technology Foundation, the WEMA project is now in its second phase, which will end in 2017. Aside from WEMA, CIMMYT has had a long and fruitful engagement with Mozambique, as this brief dating back to 2008 attests.

MLN diagnostics and management in Africa through multi-institutional synergies

Written by on May 9, 2015. Posted in News.

Maize Lethal Necrosis (MLN) disease has continued to wreak havoc on maize production in East Africa since it was first reported in Kenya in 2011, and since then reported in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ethiopia, Rwanda, Tanzania, South Sudan and Uganda. The disease, caused by a combination of the Maize Chlorotic Mottle Virus (MCMV) and Sugarcane Mosaic Virus (SCMV), causes irreversible damage that kills maize plants before they can grow and yield grain. MLN pathogens can be transmitted not only by insect vectors but also through contaminated seed. The epidemic is exacerbated by lack of MLN-resistant maize varieties and year round cultivation of maize in many areas in eastern Africa, enabling the build-up of virus inoculum and allowing transmission via insect vectors. For this reason, CIMMYT scientists Monica Mezzalama, Biswanath Das, and B.M. Prasanna have developed a brochure “MLN Pathogen Diagnosis, MLN-free Seed Production and Safe Exchange to Non-Endemic Countries” for providing important information on these key areas to stakeholders, especially seed companies and regulatory agencies operating in both MLN-affected as well as MLN non-endemic countries.

“MLN is an increasing regional threat to food security in sub-Saharan Africa, and must be tackled with concerted effort from all actors in order to safeguard the maize seed sector and protect the livelihoods of smallholder farmers,” said Prasanna. The brochure proposes several key steps to curb the spread of MLN, through MLN diagnostics, production of MLN-free seed, and safe exchange to MLN-endemic countries. The brochure also advises on appropriate agronomic practices that can prevent disease incidence in seed production fields.

An International Conference on “MLN Diagnostics and Management in Africa” will be organized jointly by AGRA (Alliance for Green Revolution in Africa) and CIMMYT during 12-14 May in Nairobi, Kenya, in order to review the present status of MLN incidence and impacts in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA), controlling seed transmission of MLN, managing seed production in MLN-endemic countries, creating awareness about MLN diagnostic protocols, and identifying ways to strengthen MLN diagnostics capacity in SSA, among other topics.

Maize lethal necrosis: a serious threat to food security in eastern Africa and beyond

Written by on May 7, 2015. Posted in Features.

MLN_WS_participants_w — Participants are shown how to inspect maize fields for MLN symptoms and how to collect samples for laboratory analysis.

Maize lethal necrosis (MLN) has rapidly emerged as one of the deadliest maize diseases in eastern Africa capable of causing complete yield loss under heavy disease pressure. This means that Kenya and neighboring countries which largely depend on maize as their main staple food and source of income are on the verge of a looming food and economic crisis.

The disease is difficult to control for two reasons: firstly, it is caused by a combination of viruses; secondly, it can be spread through seed and by insect vectors that may be carried by wind over long distances. Affected crops suffer various symptoms such as severe stunting, tassel abnormality, small ears with poor seed set, chlorotic leaf mottling, leaf necrosis and premature plant death.

Much more than CIMMYT and East Africa

Sixty phytosanitary regulators and seed industry scientists from 11 countries in eastern and southern Africa attended an MLN diagnostics and screening workshop from March 17–19, 2015, in Naivasha, Kenya. The objective of the workshop was to train scientists on the latest MLN diagnostics and screening methods and to share knowledge on how to control the spread of MLN. Besides DR Congo, Ethiopia, Kenya, Rwanda and Tanzania where the disease has been reported, other participants were from South Sudan and southern Africa (Malawi, Mozambique, South Africa, Zambia and Zimbabwe) that have no confirmed cases of MLN, but where maize is an important crop.

CIMMYT organized the workshop in response to the high demand for development of appropriate diagnostics methods and harmonization of regional protocols. Hence, facilitation by agencies like the Food and Agricultural Organization provided a much-needed regional overview of the MLN threat, in addition to perspectives from the International Centre of Insect Physiology Ecology and the Kenya Plant Health Inspectorate Services (KEPHIS) on MLN insect vectors and diagnostics methods respectively.

The workshop was conducted at the MLN screening facility in Naivasha, the largest of its kind established in response to the MLN outbreak in eastern Africa in 2013. It supports countries in the sub-Saharan region to screen seeds under artificial inoculation. The facility is managed jointly by the Kenya Agricultural and Livestock Research Organization (KALRO) and CIMMYT, and was established with support from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and the Sygenta Foundation for Sustainable Agriculture. Biswanath Das, a maize breeder at CIMMYT, noted that “the site has evaluated more than 20,000 accessions since its inception in 2013 from over 15 multinational and national seed companies and national research programs.” This, he added, “has become a primary resource in the fight against MLN regionally.”

Collective pre-emptive actions for prevention: seeds of hope
Participants received hands-on training to identify symptoms of MLN-causing viruses and how to score disease severity by screening germplasm at the site. For some participants, this was a first. “This is my first time to see an MLN-infected plant. Now I understand the impact of MLN on maize production and the need to set up a seed regulatory facility. South Sudan has no laboratory to test planting materials. My first step will be to talk to my counterparts in the ministry to set up one,” said Taban James, a regulator from the Ministry of Agriculture in South Sudan.

CIMMYT staff demonstrate DAS–ELISA method used for detecting MLN-causing viruses.

The tragic reality is that almost all commercial maize varieties in East Africa are highly susceptible to MLN, based on evaluations done at the screening facility. Therefore, stronger diagnostic and sampling capacity at common border-points was agreed to be a key step towards controlling inadvertent introduction of MLN through contaminated seeds. This was particularly important for participants from southern Africa countries who noted an urgent need for surveillance at seed import ports and border areas to contain the spread.

Currently, Kenya, Uganda and Zimbabwe are the only countries that require imported seed to be certified as free of MLN-causing viruses. KEPHIS and CIMMYT have worked closely to restrict movement of germplasm from Kenya to countries in East Africa with reported MLN cases. Seed production fields are inspected thrice by KEPHIS, in addition to analysis of final seed lots. Plans are underway for CIMMYT in collaboration with the ministries of agriculture in Mexico and Zimbabwe to establish quarantine sites to ease germplasm movement in and out of these countries. Speaking on KEPHIS’ role, Francis Mwatuni, the officer-in-charge of Plant Quarantine and Biosecurity Station said, “We ensure all seed fields are inspected and samples tested for MLN resistance including local and imported seed lots from seed companies, to ensure that farmers get MLN-free seeds.”

The latest trends and options for diagnostics on MLN-causing viruses were covered as well, giving participants hands-on training using ELISA diagnostics systems. They were also briefed on polymerase chain reaction based diagnostics and the latest lateral flow diagnostic kits that are under development that will enable researchers to obtain diagnostic results in the field in minutes.

What next for MLN?
The rapid multiplication of the disease coupled with uncertainties over its spread is the biggest hurdle that scientists and other stakeholders are grappling with. KALRO Chief Researcher, Anne Wangai, who played a key role in discovering the disease in Kenya in 2011 observes that “The uncertainties over the transmission of MLN is a worrying phenomenon that requires stakeholders to urgently find a control point to manage and ensure seeds being given to farmers are MLN-free.”

Breeding remains a key component in the search for long-term solution for MLN, and several milestones have been covered to develop MLN-resistant varieties in East Africa. “CIMMYT has developed five hybrids with good MLN tolerance under artificial inoculation, which have either been released or recommended for release in Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania. Thirteen hybrids are currently under national performance trials in the three countries,” noted Mosisa Regasa, a maize seed system specialist at CIMMYT. He further added that it is critical for the MLN-tolerant hybrids to also have other traits important to farmers, so farmers accept these new hybrids.

Open information sharing forums like the diagnostics workshop are an important step to raise awareness and seek solutions to manage the disease. Sharing best practice and lessons learnt in managing the disease are major steps towards curbing MLN. In pursuit of this end, a major international conference on MLN opens next week.

Links: Slides from the workshop | Workshop announcement |Open call for MLN screening – May 2015

USAID Approves USD 17.8 Million Grant for a New Project to Support Seed Scaling in Eastern and Southern Africa

Written by on April 10, 2015. Posted in News. 1 Comment on USAID Approves USD 17.8 Million Grant for a New Project to Support Seed Scaling in Eastern and Southern Africa

CIMMYT has received a grant of USD 17.8 million from the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) to implement a new project dubbed Drought Tolerant Maize for Africa Seed Scaling (DTMASS). The three-year project officially started on 15 March 2015.

The project aims to produce and deploy affordable and improved drought-tolerant, stress-resilient and high-yielding maize varieties for 1.8 million smallholder farmers in Ethiopia, Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, Mozambique and Zambia by the end of the project. Similarly, DTMASS plans to produce approximately 7,900 metric tons of maize varieties with a strategic goal of improving food security and income for the farmers.

“This is a great achievement for the project team, which worked tirelessly to develop the project proposal that has just been approved for implementation”, remarked Tsedeke Abate, DTMASS project leader. He added that the project will go a long way in supporting farmers to increase their returns from maize farming, while at the same time giving them good-quality maize for consumption. “This is a good day for maize in Africa,” said Tsedeke.

DTMASS will be implemented in close collaboration with USAID’s Feed the Future program, building on experience, successes and lessons from the Drought Tolerant Maize for Africa and other complementary CIMMYT maize projects in Africa like Improved Maize for African Soils and Water Efficient Maize for Africa, to strengthen production and delivery of maize seeds to farmers in the seven target countries.

CIMMYT will also work with the respective countries’ extension wings of the ministries of agriculture, public and private seed companies, national agricultural research organizations, community-based organizations and non-governmental organizations. More on DTMASS

Conservation agriculture viable, say Ethiopian farmers, as curtain comes down on CASFESA pilot project

Written by on March 4, 2015. Posted in Features.

“Only those of us bold enough to try conservation agriculture technologies like zero tillage and intercropping benefited a lot, while all others were left behind.” – Hunegnaw Wubie, farmer, South Achefer District, Amhara Region, North Ethiopia

As the curtain comes down on CIMMYT’s Conservation Agriculture and Smallholder Farmers in East and Southern Africa (CASFESA) pilot project, participating farmers in project demonstration sites have said that conservation agriculture (CA) practices have proven to be a viable means of improving their productivity and livelihoods, and need to be scaled up across the nation.

A farmer speaks: ‘farmer-researcher’, clergyman Enkuhanhone Alayu, said people laughed at him for expecting to cultivate crops without plowing. Now they call him even at night seeking advice.

The farmers made these remarks at a one-day workshop on February 23, 2015, convened to take stock of the CASFESA experience after three years of implementation in South Achefer and Jebitehnan Districts of Amhara Region, Northern Ethiopia. The project began in June 2012 and will end in March 2015. Funded by the European Union through the International Fund for Agricultural Development, CASFESA aimed at increasing food security and incomes of poor smallholder farmers through sustainable intensification of mixed, cereal-based systems.

The project will leave a rich legacy, including:

adaptation and demonstration of CA-based technologies on selected farmer plots;
enhancing pro-poor and gender-sensitive targeting of CA-based interventions;
improving the delivery of information, including on technologies and market opportunities to smallholders, as well as developing policy options and recommendations that favor these technologies; and,
enhancing the capacity of research, and development interventions, for project stakeholders.

Attending the project closing workshop at the Amhara Region Agricultural Research Institute, Bahir Dar, in northwestern Ethiopia, were Regional Bureau of Agriculture officials; Directors of the Ministry of Agriculture Extension Process and the Ethiopian Agricultural Transformation Agency’s Climate and Environmental Sustainability Program; agronomists; representatives of relevant governmental and non-governmental and research organizations; and, above all, farmers. Keynote presentations included The Economic and Environmental Benefits of Sustainable Intensification Practices by Dr. Menale Kassie, while Dr. Mulugetta Mekuria and Mr. Yeshitla Merene presented the experience and research results from the Sustainable Intensification of Maize–Legume Cropping Systems for Food Security in Eastern and Southern Africa (SIMLESA).

Reaping where you do not harrow
Farmers spoke passionately on how CA technologies proved profitable for them and their families “in beating the odds”. Most reported harvests of six or more tonnes per hectare of maize from the CA plots – relatively better harvests than with conventional plowing methods, plus the added benefits of reduced use of oxen and labor, and attendant advantages. They also called upon officials responsible to undertake corresponding measures to ensure that CA technologies are sustainably implemented and adopted on a wider scale.

One of these ‘farmer-researchers’, clergyman Enkuhanhone Alayu, narrated how people at first ridiculed him when, three years ago, he volunteered to demonstrate CA practices on his meagre plot of land. They laughed at him “for expecting to cultivate crops without plowing” – a reference to minimum tillage practices that the project advocates as a central element of conservation agriculture.

“But when they later saw that we were cultivating more quantity of maize per unit of land, they were surprised and people who had called me a fool began calling me even at night seeking advice on how they can replicate CA practices on their plots and gain the benefits,” Alayu said. “Zero tillage practices, which require considerably less labor, are even more relevant at this time when oxen are increasingly becoming very expensive and most farmers are not able to afford them.”

Unto the next generation…
Another farmer, Ato Hunegnaw Wubie, said he was so pleased with CA technologies that he also taught his children how to do it on a portion of his land allotted to each of them. “One of my six children was so successful that this year he was able to reap 66 kilos of maize from a 10 by 10 meter plot. He sold his harvest at the market, and, with some additional money from me, bought a bicycle that he uses for transport to and from school. Only those steadfast enough and willing to learn new things will reap the benefits from such novel practices,” he added with pride.

And the farmers were not alone. Speaking at the workshop, the Deputy Head of Amhara Region Bureau of Agriculture, Dr. Demeke Atilaw, noted that maize production in the region stands at a meagre 3.2 tonnes per hectare, and that one reason for this is that “our agricultural practices didn’t include conservation agriculture. This needs to change both at the regional and national levels.” He further pledged that the bureau will work towards sustainably implementing these technologies with a view to increasing maize yields to eight tonnes per hectare.

Roadmap to national goals: “… projects alone cannot bring about significant change…”
In addition to CASFESA, CA technologies are being implemented in the region by SIMLESA, a CIMMYT project in Ethiopia, as well as in Kenya, Malawi, Mozambique and Tanzania. Presenting the experience of SIMLESA thus far, project leader, Dr. Mekuria told the participants that “the experience of both these CIMMYT projects, promising as they are, cannot alone bring about significant change unless they are scaled out using more new varieties of maize and sustained through meaningful institutional involvement – especially that of agencies at all levels of government.”

CIMMYT Agricultural Economist and CASFESA project coordinator, Dr. Moti Jaleta, also said that the experience of CASFESA has demonstrated that CA technologies are economically viable and thus worth pursuing on a wider scale and in a sustainable way. He particularly commended those farmers who volunteered to provide portions of their land as demonstration plots for CA technologies. “Their efforts and dedication have now paid off,” he noted, adding that project end does not mean that CASFESA will leave precipitously: there are still monitoring and evaluation and other wind-up tasks before project exit.

Participants of the CASFESA closure workshop in Ethiopia.

The Deputy Director General of the Amhara Regional Agricultural Research Institute, Dr. Tilaye Teklewold, summed up the mood of the day when he said that CASFESA’s experience in Amhara Region has shown that conservation agriculture is an ideal way of increasing the productivity of maize in the region, and that “concerted efforts are needed to raise the awareness and dedication of all actors involved in the region to implement these technologies and ensure lasting food security in the region and beyond.”

Links

Presentations at the workshop
- CASFESA Project: Results, Lessons, Gaps, Opportunities and Challenges in English | Amharic
- Economic and Environmental Benefits of Sustainable Intensification Practices
- Progress and Achievements of SIMLESA project in Amhara Region
- SIMLESA: Enhancing Integration, Innovation and Impacts in Eastern and Southern Africa – Initial Findings and Lessons
More on conservation agriculture at CIMMYT

DTMA launches new project to improve seed scaling in Eastern Africa

Written by on February 23, 2015. Posted in News.

Born out of the Drought Tolerant Maize for Africa (DTMA) Initiative and other CIMMYT-Africa maize projects, the Drought Tolerant Maize for Africa Seed Scaling (DTMASS) project will improve the demand for and availability of high-quality, affordable, certified seed of drought-tolerant maize varieties for small-scale farmers across eastern and southern Africa.

“DTMASS aims to produce close to 12,000 tons of certified seed of drought-tolerant maize varieties by the end of its fifth year,” said Tsedeke Abate, DTMA project leader who will also lead DTMASS, speaking at the Uganda launch of the project in Kampala on 4 February. “This will benefit approximately 2.5 million people through the increased production and productivity of maize and the adoption of improved certified seed.”

According to Abate, DTMASS will strengthen the formal seed system, thereby reducing counterfeit seed use, lowering the risk of seed-borne maize diseases and helping to maintain productivity as climates change.

Working in Ethiopia, Kenya, Malawi, Mozambique, Tanzania, Uganda and Zambia, DTMASS will encourage cross-country learning and collaboration, Abate explained: “We have the knowledge and technology – what remains is translating knowledge to action.”

DTMASS countries account for 41 percent of maize area and production, and over 252 million people in sub-Saharan Africa.

A pillar of the project will be its strong partnerships with private and public seed companies, community-based organizations, non-governmental organizations and national extension systems. Fifty-three seed companies have already agreed to produce seed of 71 drought-tolerant varieties.

These partnerships enable increased and improved certified seed to reach small-scale farmers, increase farm production and enhance productivity, according to Dr. Imelda Kashaija, deputy director at Uganda’s National Agricultural Research Organization (NARO). “This project is at the right place at the right time,” she said.

DTMASS launched officially on 17-18 November 2014 in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. The goal for Uganda in 2015 is to produce 1,800 tons of improved maize seed.

Gates Foundation predicts agricultural extension will have a big impact on Africa

Written by on February 9, 2015. Posted in Features.

In their seventh annual letter Bill & Melinda Gates look 15 years into the future to predict the steps needed to improve the lives of poor people faster than in any other time in history. Technology advancements in agriculture, education and global health are key to this vision, with particular reference to the importance of new vaccines, mobile phone technology and online education. “Poverty has been halved because of innovation,” Bill Gates emphasized at the Davos World Economic Forum last week. “Economic miracles start with agriculture, education and then [countries] can participate in the world economy.”

The Gates Foundation has placed their agricultural bets on Africa being able to feed itself in 15 years. This will be achieved through training in crop rotation, no-till farming, fertilizer use and planting techniques. “Investing in extension…is the only way to reap the full benefit of innovation,” Bill and Melinda Gates emphasized. It is predicted this will lead to a 50 percent yield increase across Africa, reducing famines through more nutritious crops and a reduced dependence on imports. Mobile phones will also be a game-changer, giving farmers access to information on improved seed and fertilizer, proper techniques, daily weather reports and market prices.

The notion that scientists should work closely with farmers is central to CIMMYT’s approach. There is a great deal of information out there today and farmers have choices to make. Selecting the right seed varieties and technologies alone is not enough. It is also crucial to combine this knowledge with an understanding of how to develop an integrative agronomic system that connects farmers to a working value chain. In this respect agricultural extension can help farmers achieve their agricultural goals.

Nonetheless, agricultural extension alone will not be sufficient to help African farmers increase agricultural productivity. Extension must go hand in hand with developing new varieties – why use an Altair Basic if you can get a Surface Pro 3? Tanzanian farmer Joyce Sandiya’s success with new drought tolerant maize seed is featured in the annual letter. “That seed made the difference between hunger and prosperity,” she said, eloquently reflecting on the importance of a single seed.

CIMMYT projects in Africa that are funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation show how to develop and deploy new seed varieties. In eastern and southern Africa, up to 2 million farming households have benefited from improved drought tolerant maize seed emerging from joint work by CIMMYT scientists and seed companies, government exten-sion programs and national research organizations.

Research alone is academic, unless it is informed by awareness of problems on-farm and supported by extension. Agricultural research is essential to develop new seed varieties, technologies and innovations, while extension is crucial to ensure that farmers can use these technologies.

Improved maize to boost yields in nitrogen-starved African soils

Written by Mike Listman on December 11, 2014. Posted in Features.

Sub-Saharan African farmers typically apply less than 20 kilograms of fertilizer per hectare of cropland — far less than their peers in any other region of the world. In 2014, partners in the Improved Maize for African Soils (IMAS) project developed 41 Africa-adapted maize varieties that respond better to low amounts of nitrogen fertilizer and are up for release in nine African countries through 24 seed companies.

A farmer applies nitrogen fertilizer to her hybrid maize. Photo: CIMMYT/IMAS

After water, nitrogen is the single most important input for maize production; lack of it is the main constraint to cereal yields in Africa, in areas with enough rain to raise a crop. Year after year, infertile soils and high fertilizer prices (in rural areas as much as six times the global average) combine to reduce harvests of maize, sub-Saharan Africa’s number-one cereal crop and chief source of calories and protein for the poor. With funding from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) and led by the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT), an initiative launched in 2010 has made dramatic progress to address this by exploiting natural genetic variation for nutrient-use efficiency in tropical maize. “Partners have been breeding maize varieties that respond better to the small amounts of nitrogen fertilizer African farmers can afford to apply,” said Biswanath Das, CIMMYT maize breeder and coordinator of the Improved Maize for African Soils (IMAS) project. “We’re aiming to raise maize yields by 50 percent and benefit up to 60 million maize farmers in eastern and southern Africa.”

Smallholder Farmer Conditions: A Maize “Reality Check”

A public-private partnership that, along with CIMMYT, involves national research organizations such as the Kenya Agricultural & Livestock Research Organization (KALRO) and South Africa’s Agricultural Research Council (ARC), African seed companies and DuPont Pioneer, IMAS has advanced quickly in part because participants share breeding lines and technical knowhow, according to Das.

“But a real key to success – and a significant legacy of the project – is that IMAS has established in eastern and southern Africa the world’s largest low-nitrogen screening network for maize,” Das explained. “There are 25 sites in 10 countries and a total of over 120,000 experimental plots. Partners can test breeding lines and quickly and reliably spot the ones with superior nitrogen-use efficiency under smallholder farmers’ conditions.” According to Das, nearly a quarter of the plots are managed by seed companies, which recognize the value of nitrogen-use efficiency as a key trait for their farmer clients.

In an exciting 2014 development, regulatory agencies in eastern Africa began evaluating maize national performance trials — which varieties must pass as a prerequisite for release — under nitrogen stress in the IMAS network. “This is a clear recognition by policymakers of poor soil fertility as a critical constraint for African maize farmers,” said Das. “To meet farmers’ needs, IMAS varieties are also bred for drought tolerance and resistance to the region’s major maize diseases.”

Also Yielding Under Well Fertilized Conditions

Partners are augmenting conventional breeding with DNA-marker-assisted selection and use of “doubled haploids,” a high-tech shortcut to genetically-uniform maize inbred lines. Experimental breeding stocks thus developed are field tested under low-nitrogen stress through “high-precision phenotyping,” involving careful measurement of key traits in live plants.

Low nitrogen trials in Kiboko, Kenya, where new maize varieties are tested. Photo: CIMMYT/IMAS.

“In this way, we’ve quickly developed maize varieties that yield up to 50 percent more than existing varieties under low-fertility stress, characteristic of smallholder farming systems,” Das explained. “Crucially for farmers, these varieties also perform well under well- fertilized conditions, whilst several carry resistance to maize lethal necrosis, a devastating viral disease spreading through eastern Africa.” In 2014, 41 such varieties were nominated for release in nine countries in Africa, in partnership with 24 seed companies.

This year IMAS also worked with seed companies to support the production and dissemination of 3,000 tons of seed of nitrogen-use efficient maize hybrids in Kenya, Mozambique, Tanzania and Zimbabwe, potentially benefitting more than 120,000 smallholder maize farmers and helping to enhance food security for over half a million household members, according to Das. “Close collaboration with the private seed sector has been instrumental to IMAS since its inception,” Das said. “These partners host over a quarter of the regional nitrogen stress screening network and have helped with the quick increase of seed of nitrogen-use efficient varieties and with managing farmer demonstrations and field days to support the fast release of new varieties.”

A December 2014 report by the Montpellier Panel – comprising agricultural, trade and ecology experts from Europe and Africa – details the economic and ecological threats of degrading soils in Africa, and is highlighted in an 04 December BBC feature.

CIMMYT prepares to launch second phase of SIMLESA in Kenya and Tanzania

Written by on October 30, 2014. Posted in News.

Dr. Fidelis Myaka, director of research and development with the Tanzanian Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Cooperatives, officially opens the meeting in Arusha, Tanzania.

Representatives from the Australian Center for International Agricultural Research (ACIAR), Queensland Alliance for Agricultural and Food Innovation (QAAFI), the International Center for Tropical Agriculture (CIAT), the national agricultural research systems (NARS) of Kenya and Tanzania, and CIMMYT scientists from Ethiopia, Kenya and Zimbabwe met between 14-17 October in Arusha, Tanzania, to finalize activities to meet the objectives of the second phase of CIMMYT’s Sustainable Intensification of Maize-Legume Cropping Systems for Food Security in Eastern and Southern Africa (SIMLESA) project.

The joint meeting for the Kenya and Tanzania country teams was the third and last launch and planning meeting. It was also a follow-up of two previous operational meetings held in Lilongwe, Malawi, and Hawassa, Ethiopia.

Partnering with seed companies to disseminate fertilizer-friendly maize seed in East Africa

Written by on September 29, 2014. Posted in Features.

Watanga Chacha, CEO Meru Agro displays a bag of HB513, a fertilizer-friendly maize hybrid. Picture: Biswanath Das/CIMMYT — Watanga Chacha, CEO Meru Agro displays a bag of HB513, a fertilizer-friendly maize hybrid.
Picture: Biswanath Das/CIMMYT

Seed companies are key partners in delivering improved seed to smallholder farmers in Africa, the key beneficiaries of agricultural research. Meru Agro in Tanzania is one such partner, producing ‘fertilizer-friendly’ maize varieties with support from the Improved Maize for African Soils (IMAS) project. “We call the varieties ‘fertilizer-friendly’ because they use the small amounts of fertilizer that smallholder farmers in Africa apply more efficiently,” said Dr. Biswanath Das, CIMMYT maize breeder. Since 2013, Meru Agro has been multiplying HB513, a fertilizer-friendly and drought-tolerant hybrid. The company has produced over 1,200 metric tons of HB513 seed, which can potentially reach 50,000 smallholder farmers in the mid-elevation regions of Tanzania in the upcoming cropping season.

Promotion

The small-to-medium enterprise uses innovative methods to promote its maize varieties. The company runs extensive demonstration plots at key locations and gives away ‘promo packs’ to farmers during field days. “These are 100 gram packs that we give away through the agrodealers. The packs allow farmers to test the varieties for themselves and compare them with what they are growing,” said Watanga Chacha, the company’s chief executive officer. The company also participates in the annual NaneNane agricultural shows held in Arusha, Mbeya and Mwanza in August where they showcase their varieties. “When they plant for NaneNane, they do it at intervals to ensure that farmers can see how the hybrid performs at different growth stages,” said Dr. Mosisa Worku Regasa, CIMMYT seed systems specialist.

Meru Agro has embraced radio as a marketing tool. “We use radio advertisements to reach farmers in our target areas,” said Chacha. “We have the advertisements recorded in the local accents which help the audience identify with them.” The company also invests in extension, training farmers in good agricultural practices augmented with training for agro-dealers. “This has contributed to the expansion of our distribution network as farmers get to know the merits of the maize varieties we are selling,” adds Chacha. “The training gives farmers confidence that they are buying a good variety by knowing the merits of the varieties in advance.”

Rapid Growth

Meru Agro has grown from an agro-dealer that began operations in October 2006 and evolved into a seed and farm input supplier in 2009. “We started with three employees, we now have 34 people, eight graduates, five diploma holders and one master’s degree holder,” says the entrepreneur. “A good strategy does not automatically translate to good performance. The team you have makes the difference – their technical skills and capacity to execute the strategy makes the difference,” said Chacha, crediting his staff for contributing to the company’s success.

Seed production and breeding research done by organizations such as CIMMYT and the national agriculture institutes benefit small seed companies like Meru Agro. “We have released four maize hybrid varieties in collaboration with CIMMYT and we are producing some open-pollinated varieties (OPVs) that have been released by the national program in Tanzania,” said Chacha. The company’s product portfolio leans towards hybrid seeds; this is informed by the market response. “Most farmers in Tanzania are now shifting from OPVs to hybrids.” The company is planning to establish a breeding unit in the near future. In the meantime, it relies on public goods derived from breeding research produced by CIMMYT and the national agriculture institute.

The company is partnering with other agencies involved in seed distribution in Tanzanian including the Tanzania Agricultural Partnerships (TAP), Farm Input Promotional Services (FIPS) and the Government Farm Input Subsidy Program to distribute 400,000 two-kilogram packs of maize seed to smallholder farmers. “We are targeting smallholder farmers, some of whom have very little land, between one-quarter of an acre to three acres,” said Chacha. “In Tanzania, farmers prefer small packs of certified seed. There is a huge untapped market in Tanzania as maize is the staple crop,” said Chacha explaining the rationale behind their expansion plans.
“The IMAS program provided technical backstopping and financial support to Meru Agro for seed production of MERU HB 513 which is drought-tolerant, in addition to being nitrogen use efficient,” said Das. Meru Agro staff have participated in seed business management courses facilitated by CIMMYT, contributing to capacity building within the company. “The company has produced large volumes of certified seed,” said Regasa.

Challenges

“The seed business is challenging,” said Chacha. The CEO cites the high investment costs in machinery for seed cleaning, grading and packaging. Chacha says drought is one of the challenges that hamper their seed production as not all of it is done under irrigation. “It takes time to convince farmers,” added Chacha, citing promotion as another challenge.

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