Location: Zambia

CIMMYT researcher Demewoz Negera at the Ambo Research Center in Ethiopia. (Photo: Peter Lowe/CIMMYT)

Collaborating to accelerate genetic gains in maize and wheat

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

Stakeholders in the Accelerating Genetic Gains in Maize and Wheat for Improved Livelihoods (AGG) project have pledged to strengthen efforts to deliver desirable stress tolerant, nutritious and high-yielding maize and wheat varieties to smallholder farmers in a much shorter time. The alliance, comprising funders, national agricultural research systems (NARS), private seed companies, non-governmental organizations, the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT) and, for the maize component the International Institute for Tropical Agriculture (IITA), made these assurances during virtual events held in July and August 2020, marking the inception of the 5-year AGG project.

The initiative seeks to fast-track the development of higher-yielding, climate resilient, demand-driven, gender-responsive and nutritious seed varieties for maize and wheat, two of the world’s most important staple crops. The project is funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office (FCDO), the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), and the Foundation for Food and Agriculture Research (FFAR).

Tackling current and emerging threats

Jeff Rosichan, scientific program director of the Foundation for Food and Agricultural Research (FFAR), acknowledged the significant and ambitious aim of the project in tackling the challenges facing maize and wheat currently and in the future. “We are seeing the emergence of new pests and pathogens and viral diseases like never before. A lot of the work of this project is going to help us to tackle such challenges and to be better prepared to tackle emerging threats,” he said.

AGG builds on gains made in previous initiatives including Drought Tolerant Maize for Africa (DTMA), Improved Maize for African Soils (IMAS), Water Efficient Maize for Africa (WEMA), Stress Tolerant Maize for Africa (STMA) and Delivering Genetic Gain in Wheat (DGGW), with support from partners in 17 target countries in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) and South Asia.

Hailu Wordofa, agricultural technology specialist at the USAID Bureau for Resilience and Food Security, underscored his expectation for CIMMYT’s global breeding program to use optimal breeding approaches and develop strong collaborative relationships with NARS partners, “from the development of product profiles to breeding, field trials and line advancement.”

Similarly, Gary Atlin, senior program officer at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation lauded the move toward stronger partnerships and greater emphasis on the CIMMYT and IITA breeding programs. “The technical capacity of partners has increased through the years. It is prudent to ensure that national partnerships continue. It is always a challenging environment, this time multiplied by the COVID-19 crisis, but through this collaboration, there is a greater scope to strengthen such partnerships even more,” he said.

Anne Wangui, Maize Seed Health Technician, demonstrates how to test maize plants for maize dwarf mosaic virus (MDMV). (Photo: Joshua Masinde/CIMMYT)

Symbiotic partnerships with great impact

“From the NARS perspective, we are committed to doing our part as primary partners to deliver the right seed to the farmers,” said Godfrey Asea, director of the National Crops Resources Research Institute at the National Agriculture Research Organization (NARO), Uganda. “We see an opportunity to review and to use a lot of previous historical data, both in-country and regionally and to continue making improved decisions. We also reiterate our commitment and support to continuously make improvement plans in our breeding programs.”

Martin Kropff, director general of CIMMYT, recognized the tremendous impact arising from the longstanding cooperation between CIMMYT’s maize and wheat programs and national programs in countries where CIMMYT works. “A wheat study in Ethiopia showed that 90% of all the wheat grown in the country is CIMMYT-related, while an impact study for the maize program shows that 50% of the maize varieties in Africa are CIMMYT-derived. We are very proud of that – not for ourselves but for the people that we work for, the hundreds of millions of poor people and smallholder farmers who really rely on wheat and maize for their living and for their incomes,” he said.

Founder and Chief Executive Officer of East Africa-based Western Seed Company Saleem Esmail expressed optimism at the opportunities the project offers to improve livelihoods of beneficiaries. “I believe we can do this by sharing experiences and by leveraging on the impacts that this project is going to bring, from new technologies to new science approaches, particularly those that help save costs of seed production.”

He, however, observed that while the target of fast-tracking varietal turnover was great, it was a tough call, too, “because farmers are very risk averse and to change their habits requires a great deal of effort.”

On his part, director of Crop Research at the Oromia Agricultural Research Institute (OARI) in Ethiopia Tesfaye Letta revealed that from collaborative research work undertaken with CIMMYT, the institute has had access to better-quality varieties especially for wheat (bread and durum). These have helped millions of farmers to improve their productivity even as Ethiopia aims for wheat self-sufficiency by expanding wheat production under irrigation.

“We expect more support, from identifying wheat germplasm suitable for irrigation, developing disease resistant varieties and multiplying a sufficient quantity of early generation seed, to applying appropriate agronomic practices for yield improvement and organizing exposure field visits for farmers and experts,” he said.

Challenges and opportunities in a time of crisis

Alan Tollervey, head of agriculture research at Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) and the UK representative to the CGIAR System Council, emphasized the need for continued investment in agricultural research to build a resilient food system that can cope with the demands and pressures of the coming decades. This way, organizations such as CIMMYT and its partners can adequately deliver products that are relevant not only to the immediate demands of poor farmers in developing countries – and the global demand for food generally – but also to address foreseen threats.

“We are at a time of intense pressure on budgets, and that is when projects are most successful, most relevant to the objectives of any organization, and most able to demonstrate a track record of delivery. CIMMYT has a long track history of being able to respond to rapidly emerging threats,” he said.

Felister Makini, the deputy director general for crops at the Kenya Agricultural Research Organization (KALRO) lauded the fact that AGG not only brings together maize and wheat breeding and optimization tools and technologies, but also considers gender and socioeconomic insights, “which will be crucial to our envisioned strategy to achieve socioeconomic change.”

Zambia Agriculture Research Organization (ZARI) maize breeder Mwansa Kabamba noted that the inclusion of extension workers will help to get buy-in from farmers especially as far as helping with adoption of the improved varieties is concerned.

In its lifecycle, the AGG project aims to reduce the breeding cycles for both maize and wheat from 5-7 years currently to 3-4 years. By 2024, at least 150,000 metric tons of certified maize seed is expected to be produced, adopted by 10 million households, planted on 6 million hectares and benefit 64 million people. It also seeks to serve over 30 million households engaged in wheat farming the target countries.

Cover photo: CIMMYT researcher Demewoz Negera at the Ambo Research Center in Ethiopia. (Photo: Peter Lowe/CIMMYT)

Farmers evaluate traits of wheat varieties, Ethiopia. (Photo: Jeske van de Gevel/Bioversity International)

Reaching women with improved maize and wheat

Written by Marcia MacNeil on September 8, 2020. Posted in Features.

By 2050, global demand for wheat is predicted to increase by 50 percent from today’s levels and demand for maize is expected to double. Meanwhile, these profoundly important and loved crops bear incredible risks from emerging pests and diseases, diminishing water resources, limited available land and unstable weather conditions – with climate change as a constant pressure exacerbating all these stresses.

Accelerating Genetic Gains in Maize and Wheat for Improved Livelihoods (AGG) is a new 5-year project led by the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT) that brings together partners in the global science community and in national agricultural research and extension systems to accelerate the development of higher-yielding varieties of maize and wheat.

Funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the UK Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office, the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) and the Foundation for Food and Agriculture Research (FFAR), AGG fuses innovative methods to sustainably and inclusively improve breeding efficiency and precision to produce seed varieties that are climate-resilient, pest- and disease-resistant, highly nutritious, and targeted to farmers’ specific needs.

AGG seeks to respond to the intersection of the climate emergency and gender through gender-intentional product profiles for its improved seed varieties and gender-intentional seed delivery pathways.

AGG will take into account the needs and preferences of female farmers when developing the product profiles for improved varieties of wheat and maize. This will be informed by gender-disaggregated data collection on current varieties and preferred characteristics and traits, systematic on-farm testing in target regions, and training of scientists and technicians.

Farmer Agnes Sendeza harvests maize cobs in Malawi. (Photo: Peter Lowe/CIMMYT)

To encourage female farmers to take up climate-resilient improved seeds, AGG will seek to understand the pathways by which women receive information and improved seed and the external dynamics that affect this access and will use this information to create gender-intentional solutions for increasing varietal adoption and turnover.

“Until recently, investments in seed improvement work have not actively looked in this area,” said Olaf Erenstein, Director of CIMMYT’s Socioeconomics Program at a virtual inception meeting for the project in late August 2020. Now, “it has been built in as a primary objective of AGG to focus on […] strengthening gender-intentional seed delivery systems so that we ensure a faster varietal turnover and higher adoption levels in the respective target areas.”

In the first year of the initiative, the researchers will take a deep dive into the national- and state-level frameworks and policies that might enable or influence the delivery of these new varieties to both female and male farmers. They will analyze this delivery system by mapping the seed delivery paths and studying the diverse factors that impact seed demand. By understanding their respective roles, practices, and of course, the strengths and weaknesses of the system, the researchers can diagnose issues in the delivery chain and respond accordingly.

Once this important scoping step is complete, the team will design a research plan for the following years to understand and influence the seed information networks and seed acquisition. It will be critical in this step to identify some of the challenges and opportunities on a broad scale, while also accounting for the related intra-household decision-making dynamics that could affect access to and uptake of these improved seed varieties.

“It is a primary objective of AGG to ensure gender intentionality,” said Kevin Pixley, Director of CIMMYT’s Genetic Resources Program and AGG project leader. “Often women do not have access to not only inputs but also information, and in the AGG project we are seeking to help close those gaps.”

Cover photo: Farmers evaluate traits of wheat varieties, Ethiopia. (Photo: Jeske van de Gevel/Bioversity International)

Drought tolerant maize route out of poverty for community-based seed producer, Kenya. (Photo: Anne Wangalachi/CIMMYT)

New project to ramp up genetic gains in maize for better livelihoods

Written by Alison Doody on July 28, 2020. Posted in News.

As plant pests and diseases continue to evolve, with stresses like drought and heat intensifying, a major priority for breeders and partners is developing better stress tolerant and higher yielding varieties faster and more cost effectively.

A new project, Accelerating Genetic Gains in Maize and Wheat for Improved Livelihoods (AGG), seeks to achieve these results by speeding up genetic gains in maize and wheat breeding to deliver improved, stress resilient, nutritious seed to smallholders in 13 countries in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) and four in South Asia. The 5-year AGG project is funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the UK Department for International Development (DFID), the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), and the Foundation for Food and Agriculture Research (FFAR).

The maize component of the project brings together diverse partners, including the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT) and the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA) as co-implementers; national agricultural research systems (NARS); and small and medium-sized (SME) seed companies.

Ambitious targets

At the inception meeting of the maize component of AGG on July 10, 2020, project leaders, partners and funders lauded the ambitious targets that aim to bolster the resilience and better the livelihoods, food and nutritional security of millions of smallholder farmers in SSA. At least 150,000 metric tons of certified seed is expected to be produced, adopted by 10 million households, planted on 6 million hectares by 2024 and benefiting 64 million people.

“We are developing climate resilient, nutritious, efficient, productive maize varieties for the farming community in sub-Saharan Africa. We will continue to work closely with our partners to develop product profiles, which are centered on the varieties that are really needed,” said CIMMYT Interim Deputy Director for Research Kevin Pixley.

AGG draws a solid foundation from previous projects such as Drought Tolerant Maize for Africa (DTMA), Improved Maize for Africa Soils (IMAS), Water Efficient Maize for Africa (WEMA) and Stress Tolerant Maize for Africa (STMA). Several high-yielding maize varieties that tolerate and/or resist diseases such as maize lethal necrosis (MLN), gray leaf spot (GLS), northern corn leaf blight, maize streak virus (MSV), turcicum leaf blight (TLB) and are drought-tolerant (DT), were developed and released to farmers across SSA. Varieties with nutritional traits such as nitrogen use efficiency (NUE) and quality protein maize (QPM) were also developed in the preceding initiatives.

Drought Tolerant Maize for Africa (DTMA) project monitoring and evaluation takes place in Tanzania. (Photo: Florence Sipalla/CIMMYT)

A matter of “life or death”

“When farmers are confronted by aggressive farming challenges, they want products that address those challenges at the earliest opportunity. Waiting for years could mean the difference between life and death,” remarked David Chikoye, the director of Southern Africa Hub at IITA.

A key focus of AGG is to incorporate gender-intentionality – special attention to the needs of women farmers and consumers – from the traits bred into new varieties, through the communication and technology deployment strategies.

“AGG provides an excellent opportunity to reorient our maize breeding, seed scaling and delivery strategies for greater impact on the livelihoods of smallholder farmers, especially women and the disadvantaged communities that are not well reached so far,” said B.M. Prasanna, director of CIMMYT’s Global Maize Program and the CGIAR Research Program on Maize. “Our vision is to accelerate genetic gains to 1.5-2 percent annually across different breeding pipelines in the 13 participating countries in SSA and to reach over 10 million households with improved varieties.”

AGG will strengthen the capacity of partners to achieve and sustain accelerated variety replacement — or turnover — and increase genetic gains in farmers’ fields.

Old vs new

Many improved varieties have been released in the past decade. However, the turnover of old and obsolete varieties with new and improved ones is not happening as quickly as anticipated.

“We are producing good products and getting them out, but not at the speed that farmers need. How do we make it possible and profitable for seed companies to quickly introduce new hybrids?” posed Gary Atlin, program officer at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. “We need to move towards a breeding and seed system where we know that we can develop a new product in 4 or 5 years and then get it to the farmers much more quickly. This is a complex problem.”

To enhance AGG’s ability to identify new products that perform well for farmers under their challenging circumstances, on-farm testing will be scaled up significantly.

Guest of honor, Ethiopia’s Minister of State for Agriculture Mandefro Nigussie, lauded CIMMYT’s support in improving the resilience and productivity of maize and wheat in the country. He observed that this has helped improve maize productivity in Ethiopia from around 2 tons/ha to about 4 tons/ha over the past two decades.

“We consider such a huge accomplishment as a combination of efforts in germplasm development and breeding efforts of CIMMYT and the Ethiopian national programs. That partnership will flourish further in this new project,” he said.

Accelerating Genetic Gains in Maize and Wheat (AGG)

Written by Rodrigo Ordóñez on July 24, 2020. Posted in Uncategorized.

Accelerating Genetic Gains in Maize and Wheat (AGG), a project led by the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT), brings together partners in the global science community and in national agricultural research and extension systems to accelerate the development of higher-yielding varieties of maize and wheat — two of the world’s most important staple crops.

Specifically focusing on supporting smallholder farmers in low- and middle-income countries, the project uses innovative methods that improve breeding efficiency and precision to produce varieties that are climate-resilient, pest- and disease-resistant, and highly nutritious, targeted to farmers’ specific needs.

The maize component of the project serves 13 target countries: Ethiopia, Kenya, Malawi, Mozambique, South Africa, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia and Zimbabwe in eastern and southern Africa; and Benin, Ghana, Mali, and Nigeria in West Africa. The wheat component of the project serves six countries: Bangladesh, India, Nepal, and Pakistan in South Asia; and Ethiopia and Kenya in sub-Saharan Africa.

This project builds on the impact of the Delivering Genetic Gain in Wheat (DGGW) and Stress Tolerant Maize for Africa (STMA) projects.

Objectives

The project aims to accelerate the development and delivery of more productive, climate-resilient, gender-responsive, market-demanded, and nutritious maize and wheat varieties in support of sustainable agricultural transformation in sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia.

To encourage adoption of new varieties, the project works to improve equitable access, especially by women, to seed and information, as well as capacity building in breeding, disease surveillance, and seed marketing.

Funders

Project funding is provided by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the UK Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office, the United States Agency for International Development and the Foundation for Food and Agricultural Research (FFAR).

Key partners

The primary partners for this project are the national agricultural research systems in the project target countries and, for the maize component, the International Institute for Tropical Agriculture (IITA) and small and medium enterprise (SME) seed companies.

Scientific and technical steering committees

We are grateful to our excellent maize and wheat scientific and technical steering committees for their suggestions and thoughtful question on key issues for the success of AGG. Read about the recommendations from the maize steering committee here and the wheat steering committee here.

Year 1 Executive Summary

In its first year of operation, AGG has made great strides in collaboration with our national partners towards the project goals –despite the unprecedented challenges of working through a global pandemic. For specific milestones achieved, we invite you to review our AGG Year 1 Executive Summary and Impact Report (PDF).

Year 2 Executive Summary

AGG has made progress towards all outcomes. Our scientists are implementing substantial modifications to breeding targets and schemes. AGG is also in a continuous improvement process for the partnership modalities, pursuing co-ownership and co-implementation that builds the capacities of all involved. For specific milestones achieved, we invite you to review our AGG Year 2 Executive Summary and Impact Report (PDF).

CIMMYT’s adult plant resistance breeding strategy

Download a summary of CIMMYT’s breeding strategy for adult plant resistance (PDF).

Subscribe to the AGG newsletter

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

Biofortified Maize for Improved Human Nutrition

Written by Emma Orchardson on April 27, 2020. Posted in Uncategorized.

The Biofortified Maize for Improved Human Nutrition project conducts field research both at CIMMYT and with partners on breeding for increased pro-vitamin A and Zinc content in both Africa and Latin America. The project grant is renewed annually and has been in operation since 2004.

Key activities include supporting early and mid-late product development, evaluation and release in Mexico and target countries in southern Africa, food science and retention studies. Molecular breeding and biochemical analysis are key components for successful breeding, and the project also involves technical backstopping for partners in both regions.

Objectives

Conduct field research on breeding for increased pro-vitamin A for target countries in Africa
Conduct field research on breeding for increased Zinc for product evaluation and release
Conduct essential research to deploy analytical tools and marker assisted selection or genomic selection methods in micronutrient breeding work
Facilitate the dissemination, promotion and consumption of biofortified crops

Biofortified Crop Project Reaches Refugees in Zambia

Written by Mary Donovan on February 27, 2020. Posted in In the media.

The Mutwales farm a small plot of land in the camp, growing primarily cassava and maize for food. They are also one of the 105 refugee farming families participating in an initiative during the 2019/2020 growing season to help them cultivate nutritious, vitamin A-biofortified orange maize, which was developed by the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT) in partnership with HarvestPlus.

‘Sharing’ or ‘sparing’ land?

Written by Rodrigo Ordóñez on February 14, 2020. Posted in Blogs. 4 Comments on ‘Sharing’ or ‘sparing’ land?

Any fifth grader is familiar with the Cretaceous-Tertiary mass extinction, which saw dinosaurs — and three quarters of all species alive at that time — disappear from Earth, probably after it was struck by a very large asteroid. However, few people are aware the planet is currently going through a similar event of an equally large magnitude: a recent report from the World Wide Fund for Nature highlighted a 60% decline in the populations of over 4,000 vertebrate species monitored globally since 1970. This time, the culprit is not an asteroid, but human beings. The biggest threat we represent to other species is also the way we meet one of our most fundamental needs: food production.

As a response, scientists, particularly ecologists, have looked for strategies to minimize trade-offs between agriculture and biodiversity. One such strategy is “land sparing,” also known as the “Borlaug effect.” It seeks to segregate production and conservation and to maximize yield on areas as small as possible, sparing land for nature. Another strategy is “land sharing” or “wildlife-friendly farming,” which seeks to integrate production and conservation in the same land units and make farming as benign as possible to biodiversity. It minimizes the use of external inputs and retains unfarmed patches on farmland.

A heated debate between proponents of land sparing and proponents of land sharing has taken place over the past 15 years. Most studies, however, have found land sparing to lead to better outcomes than land sharing, in a range of contexts. With collaborators from CIFOR, UBC and other organizations, I hypothesized that this belief was biased because researchers assessed farming through a narrow lens, only looking at calories or crop yield.

Many more people today suffer from hidden hunger, or lack of vitamins and minerals in their diets, than lack of calories. Several studies have found more diverse and nutritious diets consumed by people living in or near areas with greater tree cover as trees are a key component of biodiversity. However, most of these studies have not looked at mechanisms explaining this positive association.

Forests for food

Studying seven tropical landscapes in Bangladesh, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Ethiopia, Indonesia, Nicaragua and Zambia, we found evidence that tree cover directly supports diets in four landscapes out of seven. This may be through the harvest of bushmeat, wild fruits, wild vegetables and other forest-sourced foods. The study further found evidence of an agroecological pathway — that forests and trees support diverse crop and livestock production through an array of ecosystem services, ultimately leading to improved diets — in five landscapes out of seven. These results clearly demonstrate that although land sparing may have the best outcomes for biodiversity, it would cut off rural households from forest products such as forest food, firewood and livestock feed. It would also cut off smallholder farms from ecosystem services provided by biodiversity, and smallholders in the tropics tend to depend more on ecosystem services than on external inputs.

In Ethiopia, previous research conducted by some of the same authors has demonstrated that multifunctional landscapes that do not qualify as land sparing nor as land sharing may host high biodiversity whilst being more productive than simpler landscapes. They are more sustainable and resilient, provide more diverse diets and produce cereals with higher nutritional content.

The debate on land sparing vs. sharing has largely remained confined to the circles of conservation ecologists and has seldom involved agricultural scientists. As a result, most studies on land sparing vs. sharing have focused on minimizing the negative impact of farming on biodiversity, instead of looking for the best compromises between agricultural production and biodiversity conservation.

To design landscapes that truly balance the needs of people and nature, it is urgent for agronomists, agricultural economists, rural sociologists and crop breeders to participate in the land sparing vs. sharing debate.

This study was made possible by funding from the UK’s Department for International Development (DFID), the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) through the project Agrarian Change in Tropical Landscapes, and by the CGIAR Research Programs on MAIZE and WHEAT.

A farm worker applies fertilizer in a field of Staha maize for seed production at Suba Agro's Mbezi farm in Tanzania. (Photo: Peter Lowe/CIMMYT)

Study calls for better understanding of fertilizer prices faced by African smallholder farmers

Written by Rodrigo Ordóñez on January 15, 2020. Posted in News. 1 Comment on Study calls for better understanding of fertilizer prices faced by African smallholder farmers

Crop yields in sub-Saharan Africa are generally low. This is in large part because of low fertilizer use. A recent study of six countries in sub-Saharan Africa showed that just 35% of farmers applied fertilizer. Some possible reasons for this could be that farmers may be unaware of the efficacy of fertilizer use; or have degraded soils that do not respond to fertilizer; they may not have the cash to purchase it; or because unpredictable rainfall makes such investments risky. It may also be because local fertilizer prices make their use insufficiently profitable for many farmers.

To better understand the potential fertilizer demand in a particular location, it is important to know how crops respond to fertilizer under local conditions, but it is critical to understand crop responses in terms of economic returns. This requires information about local market prices of fertilizers and other inputs, as well as the prices that a farmer could receive from selling the crop.

While national-level fertilizer prices may be available, it is necessary to consider the extent to which prices vary within countries, reflecting transportation costs and other factors. In the absence of such data, analysis of household-level behaviors requires assumptions about the prices smallholder farmers face — assumptions which may not be valid. For example, evaluations of the returns to production technologies settings have often assumed spatially invariant input and output prices or, in other words, that all farmers in a country face the same set of prices. This is at odds with what we know about economic remoteness and the highly variable market access conditions under which African smallholders operate.

An obstacle to using empirical data on sub-national disparities in fertilizer prices is the scarcity of such data. A new study focused on the spatial discrepancies in fertilizer prices. The study compiled local market urea price in eighteen countries in sub-Saharan Africa for the period between 2010-2018 and used spatial interpolation models — using points with known values to approximate values at other unknown points — to predict local prices at locations for which no empirical data was available. It was conducted by scientists at University of California, Davis, the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT) and the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI). The authors note that this is the first major attempt to systematically describe the spatial variability of fertilizer prices within the target countries and test the ability to estimate the price at unsampled locations.

Predicted relative urea price (local price divided by the observed median national price) for areas with crop land in eight East African countries.

“Our study uncovers considerable spatial variation in fertilizer prices within African countries and gives a much more accurate representation of the economic realities faced by African smallholders than the picture suggested by using national average prices,” said Camila Bonilla Cedrez, PhD Candidate at University of California, Davis. “We show that in many countries, this variation can be predicted for unsampled locations by fitting models of prices as a function of longitude, latitude, and additional predictor variables that capture aspects of market access, demand, and environmental conditions.”

Urea prices were generally found to be more expensive in remote areas or away from large urban centers, ports of entry or blending facilities. There were some exceptions, though. In Benin, Ghana and Nigeria, prices went down when moving away from the coast, with the possible explanation being market prices in areas with higher demand are lower. In other locations, imports of fertilizer from neighboring countries with lower prices may be affecting prices in another country or region, much like political influence. Politically, well-connected villages can receive more input subsidies compared to the less connected ones.

“The performance of our price estimation methods and the simplicity of our approach suggest that large scale price mapping for rural areas is a cost-effective way to provide more useful price information for guiding policy, targeting interventions, and for enabling more realistic applied microeconomic research. For example, local price estimates could be incorporated into household-survey-based analysis of fertilizer adoption,” explained Jordan Chamberlin, CIMMYT spatial economist. “In addition, such predictive ‘price maps’ can be incorporated into targeting and planning frameworks for agricultural investments. For example, to target technology promotion efforts to the areas where those technologies are most likely to be profitable.”

Predicted relative urea price (local price divided by the observed median national price) for areas with crop land in nine West African countries.

“The evidence we have compiled in this paper suggests that, while investments in more comprehensive and spatially representative price data collection would be very useful, we may utilize spatial price prediction models to extend the value of existing data to better reflect local price variation through interpolation,” explained Robert J. Hijmans, professor at University of California, Davis. “Even if imperfect, such estimates almost certainly better reflect farmers’ economic realities than assumptions of spatially constant prices within a given country. We propose that spatial price estimation methods such as the ones we employ here serve for better approximating heterogeneous economic market landscapes.”

This study has illustrated new ways for incorporating spatial variation in prices into efforts to understand the profitability of agricultural technologies across rural areas in sub-Saharan Africa. The authors suggest that an important avenue for future empirical work would be to evaluate the extent to which the subnational price variation documented is a useful explanatory factor for observed variation in smallholder fertilizer use in sub-Saharan Africa, after controlling for local agronomic responses and output prices. One way to do that may be to integrate input and output price predictions into spatial crop models, and then evaluate the degree to which modeled fertilizer use profitability predicts observed fertilizer use rates across different locations.

Read the full study:
Spatial variation in fertilizer prices in Sub-Saharan Africa

Scaling out climate-smart agriculture in southern Africa

Written by Emma Orchardson on December 3, 2019. Posted in Infographics.

The United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change estimates that temperatures in Africa are set to rise significantly in coming years, with devastating results for farmers. Some regions could experience two droughts every five years, and see drastic reductions in maize yields over the next three decades.

Research demonstrates that climate-smart agriculture (CSA) is good method of mitigating the effects of climate change, for both farmers and the planet. Associated practices, which increase soil moisture levels and soil biodiversity have been shown to decrease soil erosion by up to 64%. They also have the potential to increase maize yields by 136% and incomes in dry environments by more than twice as much.

However, adoption rates remain low in some of the countries which stand to benefit the most, such as Malawi, Zambia and Zimbabwe, where the adoption of complete conservation agriculture systems is currently at 2.5%.

A new series of infographics describes some of the farming constraints will have to be addressed in order to scale climate-smart agricultural practices successfully in the region, taking into account both benefits and challenges for farmers.

Download the infographics:

Can we scale out Climate-Smart Agriculture? An overview.

Feasibility study of Climate-Smart Agriculture for rural communities in southern Africa: the approach.

Identifying the two best-bet CSA options to test.

A perfect storm: climate change jeopardizes food security in Malawi, Zambia and Zimbabwe.

Benefits and challenges of climate-smart agriculture for farmers in southern Africa.

Gender-sensitive climate-smart agriculture in southern Africa.

There is a strong business case for scaling out CSA in Malawi, Zambia and Zimbabwe.

Preventing post-harvest losses key to food security

Written by Mary Donovan on November 26, 2019. Posted in In the media.

According to the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center, one of the key constraints to improving food and nutritional security in Africa is the poor post-harvest management that leads to between 14 percent and 36 percent loss of maize grain, thereby aggravating hunger.

Investing in drought-tolerant maize is good for Africa

Written by Jérôme Bossuet on November 26, 2019. Posted in News. 1 Comment on Investing in drought-tolerant maize is good for Africa

Geoffrey Ochieng’, a smallholder farmer from northern Uganda. He plants the UH5051 variety on his land. (Photo: Joshua Masinde/CIMMYT)

Zambia’s vice-president has recently called to reduce maize dominance and increase crop and diet diversification in his country. The reality is that maize is and will remain a very important food crop for many eastern and southern African countries. Diet preferences and population growth mean that it is imperative to find solutions to increase maize production in these countries, but experts forecast 10 to 30% reduction in maize yields by 2030 in a business-as-usual scenario, with projected temperature increases of up to 2.7 degrees by 2050 and important drought risks.

Knowing the importance of maize for the food security of countries like Zambia, it is crucial to help maize farmers get better and more stable yields under erratic and challenging climate conditions.

To address this, the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT) and its partners have been developing hundreds of new maize varieties with good drought tolerance across sub-Saharan Africa. Stakeholders in the public research and African seed sectors have collaborated through the Drought Tolerant Maize for Africa (DTMA) project and the Stress Tolerant Maize for Africa (STMA) initiative to develop drought-tolerant seed that also incorporates other qualities, such as nutritional value and disease resistance.

A groundbreaking impact study six years ago demonstrated that drought-tolerant maize significantly reduced poverty and food insecurity, particularly in drought years.

A new study from CIMMYT and the Center for Development Research (ZEF) in the main maize growing areas of Zambia confirms that adopting drought-tolerant maize can increase yields by 38% and reduce the risks of crop failure by 36%.

Over three quarters of the rainfed farmers in the study experienced drought during the survey. These farming families of 6 or 7 people were cultivating 4 hectares of farmland on average, half planted with maize.

Another study on drought-tolerant maize adoption in Uganda estimated also good yield increases and lower crop failure risks by 26 to 35%.

A balancing act between potential gains and climate risks

Drought-tolerant maize has a transformational effect. With maize farming becoming less risky, farmers are willing to invest more in fertilizer and other inputs and plant more maize.

However, taking the decision of adopting new farm technologies in a climate risky environment could be a daunting task. Farmers may potentially gain a lot but, at the same time, they must consider downside risks.

As Gertrude Banda, a lead farmer in eastern Zambia, put it, hybrid seeds have a cost and when you do not know whether rains will be enough “this is a gamble.” In addition to climate uncertainty, farmers worry about many other woes, like putting money aside for urgent healthcare, school fees, or cooking nutritious meals for the family.

Information is power

An additional hurdle to adoption is that farmers may not know all the options available to cope with climate risks. While 77% of Zambia households interviewed said they experienced drought in 2015, only 44% knew about drought-tolerant maize.

This inequal access to knowledge and better seeds, observed also in Uganda, slows adoption of drought-tolerant maize. There, 14% of farmers have adopted drought-tolerant maize varieties. If all farmers were aware of this technology, 8% more farmers would have adopted it.

Because farmers are used to paying for cheap open-pollinated varieties, they are only willing to pay half of the hybrid market price, even though new hybrids are performing very well. Awareness campaigns on the benefits of drought-tolerant maize could boost adoption among farmers.

According to the same study, the potential for scaling drought-tolerant maize could raise up to 47% if drought-tolerant varieties were made available at affordable prices at all agrodealers. Several approaches could be tested to increase access, such as input credit or subsidy schemes.

Read the full articles:
Impacts of drought-tolerant maize varieties on productivity, risk, and resource use: Evidence from Uganda

Productivity and production risk effects of adopting drought-tolerant maize varieties in Zambia

Heterogeneous seed access and information exposure: implications for the adoption of drought-tolerant maize varieties in Uganda

These impact studies were made possible through the support provided by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and the US Agency for International Development (USAID), funders of the Stress Tolerant Maize for Africa (STMA) initiative.

Climate-smart agriculture: A winning strategy for farming families in El Niño seasons

Written by Shiela Chikulo on September 20, 2019. Posted in Features.

Approaching the homestead of Joseph Maravire and his wife, Reason, on a warm late August afternoon in Bvukururu, Zaka district, Zimbabwe, heaps of dry straw in their farmyard are prominent. ‘’This is for mulching for the forthcoming cropping season,’’ explains Reason. Maize stalk residues from last harvest are also stored to feed their livestock and to mix into the manure or for bedding the herd of cattle. These practices have become the norm for the Maravire family as they prepare for the next maize planting season in Zaka, one of the hottest areas of southern Zimbabwe.

“We never knew of mulching until we interacted with CIMMYT scientists in 2009. Now I cannot imagine working in my field without applying mulch,” says Reason. As one of five families selected in their village to participate in the scaling out of climate-smart agricultural technologies since 2009, the Maravire family demonstrates the evident transformative power of climate-smart agriculture.

Joseph and Reason by their heap of dry straw which is collected in preparation for mulching in the forthcoming 2019-20 season. In this drought-prone region, the Maravire learned the benefits of mulching to protect crops from recurrent dry spells. (Photo: Shiela Chikulo/CIMMYT)

Climate-smart agriculture involves farming practices that improve farm productivity and profitability, help farmers adapt to the negative effects of climate change and mitigate climate change effects, e.g. by soil carbon sequestration or reductions in greenhouse gas emissions. Climate-smart practices, such as the locally practiced conservation agriculture, aim at conserving soil moisture, retaining crop residues for soil fertility, disturbing the soil as minimally as possible and diversifying through rotation or intercropping.

As CIMMYT research shows, these practices can boost production and make farmers more food secure. This is good news for Zimbabwean farmers such as the Maravires. During an episode of El Niño in the 2015-16 and 2018-19 cropping seasons, large parts of southern Africa experienced prolonged dry spells, erratic rainfall and high temperatures initially with floods towards the end of the cropping season. A recent humanitarian appeal indicated that at least 2.9 million people in Zimbabwe were severely food insecure due to poor or no harvests that year.

Under the “Out-scaling climate-smart technologies to smallholder farmers in Malawi, Zambia & Zimbabwe’’ project — funded by the German development agency GIZ and the Centre for Coordination of Agricultural Research and Development for Southern Africa (CCARDESA), and implemented under the leadership of the Zambian Agriculture Research Institute (ZARI) with technical oversight by CIMMYT and other collaborating partners from Malawi and Zimbabwe — farmers from 19 rural communities in the three target countries received training and guidance on climate-smart agriculture practices and technologies, such as mulching, rotation and the use of direct seeders and ripper tines to practice no tillage.

Mastering climate-smart techniques, season by season

On their 0.4-hectare plot dedicated to the project activities, Joseph and Reason practiced four different planting techniques: direct seeding (sowing directly into crop residue), ripline seeding (sowing in lines created by animal draft-powered rippers), basin planting (sowing manually into planting basins created by hand hoes), and the traditional ox drawn plowing and seeding. They then planted one traditional and three drought-tolerant maize varieties.

“It soon became clear to us that using a direct seeder or ripper tine, combined with mulching, was the best option, as these sections of the field retained more moisture and produced more maize than the conventional system,” explained Joseph Maravire. Beginning in 2013, the family also started rotating maize and cowpeas and observed a significant increase in their yields. They decided to apply climate-smart agriculture practices on the rest of their 2.5-hectare farm.

“We learned that cowpeas leave nitrogen in the soil and by the time of harvesting, the leaves from the cowpeas also fall to the ground as residue and add to the mulch for the soil. The shade of cowpea also reduces weed pressure and manual weeding,” said Maravire.

Yields and food security

With these practices, the family has harvested remarkably, even during the dry seasons. In 2015-16, the worst El Niño on record, they harvested 2 tons of maize, despite the severe drought, while other households barely got anything from their fields. In good years, like the last cropping season, the family harvests 3.5 to 4 tons of maize from their entire field, three times more than their annual family food needs of approximately 1.3 tons. The additional cowpea yields of both grain and leaves provide protein-rich complementary food, which improves the family’s nutrition. To share some of these benefits with their community, the Maravire family donates up to 10% of their produce to poor elderly households in their village.

Overcoming challenges and building resilience

However, the new farming practices did not come without challenges.

“In the early days of the project, the ripper tine was not simple to use because we could not get the right depth to put manure and the maize seeds,” said Joseph Maravire.

They found a solution by making rip lines around October or November, applying manure at the onset of the rains, ripping again and placing the seed to mix with the manure.

Fall armyworm was another devastating challenge for their plot, as was the case around Zimbabwe. Like other farmers in Zimbabwe, the Maravires had access to pesticides, but the caterpillar showed some resistance to one type of pesticide. Maravire expressed interest in learning biological control options to reduce the pest’s spread.

Scaling climate smart technologies beyond the Maravire homestead

After several years of consistently good harvests with climate-smart agriculture options, the Maravire family has become a model within their community. Working closely with their agricultural extension officer, they formed a CSA farmer support group of 20 families. Joseph Maravire provides services for direct seeding and ripping to the CSA group and ensures that all of their land is prepared using no-tillage planting techniques. The couple regularly demonstrates climate-smart practices to peers during field days, where an average of 300 villagers attend. They also share their knowledge about green manure cover crops — crops such as lablab, jackbean, sunhemp, and velvet bean which, retained on the soil surface, serve as organic fertilizer — a practice they learned from project activities.

For Reason and Joseph Maravire, the rewards for adopting climate-smart agriculture benefit the family beyond food security. The income earned from maize grain sales and cowpea marketing has helped them acquire assets and rebuild one of their homes that was destroyed by Cyclone Idai in March 2019.

Joseph is confident that his family will always produce well on the replenished soil and the technologies they have learned through the project will continue to define their farming practices.

The house of Maravire homestead was damaged by Cyclone Idai in March. Joseph is nearing completion of rebuilding the house using proceeds from recent cowpea sales. (Photo: Shiela Chikulo/CIMMYT)

More photos of the Maravire family can be seen here.

Seeds of progress

Written by Jennifer Johnson on June 20, 2019. Posted in Videos.

The maize seed sector in east and southern Africa is male-dominated. However, there are women working in this sector who are breaking social barriers and helping to improve household food security, nutrition and livelihoods by providing jobs and improved seed varieties to farmers.

Researchers from the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT) conducted interviews with women owners of seed companies in eastern and southern Africa. They shared information on their background, their motivation to start their businesses, what sets their companies apart from the competition, the innovative approaches they use to ensure smallholder farmers adopt improved seed varieties, the unique challenges they face as women in the seed sector and the potential for growth of their companies.

STMA meeting participants pose for a group photo during a field visit to seed company Zamseeds. (Photo: Jerome Bossuet/CIMMYT)

Shifting to a demand-led maize improvement agenda

Written by Jennifer Johnson on May 29, 2019. Posted in Features.

Partners of the Stress Tolerant Maize for Africa (STMA) project held their annual meeting May 7–9, 2019, in Lusaka, Zambia, to review the achievements of the past year and to discuss the priorities going forward. Launched in 2016, the STMA project aims to develop multiple stress-tolerant maize varieties for diverse agro-ecologies in sub-Saharan Africa, increase genetic gains for key traits preferred by the smallholders, and make these improved seeds available at scale in the target countries in partnership with local public and private seed sector partners.

The project, funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), is led by the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT), and implemented together with the International Institute for Tropical Agriculture (IITA), national agricultural research systems and seed company partners in 13 countries in sub-Saharan Africa.

The meeting was officially opened by the Deputy Director of the Zambia Agriculture Research Institute (ZARI), Monde Zulu. “Maize in Africa faces numerous challenges such as drought, heat, pests and disease. Thankfully, these challenges can be addressed through research. I would like to take this opportunity to thank CIMMYT and IITA. Your presence here is a testament of your commitment to improve the livelihoods of farmers in sub-Saharan Africa,” she said.

The International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT) and its partners are working together in the fight against challenges such as drought, maize lethal necrosis and fall armyworm. The STMA project applies innovative technologies such as high-throughput phenotyping, doubled haploids, marker-assisted breeding and intensive germplasm screening to develop improved stress-tolerant maize varieties for smallholder farmers. The project team is also strengthening maize seed systems in sub-Saharan Africa through public-private partnerships.

The efforts are paying off: in 2018, 3.5 million smallholder farmers planted stress-tolerant maize varieties in 10 African countries.

The deputy director of the Zambia Agriculture Research Institute (ZARI), Monde Zulu (fourth from left), gives the opening address of the STMA Annual Meeting 2019. Left to right: Mick Mwala, University of Zambia; Tony Cavalieri, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation; B.M. Prasanna, CIMMYT; Monde Zulu, ZARI; Mwansa Kabamba, ZARI; Cosmos Magorokosho, CIMMYT; and Abebe Menkir, IITA.

Yielding results

CIMMYT researcher and STMA project leader Cosmos Magorokosho reminded the importance of maize in the region. “Maize is grown on over 35 million hectares in sub-Saharan Africa, and more than 208 million farmers depend on it as a staple crop. However, average maize yields in sub-Saharan Africa are among the lowest in the world.” Magorokosho pointed out that the improved maize varieties developed through the project “provide not only increased yields but also yield stability even under challenging conditions like drought, poor soil fertility, pests and diseases.”

“STMA has proved that it is possible to combine multiple stress tolerance and still get good yields,” explained B.M. Prasanna, director of CIMMYT’s Global Maize Program and the CGIAR Research Program on Maize (MAIZE). “One of the important aspects of STMA are the partnerships which have only grown stronger through the years. We are the proud partners of national agricultural research systems and over 100 seed companies across sub-Saharan Africa.”

Keynote speaker Hambulo Ngoma of the Indaba Agricultural Policy Research Institute (IAPRI) addressed the current situation of maize in Zambia, where farmers are currently reeling from recent drought. “Maize is grown by 89% of smallholder farmers in Zambia, on 54% of the country’s cultivable land, but productivity remains low. This problem will be exacerbated by expected population growth, as the population of Zambia is projected to grow from over 17 million to 42 million by 2050,” he said.

STMA meeting participants pose for a group photo during the field visit to QualiBasic Seed. (Photo: Jennifer Johnson/CIMMYT)

Down to business

On May 8, participants visited three partner local seed companies to learn more about the opportunities and challenges of producing improved maize seed for smallholder farmers.

Afriseed CEO Stephanie Angomwile discussed her business strategy and passion for agriculture with participants. She expressed her gratitude for the support CIMMYT has provided to the company, including access to drought-tolerant maize varieties as well as capacity development opportunities for her staff.

Bhola Nath Verma, principal crop breeder at Zamseed, explained how climate change has a visible impact on the Zambian maize sector, as the main maize growing basket moved 500 km North due to increased drought. Verma deeply values the partnership with the STMA project, as he can source drought-tolerant breeding materials from CIMMYT and IITA, allowing him to develop early-maturing improved maize varieties that escape drought and bring much needed yield stability to farmers in Angola, Botswana, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Tanzania and Zambia.

At QualiBasic Seed, STMA partners were given the opportunity to learn and ask questions about the company’s operations, including the seed multiplication process in Zambia and the importance of high-quality, genetically pure foundation seed for seed companies.

Emmanuel Angomwile (left) and Stephanie Angomwile (center) answer visitors’ questions at their seed company, Afriseed. (Photo: Jennifer Johnson/CIMMYT)

Young ideas

The meeting concluded with an awards ceremony for the winners of the 2019 MAIZE Youth Innovators Awards – Africa, established by MAIZE in collaboration with the Young Professionals for Agricultural Development (YPARD). These awards recognize the contributions of young women and men under 35 who are implementing innovations in African maize-based agri-food systems, including research-for-development, seed systems, agribusiness, and sustainable intensification. This is the second year of the MAIZE Youth Awards, and the first time it has been held in Africa. Winners include Hildegarde Dukunde of Rwanda and Mila Lokwa Giresse of the Democratic Republic of the Congo in the change agent category, Admire Shayanowako of the Republic of South Africa and Ismael Mayanja of Uganda in the research category, and Blessings Likagwa of Malawi in the farmer category.

Winners of the 2019 MAIZE Youth Innovators Awards – Africa receive their awards at the STMA meeting in Lusaka, Zambia. From left to right: Admire Shayanowako, Blessings Likagwa, Ismael Mayanja and Hildegarde Dukunde. Fifth awardee Mila Lokwa Giresse not pictured. (Photo: J.Bossuet/CIMMYT)

Winners of 2019 MAIZE Youth Innovators Awards – Africa announced

Written by Rodrigo Ordóñez on May 16, 2019. Posted in Press releases.

LUSAKA, Zambia (CIMMYT) – The CGIAR Research Program on Maize (MAIZE) officially announced the winners of the 2019 MAIZE Youth Innovators Awards – Africa at an awards ceremony held on May 9, 2019, in Lusaka, Zambia. These awards recognize the contributions of young women and men under 35 to innovation in African maize-based agri-food systems, including research for development, seed systems, agribusiness, and sustainable intensification. The awards, an initiative of MAIZE in collaboration with Young Professionals for Agricultural Research and Development (YPARD), were offered in three categories: farmer, change agent, and researcher.

The MAIZE Youth Innovators Awards aim to identify young innovators who can serve to inspire other young people to get involved in maize-based agri-food systems. This is the second year of the award, which was launched in 2018 with a first cohort of winners from Asia. Part of the vision is to create a global network of young innovators in maize based systems from around the world.

2019 award recipients were invited to attend the Stress Tolerant Maize for Africa (STMA) project meeting in Lusaka, May 7-9, where they had the opportunity to present their work. The project meeting and award ceremony also allowed these young innovators to network and exchange experiences with MAIZE researchers and partners. Looking forward, award recipients may also get the opportunity to collaborate with MAIZE and its partner scientists in Africa on implementing or furthering their innovations.

This year’s five awardees are:

Hildegarde Dukunde (Rwanda) – Category: Change Agent

Dukunde is a graduate in Human Nutrition and serves as a Sales Associate for Agrifood Business Consulting Ltd. She has been at the forefront of preventing aflatoxin contamination in Rwanda by helping smallholder farmers to access low-cost post-harvest equipment, namely DryCard™ and Purdue Improved Crop Storage (PICS) bags. The DryCard™ is an inexpensive device developed by University of California Davis researchers for determining if dried food is dry enough to prevent mold growth and aflatoxin contamination during storage and reducing post-harvest losses.

Mila Lokwa Giresse (Democratic Republic of the Congo) – Category: Change Agent

Giresse is the CEO of Mobile Agribiz. This company develops the Mobile Agribiz App, an innovative tool to enhance the pest and disease diagnostics of fall armyworm in maize. It uses artificial intelligence and machine learning to easily detect the pest across maize crops at any stage of the production cycle. The app aims to assist farmers, extension workers, and agribusinesses in democratic republic of Congo with early detection and accurate diagnosis. Through SMS and smart alert notifications, the Mobile Agribiz App provides farmers with constant reminders and real-time information on how to detect, manage, and address fall armyworm on maize.

Blessings Likagwa (Malawi) – Category: Farmer

Likagwa lives in Mtunthama, Malawi, where he works on his family’s farm. From a young age he has had an interest in farming and for the past eight years he has been involved in growing a variety of crops, especially maize and cassava. In the future he hopes to use his bachelor’s degree in Community Development and his interest in technology to help smallholder farmers in Malawi and Eastern Africa adapt to the challenges of climate change and rapid population growth. Since 2018, in collaboration with UNICEF and Kyoto University, he has investigated how drone technology can improve agricultural performance and benefit Malawi’s smallholders.

Ismael Mayanja (Uganda) – Category: Researcher

Mayanja is a 2019 graduate of Makerere University with a Bachelor of Science degree in Agricultural Engineering. He is currently assisting research at Makerere University to ascertain and quantify post-harvest losses associated with transportation of agricultural produce in the markets of Kampala district, Uganda. His primary research interest lies in post-harvest handling and technology, motivated by the reported 40% post-harvest loss of agricultural produce by farmers in sub-Saharan Africa. He developed a bicycle-powered maize cleaning machine to increase efficiency and reduce time dedicated to cleaning maize at several primary schools in Uganda.

Admire Shayanowako (Republic of South Africa) – Category: Researcher

Shayanowako is a researcher at the African Centre for Crop Improvement (ACCI) – University KwaZulu-Natal. His research focuses on the parasitic weed Striga, also known as witch weed, which causes severe crop losses to millions of small-scale African maize farmers. The goal of the project is to combine breeding for Striga resistance in maize with a soil fungus, Fusarium oxysporum f.sp. strigae (FOS) that is highly specific in its pathogenicity to Striga and acts as a biological control agent. The breeding approach aims to develop at least partial host resistance in open pollinated maize germplasms that are adapted to the semi-arid regions. When partial host resistance is augmented with biological control agent FOS, parasitic effects of Striga decline overwhelmingly. Currently, the breeding component of the research has embarked on identification of quantitative trait locus (QTL) controlling Striga resistance in maize through genomic based approaches.

For further information, contact:

Jennifer Johnson
Communications Officer, CGIAR Research Program on Maize (MAIZE)
Telephone: +52 (55) 5804 2004 ext. 1036
Email: j.a.johnson@cgiar.org