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Location: Americas

CIMMYT has several offices in the Americas, including global headquarters in Mexico and a regional office in Colombia. Activities are supported by an additional 140 hectares of stations in diverse agro-ecological zones of Mexico. CIMMYT’s genebank in Mexico stores 27,000 maize and 170,000 wheat seed collections – key to preserving the crop genetic diversity of the region. CIMMYT projects range from developing nutritionally enhanced maize to mapping regional climate change hot spots in Central America. The comprehensive MasAgro project aims to increase wheat production in Mexico by 9 million tons and maize production by 350,000 tons by 2030. CIMMYT promotes regional collaboration and facilitates capacity building for scientists, researchers and technicians.

Technical support for sustainable maize and associated crops production in Iguala

Written by mcallejas on . Posted in Uncategorized.

The primary focus of this project is on providing technical support to maize and associated crops growers, to develop, validate and implement a working methodology based on a technological menu that responds to the needs of their agri-food systems, aligned with the 2021-2024 government program of the Iguala municipality in Mexico’s Guerrero state.

The project aims to align with the Sustainable Development Goals: SDG 2 – Zero Hunger; SDG 3 – Good Health and Well-Being for People; SDG 12 – Responsible Consumption and Production; SDG 13 – Climate Action; SGD 17 – Partnerships for the Goals.

Direct project scopes:

  • Technical accompaniment to 40 producers and their impact on at least 80 ha. of maize and associated crops for the adoption of sustainable practices and their linkage to the innovation network, to increase productivity and profitability of the productive process of small, medium and large producers with a focus on sustainable agriculture.
  • Follow-up during the period of technical attention of 2 modules and 40 areas of impact, to consolidate, maintain and increase the infrastructure where innovations that respond to the needs of producers in the municipality are adapted.
  • Development of training events for the development of capacities of 30 producers and key actors linked to the innovation network in the municipality.
  • Operate a solid communication strategy through the institutional media and its outreach, to position the project’s activities and the promotion of sustainable agriculture by the municipal government.

 

 

 

Forging scaling partnerships in Latin America: Scaling specialists meet to strengthen future collaborations and learn from past experiences

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

On May 26, 2023, representatives from the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT) and the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) hosted a scaling networking event at CIMMYT headquarters in Texcoco, Mexico. This event marked the culmination of a Scaling Readiness Training organized by the One CGIAR Portfolio Performance Unit (PPU), which included 30 participants from various CGIAR centers working on various One CGIAR Initiatives.

Consequently, the Scaling Networking Event was happy to bring together scaling experts from the CGIAR training together with other experts from GIZ, CIMMYT, and other academic and non-governmental organizations. The participants exchanged learnings, ideas, and methodologies for scaling agricultural innovations. Fortunately, this did not remain just an abstract exercise as the attendees were also eager to explore future joint scaling projects. Because collaboration is one of the most important factors in scaling innovations, the purpose of the event was to establish new collaborative initiatives and partnerships.

GIZ and CIMMYT have a long history of collaboration in Mexico and elsewhere. In Africa, for example, a group of mechanization specialists from CIMMYT recently provided training in this area to strengthen the work of the GIZ Green Innovation Centers for the agricultural and food sectors. In this event, both organizations explained what they meant by scaling and how they have worked on it using tools such as the Scaling Scan. The Scaling Scan is another example of the collaboration between GIZ and CIMMYT (and the Netherlands Development Organization SNV) and is a tool that analyzes bottlenecks and opportunities in scaling and innovation.

Both organizations noted a need to explore a wider space to connect sectors and actors interested in scaling innovations developed by agricultural research. Looking at different scaling approaches, the Scaling Readiness framework was presented as the official scaling practice in One CGIAR. Also, the University of Chapingo and the Universidad Iberoamericana in Mexico showed the tools they are using from analyzing social networks and Geographical Information Systems. They showed the connections with people that scaling requires and the importance of basing scaling assessments on quantitative data.

Plenary discussion to identify the best ways to carry out collaborations (Photo: Ronay Flores/CIMMYT)

The Mexican Center for Philanthropy (CEMEFI) and GIZ Mexico also discussed the difficulties that come with deciding what to scale and how to do so responsibly. Given current environmental concerns, GIZ Mexico emphasized the need to scale technologies at the intersection between biodiversity and agriculture.  CEMEFI started a dialogue among scaling specialists about how to scale while also taking social factors into account. The major topics that came out of this discussion were the need to engage communities more, spend time with them planning interventions, and examine power relations.

As part of this event, scaling practitioners from three One CGIAR Research Initiatives, of which CIMMYT is a member, presented their scaling reflections. They shared their work and some research questions that are now being investigated in the Digital Initiative, the Latin American “AgriLAC” Initiative, and the Mitigation Plus Initiative. Some of the questions addressed in the event included what criteria should be chosen to select innovations, how to bring different scaling processes together, and finally, how to develop scaling strategies that could be supported by the digital and technological enabling conditions and tools.

Before the event concluded, the participants still had sufficient energy to debate and support the idea of creating a Latin American scaling community of practice to continue exchanging scaling experiences in the region, not only with partners but between scaling researchers and practitioners. The expected result would be to strengthen scaling work so that the most relevant practices to make agri-food systems resilient and sustainable could be adopted, adapted, or transformed to suit each community and its needs in each context.

What then were the final learnings for this event? The importance of scaling with partners; the need to address social inclusion in scaling by understanding power relations; and the sharing of varied scaling experiences and processes. All of this was highlighted at the end of the meeting, which gave closure to the day but an initial drive towards future potential collaborations that were created out of it.

Hot, dry, windy events on the rise in Kansas wheat fields

Written by mcallejas on . Posted in In the media.

Kansas is experiencing a record-breaking year for hot, dry, windy (HDW) — the nation’s largest winter wheat producer — hit worse than any other state. CIMMYT researchers act to avert food insecurity as temperatures climb, atmospheric pressure increases — generating faster and longer gusts of wind and unpredictable weather conditions.

Click here to read the full story.

 

Regenerative Agriculture Boosts Second Green Revolution

Written by mcallejas on . Posted in In the media.

CIMMYT leds different regenerative agriculture projects with companies like Nestlé and Bimbo that positively impact food security and rural communities in Mexico. These initiatives aim to boost productivity through regenerative agriculture practices to positively impact food security, the environment and social inclusion in the Mexican countryside.

Read the full story.

 

CIMMYT at the AIM for Climate Summit

Written by Alison Doody on . Posted in News.

Sieg Snapp, Tek Sapkota, and partners photographed during AIM for Climate (Photo: CIMMYT)

As climate change threats accelerate, new technologies, products, and approaches are required for smallholder farmers to mitigate and adapt to current and future threats. Targeting smallholder farmers will benefit not only the farmers but the entire agri-food system through enhanced locally relevant knowledge that harnesses handheld sensors and advisories on management options, soil status, weather, and market information.

The Agriculture Innovation Mission for Climate (AIM for Climate / AIM4C) seeks to address climate change and global hunger by uniting participants to significantly increase investment in, and other support for, climate-smart agriculture and food systems innovation over five years (2021–2025).

The International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT), as a partner of AIM for Climate, organized a breakout session titled “Smart Smallholder Fertilizer Management to Address Food Security, Climate Change, and Planetary Boundaries” during the AIM for Climate Summit in Washington DC, May 8-10, 2023.

Fertilizers are essential for increasing crop yields and ensuring food security, yet fertilizer use for food and fodder is severely skewed at the global level, leading to over-fertilization in some regions and under-fertilization in others.

Farmers in low-income countries are highly vulnerable to fertilizer supply shortages and price spikes, which have direct consequences for food prices and hunger. Improving fertilizer efficiency and integrated organic and inorganic sources is important globally as nutrient loss to the environment from inappropriate input use drives greenhouse gas emissions and pollution.

Innovation Sprint

Because smallholder farmers are the primary managers of land and water, the CIMMYT-led AIM4C Innovation Sprint, Climate-Resilient soil fertility management by smallholders in Africa, Asia, and Latin America is designed to implement and scale-up a range of climate robust nutrient management strategies in 12 countries, and to reach tens of millions of smallholder farmers in close collaboration with nearly 100 public-private partners organizations.

Sieg Snapp called for more investments in data synthesis (Photo: CIMMYT)

Strategies include innovations in extension where digital tools enable farmer-centered private and public advisories to increase the uptake of locally adapted nutrient management practices. Connecting farmers to investors and markets provides financial support for improved nutrient management.

By tailoring validated fertility management practices to their specific conditions, and integrated use of legumes and manure, smallholders will optimize productivity, enhance climate resilience, and mitigate greenhouse gas emissions. Research from other organizations has determined that improved fertilizer management can increase global crop yield by 30% while reducing greenhouse gas emissions.

Right place, right time

“We need locally adapted fertilizer management approaches that work for smallholder farmers. By tailoring validated fertility management practices to their specific conditions, smallholders will optimize productivity, enhance climate resilience, and mitigate greenhouse gas emissions,” said Sieg Snapp, CIMMYT’s Sustainable Agricultural Systems Program Director. She continued, “What is needed now is major investment in data synthesis. Through this SPRINT we are exploring options to enable taking sensors to scale, to reach tens of millions of farmers with hyper-local soils information.”

Inequality is the core of the problem in fertilizer management: some regions apply more than the required amount, where in other regions fertilizer application is insufficient for plant needs, leading to low yields and soil degradation.

Tek Sapkota spoke on fertilizer management (Photo: CIMMYT)

“Fertilizer efficiency can be improved through application of the right amount of fertilizer using the right source employing the right methods of application at the right time of plant demand,” said Tek Sapkota, CIMMYT Senior Scientist, Agricultural System/Climate Change.

The session included presentations by the Foundation for Food & Agriculture Research (FFAR), UN Foundation, Pakistan Agricultural Research Council (PARC), Stockholm International Water Institute (SIWI), USDA, and Alliance of CIAT-Bioversity. Highlights sustainable and climate-smart practices in Pakistan, novel plant genetics for improved nitrogen cycling, and soil water and nutrient management in the Zambezi to tackle food security and climate change challenges.

Twenty Years of Enriching Diets with Biofortification

Written by Leslie Domínguez on . Posted in Features.

It is an important year for biofortification: 2023 will mark the 20th anniversary of this nutrition-agricultural innovation, for which its pioneers were awarded the World Food Prize.

More than three billion people around the world, mostly in Africa, Asia, and Latin America, cannot afford a nourishing, diverse diet that provides enough vitamins and minerals (micronutrients). While efforts to pursue dietary diversity—the accepted gold standard for optimal health—must continue, a healthy diet remains out of reach for a vast majority of the world’s population.

The consequences are dire. A staggering two billion people get so little essential micronutrients from their diets that they suffer from “hidden hunger”, the often-invisible scourge of micronutrient malnutrition.

To combat hidden hunger requires a range of context-specific combinations of evidence-based interventions that complement each other, including dietary diversification, supplementation, commercial food fortification, biofortification, and public health measures (like safe water, sanitation, and breastfeeding).

There is no single solution to ensure everyone, everywhere has access to an affordable, diverse, and healthy diet. Biofortification is one of the many important solutions being implemented by global research partners working together across CGIAR to ensure a food-secure future for all.

It is imperative to implement interventions that are practical and accessible in regions and among people most affected by hidden hunger, such as women and children in rural farming families in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs), who primarily eat what they grow. This is particularly important during periods of rapid growth and development like in the first 1,000 days of life, after which the negative impacts of an insufficient diet become largely irreversible.

In this 20th anniversary year of HarvestPlus and biofortification, we review biofortification’s role, advantages, and scale as an essential part of CGIAR-wide effort to improve global nutrition.

Biofortification: A Complementary Approach to Reduce Malnutrition

“Biofortified crops are going to be game-changers in dealing with… malnutrition in our world today.”
Dr. Adesina, President of the African Development Bank, World Food Prize Laureate

Staple food crops contain fewer vitamins and minerals than animal-based foods and some vegetables and fruits. Yet wheat, maize, rice, cassava, sweet potato, beans, pearl millet, and other staple foods make up the foundation of most diets around the world, and should therefore be as nutritious as possible.

Staple foods also offer nutritional protection against food systems shocks, especially for vulnerable populations who are unable to access a healthy and diverse diet, and whose reliance on staple food crops increases during times of crises. Through biofortification, staple crops can contribute a high proportion of the micronutrients needed for good health and nutrition.

Biofortification efforts to date have focused mainly on using conventional plant breeding and agronomic techniques to add more of the micronutrients most lacking in diets around the world—zinc, iron, and vitamin A— into staple crops. This approach acknowledges that many poor people cannot afford or access the variety of non-staple foods they need for optimal health, and are often underserved by other large-scale public health nutrition interventions.

“[Biofortified] crops provide a sustainable source of much needed nutrients to rural communities.”
Prof. Watts, Chief Scientific Advisor and Director for Research and Evidence, UK Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office

Eating poor-quality, and often unsafe, food perpetuates a cycle of poverty, infection, and malnutrition. Enriching nutrients into staple crops that farmers are already eating provides a safety net against severe levels of deficiency and helps mitigate challenges of nutrition insecurity due to climate change.

CGIAR transdisciplinary, participatory, and action-oriented research and innovations to improve nutritional outcomes, including biofortification, are making a vital contribution towards realizing Sustainable Development Goal 2 to end hunger and all forms of malnutrition.

Meeting Nutritional Needs

Biofortified crops are targeted mostly at rural food systems in LMICs, where deficiencies in vitamin A, iron, and zinc are highly prevalent. Young children, adolescent girls, and women are the priority groups for biofortification because their relatively high micronutrient needs predispose them to hidden hunger.

The scientific body of evidence supporting biofortification spans over two decades. Each biofortified crop is the subject of extensive research to evaluate its intrinsic nutritional value and its potential impacts on human nutrition and health.

Vitamin A orange sweet potato (OSP) was the first biofortified staple to be delivered at scale and evaluated in sub-Saharan Africa, a joint effort by HarvestPlus, the International Potato Center, and the International Food Policy Research Institute. It has very high levels of vitamin A (traditional white varieties contain none) and long-term studies indicate it can help reduce diarrhea in children and is a cost-effective way to improve population vitamin A intake, thereby improving child and maternal health and reducing the likelihood of vitamin A deficiency. Breeding efforts are now simultaneously increasing the iron content of OSP, to deliver more of multiple stacked micronutrients.

Evidence from additional randomized controlled trials have demonstrated that nutrient-enhanced staple crops generate positive direct and indirect health effects on multiple age groups, for example:

Supplementation studies have clearly shown that improvements in micronutrient status, particularly zinc, vitamin A, and iron status, generate improvements in immunity, growth, and multiple other dimensions of good health. The improvements are not specific to how the micronutrients are delivered (e.g., by food or pills), but rather due to positive changes in nutritional status.

Breeding for Improved Grain Yield and Nutritional Quality

“The reason for growing these varieties, is better yield, more profitability and better zinc nutrition for our families.”
— Mr Tariq, Pakistani farmer

Adoption of biofortification is demand driven. All released biofortified varieties are agronomically competitive in the agricultural zone(s) for which they were developed, relative to the varieties farmers already grow.

Crop breeding efforts are responsive to the expressed priorities and preferences of farming families and their countries. High yields are among the traits considered non-negotiable by breeders and farmers alike, and are a driver for national authorities to approve the release of new varieties in their countries to farmers to grow them.

Innovative breeders at CGIAR centers and National Agricultural Research Extension Systems have successfully been able to achieve exceptional yield and nutrition gains simultaneously in biofortified varieties, a benefit that is realized by farmers.

“[Nyota, an iron bean] can easily give me over 3 tons per hectare, as compared to other varieties that yield about 2 tons.”
— Mr Burde, Kenyan seed producer

 

Breeding pipelines are dynamic and always adapting to new stresses. Nutrient-enriched varieties of crops are continuously improved by breeders who breed varieties for progressively higher levels of micronutrients, which are also agronomically competitive (e.g., disease and pest resistant), well adapted to a wide range of climatic conditions (e.g., drought and heat tolerant), and exhibit food quality traits desired by farmers, food processors, and consumers (e.g., fast cooking time and good taste).

In Pakistan, one of the highest wheat-consuming countries in the world, the zinc wheat variety Akbar-2019 is now a ‘mega-variety’. It provides 30 percent more zinc and 8-10 percent higher yield than previous popular varieties. Developed by the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT) in partnership with HarvestPlus, and released by the Wheat Research Institute of the Ayub Agricultural Research Institute, Faisalabad, Akbar-2019 is also resistant to rusts and well adapted to a range of sowing dates. Farmers attest to the good quality of the chapatti (flat bread) made from its flour. Akbar-2019 is already being grown on more than three million hectares of land—and soon an estimated 100 million people will eat chapatti made from its flour and reap the benefits of added zinc in their diets.

“My father-in-law… has expressed a desire to continue growing only biofortified zinc wheat from now on. In addition to the grain quality, the plants also grow well in tough geographical conditions.”
— Ms Devi, Indian farmer

In Nigeria, HarvestPlus and partners including the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture have developed varieties of vitamin A cassava with multiple traits attractive for farmers. Survey data indicates vitamin A cassava varieties have an average fresh root yield of 20.5 metric tons per hectare (MT/Ha), well above the average yield of 10.2 MT/Ha of other improved but non-biofortified varieties. Nearly 2.1 million farmers are growing vitamin A cassava in Nigeria, providing added dietary vitamin A to over 10 million people in a country where vitamin A deficiency is a severe, yet preventable, public health problem.

Farmers carefully consider yield, profitability, stress tolerance, taste, and more when selecting the varieties they grow—over 17 million farming households chose to grow biofortified varieties in 2022, enriching the diets of over 86 million people.

Contributing To Agricultural Diversity

To establish new crops with higher levels of micronutrients, breeders tap into the spectrum of genetic diversity stored within global plant gene banks to find nutrient-dense qualities from underutilized plant species (including wild species or those naturally evolved in certain geographic areas).

Through breeding for improved nutrition, biofortification also transfers otherwise untapped variation for traits other than micronutrients into newly developed crops, increasing the genetic agrobiodiversity not only in biofortified varieties, but also non-biofortified varieties derived from crossing micronutrient-dense plant ‘parents’ to produce high micronutrient ‘offspring’.

Micronutrient genes are not subject to erosion in the breeding process (as genes are for disease or pest resistance), like the dwarfing genes in wheat and rice that catalyzed the green revolution.

CGIAR has committed to mainstreaming improved nutrient traits in most of their breeding lines through crop breeding, given its proven cost-effective and sustainable approach to enriching staple food crops.

Committed to Scaling

 

Governments and other “Our aim should be to make every family farm a biofortified farm.”
— Dr MS Swaminathan, World Food Prize Laureate, Father of Indian Green Revolution

HarvestPlus partners, collaborators, and advocates support country-level initiatives that promote the integration of biofortified seeds, crops, and foods into local, national, and regional policies and programs. These collective efforts and alliances are the catalyst behind the scale up to over 86 million people in farming households eating nutrient-enriched foods in 2022, 22% more than in 2021.

In 2022, a declaration adopted by the African Union to scale up food fortification and biofortification in Africa—to make nutrient-rich foods sustainably available, accessible, and affordable—was centered on ensuring healthy diets reach those who need them most.

The Government of DR Congo has committed to scaling biofortified crop adoption and production, and its integration into the wider food system. Biofortified crops are included as one component of a wide-reaching, multi-sectoral nutrition program, funded with a loan from the World Bank.

In India, the Indian Council of Agricultural Research established minimum levels of iron and zinc to be bred into national varieties of pearl millet. The All-India Coordinated Research Project on Pearl Millet encouraged National Agricultural Research Systems to begin breeding programs for micronutrients along with higher yields in 2014. Joint efforts by the International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics and HarvestPlus to enhanced the levels of iron in pearl millet have brought notable endorsement of biofortification by the Honorable Prime Minister Modi as a solution to address malnutrition.

The Copenhagen Consensus, a global research think-tank and policy advisory group, assessed biofortification and concluded for every USD 1 spent on biofortification, as much as USD 17 in benefits could be generated, and deemed biofortification, supplementation, and fortification as some of the smartest ways to spend money and advance global welfare.

Systematic reviews and ex-ante (before intervention) analyses of several micronutrient-crop and country scenarios have shown that biofortification is highly cost-effective when measured by the World Bank’s criteria of cost per Disability-Adjusted Life Year (DALY) saved. These analyses show biofortified crops to be in the range of USD 15-20 per DALY saved—far below the World Bank’s cost-effectiveness threshold of USD 270 per DALY.

“Patience, perseverance, and vision are required to achieve the cost-effectiveness of linking agriculture and nutrition in general, and biofortification in particular. The donors to the CGIAR system realized this by continuing investments well after the 20th anniversaries of CIMMYT and the International Rice Research Institute.” — Howarth (Howdy) Bouis, HarvestPlus Founding Director, World Food Prize Laureate

Global Benefit

The number of vulnerable rural families and communities growing and benefiting from nutrient-enriched crops has significantly increased year over year. Today, over 86 million people in farming households are eating biofortified foods—progressing rapidly towards 100 million in later 2023.

Eliminating malnutrition requires multiple solutions, and biofortification is an extremely important part of CGIAR’s efforts in pursuit of this goal.

Research has proven biofortification to be an efficacious, cost-effective, and scalable innovation that can play a pivotal role in transforming food systems to deliver affordable and accessible nutritious food for all.

This story was originally posted by HarvestPlus: Twenty Years of Enriching Diets with Biofortification.

Cover photo: Experimental harvest of provitamin A-enriched orange maize, Zambia. (Photo: CIMMYT)

Sabina Tiwari

Written by Sarah McLaughlin on . Posted in Uncategorized.

Sabina Tiwari is an Assistant Research Associate (Plant Breeding). The major responsibilities are coordinating field operations for the evaluation and validation of new varieties with enhanced tolerance to multiple biotic and abiotic stresses, organizing technical training and demonstrations for farmers and seed company partners, and contributing to preparing journal articles/ scientific publications. Her work involves multi-location field trials in collaboration with project partners in Nepal.

CGIAR Initiative: Breeding Resources

Written by Sarah McLaughlin on . Posted in Uncategorized.

Crop breeding has the potential to significantly contribute to addressing the global challenges of poverty, malnutrition, hunger, gender inequality, environmental degradation and climate change. Rapid population growth, climate change and market crises in low-income and middle-income countries mean that crop breeding must be far more agile and professional than ever before. Data-driven, modernized breeding with tools and technologies such as genomic selection, quantitative genetics, high-throughput phenotyping and bioinformatics, are needed to accelerate and advance improvement in varieties.  

Across the CGIAR-NARES (National Agricultural Research and Extension Systems) crop breeding networks, there is huge opportunity to reach the full potential to improve the lives of farmers and consumers: to share innovations to their full potential; reduce costs associated with services such as bioinformatics; de-fragment disparate data and incompatible technologies; apply consistent standards; and improve access to tools, technologies and shared services.

This Initiative aims to improve the genetic, economic, social and environmental performance of breeding programs across the CGIAR-NARES breeding network.

This objective will be achieved through:

  • Undertaking strategic modernization so that breeding schemes are designed using the most up-to-date methods, namely: quantitative genetics and computer simulation, including modeling of adoption and benefits across the breeding network, and budget forecasting for management of the portfolio and operational improvements. 
  • Delivering cost-effective shared services through coordinating services such as genotyping and data management, leading to efficiency and greater bargaining power in purchasing or contracting equipment, software and services, ultimately enabling the generation and analysis of high-quality and consistent data across the breeding network. 
  • Implementing performance management of consistent, connected operations through a dedicated performance management team supporting breeding programs and data management teams in describing, harmonizing and adopting standard operating protocols, workflow charts and quality controls across the networks. 
  • Making smarter use of data, enabling CGIAR-NARES networks to share standardized data, creating larger and more powerful datasets that can be readily analyzed and interpreted. 
  • Promoting innovation and research exchange through developing and implementing change management plans, and supporting region-specific capacity building to increase global adoption of modernized breeding tools, technologies and shared services across the network.

This Initiative will work with breeding programs serving countries in Sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia, along with Asia and Latin America. High-priority countries for the Initiative include Ghana, Kenya, Nigeria, Senegal, Tanzania, Uganda, Zimbabwe and Zambia in Africa, and Bangladesh and India in South Asia.

Proposed 3-year outcomes include:

  1. Varieties are developed 30% faster for 70% of targeted breeding programs. 
  2. Shared services reduce costs by 25% in a majority of target programs, making modernized breeding more accessible across the global CGIAR-NARES networks. 
  3. At least 70% of targeted breeding programs make data-driven decisions using genomic, phenotypic and environmental data at more than one major decision point. 
  4. At least a 70% improvement of Initiative’s targeted breeding programs in at least 50% of impact area tracking indicators as a result of CGIAR-NARES leadership. 
  5. Increased capacity in at least 15 NARES institutions, demonstrated by increased access to tools, technologies and shared services (of more than one type) more than once a year. 
  6. A least 70% of the Initiative’s targeted continuous breeding programs increase or add at least one target to their modernization plan. 
  7. Standardized protocols shared in a common system. 
  8. Harmonized operations enabling consistent data generation. 
  9. Adoption of quality management system within facilities. 
  10. Establishment of Breeding Pipeline Improvement Monitoring System to support informative performance monitoring that reduces the complexity of breeding activities to the core metrics material for decision-making, as aligned to shared goals. 
  11. Establishment of performance monitoring system to track implementation of standardized processes and quality of operations along with modernization progress and the impacts of the resulting breeding program. 

CGIAR Initiative: Seed Equal

Written by Sarah McLaughlin on . Posted in Uncategorized.

Inadequate seed supply and delivery systems, sometimes also misaligned with user and market demand, mean that smallholders often recycle seed or use older varieties, leaving them more vulnerable to pests and diseases.  Small-scale farmers, especially women and other disadvantaged groups, are particularly vulnerable to climate-related challenges, such as more frequent and severe droughts and erratic rainfall. Additionally, farmers may not be well informed about varietal options available to them or may be reluctant to experiment with new varieties. These challenges threaten agricultural production and can compromise their ability to meet their own food, nutrition and income needs.  

Improved varieties, innovations and approaches developed and promoted by CGIAR and partners could transform agrifood systems and reduce yield gaps, “hunger months” and other disparities. However, limited access to and use of affordable, quality seed of well-adapted varieties with desired traits, means these bottlenecks remain. 

This Initiative aims to support the delivery of seed of improved, climate-resilient, market-preferred and nutritious varieties of priority crops, embodying a high rate of genetic gain to farmers, ensuring equitable access for women and other disadvantaged groups.

This objective will be achieved through:

  • Supporting demand-driven cereal seed systems for more effective delivery of genetic gains from One CGIAR cereal breeding, as well as improving government, private sector and farmer-based capacity to deliver productive, resilient and preferred varieties to smallholders. 
  • Boosting legume seed through a demand-led approach that builds on growing demand for grain legumes. This multistakeholder approach will strengthen partnerships to provide efficient, more predictable and demand-led access to quality seed of new varieties. 
  • Scaling and delivering vegetatively propagated crop seed through sustainable enhanced delivery pathways that efficiently target different market segments and farmer preferences. 
  • Supporting partnerships (including with smallholders), capacity building and coordination to ensure uptake of public-bred varieties and other innovations by providing technical assistance for national agricultural research and extension systems (NARES) and foundation seed organizations in early-generation seed production and on-farm demonstrations. 
  • Developing and implementing policies for varietal turnover, seed quality assurance and trade in seeds by leveraging global expertise and experience to generate both the evidence and engagement necessary to advance efficient, sustainable, and inclusive seed markets that promote varietal turnover and wider adoption. 
  • Scaling equitable access to quality seed and traits in order to reach the unreached and provide inclusive access while addressing gender and social constraints and the digital divide. 

Engagement

This Initiative will work in Bangladesh, Ethiopia, India, Kenya, Mozambique, Nepal, Nigeria, Rwanda, Uganda and Tanzania as a priority, followed by other countries in Latin America, South and Southeast Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa. 

Outcomes

Proposed 3-year outcomes include:

  1. Robust tools developed and used by funders, developers, researchers and extension staff to sustainably measure and monitor key seed system metrics. 
  2. Increase of 10% in the quantity of quality seed of improved “best-fit” and farmer-preferred varieties available to farmers in representative crops and geographies due to increased capacity of seed companies and other seed multipliers (including farm-based seed actors).  
  3. Public and private seed enterprises adopting innovative and transformative models for accessing, disseminating and multiplying quality early-generation seed, reducing cost and increasing output. 
  4. Reduction of 5% in weighted average varietal age for priority crops in selected countries.     
  5. Government partners in policy design and implementation actively promote policy solutions to accelerate varietal turnover, adoption and quality seed use. 

CGIAR Initiative: Accelerated Breeding

Written by Sarah McLaughlin on . Posted in Uncategorized.

Resource-poor farmers in low-income and middle-income countries will hugely benefit from improved crop varieties that perform better in terms of nutritional quality, income generation, water and nutrient use, stability of yields under climate change, and the needs of both women and men as farmers and as consumers.  

However, many smallholder farmers still grow old varieties, in part because they derive inadequate benefits from recent breeding efforts. To trigger timely adoption, new varieties must be widely available and affordable to farmers, and offer a step-change in performance through higher rates of genetic gain. A faster pace of varietal turnover is critical – to enable farmers to adapt and advance rapidly as climatic and market conditions change. 

Breeding programs also need a greater focus on developing farmer- and consumer- preferred varieties adapted to distinct production environments, markets and end uses. This can be facilitated by smarter design of breeding programs; stronger partnerships between CGIAR, National Agricultural Research and Extension Systems (NARES) and small and medium enterprises (SMEs); and strengthened organizational capacity.

This Initiative aims to develop better-performing, farmer-preferred crop varieties and to decrease the average age of varieties in farmers’ fields, providing real-time adaptation to climate change, evolving markets and production systems. 

The objective will be achieved through:

  • Re-focusing breeding teams and objectives on farmers’ needs, in particular the needs of women, through achievable product profiles and breeding pipelines targeting prioritized regions and market segments. 
  • Reorganizing breeding teams to drive efficiency gains through the coordinated engagement of specialists and processes using a common organizational framework, stage gates, key performance indicators and handover criteria. 
  • Transforming towards inclusive, impactful CGIAR-NARES-SME breeding networks with empowered partners, along with customized capacity building, standardized key performance indicators, and by dividing labor and resources across partners according to comparative advantage and aligned with national priorities. 
  • Discovering optimum traits and deployments through agile, demand-driven and effective trait discovery and deployment pipelines, and development of elite donor lines with novel and highly valuable traits. 
  • Accelerating population improvement and variety identification through optimizing breeding pipelines (trailing, parent selection, cycle time, use of Breeding Resources tools and services, etc.), with the goal of assuring all programs deliver market-demanded varieties that deliver greater rates of genetic gain per dollar invested. 

Engagement

This Initiative will work with breeding programs serving countries in Sub-Saharan Africa, and South Asia, along with Asia and Latin America. Priority countries for the Initiative include Ghana, Kenya, Nigeria, Senegal, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia and Zimbabwe in Africa, and Bangladesh and India in South Asia. 

Outcomes

Proposed 3-year outcomes include:

  1. At least 75% of breeding pipelines are oriented towards specific market segments, enabling greater focus on farmers’ needs, drivers of adoption, distinct impact areas and the strategic allocation of resources. 
  2. At least 70% of breeding pipelines use a revised organizational framework that provides operational clarity and effectiveness for specialized teams pursuing breeding outputs. 
  3. At least 80% of the breeding networks have implemented documented steps toward stronger partnership models where NARES and SMEs have increased breeding capacity, and make greater scientific, operational and decision-making contributions to the breeding process. 
  4. At least 50% of breeding pipelines are supported by a dedicated trait discovery and deployment program that delivers high-impact traits in the form of elite parental lines. 
  5. At least 70% of breeding pipelines have increased the rate of genetic gain in the form of farmer-preferred varieties, with at least 50% providing significantly improved varieties delivered to seed system recipients.    

CGIAR Initiative: Market Intelligence

Written by Sarah McLaughlin on . Posted in Uncategorized.

Decisions on how to invest scarce resources in CGIAR-NARES genetic innovation systems have been predominantly supply-driven and therefore potentially out-of-sync with the demands of smallholders, consumers and agro-industry. The turnover of improved crop varieties developed by CGIAR and its NARES partners (National Agricultural Research and Extension Services) has been slow. Small-scale seed businesses lack incentives to actively promote new varieties given weak demand. Little is known about the drivers of varietal replacement and product substitution, and the role of downstream market actors such as traders, processors and consumers in this process.  

There is a clear need for demand- and data-driven processes to guide genetic innovation systems, but efforts to advance this remain incomplete and fragmented within CGIAR. Current product profile design is strongly biased towards agronomic and stress-tolerance traits, with little systematic identification and integration of traits that contribute to wider social impact. 

This Initiative aims to maximize CGIAR and partners’ returns on investment in breeding, seed systems and other Initiatives based on reliable and timely market intelligence that enables stronger demand orientation and strengthens co-ownership and co-implementation by CGIAR and partners.

This objective will be achieved through:

  • Gathering market intelligence by collecting data to map global and regional challenges across CGIAR’s five impact areas, translating them into regional market segments and priorities for genetic innovation by identifying drivers of demand as well as variation by gender, age and social group.
  • Designing new-generation, gender-intentional target product profiles for each market segment using market intelligence. 
  • Generating behavioral intelligence based on what drives farmers, consumers and private-sector decisions to adopt new varieties and supporting other Initiatives in identifying cost-effective inclusive strategies for accelerating varietal uptake. 
  • Developing pipeline investment cases by estimating the potential impact and return on investment across CGIAR’s five impact areas of the portfolio of breeding pipelines serving the market segments and developing recommendations for the portfolio optimization and prioritization. 
  • Developing institutional scaling and monitoring, evaluation, learning and impact assessment (MELIA) by establishing a collaboration hub across Genetic Innovation Initiatives and partners to develop scaling mechanisms for the adoption of institutional standards and processes in market segmentation and gender-intentional product profile design, and to conduct rigorous MELIA of the portfolio. 

Engagement

This Initiative has a global and regional focus, with countries being prioritized as a result of the Initiative’s work. 

Outcomes

Proposed 3-year outcomes include:

  1. At least three transdisciplinary teams across CGIAR and partners in prioritized regions are empowered in co-implementation of market and behavioral intelligence and co-design of product profiles. 
  2. At least 10 CGIAR partners in prioritized regions adopt institutional standards and processes for market segmentation and product profile design, sharing of market and behavioral intelligence and monitoring of outcomes. 
  3. At least five seed suppliers, food companies and NGOs in prioritized regions use market and behavioral intelligence from the Initiative in strategic decision-making. 
  4. At least three research leaders and investors make investment decisions using pipeline investment cases and the Initiative’s investor dashboard and the increased availability of information and transparent, holistic analyses of high-impact opportunities attract increased investments in underinvested and new-opportunity market segments.

The IDB and CGIAR discuss the importance of strengthening agrifood systems in Latin America and the Caribbean

Written by Sarah McLaughlin on . Posted in News.

Participants at the roundtable discussion on the IDB report Competing in Agribusiness: Corporate Strategies and Public Policies for the Challenges of the 21st Century. (Photo: CIMMYT)

CGIAR’s Regional Office for Latin America and the Caribbean, in collaboration with the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT), organized an important roundtable discussion at the beginning of February on the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) report entitled Competing in Agribusiness: Corporate Strategies and Public Policies for the Challenges of the 21st Century. The main objective of this event was to advance the search for shared strategies to strengthen agrifood systems in Latin America and the Caribbean.

According to representatives from both institutions, strengthening Latin America’s agrifood systems would allow the region to consolidate its position as a leader in agricultural exports and make a significant contribution to the development and prosperity of its societies.

In his opening address to more than 130 event participants who followed the roundtable webcasting from CIMMYT HQ in Mexico, the CGIAR’s Regional Director for Latin America and the Caribbean, Joaquín Lozano, praised the quality of the report and highlighted that it provides new perspectives on issues  very closely related to the CGIAR’s mandate and work, such as innovation in agriculture, the importance of public goods, and the climate challenges affecting agrifood systems.

Lozano emphasized that, although agrifood systems have not traditionally been considered a suitable area for investment in innovation, this perception is changing thanks to science-based and precision agriculture. He further affirmed that the work of institutions dedicated to agricultural innovation and research, such as the CGIAR, make critical contributions to developing these areas.

“These forms of agriculture not only contribute to the development of agribusiness, but they could also be key to closing the technological, economic and social gap between modern and traditional agriculture,” he asserted. “For this to happen, there must be strong partnerships between scientific institutions, public authorities and development banks such as the IDB.”

Ernesto Stein, IDB Group representative in Mexico and coordinator of the team that prepared the report, also emphasized the key role that agriculture can play in the development and economic well-being of Latin American and Caribbean societies.

Ernesto Stein explaining the report’s main conclusions. (Photo: CIMMYT)

“Historically, it was thought that industrialization was the quickest path to development. However, this model has its limits. Moreover, agriculture has demonstrated that it can be not only a subsistence economic activity, but also an advanced production method,” he affirmed.

Stein warned that the success of this “alternative development strategy” is not automatic. The agrifood market requires higher and higher quality, sustainability and information standards, and meeting these requirements “depends on the development of new capacities.”

In this context, the IDB report describes 30 cases of agrifood companies, located in 12 Latin American countries, that have become successfully inserted into the market, and it analyzes the factors that have contributed to building these success stories.

These factors are related to value-addition strategies for agricultural products (meeting requirements of external markets; obtaining certifications; processing products with qualities that are especially valued by consumers; taking advantage of low-supply periods thanks to genetic innovation; developing by-products to optimize fresh produce that cannot reach markets; or creating a differentiated brand identity) and also to the model of productive organization (which the report divides into three: vertical integration companies [large-scale production companies with total control of all factors in the production process]; tractor companies [medium- or large-scale companies that contract production from small-scale producers]; and horizontal associative companies [such as cooperatives]).

The objective of the report is both descriptive and prospective, as the identification of these factors aims to inspire other companies and actors involved in defining rural development policies—especially governments—to help create conditions that will facilitate the replication or scaling-up of the models featured in the report.

The global presentation of the report was followed by the analysis of more specific questions. Speaking of the need for innovation in agriculture, Gustavo Crespi, from the IDB’s Competitiveness, Technology and Innovation Division, highlighted that “the innovation economy has always considered agriculture to be a sector of limited innovation. However, throughout the decades, agriculture has undertaken very significant productive and organizational transformations that have been underestimated.”

In fact, according to Crespi, agriculture is currently undergoing a complex transformation process, especially in the pre-cultivation, pre-harvest and post-harvest stages, that is successfully reducing the uncertainty associated with agriculture and greatly improving its efficiency.

Romina Ordoñez, from the IDB’s Rural Development, Environment and Disaster Risk Management Division, examined the environmental challenges affecting agricultural value chains and highlighted that these challenges also present opportunities, such as the fact that the environmental certification of an agricultural product allows it to generate additional income.

However, she warned that “the transition to more sustainable agriculture has an up-front cost that not everyone can afford.” Therefore, this transition requires the support of strong institutions —mainly public authorities, international organizations and development banks.

Subsequently, CGIAR commentators offered their perspectives from different angles. Valeria Piñeiro, from the Office for Latin America and the Caribbean at the International Food Policies Research Institute (IFPRI), also underscored the “key role that public goods must play in optimizing agricultural production systems.” According to Piñeiro, technological transformations must be accompanied by institutional and policy transformations.

Hugo Campos, Deputy Director General of Research at the International Potato Center (CIP, for its Spanish acronym), asserted that the event “could be a watershed in the way that we use innovation to generate value in agriculture.”

Deissy Martínez, Leader of the AgriLAC Resiliente Initiative. (Photo: CIMMYT)

Likewise, Deissy Martinez, Leader of the CGIAR’s AgriLAC Resiliente Initiative, emphasized that “in agriculture, it is possible to generate value from sustainability,” and that this fact, “which today is exceptional, should be the norm.”

After a thought-provoking session of questions and answers moderated by Jesús Quintana, Managing Director for the Americas at the Alliance of Bioversity International and CIAT Bram Govaerts, Director General a.i. of CIMMYT, concluded the event.

Govaerts highlighted that the challenge is to “connect innovation systems with agricultural value-addition models, ensuring that they have an impact in the fight against poverty and that they foster inclusion.” He also underscored that Latin America needs to think about where it would like to be in 2100 and work together to meet its objectives and determine “the when, the how and the where of its efforts” to transform its agrifood systems.

The roundtable discussion sparked discussions throughout and after the event. (Photo: CIMMYT)

The presenters’ and public’s diverse interventions confirmed the validity and relevance of the initial intuition that guided the IDB report and the event: strengthening agrifoods systems in Latin America and the Caribbean can make a decisive contribution to the development of the region and its societies. It was also clear that this objective can only be achieved through broad alliances that include the private and public sectors, large- and small-scale producers, investors, and national and international actors.

Access and download the report here.

Watch the video of the event here.

Read the original article: The IDB and CGIAR discuss the importance of strengthening agrifood systems in Latin America and the Caribbean

Latin American female scientists collaborate on CIMMYT-supported TechMaiz project

Written by Andrea Carvajal on . Posted in News.

A team of women researchers that are part of the Latin American Maize Network participated in the training given by CIMMYT in the framework of the TechMaiz project. (Photo: Francisco Alarcón and Fernando Garcilazo/CIMMYT)

Female scientists from four different Latin American countries have come together to work on TechMaiz, a project supported by the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT), and continue the organization’s commitment to inclusivity and inclusion.

The scientists spent four days in November at CIMMYT’s headquarters in Mexico to contribute to the training plan, which focused on genetic improvement, soil conservation, seed storage, analysis of the nutritional quality of grain and innovation management in the hub model of maize cultivation.

This training allowed the researchers from Ecuador, Colombia, Guatemala and Peru to discuss the use of new technological tools for sustainable intensification of production systems of small and medium farmers, as well as the challenges on the road to moving from efficiency to resilience.

The scientists involved in this training within the framework of the TechMaiz project were:

  • Liliana Atencio S. – A Colombian who works at the Colombian Agricultural Research Corporation (AGROSAVIA). She is an agricultural engineer with a master’s degree in agronomic science. This includes an emphasis on plant physiology and she has additional experience in transient and forage crop improvement programs.
  • Ana Pincay – An Ecuadorian working at the Santa Catalina Experimental Station of the National Institute of Agricultural Research (INIAP) as an agricultural researcher. She’s also a biotechnology engineer.
  • Alicia Medina – A Peruvian who is based at the National Institute of Agrarian Innovation (INIA) as a researcher. She is an agricultural engineer and has a master’s degree in development planning.
  • María Gabriela Albán – She has several responsibilities, including co-investigator, coordinates the academic-financial part and is a professor of the agronomy engineering career at the San Francisco de Quito University (USFQ) in Ecuador. She is an agribusiness engineer with a master’s degree in agricultural sciences with an emphasis on agricultural business development. Albán also has a diploma in design, management, and evaluation of development projects.
  • Karen Agreda – An agronomist engineer in agri-production systems. She has a postgraduate degree in alternative fruit and vegetable production and works as a specialized researcher in the validation and technology of transference program at the Institute of Agricultural Science and Technology (ICTA) in Guatemala.
Visiting a research plot under the guidance of Nele Verhulst, Cropping Systems Agronomist with CIMMYT’s Sustainable Agrifood Systems (SAS) program. (Photo: Francisco Alarcón and Fernando Garcilazo/CIMMYT)

Weaving bonds of trust to generate changes

Following a period of continuous interaction, the researchers identified not only a number of shared challenges in their respective countries, but also how much complementary and concrete opportunities for teamwork are created when bonds of trust and teamwork are strengthened.

“In addition to strengthening knowledge, there’s also the relationship between researchers and institutions, understanding the role of each member of the team is important and allows us to make greater progress,” said Atencio. “For example, Alicia works on improvement, Ana on the use of bio-inputs, and Karen on transfers and linking. We all see that there are opportunities in agriculture for innovation by using tools such as e-agrology. The result of this is that generational change is becoming more and more urgent.”

Proposing more ambitious projects, but also clearer and more precise ones, is part of the learning the researchers plan to take with them. The scientists are determined to share this information with their teams and colleagues, along with integrative approaches that are designed to strengthen the human talent of each institution.

“In Ecuador, we practice the agriculture of conservation, but we didn’t know the concept of not removing the soil,” Picay said. “It is always a good decision to invest in training, as it refreshes the thought, opens the mind and triggers actions.”

The TechMaíz project will continue in 2023 with its third year of implementation, promoting national meetings to promote and disseminate the use of sustainable technologies for maize production. CIMMYT training for members of the Latin American Maize Network is also expected to continue.