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The Intercropping project aims to identify options for smallholder farmers to sustainably intensify wide-row crop production through the addition of short-duration, high-value intercrop species and to help farmers increase their productivity, profitability and nutrition security while mitigating against climate change.
The focus is on intensification of wide-row planted crops: dry (rabi) season maize in Bangladesh, eastern India (Bihar and West Bengal states) and Bhutan, and sugarcane in central north India (Uttar Pradesh state). The primary focus is to sustainably improve cropping system productivity, however, the effects of wide-row, additive intercropping at the smallholder farm level will be considered, including potential food and nutrition benefits for the household.
There are many potential benefits of wide-row, additive intercropping, beyond increased cropping system productivity and profitability: water-, labor- and energy-use efficiencies; improved nutrition and food security for rural households; empowerment for women; and (over the longer term) increased soil health.
Little research has been conducted to date into wide-row, additive intercropping (as distinct from traditional replacement intercropping) in South Asian agroecologies. To successfully and sustainably integrate wide-row, additive intercropping into farmers’ cropping systems a range of challenges must be resolved, including optimal agronomic management and crop geometry, household- and farm-scale implications, and potential off-farm bottlenecks.
This project aims to identify practical methods to overcome these challenges for farming households in Bangladesh, Bhutan and India. Focusing on existing wide-row field crop production systems, the project aims to enable farmers to increase their cropping system productivity sustainably and in a manner that requires relatively few additional inputs.
Project activities and expected outcomes:
Evaluating farming households’ initial perspectives on wide-row, additive intercropping.
Conducting on station replicated field trials into wide-row, additive intercropping, focusing on those aspects of agronomic research difficult or unethical to undertake on farms.
Conducting on farm replicated field trials into wide-row, additive intercropping.
Determining how wide-row, additive intercropping could empower women. Quantify the long-term benefits, risks and trade-offs of wide-row, additive intercropping.
Describing key value/supply chains for wide-row, additive intercropping. Determine pathways to scale research to maximize impact.
Quantifying changes in household dry season nutrition for households representative of key typologies in each agroecological zone.
Seed company partners observe the performance of heat-tolerant hybrids in the dry heat of southern Karnataka, India. (Photo: CIMMYT)
Millions of smallholders in the Global South depend on maize, largely cultivated under rainfed conditions, for their own food security and livelihoods. Climate change mediated weather extremes, such as heat waves and frequent droughts, pose a major challenge to agricultural production, especially for rainfed crops like maize in the tropics.
“With both effects coming together under heat stress conditions, plants are surrounded, with no relief from the soil or the air,” said Pervez H. Zaidi, maize physiologist with CIMMYT’s Global Maize Program in Asia. “Climate change induced drought and heat stress results in a double-sided water deficit: supply-side drought due to depleted moisture in soils, and demand-side drought with decreased moisture in the surface air. “
Extreme weather events
Weather extremes have emerged as the major factor contributing to low productivity of the rainfed system in lowland tropics. South Asia is already experiencing soaring high temperatures (≥40◦C), at least 5◦C above the threshold limit for tropical maize and increased frequency of drought stress.
A woman agricultural officer discusses the performance of heat tolerant hybrids at farmers’ field in Raichur districts of Karnataka, India. (Photo: CIMMYT)
“In today’s warmer and drier climate, unless farmers have copious amounts of water (which might not be a sustainable choice for smallholders in the tropics) to not only meet the increased transpiration needs of the plants but also for increased evaporation to maintain necessary levels of humidity in the air, the climate change mediated weather extremes, such as heat and drought pose a major challenge to agricultural production, especially for rainfed crops like maize in lowland tropics,” said Zaidi.
To deal with emerging trends of unpredictable weather patterns with an increased number of warmer and drier days, new maize cultivars must combine high yield potential with tolerance to heat stress.
Maize designed to thrive in extreme weather conditions
CIMMYT’s Global Maize Program in South Asia, in partnership with public sector maize research institutes and private sector seed companies in the region, is implementing an intensive initiative for developing and deploying heat tolerant maize that combines high yield potential with resilience to heat and drought.
By integrating novel breeding and precision phenotyping tools and methods, new maize germplasm with enhanced levels of heat stress tolerance is being developed for lowland tropics. Over a decade of concerted efforts have resulted in over 50 elite heat stress tolerant, CIMMYT-derived maize hybrids licensed to public and private sector partners for varietal release, improved seed deployment, and scale-up.
Popular normal hybrids (left) & CAH153, a heat tolerant hybrid (right) under heat stress. (Photo: CIMMYT)
As of 2023, a total of 22 such high-yielding climate-adaptive maize (CAM) hybrids have been released by partners throughout South Asia. Through public-private partnerships, eight hybrids are being already deployed and scaled-up to over 100,000 hectares in Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Nepal, and Pakistan. Also, the heat tolerant lines developed by CIMMYT in Asia were used by maize programs in sub-Saharan Africa for developing heat tolerant maize hybrids by crossing these as trait donors with their elite maize lines.
Studies on the new CAM hybrids show that while their yield is like existing normal maize hybrids under favorable conditions, the CAM hybrids outperform normal hybrids significantly under unfavorable weather conditions.
“The unique selling point of the new CAM hybrids is that they guarantee a minimum yield of at least 1.0 tons per hectare to smallholder farmers under unfavorable weather when most of the existing normal hybrids end-up with very poor yield,” said Subhas Raj Upadhyay, from the Lumbini Seed Company Ltd. in Nepal.
Given the superior performance of CAM seeds in stress conditions, Nepali farmers have expressed willingness to pay a premium price: an average of 71% more with government subsidy, or at least 19% extra without a subsidy for CAM seed. Similarly, the farmers in hot-dry areas of the Karnataka state of India are ready to pay 37% premium price for CAM seed compared to normal hybrid seed. These reports strongly validate the demand of CAM seed and therefore a targeted initiative is needed to accelerate deployment and scaling these seeds in climate-vulnerable marginal agroecologies in tropics.
After a decade of rigorous effort, CIMMYT, along with public-sector maize research institutes and private-sector seed companies in South Asia, have successfully developed and released 20 high-yielding heat-tolerant (HT) maize hybrids across Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Nepal, and Pakistan. CIMMYT researchers used a combination of unique breeding tools and methods including genomics-assisted breeding, doubled haploidy (a speed-breeding approach where genotype is developed by chromosome doubling), field-based precision phenotyping, and trait-based selection to develop new maize germplasm that are high-yielding and also tolerant to heat and drought stresses.
While the first batch of five HT maize hybrids were released in 2017, by 2022 another 20 elite HT hybrids were released and eight varieties are deployed over 50,000 ha in the above countries.
In South Asia, maize is mainly grown as a rainfed crop and provides livelihoods for millions of smallholder farmers. Climate change-induced variability in weather conditions is one of the major reasons for year-to-year variation in global crop yields, including maize in Asia. It places at risk the food security and livelihood of farm families living in the stress-vulnerable lowland tropics. “South Asia is highly vulnerable to the detrimental effects of climate change, with its high population density, poverty, and low capacity to adapt. The region has been identified as one of the hotspots for climate change fueled by extreme events such as heat waves and intermittent droughts,” said Pervez H. Zaidi, principal scientist at CIMMYT.
Heat stress impairs the vegetative and reproductive growth of maize, starting from germination to grain filling. Heat stress alone, or in combination with drought, is projected to become a major production constraint for maize in the future. “If current trends persist until 2050, major food yields and food production capacity of South Asia will decrease significantly—by 17 percent for maize—due to climate change-induced heat and water stress,” explained Zaidi.
From breeding to improved seed delivery–the CIMMYT intervention
In the past, breeding for heat stress tolerance in maize was not accorded as high a priority in tropical maize breeding programs as other abiotic stresses such as drought, waterlogging, and low nitrogen in soil. However, in the last 12–15 years, heat stress tolerance has emerged as one of the key traits for CIMMYT’s maize breeding program, especially in the South Asian tropics. The two major factors behind this are increased frequency of weather extremes, including heat waves with prolonged dry period, and increasing demand for growing maize grain year-round.
At CIMMYT, systematic breeding for HT maize was initiated under Heat Stress Tolerant Maize for Asia (HTMA), a project funded by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) Feed the Future program. The project was launched in 2013 in a public–private alliance mode, in collaboration with public-sector maize research institutions and private seed companies in Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Nepal, and Pakistan.
The project leveraged the germplasm base and technical expertise of CIMMYT in breeding for abiotic stress tolerance, coupled with the research capacity and expertise of the partners. An array of activities was undertaken, including genetic dissection of traits associated with heat stress tolerance, development of new HT maize germplasm and experimental hybrids, evaluation of the improved hybrids across target populations of environments using a heat stress phenotyping network in South Asia, selection of elite maize hybrids for deployment, and finally scaling via public–private partnerships.
Delivery of HT maize hybrids to smallholder farmers in South Asia
After extensive testing and simultaneous assessment of hybrid seed production and other traits for commercial viability, the selected hybrids were officially released or registered for commercialization. Impact assessment of HT maize hybrid seed was conducted in targeted areas in India and Nepal. Studies showed farmers who adopted the HT varieties experienced significant gains under less-favorable weather conditions compared to farmers who did not.
Under favorable conditions the yield was on par with those of other hybrids. It was also demonstrated that HT hybrids provide guaranteed minimum yield (approx. 1 t ha-1) under hot, dry unfavorable weather conditions. Adoption of new HT hybrids was comparatively high (19.5%) in women-headed households mainly because of the “stay-green” trait that provides green fodder in addition to grain yield, as women in these areas are largely responsible for arranging fodder for their livestock.
“Smallholder farmers who grow maize in stress vulnerable ecologies in the Tarai region of Nepal and Karnataka state in southern India expressed willingness to pay a premium price for HT hybrid seed compared to seed of other available hybrids in their areas,” said Atul Kulkarni, socioeconomist at CIMMYT in India.
Going forward–positioning and promoting the new hybrids are critical
A simulation study suggested that the use of HT varieties could reduce yield loss (relative to current maize varieties) by up to 36% and 93% by 2030 and by 33% and 86% by 2050 under irrigated and rainfed conditions respectively. CIMMYT’s work in South Asia demonstrates that combining high yields and heat-stress tolerance is difficult, but not impossible, if one adopts a systematic and targeted breeding strategy.
The present registration system in many countries does not adequately recognize the relevance of climate-resilience traits and the yield stability of new hybrids. With year-to-year variation in maize productivity due to weather extremes, yield stability is emerging as an important trait. It should become an integral parameter of the registration and release system.
Positioning and promoting new HT maize hybrids in climate-vulnerable agroecologies requires stronger public–private partnerships for increasing awareness, access, and affordability of HT maize seed to smallholder farmers. It is important to educate farming communities in climate-vulnerable regions that compared to normal hybrids the stress-resilient hybrids are superior under unfavorable conditions and at par with or even superior to the best commercial hybrids under favorable conditions.
For farmers to be able to easily access the new promising hybrids, intensive efforts are needed to develop and strengthen local seed production and value chains involving small-and medium-sized enterprises, farmers’ cooperatives, and public-sector seed enterprises. These combined efforts will lead to wider dissemination of climate-resilient crop varieties to smallholder farmers and ensure global food security.
Quality seed is a crucial agricultural input for enhancing crop production and productivity per unit of land. However, in many developing countries, including Bhutan, ensuring the availability, affordability, and accessibility of quality seed, especially of preferred varieties, remains a significant challenge for farmers. Maize is the second most important cereal in Bhutan after rice. However, the total area dedicated to cereal cultivation in Bhutan has been decreasing due to factors such as rural-urban migration, urban expansion, and the effects of climate change.
Between 2016 and 2021, the areas under rice and maize cultivation have contracted by 55% and 64%, respectively (FAOSTAT, 2022). This huge reduction in cereal cultivation, combined with relatively low productivity, has led Bhutan to rely on imports to bridge the gap and meet the demand for essential food crops, including maize. The Bhutanese government is committed to enhancing domestic capacity and fostering self-sufficiency in major food crops and discourages the import of seed, especially of hybrid maize.
AbduRahman Beshir, seed systems specialist at CIMMYT, displays incomplete fertilization of maize cobs. (Photo: Passang Wangmo/ARDC-Wengkhar)
Hybrid maize seed to offset deficit
Recognizing the significance of improving maize productivity, the Agriculture Research & Development Center (ARDC) in Bhutan is working on the development and deployment of hybrid maize that has the potential to double yields compared to non-hybrid varieties. In 2020, Bhutan officially released its first hybrid maize variety, Wengkhar Hybrid Maize-1 (WHM-1), which was sourced from CIMMYT. Furthermore, several other hybrid maize varieties from CIMMYT are currently in the pipeline for release and evaluation, including those tolerant to fall armyworm (Spodoptera frugiperda), the most important maize pest in Bhutan.
Despite the testing and release of hybrid maize varieties, the production of high-quality seed—vital for realizing the benefits of hybrid maize for Bhutanese farmers—has yet to take place. The seed industry in Bhutan is primarily informal, with the majority of farmers relying on farm-saved seed of often inferior quality. The absence of a formalized seed system, coupled with a lack of the necessary skills and technical expertise across the seed value chain, presents considerable challenges in building a competitive and vibrant seed sector in Bhutan.
Training workshop emphasizes the strengthening of seed systems
To ensure a consistent supply of high-quality maize seed to Bhutanese farmers, which is essential for seed and food security and improved productivity, ARDC in collaboration with CIMMYT, under the CGIAR Seed Equal Initiative, carried out an international training workshop on quality seed production and distribution, with the main focus on hybrid maize, from 13–15 November 2023 at ARDC-Wengkhar, Mongar.
The three-day workshop involved 30 participants from diverse organizations, including the National Seed Centre, the College of Natural Resources, extensions agents from the eastern region, the Bhutan Food and Drug Authority, and agriculture research and development centers. The workshop aimed to enhance participants’ technical skills in understanding and applying the principles and practices of quality hybrid maize seed production; to promote synergistic partnerships among various seed sector stakeholders for initiating and scaling up quality hybrid maize seed production in Bhutan; and to exchange experiences and lessons to be learned from South Asian countries that can be applied to strengthening Bhutan’s seed system.
Participants discuss during the workshop. (Photo: AbduRahman Beshir/CIMMYT)
“This is the first kind of training I have received on hybrid maize seed production, and it was very relevant, action-oriented and applicable to our condition in Bhutan,” says Kinley Sithup, a researcher at ARDC-Wengkhar, Mongar, and adds that the training workshop was a useful forum for identifying key challenges and the role of stakeholders across the seed value chain, which were discussed in detail during the group work in the training.
Recently, the Bhutanese government has restricted the import of hybrid maize seed in order to promote import substitution and enhance local seed production. “In light of the unavailability of imported hybrid seeds, it’s crucial for us to intensify our efforts in scaling up local seed production,” says Dorji Wangchuk, project director of the Commercial Agriculture and Resilient Livelihood Enhancement Program (CARLEP), while addressing the participants during the opening.
The training workshop covered courses on seed system components, maize breeding concepts, hybrid seed production principles, the development of a seed roadmap on production and marketing, hybrid seed pricing and marketing approaches, seed quality control and certification, among others. A field visit along with hands-on training at ARDSC Lingmethang enriched the learning experience. In addition, experiences from other South Asian countries on hybrid seed production and marketing were shared during the training.
A group photo with the participants of the seed systems training workshop in Bhutan. (Photo: ARDC)
Team up for seed production
A significant outcome is the planned initiation of the inaugural hybrid maize seed production group in Udzorong, Trashigang, scheduled for January 2024 in collaboration with extension, the National Seed Center, and the Bhutan Food and Drug Authority. This initiative, supported by CARLEP-IFAD and CIMMYT, reflects a dedicated effort to strengthen Bhutan’s seed sector and enhance maize production for the benefit of local farmers. Fast-track variety release and seed deployment are important to Bhutanese smallholder farmers to mitigate the challenges of lower productivity. “CIMMYT is ready to continue working with partners in Bhutan,” says Program Director of the Global Maize Program at CIMMYT and the One CGIAR Plant Health Initiative lead, BM Prasanna, while delivering his messages online. Prasanna added that CIMMYT has licensed three fall armyworm-tolerant hybrids for Bhutan, and partners need to team up for the release and seed-scaling of the hybrids.
The training workshop on hybrid maize seed was the first of its kind to be held in Bhutan and was conducted under the CGIAR Seed Equal Initiative in collaboration with ARDC and CARLEP. AbduRahman Beshir, seed systems specialist at CIMMYT, delivered the main courses, with additional virtual presentations from CIMMYT staff from India and Kenya.
The planting of maize hybrid Wengkhar Hybrid Maize 1 (WHM-1) has helped farmers in the Mongar district of Bhutan double their maize yield.
WHM-1 was developed in partnership with the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT) and became the first maize hybrid to be released in Bhutan to combat the negative effect of increasing temperature or extreme heat events on maize.
The hybrid was designed with characteristics of heat and drought tolerance, as well as a resistance to stem and root lodging. It also had additional stay-green traits after cob maturity and produced a high yield.
The success of the implementation in Bhutan is leading to an increased production of WHM-1, which will aim to meet national demand and work towards country’s self-sufficiency.
Dechen Yangden is one of the smallholder beneficiaries in Tsakaling, a sub-district in Mongar in the east of the country, who have boosted their maize yield by planting WHM-1. “My attempt to grow WHM-1 has doubled my maize production compared to last season where I cultivated some other maize varieties (2.5 metric tons (mt) in one hectare (ha)),” she said.
Farmer holds up a maize cob of WHM-1 in Waichur hamlet, Mongor, Bhutan. (Photo: ARDC)
Farmers’ experiences of WHM-1
Since its official release in 2020, the national maize program based at Agriculture Research & Development Center (ARDC) started producing hybrid seeds and maintaining parental lines. To test the success of the ARDC’s work, planting was carried out in the Tsakaling and Waichur hamlets in Mongar districts, covering an area of six acres.
Maize farmers in Tsakaling shared that although the crop was affected by the insect fall armyworm during the early vegetative stage, the productivity of the crop was not affected, as it recovered at later stage.
Meanwhile, ARDSC Khangma carried out yield monitoring during the harvest, where WHM-1 yielded 5.8 mt ha-1, which is noticeable rise on the national average of 3.7 mt ha-1.
Following the conclusion of their harvest, farmers in the two localities shared their views on the newly released maize in order to review the effect of the implementation of WHM-1. Both sets of growers reported an improved performance from the use of WHM-1 and noted that, unlike other maize varieties, the hybrid has shorter and uniform plant height along with a higher resistance to lodging, which is an essential trait given the conditions it is grown in. Furthermore, the stay-green trait of the hybrid after maturity of cobs gave farmers an added advantage of green fodder, which can be used for feeding their cattle.
In Waichur, the growers found that this hybrid had a tight husk and fully filled kernels. They shared similar views to growers in Tsakaling, reporting positive lodging resistance in the hybrid.
Both communities expressed their interest in continuing to use WHM-1, given the availability and accessibility of the seeds. As a response, the National Maize Program at ARDC Wengkhar, is looking to deploy the newly released hybrid on a larger scale, which will ultimately contribute towards enhancing maize self-sufficiency in the country.
WHM-1 was developed through partnership of the National Maize Program at Wengkhar and CIMMYT under the Heat Stress Tolerant Maize for Asia (HTMA) project for germplasm and technical assistance and the Commercial Agriculture and Resilient Livelihoods Enhancement Program (CARLEP-IFAD/MoAF) for on-farm research and intensification.
Feasibility mapping for WHM-1 showed that its adaption stretches along the southern foothills and some parts of eastern district. The National Maize Program, sister research centers, and farmers are currently working on upscaling the seed production for intensification of national maize production to meet the domestic demands.
Cover photo: Women farmers tagging their first choice of maize crop, WHM-1, in Tsakaling hamlet, Mongor, Bhutan. (Photo: ARDC)
Harvest of hybrid WHM-1 maize. (Photo: ARDC)
This story is written by P.H. Zaidi of CIMMYT and Passang Wangmo and Tsheltrim Gyeltshen of the National Maize Program, ARDC Wengkhar, Bhutan.
Ten years ago, a foundation was laid on the principles of Norman Borlaug to translate agrarian challenges into opportunities through collaboration between the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Centre (CIMMYT) and the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR). This major step toward sustainable food and nutrition security was taken through the establishment of the Borlaug Institute for South Asia (BISA) as an independent, non-profit research organization.
Today, BISA is a global name in agriculture research with a vision to promote food security, nutrition, stable livelihoods, and eco-friendly practices in South Asia. Given the prominent challenges of climate change in these economically fragile agroecosystems, the partnership between BISA, ICAR, and CIMMYT plays a pivotal role in developing improved wheat and maize varieties with climate-smart and conservation agriculture-based practices.
A decade of impact
One of the most significant outcomes of BISA’s work has been its contribution to building a vast, solid network for evaluating and disseminating new high-yielding and climate-resilient wheat varieties for India and other South Asian countries in close partnership with ICAR and CIMMYT. BISA’s transformative solutions and science-led research are critical to targeting stressed resources and attaining global food security.
With support from ICAR and CIMMYT, BISA has developed state-of-the-art research facilities at its three strategically selected research stations, having 1,200 acres of land that the Government of India, jointly with the respective state governments, generously granted to the project. Located in three disparate agro-climatic and socioeconomic environments, these sites are model research farms supporting agriculture research in South Asia. The learning labs at BISA emphasize that scaling climate-smart villages also strengthen climate-resilient agriculture, primarily through addressing challenges such as residue burning. BISA’s collaborative and inclusive approach is more relevant today when the world is grappling with various food and nutrition insecurity challenges.
Time for expansion
BISA envisages attracting countries from south Asia, the Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation (BIMSTEC) and the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC), as well as National Agricultural Research Systems (NARS), national research institutes, private sector companies, and civil society organizations as active partners for expanding reach in the region. To this end, BISA has completed extensive work in Nepal and Bangladesh and has extended its services to Bhutan and Sri Lanka.
Still, more needs to be done in South Asian countries. Therefore, there is an urgent need for a strong commitment to harnessing the best of international scientific discoveries with local efforts. Collective action is to be garnered to provide trusted and effective mechanisms for developing and sharing cutting-edge agricultural technologies in the South Asian region.
Himanshu Pathak, Director General of ICAR, with Bram Govaerts, Director General of CIMMYT, discuss how BISA’s work can create food security in South Asia. (Photo: BISA)
To this end, a BISA High-Level Meeting was organized on September 1 and 2 in Delhi, with senior government representatives from the NARS in Bhutan, Sri Lanka, Pakistan, Nepal, Bangladesh, and India. The meeting provided a forum to identify opportunities to co-create and deploy innovative, multidisciplinary solutions to effectively address the transboundary challenges related to food, nutrition, and environmental security faced by farming communities in South Asia. This platform strives to unite the scientific community and thought leaders to support research and development across the agriculture domain.
Delegates from these countries felt that there is a need for a robust program of germplasm exchange within the region, which is essential to strengthening agriculture’s resilience. All countries expressed a significant need to raise their capacity of young researchers in advanced research techniques related to genomics, phenotyping, climate-smart agriculture, precision agriculture, and digital technologies. Delegates also discussed BISA’s role as a research and innovation regional catalyst, innovation hub, and integrated research platform to build resilient agrifood systems and achieve long-term sustainability and resilience for food security in South Asia.
BISA’s farm-ready research, from setting up climate-resilient villages and developing viable alternatives to rice residue burning to facilitating an open exchange of elite germplasm and cutting-edge technologies, reflects not only the vision of CIMMYT but also the philosophy of our mutual inspiration, Borlaug, who believed strongly in sharing knowledge and “taking it to the farmer”.
Cover photo: Delegates from Bhutan, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Pakistan, Bangladesh, and India meet to deliberate on the significant issues in South Asia’s agriculture sector. (Photo: BISA)
Agriculture is central to South Asian economies, lives and livelihoods. However, the challenges of an increasing population and brisk economic growth are straining the agriculture sector as it struggles to meet the present and future demand for food, nutritional security, and economic development. Not only this, the three Cs – COVID, climate change and conflict – are fueling the growing fragility in food systems across the world.
To address these issues and find potential solutions, the Borlaug Institute for South Asia (BISA) organized a high-level meeting with top agriculture ministry officials from its neighboring countries – Sri Lanka, Nepal, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India and Pakistan – to collaborate and learn from each other.
BISA’s outreach to India’s neighbors in South Asia has already produced results. Data from the BISA farm in Ludhiana, India, on resistance to yellow rust that affects wheat crop has been used in Nepal, Afghanistan, and Pakistan. Genomic prediction evaluation for grain yield and other traits worked on at BISA through the help of the Global Wheat Program of the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT) has been extended to Pakistan, Bangladesh, and Nepal since 2020. Regular training is organized for students, scientists and farmers in India on breeding and climate resistant technologies, and BISA scientists organize courses in Nepal on climate-smart technologies.
Cover photo: Tara Miah (50) is a farmer from Rajguru in Rahamanbari union, Barisal, Bangladesh. He used seeder fertilizer drills to plant wheat on his fields. Previously, this was done manually. SFD has resulted in a better harvest for Miah. (Credit: Ranak Martin)
Firpo was born in Montevideo, Uruguay, where he received a BSc degree as an agronomy engineer in 1997 from the University of the Republic, College of Agronomy. His PhD degree in 2008 was from the Department of Plant Pathology at the University of Minnesota (UMN). He began his career as a postdoctoral research associate with the Department of Plant Pathology and the USDA-ARS Cereal Disease Lab, and then became a research assistant professor in the Department of Plant Pathology at UMN in 2017.
Firpo has been a vital member in the global cereal rust pathology community and contributed substantially to the fight against Ug99 and other virulent wheat stem rust races that have re-emerged around the world and pose serious threats to food security. Firpo’s contributions are not only within the realm of research of great impact, but also include training 79 scientists and facilitating the establishment of a world-class research group in Ethiopia. He has worked to improve international germplasm screening in Ethiopia. As a postdoctoral research associate, Firpo’s first assignment was to search for new sources of resistance to Ug99 in durum wheat, used for pasta, and related tetraploid wheat lines. That project took him to Ethiopia, where an international Ug99-screening nursery for durum wheat was established at Debre Zeit Research Center. He worked closely with researchers from the Ethiopian Institute of Agricultural Research (EIAR) and the International Maize and Wheat Research Center (CIMMYT) to improve the methodologies for screening and to provide hands-on training to researchers managing the international screening nursery. During a period of 10 years (from 2009 to 2019), he traveled to Ethiopia 21 times to evaluate stem rust reactions of US and international durum wheat germplasm and completed the screening of the entire durum collection (more than 8,000 accessions) from the USDA National Small Grains Collection.
Firpo’s research on sources and genetics of stem rust resistance led to discoveries of valuable genetic resistance in durum and other relatives of wheat. These sources of resistance have provided the needed diversity to ensure the development and sustainability of durable stem rust resistance.
With frequent epidemics and severe yield losses caused by stem rust in eastern Africa, establishing a functional rust pathology laboratory to support international screening, as well as to monitor and detect new virulences in the pathogen population, became a high priority for the international wheat research community. Utilizing the onground opportunities in Ethiopia, Firpo and his colleagues at the CDL and UMN enthusiastically participated in building up the rust pathology lab at the Ambo Plant Protection Center of EIAR. Firpo traveled to Ambo 11 times to provide hands-on training to staff and to develop cereal rust protocols to suit local conditions. He worked closely with colleagues at CDL, EIAR, and CIMMYT to secure and upgrade facilities, equipment and supplies to a standard that ensures reliable rust work will be carried out. As a result, the rust pathology lab at the Ambo Center became the only laboratory in eastern Africa, and one of a handful in the world, that can conduct high-quality race analysis of wheat stem rust samples and provide vital and necessary support for breeding global wheat varieties for rust resistance. Currently, the laboratory is playing a critical role in the global surveillance of the stem rust pathogen and supports wheat breeding efforts led by EIAR, CIMMYT, and the USDA.
Firpo has been passionate in supporting capacity building of human resources in Ethiopia and elsewhere. He has been eager to share his knowledge whenever he encounters an opportunity to do so. In addition to the direct training of the staff at the Ambo Center, Firpo accepted invitations to provide training lectures and hands-on field- and greenhouse-based workshops on rust pathology at three research centers in Ethiopia. He prepared training materials, delivered a total of 12 lectures and 10 practical sessions in three Ethiopia national workshops in 2014, 2015, and 2017. These workshops enhanced human resource development and technical capacity in Ethiopia in cereal rust pathology; participants included a total of 64 junior scientists and technical staff from nationwide research centers. Beyond Ethiopia, he was responsible for developing and implementing a six-week training program in cereal rust prevention and control for international scientists. This training program, under the aegis of the Stakman-Borlaug Center for Sustainable Plant Health in the Department of Plant Pathology, University of Minnesota, provided an experiential learning opportunity for international scientists interested in acquiring knowledge and practical skills in all facets of working with cereal rusts. The program trained 15 rust pathologists and wheat scientists from Ethiopia, Kenya, Pakistan, Nepal, Bhutan, Georgia, and Kyrgyzstan, ranging from promising young scientists selected by the USDA as Borlaug Fellows to principal and senior scientists in their respective countries. Many of these trainees have become vital partners in the global surveillance network for cereal rusts.
Working in collaboration with CDL and international scientists, Firpo has been closely involved in global surveillance of the stem rust pathogen, spurred by monitoring the movements of, and detecting, new variants in the Ug99 race group. Since 2009, he and the team at the CDL have analyzed 2,500 stem rust samples from 22 countries, described over 35 new races, and identified significant virulence combinations that overcome stem rust resistance genes widely deployed in global wheat varieties. Among the most significant discoveries were the identification of active sexual populations of the stem rust pathogen in Kazakhstan, Georgia, Germany, and Spain that have unprecedented virulence and genetic diversities. More than 320 new virulent types (or races) were identified from these sexual populations. Evolution in these populations will present continued challenges to wheat breeding. Research in race analysis has provided valuable pathogen isolates that are used to evaluate breeding germplasm to select for resistant wheat varieties and to identify novel sources of stem rust resistance.
The Heat Stress Tolerant Maize (HTMA) for Asia project is a public-private alliance that targets resource-poor people and smallholder farmers in South Asia who face weather extremes and climate-change effects. HTMA aims to create stable income and food security for resource-poor maize farmers in South Asia through development and deployment of heat-resilient maize hybrids.
South Asian farmlands have been increasingly experiencing climate change-related weather extremes. If current trends persist until 2050, major crop yields and the food production capacity of South Asia will decrease significantly – by 17 percent for maize – due to climate change-induced heat and water stress.
In response, CIMMYT and partners are developing heat stress-resilient maize for Asia. The project leverages the germplasm base and technical expertise of CIMMYT in breeding for abiotic stress tolerance, coupled with the research capacity and expertise of partners.
OBJECTIVES
Future climate data obtained from the recent CIMP5 database, and future and current heat stress hot-spots in South Asia are mapped
Genome-wide association studies revealed multiple haplotypes significantly associated heat tolerance, including nine significant haplotype blocks (~200 kb) for grain yield explaining 4 to 12% phenotypic variation individually with the effect size varied up to 440 kg/ha.
A total of 17 first generation heat tolerant hybrids formally licenced to project partners for deployment and scale-out in their targeted geographies/market in stress-prone ecologies of South Asia
New base germplasm, including early generation lines and pedigree populations, with enhanced levels of heat tolerance shared with partners to use in their own breeding programs.
Over 130 maize researchers and technical staff from India, Nepal, Pakistan and Bangladesh, including 32 women and 99 men, were trained on various aspects of developing stress-resilient maize through four training course workshops organized under the project.
Strong phenotyping network for heat stress in South Asia, with well-equipped locations and trained representatives.
FUNDING INSTITUTIONS
United States Agency for International Development – Feed the Future
A farmer in her wheat field in Bhutan. Photo: Sangay Tshewang/RNRRD
BHUTAN — Yellow and brown rusts are among the most common and damaging challenges to wheat production in Bhutan. Yellow or stripe rust (Puccinia striformis f. sp. tritici), a disease favored by cool weather conditions, is a major threat owing to the prevalence of cool winter conditions during the cropping season in most wheat growing regions. In Bhutan, yellow rust is the first disease to appear in the cropping season and, if left uncontrolled, has the potential to destroy the whole wheat crop. It has occurred every year in most wheat growing areas over the last two decades.
Brown or leaf rust (Pucciniatriticina Eriks.), the second most important wheat disease in Bhutan, is also favored by climatic conditions, with severe infection on different advanced wheat lines being recorded over the last ten years. This is an indication that leaf rust could be just as threatening as yellow rust if susceptible cultivars are grown under favorable environmental conditions. Finally, if these rusts are not controlled, it is possible that Bhutan could become a primary source of inoculum, which would then be carried to its neighbors by the wind.
Yellow rust of wheat. Photo: Arun Joshi/CIMMYT
Bangladesh, Bhutan’s southern neighbor, does not have much of a history of rust diseases, but climate change could alter that. And while yellow rust doesn’t occur at all in Bangladesh and leaf rust appears only occasionally (albeit with high intensity), both have the potential to spread in the country.
The absence of high rust pressure in Bangladesh is a serious challenge when it comes to evaluating the rust resistance of wheat lines needed to prepare for uncertain future climates. In contrast, Bhutan is in a strategic position to conduct yellow and leaf rust epidemiological studies and is active in regional and global efforts aimed at studying and managing rust. Therefore, for the first time, Bhutan and Bangladesh are collaborating on evaluating Bangladeshi wheat lines for resistance to yellow and leaf rusts with support from CIMMYT.
Advanced wheat lines from Bangladesh are evaluated for rust resistance in Bhutan. Photo: Sangay Tshewang/RNRRD
During the 2015–2016 cropping season, Bangladesh sent 50 advanced wheat lines identified as having potential rust resistance to Bhutan for screening. The evaluation was done under natural conditions at the Renewable Natural Resources Research and Development Center (RNRRD) in Bajo, about 70 kilometers east of Thimphu, Bhutan’s capital. The results are promising, with 30 lines showing resistance to the rusts. The data were shared with Bangladeshi partners, who will use them to inform their breeding decisions.
Bhutan has been collaborating with CIMMYT’s Global Wheat Program since 2011 and has released three rust resistant varieties from CIMMYT in the past two years. Although there has been regional collaboration on wheat research in South Asia mainly through CIMMYT, testing wheat lines from Bangladesh for rust resistance in Bhutan is a first.
Participants from four south Asian countries attended CSISA’s annual review meeting at Karnal, India. Photo: Bal Kishan Bhonsle
The growing interest of national agriculture research system (NARS) of South Asia in genetic gains and seed dissemination work in Cereal Systems Initiative for South Asia (CSISA) objective 4 (wheat breeding), 50 scientists from Bangladesh, Bhutan, India and Nepal assembled at Karnal, India on September 2-3, 2015 for the 7th Wheat Breeding Review Meeting of this project. The meeting was organized by CIMMYT’s Kathmandu office with support from CIMMYT-Delhi/Karnal office and led by Dr. Arun Joshi. Dr. Ravish Chatrath, IIWBR provided strong support as local organizer.
The other CIMMYT participants were Etienne Duveiller, Uttam Kumar and Alistair Pask. Participants included representatives of: the Wheat Research Centre of Bangladesh (Dinajpur); Bangladesh Agriculture Research Institute (BARI), Ghazipur; India’s Directorate of Wheat Research (DWR), Karnal and Shimla; the Indian Agricultural Research Institute (IARI), Delhi and Indore; Punjab Agricultural University, Ludhiana; Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi; the University of Agricultural Sciences, Dharwad; Uttarbanga Krishi Vishwa Vidyalaya, Coochbehar, West Bengal; Jawaharlal Nehru Krishi Vishwavidyalaya, Jabalpur and Powarkheda; Govind Vallabh Pant University of Agriculture and Technology, Pantnagar; Indian Institute of Science Education and Research (IISER), Kolkata, Mohanpur, Distt. Nadia, W. Bengal; Nepal’s National Wheat Research Program (NWRP), Bhairahwa; Nepal Agricultural Research Institute (NARI); Khumaltar of Nepal Agricultural Research Council (NARC) and Renewable Natural Resources (RNR), Research and Development Centre (RDC), Bajo, Bhutan.
The CSISA meeting began with remarks by the chief guest, Dr. Indu Sharma, Director, IIWBR, Karnal along with Dr. Md. Rafiqul Islam Mondal, Director General, BARI; Etienne Duveiller, CIMMYT, Delhi and Arun Joshi, CIMMYT, Kathmandu. Within a wider framework of discussing issues concerning wheat improvement, the CSISA meeting reviewed the progress of the 2014-15 cycle, and established work plans for the coming crop cycle. Arun Joshi presented a summary of the achievements in wheat breeding over last 6 years and highlighted the impressive results obtained in varietal release, seed dissemination and impact in farmer fields. Dr. Etienne informed he challenges of climate change and the ways our program should be shaped to handle these issues. Dr. Mondal expressed his happiness that CSISA wheat breeding has been very successful in contributing to enhancement of wheat production and producitity in Bangladesh and other countries through a vigourous wheat breeding and seed dissemination with strong linkage with national centres.
Dr. Indu Sharma highlighted the significance of collaborative research with a regional perspective and told the audience about the successes being achieved by CSISA in wheat research especially in handling rust resistance and heat tolerance in south Asia. She expressed his appreciation for new research efforts under CSISA and said that “the South Asia-CIMMYT collaboration is paramount to the food security and livelihood of the farmers.” She also said that seeing new challenges there is much more need for such collaborative research efforts for the economic prosperity and good health of agriculture sector in south Asia.
Four review sessions were conducted, chaired by NARS colleagues Dr. Indu Sharma, Dr. Mondal, Dr. Ravi Pratap Singh and Dr. S.P. Khatiwada. Three sessions were used to present review reports and work plans from the 10 research centers, while two other sessions discussed progress in physiology, spot blotch and strengthening linkage of wheat breeding with seed dissemination and capacity building in South Asia. A major discussion was held to devise strategies to strengthen research to handle future threats to wheat such as yellow rust, early and late heat stress, water scarcity and to enable environment for fast track release of varieties so that new seed can reach to farmers as soon as possible.
Arun Joshi also highlighted major achievements in CSISA wheat breeding through very able collaboration by national centres in South Asia. He emphasized that breeding for biotic and abiotic stress tolerance gained momentum through CSISA by developing varieties with faster grain filling and flexibility to adapt to a range of sowing dates. Not only these new varieties were developed, improved networking with public and private sector seed hubs enabled fast track inclusion of these varieties in seed dissemination chain. The increase germplasm flow from CIMMYT, Mexico enriched Indian gene bank with a large reservoir of diverse set of genotypes for current and future used. The continued inclusion of resistance to Ug99 and other rusts in wheat lines kept diseases at bay and safeguarded farmers. There is increased use of physiological tools for heat and drought tolerance and stronger links were established between breeders, seed producers and farmers. Another significant achievement was strengthened capacity building in the region.
A talk on wheat research as Borlaug Institute for South Asia (BISA) was delivered by Uttam Kumar, CIMMYT. Likewise progress on CRP project on spot blotch was presented by Shree Pandey and Ramesh Chand, India. A talk on wheat breeding at Bhutan was presented by Sangay Tshewang. He was happy to inform that through this networking and collaboration with CIMMYT, Bhutan was able to release three new wheat varieties after a gap of 20 years.
On the 2nd day, a visit to IIWBR was organized. Dr. Indu Sharma and her team of scientists led by Dr. Ravish Chatrath facilitated this visit. The participants were taken to different laboratories and current research activities were explained. The participants from Nepal, Bangladesh and Bhutan expressed desire for increased exchange visits among research institutions of countries in south Asia.
The review meeting enabled CSISA wheat researchers to measure their achievements compared to the challenges being encountered and enabled an environment to discuss future strategies to augment research activities better tuned to future targets in the region. The participants were of the view that strong linkage and coordination between the national research program, the CIMMYT team and other stakeholders especially those in seed business is needed to achieve comprehensive progress towards increasing food availability and better livelihood of masses.
In Bhutan, wheat is an important cereal for farmers at high altitudes, where its area of cultivation is considerable. However, in recent years, the winter wheat area has declined owing to numerous circumstances, including not having a better variety. This may be due to the fact that spring wheat has been the focus of most research and development efforts to date.
However, of late, the national wheat program has been paying equal attention to winter wheat research and development in collaboration with CIMMYT and ICARDA. But while ICARDA’s winter wheat nurseries are still being evaluated, CIMMYT-Nepal has helped to introduce cultivars that have recently been released in cooler regions elsewhere. One such genotype is Danphe (KIRITATI//2*PBW65/2*SERI.1B).
Danphe’s performance during its multi-location evaluation in the highlands of Bhutan (1200-2600 masl) was very promising. The new variety on average yielded 30% more than the local cultivar called Kaa, which means wheat in the local language. In addition, Danphe produces big grains, is short in height and lodging tolerant, which are farmers’ preferred traits. Up to now, farmers have had to manage with Kaa, which is very tall, small-grained and low yielding. Farmers who attended the field days unanimously preferred Danphe over the local cultivar.
In view of such an astonishing performance and of farmers’ preference for Danphe, the 18th Technology Release Committee of Bhutan’s Ministry of Agriculture and Forests authorized the release of this line under the name Bumthang Kaa Drukchu. Bumthang is the name of the target area (the district), Kaa means wheat and Drukchu means sixty (60).
Ganesh Chhettri, a committee member from the Department of Agriculture, remarked that such an accomplishment in such short time was not expected, as winter wheat was never adequately attended to. Further, he commented that wheat production in this ecosystem will surely increase now that farmers have a higher yielding variety.
CIMMYT is considering providing about 1500 kg of Danphe seed to Nepal to fulfill farmers’ needs for the ensuing season, and promote the new variety’s dissemination and adoption.
The Feed the Future initiative of the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) featured CIMMYT’s Heat Tolerant Maize for Asia (HTMA) project in a recent newsletter, highlighting it as an exemplary public-private partnership. Launched in 2013, the project is developing heat-resilient hybrid maize for resource-poor smallholder farmers in South Asia whose livelihoods are threatened by climate change.
The damaging effects of climate change on agriculture have already been felt throughout much of South Asia, and climate model studies predict that this trend will not end anytime soon. According to a 2009 report from the Asian Development Bank, maize production capacity in South Asia could decrease by 17 percent by the year 2050 if current climate trends continue. Due to the temperature sensitivity of key crops such as maize, farmers in the region urgently need access to seed of varieties that can withstand temperature stress. As climate change-related weather extremes threaten agriculture in South Asia, research and development partners are seeking solutions.
The HTMA “…balances up-stream and down-stream research-for-development by leveraging CIMMYT germplasm with the research capacity and expertise of partners such as Purdue University, Pioneer-Asia and national programs in Bangladesh, Pakistan, Nepal and Bhutan,” said P.H. Zaidi, the project leader. HTMA private partners such as DuPont Pioneer and the regional seed companies Kaveri Seeds and Ajeet Seeds have direct ties to local markets and farming communities that will foster the widespread availability and use of the new hybrids, according to Zaidi.
Outputs of this partnership include new breeding lines with enhanced levels of heat tolerance. The first generation of heat-tolerant hybrids from those lines became available after the second year of the project, and a new set of elite, stress-resilient hybrid varieties will be released by the project every two years. Apart from this, early-generation lines are being shared for use in partners’ breeding programs, strengthening their germplasm base and ensuring the continued development and delivery of heat-stress-resilient maize after the project ends, Zaidi said. According to the Feed the Future report: “The new varieties…show great promise to be taken to scale and deployed in tropical climates beyond South Asia.”
Dr. Nora Lapitan, the new science advisor in the Bureau for Food Security of the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), and lead of USAID’s Climate-Resilient Cereals portfolio, visited the maize field trials being conducted in India as part of Heat Stress Tolerant Maize for Asia (HTMA) during 17-21 June.
Nora Lapitan with the HTMA team at Kaveri Seeds field trials in Baijenki, Telangana. Photo: Kaveri Seeds staff
Lapitan is the project manager and provides technical oversight. Supported by USAID under the Feed the Future (FTF) initiative, the HTMA project is led by CIMMYT-Hyderabad. HTMA is a public-private alliance that targets resource-poor people of South Asia prone to face weather extremes and climate-change effects. The project connects several public sector agricultural research institutions in South Asia such as the Bangladesh Agricultural Research Institute; Maize & Millets Research Institute, Pakistan; National Maize Research Program, Nepal; Bhutan National Maize Program; and two Indian state agriculture universities – Bihar Agricultural University, Sabor and University of Agricultural Sciences (UAS), Raichur, as well as Purdue University in the U.S. Additional participants include seed companies DuPont Pioneer, Vibha Agritech, Kaveri Seeds and Ajeet Seeds. This was Lapitan’s first trip to India, which she chose to start with HTMA maize field activity visits. She visited maize trials under managed heat stress at different sites in India, starting with the trials at the Borlaug Institute for South Asia (BISA), Ludhiana on 17 June.
A team of scientists from BISA, including Dr. H.S. Sidhu, Parvider Romana and Manish Koth showed her HTMA trials and explained the activities. The next day she visited the HTMA trials at DuPont Pioneer sites in Jalandhar, Punjab, where Dr. S.K. Kaushik explained project activities, including various types of hybrid trials, heat stress symptoms in the field and promising heattolerant hybrids. After visiting the maize trials in Punjab, Lapitan traveled to southern India, visiting HTMA trials in Hyderabad and Baijenki, Karimnagar. In Hyderabad, she visited the trials planted at a CIMMYT site within the International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT) campus, where Dr. P.H. Zaidi, CIMMYT senior maize physiologist and HTMA project leader, explained ongoing HTMA field trials across sites in South Asia in collaboration with partners. M.T. Vinayan, CIMMYT India maize stress specialist, discussed trials planted at the Hyderabad site.
Nora Lapitan with the HTMA team at CIMMYT field trials in Hyderabad. Photo: K. Seetharam/CIMMYT-Hyderabad
The presentation was followed by a field tour, where Lapitan could see the performance of some of the most promising heat-tolerant maize hybrids. In the afternoon, Lapitan met with CIMMYT-Hyderabad staff, where Zaidi presented the office’s overall program and various ongoing projects. The next day, she and Zaidi visited HTMA trials at the Kaveri Seeds site at Baijenki, Telangana. Dr. N.P. Sarma, director of research; Dr. B.S. Dahiya, senior advisor; and Dr. Ramesh Chaurasia, maize breeder at Kaveri Seeds, explained the HTMA field trials at their site.
Lapitan took a field tour, where Chaurasia explained the details of the ongoing trials and showed her a number of promising heat-tolerant hybrids. “This is very exciting for our company; to see unique products like heat-tolerant hybrids identified within two years of the project start, which we are ready to take forward in largescale testing,” said Sarma. He further explained that there are very few options for such types of maize hybrids, and that this is a newly emerging market. It is certainly a unique option for resource-poor farmers to provide food during those hot and dry months and also feed for their livestock.
After completion of the field visits, Lapitan expressed her strong satisfaction with HTMA project activities, saying “it is exciting to see that partners are ready with first wave of products for deployment within two years. This is remarkable and I congratulate the HTMA team.”
The Heat Tolerant Maize for Asia (HTMA) project, supported by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) under the Feed the Future (FTF) initiative, is a public-private alliance that targets resource-poor people of South Asia who face weather extremes and climate-change effects. HTMA aims to create stable income and food security for resource-poor maize farmers in South Asia through development and deployment of heat-resilient maize hybrids.
The project connects several public sector agricultural research institutions in South Asia, such as the Bangladesh Agricultural Research Institute; the Maize & Millets Research Institute, Pakistan; National Maize Research Program, Nepal; and Bhutan Maize Program. Also involved in the project are two state agriculture universities from India – Bihar Agriculture University, Sabor and University of Agriculture Sciences (UAS), Raichur – as well as seed companies in the region including DuPont Pioneer, Vibha Agritech, Kaveri Seeds and Ajeet Seeds and international institutions including Purdue University and CIMMYT.
The “2nd Annual Progress Review and Planning Meeting for the HTMA Project” was held 22-23 July at UAS, Raichur in Karnataka, India. The meeting was attended by scientists and representatives from the collaborating institutions in South Asia, Purdue University and CIMMYT. Dr. Nora Lapitan represented USAID at the meeting. To take advantage of the presence of renowned scientists at this newly established agricultural university, the inaugural session of the meeting was organized as a special seminar on “Global initiatives on climate resilient crops.”
Dr. B.V. Patil, director of education at the university, organized the seminar for UAS staff and students. In his welcome speech Dr. Patil highlighted the importance of the HTMA public-private alliance, especially for addressing such complex issues as developing and deploying heat stress-resilient maize. Dr. BM Prasanna, director of the CIMMYT Global Maize Program, lectured on “Adapting Maize to the Changing Climate,” talking about the importance of climate change effects and CIMMYT initiatives on different continents in the development and deployment of stress-resilient maize hybrids.
This was followed by another highprofile lecture on “Climate-Resilient Crops: A Key Strategy for Feed the Future,” which was delivered by Lapitan. She spoke about the priorities of the FTF initiative, including efforts to reduce poverty and malnutrition in children in target countries through accelerated inclusive agricultural growth and a high-quality diet. The inaugural session was followed by a series of HTMA annual review and planning technical sessions. In the first, Dr. P.H. Zaidi, HTMA project leader and CIMMYT senior maize physiologist, presented updates on the project’s execution and the progress achieved at the end of the second year. The project has met agreed milestones, and is even ahead on some fronts.
This was followed by detailed progress reports on objectives given by each collaborating partner. Professor Mitch Tuinstra of Purdue University presented on membrane lipid profiling in relation to heat stress, as well as identifying quantitative trait loci for heat stress tolerance and component traits by joint linkage analysis. The leads from each of the public and private sector partners presented the results of the HTMA trials conducted at their locations, and also shared a list of top-ranking, best-bet heat-tolerant maize hybrids to take forward for large-scale testing and deployment. During the project’s first two years, each partner identified promising and unique maize hybrids suitable for their target environment. In molecular breeding, Zaidi presented the results of the association mapping panel, and Dr. Raman Babu, CIMMYT molecular maize breeder, presented the progress made on genotyping and association analysis. Dr. M.T. Vinayan, CIMMYT maize stress specialist for South Asia, presented a progress report on genomic selection for heat stress tolerance.
Nora Lapitan of USAID addressing the audience in HTMA seminar at UAS Raichur. Photo: UAS, Raichur photographer
Dr. K. Seetharaman, CIMMYT special project scientist in abiotic stress breeding and Dr. A.R. Sadananda, CIMMYT maize seed system specialist , presented jointly on the HTMA-product pipeline, including the promising heat stress-resilient hybrids ready for deployment, and a series of new hybrids ready for testing across locations in target environments. Dr. Christian Boeber, CIMMYT socio-economist, talked about progress in HTMA product targeting, pricing and adoption, summarizing the ongoing work on crop-modelling, reviewed work on the IMPACT model component, presented the survey tool and reviewed study sites in heat stress-prone ecologies of South Asia. Zaidi and Tuinstra presented the progress in project capacity building, including nine Ph.D. student fellowships. three workshops/training courses including in-country courses on “Precision phenotyping for heat stress tolerance” in Nepal and Pakistan, and a course on “Statistical analysis and genomic selection.” Project progress was critically reviewed by the project steering committee (PSC) headed by Prasanna, who expressed high satisfaction on its overall development. Speaking for USAID, Lapitan said: “I am highly impressed with the progress in the HTMA project. Within a period of two years there is a first wave of heat-tolerant hybrids ready for large-scale testing and deployment. This is one of the 26 projects in our climate-resilient cereals portfolio, but this project successfully demonstrated excellent balance between up-stream and down-stream research. We have made impressive progress, and are rather ahead on some milestones. I consider it a model project.”
Other PSC members also expressed their satisfaction, and agreed that HTMA has made tremendous progress in products for heat stress ecologies in the partners’ target environments. After discussing the progress in detail, project partners discussed the work plan and research activities for the third year. A parallel group discussion on objectives helped finalize the workplans and activities for each partner during the project’s third year.
HTMA-Project Steering Committee meeting.
Finally, the PSC met and discussed the overall progress of the project in detail. In addition to Prasanna chairing the PSC, members include Dr. Mohammda Munir, chief scientific officer, Pakistan Agricultural Research Council; Dr. Yagna Gajadhar Khadka, director, crops and horticulture, Nepal Agricultural Research Council; Dr. Khalid Sultan, research director, Bangladesh Agricultural Research Institute; Dr. B.V. Patil, director of education at UAS; Tuinstra; Dr. N.P. Sarma, Kaveri Seeds; and Zaidi as member secretary.
Overall, the PSC members expressed their satisfaction with ongoing activities and the progress being made by HTMA, particularly the close collaboration with partner institutions. “I sincerely hope that the same momentum is maintained for rest of the project, which is certainly going to have a strong impact on the maize farming community in stressprone agro-ecologies of South Asia,” said Munir.
The meeting was also attended by special guests, including Drs. Navin Hada and Danielle Knueppel from USAID in Nepal, and Dr. Mahendra Prasad Khanal and Mr. Dilaram Bhandari from the Agricultural Ministry of Nepal. They stated their appreciation for the opportunity to participate in the meeting for the project model and noted HTMA’s fast-track progress. Khanal said, “We need to have a similar project for maize research and development in Nepal, since we are also pushing for hybrid varieties, and we should use a similar public-private partnership model for the product development and deployment.”
Delivery of HT maize hybrids to smallholder farmers in South Asia 
