In 2002, ACIAR and Gansu Agricultural University initiated a rainfed conservation agriculture research project in Dingxi County, Loess Plateau, Gansu Province. Li Lingling and her team have religiously maintained this site, gathering data and training postgraduates, while quantifying the long-term impacts of CA in a very arid environment. CIMMYT-China, in close collaboration with GAU, is developing the site into an innovation platform to demonstrate and promote sustainable farming approaches in the region, which was demonstrated through a farm walk during China Science Week.
The research station has housed and trained 100 students at a time, and is home to 10-15 postgraduates during peak sampling periods. Refurbished laboratories, a collection of field tools and Li Lingling’s 14 years of research results were displayed during the farm walk.
That increased crop water use efficiency can be achieved in this arid zone was a key message from the wheat/pea rotation system under CA, whereas zero tillage with straw removal was one of the worst performing soil treatments. The farm walk effectively demonstrated soil-water interactions under CA, no till, straw removal and continuous grazing, highlighting the benefits of CA and its effectiveness in addressing local and regional resource management issues.
Activities culminated with a postgraduate research walk where the main presenters were two Ph.D. students from Ghana who are working on greenhouse gas emissions, among other subjects.
CIMMYT-China, the Gansu Foreign Expert Bureau and Gansu Agricultural University (GAU) in Lanzhou City sponsored an international farming systems research workshop from 30 June–4 July 2015. Jack McHugh, CIMMYT-China Systems Agronomist, and Li Lingling, Vice Dean of the Agronomy Department at GAU, were the lead organizers of the event.
The good news: by 2050, world population growth will likely fall to half or less the rate of 1.7% per year witnessed over the last half of the 20th century, offering a glimmer of hope for humanity to feed itself sustainably. More troubling though is that agricultural productivity growth is also slowing in many parts of the world, often because of declining investments in farm productivity-oriented research and political indifference. Which competing trend will win out in the end?
Attempting to answer this critical question and shed light on the causes, Philip G. Pardey, Professor of Science and Technology Policy, University of Minnesota, spoke to a global gathering of CIMMYT scientists in Mexico on 15 June. His presentation gave evidence and conclusions from recently published research1 to develop and apply the new “International Agricultural Prospects” model that projects global agricultural consumption and production to 2050.
Looking at U.S. trends over the 20th Century, Pardey said that agricultural productivity grew quickly until 1990 but the pace of growth slowed afterwards by more than half. “Data from 1910 show a curvilinear trend featuring a productivity surge in the 1950s-70s,” he explained. “This U.S. surge might be illustrative of a more general one-time phenomenon in many agricultural economies around the world. This includes widespread uptake of agricultural chemicals, improved seeds, fertilizer and other modern inputs, and a massive movement of labor out of the sector.” The implication, he said, was a need to double down on sustainable agricultural productivity growth including giving increased attention to research that maintains past productivity gains.
Other conclusions from Pardey included:
Think long-term: it takes decades to go from an idea to a commercialized farm technology.
The basic political economy is driving investments away from farm productivity.
Population and demographics are major determinants of the consumption of agricultural output.
Additional demand for biofuels may not have as dramatic an effect on food futures as some speculate.
Available agricultural land appears more than sufficient for the projected growth in food production.
Science Week participants listen to Pardey’s presentation on international agricultural prospects. To left, Director General Kropff live tweets event. Photo: CIMMYT
Regarding consumption, the model factored in consumption of biofuels, human food and animal feed, while considering changes in population growth, per capita income, and demographics — most notably the aging of the planet’s population. “We expect worldwide average per capita incomes in 2050 to be at the levels of more prosperous countries in 2000, but with a big spread among regions of the world,” said Pardey. “There will be encouraging reductions in people below the poverty line, but major clusters of the poor will persist in South Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa.” He also observed that increased life expectancies and numbers of the elderly in countries like China would reduce the demand for calories and change the structure of diets.
The driving factors used to forecast production included the pace of crop yield growth in different regions around the world, the location and availability of agricultural land, and its agro-ecological suitability for growing specific crops. “In the U.S., the ‘average’ maize plant has moved 279 kilometers north and 342 kilometers west since 1910,” he explained. “From 16 to 21 percent of the growth in U.S. maize output is attributable to this movement.”
Postgraduates discussing and preparing the CA runoff demonstration with Professors Li Lingling and Zhang at Dingxi Research Station in preparation for the workshop. Photos: Jack McHugh/CIMMYT
An international conservation agriculture (CA) workshop to be held during China Science Week (30 June–4 July 2015) will bring CIMMYT CA researchers, colleagues and national researchers together with the objective of building agro-ecological capacity among researchers in western China. At the workshop, hosted by CIMMYT-China, participants will discuss subjects such as CA successes and the science and practical agronomy underpinning CA, and will view field displays of CA benefits.
The workshop will advance international exchange and future collaboration through CIMMYT-China’s Global Conservation Agriculture Program (GCAP). China, a vital component of GCAP, plays an ever-increasing role in agricultural development across Asia and Africa. For example, GCAP-China collaborator Zhang Anping from the Nanjing Research Institute of Agricultural Mechanization recently returned from a 12-month machinery development program in Zimbabwe sponsored by the Chinese Government. Zhang will be hosting CIMMYT-GCAP on an agricultural machinery tour in Shandong Province following China Science Week.
Internationally renowned experts will be joined by CIMMYT’s GCAP team who will provide training and present CA research, development and extension practices, and share their expertise on CA issues that arise across Africa, Latin America and South Asia. Danny Decombel, Crop Nutritionist who has lived and worked in China for 27 years, will provide insights on nutrient and plant management and monitoring systems. Carl Timler of Wageningen University will provide hands-on training on the use of Farm DESIGN computer models and other farming system analytical tools. Farm DESIGN is a product of Wageningen University’s Farming Systems Ecology group.
National scientists will discuss new technologies, scientific advances and scholarly publications in China. Representatives from Gansu Agricultural University, The Grassland Institute of Lanzhou University, Gansu Academy of Agricultural Sciences and local agronomy consultants, in partnership with GCAP-China, will also be organizing the event.
Common farming practices on the Loess Plateau near Dingxi to be visited during the workshop.
In addition to the workshop, a participatory learning field day will be held at Dingxi Research Station in Gansu Province. During the field day, participants will learn about challenges to CA adoption, and will view demonstrations of conventional vs. CA treatment of water-holding capacity, infiltration, runoff, soil strength, plant nutrition levels and crop water use.
CIMMYT representatives attending will include Bruno Gerard, GCAP Director; M.L. Jat, Senior Cropping System Agronomist; Frederic Baudron, Farm Mechanization and Conservation Agriculture for Sustainable Intensification (FACASI) Project Leader; Santiago Lopez Ridaura, GCAP Systems Agronomist; and Tim Krupnik, Systems Agronomist.
Also in attendance will be professors John Bennett (University of Southern Queensland Australia), Enamel Haque (Murdoch University Perth Australia) and Jeremy Whish (CSIRO Australia). National representatives include Yang Changrong, expert in agro-ecology; Lan Yubin, leading expert in precision agriculture at South China Agricultural University; Pan Genxing, expert in soil biology and amendments at Nanjing Agricultural University; and Wang Yingkuan, Editor-in-Chief of the International Journal of Agricultural & Biological Engineering and Vice Secretary General of Chinese Society of Agricultural Engineering.
The DJI Spreading Wings S900 Hexo-copter fitted with an MKII Canon SLR Visual Camera flying over winter wheat near Wuzhong City, China. Photo: Jack McHugh/CIMMYT
We have come a long way when it comes to obtaining aerial images of our research sites. My colleagues and I once used helium-filled balloons and twin cameras to obtain infrared and color images in an all-day operation; now we use unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) fitted with high-resolution lenses and multispectral cameras to take dozens of images over large areas in a matter of minutes.
Farmers and researchers need to know every square meter of their fields, to determine spatial variability, take remedial action and implement adaptive controls and responses. UAVs can achieve this without anyone setting foot in the field. In an era where we are time- and resource-poor, we can accurately assess the health of entire fields in mere minutes, which could have an enormous impact on agriculture.
However, in Northwestern China, the notion of using UAVs to take aerial pictures in an agricultural setting evokes suspicion, elicits numerous questions and is extremely novel.
The way it was in 2007. Troy Jensen and Amjed Hussain of the University of Southern Queensland, utilizing a helium-filled balloon for aerial imagery of a cabbage research trial in SE Queensland. Photo: Troy Jensen
As a result, we have to provide detailed explanations and gain permission from a number of local authorities before we can undertake what is a simple non-invasive task that would normally go unnoticed on a farm in Australia or Mexico.
CIMMYT-China’s Global Conservation Agriculture Program (GCAP) and the Ningxia Academy of Agricultural Sciences obtained permission from the Wuzhong City Agricultural Mechanization Bureau to fly a UAV. Earlier this month, my colleague Mr. Zhang Xuejian, Director of the Information Research Institute, enlisted a local UAV operator to take images of conservation agriculture, relay cropping and wheat variety trials at a demonstration site near Wuzhong City in Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region.
Although the Information Research Institute has a fixed-wing UAV with sophisticated imagery equipment, the system is somewhat dated and requires extensive documentation, a landing strip and up to six operators. However, the GCAP-Ningxia Academy of Agricultural Sciences collaboration recently demonstrated the flexibility, capability and efficiency of a modern, multi-rotary wing UAV that rapidly produces imagery and readily displays agronomic traits, farm management and genetic responses not easily appreciated or identified at ground level. Given the success of this demonstration, we will seek funding to buy a new aircraft and develop proximal sensing and imagery within the region.
Smallholder farmers need accurate, inexpensive, readily-available data to increase production, but have traditionally not had access to precise spatial information due to time, money and labor constraints. UAVs can collect visual, thermal and hyperspectral data, which when analyzed provide a broad range of information that would otherwise be unavailable. UAV imagery can also focus on specific biotic and abiotic issues such as diseases, crop stress and farm management. UAV technology would provide breeders and agronomists in NW China not only a new view of agriculture, but also a new path to achieving increased production and food security, while conserving natural and human resources.
CIMMYT’s Board of Trustees is composed of 13 experts appointed in their individual capacity and not as a representative of any outside entity.
The process to appoint new members to the Board is conducted by the Nominations Committee, whose sole duty is to ensure a mix of skills on the Board at any one time, based on a skills matrix of CIMMYT’s required expertise. As a result, the Board will represent expertise in science (CIMMYT’s key areas of research), finance, audit, risk management, governance, international partnerships and gender and diversity. Board members are also appointed with consideration of their geographical origins. Each member is appointed for a three-year term, with a maximum limit of two terms.
The chair of the Nominations Committee leads the search for new Board members. This is done through a referencing system, rather than a formal and advertised search. Prospective candidates are approached formally and then interviewed by the Board. Newly-appointed Board members undergo an induction program conducted by CIMMYT and the CGIAR and attend their first meeting as an observer.
Dr. Feng Feng
Photo credit: CIMMYT
Dr. Feng is currently the director of the Chinese Bureau of International Cooperation, NSFC. He is responsible for developing international cooperation channels with foreign partners, making policy for international research cooperation in NSFC, and setting the budget for the different research areas for international cooperation. He received his B.Sc. in plant genetics and breeding, and M.Sc. and Ph.D. in plant pathology from the Agricultural University of China.
Dr. Luis Fernando Flores Lui
Photo credit: INIFAP
Dr. Flores Lui is General Director of the Mexican Institute of Forestry, Agriculture, and Livestock (INIFAP). Over the last 25 years he has held numerous positions within the organization. At an international level he has coordinated the biotechnology group at the Asia-Pacific Council (APEC); worked with the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA); and has taught undergraduate and graduate courses in different universities. He received his B.Sc. in Agricultural Engineering from the Antonio Narro Agrarian Autonomous University, his M.Sc. from Irrigation Water Use and Management in 1974 from the Monterrey Institute of Technology and Higher Education and his Ph.D in Soil Sciences from the University of California, Davis.
Photo credit: INIFAP
Dr. Raúl Gerardo Obando Rodríguez
Dr. Rodriguez is the Coordinator for Research and Innovation at the National Institute of Forestry, Agriculture and Livestock (INIFAP). He is an Agricultural Engineer by trade with a PhD in Plant Nutrition at the University of California, Davis. He has held various positions in in INIA, INIFAP, the National Coordinator of the Produce Foundation (COFUPRO), the National System for Research and Technology Transfer (SNITT) and the Graduate College (COLPOS), to name a few.
Bongiwe Nomandi Njobe
Photo credit: CIMMYT
Bongiwe Njobe is Executive Director (founder and sole proprietor) of ZA NAC Consulting and Investments. Over the past 20 years she has held numerous positions in the Fast Moving Consumer Goods Sector (FMCG) sector and the Agricultural Public Sector including Group Executive: Corporate Sustainability at Tiger Brands Limited, Corporate Affairs Director at South African Breweries Limited and Director General at the South African National Department of Agriculture. She currently serves as a Director on the Vumelana Advisory Fund, Independent Board Member on the Regional Universities Forum for Capacity Building in Agriculture (RUFORUM) and as a Trustee at the Kagiso Trust. She is also a member of the High Level Advocacy Panel for the Forum for Agricultural Research in Africa (FARA) and a member of the Institute of Directors (Southern Africa) Sustainability Development Forum.
When a CIMMYT scientist discusses developing hybrids, the first thought that comes to mind is probably new variety of drought tolerant maize.
However, CIMMYT engineers in the global conservation agriculture program are producing a whole different set of hybrids in the fields of El Batán, Mexico. At CIMMYT Day, Jelle Van Loon, Leader of Smart Mechanization and Machinery Innovation, explained the importance of creating “hybrids” of already existing machinery to meet the demands of farmers regionally.
Taking into consideration a varying range of crops, soils and climates, farmers not only need the correct seed, but also the proper technologies to work in their prospective environments. Looking at existing and functional machinery from different parts of the world, like China, Brazil, USA and India, Van Loon and his team are able to convert the machines to make them suitable for use in Mexico, for Mexican farmers.
“It is all a learning experience,” explained Van Loon to his CIMMYT colleagues. “We have to go into the fields and see what is working for these farmers. We have to meet their needs.” This is the very basis for the CIMMYT’s Take it to the Farmer initiative, which is designed to offer advice on a personal level and make innovations readily available to Mexican farmers.
Benefits of three decades of international collaboration in wheat research have added as much as 10.7 million tons of grain – worth US $3.4 billion – to China’s national wheat output, according to a study by the Center for Chinese Agricultural Policy (CCAP) of the Chinese Academy of Science.
Described in a report published on 30 March by the CGIAR Research Program on Wheat, the research examined China’s partnership with CIMMYT and the free use of CIMMYT improved wheat lines and other genetic resources during 1982-2011. The conclusions are based on a comprehensive dataset that included planted area, pedigree, and agronomic traits by variety for 17 major wheat-growing provinces in China.
“Chinese wheat breeders acquired disease resistant, semi-dwarf wheat varieties from CIMMYT in the late 1960s and incorporated desirable traits from that germplasm into their own varieties,” said Dr. Jikun Huang, Director of CCAP and first author of the new study. “As of the 1990s, it would be difficult to find anything other than improved semi-dwarf varieties in China. Due to this and to investments in irrigation, agricultural research and extension, farmers’ wheat yields nearly doubled during 1980-95, rising from an average 1.9 to 3.5 tons per hectare.”
The new study also documents increasing use of CIMMYT germplasm by wheat breeders in China. “CIMMYT contributions are present in more than 26 percent of all major wheat varieties in China after 2000,” said Huang. “But our research clearly shows that, far from representing a bottleneck in diversity, genetic resources from CIMMYT’s global wheat program have significantly enhanced China varieties’ performance for critical traits like yield potential, grain processing quality, disease resistance and early maturity.”
WILL CHINA WHEAT FARMING RISE TO RESOURCE AND CLIMATE CHALLENGES?
Photo: Mike Listman/CIMMYT
The world’s number-one wheat producer, China harvests more than 120 million tons of wheat grain yearly, mainly for use in products like noodles and steamed bread. China is more or less self-sufficient in wheat production, but wheat farmers face serious challenges. For example, wheat area has decreased by more than one-fifth in the past three decades, due to competing land use.
“This trend is expected to continue,” said Huang, “and climate change and the increasing scarcity of water will further challenge wheat production. Farmers urgently need varieties and cropping systems that offer resilience under drought, more effective use of water and fertilizer, and resistance to evolving crop diseases. Global research partnerships like that with CIMMYT will be vital to achieve this.”
Dr. Qiaosheng Zhuang, Research Professor of Chinese Academy of Agricultural Science (CAAS) and a Fellow of Chinese Academy of Science, called the new report “…an excellent, detailed analysis and very useful for scientists and policy makers. CIMMYT germplasm and training have made a momentous contribution to Chinese wheat.”
World Food Prize Borlaug-Ruan Intern Describes Experience with CIMMYT in Turkey
The prestigious Borlaug-Ruan International Internship provides high school students an all-expenses-paid, eight-week hands-on experience, working with world-renowned scientists and policymakers at leading international research centers.
Adam Willman, a Borlaug-Ruan International Intern from Iowa, USA, spent last summer working for CIMMYT’s Soil Borne Pathogens (SBP) Division in Eskişehir, Turkey, working and studying root lesion nematodes under Dr. Abdelfattah “Amer” Dababat and Dr. Gül Erginbas Orakcı.
Willman said “Everyone I worked with had something different and interesting to teach me. I experienced a wide variety of the work that is ongoing at CIMMYT-Turkey. These experiments focused on the overall goals of reducing food loss from disease and pests that can plague farm fields across the globe.”
Willman’s work also included assisting Elfinesh Shikur Gebremariam from Ankara University with Fusarium fungus, Fateh Toumi from Ghent University and Jiang Kuan Cui from China’s Ministry of Agriculture with cereal cyst nematodes. “I was exposed to both the threat that plant diseases pose to food security and the cutting-edge research to combat this” he added.
Willman also commented on the unique opportunity to experience Turkey’s people and culture, saying “I witnessed the amazing kindness, generosity and hospitality of everyone from the director of the research institute, to CIMMYT researchers and workers, to everyday strangers. I am very thankful for my time and experience at CIMMYT-Turkey.”
In a final message he thanked Dr. Dababat, Dr. Erginbas and all of the workers and researchers at SBP.
“Working with SBP for eight weeks truly changed my life and gave me the perspective on my education that I am still utilizing today. I hope to in the future become a plant pathologist and continue researching the many diseases and pests that affect the crops that we, as a planet, depend on. Global food security is within reach, and the scientists and workers at SBP are helping us obtain this goal,” Willman concluded.
Adam Willman (5th from the left) with the SBP pathogens division, students, visitors and Global Wheat Program Director Dr. Hans Braun during a field day in Eskişehir. This photo was taken in the field of the Transitional Zone Agriculture Research Institute (TZARI) in Eskisehir, Turkey.
Compared with other cereals, maize has recorded the fastest annual growth in Asia at around 4 percent, but consumption is rising faster than yields.
When BM Prasanna, CIMMYT’s global maize program director, opened the 12th Asian Maize Conference and Expert Consultation on “Maize for Food, Feed, Nutrition and Environmental Security” in Bangkok last week he said that boosting maize crops would be a key to food security. In China, maize is the number one crop in acreage, covering 35.26 million hectares (87 million acres) in 2013, an area comparable to that of the United States, Prasanna said. The big questions are whether or not China can increase yields before 2020 to avoid being the largest importer of maize and whether Asia can meet the demand for maize “by shortening, widening and improving the breeding funnel,” Prasanna said.
He added that efforts are underway to significantly enhance genetic gain per unit over time: CIMMYT and the University of Hohenheim (Stuttgart, Germany) are utilizing doubled haploid technology; other partnerships are focused on genetic diversity and introgressing transgenic traits under humanitarian license through public-private partnerships.
“Strengthening seed systems is also important for breeding programs to make an impact,” Prasanna said. “The sooner farmers, especially smallholders in unreached areas, have access to improved varieties and a complementary agronomic package of practices, the greater the opportunity to increase productivity.”
Challenges are many. Heat stress and drought stress, among others, are an increasing reality in many maize-growing regions in the tropics. Two promising CIMMYT- Asia heat-tolerant commercial hybrids (31Y45 and DKC9108) are currently being marketed in Asia. Scientists also confirm that a strong pipeline of water stress-resilient, Asia-adapted maize hybrids is ready for deployment in rainfed areas of Asia.
Prasanna concluded by reminding the 350 conference participants that “putting women and children at the center of development will help transform their societies.” Quoting Melinda Gates, he said that by ignoring gender inequities, many development projects fail to achieve their objectives.
As he concluded his remarks with a big smile, Prasanna could not resist sharing, “Nothing looks more beautiful to me than maize.”
Malnutrition and micronutrient deficiency, which can cause blindness and stunting, increased infant and maternal mortality and lower IQs, are at epidemic levels in some parts of Asia. People across Asia depend on maize, rice and wheat but they do not fulfil daily dietary requirements and are deficient in vitamin A and essential micronutrients such as iron and zinc.
Biofortified maize varieties have been bred to include considerably high concentrations of essential micronutrients. Maize in Asia is largely used for feed, but direct human consumption is increasing. Scientists at the 12th Asian Maize Conference highlighted several collaborative interventions to utilize the genetic variability in maize for the development of biofortified maize. Promoting biofortified maize in rural areas and developing new food products has been part of this research. The nutritional benefits of biofortified maize can come directly from eating the crop itself or indirectly by consuming eggs from hens that are fed with provitamin A ProVA-enriched maize. Biofortified maize use for feed may also represent economic benefits for farmers.
Breeding efforts in Asia are currently focused on quality protein maize (QPM) and ProVA-enriched varieties. QPM was first developed by former CIMMYT scientists and World Food Prize Laureates Dr. Evangelina Villegas and Dr. Surinder Vasal. CIMMYT QPM inbred lines have been used in several breeding programs in China, India, Vietnam and elsewhere.
Joint efforts between CIMMYT and numerous partner scientists under HarvestPlus have shown that breeding for increased concentrations of ProVA is especially promising because of the genetic variation available in maize germplasm. New hybrids released in 2012 in Zambia showed ProVA levels 400 percent higher than common yellow maize, with the potential to bring widespread health benefits.
Undated file picture shows the late Nobel Peace Prize laureate Norman Borlaug (L) with 2014 World Food Prize laureate Sanjaya Rajaram.
EL BATAN, Mexico (CIMMYT) — Scientist Sanjaya Rajaram, originally from a small farm in India’s state of Uttar Pradesh, is now widely recognized by the international agriculture sector for his prolific contributions to food security and poverty alleviation.
He is credited with producing a remarkable 480 wheat varieties, which have boosted worldwide yields by more than 180 million metric tons (200 million tons). These increased yields provide food to more than 1 billion people each year.
The varieties Rajaram developed during his 40-year career have been released in 51 countries on six continents.
They are used by farmers with both large and small land holdings who rely on disease-resistant wheat adaptable to a range of climate conditions.
For those feats and more Rajaram is the 2014 World Food Prize laureate, an honor awarded each year to the person who does the most to advance human development by improving the quality, quantity or availability of food in the world. Rajaram received the award at the World Food Prize ceremony on October 16 in Des Moines, Iowa.
“Rajaram has made a massive contribution to food security – I doubt that one person will ever again be involved in the development of as many widely grown wheat varieties,” said Hans Braun, director of the Global Wheat Program at the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT), where Rajaram worked for 33 years.
“As a former colleague once said: ‘It’s amazing what happens, when the ‘Sultan of Wheat’ puts his magic hands on a wheat line’,” he added.
INTERESTS FLOURISH
Rajaram was born in 1943 on the 5-hectare (12 acre) farm in Raipur where his family eked out a living by producing wheat, rice, maize, sugarcane and millet.
His parents recognized Rajaram’s intellectual potential and sent him to school 5 kilometers (3 miles) from home, which at the time was unusual in an area where 96 percent of people had no formal education.
Rajaram excelled scholastically and became the top-ranked student in his district. A state scholarship gave him the opportunity to attend high school, which led to his acceptance at the College of Jaunpur in the University of Gorakhpur, where he earned a Bachelor of Science in agriculture in 1962.
Afterwards Rajaram attended the Indian Agricultural Research Institute in New Delhi, graduating with a Master of Science in 1964.
Subsequently, he earned a doctorate in plant breeding at Australia’s University of Sydney where he first made contact with the superstars of what became known as the “Green Revolution” – Norman Borlaug and Glenn Anderson, who were leading scientists at CIMMYT.
CIMMYT VARIETIES
Borlaug, who was from the United States, died in 2009 at age 95. He is known as the “Father of the Green Revolution” and he was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1970. Borlaug is credited with saving 1 billion lives in the developing world — particularly in South Asia — as a result of the disease-resistant, high-yield semi-dwarf wheat varieties he developed.
Borlaug had also introduced similar innovations throughout Mexico – where CIMMYT is headquartered – leading to the country’s self-sufficiency in wheat.
Anderson, a Canadian who died in 1981 at 57, was recruited by Borlaug to lead the major “Green Revolution” wheat improvement project in India. In 1971, Anderson became deputy director of the CIMMYT Wheat Program and then its director after Borlaug retired in 1979.
The two recruited Rajaram, who joined CIMMYT in 1969. He was appointed head of the wheat breeding team by Borlaug three years later. He set to work cross breeding select plant varieties, and the yield potential of his cultivars increased 20 to 25 percent.
“His technique was to cross winter and spring wheat varieties, which were distinct gene pools, leading to the development of higher yield plants that can be grown in a wide range of environments around the world,” Braun said, adding that Rajaram’s varieties were disease- and stress-resistant.
“The varieties he developed were eventually grown on a larger area than those developed by Borlaug.”
His varieties could be planted in areas previously uninhabitable for wheat in China, India and in Brazil’s acidic soils, for which he developed aluminum-tolerant wheat. Rajaram also developed wheat cultivars now grown on millions of hectares worldwide with durable resistance to rust diseases, which can devastate crops.
Rajaram spent eight years working for the International Center for Agricultural Research in the Dry Areas (ICARDA). At ICARDA, first as director of the Integrated Gene Management Program, then as special scientific advisor, he oversaw the promotion of new technologies to help farmers in the Central and West Asia and North Africa (CWANA) region.
He developed wheat improvement strategies to tackle some of the challenges facing wheat in dry areas, including stripe rust disease, which can spread quickly and have a devastating effect on wheat.
MENTOR TO MANY
“Rajaram’s research not only led to enhanced productivity, but farmers also saw big increases in profits due to higher yields and disease resistance – they no longer had to buy expensive fungicides to protect their plots,” said Ravi Singh, current head of wheat breeding at CIMMYT, one among many breeders Rajaram mentored.
Now a Mexican citizen and still a firm believer in the value of education, Rajaram continues his affiliation with CIMMYT, recently attending a “trainee wheat boot camp” for students from major wheat-growing nations.
“We know we need to double food production to feed the more than 9 billion people we’re expecting by 2050,” Rajaram said.
“Global objectives for food security can most definitely be met. However, we must be able to rely on guaranteed research funding from both the public and private sectors to address the many challenges we face, including decreasing land availability and erratic environmental changes related to climate change.”
Wheat currently provides 20 percent of overall daily protein and calories consumed throughout the world. Production must grow 70 percent over the current amount by 2050, according to the international Wheat Initiative – an achievable goal if annual wheat yields are increased from a current level of below 1 percent to at least 1.7 percent.
Researchers at CIMMYT are aiming to develop resilient wheat varieties tolerant to the drought, heat, extreme wet and cold conditions anticipated by scientists to grow more extreme as mean annual temperatures continue to increase and weather patterns become more volatile.
Rajaram’s great legacy was to give opportunities to newly graduated doctoral students, Singh said.
“He put us in charge of different parts of the breeding program each season, so we had to learn all aspects of the process for ourselves – we worked many long hours with him in the field developing confidence, which was very important for our professional careers.”
Rajaram intends to put a portion of his World Food Prize winnings, valued at $250,000, into training and education programs.
Policies designed to promote maize industry growth require data and information, which is often difficult to obtain in Asian countries. This was discussed during the technical session on improving maize seed systems in Asia at the 12th Asian Maize Conference. David Spielman, senior research fellow at the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI), highlighted that policy-makers often face difficult challenges in promoting seed industry growth – especially in Asian countries that have more smallholder and resource-poor farmers.
Spielman said, “Innovation policies require data on firm-level research and development spending; product pipeline and competition policies require data on market structure and firm behavior.”
Firms often do not share proprietary revenue data and governments may not monitor firm-level activity on a regular basis. One of the factors could be that policy-makers are not sufficiently informed about the opportunities and trade-offs associated with designing laws and regulations that enable the effective governance of seed industry development. Spielman emphasized that a better designed dataset with a finite set of indicators to measure competition and innovation in a country’s seed industry can better inform policy-makers.
The conference highlighted the need for the public and private sectors to work together to provide affordable new seed varieties and deliver new technologies to smallholder farmers. An eminent group of panelists – Arvind Kumar, Rasi Seeds; Shilpa Divekar Nirula, Monsanto; Fan Xingming, Yunnan Academy of Agricultural Sciences, China; John McMurdy, U.S. Agency for International Development; and Bijendra Pal, Bioseed, discussed the opportunities and challenges to ensure a vibrant Asian maize seed sector through public-private partnerships (PPPs).
The panel noted that decision-makers should not look at public vs. private; rather they should learn from models and best practices where the two sectors have worked together successfully.
As a best practice on PPPs, Ian Barker, head of agricultural partnerships at the Syngenta Foundation for Sustainable Agriculture (SFSA), talked about its Seeds2B program in Africa that builds linkages between breeders and seed companies to make more improved seed varieties available to farmers at the right time and price.
He also highlighted that SFSA is now aiming to kick- start the Seed2B concept in Asia – bringing together breeders, seed companies, farmer associations and other relevant players in the Asian maize value chain – to improve access to seed in marginal maize areas. Barker said, “Public-private breeding partnerships can efficiently deliver new affordable and accessible hybrids – correctly positioned and targeted at proven smallholder demand.”
Zhonghu He is country representative in China for the International Maize and Wheat Improvement
Center (CIMMYT), and Qiaosheng Zhuang is a professor at the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Science (CAAS).
China’s domestic agricultural activities are vital to ensuring food security for its 1.4 billion people and – as the world’s largest wheat producer – the country plays a major role in shaping international markets.
China produces about 120 million metric tons (265 million pounds) of wheat each year – on approximately 24 million hectares (59 million acres) of land, an area similar to the size of Algeria, according to statistics from the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO).
Wheat makes up 40 percent of grain consumption in China and about 60 percent of the country’s population eats the grain daily.
Cultivated wheat, which was likely introduced to China in the late 6th to early 5th millennium B.C., is the second most important food crop in China after rice. It is the dominant staple food in the northern part of the country where it is used mainly to produce noodles and steamed bread.
In present-day China, more than 95 percent of wheat is sown in the autumn. A double cropping system is used in the Yellow River and Huai River valleys in which wheat is rotated with maize. In the Yangtze Valley it is rotated with rice.
Chinese wheat matures early, so two crops can be harvested each year.
Wheat in China is also exceptionally resistant to high temperatures during the grain filling stage, during which kernel size is determined, as well as such diseases as head scab, septoria and karnal bunt. The wheat cultivar Sumai 3, a plant selected by breeders for its desirable characteristics, is used globally as a source for improving scab resistance.
Current Challenges
Demand for wheat in China is growing due to population increase and rising living standards, but production is challenged by water scarcity, environmental contamination, rising temperatures, droughts, labor shortages and land-use shifts from grain production to cash crops.
Researchers anticipate that in the near future the consumption of homemade steamed bread and raw noodles will decrease in favor of western-style breads and pastries.
Breeding for high-yield potential remains the first priority, as the available planting area for wheat is unlikely to increase.
Overall breeding goals include increasing grain yield, while maintaining genetic gains already made by scientists in grain yield and improving the processing quality without increasing needed inputs to grow healthy crops.
Conventional breeding – in which wheat plants with desirable, or “elite” traits are selected and used as “parents” for subsequent generations – has been in use for more than a hundred years. The technique, combined with an increased application of biotechnology, will continue to play a leading role in wheat variety development.
In addition to powdery mildew and yellow rust, Fusarium head blight has migrated to the main wheat regions in northern China due to climate change and the continuous practice of wheat and maize rotation, posing a major threat to wheat production. Other diseases, such as sharp eyespot and take-all, are also becoming increasingly troublesome as scientists try to increase grain yields. Wheat in the area has a very low resistance to scab, which is creating another challenge.
Scientific Innovation
It is important that foreign germplasm – the genetic resources of an organism – from international research centers and alien genes from wild relative species be explored as potential sources of multiple-disease resistance.
In order to reduce inputs for wheat production, it is essential to breed varieties with higher water, nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (N) fertilizer use efficiencies, but this must be combined with high-yielding potential.
Drought tolerance for wheat grown in rain-fed areas must be strengthened, because varieties with drought tolerance and better water-use efficiency are already urgently needed.
Interested in this subject? Find out more information here:Zhonghu He and Alain P.A. Bonjean, 2010. Cereals in China, Mexico, D.F.: CIMMYT.
Zhonghu He, Xianchun Xia a, Shaobing Peng, Thomas Adam Lumpkin, 2014. Meeting demands for increased cereal production in China, Journal of Cereal Science, 59: 235-244.
Fahong Wang，Zhonghu He, Ken Sayre, Shengdong Li, Jisheng Si, Bo Feng, Lingan Kong,2009. Wheat cropping systems and technologies in China, Field Crop Research, 111: 181-188.
Under altered conditions driven by climate change, planting dates have been delayed by 10 days over the last 20 years, but maturity has remained basically unchanged. Climate-resilient varieties are needed.
New genes and genetic resources must be explored with novel tools to realize higher genetic gains. Gene-specific markers will play an important role in facilitating the genes for disease resistance and quality. Genetically modified wheat could offer potential tools in reducing damage from head scab and aphids.
Crop management must play an important role in increasing wheat production. Low-cost farming practices are needed so that wheat can be more competitive in the financial markets and new cropping systems must be suited to machinery operation. International collaboration has contributed significantly to improving Chinese wheat research and development capacity.
The government of China considers the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT) an important strategic partner in wheat research and continues to work closely with CIMMYT and other international partners to meet future wheat demands.
CIMMYT aims to improve the livelihoods of poor farmers in the developing world by providing practical solutions for more efficient and sustainable farming. Among the options to improve efficiency, scale-appropriate and precise planting machinery is a crucial yet rarely satisfied need.
Mechanization efforts are ongoing across CIMMYT’s projects, with a strong focus on capacity building of functional small- and medium-scale engineering and manufacturing enterprises. Projects involved include ‘Farm Power and Conservation Agriculture for Sustainable Intensification’ in eastern and southern Africa, funded by the Australian Center for International AgriculturalResearch (ACIAR) and the Cereal Systems Initiative in South Asia (CSISA), funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and USAID. CSISA collaborates closely with the machinery research and development work done on the farms of the Borlaug Institute for South Asia in India, CIMMYT conservation agriculture (CA) projects funded by the Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research, the Agri-Machinery Program based in Yinchuan, Ningxia, China, and the MasAgro Take It to the Farmer machinery and intelligent mechanization unit based in Mexico.
Applied research scientists and technicians assisting these projects work specifically to tackle problems in diverse farming conditions and for varying production systems. Despite their geographically diverse target areas, this team strives to reach a common focal point from which they can learn and compare technical advancements. These advancements are achieved through mutual machine technology testing programs, exchanging machines and expertise and evaluations of best solutions for scale-appropriate mechanization to boost sustainable intensification for resource poor farmers.
Recently, this collaboration model led to the export of several units of a toolbar-based, two-wheel tractor implement for bed shaping, direct seeding of different crops and precise fertilizer application. They will be tested by CIMMYT projects in Bangladesh, Ethiopia and Nepal. This multi-purpose, multi-crop equipment was developed to be CA-compatible and has been fine-tuned in Mexico, with design priorities that kept in mind the implement’s usefulness for smallholder farmers in other parts of the world. The machinery will be tested next in Zimbabwe and possibly India and Pakistan.
The team’s goal is to help developing countries and viable business models of local enterprises in specific regions to have access to good quality implements and tools at reasonable prices. This open-source prototyping strategy is based on the free sharing of technical designs and machinery construction plans. The strategy combines patent-free, lowcost replication blueprints of promising technologies with strong agronomical testing as the ultimate ‘make or break’ criterion. This crucial interaction sets CIMMYT’s engineering platforms apart from commercial options that determine research and development priorities based mainly on sales projections and marketing objectives.
The mechanization team strongly believes in the power of cross regional collaboration – a multidisciplinary work environment, connected intercontinentally with social stewardship and the potential to bring transformative changes to farmers’ fields across the developing world.
The prestigious Borlaug-Ruan International Internship provides high school students an all-expenses-paid, eight-week hands-on experience, working with world-renowned scientists and policymakers at 
When BM Prasanna, CIMMYT’s global maize program director, opened the 12th Asian Maize Conference and Expert Consultation on “Maize for Food, Feed, Nutrition and Environmental Security” in Bangkok last week he said that boosting maize crops would be a key to food security. In China, maize is the number one crop in acreage, covering 35.26 million hectares (87 million acres) in 2013, an area comparable to that of the United States, Prasanna said. The big questions are whether or not China can increase yields before 2020 to avoid being the largest importer of maize and whether Asia can meet the demand for maize “by shortening, widening and improving the breeding funnel,” Prasanna said.
Biofortified maize varieties have been bred to include considerably high concentrations of essential micronutrients. Maize in Asia is largely used for feed, but direct human consumption is increasing. Scientists at the 12th Asian Maize Conference highlighted several collaborative interventions to utilize the genetic variability in maize for the development of biofortified maize. Promoting biofortified maize in rural areas and developing new food products has been part of this research. The nutritional benefits of biofortified maize can come directly from eating the crop itself or indirectly by consuming eggs from hens that are fed with provitamin A ProVA-enriched maize. Biofortified maize use for feed may also represent economic benefits for farmers.
Spielman said, “Innovation policies require data on firm-level research and development spending; product pipeline and competition policies require data on market structure and firm behavior.”