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Location: Indonesia

What’s the link between two-wheel tractors and elephants?

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

CIMMYT principal scientist Frédéric Baudron has two main research interests: making mechanization appropriate to smallholders and biodiversity conservation.

Wondering how these two intersect, a colleague of Baudron once asked him what the link was between an elephant and a tractor?

Now, in the recent report, “Addressing agricultural labour issues is key to biodiversity-smart farming research,” published in Biological Conservation, Baudron and other contributors have answered that question, examining trade-offs between labor and biodiversity conceptually, as well as in the specific context of Indonesia and Ethiopia.

This research continues work CIMMYT has done on the relationship between agriculture and biodiversity, including Commodity crops in biodiversity-rich production landscapes: Friends or foes? The example of cotton in the Mid Zambezi Valley, Zimbabwe and Sparing or sharing land? Views from agricultural scientists

Innovations in agricultural technology have led to undeniable achievements in reducing the physical labor needed to extract food from fields. Farm mechanization and technologies such as herbicides have increased productivity, but also became on the other hand major threats to biological diversity.

Adopting technologies that improve the productivity of labor benefits farmers in multiple ways, including a reduction of economic poverty, time poverty (i.e., lack of discretionary time, reducing labor drudgery), and child labor. Conversely, technologies that promote biodiversity often increase the burden of labor, leading to limited adoption by farmers. Therefore, there is a need to develop biodiversity-smart agricultural development strategies, which address biodiversity conservation goals and socio-economic goals, specifically raising land and labor productivity. This is especially true in the Global South, where population growth is rapid and much of the world’s remaining biodiversity is located.

“Without accounting for labor issues biodiversity conservation efforts will not be successful or sustainable,” said Baudron. “Because of this, we wanted to examine what biodiversity-smart agriculture might look like from a labor point of view.”

Research has quantified that farming families in Africa who use tractors expended an average of 640 labor hours per hectare in maize cultivation. In contrast, farmers not using tractors spent over 1100 hours for the same yield.

Practicing tractor operation at Toluca experiment station (Photo: X. Fonseca/CIMMYT)

Trade-offs

While that is a clear win for reducing the heavy physical toil of farming, there are potential negative effects on biodiversity. In many countries in the Global North, the rise of tractors and other big machinery has led to larger and more rectangular fields and the removal of farm trees and hedgerows, all of which is associated with lower biodiversity. The same is now happening in parts of the Global South.

“A trade-off implies that one goal can only be achieved at the expense of another goal,” said Baudron. “It is not always a conscious choice; however, as farmers often adopt labor-saving techniques without considering the effects on biodiversity, simply because they lack options, and sometimes the necessary context.”

In Indonesia, the transition from harvesting rubber to producing palm oil has reduced the amount of physical labor, but biological diversity has decreased. However, innovations such as reducing fertilizer usage to avoid nutrient leaching into soil have been possible without compromising yield, and with the benefit of lower costs to farmers.

In Ethiopia, labor-saving technologies like the use of small-scale combine harvesters have been compatible with high biodiversity.

“I tell my colleagues a two-wheel tractor that allows mechanization with little negative environmental consequence (compatible with a mosaic of small, fragmented fields, with on-farm scattered trees, etc.) contributes to a landscape that works for people and biodiversity, including elephants,” said Baudron.

CGIAR Initiative: Digital Innovation

Written by Sarah McLaughlin on . Posted in Uncategorized.

Digital innovations can enable an unprecedented transformation of food, land and water systems for greater climate resilience and sustainability. To realize this potential, multidisciplinary expertise across the CGIAR must find solutions to three challenges affecting the Global South: 

  1. The digital divide: digital technologies and infrastructure do not meet people’s needs, especially women and rural populations. More than 600 million people live outside the reach of mobile networks, two-thirds of them in sub-Saharan Africa. 
  2. Weak information systems: available information is inadequate or does not reach those who need it most. More than 300 million small-scale producers lack access to digital climate services. Weak information systems prevent evidence-based policy responses and lead to missed opportunities to reduce poverty and increase economic growth. 
  3. Limited digital capabilities: digital literacy and skill levels across the Global South remain low, particularly for marginalized and food-insecure individuals and groups such as women.

Objective

The Digital Innovation Initiative aims to develop and support digital innovations to stimulate the inclusive, sustainable transformation of food, land and water systems in the areas of investments that policymakers could make to close the digital divide, information delivery systems that allow more people to take action against predicted risks, and ways for partner organizations and marginalized communities to enhance digital capabilities, access resources and opportunities. 

This objective will be achieved through:

  • Generating evidence on impacts of digital innovations and collaborative partnerships to create an enabling environment for digital ecosystems, unlocking local innovators’ access to investments and advanced technologies. 
  • Developing a suite of tools and guidelines to bridge the digital divide, ensuring that gender equality and social inclusion underly the development of digital innovations, research programs and their implementation. 
  • System dynamics modeling to understand complex dynamics in agrifood systems and support natural resource management authorities in equitably allocating water and land resources and managing risks. 
  • Real-time food system monitoring to provide timely and reliable information to stakeholders by applying AI-driven analytics of satellite remote sensing, internet-connected sensors, and other ground-truthed data from multidisciplinary sources. 
  • Strengthening partners’ capacity to collect real-time data, conduct data analytics and make data-driven decisions to enable equitable digital platforms and services.

‘Sharing’ or ‘sparing’ land?

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

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

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

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

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

Forests for food

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

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

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

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

Read more:
Testing the Various Pathways Linking Forest Cover to Dietary Diversity in Tropical Landscapes

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

The Director General of IAARD, Fadjry Djufry (left), and the Director General of CIMMYT, Martin Kropff, signed a memorandum of understanding. (Photo: Alfonso Cortés/CIMMYT)

CIMMYT and Indonesia’s agricultural research agency renew collaboration

Written by Mary Donovan on . Posted in News.

The Indonesian delegation visited CIMMYT's germplasm bank. (Photo: Alfonso Cortés/CIMMYT)
The Indonesian delegation visited CIMMYT’s germplasm bank. (Photo: Alfonso CortĂ©s/CIMMYT)

A delegation of the Indonesian Agency for Agricultural Research and Development (IAARD) visited the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT) to reaffirm their research partnership. Led by the Director General of IAARD, Fadjry Djufry, a group of Indonesian researchers and leaders visited CIMMYT on August 28 and August 29.

CIMMYT and IAARD have collaborated on research since 1981, when an Indonesian researcher participated in CIMMYT trainings. Since 1995, CIMMYT has worked with Indonesia through joint research and donations of inbred lines. CIMMYT has helped the Indonesian Cereals Research Institute (ICERI) in establishing infrastructure for a drought-tolerant nursery and has sponsored ICERI researchers to attend international scientific meetings. The CIMMYT-organized Asian Maize Biotechnology Network supported a satellite molecular laboratory for ICERI.

The Director General of IAARD, Fadjry Djufry (left), and the Director General of CIMMYT, Martin Kropff, signed a memorandum of understanding. (Photo: Alfonso Cortés/CIMMYT)
The Director General of IAARD, Fadjry Djufry (left), and the Director General of CIMMYT, Martin Kropff, signed a memorandum of understanding. (Photo: Alfonso Cortés/CIMMYT)

During the visit, the Indonesian delegation signed a memorandum of understanding with CIMMYT. Visitors also attended presentations on CIMMYT’s progress and strategy, toured the germplasm bank, visited the maize nutrition quality lab, and did a field visit to learn about sustainable intensification and climate change adaptation.

After CIMMYT director general Martin Kropff gave an overview of CIMMYT, the IAARD delegation presented their work and innovations to increase maize and wheat production. Indonesian researchers have released high yielding maize varieties, functional maize varieties and hybrid maize varieties. Farmers are intercropping maize, rice and soybeans. Post-harvest technology, mechanization and mapping have contributed to maize productivity.

The Indonesian delegation and CIMMYT discussed possible opportunities for collaboration. (Photo: Alfonso Cortés/CIMMYT)
The Indonesian delegation and CIMMYT discussed possible opportunities for collaboration. (Photo: Alfonso Cortés/CIMMYT)

IAARD also outlined its strategy to contribute to the government’s target of food self-sufficiency to become the world’s food basket by 2045.

IAARD suggested future collaboration with CIMMYT to help achieve this goal, including working together on research and development of improved maize and wheat, a double haploid for maize, water management, climate-smart agriculture and data management for genetic resources.

Indonesian researchers did a field visit to learn about sustainable intensification and climate change adaptation. (Photo: Alfonso Cortés/CIMMYT)
Indonesian researchers did a field visit to learn about sustainable intensification and climate change adaptation. (Photo: Alfonso Cortés/CIMMYT)

Improved Maize for Tropical Asia (IMTA)

Written by Rodrigo Ordóñez on . Posted in Uncategorized.

The Improved Maize for Tropical Asia (IMTA) is employing modern maize breeding techniques to develop and deploy new, climate-resilient maize hybrids, including traits important for identified niche markets across tropical Asia.

Principal Coordinator: B.S. Vivek

Visiting researcher Fazleen Abdul Fatah is studying the the growing importance of maize and wheat in emerging economies.

Visiting researcher from Malaysia studies growing importance of maize and wheat in the country

Written by Emma Orchardson on . Posted in News.

Visiting researcher Fazleen Abdul Fatah is studying the the growing importance of maize and wheat in emerging economies.
Visiting researcher Fazleen Abdul Fatah is studying the growing importance of maize and wheat in emerging economies.

Fazleen Abdul Fatah credits a number of factors for her interest in agricultural research, from a childhood spent in a small town in one of Malaysia’s main rice farming areas, where the neighborhood revolved around agriculture, to supporting lecturers and professors who encouraged her interests during her undergraduate studies. “My experiences as an intern in the Philippines and visiting commercial farms in Germany and Japan as a student also shaped my motivation to work in sustainable agriculture and rural development, and ultimately I’d like to be able to influence food and agriculture policy,” she says.

Now a senior lecturer in the Faculty of Plantation and Agrotechnology at Universiti Teknologi MARA (UITM) in Malaysia, where she specializes in agricultural economics, trade and policy. For the past three months she has been based at the global headquarters of the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT) in Mexico, where she is conducting research into food consumption patterns.

Having previously completed an internship with the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) in the Philippines, Abdul Fatah was keen to gain more experience within the CGIAR system. After graduating from the University of Gottingen, Germany, with a PhD in Agriculture Trade Policy, her interest in the growing importance of maize and wheat in emerging economies prompted her to apply for a research opportunity at CIMMYT.

“I’m very interested in understanding how current shifts in food consumption patterns might affect the consumption of cereals in Indonesia and Malaysia.” Her previous research focused on the shift to cereals from food items such as meat, fish, or vegetables, but Abdul Fatah notes that few studies document shifts between cereals. “Rice is typically the main staple food crop for Malaysians,” she explains, “but changes in diets, incomes, and urbanization mean that people are shifting towards maize and wheat. What I’ve found more striking from my research is that in some areas people are actually consuming more wheat than rice, which means there are going to be some interesting decisions for policy makers to consider in the near future, especially in terms of import strategies.”

Abdul Fatah presented her initial research findings at CIMMYT, where she updated colleagues on her efforts to analyze consumption patterns for major cereals in 11 developing countries in Africa and Asia using government household surveys and World Bank datasets. She hopes to continue this line of research once she returns to UITM and is currently working on a paper based on case studies from Indonesia and Malaysia.

You can read more research from CIMMYT on shifting food consumption patterns in Asia in “Changing Food Consumption of Households in Developing Countries: A Bangladesh Case.”

Researchers set new climate services strategy in Bangladesh

Written by on . Posted in News.

CSRD workshop participants. Photo: M. Asaduzzaman/CIMMYT
CSRD workshop participants. Photo: M. Asaduzzaman/CIMMYT

DHAKA, Bangladesh (CIMMYT) – Scientists from across South and Southeast Asia launched a new agenda earlier this week to boost community involvement in developing climate information and extension messaging services across the region.

“Key to climate services is emphasis on the service,” said Timothy Krupnik, a systems agronomist at the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT) and South Asia project leader for Climate Services for Resilient Development (CSRD).

Researchers know how the region’s farmers will be affected by climate change thanks to the development of climate models and other analyses, but there still is a lack of a strong support system that allows farmers to practically use this information.

“We must be able to rapidly extend information to farmers and others who require climate information to inform their decision making, and to assure that research outputs are translated in an easy to understand way that communicates to farmers, extension workers and policy makers,” said Krupnik. “Equally important is feedback from farmers on the quality of climate services so they can be adapted and improved over time.”

The researchers, who gathered in Dhaka, Bangladesh for a three-day workshop from September 17-19, 2017, evaluated how climate and agricultural extension advisories are currently produced and conveyed, and identified opportunities on how to improve these services for farming communities across Bangladesh, India, Indonesia, Myanmar, Nepal, Philippines, Sri Lanka and Vietnam.

“CSRD’s activities are relevant to the U.S. government’s commitment to building resilience of smallholder farmers and to ensure increased production, as well bolster country resilience,” said David Westerling, acting economic growth office director and Feed the Future team leader for the United States Agency for International Development’s mission in Bangladesh. “That is why we are behind this effort.”

During the workshop, delegates assessed different ways to incorporate seasonal climate forecasts into farmer decision making, using several African countries as examples.  For example, participants learned how to simply but effectively depict probabilistic forecasts in graphs to farmers during a group work discussion.

There were also experience sharing sessions on information and communication technology (ICT) in agricultural climate services. Giriraj Amarnath, researcher at the International Water Management Institute, Ishwor Malla, service director for ICT at Agri Private Limited and Md. Nadirruzzaman, assistant professor at the Independent University, Bangladesh indicated that ICT can be a cost-effective approach to transfer information to farmers who can, in turn, improve crop productivity using climate information shared their observation and experiences.

While ICT can serve as an important tool, participants emphasized the need for more face-to-face extension and interaction with farming communities to build trust in forecasts that would otherwise not be fully understood by downloading a mobile application or receiving an SMS message.

An analysis to identify strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats for climate services in each country and across countries was completed to examine how participants can collaborate in south-south exchanges to support ongoing work in agricultural climate services.

On the last day of the workshop, climate index-based agricultural insurance was also discussed, after which participants proposed new institutional arrangements to improve agricultural climate information flow to farmers in each of their countries.

Elisabeth Simelton, climate change scientist at the World Agroforestry Centre in Vietnam and project manager at the Consortium Research Program on Climate Change, Agriculture, and Food Security (CCAFS), said the workshop provided an interesting platform where scientists and climate service providers from different countries were able to meet and exchange their experiences and ideas through interactive formats, so that everybody can take something new and useful back to their respective countries.

The Climate Services for Resilient Development (CSRD) is a global partnership that connects climate science, data streams, decision support tools, and training to decision-makers in developing countries.The workshop was sponsored by the United States Agency for International Development on behalf of CSRD and is collaboratively organized by CIMMYT and CSRD through the SERVIR Support Team. This work was also implemented as part of the CGIAR Research Program on CCAFS. Read more about the workshop, participants and sponsors here. 

At this year’s UN Climate Talks, CIMMYT is highlighting innovations in wheat and maize that can help farmers overcome climate change. Follow @CIMMYT on Twitter and Facebook for the latest updates.

AAA hybrids move towards commercialization

Written by on . Posted in News.

PLC6 is a term used to refer to an advanced stage of hybrid testing at Syngenta, a partner of the Affordable, Accessible, Asian (AAA) Drought Tolerant Maize Project. Four hybrids, representing combinations of Syngenta and CIMMYT germplasm are currently at PLC6 in big plots at multiple locations.  The trajectory of this process points to pilot marketing of a limited quantity of hybrid seed in 2016 and a full market launch in 2017.

AAA Drought Tolerant Maize Project Meeting, ICRISAT Campus, Hyderabad, India. 22-23 July 2015. Photo: P.S. Rao/ICRISAT

Four million hectares in India and Indonesia is the potential target area of this project.  This translates to a market potential of about 80,000 metric tons of seed and offers the opportunity to address the needs of over five million households.  In Indonesia, this primarily covers the island of Sulawesi and eastern Java province. In India, the targeted west central zone includes drought prone and tribal areas, a high risk environment where farmers require improved low-cost seed.

According to Syngenta, the region’s climate and other dynamics make seed marketing risky, unpredictable and unattractive, and is often overlooked by the private seed sector – exactly the kind of underserved area CIMMYT is mandated to target.

The AAA annual meeting was held at the International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT) campus in Hyderabad, India on 22 and 23 July 2015.  Members of the AAA team highlighted achievements over the past five years that ranged from identifying hybrid combinations, fast tracking them to deployment, developing new inbred lines, identifying molecular marker leads for grain yield under drought and for root traits, generating information on genomic selection and genome wide associations and building human, infrastructural, informatics and networking capacity.  All this was done through an exploratory partnership model that included NARS partners (from Vietnam and Indonesia) in addition to Syngenta.

CIMMYT and the AAA team would like to thank the Syngenta Foundation for Sustainable Agriculture (SFSA), especially Mike Robinson, Chief Science Advisor and the mastermind behind this approach, for the support provided and for enabling such a collaborative opportunity.

SUPER WOMAN: Asriani Anie Annisa Hasan protects local Indonesian maize varieties

Written by on . Posted in Features.

AWARENESS-RAISING ON ISSUES AFFECTING AGRICULTURE, FOOD AND CULINARY ARTS

Anie1International Women’s Day on March 8, offers an opportunity to recognize the achievements of women worldwide. This year, CIMMYT asked readers to submit stories about women they admire for their selfless dedication to either maize or wheat. In the following story, Amanda Niode writes about her Super Woman of Maize, Asriani Anie Annisa Hasan of the Gorontalo Corn Information Center and Food Security Agency.

Asriani Anie Annisa Hasan is my maize superwoman.

Anie is a beautiful and warm-hearted woman, who is currently head of the Dissemination and Information Division at the Gorontalo Corn Information Center and Food Security Agency.

Gorontalo is a province located on the island of Sulawesi in Indonesia on the Wallacea, borderline islands situated between the Asian and Australian bio-geographical regions characterized by great biodiversity of flora and fauna.

Anie is not known as an official who works behind her desk. She is very much involved in the cornfields and the livelihoods of farmers, taking pictures of newly harvested cornfields, driving a truck, or sitting on the floor chatting with corn farmers.

She informs farmers about native corn varieties found in Gorontalo, including those on the brink of extinction such as momala, motorokiki, bonia/badia and pulut (binthe pulo).

Additionally, Anie is very active on social media networks and always explains her corn-related activities in a fun way, One of her Facebook posts features two decorated corn cobs saying: “Corns fall in love today. Love maize.”

In another post, she wrote: “Sunday morning is usually laundry time, but now I should be chummy with the corn field.”

She is always on the forefront on any major corn-related activity, including the International Maize Conference, which was held in Gorontalo in 2012, and attended by corn experts from all over the world.

She works very hard to assist the Omar Niode Foundation, an organization working to raise public awareness about issues affecting agriculture, food and culinary arts. This work included attending an exhibition of Gorontalo local corns in Jakarta, Indonesia’s capital.

Anie Annisa, is a passionate maize superwoman.

 

Affordable, Accessible, Asian (AAA) Drought Tolerant Maize Annual Meeting 2013

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5191222904_7cd74cf803_z“This project is a rare example of a public-private partnership capable of delivering products to farmers,” said Mike Robinson of the Syngenta Foundation for Sustainable Agriculture (SFSA) at the Affordable, Accessible, Asian (AAA) Drought Tolerant Maize Annual Meeting organized by CIMMYT-Asia at the International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT) campus during 20-21 May 2013.

Twenty-seven participants from CIMMYT, Syngenta, and national partners from Indonesia and Vietnam were welcomed by B.M. Prasanna, CIMMYT Global Maize Program director, who elaborated CIMMYT-Asia senior maize breeder B.S. Vivek presented a graphical overview of the project covering its objectives and discussing the progress achieved in 2012. Syngenta’s Naveen Sharma, Srinivasu Bolisetty, and Pathayya Ravindra then reported on the progress made in product development and product testing under managed and targeted stress environments. Future breeding plans were also discussed. Ian Barker, SFSA, discussed plans for delivering AAA products to farmers, Prasanna explained issues related to germplasm export and remedial strategies, and Manuel Logrono of Syngenta elaborated on the plans for testing and seed production. At the end of the first day, Vivek provided an overview of the association mapping project, and CIMMYT-Asia senior maize physiologist P.H. Zaidi gave a talk on the progress in root phenotyping.

The second day began with a visit to the rhizotronics facility at ICRISAT, followed by detailed presentations on genotyping and genome-wide association study (GWAS) analysis by CIMMYT Asia maize molecular breeder Raman Babu, and the progress on Syngenta’s side by Aparna Padalkar. Vivek then took over the stage again to compare the gains made by markers viza- viz conventional approach when talking about CIMMYT’s progress with Marker Assisted Recurrent Selection (MARS) and Genome Wide Selection (GWS). Hu Hung from the Vietnamese National Maize Research Institute and Muhammad Azrai from the Indonesian Cereals Research Institute then reported on the progress made in Vietnam and Indonesia, respectively.

After comparing CIMMYT’s and Syngenta’s approaches to drought phenotyping and the merits and demerits of biparental versus multiparental approaches to GWS, CIMMYT-Asia maize breeder Kartik Krothapalli concluded the meeting with a summary of the action plans discussed during the meeting.Group

I have farmed forever

Written by on . Posted in Features.

June, 2005

How quality protein maize is changing lives in one Indonesian village.

“I have farmed forever,” says Yasam Saanim. He works the steep slopes of the mountainous land near the village of Carin on the Indonesian island of Java. From childhood his life has been one of hard labor with little reward. He and his wife struggled to raise seven children on their tiny piece of rented land. With no money of his own Yasam has to borrow from the landowner every year to buy fertilizer for his third of a hectare of rice. He also grows a few bananas, cassava, sweet potatoes, and durian, a pungent Southeast Asian delicacy. In return he pays the landowner 180 kg of rice at harvest. He does not think it is a fair deal but says he has no choice. The family survives but Yasam has never had money. It has been that way all his life.

Now, at the age of seventy, he finally sees some light in the seemingly endless tunnel of hopelessness that has been his lot as a tenant farmer.

The landowner has decided to plant maize—in particular, quality protein maize—on 1.2 hectares of land adjacent to Yasam’s. Quality protein maize is a high lysine and tryptophan type developed by CIMMYT. It can enhance the nutrition of the poor whose diets depend heavily on maize and raise the quality of maize-based pig and poultry feeds. The landowner’s maize production is for seed, which markets locally at five times the value of grain and reflects Java farmers’ growing interest in quality protein maize. To Yasam’s delight, he and some village women were hired to weed, fertilize, and harvest the plot. Yasam earns 12,500 Indonesian Rupiahs (US $1.30) for each half day he works. The women are paid less (7,500 Rupiahs), but in a village with little money this new income is very welcome.

On the island of Java, Yasam tends this plot of quality protein maize for his landowner.

Indonesia has released two open-pollinated varieties of quality protein maize. They were developed using experimental varieties from CIMMYT by Dr. Marsum Dalhan, head of the Breeding and Germplasm Section of the Indonesian Cereal Research Institute. Marsum has benefited both from CIMMYT training activities and through support for his work from the Asian Development Bank.

Virtually no maize is grown around Carin. That is good news for landowners who produce maize seed and, especially, that of quality protein maize. Because the quality protein trait is “recessive”—that is, both parents must carry it and pass it on, for it to be expressed in offspring—any plants that are fertilized with pollen from other types of maize will not produce quality protein seed.

The economics look good to the landowner. He produces two crops of quality protein seed a year. Still there is a risk. The market for this maize is in its infancy in Indonesia where most animal feed is artificially fortified with lysine at the feed mill. Nevertheless, Yasam Saanim, a person who has farmed forever, beams with cautious optimism. “It looks like we will have a benefit from the maize,” he smiles.