Location: Asia

As a fast growing region with increasing challenges for smallholder farmers, Asia is a key target region for CIMMYT. CIMMYT’s work stretches from Central Asia to southern China and incorporates system-wide approaches to improve wheat and maize productivity and deliver quality seed to areas with high rates of child malnutrition. Activities involve national and regional local organizations to facilitate greater adoption of new technologies by farmers and benefit from close partnerships with farmer associations and agricultural extension agents.

Diane Saunders (left), Group Leader at the John Innes Centre and project co-lead, observes workshop participants during the use of MARPLE. (Photo: Danny Ward/John Innes Centre)

MARPLE reaches South Asia

Written by Rodrigo Ordóñez on May 12, 2022. Posted in News.

Workshop participants stand for a group photo. (Photo: Danny Ward/John Innes Centre)

On April 26–29, 2022, researchers from Nepal participated in a workshop on the use of MARPLE Diagnostics, the most advanced genetic testing methodology for strain-level diagnostics of the deadly wheat yellow rust fungus. Scientists from the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT) and the John Innes Centre trained 21 researchers from the Nepal Agricultural Research Council (NARC) and one from iDE. The workshop took place at NARC’s National Plant Pathology Research Centre in Khumaltar, outside the capital Kathmandu.

“The need for new diagnostic technologies like MARPLE and the critical timing of the workshop was highlighted by the severe yellow rust outbreak observed this season in the western areas of Nepal,” commented Dave Hodson, Senior Scientist at CIMMYT and project co-lead. “Having national capacity to detect the increasing threats from yellow rust using MARPLE will be an important tool to help combat wheat rusts in Nepal”.

The yellow rust fungus can cause grain yield losses of 30–80 % to wheat, Nepal’s third most important food crop.

Current diagnostic methods for wheat rust used in Nepal are slow, typically taking months between collecting the sample and final strain identification. They are also costly and reliant on sending samples overseas to highly specialized labs for analysis.

MARPLE (Mobile and Real-time PLant disEase) Diagnostics is the first method to place strain-level genetic diagnostics capability directly into the hands of Nepali researchers, generating data in-country in near-real time, for immediate integration into early warning systems and disease management decisions.

“This is a fantastic opportunity to bring the latest innovations in plant disease diagnostics for the wheat rust pathogens to where they are needed most, in the hands of researchers in the field working tirelessly to combat these devastating diseases,” commented Diane Saunders, Group Leader at the John Innes Centre and project co-lead.

Suraj Baidya senior scientist and chief of the National Plant Pathology Research Centre at NARC noted the worrying recent geographical expansion of yellow rust in Nepal. “Due to global warming, yellow rust has now moved into the plain and river basin area likely due to evolution of heat tolerant pathotypes. MARPLE Diagnostics now gives us the rapid diagnostics needed to help identify and manage these changes in the rust pathogen population diversity,” he said.

The highly innovative MARPLE Diagnostics approach uses the hand-held MinION nanopore sequencer, built by Oxford Nanopore, to generate genetic data to type strains of the yellow rust fungus directly from field samples.

Beyond MARPLE Diagnostics, Saunders noted that “the workshop has also opened up exciting new possibilities for researchers in Nepal, by providing local genome-sequencing capacity that is currently absent.”

MARPLE (Mobile and Real-time PLant disEase) Diagnostics is a revolutionary mobile lab kit. It uses nanopore sequence technology to rapidly diagnose and monitor wheat rust in farmers’ fields. (Photo: Danny Ward/John Innes Centre)

What’s next for MARPLE Diagnostics in Nepal?

Following the successful workshop, Nepali researchers will be supported by CIMMYT and the John Innes Centre to undertake MARPLE Diagnostics on field samples collected by NARC. “The current plan includes monitoring of yellow rust on the summer wheat crop planted at high hill areas and then early sampling in the 2022/23 wheat season,” Hodson noted.

“We were struck by the enthusiasm and dedication of our colleagues to embrace the potential offered by MARPLE Diagnostics. Looking forward, we are excited to continue working with our Nepali colleagues towards our united goal of embedding this methodology in their national surveillance program for wheat rusts,” Saunders remarked.

MARPLE Diagnostics is supported by the Feed the Future Innovation Lab for Current and Emerging Threats to Crops, funded by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), the UK Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC) Innovator of the Year Award, the CGIAR Big Data Platform Inspire Challenge, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and the United Kingdom’s Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office.

This article was originally published on the JIC website.

Stripe rust, also known as yellow rust, on wheat with droplets of rain. (Photo: A. Yaqup/CIMMYT)

Protecting plant health for food and nutritional security

Written by Rodrigo Ordóñez on May 11, 2022. Posted in Blogs.

Robust and resilient agrifood systems begin with healthy crops. Without healthy crops the food security and livelihoods of millions of resource-constrained smallholder famers in low- and middle-income countries would be in jeopardy. Yet, climate change and globalization are exacerbating the occurrence and spread of devastating insect-pests and pathogens.

Each year, plant diseases cost the global economy an estimated $220 billion — and invasive insect-pests at least $70 billion more. In addition, mycotoxins such as aflatoxins pose serious threats to the health and wellbeing of consumers. Consumption of mycotoxin-contaminated food can cause acute illness, and has been associated with increased risk of certain cancers and immune deficiency syndromes.

Effective plant health management requires holistic approaches that strengthen global and local surveillance and monitoring capacities, and mitigate negative impacts through rapid, robust responses to outbreaks with ecologically friendly, socially-inclusive and sustainable management approaches.

Over the decades, CGIAR has built a strong foundation for fostering holistic plant health protection efforts through its global network of Germplasm Health Units, as well as pathbreaking rapid-response efforts to novel transboundary threats to several important crops, including maize, wheat, rice, bananas, cassava, potatoes and grain legumes.

On May 12, 2022, CGIAR is launching the Plant Health and Rapid Response to Protect Food Security and Livelihoods Initiative (Plant Health Initiative). It presents a unified and transdisciplinary strategy to protect key crops — including cereals, legumes, roots, tubers, bananas and vegetables — from devastating pests and diseases, as well as mycotoxin contamination. CGIAR Centers will pursue this critical work together with national, regional and international partner institutions engaged in plant health management.

A comprehensive strategy

Prevention. When and where possible, prevention is always preferable to racing to find a cure. Reactive approaches, followed by most institutions and countries, generally focus on containment and management actions after a pest outbreak, especially pesticide use. These approaches may have paid off in the short- and medium-term, but they are not sustainable long-term. It has become imperative to take proactive actions on transboundary pest management through globally coordinated surveillance, diagnostics and deployment of plant health solutions, as well as dynamic communications and data sharing.

To this end, under this Initiative CGIAR will produce a diagnostics and surveillance toolbox. It will include low-cost and robust assays, genomics- and bioinformatics-based tools for pathogen diagnosis and diversity assessment, as well as information and communications technologies for real-time data collection and crowdsourcing. This will be complemented by the development of interoperable databases, epidemiological and risk assessment models, and evidence-based guidance frameworks for prioritizing biosecurity measures and rapid response efforts to high-risk insect-pests and diseases.

Integrated pest management strategies have been key in dealing with fall armyworm in Africa and Asia. (Photo: B.M. Prasanna/CIMMYT)

Adoption of integrated approaches. The goal of integrated pest and disease management is to economically suppress pest populations using techniques that support healthy crops. An effective management strategy will judiciously use an array of appropriate approaches, including clean seed systems, host-plant resistance, biological control, cultural control and the use of environmentally safer pesticides to protect crops from economic injury without adversely impacting the environment.

Through the Plant Health Initiative, CGIAR will promote system-based solutions using ecofriendly integrated pest and disease management innovation packages to effectively mitigate the impact of major insect-pests and diseases affecting crop plants. It will also implement innovative pre- and post-harvest mycotoxin management tools and processes.

Integrating people’s mindsets. The lack of gender and social perspectives in plant health surveillance, technology development, access to extension services and impact evaluation is a major challenge in plant health management. To address this, CGIAR will prioritize interdisciplinary data collection and impact evaluation methods to identify context-specific social and gender related constraints, opportunities and needs, as well as generate evidence-based recommendations for policy makers and stakeholders.

Interface with global and regional Initiatives. The Plant Health Initiative will build on the critical, often pioneering work of CGIAR. It will also work closely with other CGIAR global initiatives — including Accelerated Breeding, Seed Equal, Excellence in Agronomy and Harnessing Equality for Resilience in Agrifood Systems — and Regional Integrated Initiatives. Together, this network will help support CGIAR’s work towards developing and deploying improved varieties with insect-pest and disease resistance, coupled with context-sensitive, sustainable agronomic practices, in a gender- and socially-inclusive manner.

Targeting localized priorities with strategic partnerships

Effective plant health monitoring and rapid response efforts rely on the quality of cooperation and communication among relevant partner institutions. In this Initiative, CGIAR places special emphasis on developing and strengthening regional and international networks, and building the capacity of local institutions. It will enable globally and regionally coordinated responses by low- and middle-income countries to existing and emerging biotic threats.

To this end, CGIAR will work closely with an array of stakeholders, including national plant protection organizations, national agricultural research and extension systems, advanced research institutions, academia, private sector, and phytosanitary coordination networks.

The geographic focus of interventions under this Initiative will be primarily low- and middle-income countries in Latin America, South and Southeast Asia, and sub-Saharan Africa.

Coupled with CGIAR’s commitment to engaging, mobilizing and empowering stakeholders at various scales across the globe, the Plant Health Initiative represents an enormous step towards integrating people’s mindsets, capacities and needs towards holistic and sustainable plant health management. It will ultimately protect the food and nutritional security and livelihoods of millions of smallholders and their families.

Brown and green fields. (Photo: Elizabeth Lies/Unsplash)

Q&A: Regenerative agriculture for soil health

Written by Madeline Dahm on May 9, 2022. Posted in Features.

South Asia was the epicenter of the Green Revolution, a historic era of agricultural innovation that fed billions of people on the brink of famine.

Yet despite the indisputably positive nutritional and developmental impacts of the Green Revolution of the 1960s, the era of innovation also led to the widespread use of farming practices—like intensive tilling, monoculture, removal and burning of crop residues, and over-use of synthetic fertilizer—that have a deleterious effect on the soil and cause off-site ecological harm. Excess pumping of irrigation water over decades has dried out the region’s chief aquifer.

South Asia’s woes illustrate the environmental costs of intensive food production to feed our densely-populated planet. Currently, one billion hectares of land worldwide suffers from degraded soils.

The International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT) works with two of the world’s most widely cultivated and consumed cereal crops. To grow enough of these staple foods to feed the world, a second Green Revolution is needed: one that avoids the mistakes of the past, regenerates degraded land and reboots biodiversity in farm areas.

M.L. Jat, a CIMMYT Principal Scientist, has spent 20 years studying and promoting sustainable agricultural practices for maize- and wheat-based farming systems. In the following Q&A, Jat tells us about regenerative agriculture: integrated farming and grazing practices intended to rebuild soil organic matter and restore degraded soil biodiversity.

Q: What major components or practices are part of regenerative agriculture?

A: Regenerative agriculture is a comprehensive system of farming that harnesses the power of soil biology to rebuild soil organic matter, diversify crop systems, and improve water retention and nutrient uptake. The depletion of biodiversity, degradation of soil health, warming, and drier weather in farm areas have necessitated a reversal in agriculture from “degeneration to regeneration.”

The practices address food and nutritional security challenges while protecting natural resources and lowering agriculture’s environmental footprint, in line with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. CIMMYT has worked for years to research and promote conservation agriculture, which contributes to the aims of regenerative agriculture, and is already practiced on more than 200 million hectares globally — 15% of all cropland — and is expanding at a rate of 10.5 million hectares per year.

Q: What are the potential roles of major food crops — maize, rice, and wheat — in regenerative agriculture systems?

A: Regenerative agriculture is “crop neutral;” that is, it is applicable to almost all crops and farming systems. The world’s rice, wheat, and maize crops have an enormous physical and ecological footprint on land and natural resources, but play a critical role in food and nutrition security. Considering that anthropogenic climate change has reduced the global agricultural total factor productivity by about 21% in the past six decades, applying regenerative agriculture approaches to these systems represents a momentous contribution toward sustainable farming under increasing climatic risks.

Download "Regenerative Agriculture for Soil Health, Food and Environmental Security: Proceedings and Recommendations” from the Trust for Advancement of Agricultural Sciences. — Download “Regenerative Agriculture for Soil Health, Food and Environmental Security: Proceedings and Recommendations”.

Q: What elements or approaches of regenerative agriculture are applicable in India and how can they be applied?

A: Regenerative practices for maize and wheat systems in India include no-tillage, crop residue recycling, legume inter-cropping and cover crops, crop diversification, integrated nutrient management, and precision water management.

The potential area of adoption for regenerative agriculture in India covers at least 50 million hectares across a diversity of cropping systems and agroecologies — including irrigated, rainfed, and arid farmlands — and can be approached through appropriate targeting, investments, knowledge and capacity enhancement, and enabling policies.

In the breadbasket region of the Indo-Gangetic Plains, regenerative agriculture can help address the aforementioned second-generation problems of the Green Revolution, as well as contributing to the Indian government’s Soil Health Mission and its COP26 commitments.

Q: In order to get regenerative agriculture off the ground in South Asia, who will be involved?

A: Adapting and applying regenerative agriculture’s portfolio of practices will require the participation of all stakeholders associated with farming. Application of these principles is location- and situation-specific, so researchers, extension functionaries, value chain actors, philanthropists, environmentalists, NGOs, farmers, and policy planners all have a role to play in the impact pathway.

CIMMYT, the Borlaug Institute for South Asia (BISA), public and private programs and agencies, and farmers themselves have been developing, refining, and scaling out conservation agriculture-based regenerative agriculture practices for some three decades in South Asia. CIMMYT and BISA will continue to play a key role in mainstreaming regenerative agriculture in local, national, and regional development plans through science-based policy and capacity development.

Q: Farmers constitute a strong economic and political force in India. How can they be brought on board to practice regenerative agriculture, which could be more costly and knowledge-intensive than their current practices?

A: We need to pursue business “unusual” and harness the potential opportunities of regenerative agriculture to sequester soil carbon and reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Regenerative agriculture practices can offer farmers additional income and certainly create a “pull factor” for their adoption, something that has already started and will constitute a strong business case. For example, innovative business models give farmers an opportunity to trade ecosystem services and carbon credits through repurposing subsidies and developing carbon markets for private sectors. CIMMYT, along with the Indian Council of Agricultural Research and private partners such as Grow Indigo, are already helping to put in place a framework to acquire carbon credits through regenerative agriculture in India.

For more information about the application of regenerative agriculture on India’s farmlands, see “Regenerative Agriculture for Soil Health, Food and Environmental Security: Proceedings and Recommendations” from the Trust for Advancement of Agricultural Sciences.

Cover photo: Brown and green fields. (Photo: Elizabeth Lies/Unsplash)

New publications: Caste-gender intersectionalities in wheat-growing communities in Madhya Pradesh, India

Written by Alison Doody on May 4, 2022. Posted in Publications.

A new study has revealed how the ways in which caste and gender interact in wheat systems in India are changing over time, how women struggle to be involved in decisions on wheat farming, how agricultural mechanization is pushing women of all castes out of paid employment, and how women’s earnings are an important source of finance in wheat.

There is growing awareness that not all rural women are alike and that social norms and technological interventions affect women from different castes in distinct ways. The caste system in South Asia, which dates back over 3,000 years, divides society into thousands of hierarchical, mostly endogamous groups. Non-marginalized castes are classified as “general caste” while those living in the social margins are categorized as “scheduled caste” and “scheduled tribe”. Scheduled caste and scheduled tribe farmers face both social and economic marginalization and limited access to information and markets, despite government efforts to level up social inequalities.

In India, women of all castes are involved in farming activities, although their caste identity regulates the degree of participation. General caste women are less likely to be engaged in farming than women of lower castes. Despite their level of participation across caste groups, women are rarely recognized as “farmers” (Kisan) in Indian rurality, which restricts their access to inputs, information and markets.

Gender experts from the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT) and partners investigated caste-gender relations among wheat farmers in Madhya Pradesh, India’s second-largest state by area. The team conducted focus group discussions and interviews in a village community, and carried out a review of GENNOVATE research in the same area. The team also carried out a survey involving about 800 wheat farmers from 18 village communities across the state.

Women work in the fields in India’s Madhya Pradesh state. Our study found that women are involved in all aspects of agricultural work on family farms. (Photo: CIMMYT)

The study, published last month in Gender, Technology, and Development, revealed five key findings:

First, caste distinctions are sharp. There is little interaction between women and men farmers from the scheduled caste category — even between subcastes in this category — and other castes. They live in separate enclaves, and land belonging to scheduled caste farmers is less fertile than others.

Second, all women are fully involved in all aspects of agricultural work on the family farm throughout the year.

Third, despite their strong participation in farming activities, women across caste groups are normatively excluded from agricultural decision-making in the household. Having said that, the findings were very clear that some individual women experience greater participation than others. Although women are excluded from formal agricultural information networks, they share knowledge with each other, particularly within caste groups.

Fourth, about 20 years ago, women across caste groups were being employed as hired agricultural laborers. Over the past four years, increasing mechanization is pushing many women off the field. While scheduled caste women compensate for the employment loss to a certain degree by participating in non-farm activities, general caste women are not able to move beyond the village and secure work elsewhere due to cultural norms. Women therefore face a collapse in their autonomy.

Fifth, gender poses a greater constraint than caste in determining an individual’s ability to make decisions about farm and non-farm related activities. However, a significant difference exists across the caste groups, presenting a strong case for intersectionality.

Challenging social norms in agriculture

The results of the study show that caste matters in the gendered evaluations of agricultural technologies and demonstrates the importance of studying women’s contributions and roles in wheat farming in South Asia.

In recent years, studies have revealed that women in wheat have more influence on farming decisions than previously thought, from subtle ways of giving suggestions and advice to management and control over farming decisions.

Agriculture in India is also considered to be broadly feminizing, with men increasingly taking up off-farm activities, leaving women to as primary cultivators on family fields and as hired laborers. However, rural advisory services, policy makers, and other research and development organizations are lagging behind in recognizing and reacting appropriately to these gendered changes. Many still carry outdated social norms which view men as the main decision-makers and workers on farms.

Read the full study:
Caste-gender intersectionalities in wheat-growing communities in Madhya Pradesh, India

Funding for this study was provided by the Collaborative Platform for Gender Research under the CGIAR Program on Policies, Institutions, and Markets as well as the International Development Research Center of the Government of Canada, the CGIAR Research Programme on Wheat (CRP WHEAT https://wheat.org/), CIMMYT and the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR). The paper additionally drew on GENNOVATE data collected in India in 2015–16 with financial support from CRP WHEAT. Development of the GENNOVATE research methodology was supported by the CGIAR Gender and Agricultural Research Network, the World Bank, and the CRP WHEAT and CRP MAIZE, and data analysis was supported by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.

Cover photo: A woman harvests wheat in Madhya Pradesh, India. (Photo: CIMMYT)

Inspired by ‘enemy of world hunger’ Rajaram, national and global institutions and research centers strengthen their commitment to food security

Written by Leslie Domínguez on May 3, 2022. Posted in Press releases.

Representatives of the Government of Mexico, the Embassy of India, the National Agricultural Council, the CGIAR and the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT) at the Sanjaya Rajaram Experimental Station in Toluca, State of Mexico. (Photo: Alfonso Arredondo Cortés/CIMMYT) — Representatives of the Government of Mexico, the Embassy of India, the National Agricultural Council, the CGIAR and the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT) at the Sanjaya Rajaram Experimental Station in Toluca, State of Mexico. (Photo: Alfonso Cortés Arredondo/CIMMYT)

Collaboration between food security institutions and research organizations has contributed to improvements in global grain production that have benefitted millions of farmers around the world – and must continue today. This message was highlighted during a ceremony hosted by the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT) to recognize the legacy of World Food Laureate and former CIMMYT Wheat Program Director Sanjaya Rajaram.

The ceremony, held at the CIMMYT Experimental Station in Toluca, State of Mexico, officially dedicated the Station in honor of Sanjaya Rajaram, honoring his memory as an “enemy of world hunger” and one of the scientists who has most contributed to global food security.

The Indian-born naturalized Mexican researcher, who was the third person from CIMMYT to receive the World Food Prize, was recognized for having developed more than 480 high-yielding and adaptable wheat varieties that have been planted on approximately 58 million hectares around the world.

“For this impressive achievement, which seems easy to summarize in one sentence, Raj became a giant of the ‘right to food’ and one of the fiercest enemies of hunger in the world,” said CIMMYT Director General Bram Govaerts.

“Building on the work of Dr. Norman Borlaug, Dr. Sanjaya Rajaram was a driving force in making CIMMYT into the extraordinary institution that it is today,” said Claudia Sadoff, Managing Director, Research Delivery and Impact of CGIAR, a global research partnership of which CIMMYT is a member.

“The challenges of today compel us to redouble our efforts to breed more resilient and more nutritious crops, as Dr. Sanjaya Rajaram did, Sadoff added. “This ceremony reminds us that Dr Rajaram’s legacy and the ongoing efforts of CIMMYT and CGIAR scientists must answer that.”

Awards for international cooperation in food security

At the event, CIMMYT presented awards to the Secretary of Foreign Affairs of Mexico, Marcelo Ebrard Casaubón, and of Secretary of Agriculture and Rural Development (SADER), Víctor Villalobos Arámbula, for their promotion of food security and social inclusion in Mexico and Latin America.

The Secretary of Foreign Affairs of Mexico expressed his gratitude for the Norman E. Borlaug and reaffirmed his commitment to “work in the international arena as we have done, but now we will have to work harder, with greater intensity.”

Bram Govaerts, Director General of CIMMYT, presents the Norman E. Borlaug award to Marcelo Ebrard Casaubón, Secretary of Foreign Affairs of Mexico. (Photo: Alfonso Arredondo Cortés/CIMMYT) — Bram Govaerts, Director General of CIMMYT, presents the Norman E. Borlaug award to Marcelo Ebrard Casaubón, Secretary of Foreign Affairs of Mexico. (Photo: Alfonso Cortés Arredondo/CIMMYT)

The Secretary of Agriculture and Rural Development of Mexico, Víctor Villalobos Arámbula, emphasized that Mexico, Latin America and CIMMYT play an important role in the struggle to improve the conditions of small-scale farmers and the resilience of agri-food systems, noting that more than 300,000 farmers grow maize, wheat and associated crops on over one million hectares in Mexico using sustainable technologies from the CIMMYT-led MasAgro project, now called Crops for Mexico.

“Throughout this administration,” he said, “we have designed, implemented and refined, through collaboration between SADER and CIMMYT, sustainable development strategies with a systemic approach that facilitates the participation of producers in more integrated and efficient value chains both in Mexico and in other countries.”

India’s Ambassador to Mexico, Pankaj Sharma, highlighted that his nation owes a large part of its Green Revolution to the “Sonora” wheat variety, which was developed in Mexico, a country that is considered one of the cradles of agriculture at a global level, with arable land accounting for 15 percent of the total land dedicated to agriculture in the world.

Ravi Singh, Distinguished Scientist and Head of Global Wheat Breeding at CIMMYT, receives an award. (Photo: Alfonso Arredondo Cortés/CIMMYT) — Ravi Singh, Distinguished Scientist and Head of Global Wheat Breeding at CIMMYT, receives an award. (Photo: Alfonso Cortés Arredondo/CIMMYT)

Report on the results of the Crops for Mexico initiative

CIMMYT’s Wheat Germplasm Bank Curator and Genotyping Specialist Carolina Sansaloni presented highlighted impacts from Crops for Mexico, the main cooperative project between the Government of Mexico — through the Secretary of Agriculture and Rural Development — and CIMMYT, and a flagship initiative in the application of technologies in sustainable agriculture.

The project has been in operation for more than a decade in 28 states in Mexico, with the collaboration of more than 100 national and international partners and private and public sector agencies in 12 regions, offering research infrastructure and training development for sustainable agronomic practices, she explained.

She reported that the results of 40 platforms, 500 demonstration modules and two thousand extension areas have an impact on more than one million hectares and benefit 300,000 maize, wheat and bean producers, with the use of high-yield varieties.

Rosalinda Muñoz Tafolla, a maize farmer in Amacuzac, in the Mexican state of Morelos, explained that her drive to produce healthy food led her to participate in Crops for Mexico, where CIMMYT’s support and advice has enabled her to dramatically increase her farm’s productivity while protecting the soil and conserving natural resources.

She explained that with the conservation agriculture system she learned to improve soil conditions, planted a new maize variety, and was supported in marketing her harvest at a good price and selling 2,000 maize ears (mostly weighing 200 grams each).

CIMMYT’s Wheat Germplasm Bank Curator and Genotyping Specialist Carolina Sansaloni at the Crops for Mexico presentation. (Photo: Alfonso Arredondo Cortés/CIMMYT) — CIMMYT’s Wheat Germplasm Bank Curator and Genotyping Specialist Carolina Sansaloni at the Crops for Mexico presentation. (Photo: Alfonso Cortés Arredondo/CIMMYT)

A new seed policy ushers in a new era of hybrid seed business in Nepal

Written by Celine Lim on April 26, 2022. Posted in In the media.

A change in policy by the Nepalese government in February 2022 opens up space for private seed companies to be involved in seed variety development, evaluation and distribution to farmers.

Wheat fields in Kostanay, Kazakhstan. (Photo: M. DeFreese/CIMMYT)

Experts analyze the impact of the Russia-Ukraine war on global food and energy systems

Written by Ricardo Curiel on April 22, 2022. Posted in News.

A panel of experts convened by the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars on April 13, 2022, discussed the effects that the Russia-Ukraine war could have on global supply chains of critical resources including staple crops, oil and natural gas, and strategic minerals.

Bram Govaerts, director general of the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT), joined three experts representing a security consulting firm, a mining investment company and the academic sector. They analyzed the complex ramifications of the armed conflict and put forward policy recommendations to mitigate its impact on global food and energy systems.

“We have immediate action to take in order to boost the production of crops with fewer resources available, such as fertilizers,” Govaerts said, reflecting on how to help food-insecure countries in the Middle East and North Africa that import most of their wheat supplies from the Black Sea region. “We also need to look at where we are going to be supplied with alternate sources,” he added.

Govaerts took this opportunity to position Agriculture for Peace, the CIMMYT-led call for secure, stable and long-term investment in agricultural research for development, to transform global food systems by shifting their focus from efficiency to resilience.

More information: System Shock: Russia’s War and Global Food, Energy, and Mineral Supply Chains

CGIAR research highlighted among climate innovations to meet net zero emissions

Written by Sam Storr on April 18, 2022. Posted in News.

Agriculture is one of the five main greenhouse gas-emitting sectors where innovations can be found to reach net zero emissions, according to the new documentary and ten-part miniseries “Solving for Zero: The Search for Climate Innovation.” The documentary tells the stories of scientists and innovators racing to develop solutions such as low-carbon cement, wind-powered global transportation, fusion electricity generation and sand that dissolves carbon in the oceans.

Three CGIAR scientists are featured in the documentary, speaking about the contributions being made by agricultural research.

Whereas all sectors of the global economy must contribute to achieve net zero emissions by 2050 to prevent the worse effects of climate change, agricultural innovations are needed by farmers at the front line of climate change today.

CIMMYT breeder Yoseph Beyene spoke to filmmakers about the use of molecular breeding to predict yield potential. (Image: Wondrium.com)

Breeding climate-smart crops

“Climate change has been a great disaster to us. Day by day it’s getting worse,” said Veronica Dungey, a maize farmer in Kenya interviewed for the documentary.

Around the world, 200 million people depend on maize for their livelihood, while 90% of farmers in Africa are smallholder farmers dependent on rainfall, and facing drought, heatwaves, floods, pests and disease related to climate change. According to CGIAR, agriculture must deliver 60% more food by 2050, but without new technologies, each 1°C of warming will reduce production by 5%.

“Seed is basic to everything. The whole family is dependent on the produce from the farm,” explained Yoseph Beyene, Regional Maize Breeding Coordinator for Africa and Maize Breeder for Eastern Africa at the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT). As a child in a smallholder farming family with no access to improved seeds, Beyene learned the importance of selecting the right seed from year to year. It was at high school that Beyene was shown the difference between improved varieties and the locally-grown seed, and decided to pursue a career as a crop breeder.

Yoseph Beyene examines breeding lines. (Image: Wondrium.com)

Today, the CIMMYT maize program has released 200 hybrid maize varieties adapted for drought conditions in sub-Saharan Africa, called hybrids because they combine maize lines selected to express important traits over several generations. Alongside other CGIAR Research Centers, CIMMYT continues to innovate with accelerated breeding approaches to benefit smallholder farmers.

“Currently we use two kinds of breeding. One is conventional breeding, and another one is molecular breeding to accelerate variety development. In conventional breeding you have to evaluate the hybrid in the field,” Beyene said. “Using molecular markers, instead of phenotypic evaluation in the field, we are evaluating the genetic material of a particular line. We can predict based on marker data which new material is potentially good for yield.”

Such innovations are necessary considering the speed and the complexity of challenges faced by smallholder farmers due climate change, which now includes fall armyworm. “Fall armyworm is a recent pest in the tropics and has affected a lot of countries,” said Moses Siambi, CIMMYT Regional Representative for Africa. “Increased temperatures have a direct impact on maize production because of the combination of temperature of humidity, and then you have these high insect populations that lead to low yield.”

Resistance to fall armyworm is now included in new CIMMYT maize hybrids alongside many other traits such as yield, nutrition, and multiple environmental and disease resistances.

Ana María Loboguerrero, Research Director for Climate Action at the Alliance of Bioversity and CIAT, spoke about CGIAR’s community-focused climate work. (Image: Wondrium.com)

Building on CGIAR’s climate legacy

Ana María Loboguerrero, Research Director for Climate Action at the Alliance of Bioversity International and the International Center for Tropical Agriculture (CIAT), told the filmmakers about CGIAR’s community-focused climate work, which includes Climate-Smart Villages and Valleys. Launched in 2009, these ongoing projects span the global South and effectively bridge the gap between innovation, research and farmers living with the climate crisis at their doorsteps.

“Technological innovations are critical to food system transformation,” said Loboguerrero, who was a principal researcher for the CGIAR Research Program on Climate Change, Agriculture and Food Security (CCAFS). “But if local contexts are not considered, even the best innovations may fail because they do not respond to beneficiaries needs.”

CCAFS’s impressive legacy — in research, influencing policy and informing $3.5 billion of climate-smart investments, among many achievements — is now being built upon by a new CGIAR portfolio of initiatives. Several initiatives focus on building systemic resilience against climate and scaling up climate action started by CCAFS that will contribute to a net-zero carbon future.

Loboguerrero pointed to other innovations that were adopted because they addressed local needs and were culturally appropriate. These include the uptake of new varieties of wheat, maize, rice and beans developed by CGIAR Research Centers. Taste, color, texture, cooking time and market demand are critical to the success of new varieties. Being drought-resistant or flood-tolerant is not enough.

Local Technical Agroclimatic Committees, another CCAFS innovation that is currently implemented in 11 countries across Latin America, effectively delivers weather information in agrarian communities across the tropics. Local farmers lead these committees to receive and disseminate weather information to better plan when they sow their seeds. “This success would not have been possible if scientists hadn’t gotten out of their labs to collaborate with producers in the field,” Loboguerrero said.

Climate adaptation solutions

Across CGIAR, which represents 13 Research Centers and Alliances, and a network of national and private sector partners, the goal is to provide climate adaptation solutions to 500 million small-scale farmers around the world by 2030. This work also covers reducing agricultural emissions, environmental impacts and even the possibility of capturing carbon while improving soil health.

Interested in learning more? The documentary “Solving for Zero: The Search for Climate Innovation” is available at Wondrium.com alongside a 10-part miniseries exploring the ongoing effort to address climate change.

Inspiring change through agricultural training: Women’s stories from Bangladesh

Written by Nur-A-Mahajabin Khan on April 4, 2022. Posted in Features.

More than 40% of the global agricultural labor force is made up of women, and in the least developed countries, two in three women are employed in farming. Yet, despite being the largest contributors to this sector, women’s potential as farmers, producers and entrepreneurs is frequently untapped due to gender inequalities, limited access to farming assets and inputs, low participation in decision-making spaces, and lack of financing and capacity-building opportunities.

Tackling these gendered barriers is critical not only to help women achieve their highest economic potential, but also to feed an increasingly hungry world. Before this year’s Women’s History Month comes to an end, read the stories of three Bangladeshi women—Begum, Akter and Rani—to find out how the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT) are empowering them to become decision-makers in their communities, learn new skills and knowledge to boost their incomes, and advocate for bending gender norms across the country.

Embracing agricultural mechanization has improved Begum’s family finances

Rina Begum lives in Faridpur, a major commercial hub in southern Bangladesh. Before starting a business, her financial situation was precarious. Her primary source of income was her husband’s work as a day laborer, which brought in very little money. This, coupled with the lack of job security, made it hard to support a family.

Rina Begum started out in business as a service provider, hiring agricultural machines to farmers.

About five years ago, Begum’s interest in agricultural mechanization was ignited by the farmers in her town, who were earning extra money by investing in farm machinery and hiring it out. Her first foray into the business world was buying a shallow irrigation pump and setting herself up as a service provider. Next, she saw her neighbor using a power tiller operated seeder and decided to try one out for herself. Finally, after taking part in a potential machinery buyer program run by CIMMYT under the Cereal Systems Initiative for South Asia – Mechanization and Irrigation (CSISA-MEA) and funded by USAID, she took the bold step of purchasing a seeder and adding it to her inventory of machines available for hire.

While her husband learned to operate the seeder, Begum put her business and accounting skills to good use, taking on an essential role in what ended up being the family business and establishing herself as an entrepreneur. Her work defied the established social norms, as she regularly interacted with the mechanics and farmers who came to her for mechanized services. Moreover, she occasionally stepped up alongside her husband to repair and maintain the machines. All this earned Begum a reputation as an experienced service provider, operator and mechanic, and turned her into a decision-maker and a role model to her family and community.

In 2021, Begum used her business profits to pick up the bill for her daughter’s marriage. “I know this job inside-out now,” she says, “and I’m really proud to have paid for the wedding myself.”

This taste of success fueled Begum’s appetite to expand the business even further, pushing her to take part in another training offered by CIMMYT, this time in mat-seedling production. Moreover, Begum, who plans to grow seedlings to sell on to rice farmers this year, has applied for a government subsidy to buy a rice transplanter, which can be hired out for use with mat-seedlings, and increase her stock of agricultural machinery.

With her new skills, Akter is advancing gender equality in Bangladesh’s light engineering sector

At age 18, Nilufar Akter (pictured top) passed her high school certificate and soon after married Rezaul Karim, the owner of a light engineering workshop in Bogura, a city in northern Bangladesh, that manufactures agricultural machinery parts, with a workforce mainly composed of men. Akter’s ambition was to go out into the workplace and make her own money, so when Karim asked her to work alongside him, she agreed and soon became a valuable part of the business. Her primary responsibilities were inventory management and marketing, as well as business management, which she found more difficult.

Reza Engineering Workshop began working with CIMMYT in 2020 as part of CSISA-MEA, an initiative that supports light engineering workshops in Bangladesh with staff development, access to finance, management, and business growth. Under this project, CIMMYT organized a management training at the Bangladesh Agriculture Research Institute (BARI), which Akter attended. With the confidence these new skills gave her, she went back to the workshop and introduced a few changes, including building a computerized finance management system and updating the stack management. Moreover, she also established a dedicated restroom for female employees.

“We need human resources to maintain things in the business—and women can do a fantastic job”, Akter says. “We had no idea what good source of strength women workers would be for the factory. Therefore, if we provided them with adequate facilities, we could create jobs for many women who really need them”, she adds.

Akter’s current priorities are workshop safety and occupational health, two issues she’s tackling using the knowledge she learned in the CIMMYT training. Recently, she’s created some occupational health and safety posters, and established a series of workshop rules. “I used to think I wasn’t cut out for light engineering because it was primarily male-dominated, but I was mistaken”, Akter confesses. “This industry has a lot to offer to women, and I’m excited at the prospect of hiring more of them”, she adds.

Producing better quality rice has boosted the income of Rani and her family

Monika Rani lives in Khoshalpur, a village located in Dinajpur district in northern Bangladesh, with her husband Liton Chandra Roy and their two-year-old child. They farm just a quarter of a hectare of land, and Liton supplements their income with occasional wages earned as a day laborer.

Monika Rani wanted to increase her family’s income to provide better schooling opportunities for her children.

Rani was looking for ways to increase their income so they could give their children an education and a better life. During last year’s boro rice-growing season (December to May), she and her husband joined the premium grade rice production team of CIMMYT as part of CSISA-MEA. The market value and yield of premium quality rice is greater than other types, so when Rani heard that she could make more money producing that variety, she decided to make a start right away. CIMMYT provided her with five kgs of premium seed for the 2021-22 winter season and trained her in premium quality rice production technology and marketing, which she followed to the letter.

Through hard work and persistence, Rani and her husband avoided the need to hire any additional labor and were rewarded with the maximum yield possible. She dried the premium quality rice grain according to buyer demand and sold 1,600 kgs, in addition to 140 kgs to farmers in her town.

“Knowing about premium quality rice production has tremendously changed my future for the better,” Rani explains. “I had no idea that, through my own hard effort, I could have a better life”, she added.

Cover photo: Nilufar Akter is using the knowledge she gained in CIMMYT training to focus on workshop safety and occupational health in her business.

Explore our coverage and analysis of the Russia-Ukraine war and its impact on global food security.

Russia-Ukraine conflict and global food security

Written by Rodrigo Ordóñez on April 4, 2022. Posted in Features.

For the past month, researchers from the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT) have analyzed the expected impacts of the Russia-Ukraine war on global food security.

The war in Ukraine and the sanctions against Russia will disrupt wheat supply chains, fertilizer exports and other components of food systems. Their combined effect, along with other factors, could unchain a major food security crisis as well as increased inequality.

Explore our analysis and coverage on major media outlets and journals. To get in touch with our experts, please contact the media team.

CIMMYT scientists have also made available a summary of key facts and figures about the impact of the Russia-Ukraine war on wheat supply (PowerPoint, 32MB): changing patterns of consumption and effect on food prices, geographic export supply concentration, global wheat imports, and specific vulnerabilities particularly in the Global South.

Another food crisis?

The Russia-Ukraine conflict will cause massive disruptions to global wheat supply and food security. Agricultural research investments are the basis of resilient agri-food systems and a food-secure future.

Broken bread — avert global wheat crisis caused by invasion of Ukraine

War highlights the fragility of the global food supply — sustained investment is needed to feed the world in a changing climate, Alison Bentley explains on Nature.

Food is just as vital as oil to national security

A new Bloomberg op-ed urges nations to steer more money to organizations like CIMMYT that are advancing crucial research on how to grow more resilient wheat and maize crops in regions that are becoming steadily less arable.

What price wheat?

Crisis in Ukraine underscores the need for long-term solutions for global food security, Alison Bentley and Jason Donovan explain.

Multiple breadbasket failures: Nations must address looming food emergencies

The war in Ukraine, coupled with weather-related disruptions in the world’s major grain-producing regions, could unleash unbearable humanitarian consequences, civil unrest, and major financial losses worldwide, say Sharon E. Burke (Ecospherics) and Bram Govaerts (CIMMYT) on The Boston Globe.

BNI-enhanced wheat research wins 2021 Cozzarelli Prize

Written by Rodrigo Ordóñez on April 1, 2022. Posted in News.

The paper “Enlisting wild grass genes to combat nitrification in wheat farming: A nature-based solution” received the 2021 Cozzarelli Prize, which recognizes outstanding articles published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America (PNAS). The paper was published as a joint research collaboration of Japan International Research Center for Agricultural Sciences (JIRCAS), the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT), the University of the Basque Country (UPV/EHU) and Nihon University.

The study identifies of a chromosomal region that regulates the biological nitrification inhibition (BNI) ability of wheat grass (Leymus racemosus), a wild relative of wheat. It also outlines the development of the world’s first BNI-enhanced wheat, through intergeneric crossing with a high-yielding wheat cultivar.

This research result is expected to contribute to the prevention of nitrogen pollution that leads to water pollution and greenhouse gas emissions, reducing the use of nitrogen fertilizer while maintaining productivity.

Best of the year

PNAS is one of the most cited scientific journals in the world, publishing more than 3,000 papers per year on all aspects of science. A total of 3,476 papers were published in 2021, covering six fields: Physical and Mathematical Sciences, Biological Sciences, Engineering and Applied Sciences, Biomedical Sciences, Behavioral and Social Sciences, and Applied Biological, Agricultural and Environmental Sciences.

The Cozzarelli Prize was established in 2005 as the PNAS Paper of the Year Prize and renamed in 2007 to honor late editor-in-chief Nicholas R. Cozzarelli. It is awarded yearly by the journal’s Editorial Board to one paper from each field reflecting scientific excellence and originality. The BNI research paper received the award in the category of Applied Biological, Agricultural, and Environmental Sciences.

The awards ceremony will be held online on May 1, 2022, and a video introducing the results of this research will be available.

Recently, lead researcher Guntur V. Subbarao presented this research on a talk at Princeton University’s Center for Policy Research on Energy and the Environment: “Low-nitrifying agricultural systems are critical for the next Green Revolution.”

Fruitful collaboration

CIMMYT has collaborated with JIRCAS on BNI-enhanced wheat research since 2009, with funding from Japan’s Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries. CIMMYT is one of the founding members of the BNI Consortium, established in 2015.

The CGIAR Research Programs on Wheat (WHEAT) and Maize (MAIZE) co-funded BNI research since 2014 and 2019 respectively, until their conclusion at the end of 2021.

BNI research has been positioned in the “Measures for achievement of Decarbonization and Resilience with Innovation (MeaDRI)” strategy of Japan’s Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries, and was also selected as one of the ministry’s “Top 10 agricultural technology news for 2021.”

Read the full article:
Enlisting wild grass genes to combat nitrification in wheat farming: A nature-based solution

Jai Prakash Rajaram (left) receives the Padma Bhushan Award on behalf of his late father, Sanjaya Rajaram, from the President of India, Ram Nath Kovind. (Photo: Government of India)

Sanjaya Rajaram honored with India’s civilian service award

Written by Rodrigo Ordóñez on April 1, 2022. Posted in News.

The President of India, Ram Nath Kovind, presented the prestigious Padma Bhushan Award for Science & Engineering (Posthumous) to the relatives of Sanjaya Rajaram. The award was received by Rajaram’s son and daughter, Jaiprakash Rajaram and Sheila Rajaram, at a ceremony in New Delhi, India, on March 28, 2022.

The Padma Awards, instituted in 1954, are one of India’s highest civilian honors. Announced annually on the eve of Republic Day, January 26, they are given in three categories: Padma Vipbhushan, for outstanding and distinguished service; Padma Bhushan, for distinguished service of the highest order; and Padma Shri, for distinguished service.

The award seeks to recognize achievement in all fields of activities and disciplines involving a public service item.

Padma Bhushan Award diploma and medal. (Photo: Courtesy of Jai Prakash Rajaram)

Sanjaya Rajaram, who passed away in 2021, was a 2014 World Food Prize laureate and former wheat breeder and Director of the Wheat Program at the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT).

Among his many accomplishments, he personally oversaw the development of nearly 500 high-yielding and disease-resistant wheat varieties. These varieties, which have been grown on at least 58 million hectares in over 50 countries, increased global wheat production by more than 200 million tons, benefiting hundreds of millions of resource-poor people who rely on wheat for their diets and livelihoods.

Multiple breadbasket failures: Nations must address looming food emergencies

Written by Bea Ciordia on March 28, 2022. Posted in In the media.

The war in Ukraine, coupled with weather-related disruptions in the world’s major grain-producing regions, could unleash unbearable waves of displacement, humanitarian consequences, civil unrest, major financial losses worldwide, and geopolitical fragility, says Bram Govaerts, DG of CIMMYT, in a Boston Globe op-ed.

Madhulika Singh

Written by Rodrigo Ordóñez on March 11, 2022. Posted in Uncategorized.

Madhulika Singh is an agricultural scientist working with CIMMYT in India.

CIMMYT researcher Madhulika Singh (center-right) stands with farmers from self-help groups in the village of Nawtanwa, West Champaran, in India’s Bihar state. CIMMYT works on gender inclusion and participation through partnerships with other organizations and self-help groups. (Photo: CIMMYT)

Being the change you wanted to see as a young girl

Written by Nima Chodon on March 11, 2022. Posted in Features.

In the traditional Indian society Madhulika Singh grew up in, girls choosing to study science, technology, engineering or mathematics (STEM) was as radical as choosing a life partner on their own.

“They say women hold up half the sky. I believe they should hold up as much and contribute equally in STEM too,” says Singh, now an agriculture specialist at the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT).

In her early teens she saw her mother, a school headmaster, comfortably navigate her career along with her domestic responsibilities without a sweat. She later saw a similar example in her sister-in-law. “I grew up thinking ‘there is so much that a woman is capable of,’ whether at home or her workplace,” Singh recalls.

This strong idea of women’s potential led her to pursue studies in science. “Many women before me, like my mother’s generation, were encouraged to take up [careers in] humanities — become a teacher, or pursue home management courses — to ensure a smooth transition once married,” Singh explains. She hoped this would change during her time and that following a career in STEM would be a matter of choice — not gender.

Singh’s goals and ambitions were very clear from the very beginning. In school, she was interested in biology, particularly plant studies and botany. Her inquisitive nature was reflected in her projects and presentations, scoring her high grades. She demonstrated a thorough understanding of plant physiology and her passion for the subject. The budding scientist always wanted to know more and to do more, which Singh feels resonates with her current research and publications.

A popular quote attributed to Mahatma Gandhi says “Be the change you want to see in the world.” When Singh chose to take up plant science in graduate school and then agriculture science for her doctorate, she became the change she had hoped to see in her home and society as a young girl. With the support from her family but a skeptical society, she went ahead and pursued a career in STEM, beginning her research on maize genotypes and conservation agriculture. In 2013 she joined CIMMYT as a physiologist.

CIMMYT researcher Madhulika Singh takes notes while talking to farmers about their rice-wheat cropping practice in Nalanda, Bihar state, India. (Photo: CIMMYT)

Helping farmers transition to conservation agriculture

Singh currently works in her home state of Bihar for the Cereal Systems Initiative for South Asia (CSISA), led by CIMMYT. She is engaged with over ten thousand farmers from the states of Bihar and Uttar Pradesh, supporting the adoption of conservation agriculture practices.

Farming is vital for the region, as nearly 70% of the population is engaged in agriculture and extension services. However, food and livelihoods are threatened by the small size of farms, low incomes, and comparatively low levels of agricultural mechanization, irrigation and productivity.

Singh and her colleagues have led the transition from traditional farming to sustainable intensification practices — like early wheat sowing, zero tillage and direct-seeded rice — which have helped smallholder farmers increase their yield potential substantially.

“We believe a project like CSISA, along with the government and partners, can help advance and support in realizing the full agriculture potential of these regions,” Singh explains.

Roots in the soil

Her grandparents were farmers. “To be able to care for the land that provided you nourishment and a living was always admired upon,” she says. As a crop scientist, Singh’s family acknowledges her work as an extension of the services her grandparents practiced.

Sustained by this motivation and encouragement, Singh feels reassured of her role: joining other scientists, partners and farmers to make agriculture sustainable and our communities food-secure.

“The fact that the data we generate from our experiments serve as building blocks in the generation of knowledge and help farmers optimize the cost of inputs and increase their productivity is fulfilling and enriching to me,” Singh expresses.

Apart from working to build the capacity of farmers and extension workers, Singh supports the implementation of field trials and community-based technology demonstrations. She also helps refine key agricultural innovations, through participatory testing, and optimizes cropping systems in the region.

Leading the way for for the next generation

A true representative of the STEM community, Singh is always learning and using her experience to give back to society. She has co-authored numerous books and contributed to journals, sharing her knowledge with others.

Other women leaders in STEM have inspired Singh in her professional life, including CIMMYT’s former deputy director general for research Marianne Banziger. Singh believes Banziger was trailblazing and that young girls today have many female role models in STEM that can serve as inspiration.

The change is already here and many more young women work in STEM, pursuing excellence in agriculture sciences, engineering and research studies contributing to as well as claiming “half the sky.”

Cover photo: CIMMYT researcher Madhulika Singh (center-right) stands with farmers from self-help groups in the village of Nawtanwa, West Champaran, in India’s Bihar state. CIMMYT works on gender inclusion and participation through partnerships with other organizations and self-help groups. (Photo: CIMMYT)