As a fast growing region with increasing challenges for smallholder farmers, Asia is a key target region for CIMMYT. CIMMYTâs 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.
Gokul P. Paudel is an agricultural economist working with CIMMYT’s Socioeconomics Program, based in Nepal. His research mostly focuses on technology adoption and impact assessment, scale-appropriate mechanization, climate change impacts and adaptations, conservation agriculture, technical efficiency analysis, trade-off analysis, non-market valuation and big data, data mining and advanced machine learning.
Data has become a key driver of growth and change in todayâs world.
There is growing recognition that data is indispensable for effective planning and decision-making in every sector. But the state of digital data in developing countries is far from satisfactory. In Asia, monitoring the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) remains a challenge due to a lack of accurate data.
Read more:Â https://thehimalayantimes.com/opinion/power-of-data-to-enhance-food-security/
Indiaâs maize production area currently covers over 10 million hectares, with an annual production of about 25 million tons. Most of this crop is rainfed and therefore vulnerable to climatic shocks such as monsoon rains and associated abiotic and biotic constraints. Moisture availability is seldom adequate for rainfed maize, as the erratic or un-even distribution patterns of monsoon rains often causes intermittent drought, heat or excessive moisture/waterlogging at different crop growth stage(s). This is the main factor responsible for the relatively low productivity of rainfed maize â locally known as Kharif. Additionally, due to un-assured return, farmers often hesitate to invest in improved seed, fertilizers and inputs, which further contributes to poor yields.
In recent years the countryâs tropical regions have experienced frequent and widespread drought, coupled with increased (day and night) temperatures during the main maize growing season, in addition to the scattered drought, heat and/or waterlogging that occur almost every year. The compound effects of multiple stresses during monsoon season is reflected in the low productivity of Kharif maize, which is usually less than half compared to irrigated (Rabi) maize.
In response to this, the âImproving rainfed (Kharif) maize productivityâ project was established in collaboration with the All-India Coordinated Maize Improvement Program (AICMIP), with the aim of developing maize varieties with tolerance to drought, heat stress and waterlogging. This can play in important role in enhancing maize productivity in rainfed, stress-prone ecologies, and ultimately help boost national maize productivity and production.
Objectives:
There are decades when nothing happens and weeks when decades happen. So goes the old saw. In the social sciences, these âweeksâ are often referred to as critical junctures. They are moments when the old rules of the game â the long-established ways of doings things â go out the window and new patterns begin to emerge. The breadbasket states of northwestern India seem to be having one of those weeks.
After years of research and advocacy that appeared to be making little headway, researchers at the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT) and the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) are seeing a sudden and dramatic increase in the adoption of some of the technologies and techniques they have long argued are necessary in this region, including direct-seeding of rice, crop diversification and the adoption of Happy Seeder technology.
A case of unintended consequences
In March 2020 the Indian government decreed a national lockdown in response to the COVID-19 crisis. This triggered the largest internal migration since partition, as millions of migrant workers and day laborers scrambled to return to their home villages. Estimates suggest that up to 1 million workers left the northwestern states of Haryana and Punjab alone.
Agriculture in the region is dominated by the labor- and input-intensive production of rice and wheat in rotation. This system is the most productive per hectare in India, but it is also extremely sensitive to external shocks. The success of both the rice and wheat crop depend on the timely transplantation of rice in mid-June.
As the results of a recently published study demonstrate, delays in this schedule can have devastating downstream effects not only on rice and wheat yields, but on regional air quality too. Models of the worst-case delay scenario predicted a total economic loss of nearly $1.5 billion. Moreover, they predicted that, if no action were taken, up to 80% of rice residue would be burned later in the autumn, when cooler conditions contribute to seasonally poor air quality.
Such an exacerbation of the regionâs air pollution would be dire under normal conditions. During a global pandemic of a primarily respiratory illness, it could be devastating.
Fortunately, solutions and technologies that CIMMYT researchers had been studying for decades, along with ICAR, Punjab Agricultural University (PAU) and other national partners, promised to help ward off the worst effects of the crisis. The adoption of direct-seeding technology could help reduce the labor-intensiveness of rice production, crop diversification could minimize the economic impacts of the crisis, and the use of Happy Seeder technology could alleviate the practice of residue burning.
Decades of work pay off
The study, co-authored by researchers at CIMMYT, ICAR and the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI), relied on a sophisticated ex ante model of four different rice-transplanting delay scenarios. It is published in the November 2020 issue of Agricultural Systems.
However, given the time-sensitivity and high-stakes of the issue, the lead researchers did not wait for the articles publication to press their case. Earlier this year they circulated their initial findings and recommendations to policymakers via their national partners. Notably, after receiving a one-pager summarizing these, the Chief Minister of Punjab released a video address echoing their points.
âPolicymakers realized the need for these kinds of solutions,â says Balwinder Singh, a CIMMYT scientist and lead author of the paper. They then moved quickly to incentivize their adoption through various mechanisms, such as subsidizing direct-seeding drills and ensuring the timely availability of machines and other inputs.
This year, 500,000 hectares were converted to direct seeding, explains M.L. Jat, a principal scientist at CIMMYT. This represents 34% more area converted in 2020 alone than in the previous 10 years. Additionally, 330,000 hectares were converted to other crops, principally cotton, maize and legumes.
Singh and Jat have been carrying out a multi-year survey to assess farmer willingness to adopt Happy Seeder technology and have documented a drastic increase in farmer interest in the technology during 2020. For Jat, this highlights the power of partnerships. âIf you donât include your partners from the beginning, they will not own what you say,â he argues.
Such changes are to be celebrated not only as an important response to the current labor shortage, but also as key to ensuring the long-term sustainability of agricultural production in the region, having important implications for the stewardship of water resources, air pollution and soil health.
âPolicies encouraging farming practices that save resources and protect the environment will improve long-term productivity and sustainability of the nation,â says S. K. Chaudhari, deputy director general for Natural Resource Management at ICAR.
Warding off catastrophe
Although the agricultural cycle is not yet over, and early data are still partial, Singh and Jat estimate that thanks to the dramatic adoption of alternative agricultural practices this year, their worst-case estimates have been avoided. Given the rapid response from both policymakers and farmers, the real-world effects of the COVID-19 labor crisis are likely closer to the mid-range severity scenarios of their analysis. Indeed, early estimates predict no rice yield losses and minor-to-no wheat yield losses over baseline. For the researchers, the relief is palpable and the lessons couldnât be clearer.
âThese technologies were there for decades, but they were never appreciated because everything was normal,â says Jat. âThis clearly indicates a need for investment in the technology and the research. You may encounter a problem at any time, but you cannot generate the technology overnight.â
Agriculture contributes significantly to greenhouse gases (GHGs), so can farmers be incentivized to cultivate in a less earth-warming manner, with tradable carbon credits giving them an additional source of income?
Read here:Â https://www.financialexpress.com/opinion/reaping-carbon-credits-from-agriculture/2116860/
On September 25, with financial and academic support from the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT), Girma Gezimu Gebre upgraded his honorific from mister to doctor. Born in Dawuro zone, in southern Ethiopia, Gebre received his doctorate in Agricultural and Resource Economics from Kyushu University, Japan.
His dissertationâGender Dimensions of the Maize Value Chain and Food Security: The Case of Dawuro Zone in Southern Ethiopiaâwas supported by CIMMYT through the Stress Tolerant Maize for Africa (STMA) project. Dil Rahut, global program manager of the socioeconomics and sustainable intensification programs at CIMMYT, served on his committee.
Asked about Gebreâs achievement, Rahut alluded to his hard work and dedication. âDesire is the starting point of all achievements while hard work and commitment are the end points of all the high achievements,â he said.
Gebreâs research explores how and to what degree gender plays a role in the adoption of improved maize varieties, maize productivity, maize market participation, and marketing channel choices, as well as food security among smallholder households across the maize value chain. Gebre already boasts published articles on the impact of gender on various dimensions of agriculture and agricultural development as well as various other topicsâ from the development of sustainable banana value chains in Ethiopia to barriers to farmersâ innovativeness.
At Kyushu University Gebre was awarded the 2020 Graduate School of Bioresources and Bioenvironmental Science âOutstanding Student Prize.â He was also awarded the 2020 Department of Agricultural and Resource Economics Prize in recognition of his excellent academic achievements and quality as a role model for other students.
Before pursuing a Ph.D., Gebre received a Masterâs degree in Economics (Development Policy Analysis) from Mekelle University, Ethiopia, and a Masterâs degree in Agricultural Production Chain ManagementâHorticulture Chain from Van Hall Larenstein University of Applied Sciences in the Netherlands. He has served as the coordinator of the postgraduate program in Agribusiness and Value Chain Management and as the head of the Department of Agricultural Economics at Aksum University, Ethiopia.
Beyhan Akin is a senior scientist with CIMMYTâs Global Wheat Program, based in Turkey.
She joined CIMMYT in 1987 and has since worked across different areas of the International Winter Wheat Program (IWWIP), including supporting capacity development for national and regional collaborators and conducting in-service trainings for young researchers from the Central and West Asia and North Africa (CWANA) region. Since 2020, she is leading the International Winter Wheat Improvement Program for CIMMYT and the Spring Wheat Program in Turkey.
Akin obtained her PhD from the Aegean University in Izmir, Turkey, in 2007. She had post-graduate research activities at Washington State University in 2009 on Yellow Rust.
At present, nearly half of the worldâs population is under some form of government restriction to curb the spread of COVID-19. In Bangladesh, in the wake of five deaths and 48 infections early in the year, the government imposed a nationwide lockdown between March 24 and May 30, 2020. Until April 17, 38 of the countryâs 64 districts were under complete lockdown.
âWhile this lockdown restricted the spread of the disease, in the absence of effective support, it can generate severe food and nutrition insecurity for daily wage-based workers,â says Khondoker Mottaleb, an agricultural economist based at the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT).
Of the 61 million people who make up Bangladeshâs employed labor force, nearly 35% are paid daily. In a new study published in PLOS ONE, Mottaleb examines the food security and welfare impacts of the lockdowns on these daily-wage workers â in both farm and non-farm sectors â who are comparatively more resource-poor in terms of land ownership and education, and therefore likely to be hit hardest by a loss in earnings.
Using information from 50,000 economically active workers in Bangladesh, collected by the Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics (BBS), the study quantifies the economic losses from the COVID-19 lockdowns based on daily-wage workersâ lost earnings and estimates the minimum compensation packages needed to ensure their minimum food security during the lockdown period.
Using the estimated daily wage earnings, the authors estimate that a one-day, complete lockdown generates an economic loss equivalent to $64.2 million. After assessing the daily per capita food expenditure for farm and non-farm households, the study estimates the need for a minimum compensation package of around $1 per day per household to ensure minimum food security for the daily wage-based worker households.
In May 2020, the Government of Bangladesh announced the provision of approximately $24 per month to two million households, half of whom will receive additional food provision. While this amount is in line with Mottalebâs findings, he stresses than this minimum support package is only suitable for the short-term, and that in the event of a prolonged lockdown period it will be necessary to consider additional support for other household costs such as clothing, medicine and education.
âWithout effective support programs, the implementation of a strict lockdown for a long time may be very difficult, if poor households are forced to come out to search for work, money and food,â explains Mottaleb. âIn the event of a very strict lockdown scenario, the government should consider issuing movement passes to persons and carriers of agricultural input and output to support smallholder agriculture, wage workers and agricultural value chains.â
Read the full article:
COVID-19 induced economic loss and ensuring food security for vulnerable groups: Policy implications for Bangladesh
Read more recent publications from CIMMYT researchers:
Feature image: A rice farmer in central Bangladesh tends to his crop. (Photo: Scott Wallace/World Bank).
âWe are unlikely to see big peaks in stubble burning unlike the previous years. The burning of paddy residue is likely to be more evenly distributed across a longer period,” said M.L. Jat, principal scientist at the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT).
The Bihar Convergence Platform for agriculture, a synergistic partnership to innovate and initiate targeted interventions that help farmers to have informed choices with proven scientific recommendations, has been consistently working to accelerate interventions and improve the lives and capacity of small and marginal farmers since its establishment in October 2019.
The Cereal Systems Initiative for South Asia (CSISA), in association with CABI and the Open Data Institute, hosted a six-day virtual interactive training in September for platform members on the theme “creating impact through wider data sharing.” The training aimed at strengthening technical expertise of the participants, creating an enabling environment to unlock the benefits of data sharing and developing space for participants to discuss, brainstorm and co-design initiatives to be implemented together by the platform in coming days.
The training ended with a common understanding about the challenges and constraints in agriculture because data is in silos. Furthermore, participants agreed on the need to look at the existing data with a broader lens to accelerate the pace of development in agriculture in the state. Participants expressed that sharing the data under set norms with standardized licensing could act as a catalyst to increase the benefits for smallholder farmers.
To constructively deal with the challenges in agriculture together, the platform members stressed the need to start analyzing existing data from a wider perspective and data sharing as the key for designing fact-based interventions for larger good and impact.
The platform is chaired by the Vice Chancellor of Bihar Agriculture University, with key members from Bihar Rural Livelihood Promotion Society known as Jeevika, Bihar Agriculture University, Dr Rajendra Prasad Central Agriculture University, Agriculture Technology Application Resource Institute, ICAR-RCER, and the CSISA project, along with private groups like IFFCO, Bayer, and ITC.
Out of the many activities jointly implemented by the platform, the Data Ecosystem is the key arena where the platform works together in strengthening the impact of data and incorporating them in accelerating quality interventions for farmers.
This story was first published on the CSISA website.
Agricultural production in Bangladesh is heavily dependent on machines for land preparation, irrigation, pest control, harvesting and transport. Small enterprises that make up the light engineering sector in Bangladesh are responsible for the creation, maintenance and repair of these machines. Without a functioning light engineering sector, agricultural production would quickly grind to a halt.
As with other industries in the country, most light engineering workshops closed at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic. However, as restrictions on movement eased and in response to demand from agricultural machinery operators, the machinery manufacturing and repair workshops have started to open again.
Ensuring COVID-19-free workshops
To ensure a safe and hygienic return to work, the Cereal Systems Initiative for South Asia Mechanization Extension Activity (CSISA-MEA) provided water tanks with handwashing points and knapsack sprayers to 50 workshops employing 1,624 staff in Bogura and Jashore to disinfect the workshops and tools. To create awareness on COVID-19 prevention and guide staff on using the handwashing points and sprayer, the CSISA-MEA team distributed low text graphics-based user guides and WHO designed flyers. The flyers also show staff the precautions they should take at home to prevent COVID-19 infection.
Since behavior change is a complex process, the use of more than one approach is often needed. Therefore, workshop owners and workers were sent SMS messages weekly, reminding them of the need to wash hands, disinfect the workspaces and practice other COVID-19 mitigation actions such as maintaining social distance and wearing face masks.
Ahsan Habib, a workshop owner in Bogura, said, âThis equipment is a blessing for my workers and me. Â I have 35 workers and before, they had to use the small tank for handwashing, which was not adequate for many people. Now I can ensure their safety. At the same time, we disinfect the machines with the sprayer before we start working.â
The relatively small investments in equipment and provision of information provided through this USAID-supported activity has helped 50 small companies operate safely in the pandemic. The new equipment and practices allow them to make and repair the machinery that keeps agricultural production running in Bangladesh and contributes to ensuring national food security.
Alison Bentley, who will be joining the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT) next month as director of the Global Wheat Program and the CGIAR Research Program on Wheat, joined wheat research colleagues at the Borlaug Global Rust Initiative Technical Workshop last week to introduce herself and offer her perspective on current prospects for wheat research. Â
Bentley, who currently serves as director of Genetics and Breeding at the National Institute of Agricultural Botany in the UK, emphasized the efforts of CIMMYT and partner scientists in the Accelerating Genetic Gains in Maize and Wheat for Improved Livelihoods (AGG) project.Â
âAGG is unique, and itâs something thatâs really close to my heart in harnessing innovations and deploying them in breeding to deliver genetic gains,â she said.Â
Bentley gave workshop attendees a sneak preview of new speed breeding facilities in CIMMYTâs Toluca experimental station, which will help wheat breeders reduce cycle time, saving costs and getting high yielding, improved varieties tested and in farmersâ fields more quickly.Â
âThere has never been a more exciting time to be involved in wheat research and breeding,â she told the gathering. Â
See Alison Bentleyâs full presentation from the BGRI Technical Workshop below.Â
Accelerating Genetic Gains in Maize and Wheat for Improved Livelihoods (AGG) is a 5-year project that brings together partners in the global science community and in national agricultural research and extension systems to accelerate the development of higher-yielding varieties of maize and wheat â two of the worldâs most important staple crops. Funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the UK Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office (FCDO), the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) and the Foundation for Food and Agriculture Research (FFAR), AGG fuses innovative methods that improve breeding efficiency and precision to produce and deliver high-yielding varieties that are climate-resilient, pest- and disease-resistant, highly nutritious, and targeted to farmersâ specific needs.Â
This story was first posted on the WHEAT website.
Rural women in Nepal significantly contribute to food security, and when they are empowered, they can create avenues for agricultural growth. As seed producers are often disadvantaged in terms of accessing advanced agricultural knowledge and seed production skills, one opportunity for growth is strengthening the capacity of women seed producers.
âIn more than 80% of households in Sindhupalchowk district, women have the final say on the selection of maize variety,â said D.B. Bhandari, managing director of Hairyali Community Seed Company (HCSC). âThis urged me to engage women in seed production of preferred maize varieties for the mid-hills.â
HCSC, a partner company of the Nepal Seed and Fertilizer (NSAF) project implemented by the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT), is working to improve the business literacy of rural women to support their involvement in seed production and marketing of maize, wheat and rice seeds in Sindhupalchowk district, Bagmati province, Nepal.
A path to empowerment and income
Access to agricultural inputs such as seed and fertilizer is challenging in Thulosirubari village due to its rural location and absence of agrodealers or nearby markets. Progressive farmers Parbati Gautam and Kamala Gautam, who grew up in the village in a family that has cultivated maize for generations and now grow maize, rice, millet and vegetables, found a solution. They decided to establish a cooperative âThulosirubari Mahila Krishi Sahakari Sanstha â that not only eases the supply of seed for farmers in their village but also engages in seed production. The cooperative has 45 female members so far.
In coordination with HCSC and the Government of Nepalâs Prime Minister Agriculture Modernization Project (PMAMP), orientation programs and women-only trainings were designed and organized by the NSAF project so farmers could boost their seed production efficiency and profitability at the grassroots level. The partnership between CIMMYT, HCSC and PMAMP provided technical and financial support to these groups, improved their entrepreneurship skills and business literacy, and created marketing linkages between the farmers and buyers. Thirty-five women were trained in the use of good agricultural practices in quality seed production and marketing of hybrid maize, rice and tomato seeds. HCSC supported the women with male and female lines of hybrid maize â Khumal hybrid-2 â to produce first generation seeds and build their skills on estimating ratios for sowing seeds, balanced fertilizer application, weeding, rouging and detasseling.
âI am so happy to learn about the importance of having different male and female lines and how to maintain their quality for crossing to produce first generation of hybrid maize seeds,â Kamala Gautam said.
After getting the required training and technical support, seven farmers from the cooperative, including Kamala and Parbati, collectively produced 1.1 mt of Khumal hybrid-2 with the value of $2,514, which was sold to HCSC in 2019. As the cooperative is a contract seed producer for HCSC, the women have market assurance and do not worry where and how to sell their seed.
âMy husband and I are not educated,â Parbati Gautam explained. âHowever, I was able to sell the hybrid maize seed then use the money to buy decent clothes and offer a better education to my two daughters and son.â
Women empowering women
Parbati Gautam has served as chairperson at the cooperative for eight years, where she has mentored other seed producers. Based on her experience, women who have access to information and seed production technologies tend to have better crop yields and make informed decisions to increase their incomes and livelihoods.
According to Bhandari, farmersâ preferences are gradually shifting from local to hybrid varieties which offer better yields, early maturity and resilience to the effects of climate change. Parbati and Kamala Gautam confirm this, sharing that hybrid seed production provides 4-5 times more monetary value per kilogram of seed than that of grain.
âAlthough the cost of parent lines is expensive for seed production, improved farming technology ensures better quality seeds, higher yields and attractive farm business opportunities,â Parbati Gautam explained.
Since 2017, NSAF project researchers have been working to establish linkages with partner seed companies for seed marketing. Altogether, about 300 mt of maize and rice seed was produced by women farmers engaged in the project with the value of $112,000, and 80 percent of this seed was sold to three private seed companies including HCSC. In 2019, the NSAF project team established partnerships with an additional three cooperatives in Banke, Dang and Sindhupalchowk districts, where over 800 women are members.
The projectâs engagement of women’s seed producer groups is an example of an inclusive seed business model where farmers decide what to grow and how to sell. This intervention can be piloted in other parts of Nepal where women account for over 60 percent of the rural farming community. Targeted and sustained interventions to increase womenâs business agility, technical capacity in quality seed production, and market linkages will help boost productivity at household level and the country at large.
To the first-time observer, the aftermath of a fall armyworm infestation must be terrifying. The larvae can cause significant damage to an entire field in a single night, leaving once-healthy leaves looking like tattered rags.
A new instructional video, which will air in Bangladesh, aims to combat both the pest and the distress its appearance can cause with detailed, actionable information for farmers. The video describes how to identify the pest, its lifecycle and the kind of damage it can do to maize â among other crops â and provides techniques for identifying, assessing, and combating an infestation.
This video was developed by the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT) with support from the Department of Agricultural Extension (DAE) and the Bangladesh Wheat and Maize Research Institute (BWMRI), as part of the project Fighting back against fall armyworm in Bangladesh. Supported by USAID’s Feed the Future Initiative and Michigan State University, this CIMMYT-led project works in synergy with the Cereal Systems Initiative for South Asia (CSISA), and with national partners to mitigate the impact of this invasive pest on smallholder farmers’ livelihoods.
The video is available in Bangla with English captions.
Sashimoni Lohar, a fifty-three-year-old from Badbil village, in Odisha, is like any other woman you would encounter in Indiaâs rural heartlands. Her life is mostly confined within the boundaries of her home and farm.
The COVID-19 lockdown has been hard on people across India, but particularly agonizing for families like Loharâs. Both her sons lost their jobs as laborers, one in a town near home, and the other in a city in a different state. Her younger son Debodutta, a migrant laborer stuck in the southern Indian city of Bengaluru when the midnight lockdown was announced, managed to survive and returned home two months later, aggrieved and penniless. Her husband remained the only earning family member, though on a meager salary, and the family dreaded not only the virus but hunger, as the small reserve of income and rations they had was coming to an end.
Lohar was the only one who refused to give up hope. With support from her village self-help group (SHG), she cultivated two acres of hybrid maize this year. The income generated through selling the crop at a roadside stall next to her farm ensured the wellbeing of her family in this critical period. For a brief time, along with her husbandâs small income, she became the provider for the family with seven mouths to feed during the lockdown.
Lohar did worry for her jobless sonsâ futures but believed that as a successful maize farmer with the skills acquired in the last few years, she can do even better. âMaize farming has supported us during this low-income and very critical period. I shall continue maize cultivation and hope to increase our lease in land next year,â said a visibly triumphant Lohar.
Investing in maize
Today, along with her husband and a new-found entrepreneurial spirit, she hopes to keep Debodutta and her older son closer to home. After lockdown restriction were eased, she invested about Rs.12,000 (roughly US$165) into maize cultivation and set up two stalls by the national highway next to the farm to sell green maize cobs again alongside her family. They made back almost double their investment from less than one acre and she plans to keep the excess as dry grain for the poultry feed mill. A budding entrepreneur full of confidence, Lohar now plans to start a small grocery shop with a loan in the coming months.
A few years ago, many women from these tribal areas in Odisha did not even step out of their houses and villages. They were reluctant to go to the market or the bank â anywhere away from the familiarity of their home. Today, through the opportunities afforded by government economic development programs and collaborations such as the one with the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Centerâs (CIMMYT) Cereal Systems Initiative for South Asia project (CSISA), these women have established themselves as successful maize farmers and entrepreneurs.
Lohar is just one of many women in the rural villages of Odisha â particularly in Mayurbhanj district where COVID-19 has left many male family members jobless â who either individually or in groups erected about 27 small stalls adjacent to their maize fields to sell green cobs to travelers on the highway. Many are very confident and determined to support and lead their families through this difficult time.
Engaging tribal groups
Mayurbhanj is a district in Odisha where nearly 58.7 percent of the population are from tribal groups. During the kharif â autumn, monsoon and cultivation â season, thousands of hectares of upland are left fallow, due to lack of education and knowledge and tribal farmersâ low risk-bearing capacity. CSISA began working in the district in 2013, improving farming systems for higher yields and providing sustainable livelihood options for tribal farmers.
From 2013 to 2020, CSISA, in collaboration with the State Department of Agriculture, Department of Horticulture, NGO partners, private seed companies, women SHG federations and the Integrated Tribal Development Agency (ITDA), helped develop maize cultivation as an important part of the tribal peopleâs livelihoods. Thousands of hectares of fallow lands are now being converted to cultivate maize, focusing on sustainable agriculture and livelihoods, predominantly involving women as most men were occupied or engaged in migrant jobs. This year alone, more than 100 tribal women from Badbil village have cultivated approximately 120 acres of commercial hybrid maize.
CSISA supports the farmers all the way from sowing to crop harvesting. To strengthen dry grain marketing and to avail the benefits of different schemes under the government of Odishaâs support for farmer producer groups (FPGs), CSISA has formed two womenâs FPGs in Badbil alone. Some of the SHGs working with CSISA on maize cultivation in the region in the last four-five years include Maa Jagat Janani, Johar Jaher Aya, Biswa Jay Maa Tarini, Maa Saraswati, Subha Patni, and Maa Brundabati.
The women from the villages in Mayurbhanj have become well-known, both within and outside the district, for their good quality green cobs and marketing intelligence. These women had the courage to change their circumstances and lifted their families out of situations of uncertainty and hardship. The rows of industrious rural women selling maize by the national highway became national news, and many of the stateâs media channels that come to cover this story hailed their determination and capacity for income generation, even in a pandemic, as symbols of womenâs empowerment in the tribal community.
Cover photo: A womensâ group sells green cobs by the national highway next to their maize farm. (Photo: Wasim Iftikar/CIMMYT)