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.

En route to improved agronomic literacy

Written by Mary Donovan on October 8, 2020. Posted in Features.

Masuriya, a rural village in Nepal’s Gauriganga municipality, was one of the villages affected during the country’s civil war which ran from 1996-2006. Since 2012, Bandana Joshi, chairperson of a local cooperative, has been encouraging women in her village to optimize fertilizer application to maximize plant growth and profitability, and improve livelihoods. However, her journey to this day was not an easy one.

In the years of the civil war, women in the villages like Masuriya faced the burden to make ends meet for their children and elderly family members, as most men fled in fear of war or migrated to earn income. It was during this time that Joshi and a group of 24 women who were operating a savings and credit firm realized that more women in their village needed monetary support to carry out their livelihood activities. They decided to expand their services and formed a cooperative to empower rural women and make finance available in the village. Their cooperative, Sana Kisan Sahakari Sanstha Limited, now has 1,186 women members, more than half of whom belong to marginalized communities – 514 Janajatis and 154 Dalits.

Many of the members are small commercial farmers, owning about 1.4 ha of land for farming as their sole source of income. Most have traditionally grown cereals such as rice and wheat alongside a few vegetables and had limited knowledge on cash crop farming and soil fertility management. They would produce and sell their surplus rice and wheat when they needed cash to buy groceries or pay household bills.

Woman prepares cauliflower for marketing. — Cooperative member prepares cauliflower for marketing. (Photo: Uttam Kunwar/CIMMYT)

In October 2016, researchers from the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center’s (CIMMYT) Nepal Seed and Fertilizer (NSAF) project and the International Fertilizer Development Center (IFDC), launched an integrated soil fertility management (ISFM) program and worked alongside the cooperative to disseminate and encourage the use of ISFM technologies among its members. The purpose was to show farmers the benefits of ISFM – an integration of organic inputs and inorganic fertilizers with improved seeds – for rice, wheat and cauliflower cultivation, that includes balanced fertilizer application to increase yield. The project team conducted research trials and on-farm demonstrations on these crops as part of the initiative and built capacity through farmer field days and trainings on best management practices.

As a strategic entry point, the cooperative in coordination with female community volunteers helped implement the ISFM program. Women received training on the right source and amount of fertilizer that matches crop needs, and the right time and place to apply these fertilizers to maximize nutrient uptake and improve crop yields. NSAF researchers engaged with lead farmers and the cooperative’s leadership to influence their acceptance of the new fertilizer application practices, and they in turn motivated the members to use balanced fertilizer application. In 2020, these activities have been critical in building awareness on balanced fertilizer application for more than 800 farmers on over 700 ha of land, with each household able to raise their crop productivity by at least 50% for vegetables and 25% for cereals.

Better soil, better harvest

So far, the use of balanced fertilizer application has benefited more than a hundred members of the cooperative by gaining an average income of $219 in a season from cultivating cauliflower – a cash crop in Nepal’s Terai region. This additional return has helped farmers to adequately feed an average family of 4.5 people for the entire year.

Dutrani Chaudhary, a cooperative member, said that she was able to raise cauliflower production by 64% by applying balanced fertilizers that supplied all the essential nutrients – nitrogen, phosphorus, potash and micro-nutrient boron. She earned about $238 from 0.033 ha of land, which is a much larger gain for any farmer from a single season. As well as boosting her pride and confidence, she can now contribute for her children’s school fees and household expenditures.

After witnessing positive results, many other farmers in the village started applying major nutrients using urea, DAP (Di-ammonium Phosphate) and MoP (Muriate of Potash) to increase crop productivity. In 2017, Joshi and her members noticed a sharp rise in fertilizer procurement from the cooperative among farmers resulting in almost double the sales compared to 2015. Prior to the project’s agronomic literacy programs on soil fertility management, she sold merely 15 tons urea and 10 tons of DAP. Thereafter, fertilizer sales increased to 32.6 tons and 27.9 tons, for urea and DAP respectively, in just two years.

“For the first time in 2018 we sold 500 kilograms of MoP since the cooperative established,” explained Joshi. MoP was never considered a priority by the farmers before and they rarely purchased it from the cooperative.

Women in field. — Women participating in farmer field day of cauliflower in Masuriya. (Photo: Uttam Kunwar/CIMMYT)

On the rise

Now more organized and well-equipped, the cooperative has started organizing programs this year on off-seasonal and seasonal vegetable cultivation on crops such as tomato, cauliflower and cucurbits that have aided around 150 member households. “We have prioritized balanced fertilizer application in our vegetable production program,” says Madhuri Chaudhary, manager of the cooperative.

The woman-led rural institution has achieved remarkable success over the years by learning and adopting best agronomic practices including fertilizer application, planting and cultivation methods that helped increase crop productivity and household income. Having seen the benefits, male family members now encourage them to participate in agronomic literacy programs to acquire advanced knowledge and skills.

Joshi and her team of visionary women have been successful in setting up an inclusive new movement in Masuriya village, which has led to their active participation in development activities and decision-making roles not only at the household level but also in societal issues around women’s rights. Passionate to learn new skills and grow financially independent, these rural women are confident in making their own decisions for themselves, their family and for the wider society. Although it started small, the cooperative has now boomed towards improving rural women’s economic empowerment and sparking better livelihood opportunities in the area.

Cover photo: Balanced nutrient management helps farmer Dharma Devi generate better household income from cauliflower cultivation. (Photo: Uttam Kunwar/CIMMYT)

See our coverage of the International Day of Rural Women.

Dyutiman Choudhary

Written by Mary Donovan on October 8, 2020. Posted in Uncategorized.

Dyutiman Choudhary is a Project Coordinator with the Nepal Seed and Fertilizer (NSAF) project.

Women find a role in Bangladesh’s agricultural mechanization sector

Written by Nur-A-Mahajabin Khan on October 7, 2020. Posted in Features.

It is a general perception, globally and in Bangladesh, that women do not have a role in the agricultural mechanization sector. However, a deeper look into the sector shows a different reality. Women in Bangladesh are owners and managers in businesses supported by the Cereal Systems Initiative for South Asia Mechanization Extension Activity (CSISA-MEA), funded by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) Feed the Future initiative.

Professions have no gender

Poly Rani married her husband, Poritosh Kumar Malo, when she was 15. He is an engineer who established his own machine manufacturing business, RK Metal Ltd of Faridpur. As the business expanded Rani began to help her husband with office administration work, leaving him time to supervise the manufacturing side.

“After my marriage, my husband asked me to spend some time in his shop, as he was busy with his job. I never thought I would work in a mechanical workshop where everything is related to machines and male-dominated. Eventually, I started to like it, and now it is my passion. I know every machine and their functions very well. Therefore, when customers arrive, I can explain things,” Rani said.

With support of CSISA-MEA, their business has expanded quickly, now employing 15 staff and manufacturing 38 types of small machines such as rice threshers, corn shellers and fodder choppers. They sell up to 400 machines a year. As the couple expanded the business, Rani’s administrative role became more important and diverse. She now manages the finances and takes orders for machines, using Facebook and YouTube.

“I wish I was a bit more educated and knew better these technical things. I have a dream that one of my daughters will become an engineer and join our workshop, because professions have no gender — we put gender identity with professions. I can cook, raise children and manage a business as well.”

Woman works machinery. — Poly Rani uses machinery at her workshop. (Photo: Poritosh Malo)

Seedlings of change

It is rare for women in Bangladesh to run businesses that provide farmers with mechanization services. One exception is a group of nine women from Baliakandi Upazila in Rajbari District. They have owned and provided planting services for four years using a power tiller operated seeder (PTOS), which annually earns them approximately $500 each. However, this machine cannot transplant rice.

Rice transplanting is a major labor-consuming activity in Bangladesh, where workers manually transplant 11 million hectares of rice each year. A new machine, called the rice transplanter, is being introduced to Bangladesh. However, to transplant rice seedlings with this machine, the seedlings have to be raised on plastic sheets so they have a mat of roots that allows the machine to pick them up and plant them. With the growing popularity of these machines, the women’s group saw raising these seedlings as a good business opportunity. After learning the seedling raising technology from CSISA-MEA, they have produced and sold seedlings sufficient for 10 hectares. The next step is to buy a rice transplanter!

Women working in field. — Women’s group works in the field. (Photo: Sourov Dey)

Gender gap

Jorina Begum is the sole breadwinner of her family at 25, caring for her mother, four-year-old son and two disabled siblings in Ramnagor, Sadar, Jashore. After her father’s death when she was ten years old, Begum had to abandon school and start working as a foundry cleaner. She married at an early age and quickly became a mother, but immediately after her son’s birth, her husband left her.

She now works in a foundry where she paints machine parts. “My wage is 75% less than the male workers,” said Begum. “I get only 200 taka [$2] per hour. I work the same hours as the men do but I am paid less, because I cannot do the heavy work and I do not have training.”

In foundries and machinery workshops, women are considered less productive than men. “If I could receive some training, I could perform better and earn more, which will benefit my employer and my family,” said Begum.

To respond to this need, CSISA-MEA is working to raise women’s capacity to work in the agricultural mechanization sector and manage machinery-based businesses through technical and business training. Through these opportunities, more women like Rani and Begum will be able to contribute to the development of this sector.

Cover photo: Jorina Begum works in the foundry workshop. (Photo: Touhidur Rahman)

Jamal conquered his dreams through maize farming

Written by Steven M on October 6, 2020. Posted in Videos.

When we talk about the impact of agricultural research we often rely on numerical metrics: percent increase in yield, percent decrease in crop loss, adoption rates, etcetera. For farmers on the ground, however, the impact can be much harder to boil down to a few numbers. Hiding behind every statistical table are real stories of dreams dashed or fulfilled, of everyday people trying to survive and flourish.

A new educational video powerfully dramatizes this point through the story of Jamal Mia and his daughter Rupa. Jamal’s dreams to own a house and see Rupa enroll in college are threatened when his maize crop is attacked by fall armyworm. An encounter with an agricultural extension officer puts Jamal on track to tackle the infestation, save his crop and secure his family’s wellbeing.

The video was developed by CIMMYT with support from Bangladesh’s Department of Agricultural Extension and the Bangladesh Wheat and Maize Research Institute (BWMRI), as part of a project titled “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 was filmed in Dinajpur district, Bangladesh, and is available in Bangla with English captions.

Wheat spikes damaged by wheat blast. (Photo: Xinyao He/CIMMYT)

Scientists find genomic regions associated with wheat blast resistance in CIMMYT nurseries

Written by Madeline Dahm on October 5, 2020. Posted in News.

Wheat spike damaged by wheat blast. — Wheat blast damages wheat spikes. (Photo: Xinyao He / CIMMYT)

In an article published in Nature Scientific Reports, a team of scientists led by wheat breeder Philomin Juliana from the International Wheat and Maize Improvement Center (CIMMYT) conducted a large genome-wide association study to look for genomic regions that could also be associated with resistance to wheat blast.

Juliana and fellow scientists found 36 significant markers on chromosome 2AS, 3BL, 4AL and 7BL that appeared to be consistently associated with blast resistance across different environments. Among these, 20 markers were found to be in the position of the 2NS translocation, a chromosomal segment transferred to wheat from a wild relative, Aegilops ventricosa, that has very strong and effective resistance to wheat blast.

The team also gained excellent insights into the blast resistance of the globally-distributed CIMMYT germplasm by genomic fingerprinting a panel over 4,000 wheat lines for the presence of the 2NS translocation, and found that it was present in 94.1% of lines from International Bread Wheat Screening Nurseries (IBWSNs) and 93.7% of lines from Semi-Arid Wheat Screening Nurseries (SAWSNs). Although it is reassuring that such a high percentage of CIMMYT wheat lines already have the 2NS translocation and implied blast resistance, finding other novel resistance genes will be instrumental in building widespread, global resilience to wheat blast outbreaks in the long-term.

The researchers used data collected over the last two years from CIMMYT’s IBWSNs and SAWSNs by collaborators at the Bangladesh Wheat and Maize Research Institute (BWMRI) and Bolivia’s Instituto Nacional de Innovación Agropecuaria y Forestal (INIAF).

Devastating fungal disease

Wheat blast, caused by the fungus Magnaporthe oryzae pathotype Triticum, was first identified in 1985 in South America, but has been seen in Bangladesh in recent years. The expansion of the disease is a great concern for regions of similar environmental conditions in South Asia, and other regions globally.

Although management of the disease using fungicide is possible, it is not completely effective for multiple reasons, including inefficiency during high disease pressure, resistance of the fungal populations to some classes of fungicides, and the affordability of fungicide to resource-poor farmers. Scientists see the development and deployment of wheat with genetic resistance to blast as the most sustainable and farmer-friendly approach to preventing devastating outbreaks around the world.

This work was made possible by the generous support of the Delivering Genetic Gains in Wheat (DGGW) project funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the U.K. Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office (FCDO) and managed by Cornell University, the U.S. Agency for International Development’s Feed the Future initiative, the CGIAR Research Program on Wheat (WHEAT), the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR), The Swedish Research Council (Vetenskapsråd), and the Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research (ACIAR).

Read the full article:
Genome‑wide association mapping for wheat blast resistance in CIMMYT’s international screening nurseries evaluated in Bolivia and Bangladesh

This story was originally posted on the website of the CGIAR Research Program on Wheat (wheat.org).

Climate change and agriculture: Way ahead for low-emission growth

Written by Mary Donovan on September 25, 2020. Posted in In the media.

A study by the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT) pointed out that India has the potential to cut 18 percent of its annual greenhouse gas emissions from agriculture and livestock sector.

‘Seeds for Needs’ approach to develop climate resilient crop varieties

Written by Mary Donovan on September 22, 2020. Posted in In the media.

“This is a very relevant approach in the Indian context also. Contingent plannings are prescription based and when the time comes the seeds are unavailable for the farmers. This approach will answer the questions like which seeds are made to be available where and in what quantity. As we have our own indigenous biodiversity, our farmers face monsoon delays and monsoon failures so Seed for Needs is the key to fight such problems and to maintain our biodiversity” said Dr M L Jat, Principal Scientist, International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center.

Wheat fields at CIMMYT’s Campo Experimental Norman E. Borlaug (CENEB) in Ciudad Obregón, Mexico. (Photo: CIMMYT)

Retrospective quantitative genetic analysis and genomic prediction of global wheat yields

Written by Marcia MacNeil on September 17, 2020. Posted in Publications.

The process for breeding for grain yield in bread wheat at the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT) involves three-stage testing at an experimental station in the desert environment of Ciudad Obregón, in Mexico’s Yaqui Valley. Because the conditions in Obregón are extremely favorable, CIMMYT wheat breeders are able to replicate growing environments all over the world and test the yield potential and climate-resilience of wheat varieties for every major global wheat growing area. These replicated test areas in Obregón are known as selection environments (SEs).

This process has its roots in the innovative work of wheat breeder and Nobel Prize winner Norman Borlaug, more than 50 years ago. Wheat scientists at CIMMYT, led by wheat breeder Philomin Juliana, wanted to see if it remained effective.

The scientists conducted a large quantitative genetics study comparing the grain yield performance of lines in the Obregón SEs with that of lines in target growing sites throughout the world. They based their comparison on data from two major wheat trials: the South Asia Bread Wheat Genomic Prediction Yield Trials in India, Pakistan and Bangladesh initiated by the U.S. Agency for International Development Feed the Future initiative and the global testing environments of the Elite Spring Wheat Yield Trials.

The findings, published in Retrospective Quantitative Genetic Analysis and Genomic Prediction of Global Wheat Yields, in Frontiers in Plant Science, found that the Obregón yield testing process in different SEs is very efficient in developing high-yielding and resilient wheat lines for target sites.

The authors found higher average heritabilities, or trait variations due to genetic differences, for grain yield in the Obregón SEs than in the target sites (44.2 and 92.3% higher for the South Asia and global trials, respectively), indicating greater precision in the SE trials than those in the target sites. They also observed significant genetic correlations between one or more SEs in Obregón and all five South Asian sites, as well as with the majority (65.1%) of the Elite Spring Wheat Yield Trial sites. Lastly, they found a high ratio of selection response by selecting for grain yield in the SEs of Obregón than directly in the target sites.

“The results of this study make it evident that the rigorous multi-year yield testing in Obregón environments has helped to develop wheat lines that have wide-adaptability across diverse geographical locations and resilience to environmental variations,” said Philomin Juliana, CIMMYT associate scientist and lead author of the article.

“This is particularly important for smallholder farmers in developing countries growing wheat on less than 2 hectares who cannot afford crop losses due to year-to-year environmental changes.”

In addition to these comparisons, the scientists conducted genomic prediction for grain yield in the target sites, based on the performance of the same lines in the SEs of Obregón. They found high year-to-year variations in grain yield predictabilities, highlighting the importance of multi-environment testing across time and space to stave off the environment-induced uncertainties in wheat yields.

“While our results demonstrate the challenges involved in genomic prediction of grain yield in future unknown environments, it also opens up new horizons for further exciting research on designing genomic selection-driven breeding for wheat grain yield,” said Juliana.

This type of quantitative genetics analysis using multi-year and multi-site grain yield data is one of the first steps to assessing the effectiveness of CIMMYT’s current grain yield testing and making recommendations for improvement—a key objective of the new Accelerating Genetic Gains in Maize and Wheat for Improved Livelihoods (AGG) project, which aims to accelerate the breeding progress by optimizing current breeding schemes.

This work was made possible by the generous support of the Delivering Genetic Gain in Wheat (DGGW) project funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and the UK Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office (FCDO) and managed by Cornell University; the U.S. Agency for International Development’s Feed the Future initiative; and several collaborating national partners who generated the grain yield data.

Read the full article: Retrospective Quantitative Genetic Analysis and Genomic Prediction of Global Wheat Yields

This story was originally posted on the website of the CGIAR Research Program on Wheat (wheat.org).

Cover photo: Wheat fields at CIMMYT’s Campo Experimental Norman E. Borlaug (CENEB) in Ciudad Obregón, Mexico. (Photo: CIMMYT)

Crop-loss Assessment Monitor: A multi-model and multistage decision support system

Written by Mary Donovan on September 15, 2020. Posted in News.

This article by Sakshi Saini and Paresh B Shirsath was originally published on the CCAFS website.

Rice farmer in Punjab, India. (Photo: N. Palmer/CIAT)

Farming has often been quoted as one of the noblest professions, shouldering the responsibility of feeding the world; yet it has been globally identified as one of the most perilous industries associated with a high vulnerability rate. Crop insurance has been established worldwide to provide social protection to farmers and reduce their vulnerability. While the emergence of crop insurance schemes around the world indicates commitment to secure the livelihoods of farmers, they often lack accurate seasonal crop growth monitoring and timely yield loss estimation, making the authentication of crop insurance claims more challenging.

Crop loss assessments are often done via crop cutting experiments (CCEs). However, these can suffer from human error and moral hazard. The experiments also require significant capital and human resources, and need to be carried out simultaneously, in a limited period of time. This often leads to inadequate and delayed claim payment, high premium rates, and poor execution of crop insurance schemes.

With technological advancements and availability, crop growth monitoring and productivity assessment can not only be more accurate and efficient but also less resource-intensive. Readily available data and technology, such as detailed weather data, remote sensing, modeling and big data analytics can be instrumental in further improving crop insurance mechanisms. The CGIAR Research Program on Climate Change, Agriculture and Food Security (CCAFS) has developed a Crop-loss Assessment Monitor (CAM) tool as an integrated solution that uses technologies to improve loss assessment and make crop insurance more efficient.

The Crop-loss Assessment Monitor (CAM) tool

The CAM tool integrates multiple input data and methods for crop loss assessment at multiple times in the season. It uses different models for loss assessment depending on the time or stage in the season. To ensure user-friendliness, the tool was developed with a simple, easy-to-use interface and produces outputs customized for policy and risk management agencies. It uses freely available R libraries and does not require specific software installations and high-power processing engines, which in general are a prerequisite to process large gridded satellite data.

CAM provides a form-based user-interface to carry out the analysis. The user can log in and undertake analysis using multiple methods for a specified region and time. The tool allows users to choose between area-based yield insurance and weather-based index insurance. For insurance analysis, scheme details like sum insured and calamity years can be specified for calculation of threshold yields, premiums and claims.

CAM also includes tabs that provide ‘deviation in the weather’ and ‘deviation in satellite vegetation indices’ to help monitor crop conditions every fortnight. The tool also allows users to identify the model agreement between the four different methods for loss assessment, which strengthens the confidence levels in loss assessments, and related insurance analytics.

A single integrated framework

The tool combines agro-meteorological statistical analysis, crop simulation modelling and optimization techniques, and employs near real-time monitoring by using publicly available satellite products. It is also equipped to capture yield variability.

Highlighting the importance of this tool Dr. Pramod Aggarwal, lead author of the paper and CCAFS Asia Program Leader, notes that “assimilating relevant technologies into a single integrated framework is a good way to determine crop losses. Its deployment can assist in multi-stage loss assessment and thus provide farmers with immediate relief for sowing failure, prevented sowing and mid-season adversity apart from final crop loss assessment.”

The tool addresses three major challenges faced by existing crop insurance schemes; more efficient weather indices, timely estimate of loss assessment and improved contract design. As the tool readily uses freely available technology and data, it requires less capital and human resource compared to crop cutting experiments for crop loss assessment. This tool offers a robust mechanism that further reduces the chances of human errors, and makes the process more transparent, robust and reliable. Therefore, it enables timely relief for farmers facing challenges such as sowing failure, prevented sowing and mid-season adversity.

Read more:

Journal article: Application note: Crop-loss assessment monitor – A multi-model and multi-stage decision support system

How do I become a zero-till farmer?

Written by Mary Donovan on September 3, 2020. Posted in Videos.

“What you are now about to witness didn’t exist even a few years ago,” begins the first video in a series on zero tillage produced by the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT). Zero tillage, an integral part of conservation agriculture-based sustainable intensification, can save farmers time, money and irrigation water.

Through storytelling, the videos demonstrate the process to become a zero till farmer or service provider: from learning how to prepare a field for zero tillage to the safe use of herbicides.

All videos are available in Bengali, Hindi and English.

This videos were produced as part of the Sustainable and Resilient Farming Systems Intensification in the Eastern Gangetic Plains (SRFSI) project, funded by the Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research (ACIAR). The videos were scripted with regional partners and filmed with communities in West Bengal, India.

Conservation Agriculture Visual Syllabus (English):

Conservation Agriculture Visual Syllabus (Hindi):

Conservation Agriculture Visual Syllabus (Bengali):

Plan to improve wheat output under works

Written by Mary Donovan on August 6, 2020. Posted in In the media.

CIMMYT Country Representative in Pakistan Dr Muhammad Imtiaz briefed National Food Security Minister Fakhr Imam on the potential strategy to increase use of high-yielding, climate resilient and rust-resistant seed varieties; closing the yield gap by timely sowing and optimal use thereby formulating and applying the right policy; and ensuring good support price in place.

Read more here: https://www.dawn.com/news/1572865

Cultivation of outdated wheat varieties causing 50pc yield gap, minister told

Written by Mary Donovan on August 5, 2020. Posted in In the media.

CIMMYT country representative Muhammad Imtiaz briefed National Food Security and Research Minister Syed Fakhar Imam on the Wheat Productivity Enhancement Programme (WPEP) and Agricultural Innovation Programme for Pakistan (AIP) and how these interventions had a positive impact on the country’s productivity.

AGG project to ramp up genetic gains in maize for better livelihoods

Written by Mary Donovan on July 31, 2020. Posted in In the media.

A new project, Accelerating Genetic Gains in Maize and Wheat for Improved Livelihoods (AGG), seeks to achieve these results by speeding up genetic gains in maize and wheat breeding to deliver improved, stress resilient, nutritious seed to smallholders in 13 countries in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) and four in South Asia. The 5-year AGG project is funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the UK Department for International Development (DFID) and the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID).

The maize component of the project brings together diverse partners, including the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT) and the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA) as co-implementers; national agricultural research systems (NARS); and small and medium-sized (SME) seed companies.

New project to ramp up genetic gains in maize for better livelihoods

Written by Mary Donovan on July 30, 2020. Posted in In the media.

Breaking Ground: Sudha Nair helps bridge gap between maize breeding and genetics

Written by Natasha Nagarajan on July 29, 2020. Posted in Features.

Sudha Nair is inspired every day by her passion for biology and genetics. The senior scientist at the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT) based in Hyderabad, India, works to define and practice the best strategies for applying genomics in agriculture.

“I always knew that science is what I would love to pursue,” said Sudha, an alumnus of both the Indian Agricultural Research Institute (IARI) in New Delhi and the National Institute of Agrobiological Sciences in Japan.

Originally from Kerala, India, Sudha did not expect a career in agriculture. “I studied for engineering after my high school as I was selected for that course before I was selected for the biology stream. It didn’t take me even a single moment to decide to leave the course six months later when I was selected for the undergraduate program in agriculture,” Sudha said. “I can’t say that it is love for agriculture that forced me to choose the field I am in, but it is the fascination for biological science. I love genetics and I love research; as long as I get to do this as part of my job, I am happy.”

Sudha’s first experience working with CIMMYT involved her PhD dissertation at IARI, which was a part of research conducted for the Asian Maize Biotechnology Network (AMBIONET), led by CIMMYT. “I had always looked at CIMMYT as an organization doing high quality applied science,” she said.

Starting in 2010 as a consultant for the Drought Tolerant Maize for Africa (DTMA) project, Sudha then interviewed for the position of maize fine-mapping specialist in 2011 and was selected as a scientist. Her career at CIMMYT has now spanned close to a decade.

Her role involves implementation of molecular breeding in the maize breeding program in Asia. This includes discovery, validation and application of molecular markers for prioritized traits, genomic selection, and marker-based quality assurance and quality control in maize breeding – through current and past projects like Heat Tolerant Maize for Asia (HTMA), Climate Resilient Maize for Asia (CRMA) and the CGIAR Research Program on Maize (MAIZE). Apart from this, she is currently involved in the Accelerating Genetic Gains in Maize and Wheat (AGG) project for incorporating elite and stress tolerance genetics from Asia in the elite African maize germplasm.

Sudha has been a part of a number of global maize projects including the Stress Tolerant Maize for Africa (STMA) project, which developed improved maize varieties tolerant to stresses such as drought and diseases, and HarvestPlus in maize, developing nutritionally enriched maize cultivars. She has also played a key role in developing CIMMYT’s second-generation tropicalized haploid inducers using marker-assisted breeding.

Sudha Nair speaking at a Heat Tolerant Maize for Asia (HTMA) annual review and planning meeting. (Photo: Sudha Nair/CIMMYT)

Bringing genetics and breeding together

Sudha is grateful for the role of CIMMYT in increasing acceptance and use of genomics in breeding programs. “When I started off as a graduate student, any work related to molecular genetics was called biotechnology, and we were considered as a different “breed”, who worked in silos to spend resources on “upstream research”, and whose results never saw any breeding applications. Breeding and molecular genetics were like parallel lines that would never meet,” she explained.

“In course of time, the research communities in applied breeding institutes like CIMMYT have brought about changes in strategies, goals, and more importantly, attitudes, and now all of us work towards one major goal of developing impactful products (varieties) for benefiting resource-constrained farming communities worldwide. All in all, I and my colleagues in the upstream research team in CIMMYT Global Maize Program have an important responsibility of providing core support to the breeding and seed systems teams in developing and delivering impactful products.”

When asked what the most enjoyable part of her work is, Sudha cited the practicality and applicability of her work. “Basically, my job responsibility is to design and implement the best strategies for applying genomics in maize breeding to achieve higher genetic gains,” she explained. “Being in an organization like CIMMYT, what is most satisfying about the role I am in is the translation of upstream research into tools for improving breeding efficiency and in turn into impactful maize varieties that the farming communities around the world cultivate.”