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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.

2019 World Food Prize recognizes the impact of bringing improved seeds to Africa, Asia and Latin America

Written by Alison Doody on . Posted in News.

Simon N. Groot is the winner of the 2019 World Food Prize. With this award, food and agriculture leaders recognize his work to increase vegetable production in more than 60 countries, through the development of high-quality seeds and training programs for farmers.

Groot’s efforts were crucial in leading millions of farmers to become horticulture entrepreneurs, resulting in improved incomes and livelihoods for them, and greater availability of nutritious vegetables for hundreds of millions of consumers.

Like small-town Iowa farm boy Norman Borlaug, Groot comes from a small town in the Netherlands, where he learned the value of seeds at a young age. Both shared the same vision to feed the world and succeeded.

“I think I was born to be a vegetable seedsman.”
– Simon N. Groot

Groot devoted his whole life to the seed and plant breeding industry. After 20 years in the industry in Europe and North America, Groot travelled to southeast Asia at the age of 47 with a vision to set up the region’s first vegetable seed breeding company. Frustrated by the poor quality seeds he found and noticing a total lack of commercial breeding activities in the region, Groot decided to set up his own company, using his own capital, partnering with Benito Domingo, a Philippines local with a passion for seeds and local connections to the traditional seed trade, agriculture industry and universities.

The company, named East-West Seed Company, started out as a small five-hectare farm outside Lipa City, Philippines. Groot brought over well-trained plant breeders from the Netherlands to begin plant breeding and help train locals as breeders and technicians. Groot was the first to introduce commercial vegetable hybrids in tropical Asia: varieties which were high-yielding, fast-growing and resistant to local diseases and stresses. Today, East-West Seed Company has over 973 improved varieties of 60 vegetable crops which are used by more than 20 million farmers across Asia, Africa and Latin America.

Inspired by Borlaug

Groot described meeting Dr. Borlaug at a conference in Indonesia in the late 1980s as “a pivotal moment” for him, writing that “his legacy has continued to serve as an inspiration for everything I have done at East-West Seed.”

In response to being awarded the 2019 World Food Prize, Groot wrote: “Bringing about the ‘Vegetable Revolution’ will be a fitting tribute to the work of Dr. Borlaug.”

The World Food Prize has been referred to as the “Nobel Prize for food and agriculture.” Awarded by the World Food Prize Foundation, it recognizes individuals who have advanced human development by improving the quality, quantity or availability of food in the world. Winners receive $250,000 in prize money.

The World Food Prize was founded in 1986 by Norman Borlaug, recipient of the 1970 Nobel Peace Prize.

The World Food Prize has a long association with CIMMYT. Sanjaya Rajaram was awarded the 2014 World Food Prize for his work that led to a prodigious increase in world wheat production. Evangelina Villegas and Surinder Vasal were awarded the 2000 World Food Prize for their work on productivity and nutritional content of maize. Bram Govaerts received the Norman Borlaug Field Award in 2014. As an institution, CIMMYT received the Norman Borlaug Field Medallion in 2014.

Spurt in stubble burning in Pakistan raises heat in Punjab

Written by Mary Donovan on . Posted in In the media.

The Punjab government is working on war footing to curb farm fires ahead of the celebrations of 550 birth anniversary of Guru Nanak, but rising incidents of stubble burning in Pakistan, particularly near border areas of Punjab, have raised concern among scientists at Punjab remote sensing center (PRSC) and Punjab agricultural university (PAU).

Experts from Cornell and International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT) in a recent study ‘Tradeoffs Between Groundwater Conservation and Air Pollution From Agricultural Fires in Northwest India’ stated that pollution, particularly caused by stubble burning, leads to an estimated 16,000 premature deaths caused every year in New Delhi capital region, with an aggregate reduction in life expectancy of 6 years.

Read more here.

A young man uses a precision spreader to distribute fertilizer in a field. (Photo: Mahesh Maske/CIMMYT)

Microsatellite data can help double impact of agricultural interventions

Written by Rodrigo Ordóñez on . Posted in Press releases.

A young man uses a precision spreader to distribute fertilizer in a field. (Photo: Mahesh Maske/CIMMYT)
A young man uses a precision spreader to distribute fertilizer in a field. (Photo: Mahesh Maske/CIMMYT)

Data from microsatellites can be used to detect and double the impact of sustainable interventions in agriculture at large scales, according to a new study led by the University of Michigan (U-M).

By being able to detect the impact and target interventions to locations where they will lead to the greatest increase of yield gains, satellite data can help increase food production in a low-cost and sustainable way.

According to the team of researchers from U-M, the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT), and Stanford and Cornell universities, finding low-cost ways to increase food production is critical, given that feeding a growing population and increasing the yields of crops in a changing climate are some of the greatest challenges of the coming decades.

“Being able to use microsatellite data, to precisely target an intervention to the fields that would benefit the most at large scales will help us increase the efficacy of agricultural interventions,” said lead author Meha Jain, assistant professor at the U-M School for Environment and Sustainability.

Microsatellites are small, inexpensive, low-orbiting satellites that typically weigh 100 kilograms or less.

“About 60-70% of total world food production comes from smallholders, and they have the largest field-level yield gaps,” said Balwinder Singh, senior researcher at the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT).

To show that the low-cost microsatellite imagery can quantify and enhance yield gains, the researchers conducted their study in smallholder wheat fields in the Eastern Indo-Gangetic Plains in India.

They ran an experiment on 127 farms using a split-plot design over multiple years. In one half of the field, the farmers applied nitrogen fertilizer using hand broadcasting, the typical fertilizer spreading method in this region. In the other half of the field, the farmers applied fertilizer using a new and low-cost fertilizer spreader.

To measure the impact of the intervention, the researchers then collected the crop-cut measures of yield, where the crop is harvested and weighed in field, often considered the gold standard for measuring crop yields. They also mapped field and regional yields using microsatellite and Landsat satellite data.

They found that without any increase in input, the spreader resulted in 4.5% yield gain across all fields, sites and years, closing about one-third of the existing yield gap. They also found that if they used microsatellite data to target the lowest yielding fields, they were able to double yield gains for the same intervention cost and effort.

“Being able to bring solutions to the farmers that will benefit most from them can greatly increase uptake and impact,” said David Lobell, professor of earth system science at Stanford University. “Too often, we’ve relied on blanket recommendations that only make sense for a small fraction of farmers. Hopefully, this study will generate more interest and investment in matching farmers to technologies that best suit their needs.”

The study also shows that the average profit from the gains was more than the amount of the spreader and 100% of the farmers were willing to pay for the technology again.

Jain said that many researchers are working on finding ways to close yield gaps and increase the production of low-yielding regions.

“A tool like satellite data that is scalable and low-cost and can be applied across regions to map and increase yields of crops at large scale,” she said.

Read the full study:
The impact of agricultural interventions can be doubled by using satellite data

The study is published in the October issue of Nature Sustainability. Other researchers include Amit Srivastava and Shishpal Poonia of the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center in New Delhi; Preeti Rao and Jennifer Blesh of the U-M School of Environment and Sustainability; Andrew McDonald of Cornell; and George Azzari and David Lobell of Stanford. 

For more information, or to arrange interviews, please contact CIMMYT’s media team.

Breaking Ground: P.H. Zaidi helps Asian farmers get healthy harvests despite climate variability

Written by Matthew O'Leary on . Posted in Features.

Growing up on a rainfed farm in India, P.H. Zaidi learned how smallholder family farmers adapted their farming practices to meet weather challenges, such as dry spells or excessive rain. For the most part, small changes to their crop selection and timing of field operations maintained a wholesome harvest.

As time passed Zaidi witnessed farmers in his hometown and beyond struggling against increasingly extreme and erratic weather events. The Asian tropics have now become hotspots for climate change effects and associated variabilities, said the maize physiologist who works with the Global Maize Program of the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT), based in Hyderabad.

“Rainfed farmers produce most of the food for people in Asia, but without sufficient supplemental irrigation systems they are heavily dependent on monsoon rains,” Zaidi said. “Climate variability can be devastating for family farmers who are unable to foresee erratic changes in weather patterns.”

“An extreme weather event can negatively affect household food security and income, which in turn results in a deterioration of capacity to deal with future shocks,” he explained.

Nearly half a billion people in Asia lack access to nourishing food. The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) finds climate change-related disasters and a lack of clean water are the main causes of persistent hunger in the region.

Zaidi believes farmers are born innovators and, with the right tools and know-how, they can ensure a healthy harvest despite year-to-year climate variability. He has dedicated his lifework to researching new agricultural technologies that help resource-poor farmers to protect their food and income security.

Stable harvests despite climate change

After getting an undergraduate degree in agricultural science, Zaidi obtained his doctorate at the University of Agriculture Science & Technology in Faizabad, India. He studied how maize physiology interacts with physical stresses, such as severe heat, drought, and excessive moisture. Maize has become an important part of Asian cropping systems, with several countries recording impressive growth rates in maize production and productivity. However, increasing demands — food, feed, and industry — and climate challenges highlight the need for international agricultural research.

In 2002, Zaidi worked as a post-doctoral fellow at CIMMYT in Mexico, where he was mentored by maize abiotic stress experts. He took those research approaches and strategies for breeding stress-resilient maize varieties back home. Working with the Indian government’s maize program, he contributed to developing high-yielding stress-resilient maize for resource-poor maize farmers living in vulnerable agro-ecologies.

With a wealth of knowledge and experience in agricultural systems in Asia, he was employed by CIMMYT as maize physiologist and breeder in 2007. He worked to develop, deploy and scale-out hardy maize varieties that increase yield potential and reduce risk, ensuring a stable harvest despite climate variability. He also developed and standardized screening phenotyping techniques and selection criteria to identify maize germplasm tolerant to stresses including heat, drought and water-logging.

“Through effective collaboration and training, national governments, private seed companies and NGOs are using the varieties with resilient traits in their breeding programs to ensure hardy varieties reach farmers throughout the region,” Zaidi noted.

From 2015 to 2018, a total of 68 such high-yielding stress-resilient maize hybrids were licensed to seed partners in the region, he explained. These partners took them forward for large-scale farmer participatory testing in their respective target ecologies. After extensive testing through the national system, nine stress-resilient maize hybrids have already been released and are being deployed in various countries in Asia. Others will be released soon.

Zaidi has received several awards for his contributions to maize research, including CIMMYT’s Outstanding Scientist Award in 2009.

A customer chooses bread in a small shop in Dinajpur, Bangladesh. (Photo: S. Mojumder/Drik/CIMMYT)

New publications: Do market shocks generate gender-differentiated impacts?

Written by Emma Orchardson on . Posted in Publications.

Female-headed households are likely to experience higher welfare losses due to commodity price hikes than their male-headed counterparts, as they tend to spend a larger percentage of their income on food items. However, the full extent of this impact of market has not been widely examined in the empirical literature.

Applying the difference-in-difference estimation procedure to data collected from more than 22,000 households in Bangladesh in 2005 and 2010, researchers at the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT) set out to examine the gender-differentiated impacts of the commodity price hikes during the food price crisis of 2008 on food and non-food consumption behavior based on the sex of the household head.

They found that, in general, the commodity price hikes had more adversely affected female-headed households, which reduced their expenditure on food and non-food items such as cereals and education at a greater rate than their male-headed counterparts did.

However, their study also reveals that the welfare impacts on these households varied greatly depending on socio-economic conditions. Results showed that households headed by women who were relatively better educated, who owned larger pieces of land and received remittances were buffered to a certain extent and their expenditure was affected less.

Understanding these buffering factors, the authors argue, is crucial when designing policy interventions in developing countries. The study provides a number of recommendations for government and international donor agencies to help female-headed households better cope with market shocks. For example, they could improve the reach of general education, increase women’s access to land and agricultural assets and remove barriers to the in-flow of remittances for female-headed households. Extending the reach of social protection and microcredit programs could further complement market shock buffering capacity, as could providing targeted capital.

Read more results and recommendations in the study, “Do market shocks generate gender-differentiated impacts? Policy implications from a quasi-natural experiment in Bangladesh” in Women’s Studies International Forum, Volume 76, September–October 2019.

This study was made possible through the support provided by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) to the Cereal Systems Initiative for South Asia – Mechanization and Irrigation (CSISA-MI) project, and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to the CSISA Phase II project.

See more recent publications by CIMMYT researchers:

  1. Elucidating the genetic basis of biomass accumulation and radiation use efficiency in spring wheat and its role in yield potential. 2019. Molero, G., Joynson, R. , Piñera Chavez, F.J. , Gardiner, L.J. , Rivera Amado, A.C. , Hall, A.J.W. , Reynolds, M.P. In: Plant Biotechnology Journal v. 17, no. 7, p. 1276-1288.
  2. Identification of recombinants carrying stripe rust resistance gene Yr57 and adult plant stem rust resistance gene Sr2 through marker‐assisted selection. 2019. Lodhi, S., Bariana, H.S., Randhawa, M.S., Gul Kazi, A., Peter John., Bansal, U. In: Plant Breeding v. 138, no. 2, p. 148-152.
  3. Effect of different tillage and residue management practices on crop and water productivity and economics in maize (Zea mays) based rotations. 2019. Parihar M.D., Parihar, C.M., Nanwal, R.K., Singh, A.K., Jat, S.L., Hari S. Nayak, Prakash Chand Ghasal, Jewlia, H.R., Choudhary, M. , Jat, M.L. In: Indian Journal of Agricultural Sciences v. 89, no. 2.
  4. A multi-scale and multi-model gridded framework for forecasting crop production, risk analysis, and climate change impact studies. 2019. Shelia, V., Hansen, J., Sharda, V., Porter, C., Aggarwal, P.K., Wilkerson, C.J., Hoogenboom, G. In: Environmental Modelling and Software v. 115, no. 144-154.
  5. Averting wheat blast by implementing a ‘wheat holiday’: in search of alternative crops in West Bengal, India. 2019. Mottaleb, K.A., Singh, P.K., Sonder, K., Kruseman, G., Erenstein, O. In: PLoS One v. 114, no. 2, art. E0211410.
  6. Estimating soil evaporation in dry seeded rice and wheat crops after wetting events. 2019. Gupta, N., Eberbach, P.L., Humphreys, E., Singh, B., Sudhir-Yadav, Kukal, S.S. In: Agricultural Water Management v. 217, p. 98-106.
  7. Dependence of temperature sensitivity of soil organic carbon decomposition on nutrient management options under conservation agriculture in a sub-tropical Inceptisol. 2019. Parihar, C.M., Singh, A.K., Jat, S.L., Ghosh, A., Dey, A., Hari S. Nayak, Parihar M.D., Mahala, D.M., Yadav, R.K., Rai, V., Satayanaryana, T., Jat, M.L. In: Soil and Tillage Research v. 190, p. 50-60.
  8. Biogas adoption and elucidating its impacts in India: implications for policy. 2019. Mottaleb, K.A., Rahut, D.B. In: Biomass and Bioenergy v. 123, p. 166-174.
  9. Reaction of Australian durum, common wheat and triticale genotypes to Karnal bunt (Tilletia indica) infection under artificial inoculation in the field. 2019. Emebiri, L. C., Singh, P.K. , Tan, M. K. , Fuentes DĂĄvila, G., Xinyao He, Singh, R.P. In: Crop and Pasture Science v. 70, no. 2, p. 107-112.
  10. A farm-level assessment of labor and mechanization in Eastern and Southern Africa. 2019. Baudron, F., Misiko, M.T., Getnet, B., Nazare, R., Sariah, J., Kaumbutho, P. In: Agronomy for Sustainable Development v. 39, no. 2, art. 17.

Toolkits to deal with Asian droughts

Written by Mary Donovan on . Posted in In the media.

In July 2019 ICIMOD, along with its partners and the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Centre in Mexico, launched a web-based Regional Drought Monitoring and Outlook System for South Asia – an integrated information platform linking weather and climate data with agriculture practices in South Asia. The system provides multiple indices for droughts and seasonal weather outlooks, besides maps and baseline. Read more here.

Back from the brink of extinction

Written by Emma Orchardson on . Posted in Features. 2 Comments on Back from the brink of extinction

In the early 20th century, Aaron Aaronsohn, a prominent agronomist best known for identifying the progenitor of wheat, began looking for durum wheat landraces in Israel. He traveled to villages across the country, carefully collecting and recording details of the local varieties used in each area.

This task was not without purpose. Aaronsohn recognized that as increasing numbers of settlers like himself came to the territory, the varietal change from the introduction of new and competitive wheat varieties and the rapid intensification of agriculture would soon cause all the traditional structures he had identified to disappear.

IPLR durum wheat landrace, Rishon LeZion, Israel. (Photo: Matan Franko/ARO-Volcani Center)

Aaronsohn was one of the first to begin collecting germplasm in the region, but others saw the importance of collecting before large-scale change occurred. For example, Russian botanist Nikolai Vavilov gathered samples from Israel on one of his expeditions through the Middle East. By the end of the century, a number of collections had been established, but overall efforts at conservation were fragmented.

“That’s why we say the collection was on the verge of extinction,” explains Roi Ben-David, a researcher at the Volcani Center, Israel’s Agricultural Research Institute (ARO). “There were single accessions in genebanks around the world but no one really gave them special treatment or saw their value. Many were in private collections; others were simply lost.”

When Ben-David and his colleagues began looking for landraces six years ago, even the collection housed at the Israeli Genebank (IGB) was disappointing, with many samples stored in unmarked boxes in sub-optimal conditions. “When we came in nobody was really trying to study what we had and put it together to represent the area’s wheat landscape as it was 100 years ago.”

Long-term efforts to restore and conserve a collection of Israeli and Palestinian wheat landraces (IPLR) have led to the restoration of 930 lines so far, but there are many varieties that cannot be recovered. Therefore, it came as a great surprise to Ben-David when he arrived at the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT) headquarters in Mexico and stumbled upon one of the collections presumed lost. “I think it was actually my first week at CIMMYT when I spotted a demonstration plot growing one of the lost varieties — a subset of the Ephrat-Blum collection — and I couldn’t believe it.”

He had heard about this collection from the late Abraham Blum, but had never been able to locate it. “Someone might have moved the seeds, or maybe the box was not well labelled and thrown out. We don’t know, but needless to say it was a very good surprise to rediscover 64 of our missing lines.”

What prompted you and your colleagues to start looking for landraces in Israel?

We began because we recognized local landraces are good genetic resources but unfortunately, we couldn’t find any. It wasn’t so much that they didn’t exist, but the accessions were scattered across the world, mostly in private collections in countries like the USA or Australia. The Israeli Genebank, which sits only two floors above my office, had a few buckets of germplasm but nobody really knew what was inside.

The Middle East and the Fertile Crescent are centers of diversity, not only for wheat but for all crops that were part of the Neolithic revolution 10,000 years ago. They started here – the exact point of origin was probably in what is now southeast Turkey – so we have had thousands of years of evolution in which those landraces dominated the agricultural landscape and adapted to different environments.

Why do you think so much of the collection was lost?

The lines from Israel were lost because their conservation simply wasn’t prioritized. Losses happen everywhere but what was missing in this case was the urgency and understanding of just how important these collections are. Luckily, the current manager of the IGB, who is a fundamental partner in building the IPLR, understood the need to prioritize this and allocated a budget to conserve it as one collection.

What is the value of conserving landraces and why should it be prioritized?

Landraces are an extremely important genetic resource. Wild relatives are the biggest treasure, but breeders are usually reluctant to use them because they are so very different from modern varieties. So landraces form the link between these two, having already been domesticated and developed within farming systems while remaining genetically distinct from the modern. In wheat, they’re quite easy to spot because of how tall they are compared to the semi-dwarf varieties that replaced them in the 20th century.

There are two main reasons why we need to prioritize conservation. First, we believe that the evolution under domestication in this region is important to the community as a whole. Second, it is now a critical time, as we’re getting further from the time in which those traditional lines were in use. The last collection was carried out in the 1980s, when people were still able to collect authentic landraces from farmers but this is just not possible any more. We travelled all over the country but the samples we collected were not authentic – most were modern varieties that farmers thought were traditional. Not everybody knows exactly what they’re growing.

The time factor is critical. If we were to wake up 50 years from now and decide that it’s important to start looking for landraces, I don’t know how much we could actually save.

Plant height variability among IPLR wheat landraces, Rishon LeZion, Israel. (Photo: Matan Franko/ARO-Volcani Center)

Are there any farmers still growing landraces in Israel?

When we started looking for farmers who are still growing landraces we only found one farm. It is quite small – only about ten acres shared between two brothers. They grow a variety which is typically used to make a traditional food called kube, a kind of meat ball covered in flour and then then either fried or boiled. If you boil it using regular flour it falls apart, so people prefer to use a landrace variety, which is what the brothers grow and are able to sell for up to six times as much as regular durum wheat in the market. However, they’re not really interested in getting rich; they’re just trying to keep their traditions alive.

How are you and your colleagues working to conserve the existing collection?

There are two approaches. We want to develop is ex-situ conservations to preserve the diversity. As landraces are not always easy to conserve in a genebank, we also want to support in-situ conservation in the field, like traditional farmers have done. Together with the IGB we’ve distributed seed to botanical gardens and other actors in the hope that at least some of them will propagate it in their fields.

Having established the collection, we’re also trying to utilize it for research and breeding as much as possible. So far we’ve characterized it genetically, tested for drought tolerance and other agronomic traits and we’re in talks to start testing the quality profile of the lines.

Did you continue working on this while you were based at CIMMYT?

Yes, this was an additional project I brought with me during my sabbatical. The main success was working with Carolina Sansaloni and the team at the Genetic Resources program to carry out the genotyping. If it were left to my own resources, I don’t think we could have done it as the collection contains 930 plant genotypes and we only had the budget to do 90.

Luckily, CIMMYT also has an interest in the material so we could collaborate. We brought the material, CIMMYT provided technical support and we were able to genotype it all, which is a huge boost for the project. We had already been measuring phenotypes in Israel, but now that we have all the genetic data as well we can study the collection more deeply and start looking for specific genes of interest.

What will happen to the lines you discovered at CIMMYT?

They’ve been sent back to Israel to be reintegrated into the collection. I want to continue collaborating with people in CIMMYT’s Genetic Resources program and genebank to do some comparative genomics and assess how much diversity we have in the IPLR collection compared with what CIMMYT has. Is there any additional genetic diversity? How does it compare to other landraces collections? That is what we want to find out next.

Roi Ben-David is based at Israel’s Agricultural Research Organization (ARO). He works in the Plant Institute, where his lab focuses on breeding winter cereals such as wheat. He has recently completed a one-year sabbatical placement at the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT).

CIMMYT’s germplasm banks contain the largest and most diverse collections of maize and wheat in the world. Improved and conserved seed is available to any research institution worldwide.

(Photo: Sam Storr/CIMMYT)

New publications: Exploring how women seize control of wheat–maize technologies in Bangladesh

Written by Matthew O'Leary on . Posted in Publications.

A new study published in the Canadian Journal of Development Studies shows how some of Bangladesh’s indigenous women are overcoming social norms and institutional biases to gain direct access to maize and wheat agricultural innovations through developing women-led agricultural organizations, which benefit low-income Muslim women members as well.

Agriculture is important to Bangladesh’s economy and employs a large percentage of the male and female population as farmers, hired labor, and decision-makers. Bangladesh also has a positive policy commitment to gender equality. The UN Sustainable Development Goals are embedded into the country’s national growth plans, including a strong commitment to Goal 5, Gender Equality, and Goal 10, Reduced Inequalities.

However, this new study shows that agricultural innovation programs are primarily directed at middle-income male farmers. Institutional biases in agricultural partners — extension officers, research organizations, policymakers, private sector partners and others — can hamper indigenous peoples and women from participating in wheat–maize innovation processes, as they rarely meet the requisite criteria: sufficient land and social capital. In addition, their participation in markets varies according to their socioeconomic location in society.

Drawing on GENNOVATE case studies, the authors provide insights into how overlapping layers of disadvantage are being challenged in one community in northern Bangladesh.

Indigenous Santal women in the community are active in agriculture, both in the field and in decision-making, but are often marginalized by agricultural partners. Through mobilizing themselves organizationally into a woman-led agricultural organization, they have provided a forum for the delivery of technical training. This process has encouraged low-income Muslim women — who work in the field but are also marginalized by agricultural partners — to join the organization and benefit from training as well.

The findings provide insights into how agricultural research partners can work to strengthen the contribution and voices of the women who have long experienced differing forms of marginalization and to support their efforts to secure technical training.

The data used in this article is derived from GENNOVATE (Enabling Gender Equality in Agricultural and Environmental Innovation), a global research initiative supported by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. This is a cross-CGIAR initiative examining how interactions between gender norms, agency and other contextual factors shape access to, adoption of and benefits from agricultural innovations in rural communities worldwide.

Read the full paper:
Leaving no one behind: how women seize control of wheat–maize technologies in Bangladesh.

See more recent publications by CIMMYT researchers:

  1. Efficient curation of genebanks using next generation sequencing reveals substantial duplication of germplasm accessions. 2019. Narinder Singh, Shuangye Wu, Raupp, W.J., Sunish Sehgal, Sanu Arora, Vijay Tiwari, Vikram, P., Sukhwinder-Singh, Chhuneja Parveen, Gill, B.S., Poland, J. In: Nature Scientific reports v. 9, art. 650.
  2. Soil zinc is associated with serum zinc but not with linear growth of children in Ethiopia. 2019. Tessema, M., De Groote, H., Brouwer, I.D., Feskens, E.J.M., Belachew, T., Zerfu, D., Belay, A., Demelash,Yoseph, Gunaratna, N.S. In: Nutrients v. 11, no. 2, art. 221.
  3. Assessing adoption potential in a risky environment: the case of perennial pigeonpea. 2019. Grabowski, P., Schmitt Olabisi, L., Jelili Adebiyi, Waldman, K., Richardson, R., Rusinamhodzi, L., Snapp, S.S. In: Agricultural Systems v. 171, p. 89-99.
  4. Untangling gender differentiated food security gaps in Bhutan: An application of exogenous switching treatment regression. 2019. Aryal, J.P., Mottaleb, K.A., Rahut, D.B. In: Review of Development Economics v. 23, no. 2, p. 782-802.
  5. Genetic diversity and population structure of synthetic hexaploid-derived wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) accessions. 2019. Gordon, E., Kaviani, M., Kagale, S., Payne, T.S., Navabi, A. In: Genetic Resources and Crop Evolution v. 66, no. 2, p. 335-348.
  6. Molecular characterisation of maize introgressed inbred lines bred in different environments. 2019. Lennin Musundire, Derera, J., Shorai Dari, Tongoona, P., Cairns, J.E. In: Euphytica v. 215, art. 46.
  7. A benchmarking between deep learning, support vector machine and bayesian threshold best linear unbiased prediction for predicting ordinal traits in plant breeding. 2019. Montesinos-Lopez, O.A., Martin-Vallejo, J., Crossa, J., Gianola, D., HernĂĄndez SuĂĄrez, C.M., Montesinos-Lopez, A., Juliana, P., Singh, R.P. In: G3: Genes, Genomes, Genetics v. 9, no. 2, p. 601-618.
  8. Farmers’ preferences for high-input agriculture supported by site-specific extension services : evidence from a choice experiment in Nigeria. 2019. Oyakhilomen Oyinbo, Chamberlin, J., Vanlauwe, B., Liesbet Vranken, Kamara, A. Y., Craufurd, P., Maertens, M., In: Agricultural Systems v. 173, p. 12-26.
  9. Effects of three in-field water harvesting technologies on soil water content and maize yields in a semi-arid region of Zimbabwe. 2019. Nyagumbo, I., Nyamadzawo, G., Connie Madembo. In: Agricultural Water Management v. 216 p. 206-213.
  10. Genomic selection for winter survival ability among a diverse collection of facultative and winter wheat genotypes. 2019. Beil, C. T., Anderson, V.A., Morgounov, A.I., Haley, S. D. In: Molecular Breeding v. 30, art. 29.
  11. Can minimum tillage enhance productivity? Evidence from smallholder farmers in Kenya. 2019. Jena, P.R. In: Journal of Cleaner Production v. 218, p. 465-475.
  12. 12. Sub-surface drip fertigation with conservation agriculture in a rice-wheat system : a breakthrough for addressing water and nitrogen use efficiency. 2019. Sidhu, H.S., Jat, M.L., Singh, Y., Ravneet Kaur Sidhu, Gupta, N., Singh, P., Pankaj Singh, Jat, H.S., Gerard, B. In: Agricultural Water Management v. 216, p. 273-283.
  13. Genetic dissection of heat and drought stress QTLs in phenology-controlled synthetic-derived recombinant inbred lines in spring wheat. 2019. Caiyun Lu, Sukumaran, S., Claverie, E., Sansaloni, C.P., Dreisigacker, S., Reynolds, M.P. In: Molecular Breeding v. 39, art. 34.
  14. Genetic analysis of cob resistance to F. verticillioides: another step towards the protection of maize from ear rot. 2019. Cong Mu, Jingyang Gao, Zijian Zhou, Zhao Wang, Xiaodong Sun, Zhang, X, Huafang Dong, Yanan Han, Xiaopeng Li, Yabin Wu, Yunxia Song, Peipei Ma, Chaopei Dong, Jiafa Chen, Jianyu Wu. In: Theoretical and Applied Genetics v. 132, no. 4, p. 1049-1059.
  15. Two large-effect QTLs, Ma and Ma3, determine genetic potential for acidity in apple fruit : breeding insights from a multi-family study. 2019. Verma, S., Evans, K., Guan, Y., Luby, J.J., Rosyara, U., Howard, N.P., Bassil, N.V., van de Weg, W.E., Peace, C.P. In: Tree Genetics and Genomes v. 15, no. 2, art. 18.
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  17. Development of multiple SNP marker panels affordable to breeders through genotyping by target sequencing (GBTS) in maize. 2019. Zifeng Guo, Hongwu Wang, Jiajun Tao, Yonghong Ren, Cheng Xu, Kunsheng Wu, Cheng Zou, Jianan Zhang, Yunbi Xu. In: Molecular Breeding v. 39, art. 37.
  18. Agriculturally productive yet biodiverse: human benefits and conservation values along a forest-agriculture gradient in Southern Ethiopia. 2019. Baudron, F., Schultner, J., Duriaux, J., Gergel, S., Sunderland, T. In: Landscape Ecology v. 34, no. 2, p. 341–356.
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The Director General of IAARD, Fadjry Djufry (left), and the Director General of CIMMYT, Martin Kropff, signed a memorandum of understanding. (Photo: Alfonso Cortés/CIMMYT)

CIMMYT and Indonesia’s agricultural research agency renew collaboration

Written by Mary Donovan on . Posted in News.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Scientists use DNA fingerprinting to gauge the spread of modern wheat in Afghanistan

Written by Mike Listman on . Posted in Press releases.

Wheat is Afghanistan’s number-one staple crop, but the country doesn’t grow enough and must import millions of tons of grain each year to satisfy domestic demand.
Wheat is Afghanistan’s number-one staple crop, but the country does not grow enough and must import millions of tons of grain each year to satisfy domestic demand.

Despite the severe social and political unrest that constrain agriculture in Afghanistan, many farmers are growing high-yielding, disease resistant varieties developed through international, science-based breeding and made available to farmers as part of partnerships with national wheat experts and seed producers.

These and other findings have emerged from the first-ever large-scale use of DNA fingerprinting to assess Afghanistan farmers’ adoption of improved wheat varieties, which are replacing less productive local varieties and landraces, according to a paper published yesterday in the science journal BMC Genomics.

The study is part of an activity supported between 2003 and 2018 by the Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, through which the Agricultural Research Institute of Afghanistan and the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT) introduced, tested, and released improved wheat varieties.

“As part of our study, we established an extensive ‘reference library’ of released varieties, elite breeding lines, and Afghan wheat landraces,” said Susanne Dreisigacker, wheat molecular breeder at CIMMYT and lead author of the new paper.

“We then compared wheat collected on farmers’ fields with the reference library. Of the 560 wheat samples collected in 4 provinces during 2015-16, farmers misidentified more than 40%, saying they were of a different variety from that which our DNA analyses later identified.”

Wheat is the most important staple crop in Afghanistan — more than 20 million of the country’s rural inhabitants depend on it — but wheat production is unstable and Afghanistan has been importing between 2 and 3 million tons of grain each year to meet demand.

Over half of the population lives below the poverty line, with high rates of malnutrition. A key development aim in Afghanistan is to foster improved agronomic practices and the use of high quality seed of improved wheat varieties, which together can raise yields by over 50%.

“Fungal diseases, particularly yellow rust and stem rust, pose grave threats to wheat in the country,” said Eric Huttner, research program manager for crops at the Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research (ACIAR) and co-author of the present paper. “It’s crucial to know which wheat varieties are being grown where, in order to replace the susceptible ones with high-performing, disease resistant varieties.”

Varietal adoption studies typically rely on questionnaires completed by breeders, extension services, seed producers, seed suppliers, and farmers, but such surveys are complicated, expensive, and often inaccurate.

“DNA fingerprinting resolves uncertainties regarding adoption and improves related socioeconomic research and farm policies,” Huttner explained, adding that for plant breeding this technology has been used mostly to protect intellectual property, such as registered breeding lines and varieties in more developed economies.

This new study was commissioned by ACIAR as a response to a request from the Government of Afghanistan for assistance in characterizing the Afghan wheat gene bank, according to Huttner.

“This provided the reference library against which farmers’ samples could be compared,” he explained. “Accurately identifying the varieties that farmers grow is key evidence on the impact of introducing improved varieties and will shape our future research

Joint research and development efforts involving CIMMYT, ACIAR, the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations, the International Centre of Agricultural Research in Dry Areas (ICARDA), French Cooperation, and Afghanistan’s Ministry of Agriculture, Irrigation and Livestock (MAIL) and Agricultural Research Institute (ARIA) have introduced more than 400 modern, disease-resistant wheat varieties over the last two decades. Nearly 75% of the wheat grown in the areas surveyed for this study comes from these improved varieties.

“New sequencing technologies are increasingly affordable and their cost will continue to fall,” said Dreisigacker. “Expanded use of DNA fingerprinting can easily and accurately identify the wheat cultivars in farmers’ fields, thus helping to target breeding, agronomy, and development efforts for better food security and farmer livelihoods.”

For more information, or to arrange interviews with the researchers, please contact:

Marcia MacNeil, Wheat Communications Officer, CIMMYT
M.MacNeil@cgiar.org, +52 (55) 5804 2004, ext. 2070

Rodrigo Ordóñez, Communications Manager, CIMMYT
r.ordonez@cgiar.org, +52 (55) 5804 2004, ext. 1167

About CIMMYT
The International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT) is the global leader in publicly funded maize and wheat research and related farming systems. Headquartered near Mexico City, CIMMYT works with hundreds of partners throughout the developing world to sustainably increase the productivity of maize and wheat cropping systems, thus improving global food security and reducing poverty. CIMMYT is a member of CGIAR and leads the CGIAR Research Programs on Maize and Wheat, and the Excellence in Breeding Platform. The center receives support from national governments, foundations, development banks and other public and private agencies.

About ACIAR
As Australia’s specialist international agricultural research for development agency, the Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research (ACIAR) brokers and funds research partnerships between Australian scientists and their counterparts in developing countries. Since 1982, ACIAR has supported research projects in eastern and southern Africa, East Asia, South and West Asia and the Pacific, focusing on crops, agribusiness, horticulture, forestry, livestock, fisheries, water and climate, social sciences, and soil and land management. ACIAR has commissioned and managed more than 1,500 research projects in 36 countries, partnering with 150 institutions along with more than 50 Australian research organizations.

About Afghanistan’s Ministry of Agriculture, Irrigation and Livestock
The Ministry of Agriculture, Irrigation and Livestock (MAIL) of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan works on the development and modernization of agriculture, livestock and horticulture. The ministry launches programs to support the farmers, manage natural resources, and strengthen agricultural economics. Its programs include the promotion and introduction of higher-value economic crops, strengthening traditional products, identifying and publishing farm-tailored land technologies, boosting cooperative programs, agricultural economics, and export with marketing.

Participants of the preliminary mid-term review of the National Seed Vision 2013-2025 workshop stand for a group photo. (Photo: Bandana Pradhan/CIMMYT)

Nepal’s seed sector partners join forces to realize the National Seed Vision 2013-2025

Written by Rodrigo Ordóñez on . Posted in Features.

Access to affordable quality seed is one of the prerequisites to increase agricultural production and improve the livelihoods of Nepali farmers. However, there are significant challenges to boost Nepal’s seed industry and help sustainably feed a growing population.

Six years ago, Nepal launched its National Seed Vision 2013-2025. This strategic plan aims at fostering vibrant, resilient, market-oriented and inclusive seed systems in public-private partnership modalities, to boost crop productivity and enhance food security.

The Nepal Seed and Fertilizer (NSAF) project, led by the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT), is supporting the government to enhance national policies and guidelines, and private seed companies to build competitive seed businesses and hybrid seed production.

General view of a hybrid maize field from Lumbini Seed Company, a NSAF project partner, in Nepal’s Bhairahawa district. (Photo: Subhas Sapkota)
General view of a hybrid maize field from Lumbini Seed Company, a NSAF project partner, in Nepal’s Bhairahawa district. (Photo: Subhas Sapkota)

Quality seed can increase crop yield by 15-20%. However, there are critical challenges hindering the growth of Nepal’s seed industry. Existing seed replacement rate for major cereals is low, around 15%. About 85% of Nepali farmers are unable to access recently developed improved seeds — instead, they are cultivating decades-old varieties with low yield and low profits. Some of the factors limiting the development of seed systems are the high cost of seed production and processing, the limited reach of mechanization, and the low use of conservation agriculture practices.

The demand for hybrid seeds in Nepal is soaring but research in variety development is limited. Most of the country’s supply comes from imports.

In collaboration with the Nepal Agricultural Research Council (NARC), the NSAF project team is working with seed companies and cooperatives to scale hybrid seed production of maize, tomato and rice. Through this project, CIMMYT collaborated with the Seed Quality Control Center (SQCC) and national commodity programs of the NARC to draft the first hybrid seed production and certification guidelines for Nepal to help private seed companies produce and maintain standards of hybrid seeds.

Extension and promotion activities are essential to bring improved seed varieties to farmers. Standard labelling and packaging also needs to be strengthened.

Yubak Dhoj G.C., Secretary of Nepal’s Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock Development, explained the importance of seed stakeholders’ collaboration to achieve the National Seed Vision targets. (Photo: Bandana Pradhan/CIMMYT)
Yubak Dhoj G.C., Secretary of Nepal’s Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock Development, explained the importance of seed stakeholders’ collaboration to achieve the National Seed Vision targets. (Photo: Bandana Pradhan/CIMMYT)

A joint effort

CIMMYT and its partners organized a two-day workshop to review the progress of the National Seed Vision. The event attracted 111 participants from government institutions, private companies and development organizations engaged in crop variety development, seed research, seed production and dissemination activities.

In the opening remarks, Yubak Dhoj G.C., Secretary of Nepal’s Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock Development, addressed the seed sector scenario and its challenges. He stressed the importance of collaboration among seed stakeholders to meet the targets of the National Seed Vision in the next six years.

During the technical sessions, Madan Thapa, Chief of the SQCC, analyzed the current status of the National Seed Vision and highlighted the challenges as well as the opportunities to realize it.

Laxmi Kant Dhakal, Chairperson of the Seed Entrepreneurs Association of Nepal (SEAN) emphasized the importance of private sector engagement and other support areas to strengthen seed production and marketing of open-pollinated varieties and hybrids.

Seed systems specialist AbduRahman Beshir shares CIMMYT’s experiences in hybrid testing and seed business promotion in Nepal. (Photo: Bandana Pradhan/CIMMYT)
Seed systems specialist AbduRahman Beshir shares CIMMYT’s experiences in hybrid testing and seed business promotion in Nepal. (Photo: Bandana Pradhan/CIMMYT)

Tara Bahadur Ghimire, Principal Scientist at NARC, gave an overview of the status of NARC varieties, source seed and resource allocation.

Dila Ram Bhandari, former Chief of SQCC, led a discussion around the assumptions and expectations that arose while developing the National Seed Vision.

Technical leads of maize, rice, wheat and vegetables presented a road map on hybrid variety development and seed production in line with the National Seed Vision’s targets for each crop.

“A large quantity of hybrid seeds, worth millions of dollars, is being imported into Nepal each year,” explained AbduRahman Beshir, Seed Systems Lead of CIMMYT’s NSAF project. “However, if stakeholders work together and strengthen the local seed system, there is a huge potential in Nepal not only to become self-sufficient but also to export good quality hybrid seeds in the foreseeable future. Under the NSAF project we are witnessing a few seed companies that have initiated hybrid seed production of maize and tomato.”

In one of the exercises, workshop participants were divided in groups and examined different topics related to the realization of the National Seed Vision. They looked at genetic resources, hybrid and open-pollinated variety development, source seed production and supply, private sector engagement and marketing, seed extension and varietal adoption by farmers, seed quality control services, and roles of research partners and other stakeholders. The groups presented some of the major challenges and opportunities related to these topics, as well as recommendations, which will be documented and shared.

The outcomes of this mid-term review workshop will inform policy and guide the discussions at the upcoming International Seed Conference to be held in early September 2019.

In one of the breakout sessions, a group discusses challenges and recommendation to improve private sector engagement. (Photo: Bandana Pradhan/CIMMYT)
In one of the breakout sessions, a group discusses challenges and recommendation to improve private sector engagement. (Photo: Bandana Pradhan/CIMMYT)

Regulating hybrid seed production

At the workshop, participants thoroughly discussed the draft hybrid seed production and certification guidelines, developed under the NSAF project.

The guidelines are the first of their kind in Nepal and essential to achieve the targets of the National Seed Vision, by engaging the private sector in hybrid seed production.

Hari Kumar Shrestha, CIMMYT’s Seed Systems Officer, and other seed experts from the SQCC presented the main features and regulatory implications of the guidelines.

After the workshop, the guidelines were sent to the National Seed Board for approval.

From tinkering mechanic to manufacturing genius

Written by Mary Donovan on . Posted in In the media.

By 2012, young Bangladeshi mechanic Md Ole Ullah was working with the USAID funded Agricultural Mechanization and Irrigation Project, implemented by the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT), and International Development Enterprises (iDE Bangladesh). The new collaboration helped Ole develop the market for his locally-manufactured machines. Read more here.

Climate Services for Resilient Development in South Asia (CSRD)

Written by Rodrigo Ordóñez on . Posted in Uncategorized.

Climate Services for Resilient Development (CSRD) is a global partnership that connects climate and environmental science with data streams to generate decision support tools and training for decision-makers in developing countries. Translating complex climate information into easy to understand actionable formats to spread awareness in the form of climate services is core to CSRD’s mission. CSRD works across South Asia (with emphasis on Bangladesh), the Horn of Africa (Ethiopia), and in South America (Colombia) to generate and provide timely and useful climate information, decision tools and services. In South Asia, CSRD focusses the development, supply and adaptation of agricultural climate services to reduce vulnerability by increasing resiliency in smallholder farming systems. These goals are strategically aligned with the Global Framework for Climate Services.

Project description

CSRD in South Asia aims to have the impact by increasing climate resilient farm management, indicated by increased use of climate services and climate information to inform farmers on how to better manage their production systems.  CSRD also aims to develop and validate models for agricultural climate services that can be replicated in other regions with similar farming systems and climate risks, while also fine-tuning weather and climate advisories to be most useful to farmers’ decision-making. A series of sustained contributions to CSRD’s Action and Learning Framework Pillars 1-4, detailed below, are envisioned as major project outcomes:

  • Pillar 1: Create the solution space:
    CSRD works to establish a problem-focus, to engage key stakeholders, to create a platform for sustained communication and collaboration, and to build synergies among relevant programs.
  • Pillar 2: Utilize quality data, products, and tools
    CSRD provides access to useful and available information and technology, and to develop tailored products and services responsive to problem-specific needs.
  • Pillar 3: Build capacities and platforms
    CSRD supports the use of targeted products and services, and to promote sustainability, scalability, and replicability.
  • Pillar 4: Build knowledge
    A key goal of CSRD’s work is to identify and promote good practices among the global climate services community and to support research efforts and innovation that increase the effectiveness of climate services.

Outputs

CSRD in South Asia will ultimately generate the following broad outputs and services:

Download the report summarizing CSRD activities, achievements, and challenges during the first year (from November 2016 through December 2017).

The CSRD consortium in South Asia is led by the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT) in partnership with the Bangladesh Meteorological Department (BMD), Bangladesh Department of Agricultural Extension (DAE), Bangladesh Agricultural Research Council (BARC), Bangladesh Agricultural Research Institute (BARI), International Center for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD), International Institute for Climate and Society (IRI), University de Passo Fundo (UPF), and the University of Rhode Island (URI). This consortium provides strength and technical expertise to develop relevant climate products that can assist farmers and other stakeholders with relevant information to improve decision making, with the ultimate goal of increasing resilience to climate-related risks. The CSRD consortium also works to assure that climate information can be conveyed in ways that are decision-relevant to farmers and other agricultural stakeholders.

As a public-private partnership, CSRD is supported by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), UK AID, the UK Met Office, the Asian Development Bank (ADB), the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), ESRI, Google, the American Red Cross, and the Skoll Global Threats Fund.