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.

Q&A: Expanding CIMMYT’s research agenda on markets and business

Written by Emma Orchardson on November 21, 2018. Posted in Features.

TEXCOCO, Mexico (CIMMYT) — Food security is heavily dependent on seed security. Sustainable seed systems ensure that a variety of quality seeds are available to farming communities at affordable prices. In many developing countries, however, farmers still lack access to the right seeds at the right time.

In the past, governments played a major role in getting improved seed to poor farmers. These days, however, the private sector plays a leading role, often with strong support from governments and NGOs.

“Interventions in formal seed systems in maize have tended to focus on improving the capacity of seed producing companies, which are often locally owned small-scale operations, to produce and distribute quality germplasm,” says Jason Donovan, Senior Economist at International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT). “These local seed companies are expected to maintain, reproduce and sell seed to underserved farmers. That’s a pretty tall order, especially because private seed businesses themselves are a fairly new thing in many countries.”

Prior to the early 2000s, Donovan explains, many seed businesses were partially or wholly state-owned. In Mexico, for example, the Instituto Nacional de Investigaciones Forestales, Agrícolas y Pecuarias (INIFAP) produced seed and supplied it to a market-oriented entity which was responsible for distribution. “What we’re seeing now is locally owned private seed businesses carving out their space in the maize seed market, sometimes in direct competition with multinational seed companies,” he says. In Mexico, around 80 locally owned maize seed producing businesses currently exist, most of which have been involved in CIMMYT’s MasAgro Maize project. These are mostly small businesses selling between 150,000 and 500,000 kg of hybrid maize per year.

In the following Q&A, Donovan discusses new directions in research on value chains, the challenges facing private seed companies, and how new studies could help understand their capacities and needs.

*Seed storage warehouse at seed company Bidasem in Celaya, Guanajato state, México. (Photo: X. Fonseca/CIMMYT)*

How does research on markets and value chains contribute to CIMMYT’s mission?

We’re interested in the people, businesses and organizations that influence improved maize and wheat seed adoption, production, and the availability and quality of maize and wheat-based foods. This focus perfectly complements the efforts of those in CIMMYT and elsewhere working to improve seed quality and increase maize and wheat productivity in the developing world.

We are also interested in the nutrition and diets of urban and rural consumers. Much of the work around improved diets has centered on understanding fruit and vegetable consumption and options to stimulate greater consumption of these foods. While there are good reasons to include those food groups, the reality is that those aren’t the segments of the food market that are immediately available to or able to feed the masses. Processed maize and wheat, however, are rapidly growing in popularity in both rural and urban areas because that’s what people want and need to eat first. So the question becomes, how can governments, NGOs and others promote the consumption of healthier processed wheat and maize products in places where incomes are growing and tastes are changing?

This year, CIMMYT started a new area of research in collaboration with A4NH, looking at the availability of processed maize and wheat products in Mexico City — one of the world’s largest cities. We’re working in collaboration with researchers form the National Institute of Public Health to find out what types of wheat- and maize-based products the food industry is selling, to whom, and at what cost. At the end of the day, we want to better understand the variation in access to healthier wheat- and maize-based foods across differences in purchasing power. Part of that involves looking at what processed products are available in different neighborhoods and thinking about the dietary implications of that.

Your team has also recently started looking at formal seed systems in various locations. What direction is the research taking so far?

Our team’s current priority is to advance learning around the private sector’s role in scaling improved maize varieties. We are engaged with three large projects: MasAgro Maize in Mexico, Stress Tolerant Maize for Africa (STMA) and the Nepal Seed and Fertilizer Project (NSFP). We are looking to shed light on the productive and marketing capacities of the privately owned seed producing businesses and their ability to get more seed to more farmers at a lower cost. This implies a better understanding of options to better link seed demand and supply, and the business models that link seed companies with agro-dealers, seed producing farmers, and seed consumers.

We are also looking at the role of agro-dealers — shops that sell agricultural inputs and services (including seed) to farmers — in scaling improved maize seed.

At the end of the day, we want to provide evidence-based recommendations for future interventions in seed sectors that achieve even more impact with fewer resources.

*Farmers purchase seed from an agro-dealer in Machakos, Kenya. (Photo: Market Matters Inc.)*

This research is still in its initial stages, but do you already have an idea of what some of the key limiting factors are?

I think one of the main challenges facing small-scale seed producing businesses is the considerable expense entailed in simultaneously building their productive capacities and their market share. Many businesses simply don’t have a lot of capital. There’s also a lack of access to specialized business support.

In Mexico, for example, a lot of people in the industry are actually ex-breeders from government agencies, so they’re very familiar with the seed production process, but less so with options for building viable businesses and growing markets for new varieties of seed.

This is a critical issue if we expect locally owned seed businesses to be the primary vehicle by which improved seeds are delivered to farmers at scale. We’re currently in the assessment phase, examining what the challenges and capacities are, and hopefully this information will feed into new approaches to designing our interventions.

Is the study being replicated in other regions as well?

Yes, in East Africa, under the Stress Tolerant Maize for Africa (STMA) project. We’re working with seed producing businesses and agro-dealers in Ethiopia, Kenya, Tanzania, and Uganda to understand their strategies, capacities, and needs in terms of providing improved seed to more farmers. We’re using the same basic research design in Mexico, and there is also ongoing work in the Nepal Seed and Fertilizer Project. Given that we are a fairly small team within CIMMYT, comparable cross-regional research is one way to punch above our weight.

Why is this research timely or important?

The research is critical as CIMMYT’s impact relies, in part, on partnerships. In the case of improved maize seed, that revolves around viable seed businesses.

Although critical, no one else is actually engaged in this type of seed sector research. There have been a number of studies on seed production, seed systems and the adoption of improved seed by poor farmers. A few have focused on the emergence of the private sector in formal seed systems and the implications for seed systems development, but most have been pretty broad, examining the overall business environment in which these companies operate but not much beyond that. We’re trying to deepen the discussion. While we don’t expect to have all the answers at the end of this study, we hope we can shift the conversation about options for better support to seed companies and agro-dealers.

Jason Donovan joined CIMMYT in 2017 and leads CIMMYT’s research team on markets and value chains, based in Mexico. He has some 15 years of experience working and living in Latin America. Prior to joining CIMMYT he worked at the Peru office of the World Agroforestry Center (ICRAF), where his research focused on business development, rural livelihoods, gender equity and certification. He has a PhD in development economics from the University of London’s School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS).

Comparing apples with apples: Farm economic analysis in Kathmandu

Written by on November 15, 2018. Posted in News.

KATHMANDU, Nepal (CIMMYT) — Clear and consistent communication is important in any work, and no less so when you are collaborating to improve farmer livelihoods. CIMMYT and partners in South Asia are therefore facilitating Farm Economic Analysis workshops to ensure that stakeholders from a variety of professions are on the same page when it comes to the terminology of agricultural economics. Fay Rola-Rubzen and Roy Murray-Prior from the University of Western Australia presented the first full day workshop at the National Agricultural Research Council (NARC) campus in Kathmandu on November 1, 2018. Deepak Bhandari and Yuga Nath Ghimire of NARC officiated the event. More than thirty participants from CIMMYT, the Department of Agriculture and NARC attended the training, which included agronomists, agricultural economists, extension officers and research associates.

The workshop series is part of CIMMYT’s Sustainable and Resilient Farming Systems Intensification (SRFSI) project, which aims to reduce poverty in the Eastern Gangetic Plains of Nepal, India and Bangladesh by making smallholder agriculture more productive, profitable and sustainable while safeguarding the environment and involving women.

*Murray-Prior and Rola-Rubzen pose for a group photo with SRFSI training participants in Kathmandu, Nepal.*

“The main objective [of the workshops] is to make sure we have the same language and understanding of what we are measuring,” said Rola-Rubzen. “When we go to the field, usually, it may not be the economists gathering the data. It is critical for both economists and non-economists to understand what we are talking about so that we are comparing apples with apples, not apples with oranges.”

Rola-Rubzen and Murray-Prior facilitated a highly specific and tailored training, including engaging the participants in the practical analysis of data collected by SRFSI in the Sunsari district in the eastern Terai of Nepal. Topics covered in the training included gross margin, net revenue and sensitivity analyses, as well as matching analyses to data types.

The workshop was well-received by participants, and will also be conducted in India and Bangladesh to ensure further consistency in communication and to facilitate the cross-country analysis and comparison of data “When we work with economists, it will be easier to understand how they are analyzing their data and making their arguments,” said Sofina Maharjan, assistant research associate for the SRFSI project.

The Sustainable and Resilient Farming Systems Intensification project is funded by the Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research.

Tessa Mahmoudi, plant microbiologist and 2012 World Food Prize Borlaug-Ruan summer intern, credits the mentorship of CIMMYT researchers in Turkey with changing her outlook on the potential of science to improve food security and health. (Photo: University of Minnesota)

Inspiring millennials to focus on food security: The power of mentorship

Written by Mike Listman on November 12, 2018. Posted in News.

As part of their education, students worldwide learn about the formidable challenges their generation faces, including food shortages, climate change, and degrading soil health. Mentors and educators can either overwhelm them with reality or motivate them by real stories and showing them that they have a role to play. Every year the World Food Prize lives out the latter by introducing high school students to global food issues at the annual Borlaug Dialogue, giving them an opportunity to interact with “change agents” who address food security issues. The World Food Prize offers some students an opportunity to intern at an international research center through the Borlaug-Ruan International Internship program.

Tessa Mahmoudi

Plant Microbiologist Tessa Mahmoudi, a 2012 World Food Prize’s Borlaug-Ruan summer intern, says her experience working with CIMMYT researchers in Turkey when she was 16 years old profoundly changed her career and her life.

“For a summer I was welcomed to Turkey not as a child, but as a scientist,” says Mahmoudi, who grew up on a farm in southeast Minnesota, USA. “My hosts, Dr. Abdelfattah A. Dababat and Dr. Gül Erginbas-Orakci, who study soil-borne pathogens and the impact those organisms have on food supplies, showed me their challenges and, most importantly, their dedication.”

Mahmoudi explains she still finds the statistics regarding the global food insecurity to be daunting but saw CIMMYT researchers making real progress. “This helped me realize that I had a role to play and an opportunity to make positive impact.”

Among other things, Mahmoudi learned what it meant to be a plant pathologist and the value of that work. “I began to ask scientific questions that mattered,” she says. “And I went back home motivated to study — not just to get good grades, but to solve real problems.”

She says her outlook on the world dramatically broadened. “I realized we all live in unique realities, sheltered by climatic conditions that strongly influence our world views.”

According to Mahmoudi, her internship at CIMMYT empowered her to get out of her comfort zone and get involved in food security issues. She joined the “hunger fighters” at the University of Minnesota while pursuing a bachelor’s in Plant Science. “I was the president of the Project Food Security Club which focuses on bring awareness of global hunger issues and encouraging involvement in solutions.” She also did research on stem rust under Matthew Rouse, winner of the World Food Prize 2018 Norman Borlaug Award for Field Research and Application.

Pursuing a master’s in plant pathology at Texas A&M University under the supervision of Betsy Pierson, she studied the effects of plant-microbe interactions on drought tolerance and, specifically, how plant-microbe symbiosis influences root architecture and wheat’s ability to recover after suffering water stress.

Currently, Mahmoudi is involved in international development and teaching. As a horticulture lecturer at Blinn College in Texas, she engages students in the innovative use of plants to improve food security and global health.

Mahmoudi incorporates interactive learning activities in her class (see her website, https://reachingroots.org/). Her vision is to increase access to plant science education and encourage innovation in agriculture.

“As a teacher and mentor, I am committed to helping students broaden their exposure to real problems because I know how much that influenced me,” Mahmoudi says. “Our world has many challenges, but great teams and projects are making progress, such as the work by CIMMYT teams around the world. We all have a role to play and an idea that we can make a reality to improve global health.”

As an example, Mahmoudi is working with the non-profit Clean Challenge on a project to improve the waste system in Haiti. The initiative links with local teams in Haiti to develop a holistic system for handling trash, including composting organic waste to empower small holder farmers to improve their soil health and food security.

“Without my mentors, I would not have had the opportunity to be involved in these high impact initiatives. Wherever you are in your career make sure you are being mentored and also mentoring. I highly encourage students to find mentors and get involved in today’s greatest challenge, increasing food security.”

In addition to thanking the CIMMYT scientists who inspired her, Mahmoudi is deeply grateful for those who made her summer internship possible. “This would include the World Food Prize Foundation and especially Lisa Fleming, Ambassador Kenneth M. Quinn, the Ruan Family,” she says. “Your commitment to this high-impact, experiential learning opportunity has had lasting impact on my life.”

*See our coverage of the 2018 Borlaug Dialogue and the World Food Prize.*

The visiting delegation pose for a photo with CIMMYT representatives in El Batan, Mexico. Photo: CIMMYT.

CIMMYT set to strengthen collaboration with China’s Sichuan Province

Written by Emma Orchardson on November 7, 2018. Posted in News.

On October 23, 2018, the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT) welcomed a delegation of government officials from Sichuan Province, China, for the signing of a memorandum of understanding.

The Vice Governor of the Sichuan Province Government, Yao Sidan, led the delegation, which included representatives from the provincial government, the Sichuan Forestry Department, Chongzhou Municipal Government, and the Sichuan Academy of Agricultural Sciences (SAAS).

They met with CIMMYT’s Deputy Director General, Marianne Bänziger; the Director of the Global Wheat Program, Hans Braun; the Director of the Sustainable Intensification Program, Bruno Gerard; and the Head of Bread Wheat Improvement and Rust Research, Ravi Singh.

CIMMYT representatives presented the center’s current research agenda in China and discussed with Sichuan officials possible opportunities for strengthening collaboration.

Sichuan is the fourth most populated province in China, with a population of 91 million, over two-thirds of whom live in rural areas. The province is rich in natural resources and has a cultivated land area of 10 million hectares. Despite its rapid development over the past decades, 1.7 million of Sichuan’s inhabitants still live in poverty and food security remains a key priority. In order to improve standards of living, it is important to ensure that Sichuan residents not only have enough food, but that they can harvest and consume high-quality crops.

Looking into the future of a long partnership

“CIMMYT’s support and collaboration is very important for us,” explained Yao. Collaboration between CIMMYT and the Sichuan Academy of Agricultural Sciences has contributed to a significant improvement in standards of living within the province over the last 30 years, but there is scope for deepening and widening the partnership in order to continue improving maize and wheat production in the region.

Maize and wheat research is particularly advanced at the Sichuan Academy of Agricultural Sciences. Many of its scientists are already working closely with CIMMYT researchers, but further collaboration is required to tackle ongoing wheat production and quality challenges.

“CIMMYT has enjoyed many years of collaboration with scientists in Chengdu,” said Singh, “and though there has been successful development of wheat varieties using CIMMYT germplasm, production and quality is still being affected by challenges such as yellow rust and rising water levels of the Yellow and Yangtze rivers.” However, he explained, CIMMYT can offer wheat materials for greater quality.

Gerard highlighted that as one of the world leaders in terms of conservation agriculture, China can play a key role in reducing global agriculture’s environmental footprint. CIMMYT also stands to learn from China’s expertise on agricultural technologies, he added, particularly with regard to precision agriculture, small-scale mechanization, and other tools that would prove useful to farmers in other regions of the world.

Another possible area for collaboration is researching the effects of radiation on yield loss and crop quality. There is evidence that wheat yields in other countries are significantly reduced by high levels of pollution, but the full effects of radiation on yield loss are still not very well understood, particularly in China. There is also scope to strengthen cooperation on seed industries, the use of specialty maize, diversification and aflatoxins.

Rooting for a green comeback

Written by Emma Orchardson on November 6, 2018. Posted in News.

For decades, rice stubble has been burned in India to clear fields and prepare for wheat sowing. The easiest way of getting rid of rice crop residue is to burn it in bulk, but this poses a serious threat to the entire biosystem, from soil nutrition to human health. Deteriorating soil health results in lower crop yields, increased dependence on fertilizers, and increased water volume requirements for irrigation, all of which have negative impacts on farmer incomes.

“Earlier when rice harvesting was manual, crop residues were taken out from fields and farmers benefited from selling them,” explains M.L. Jat, principal scientist and systems agronomist at CIMMYT. “Later, when agriculture included more mechanical operations for harvesting with the increase in the production to the tune of millions of tons, crop residue became a hazard in terms of disposal that would involve huge money, labor, and logistics.”

Wheat breeding must account for warmer, wetter climates in North America and Russia, new study shows

Written by on October 18, 2018. Posted in Press releases.

*A wheat crop in northern Kazakhstan. (Photo: Alexey Morgounov/CIMMYT)*

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

MEXICO CITY — Breeders of spring wheat for North America and Russia need to adapt their varieties to the regions’ changing climates, which are bringing longer and wetter whegrowing seasons, according to a scientific paper published yesterday.

Published by a five-country team of wheat researchers, the study analyzed changes in wheat yields, along with air temperatures and precipitation, on farms and research stations in Canada, Kazakhstan, Russia, and the USA, from 1981 to 2015.

The 22 million hectare study area — nearly the size of the United Kingdom — accounts for as much as 10 percent of global wheat production and exports nearly all its wheat, making it a big contributor to world food markets, according to Alexey Morgounov, wheat scientist at the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT) and first author of the paper.

“June, when the grain-holding wheat spike begins to form, turned out to be the critical month for spring wheat,” Morgounov said. “Maximum temperatures for that month rose over the 35 years studied, which hurt yields, but average rainfall increased and boosted grain yield, offsetting the temperature effect.”

Still, breeding for adaptation to higher temperatures will be critical to increasing spring wheat yields, according to Morgounov, who added that there were substantial changes in the dates of planting and harvesting, normally leading to longer growing seasons in the regions studied. “New varieties should be able to take advantage of the longer wheat growing seasons that warming brings.”

Overall, climate changes were more favorable for spring wheat in North America than in Kazakhstan and Russia, with greater precipitation in Canada and the USA and less exposure to extreme, high temperatures. Growing season precipitation increased as much as 15 percent at North American locations.

The two regions covered in this study represent distinct environments. The Kazakhstan and Russia locations are more than 500 kilometers further north than the North American latitudes and experience colder winters, hotter summers, and less precipitation.

“Interestingly, the two regions appear to complement each other, over the period we studied,” Morgounov said. “Higher-than-average wheat yields in one were normally associated with lower yields in the other, helping to foster stability in grain markets.”

“The whole high-latitude, continental climate spring wheat area certainly presents a huge potential for global wheat production,” he added, “and both can benefit from germplasm exchange and cooperation, with emphasis on the climate change challenges and opportunities presented in this paper.”

Morgounov acknowledged contributions for the study from the Prairie Recommending Committee on Wheat, Rye and Triticale, Canada, and other Canadian partners; the USDA-ARS Plant Science Research Unit; the Samara Agricultural Research Institute, the Agricultural Research Institute of Southeast Saratov, the Altay Agricultural Research Institute at Barnaul, the Siberian Agricultural Research Institute at Omsk, the Shortandy Variety Testing Site, and the Siberian Crop Production Research Institute at Novosibirsk, Russia; and the Karabalyk Agricultural Research Station, Kostanay, Kazakhstan. Finally, Morgounov thanked the CGIAR Research Program on Wheat for its support.

FOR MORE INFORMATION OR TO ARRANGE INTERVIEWS:

Courtney Brantley
Junior communications consultant
International Maize and Wheat Improvement (CIMMYT)
Email: c.brantley@cgiar.org
Tel: +52 55 5804 2004

Scaling up mechanization in Bangladesh through partnerships

Written by on October 17, 2018. Posted in Features.

Over the last two decades, a significant number of rural Bangladeshis – especially youth – have migrated to urban centers, looking for higher paying jobs and an escape from agricultural labor. Conor Riggs is the Global Director of Markets and Entrepreneurship at iDE. He says smallholder farmers in Southern Bangladesh are increasingly struggling to find and afford farm labor to help harvest crops and perform a variety of other on-farm activities.

Riggs says small-scale mechanization, such as two-wheeled tractors fitted with intensification machinery and surface irrigation pumps, can help farmers make up for this labor gap and increase productivity, while boosting the local economy by supporting micro- and small enterprises.

But as Riggs discussed at the recent Scale Up Conference at Purdue University, designing the perfect machine or technology is not enough to create sustainable, far-reaching impact. On the International Day for the Eradication of Poverty, we’re following up with him to learn more about the role of markets and partnerships in bringing small-scale mechanization to rural Bangladesh.

Q: Five years ago, CIMMYT and iDE co-designed and began implementing the USAID Cereal Systems Initiative for South Asia – Mechanization and Irrigation (CSISA-MI) project. What were the goals when you began?

Our goal was to establish a new industry for attachments in two-wheel tractors in agricultural mechanization, technologies like seeders, reapers and high-volume irrigation pumps for surface water. We wanted to help farmers access services through a fee-for-service model – small entrepreneurs buy machines and rent out those machines to farmers or directly provide that service themselves. There wasn’t really a market naturally growing for these machines in ways that included smallholders while being commercially viable, so we aimed to build it as best we could.

The results of this effort to date have been strong: 191,000 farmers can now access machinery services from a growing network of nearly 3,000 local microenterprise service providers, representing improved cultivation across 92,000 hectares in Southern Bangladesh. And we see abundant evidence that this market is scaling organically now that it’s established a model that works for both firms and farms.

Q: How did you create a market?

We incentivized several large conglomerates in the agri-business space to co-invest with us on several container-loads of these machines, which we imported from Thailand and China. We helped them find some early adopter dealers and local service providers who would actually buy them. Then we developed short-term smart subsidies to drive down the costs of supply chain development, accelerated customer adoption of the machines, and overall market growth.

An important aspect of our strategy is that we did not present these accelerating investments as typical subsidies; rather, we worked with our private partners to offer commercial discounts so that service providers and farmers would recognize the true value of the product and the short-term opportunity to adopt the technology in its initial commercialization phase.

We first implemented this strategy with two leading firms in the market who concurrently launched a very proactive marketing campaign. Then we started pulling back those discounts overtime, year by year, as the initial partner firms found the market opportunity, and redirected this acceleration process with an additional group of interested companies that also wanted to enter the market in an inclusive manner.

Q: So the companies were benefiting from the discount?

Yes, but we created a lot of conditions. Essentially, the more project investment that was committed by the project to discount the cost of the machinery, the more we expected to see both cash and in-kind investment from those companies. In the end, about a dozen companies come into the game with about five that have really driven a lot of heavy investment.

Partnerships have been key throughout this project. What were the different strengths iDE and CIMMYT brought to the table?

iDE is a market development organization. We focus on market-based solutions, technology commercialization, last mile distribution, and market access. Fundamentally, we see our job as de-risking the market for companies to invest in lower income areas and empower the farmer and their family as both consumers and suppliers in the formal economy. To do this, we employ a lot of supply chain development, product re-design and most importantly, we develop networks of micro-entrepreneurs to serve the ‘missing middle’ between the formal and informal economies.

CIMMYT brings leading capabilities in linking science and practice, with an un-paralleled strength in understanding the agronomic rationale and the agronomic and economic combinations of the technologies as they’re applied on the ground.

CIMMYT knew what technologies were needed on the ground in Southern Bangladesh to genuinely improve productivity and efficiency in the face of changing economic circumstances, and understood how to apply them to real world conditions in alignment with market-based diffusion mechanisms. CIMMYT was also instrumental in working closely with the Bangladesh Agriculture Research Institute (BARI) and extension services, key government partners that helped us ensure market development was in alignment with public and social policy.

It can be difficult finding a synergy between two different organizations. Did you run into any challenges?

CIMMYT and iDE have different specializations, and at the beginning, we had natural, friendly debates about how to best integrate them and achieve highly ambitious project objectives. But relatively quickly, we figured out how to learn from each other and synthesize our approaches for the best results. Both CIMMYT and iDE approached the partnership with a mission driven focus and a sense of constant, mutual respect for the value each partner brought to the table.

What do you see for the future?

As for iDE, we’re excited to expand this successful partnership with CIMMYT to figure out how we can further replicate this success in other countries where we both work. While some of the market conditions in Bangladesh have provided us with unique opportunities for technology scaling in mechanization, we’re highly optimistic that the underlying partnership principles and management systems of CSISA-MI can be replicated in other programs and country contexts – even in ostensibly more challenging market environments.

The CSISA-MI project is funded by USAID.

The 13th Asian Maize Conference took place from October 8 to October 10 in Ludhiana, India. (Photo: Manjit Singh/Punjab Agricultural University)

Experts at Asian Maize Conference express concern over growing incidence of fall armyworm

Written by on October 17, 2018. Posted in Director General's corner.

B.M. Prasanna and I joined colleagues at the 13^th Asian Maize Conference and stressed the need for continued funding for maize research, keeping in mind climate change and the challenge of the insatiable fall armyworm, which spread to India this year.

Read the full story on Krishi Jagran: https://krishijagran.com/news/experts-at-asian-maize-conference-express-concern-over-growing-incidence-of-fall-armyworm/

The feminizing face of wheat farming in South Asia

Written by Courtney Brantley on October 12, 2018. Posted in Features.

In wheat systems throughout South Asia, the gender myth that “wheat is a man’s crop” is still pervasive. To debunk this myth, the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT) is combatting stereotypical norms of women in agriculture through GENNOVATE, a project carried out by 11 CGIAR Research Programs. Led by CIMMYT, this global comparative research initiative strives to address the questions of how gender norms influence men, women and youth to adopt innovative practices and technologies in agriculture and natural resource management.

Surprisingly, there was little knowledge and little literature on the intersection of wheat farming and gender before 2013. What was peculiar about the narrative of women wheat farmers in South Asia was that they were described — by rural advisory services, research organizations and even farmers themselves — as if they had never set foot in a field. On the ground, however, the local reality has long been different. Women, typically from particular castes and income groups, are involved in field operations.

South Asia is experiencing a rise in innovative undertakings by women in agriculture. This change, fueled by strong male outmigration in some locations, has been promoted by equality narratives created through social and women’s movements, NGOs and education. They have all contributed to strengthen women’s desire to have a voice in decision-making. “The face of agriculture in South Asia, particularly wheat farming, is feminizing,” says Cathy Rozel Farnworth. She is a social inclusion, gender and agriculture expert working with CIMMYT’s Gender Research Unit to analyze interactions between changing gender norms and agricultural innovation.

This shift was one of the findings in a series of comparative studies conducted through GENNOVATE in three research hotspots in South Asia: Bangladesh, India and Nepal. Farnworth and co-authors from the region, CIMMYT and Glasgow Caledonian University analyzed the similarities and distinctions in each country.

In the village of Nalma, Lamjung District, Nepal, most of the adult male population has gone abroad for work, leaving only children, women and the elderly. (Photo: Mokhamad Edliadi/CIFOR) — *In the village of Nalma, Lamjung District, Nepal, most of the adult male population has gone abroad for work. (Photo: Mokhamad Edliadi/CIFOR)*

Shifting rules

In Nepal, women are traditionally seen as destitute and far from equals in the farming community. However, migration of men to urban areas and to other countries has given way to more opportunities in agriculture for women in rural communities. “This translates to a fundamental change in the social structure of communities and the roles of men and women, due to the absence of men,” says Farnworth. Women in the community are increasingly taking on the challenging managerial roles that men once occupied. While women in Nepal support themselves and their families, they rarely have institutional support from rural advisory services, for example, training on new wheat technologies. On occasion, support comes from individual male extension workers, and women report that NGOs have been critical to building their sense of empowerment and entitlement. Learning networks between women farmers are also important. Overall, the gender myth that “wheat is a man’s crop” is shifting in Nepal, but extension services, researchers, the private sector and others need to catch up quickly with this new reality to help provide women with adequate support.

Wheat is also increasingly becoming a women’s crop in India, despite limited institutional support and neglect. In some locations, women are responding to male outmigration not only by increasing their work in the field, but also taking key decisions, for example on hiring labor and machinery. Some women are also driving machinery themselves. In other locations, women, though not involved in fieldwork, are trying to strengthen their participation in decision-making around wheat technologies. They have an understandable interest in what happens on the farm and in how investments will impact family income. Overall, the GENNOVATE data shows that, “Women are limited by, working with and increasingly renegotiating gender and caste identities,” says Farnworth.

In Bangladesh, a women-only agricultural organization dominated by the Santal indigenous community is strongly innovating in wheat. Interestingly, the organization is drawing in and supporting low-income Muslim women innovators as well. This case study is particularly valuable in relation to achieving Sustainable Development Goals because it shows that even though Santal women are truly “left behind” in Bangladesh, very small institutional modifications have enabled them to take charge of the organization and inspire a whole community.

Taking decisions and innovating

*Women use a mini-tiller for direct seeding in Ramghat, Surkhet, Nepal. (Photo: P. Lowe/CIMMYT)*

The driving force surrounding these cases in South Asia is the gender equality narrative. The narrative is not driven by men or external partners; rather, it is being transformed by women from within. Women have been long working in the fields; they have always been part of the wheat story. Now many women are demonstrably taking more decisions about wheat, giving them more control over their own lives and households.

GENNOVATE researchers are now looking for ways to work with women themselves, with their partners, with rural advisory sectors, the private sector, community leaders and others to address the demand for technological advances to improve their wheat harvest, including machinery. The starting point is that women need to be seen as capable farmers. Partners need to get on board and start working the new realities of “who does what,” “who decides” and “who benefits,” rather than continue subscribing to old myths. Rural women farmers have critical interests in wheat, whether they farm in the field or not. Women want and are seeking inclusion. Women are collectively expressing, “We have the right to be interested, and participate in innovating around wheat,” Farnworth states.

The comparative studies are available for download:

CHALLENGING GENDER MYTHS: Promoting inclusive wheat and maize research for development in Nepal

LEAVING NO ONE BEHIND: Supporting women, poor people, and indigenous people in wheat-maize innovations in Bangladesh

STRENGTHENING WOMEN IN WHEAT FARMING IN INDIA: Old challenges, new realities, new opportunities

Cathy Rozel Farnworth is a social inclusion, gender and agriculture expert. She holds a PhD in Rural Development Studies from the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences and an MA in Gender Analysis. Farnworth collaborates with CIMMYT on the CGIAR GENNOVATE global research project, among others. Farnworth trained and mentored the Ethiopian GENNOVATE research teams and has also supported CIMMYT’s gender research under the CGIAR research program on Climate Change, Agriculture and Food Security (CCAFS).

Winners of the 2018 MAIZE Youth Innovators Awards – Asia announced

Written by Jennifer Johnson on September 20, 2018. Posted in News.

The 2018 MAIZE Youth Innovators Awards – Asia recognize the contributions of young women and men who can inspire fellow young people to get involved in maize-based research, social change and farming. The awards are sponsored by the CGIAR Research Program on Maize (MAIZE) in collaboration with Young Professionals for Agricultural Development (YPARD).

The awardees have been invited to attend the 13^th Asian Maize Conference in Ludhiana, India, where they will present their work and receive their awards.

The winners in the two categories are:

RESEARCHER

Dinesh Panday, Nepal

Focus: Soil fertility and nutrient management

Dinesh Panday’s family has a long history in agriculture, which strongly rooted his passions in the field of soil science. He is a Doctorate Graduate Research Assistant in Soil Fertility and Nutrient Management at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln under the supervision of Bijesh Maharjan and Richard Ferguson.

His research aims to determine the effectiveness of high carbon char in reducing environmental nitrogen loss and improving nitrogen fertilizer use efficiency in fertilized soils in semi-arid regions. Using active and passive sensors to detect maize nitrogen stress, predict grain yield and determine in-season and additional side-dress applications of nitrogen fertilizer it is possible to reduce environmental impacts.

Jie Xu, China

Focus: Drought stress in maize root systems

An associate researcher at Sichuan Agricultural University, China, Jie Xu is interested in how maize roots influence performance under drought stress. By studying maize inbred lines that exhibit different drought tolerance, her research explores their genome and transcriptome variations to understand the genetic basis of plant adaptation to drought. The findings can then be used in breeding drought-tolerant maize.

Jie Xu and her team have developed methods to dissect the genetic and epigenetic mechanisms underlying maize drought stress response. This work involves the identification of non-synonymous SNPs and corresponding candidate genes for drought tolerance using analyses such as common variant and clustering techniques. Her team also revealed the impact smRNAs and histone modifications have in the regulation of maize drought stress response.

Vignesh Muthusamy, India

Focus: Development of biofortified provitamin-A rich QPM maize hybrids

Vignesh Muthusamy is from a farming community in the Namakkal district in Tamil Nadu. A Senior Scientist at the Division of Genetics, ICAR-Indian Agricultural Research Institute, New Delhi, he specializes in maize genetics and breeding. His research demonstrates the use of modern biotechnological tools in crop improvement. He was associated with the development of India’s first provitamin A enriched maize hybrid ‘Pusa Vivek QPM 9 Improved’ and with the development of three quality protein maize hybrids that possess high lysine and tryptophan in protein. These biofortified maize hybrids offer tremendous scope to address widespread human malnutrition. Further research work includes the development of a high-yielding sweet corn hybrid and several novel maize genetic resources for nutritional quality traits.

Muthusamy has received many prestigious awards from different societies and scientific organizations, including Jawaharlal Nehru Award for Outstanding Doctoral Thesis Research in Agricultural and Allied Sciences from Indian Council of Agricultural Research. As Principal Investigator, he is handling projects funded by Department of Biotechnology and Department of Science & Technology, Government of India for development of nutritionally rich maize and specialty corn genotypes. Besides research, he is also actively involved in teaching and guidance of post graduate students of the institute.

CHANGE AGENT

Samjhana Khanal, Nepal

Focus: Social inclusion of young people and site-specific nutrient management (SSNM) using Nutrient Expert®

Samjhana Khanal, an agricultural graduate, has founded and co-founded various social organizations at a local level in Nepal to involve young minds in the development of innovative strategies to work towards sustainable agriculture and zero hunger.

Besides taking part in agricultural trainings, workshops and conferences during her undergraduate degree, Samjhana worked as a R&D Research Assistant at the Eastern Regional Agricultural Directorate in Nepal and has published a number of research papers. Her most recent research involves the productivity and profitability of hybrid maize using the Nutrient Expert® Maize model in eastern Terai, Nepal. Using Nutrient Expert®, a dynamic nutrient management tool based on site-specific nutrient management (SSNM) principles, farm-specific fertilizer recommendations for maize are possible, resulting in higher grain yield and improved productivity and profits for farmers.

Call for nominees: Maize-Asia Youth Innovators Awards

Written by on August 6, 2018. Posted in News.

Nominations are open for the 2018 Maize-Asia Youth Innovators Awards. The first edition of these awards recognizes the contributions of young women and men below 35 years of age who are implementing innovations in Asian maize-based agri-food systems.

The awards aim to identify young innovators who can serve to inspire other young people to get involved in maize-based agri-food systems.

Winners will be given the opportunity to present their work at the 13^th Asian Maize Conference in Ludhiana, India (October 8-12, 2018). They will also join a platform for young innovators from around the world to network and share their experiences.

MAIZE invites CGIAR researchers and partners to nominate young innovators for any of the following three categories:

a) Researcher: Maize research-for-development (in any discipline)

b) Farmer: Maize farming systems in Asia

c) Change agent: Maize value chains (i.e., extension agents, input and service suppliers,
transformation agents).

Nominations close on August 20, 2018.

More information, submission guidelines and forms are available here:
http://maize.org/call-for-nominees-for-the-2018-maize-asia-youth-innovators-awards/

This award is sponsored by the CGIAR Research Program on maize (MAIZE) in collaboration with Young Professionals for Agricultural Development (YPARD).

Unleashing innovation at CIMMYT

Written by on July 27, 2018. Posted in Features.

CIMMYT staff share lessons learned at UNLEASH innovation labs with colleagues

Jennifer Johnson (first from right) and her team at UNLEASH 2018 work on solutions to improve nutrition for adolescent girls in Nepal. (Photo: Jennifer Johnson)

Four young staff members from the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT) are working to bring home lessons learned at UNLEASH to foster innovation across CIMMYT programs. UNLEASH is a global innovation lab that brings together people from all over the world to transform personal insights into hundreds of ideas and build lasting global networks around the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The annual event, which began in 2017 and is scheduled to occur each year until 2030, brings together 1,000 selected young talents for 10 immersive days of co-creation and problem solving.

Innovation is key to finding solutions to major global challenges such as hunger, climate change and sustainability. However, innovation cannot occur in a vacuum – the strongest and most inclusive solutions are often interdisciplinary approaches developed by a wide range of people from diverse backgrounds and perspectives. What sets UNLEASH apart from other innovation labs and processes is this commitment to diversity, as well as its focus on the Sustainable Development Goals.

While at UNLEASH 2017 in Denmark, CIMMYT staff Aziz Karimov, Daniela Vega and David Guerena were part of 200 teams that were split across 10 ‘folk high schools’ in the Danish countryside. There, they worked through an innovation process with facilitators and experts, refined their ideas to contribute to the SDGs and finally reconvened in the city of Aarhus to pitch the solutions they had developed.

Jennifer Johnson, Maize Communications Officer at CIMMYT, attended the UNLEASH Innovation Lab 2018 in Singapore last June. She worked alongside a diverse team of young people to develop solutions to improve nutrition for adolescent girls in Nepal.

The UNLEASH innovation process has five main phases: problem framing, ideation, prototyping, testing and implementing. “UNLEASH is really about finding and framing the problem,” said Vega, a projects coordinator and liaison officer for the Americas at CIMMYT and UNLEASH 2017 alumna. “Innovation is 90 percent about understanding the problem. Once you get that right, everything that follows becomes easier,” she explained.

Daniela Vega (third from left), UNLEASH 2017 alumna, leads CIMMYT colleagues in a breakout session on innovation during Science Week. (Photo: Alfonso Arredondo/CIMMYT)

Johnson, Guerena and Vega held a session on innovation and lessons learned at UNLEASH at CIMMYT’s Science Week 2018. Participants were walked through an abridged version of the UNLEASH innovation process to develop creative solutions to real-world problems relating to agriculture. The session emphasized diversity, respect and creativity, which are central tenets of both CIMMYT and UNLEASH.

“One of the key takeaways I got from UNLEASH was the power of diversity and collaboration,” said Guerena, a soil scientist and systems agronomist at CIMMYT who participated in UNLEASH 2017. “The diversity of the participants and collaboration lead to better solutions.”

Vega agreed. “People come from different backgrounds, geographically and professionally, and the level of cooperation and openness with no judgement is essential. We all share a similar value set, we are here because we want to make the world a better place by solving problems on a very hands-on level.”

In just one hour, participants of the CIMMYT session formed diverse teams, developed problem framings, brainstormed potential solutions and gave a three-minute pitch presenting their solution to the audience. Participants expressed extreme satisfaction with what they had learned and the innovation process they had been guided through, as well as interest in participating in similar programs in the future.

“This is a great idea, a very good experience. Often creativity doesn’t get enough attention,” said Lennart Woltering, CIMMYT scaling expert.

“This is fantastic and I’m going to adopt it. This is a great way to introduce concepts such as gender,” said Rahma Adam, CIMMYT gender and development specialist.

In the future, CIMMYT’s UNLEASH alumna hope to continue sharing their experience with colleagues and implementing lessons learned within their work.

“Unleash helps young people to think freely and differently,” said Karimov, a CIMMYT development economist whose team won second place in UNLEASH 2017’s ‘Sustainable Consumption & Production’ category which targeted Goal 12 of the SDGs. “We think innovation is something very complicated but by attending UNLEASH I realized that very simple moves can make a big change. You start believing that what is not possible is actually very possible. You just have to have will and strong desire.”

Agricultural and development economist Aziz Karimov (left photo, fifth from left) and soil scientist and systems agronomist David Guerena (right photo, fifth from left) represented CIMMYT at UNLEASH Innovation Lab 2017. (Photos: UNLEASH)

Advocating for women entrepreneurship in Bangladesh

Written by on July 11, 2018. Posted in News.

Dipty Roy operating her power take-off machinery in the village of Taltola, Rajbari. Photo: Rowshan Anis/iDE

In Bangladesh, women disproportionately face social stigmas regarding appropriate behaviors and working roles which often keep women out of entrepreneurship and leadership roles and limit their roles to household chores like child-rearing and cooking. These restrictions have kept many women from reaching their maximum potential and contributing fully to the economy, especially in the agricultural sector, which has long been limited by the restricted participation of women.

However, this is changing. The Cereal Systems Initiative for South Asia – Mechanization & Irrigation project (CSISA-MI) is leading initiatives to drive women towards empowerment and agricultural entrepreneurship. CSISA-MI is creating local service providers (LSP) in southern Bangladesh to scale out agricultural mechanization through efficient service provision. CSISA-MI is led by the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT) and funded by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID).

Before the arrival of appropriate-scale machinery, such as the power tiller operated seeder (PTOS), seeding jute had been a daunting venture in Baliadangi in Rajbari District. The fatiguing task of preparing land for seeding, sowing seeds by digging soil and simultaneously planting posed a nearly insurmountable challenge. Today, Dipty Roy, a female LSP from the small village of Taltola, Baliadangi pushes her PTOS forward and effortlessly seeds her jute.

Roy has become a repository of knowledge concerning seeds because of her role in the operations of the seeder. She, like 74 other female LSPs, upon gaining PTOS training from CIMMYT, plans to not just be a machinery owner, but leap onto business ownership. As a successful PTOS service provider with high hopes and ambitions, Roy aspires to build a business where she employs and trains machinery operators and makes a larger contribution to agriculture.

“There is something magnificent about running one’s own business. The overwhelming feeling of taking charge and making an invaluable contribution would speak volumes for my personal growth and economic standing,” says Roy.

The channeling of resources, endeavors, hopes and optimism towards the development of women entrepreneurs has now become paramount. CIMMYT through CSISA-MI in USAID’s Feed the Future zone in Bangladesh empowers rural women to advocate for and serve the needs of their employees, to provide machinery operation training, to estimate costs and benefits and run a viable machinery driven business. The emergence of women entrepreneurs in agriculture is powerful- it can propel the rural population into self- sustaining individuals who can effectively take charge of a business and catalyze the development of the economy.

As they move closer to shattering the once impenetrable glass ceiling – they are now leading the way for a new generation of women LSPs who aspire to hold entrepreneurship roles in Bangladeshi agriculture.

The Cereal Systems Initiative for South Asia is funded by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation (BMGF) and is led by the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT) and implemented jointly with the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) and the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI).

How women are unlocking the potential of maize in Mayurbhanj, India

Written by on July 5, 2018. Posted in News.

In the tribal belt of Mayurbhanj, Odisha, maize cultivation is becoming increasingly popular. Thousands of acres of fallow upland areas are suitable for maize cultivation during the kharif (monsoon) season due to the availability of rain, a slopy landscape and porous red soil. As maize is considered a ‘women’s crop,’ meaning that it is mainly cultivated by women, the expansion of maize can increase women’s economic opportunities as well. The Cereal Systems Initiative for South Asia (CSISA) has worked in Mayurbhanj since 2013 to increase agricultural productivity and diversify livelihood options for farmers. One way to maximize the productivity of their arable upland areas is to cultivate maize on previously fallowed land during kharif.

In 2017, CSISA held and event in Badbil village at which 130 members of 10 different self-help groups showcased their work on commercial maize cultivation from the previous year. Members of Baitarani Maa Shibani, a women’s self-helf group from Tangabila village with a 12-year history of participating in agricultural programs in the area were impressed with the successes they saw and felt inspired to cultivate maize themselves.

After some discussion within the group, six of the 16 members decided to start cultivating maize as soon as possible. The group allowed these women to take a loan from their joint savings to cover start-up costs. Having also received support from their husbands, despite skepticism in some cases, the six women proceeded to plant maize on fallow land as villagers looked on critically.

Women from the Baitarani Maa Shibani women’s self-help group who decided to take on maize cultivation. Photo: D. Vedachalam/CIMMYT.

The women approached a community resource person from a women’s group in the Sayangsidha Federation to learn how to cultivate maize, as the community resource person had already attended trainings organized by CSISA and the Department of Agriculture. They also sought guidance from other maize farmers, as well as from CSISA. One of the women worked with the state Horticulture Department and was permitted to grow crops during off-season on a 37 acre plot of land. This opportunity gave the women immediate access to land.

CSISA suggested that they only cultivate 10 acres the first year as planting in the last week of July meant they had missed optimal sowing time for maize, which runs from the first week of June until mid-July. CSISA-trained service providers helped the group complete sowing within two days, following best-bet management practices for land preparation and sowing, including integrated weed management using herbicides and power weeders, sensible fertilizer use and post-harvest management to maintain high quality dry grain. The group also visited a large CSISA and Department of Agriculture event in the tribal-dominated village of Kashipal. Interacting with other farmers and seeing their successes boosted the womens’ confidence, especially when they saw what they could achieve the following year if they sowed their crop earlier.

At the end of the season, the women harvested 11 metric tons of good quality dry grain. CSISA, the Department of Agriculture and the district administration facilitated the procurement of this grain by Venkateswara Hatchery, one of the leading poultry production plants in the region, at a price of $223 (INR 14,500) per metric ton. This group of six women farmers had invested $923 (INR 60,000) for maize cultivation and earned $2,453 (INR 159,500). They were able to repay their loan and keep the rest of the profit as savings. The women felt proud and confident knowing they had set an example for other group members and men in the village who did not believe it would work.

Following this success, in the 2018 kharif season, more farmers (both men and women) are planning to utilize fallow land for maize cultivation. This will help farmers increase their income, and improve their collective access to markets, since their total grain production will be larger and better able to meet the needs of local industry.

Unfortunately, Baitarani Maa Shibani has not been given access to the same piece of land this year, so they have planned to cultivate maize on 10 acres of their own land in the plantation area. This change in fortune mirrors the cautionary tale reflected in the experience of maize-cultivating women of Badbil village, who also found it harder to get access to leasable land following their economic success in 2016. However, women in Mayurbhanj are still optimistic. Inspired by the success of Baitarani Maa Shibani, another group, Baitarani Maa Duarsani, is now planning to cultivate maize this season.

A decade earlier in Mayurbhanj, women often did not even step out of their houses. They feared going to the market or to the bank. Now, through opportunities afforded by economic development programs and collaborations such as the one with CSISA, women often hold leadership positions in their groups, go to the bank and are active members of their village. Money earned by self-help groups is frequently used to educate children as members want their daughters to be educated and have better opportunities.

The enthusiastic women who stepped forward to cultivate maize in the face of so much uncertainty are an example of what women can achieve through collective effort, dedication, hard work and determination, as well as by tapping into the potential productivity of the fallow land around them. CSISA will continue to facilitate partnerships, technical trainings and market linkages in Mayurbhanj to support income generation amongst women’s groups and tribal communities through the cultivation of maize and companion crops.

The Cereal Systems Initiative for South Asia (CSISA) was established in 2009 with a goal of benefiting more than 8 million farmers by the end of 2020. The project is funded by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation (BMGF) and is led by the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT) and implemented jointly with the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) and the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI). Operating in rural ‘innovation hubs’ in Bangladesh, India and Nepal, CSISA works to increase the adoption of various resource-conserving and climate-resilient technologies, and improve farmers’ access to market information and enterprise development. CSISA supports women farmers by improving their access and exposure to modern and improved technological innovations, knowledge and entrepreneurial skills. CSISA works in synergy with regional and national efforts, collaborating with myriad public, civil society and private-sector partners.

About the authors: Sujata Ganguly is Research Consultant for CIMMYT and Wasim Iftikar is a Research Associate.

CIMMYT projects working to enhance business agility of South Asian seed companies

Written by on June 18, 2018. Posted in News.

Participants of the international training. Photo: S.Thapa/CIMMYT-Nepal

Improved seed with proper management practices is an important agricultural input which can boost crop productivity by more than 50 percent. This gain is necessary to achieve food security and alleviate poverty in many developing countries. However, it can be challenging for farmers to find high-quality seeds as availability, affordability and accessibility remain hurdles to improved seed distribution. In Nepal, the majority of rural farmers use farm-saved seeds of inferior quality leading to low productivity and subsistence livelihood.

The seed industry in Nepal, as in most developing countries, is still emerging and largely untapped. Lack of availability of start-up working capital, business incentives in the sector, new technologies and required technical expertise limit the current seed value chain.

To address this, the Nepal Seed and Fertilizer (NSAF) project is engaging Nepalese seed companies in a business mentoring process to enhance their ability to test and deploy new products, develop business and marketing plans and sustain a viable, competitive seed business, particularly in hybrid seeds.

The NSAF project, in collaboration with the Nepal Agricultural Research Council (NARC) & the Seed Entrepreneurs Association of Nepal (SEAN) organized an “International Training Workshop on Seed Business Management” for senior-level seed company managers and business owners representing 15 private seed companies from Nepal and Pakistan. Held from April 23 to 25 in Kathmandu, the training aimed to develop market-oriented seed businesses that emphasize hybrid seed. The training focused on increasing the technical, financial and market management capacities of senior managers and conveying the requirements of a competitive seed business using case studies from Africa and Asia.

Navin Hada, AID project development specialist at the United States Agency for International Development (USAID)-Nepal highlighted the timeliness of the training and congratulated the NSAF team for bringing south Asian seed companies and international experts together for experience sharing and collaborations.

“SEAN has more than 2000 registered members in Nepal and business-oriented training like this help our members to enhance their efficiency,” said Laxmi Kant Dhakal, chairman of SEAN and president of the Unique Seed Co Plc.

Suma Karki from Seed Quality Control Center (SQCC) of Nepal receiving certification of participation Photo: E. Kohkar/CIMMYT-Pakistan.

The training was facilitated by John MacRobert, a consultant for business mentoring of Nepalese seed companies and former principal seed system specialist for CIMMYT with the support of the NSAF team. The training workshop included lectures, discussions and customized exercises to develop business plans; marketing, production and financial strategies; seed quality control; and research and development plans.

During the reflection session to close the training, Dyutiman Choudhary, NSAF project coordinator, appreciated the professional interaction and experience sharing among Nepalese and Pakistani seed companies and acknowledged the role of MacRobert in bringing diverse experiences from Africa and other regions.

At the closing ceremony, Yubak Dhoj G.C, secretary, Ministry of Agriculture, Land Management and Co-operative, emphasized the importance of hybrid seed self-sufficiency for Government of Nepal initiatives for attaining food security and alleviating poverty.

The Nepal Seed and Fertilizer project is funded by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and is a flagship project in Nepal. NSAF aims to build a competitive and synergistic seed and fertilizer systems for inclusive and sustainable growth in agricultural productivity, business development, and income generation in Nepal. The International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT)-led, USAID-funded, Agricultural Innovation Program (AIP) for Pakistan supported the participation of Pakistani seed companies to the training.