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.
B.M. Prasanna and I joined colleagues at the 13th 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.
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. (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:
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).
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 13th 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.
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
Jie Xu.
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.
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.
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.
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 13th 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).
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)
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.
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.
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.
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.
Combating desertification and drought is critical, but focusing on the bigger challenge of unsustainable agriculture can deliver more for farmers. Research from India offers new insights on practical solutions for better soil fertility, more efficient water use, reduced air pollution and lower greenhouse gas emissions.
Irrigated wheat field. Photo: S. Sukumaran/CIMMYT.
The world has made significant progress in reducing poverty and malnutrition over the last century. The number of people living in extreme poverty has been cut by half over the last twenty years, while the percentage of young children suffering from the effects of malnutrition has also declined 17 percent in fewer than 20 years (UNICEF). Yet these improvements have come at a cost to our planet. Can we feed the world and fight poverty without continuing to deplete water, degrade soils and change our climate?
June 17 is the UN Day to Combat Drought and Desertification, which puts a spotlight on efforts to reverse land and soil degradation. Land degradation and drought affect farmers everywhere, especially poor farmers, but tackling these issues without looking at the big picture may not accomplish the long-term change needed, according to researchers from the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT).
“Land degradation and abiotic stresses, especially drought, are often symptoms of a bigger problem,” says M.L. Jat, a Principal Scientist and Cropping Systems Agronomist at CIMMYT. “Unsustainable land use, particularly poor farming practices and policies, have led to a wide set of challenges in many rapidly-developing countries. In addition to drought and land degradation, we are experiencing climate change, increased air pollution and water scarcity” he points out. The answer, he says, can be found by taking systems focus and selecting the right combination of agricultural techniques that improve the resilience and productivity of farms while combating drought, land degradation, climate change and air and water pollution.
A farmer at work weeding in a maize field close to the Pusa site of the Borlaug Institute for South Asia (BISA), in the Indian state of Bihar. Photo: M. DeFreese/CIMMYT.
Reversing the worrying trends in India
In India, a recent CIMMYT analysis led by Jat’s team and national partners underscores the need for action to improve current agricultural practices, which are “severely stressing the natural resource base.” The analysis shows that Indian farmers are grappling with many issues that intersect with desertification and drought. The Green Revolution, which led to enormous advances in India’s agricultural productivity and fed a rapidly expanding population, also left a worrying aftermath of inefficient or inappropriate resource use.
“The extent of land degradation is alarming” write the authors, with up to 145 million hectares of farmland now considered “practically infertile” and unable to sustain long-term agricultural production. Meanwhile, over pumping of India’s water resources for rice production has depleted groundwater to “critically low levels,” putting India in the unfortunate top world position in terms of withdrawal of fresh water from aquifers.
Further challenges in India include adapting farming to climate change (particularly increasing temperatures), reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions to mitigate climate change impacts and dramatically cutting air pollution caused by the widespread burning of rice crop residues. The data indicate an urgent need to improve air quality, reverse soil degradation, and reduce GHG emissions.
A farmer at work in a field close to the Pusa site of the Borlaug Institute for South Asia (BISA), in the Indian state of Bihar. Photo: M. DeFreese/CIMMYT.
Treat the causes instead of the symptoms
“Rather than treating each problem separately, we’re trying to find answers that can address a multitude of urgent challenges,” says Jat. “It’s like a doctor understanding and treating the whole person rather than the physical symptoms of the disease – but for agricultural systems,” he explained.
For the rice and wheat growing areas of Northwest India, taking a systems approach means building a closed-loop farming system. Farmers customarily burn leftover rice stems in the field in order to plant wheat, a practice that causes air pollution and depletes soil nutrition. The innovative ‘Turbo Happy Seeder’ tool allows farmers to sow wheat seed directly into unplowed fields and rice residues. Leaving the residues not only helps improve air quality in this region but builds up organic carbon and nitrogen in soils. It also offers a low-cost alternative to chemical fertilizers, saving the farmers money and reducing greenhouse gas emissions and environmental damage from overuse of fertilizers.
The scientists are also experimenting with “layering” various techniques to produce even more benefits to people and the planet. Field tests in India include combinations of climate-smart technologies for tillage, crop establishment, residue and nutrient management, along with use of improved crop varieties, information and communication technology and crop insurance. The scientists found that layering climate-smart agriculture practices improved productivity of the rice-wheat system up to 19 percent. Layering techniques helped farmers use 20 percent less water for irrigation. And global warming potential was cut by 40 percent. The results to date bring to light new possibilities for highly productive and resilient farms that have a smaller environmental footprint. This includes healthier soils, cleaner air and water, and fewer greenhouse gas emissions.
From India to the rest of the world
The early evidence from India is promising and could offer inspiration for other countries grappling with their own resource and food challenges. India’s leaders have embarked on a conscious effort to invest in and promote technologies that simultaneously protect the environment, support farmers and feed its people. This approach marks a shift from the last 50 years of thinking and represents the kind of transformative change needed around the world to help accomplish several of the United Nation’s Sustainable Development Goals.
Work plan signing ceremony, Kropff and Mohapatra. Photo: CIMMYT.
Last week director general of the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT), Martin Kropff touched down in India.
For Kropff, the visit would help establish and strengthen several strong private-sector partnerships for CIMMYT, including with UPL Limited, the largest manufacturer of agrochemicals in India.
During his trip, Kropff hosted all India-based staff and partners to a gala dinner to give updates from the headquarters in Mexico and thank stakeholders for their valuable contributions to the CIMMYT mission of i mproving the livelihoods of smallholder farmers.
Kropff spoke at a “Climate-smart agriculture as an investment destination for CSR” talk organized by the CGIAR program on Climate Change and Food Security (CCAFS), the Borlaug Institute of South Asia (BISA) and CIMMYT in association with The Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry partners.
The visit culminated in the Ninth Executive Committee Meeting for BISA. BISA is a collaboration between CIMMYT and the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR). The committee reviewed BISA’s financial and research updates, ICAR reiterated its commitment and support to BISA and ICAR director general, Trilochan Mohapatra and Kropff signed the ICAR-CIMMYT five-year work plan for 2018-2022. The work plan was co-developed in consultation with ICAR and CIMMYT scientists and outlines areas of synergy and priority such as exchange of germplasm, technologies, technical cooperation, personnel, joint experimentation, joint publications and capacity enhancement in several frontier areas of research.
Last year’s maize-growing season in Pakistan yielded a record-breaking six-million tons, decreasing the country’s dependence on imported maize seed and boosting local sales and exports of maize-based products.
Officials and growers attribute this surge in yields extensive use of inputs such as fertilizer, high-yielding improved maize hybrid new varieties and collaborative programs that focus on targeting maize seed improvement to the local environment.
During the recently held 5th Annual maize working group meeting, partners representing 25 public and private institutions discussed what can be done following efforts to consolidate and sustain innovative interventions by AIP. Approximately 50 Participants from Pakistan attended this two-day meeting, where participants shared progress on their respective maize activities, updates on the status of seed production and product identification under AIP, and future prospects.
In a thematic group discussion, participants helped to identify gaps, recognize the role of stakeholders, and develop doable recommendations across the value chain.
Yusuf Zafar, chairman of the Pakistan Agricultural Research Council (PARC), said he appreciated the contributions of CIMMYT and USAID to Pakistan’s maize sector. “The collaboration and partnership of the public and private sectors under AIP is an exemplary one. We will continue supporting the continuation of this platform with all available means and resources” said Zafar while ensuring PARC’s commitment to this initiative after the completion of the project.
While presenting the annual review, Muhammad Imtiaz, CIMMYT Country Representative for Pakistan discussed the status of the project. AIP will continue under a no-cost extension until 2019 and the project is looking for assistance from the private sector in order to continue into the future.
In closing, Anjum Ali, Member Plant Sciences Division, Pakistan Agricultural Research Council, PARC, acknowledged the effort of CIMMYT in bringing all the stakeholders of maize including academia, public and private R&D institutions, policymakers under one umbrella. He further added, “PARC will channel all the deliberations from this meeting and will work with relevant government bodies to come up with amicable solutions for the problems faced by the private sector in products testing and marketing.” The timely and doable recommendations of the working group will serve as a working document for the government in the future, Ali added.
Suraya Parvin (left), Senior Scientific Officer of BARC, discussing with the facilitator in the training. Photo: Jitendra Raj Bajracharya/ICIMOD.
The training strengthened the remote sensing capabilities of professionals from BARC and BARI in using satellite-based remote sensing tools and crop mapping to monitor drought risks. During the training, participants were exposed to a number of remote sensing and geographic information systems tools including SPIRITS, QGIS, ArcMap, GeoCLIM as well as a foundation course to Google Earth Engine. Additionally, open source platform to perform online and offline data collection using mobile application training was provided.This learning exchange took place in order to address the risks for agricultural drought in portions of north-western Bangladesh where farmers may lack access to, or cannot afford irrigation. This leads to bottlenecks in crop productivity and can impair the livelihoods of smallholder farmers reliant on variable and unpredictable precipitation. Access to quality drought monitoring and forecasting could assist farmers in adapting to these climactic risks. Meteorological and agricultural research institutions play a crucial role in providing improved information flow and drought risks advisories to farmers.
Mir Matin, theme leader of Geospatial Solutions, ICIMOD, organized the training on behalf of CSRD and ICIMOD, alongside Rajesh Bahadur Thapa, capacity building specialist, ICIMOD. ICIMOD’s Bhoj Raj also facilitated sessions on application of these tools.
“Bangladesh, especially the northern region, is most susceptible to drought and it is difficult to grow year-round crops here,” said Suraya Parvin, senior scientific officer of BARC. “To increase the cropping intensity in this region, drought monitoring is very essential. I think this training was extremely useful to prepare us for this challenge.”
The CSRD partnership and ICIMOD are working together to establish user-oriented platforms for the provision of easily accessible, timely and decision relevant scientific information, in the form of climate services. “This training, and the applied science products that will come from it, will be a crucial part of efforts to increase the resilience of Bangladesh’s smallholder farmers to climatic risks,” said Timothy J. Krupnik, systems agronomist, CIMMYT and CSRD project leader. “Working with the graduates of the training on a day-to-day basis, we expect to deepen BARC and BARI’s contributions to applied climate services in Bangladesh.”
This blast-infected wheat spike contains no grain, only chaff. Photo: CIMMYT files.
A spatial mapping and ex ante studyregarding the risk and potential spread in South Asia of wheat blast, a mysterious and deadly disease from the Americas that unexpectedly infected wheat in southwestern Bangladesh in 2016, identified 7 million hectares of wheat cropping areas in Bangladesh, India, and Pakistan whose agro-climatic conditions resemble those of the Bangladesh outbreak zone.
The study shows that, under a conservative scenario of 5-10% wheat blast production damage in a single season in those areas, wheat grain losses would amount to from 0.89 to 1.77 million tons worth, between $180 and $350 million. This would strain the region’s already fragile food security and forcing up wheat imports and prices, according to Khondoker Abdul Mottaleb, first author of the study.
“Climate change and related changes in weather patterns, together with continuing globalization, expose wheat crops to increased risks from pathogens that are sometimes transported over long distances,” said Mottaleb.
Foresight research at the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT) has focused on new diseases and pests that have emerged or spread in recent decades, threatening global food safety and security. For wheat these include Ug99 and other new strains of stem rust, the movement of stripe rust into new areas, and the sudden appearance in Bangladesh of wheat blast, which had previously been limited to South America.
“As early as 2011, CIMMYT researchers had warned that wheat blast could spread to new areas, including South Asia,” said Kai Sonder, who manages CIMMYT’s geographic information systems lab and was a co-author on the current study, referring to a 2011 notepublished by the American Pathological Society. “Now that forecast has come true.”
CIMMYT has played a pivotal role in global efforts to study and control blast, with funding from the Australian Center for International Agricultural Research (ACIAR), the CGIAR Research Program on Wheat (WHEAT), the Indian Council of Agriculture Research (ICAR), and the United States Agency for International Development (USAID).
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Farmers and agricultural policymakers frequently encounter tough decisions with complex trade-offs. Selecting which crop to plant next season, for example, would be much easier with a crystal ball. Wei Xiong, a senior scientist at the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT), cannot look into the future, but he can remove a lot of the guesswork.
Xiong uses modeling tools to simulate how agricultural systems would respond to different policies, technological innovations and climate change.
“With these simulations, we can show farmers and policymakers different hypothetical outcomes,” said Xiong. “We can help them make better, more informed decisions.”
Xiong and his multi-disciplinary team are interested in looking at new angles of agricultural issues. For one project, Xiong is investigating how climate change could affect global beer prices. He and his team are studying the effects of increasingly frequent extreme weather events, such as drought, on global barley yields and how this could affect beer production and prices.
“We call the project drinking security,” added Xiong.
Xiong is also interested in the impacts of air pollution on agricultural production and livelihoods in India and China.
“We want to know if air pollution affects yields and whether policies to curb air pollution will have any impact on farmer incomes, food prices and international trade,” he said.
Xiong collaborates with a team of Chinese agricultural scientists and local extension officers on a program called Size & Technology Backyard. The program aims to increase farmers’ yields while decreasing agricultural pollution in the water, air and soil. During each growing season, agricultural students stay in villages to conduct surveys and field research with farmers.
“Based on that data, we can create an agricultural modeling system that incorporates everything from the crop physiology side, to the socioeconomic side and human dimension side,” said Xiong. “We can project which farmers are most likely to adopt which specific kinds of technology based on everything from their location to their family structure.”
But in China, Xiong explained, agriculture still falls under government control.
“The government has always decided which crop you should plant, which area you should use and how to use the areas,” said Xiong. “Most of the policies are based on suggestions by experts.”
The team will use their simulation models to recommend policies that benefit farmers and the environment.
Xiong effectively links many silos through his work at CIMMYT, in large part due to his diverse educational background. After receiving a bachelor’s degree in geography at Hubei University, he continued with a master’s degree in meteorology from the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences (CAAS) in Beijing. He later went on to earn a doctorate in agronomy from China Agricultural University.
After ten years as a professor at CAAS, Xiong worked at the International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis where he designed large-scale simulations of crop production and the effects of global policy. In 2014, he collaborated with other researchers on a global agriculture systems modeling project through a position at the University of Florida. Last fall, Xiong joined CIMMYT at its headquarters in El Batán, Mexico, working on sustainable intensification.
Xiong will return to China later this year to help establish a new CIMMYT office in Henan and strengthen CIMMYT’s partnership with Henan Agricultural University. The new location will focus on research and training, and will host two international senior scientists with expertise in remoting sensing, informatics, physiology and crop management.
Maize researchers at MMRI while receiving the DH inducer lines seeds. Photo:MMRI
Maize is Pakistan’s third important cereal following wheat and rice. Pakistan’s maize yield is among the highest in South Asia with an average yield of 4.5 tons per hectare (t/ha). Maize production in Pakistan in 2016-17 set a record high of 6.1 million tons, a 16 percent increase from the previous year and almost a 600 percent increase from levels in the early 1980s. The introduction and rapid expansion of hybrid maize in the mid 1990s, particularly in the spring season, is among the drivers for the wider adoption of maize in Pakistan.
Despite the noteworthy progress of maize production and productivity, Pakistan still imports more than 80 percent of the hybrid seeds, costing the country over $50 million annually and making retail price of hybrid seeds expensive. Dependency on seed import will not warrant sustainable maize production.
Haploid inducers are a specially developed maize genetic stock that are used to develop doubled haploid (DH) maize lines. DH maize lines are highly uniform, genetically pure and stable, making the maize breeding process more intuitive and efficient by simplifying logistics.
This material was shared with two AIP public partners, Maize and Millets Research Institute (MMRI) and University of Agriculture Faisalabad (UAF). The CIM2GTAILs showed high haploid induction rates (~8-15 percent) under CIMMYT-tested (sub)tropical conditions in Mexico and Kenya, and showed better agronomic performance in terms of plant vigor, synchrony with tropical source populations, better standability, and resistance to important tropical foliar diseases and ear rots..
This DH technology is capable to develop a large number of inbred lines with highest uniformity and homozygosity in shortest possible time of 2-3 generations. Conventional breeding methods needs 6-8 generations to develop stable maize inbred line.
Double haploid inducer seeds handover to UAF. Dr. Muhammad Aslam (UAF),left receiving from Dr. Muhammad Imtiaz. Photo: Ehtisham/CIMMYT
While handing over the inducer seeds to UAF, Muhammad Imtiaz, CIMMYT country representative for Pakistan said “the initiation of the DH technology in Pakistan will modernize and enhance maize breeding efficiency of local institutions particularly in availing locally adapted inbred lines.”
The two institutions have mobilized additional resources from the Government of Pakistan to establish the required DH facilities in their respective institutions and currently they are multiplying the seeds in a controlled environment. Receiving the seeds that were sent from CIMMYT Mexico, Muhammad Aslam, assistant professor at UAF and Muhammad Arshad, director of MMRI sincerely acknowledged the continued and unreserved support from CIMMYT particularly in building the capacity of national programs.
CIMMYT and AIP have trained Pakistani researchers on DH technology in Mexico and Kenya and have allocated 52 market-ready maize varities, including hybrids and biofortified varieties, to 12 public and private partners to foster availability and affordability of maize seeds in Pakistan.
The Agricultural Innovation Program (AIP) for Pakistan is working to sustainably increase agricultural productivity and incomes in the agricultural sector through the promotion and dissemination of modern technologies/practices in the livestock, horticulture (fruits and vegetables) and cereals (wheat, maize and rice) sector. Project management is vested in a unique consortium of CGIAR Centers and the Pakistan Agricultural Research Council (PARC), led by CIMMYT supported by the U.S. Agency for International Development. The project aims to foster emergence of a dynamic, responsive, and competitive system of science and innovation in Pakistan. AIP seeks to catalyze equitable growth in agricultural production, productivity, and value.
