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.

At 50-year mark, CIMMYT scientists strive for gender equity

Written by on March 8, 2016. Posted in Features. 67 Comments on At 50-year mark, CIMMYT scientists strive for gender equity

This story is one in a series of features written during CIMMYT’s 50th anniversary year to highlight significant advancements in maize and wheat research between 1966 and 2016.

EL BATAN, Mexico (CIMMYT) – The International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT) stepped onto the global stage during the “Swinging Sixties.” The decade was defined by social upheaval dominated by left-right political tensions provoked in large measure by Cold War rivalries between the United States and the former Soviet Union.

It was 1966 when Mexico’s Office of Special Studies, formed in the 1940s as an agency of the country’s Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock in partnership with the Rockefeller Foundation to improve bean, maize, potatoes and wheat crops, became CIMMYT.

That same year, civil war exploded in Chad, China’s cultural revolution began, Indira Gandhi became India’s first woman prime minister and musician John Lennon met his future wife Yoko Ono. In the United States, the feminist National Organization for Women (NOW) was formed. Throughout the decade, as the Vietnam War rumbled and more than 30 countries declared independence in Africa, women in many developing countries struggled to gain basic human rights, including the chance to vote.

In wealthy western nations, the “Women’s Liberation Movement,” ultimately known as second-wave feminism, emerged, supplanting women’s suffrage movements and deepening debates over women’s rights.

At CIMMYT, efforts to meet agricultural needs of women farmers and those in charge of nutritional wellbeing within the household to bolster global food security took shape.

Women make up 43 percent of the agricultural labor force in developing countries, according to the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO). However, rural women suffer systematic discrimination with regard to their ability to access resources for agricultural production and socio-economic development.

Now referred to as “gender issues” and “gender relations,” debates over how to address inequity on farms and in the workplace are ongoing at CIMMYT. Rather than focusing specifically on women’s rights, gender studies focus on how notions of women or men are determined through characteristics societies attribute to each sex. Gender relations consider how a given society defines rights, responsibilities, identities and relationships between men and women.

As staple foods, maize and wheat provide vital nutrients and health benefits, making up close to one-quarter of the world’s daily energy intake, and contributing 27 percent of the total calories in the diets of people living in developing countries, according to FAO.

Globally, if women had the same access to agricultural production resources as men, they could increase crop yields by up to 30 percent, which would raise total agricultural output in developing countries by as much as 4 percent, reducing the number of hungry people by up to 150 million or 17 percent, FAO statistics show.

SCIENTIFIC CONTRIBUTIONS

From the outset, women scientists played a key role as maize and wheat researchers at CIMMYT.

Evangelina Villegas, who in 2000 became the first woman to win the World Food Prize, joined CIMMYT in 1967. She shared the prestigious award with CIMMYT colleague Surinder Vasal for efforts and achievements in breeding and advancing quality protein maize to improve productivity and nutrition in malnourished and impoverished areas worldwide.

Maize scientist Marianne Bänziger joined CIMMYT in 1992. When she was transferred to Zimbabwe in 1996 to lead the Southern African Drought and Low Soil Fertility Project (SADLF), she became the first woman scientist at CIMMYT posted to a regional office.

“In the good old days, women scientists were considered an oddity – women were considered something special, even though a scientist like Eva Villegas was very well integrated into CIMMYT,” said Bänziger, who now serves as CIMMYT’s deputy director general.

Bänziger’s work was centered on eastern and southern Africa, where the livelihoods of about 25 million people depend directly on agriculture and maize is the staple crop of choice. Drought and poor soil quality often erode food security and increase socio-economic pressures in the region.

Bänziger became known as “Mama Mahindi,” Swahili for “Mother Maize,” for her work developing stress-tolerant maize and for fostering the widespread access of seed producers and farmers to improved drought-tolerant maize now grown by at least 2 million households.

Denise Costich manages the world’s biggest maize gene bank at CIMMYT headquarters near Mexico City. She joined CIMMYT to work closely with farmers. She now holds farmer field days to help improve seed distribution. Her aims include understanding how best to move genetic resources from gene bank to field through breeding, so they become products that help improve food security.

“I was always encouraged to go as far as I could,” Costich said. “The way I prove that women can be scientists is by being a scientist. Let me get out there and do what I can do and not spend a lot of time talking about it.”

Wheat physiologist Gemma Molero spent two years inventing a hand-held tool for measuring spike photosynthesis, an important part of the strategy for developing a high-yielding plant ideotype. Now, Bayer Crop Science is interested in joining a collaborative project with CIMMYT, which will focus around use of the new technology.

Wheat scientist Carolina Saint Pierre has made important contributions towards obtaining the first permits for growing genetically modified wheat in open field trials in Mexico. The trials have allowed the identification of best-performing genetically modified wheat under water stress and helped understand the genetic control of physiological mechanisms related to drought.

WORKPLACE EQUITY

Despite a daycare at headquarters and other efforts to encourage gender equity, women scientists at CIMMYT continue to face different burdens than men in maintaining a work-life balance.

“Whether you are a western woman in a white-collar job worrying about a daycare or a woman farmer in a developing country worrying about her aging parents, women have a different level of responsibility,” said Jenny Nelson, manager of the Global Wheat Program.

A lot of women drop out of agricultural science after earning their doctoral degrees once they have a family, said Costich, acknowledging a challenge many women working in agricultural science face related to long hours and travel requirements.

“As a young woman I have to work very hard – I have to work even harder than men in the field to demonstrate my abilities and gain respect,” Molero said.

Overall, economists concur that gender inequity and social disparities have a negative impact on economic growth, development, food security and nutrition.

Through various projects, CIMMYT aims to address the challenges of gender equity to improve development potential. For example, CIMMYT researchers are among the leaders of a global push to encode gender into agricultural research in tandem with other international research partnerships.

In more than 125 agricultural communities in 26 countries, a field study of gender norms and agricultural innovation, known as “Gennovate,” is underway. The aim is to help spur a transformation in the way gender is included in agricultural research for development. Gennovate focuses on understanding how gender norms influence the ability of people to access, try out, adopt or adapt new agricultural technology.

Researchers race to rescue wheat sample in war-torn Syria

Written by on February 22, 2016. Posted in Features. 1 Comment on Researchers race to rescue wheat sample in war-torn Syria

After wheat seeds are planted in the greenhouse, the samples are then harvested and prepared to be sent to the laboratory for DNA extraction and genotyping. Photo: Carolina Sansaloni/CIMMYT

EL BATAN, Mexico (CIMMYT) – With Syria torn apart by civil war, a team of scientists in Mexico and Morocco are rushing to save a vital sample of wheat’s ancient and massive genetic diversity, sealed in seed collections of an international research center formerly based in Aleppo but forced to leave during 2012-13.

The researchers are restoring and genetically characterizing more than 30,000 unique seed collections of wheat from the Syrian genebank of the International Center for Agricultural Research in the Dry Areas (ICARDA), which has relocated its headquarters to Beirut, Lebanon, and backed up its 150,000 collections of barley, fava bean, lentil and wheat seed with partners and in the Global Seed Vault at Svalbard, Norway.

In March 2015, scientists at ICARDA were awarded The Gregor Mendel Foundation Innovation Prize for their courage in securing and preserving their seed collections at Svalbard, by continuing work and keeping the genebank operational in Syria even amidst war.

“With war raging in Syria, this project is incredibly important,” said Carolina Sansaloni, genotyping and DNA sequencing specialist at the Mexico-based International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT), which is leading work to analyze the samples and locate genes for breeding high-yield, climate resilient wheats. “It would be amazing if we could be just a small part of reintroducing varieties that have been lost in war-torn regions.”

Treasure from wheat’s cradle to feed the future

Much of wheat seed comes from the Fertile Crescent, a region whose early nations developed and depended on wheat as the vital grain of their civilizations. The collections could hold the key for future breeding to feed an expanding world population, according to Sansaloni.

“An ancient variety bred out over time could contain a gene for resistance to a deadly wheat disease or for tolerance to climate change effects like heat and drought, which are expected to become more severe in developing countries where smallholder farmers and their families depend on wheat,” she explained.

Cross-region partners, global benefits

Sansaloni’s team has been sequencing DNA from as many as 2,000 seed samples a week, as well as deriving molecular markers for breeder- and farmer-valued traits, such as disease resistance, drought or heat tolerance and qualities that contribute to higher yields and grain quality.

They are using a high-end DNA sequencing system located at the Genetic Analysis Service for Agriculture (SAGA), a partnership between CIMMYT and Mexico’s Secretariat of Agriculture, Livestock, Rural Development, Fisheries and Food (SAGARPA), and with the support of a private company from Australia, Diversity Arrays Technology.

The sequencer at SAGA can read 1600 samples of seed at once and develops more data than ever before. The HiSeq 2500 boils down data and shows the information at a “sequence level”, for example, height variations among wheat varieties.

Worldwide, there are few other machines that produce this kind of data and most are owned by private companies, explained Sansaloni. This was the first non-Latin American based project used by the HiSeq 2500.

“The success of this project shows what a fantastic opportunity for international collaboration we now have,” Sansaloni said. “I can’t even put a value on the importance of the data we have collected from this project. It’s priceless.”

After data has been collected, seed samples will be “regenerated” by ICARDA and CIMMYT. That is, the process of restoring old seed samples with healthy new seeds.

ICARDA and CIMMYT will share seed and data from the project and make these results available worldwide.

“With these new seeds, we hope to reconstruct ICARDA’s active and base collection of seeds over the next five years in new genebank facilities in Lebanon and Morocco,” said Fawzy Nawar, senior genebank documentation specialist, ICARDA.

Funded through the CGIAR Research Program on Wheat, the effort benefits both of the international centers, as well as wheat breeding programs worldwide, said Tom Payne, head of CIMMYT’s Wheat Germplasm Bank. “ICARDA is in a difficult situation, with a lack of easy access to their seeds and no facilities to perform genotyping,” he explained. “This was the perfect opportunity to collaborate.”

NAAS fellow M.L. Jat talks climate change, sustainable agriculture

Written by on February 18, 2016. Posted in Features. 1 Comment on NAAS fellow M.L. Jat talks climate change, sustainable agriculture

M.L. Jat shows resilient cropping system options for eastern Indo-Gangetic plains at BISA farm

CIMMYT Senior Scientist M.L. Jat has received India’s National Academy of Agricultural Sciences (NAAS) fellowship in Natural Resource Management for his “outstanding contributions in developing and scaling” conservation agriculture-based management technologies for predominant cereal-based cropping systems in South Asia.

M.L.’s research on conservation agriculture (CA) – sustainable and profitable agriculture that improves livelihoods of farmers via minimal soil disturbance, permanent soil cover, and crop rotations – has guided improvements in soil and environmental health throughout South Asia. His work has led to policy level impacts in implementing CA practices such as precision land leveling, zero tillage, direct seeding, and crop residue management, and he has played a key role in building the capacity of CA stakeholders throughout the region.

Research such as M.L.’s is more important every day, as we learn to do more with less on a planet with finite resources and changing climate. Sustainable innovation, including climate-smart agriculture, is a major theme at the ongoing COP21 climate talks where global leaders are gathered to decide the future of our planet. M.L. tells us below how CA can play a part in climate change mitigation and adaptation, and the future of CA in South Asia.

What are the major threats global climate change poses to South Asian agriculture?

South Asia is one of the most vulnerable regions in the world to climate change. With a growing population of 1.6 billion people, the region hosts 40% of the world’s poor and malnourished on just 2.4% of the world’s land. Agriculture makes up over half of the region’s livelihoods, so warmer winters and extreme, erratic weather events such as droughts and floods have an even greater impact. Higher global temperatures will continue to add extreme pressure to finite land and other natural resources, threatening food security and livelihoods of smallholder farmers and the urban poor.

How does CA mitigate and help farmers adapt to climate change?

In South Asia, climate change is likely to reduce agricultural production 10‐50% by 2050 and beyond, so adaptation measures are needed now. Climate change has complex and local impacts, requiring scalable solutions to likewise be locally-adapted.

Climate-smart agriculture (CSA) practices such as CA not only minimize production costs and inputs, but also help farmers adapt to extreme weather events, reduce temporal variability in productivity, and mitigate greenhouse gas emissions, according to numerous data on CA management practices throughout the region.

What future developments are needed to help South Asian farmers adapt to climate change?

Targeting and access to CA sustainable intensification technologies, knowledge, and training – such as precision water and nutrient management or mechanized CA solutions specific to a farmer’s unique landscape – will be critical to cope with emerging risks of climate variability. Participatory and community-based approaches will be critical for scaled impact as well. For example, the climate smart village concept allows rural youth and women to be empowered not only by becoming CA practitioners but also by serving as knowledge providers to the local community, making them important actors in generating employment and scaling CA and other climate-smart practices.

Where do you see your research heading in the next 10-15 years?

Now that there are clear benefits of CA and CSA across a diversity of farms at a regional level, as well as increased awareness by stakeholders of potential challenges of resource degradation and food security in the face of climate change, scaling up CA and CSA interventions will be a priority. For example, the Government of Haryana in India has already initiated a program to introduce CSA in 500 climate smart villages. Thanks to this initiative, CA and CSA will benefit 10 million farms across the region in the next 10-15 years.

Climate-Smart Villages

Climate-Smart Villages are a community-based approach to adaptation and mitigation of climate change for villages in high-risk areas, which will likely suffer most from a changing climate. The project began in 2011 with 15 climate-smart villages in West Africa, East Africa and South Asia, and is expanding to Latin America and Southeast Asia. CIMMYT is leading the CCAFS-CSV project in South Asia.

Learning partnerships turn research into results for Mexican agriculture

Written by on January 22, 2016. Posted in Features. 1 Comment on Learning partnerships turn research into results for Mexican agriculture

“CIMMYT is famous for helping farmers all over the world, but what fewer people know is that they also help Mexican researchers and students who will become the next generation of researchers through the courses and workshops they offer,” said Alejandro Ledesma, maize researcher at Mexico’s National Forestry, Agricultural and Livestock Research Institute (INIFAP). Above, Ledesma (L), receives certificate from CIMMYT Director General Martin Kropff, Juan Burgueño Ferreira, Head of CIMMYT’s Biometrics and Statistics Unit, and Kevin Pixley, Head of the Genetic Resources Program at a course on statistical analysis of genetic and phenotypic data for breeders held at CIMMYT. Photo: CIMMYT

The Seeds of Discovery (SeeD) project seeks to empower the next generation of Mexican scientists to use maize and wheat biodiversity to effectively meet the needs of Mexican agriculture in the future. By providing professional agricultural research and development opportunities for current and future maize and wheat scientists, SeeD works to ensure that the materials they develop will reach those who need it most. For this reason, SeeD is developing a platform of publicly available data and software tools that enable the efficient use of maize and wheat genetic resources. These genetic resources, or biodiversity, include more than 28,000 maize and 140,000 wheat samples, known as accessions, that are conserved in CIMMYT’s seed bank and available to researchers worldwide.

Genetic resources are the raw materials or building blocks used to develop new maize and wheat varieties needed to meet the demands of a growing population in a changing climate. Many of these maize and wheat accessions contain positive traits such as drought tolerance or disease resistance, which if bred into new varieties have the potential to improve food security and livelihoods in countries such as Mexico in the global south.

However, the specific potential impact of SeeD on Mexican agriculture and society will only be realized if breeders and scientists effectively use the products resulting from the project. By inviting researchers, professors and students to participate in workshops, training courses and diverse research projects, a growing cadre of scientists is learning how to use the databases and software tools developed by SeeD and validating their utility.

Cynthia Ortiz places DNA samples into a thermal cycler in the CIMMYT Biosciences laboratory. Photo: Jennifer Johnson

“Sharing the knowledge generated by SeeD and making it available to the scientific community will help accelerate the development of new varieties that will benefit long-term food security in Mexico and the world,” said Cynthia Ortiz, a graduate student in biotechnology at the Center for Research and Advanced Studies of the National Polytechnic Institute (CINVESTAV) in Mexico City.

Ortiz is conducting research for her Master of Science thesis mentored by SeeD scientist Sukhwinder Singh, who is helping her map the quantitative trait loci (QTL) for phenological and grain yield-related traits in wheat varieties created by crossing synthetic wheat varieties with elite lines. She has participated in two SeeD workshops focusing on wheat phenotyping for heat, drought and yield as well as on the use of the maize and wheat molecular atlas, where she learned to use SeeD software such as Flapjack and CurlyWhirly to visualize the results of genetic diversity analyses.

“The materials SeeD has developed have opened the door for identifying genetic resources with positive traits such as heat and drought tolerance, or resistance to pests and diseases that affect crops all over the world,” Ortiz said. “And the best part is that at the same time, they have sought to protect the genetic diversity of these crops, using the native biodiversity we have in Mexico and the world to confront the challenge of ensuring food security.”

David Gonzalez, a recent graduate of the Chapingo Autonomous University in Texcoco, a city about 30 km (20 miles) from Mexico City, agrees. He worked with SeeD scientists Sarah Hearne and Terence Molnar on his Master of Science thesis, identifying genetic resources with resistance to the maize leaf disease “tar spot complex” (TSC) by using genome-wide association study (GWAS) and genomic selection.

David Gonzalez (L) scores maize plants for signs of tar spot disease alongside SeeD scientist Terence Molnar (R) in the state of Chiapas, Mexico. Photo: Jennifer Johnson

“The software and databases SeeD develops for analyzing genotypic and phenotypic data are novel tools that can be used for research as well as academic purposes,” Gonzalez said. “They are a valuable resource that can be utilized by academic institutions to train students in genetic analysis.”

Gonzalez attended the CIMMYT training course “Technologies for Tropical Maize Improvement,” where he learned about new tools for field trial design, data analysis, doubled haploid technology, molecular markers, GWAS and genomic selection.

“This training, as well as the valuable help and support from CIMMYT scientists, really helped me develop myself professionally,” he said. “It was exciting to work with such an ambitious project, doing things that have never been done before to discover and utilize maize and wheat genetic diversity for the benefit of farmers. I look forward to using what I’ve learned in my future career to develop varieties that meet the needs of farmers in Latin America.”

SeeD is a joint initiative of CIMMYT and the Mexican Ministry of Agriculture (SAGARPA) through the MasAgro project. SeeD receives additional funding from the CGIAR Research Programs on Maize (MAIZE CRP) and Wheat (WHEAT CRP), and from the UK’s Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC).

Learning partnerships turn research into results for Mexican agriculture

Written by on January 22, 2016. Posted in News.

“CIMMYT is famous for helping farmers all over the world, but what fewer people know is that they also help Mexican researchers and students who will become the next generation of researchers through the courses and workshops they offer,” said Alejandro Ledesma, maize researcher at Mexico’s National Forestry, Agricultural and Livestock Research Institute (INIFAP). Above, Ledesma (L), receives certificate from CIMMYT Director General Martin Kropff, Juan Burgueño Ferreira, Head of CIMMYT’s Biometrics and Statistics Unit, and Kevin Pixley, Head of the Genetic Resources Program, at a course on statistical analysis of genetic and phenotypic data for breeders held at CIMMYT. Photo: CIMMYT

The Seeds of Discovery (SeeD) project seeks to empower the next generation of Mexican scientists to use maize and wheat biodiversity to effectively meet the needs of Mexican agriculture in the future. By providing professional agricultural research and development opportunities for current and future maize and wheat scientists, SeeD works to ensure that the materials they develop will reach those who need them most. For this reason, SeeD is developing a platform of publicly available data and software tools that enable the efficient use of maize and wheat genetic resources. These genetic resources, or biodiversity, include more than 28,000 maize and 140,000 wheat samples, known as accessions, that are conserved in CIMMYT’s seed bank and available to researchers worldwide.

Genetic resources are the raw materials or building blocks used to develop new maize and wheat varieties needed to meet the demands of a growing population in a changing climate. Many of these maize and wheat accessions contain positive traits such as drought tolerance or disease resistance, which, if bred into new varieties, have the potential to improve food security and livelihoods in countries such as Mexico in the global south.

Cynthia Ortiz places DNA samples into a thermal cycler in the CIMMYT Biosciences laboratory. Photo: CIMMYT/J. Johnson

David Gonzalez, a recent graduate of the Chapingo Autonomous University in Texcoco, a city about 30 km (20 miles) from Mexico City, agrees. He worked with SeeD scientists Sarah Hearne and Terence Molnar on his Master of Science thesis research, identifying genetic resources with resistance to the maize leaf disease “tar spot complex” (TSC) by using genome-wide association study (GWAS) and genomic selection.

David Gonzalez (L) scores maize plants for signs of tar spot disease alongside SeeD scientist Terence Molnar (R) in the state of Chiapas, Mexico. Photo: CIMMYT/J. Johnson

SeeD is a joint initiative of CIMMYT and the Mexican Ministry of Agriculture (SAGARPA) through the MasAgro project. SeeD receives additional funding from the CGIAR Research Programs on Maize (MAIZE CRP) and Wheat (WHEAT CRP), and from the UK’s Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC).

Rebuilding livelihoods: CIMMYT helps Nepalese farmers recover from earthquake

Written by on January 15, 2016. Posted in Features. 1 Comment on Rebuilding livelihoods: CIMMYT helps Nepalese farmers recover from earthquake

A farmer uses a mini-tiller in the midwestern region of Nepal. Photo credit: CIMMYT/CSISA

The recent 7.6 magnitude earthquake that struck Nepal on 25 April, followed by a 7.3 magnitude aftershock on 12 May and several hundred additional aftershocks, has had huge negative impacts on the country’s agriculture and food security. Around two-thirds of Nepal’s population rely on agriculture for their livelihoods, and agriculture contributes 33% of Nepal’s GDP. It is estimated that about 8 million people have been affected by the earthquakes, with smallholders in hilly regions being the hardest hit.

The earthquakes damaged or destroyed agricultural assets, undermining the longer-term food production capacity of farm families and disrupting critical input supply, trade, and processing networks. Farmers lost grain and seed stocks, livestock, agricultural tools and other inputs, and are facing significant labor shortages. Widespread damage to seed and grain storage facilities has affected smallholder farmers’ ability to secure their harvested crops during the rainy season.

In response to the devastation, USAID-Nepal has provided US$1 million to the CIMMYT-led Cereal Systems Initiative for South Asia in Nepal (CSISA-NP) for earthquake relief and recovery. The Earthquake Recovery Support Program will be implemented for a period of 13 months in close coordination with the Ministry of Agricultural Development (MoAD), Department of Agriculture, Department of Livestock Services, Nepal Agricultural Research Council, and District Disaster Relief Committee. The districts that will receive support include Dolkha, Kavre, Khotang, Makwanpur, Nuwakot, Ramechap, Sindhupalchowk, and Solukhumbu, which suffered particularly high levels of damage.

According to Andrew McDonald, CIMMYT Principal Scientist and CSISA Project Leader, “Even if seed is available, farmers’ ability to plant and harvest crops has been severely diminished due to the loss of draft animals and the exacerbation of labor shortages.” To aid them, the earthquake recovery program will provide more than 33,000 farming households with 50,000 grain storage bags, 30 cocoons for community grain storage, 400 mini-tillers and other modern agriculture power tools (e.g., seeders, reapers, and maize shellers), 800 sets of small agricultural hand tools, and 20,000 posters on better-bet agronomic practices for rice and maize.

“First we will focus on getting horse-powered mini-tillers into affected communities, and subsequently broadening the utility of these machines to power a host of essential agricultural activities including seeding, reaping, threshing, and shelling, as well as driving small pumps for irrigation,” said Scott Justice, Agricultural Mechanization Specialist, CSISA-NP.

CIMMYT scientists train farmers on how to use a power tiller in Dadeldhura, Nepal.
Photo credit: Lokendra Khadka/CSISA-Nepal

At the program’s inception workshop on 28 August, Beth Dunford, USAID-Nepal Mission Director, remarked that USAID-Nepal has arranged for a special fund to help earthquake-affected people. Beyond the devastation of houses and public infrastructure such as roads, the earthquake has seriously disrupted agriculture and the rural economy in the impacted districts. Re-establishing vital agricultural markets and services is key to how quickly these communities will recover from the earthquake, underlined Dunford.

To coordinate and monitor program activities effectively, management committees at the central, district, and local levels have been formed with the purpose of identifying the earthquake-affected areas within a district and ensuring efficient and transparent distribution of aid items.

MoAD Joint Secretary Rajendra Adhikari highlighted that the Ministry feels a real sense of ownership over this program and is committed to implementing program activities through its network. The farm machinery support program will be a perfect platform for MoAD to expand its farm mechanization program into other areas of the country. The Earthquake Recovery Support Program also aligns with the Nepalese Government’s agricultural development strategies, which focus on community-wide inclusive development.

Inaugural Paula Kantor Award recognizes work on agriculture, gender, improved diets

Written by on January 14, 2016. Posted in Features. 54 Comments on Inaugural Paula Kantor Award recognizes work on agriculture, gender, improved diets

El BATAN, Mexico (CIMMYT) – Post-doctoral fellow Soumya Gupta is the winner of the inaugural Paula Kantor Award for Excellence in Field Research, the International Center for Research on Women (ICRW) announced on Thursday.

Gupta was recognized for research that “systematically and empirically assesses the empowerment of women in India as it relates to agricultural determinants and nutritional outcomes,” the group said in a statement.

The ICRW praised Gupta’s doctoral research at Cornell University for revealing that when women are empowered, they are better positioned to make their own choices in agriculture and help influence their own nutritional outcomes.

Gupta’s research showed that while diversification of production systems and diets is an important pathway to improved nutrition, the outcome is conditional on women’s status, the statement said.

Gupta found that empowered women tend to have better access to diet diversity and improved iron status.

“I could not imagine a more deserving researcher upon which to bestow the honor of the inaugural Paula Kantor Award,” said ICRW President Sarah Degnan Kambou. “Dr. Gupta’s work truly embodies the spirit and passion that Paula brought to her work every day. I see so many parallels between the important work that Paula was doing to better integrate gender into agriculture and rural development and Dr. Gupta’s field research.”

This is the first year that ICRW bestowed the award, which was designed to honor the legacy of the group’s former colleague Paula Kantor who died at age 46 in the aftermath of a Taliban attack in Pakistan last year.

At the time of her death, the prolific gender and development specialist was working at the Mexico-based International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT) on a project focused on understanding the role of gender in the livelihoods of people in major wheat-growing areas of Afghanistan, Ethiopia and Pakistan.

Kantor was widely recognized in the international development community as an established and respected professional and writer, who pushed the realms of gender research to engage men more effectively. She published more than a dozen peer-reviewed academic publications, 10 peer-reviewed monographs and briefs, 15 other publications and 10 conference papers during her lifetime.

“I am honored to be the first recipient of the Paula Kantor Award,” Gupta said. “There is a great need for better data (and metrics) in the field of agriculture, nutrition and women’s empowerment. In light of that, the Paula Kantor Award acknowledges the importance of gathering primary data for evidence-based research.”

“At the same time the award also recognizes the tremendous effort that goes into designing a field-based data collection activity that is methodologically robust, contextually relevant, and ethically sound,” she said.

“I am inspired by Paula’s work and life, and with this award look forward to continuing my research on the linkages between nutrition and agriculture with a focus on women’s empowerment, and contributing to policy reform in a meaningful way.”

Gupta will receive the award at ICRW’s 40th Anniversary celebration in New Delhi, India on January 20th.

Gupta will receive a commemorative plaque and the opportunity to meet with organizations, government officials, leaders of non-governmental organizations, and others in Delhi to discuss her work and the importance of understanding the connections between women’s empowerment, agricultural practices and nutritional outcomes.

Mobilizing gene bank biodiversity in the fight against climate change

Written by on January 11, 2016. Posted in Features. 1 Comment on Mobilizing gene bank biodiversity in the fight against climate change

Ancestors of modern wheat (R) in comparison with an ear of modern cultivated wheat (L). Photo: Thomas Lumpkin/CIMMYT.

In a world where the population is expected to reach 9 billion by the year 2050, grain production must increase to meet rising demand. This is especially true for bread wheat, which provides one-fifth of the total calories consumed by the world’s population. However, climate change threatens to derail global food security, as instances of extreme weather events and high temperatures reduce agricultural productivity and are increasing faster than agriculture can naturally adapt, leaving our future ability to feed the global population uncertain. How can we ensure crop production and food security for generations to come?

In order to continue feeding the planet, it is imperative that we identify crop varieties that display adaptive and quality traits such as drought and heat stress tolerance that will allow them to survive and flourish despite environmental stresses. For this reason, a recent study by Sehgal et al., “Exploring and mobilizing the gene bank biodiversity for wheat improvement,” was conducted to characterize wheat seed samples in the CIMMYT germplasm bank to identify useful variations for use in wheat breeding.

The study analyzed the genetic diversity of 1,423 bread wheat seed samples that represent major wheat production environments around the world, particularly regions that experience significant heat and drought. The tested samples included synthetic wheat varieties, which are novel bread wheat varieties created by making crosses between the progenitors of modern bread wheat, durum wheat and wild grassy ancestors; landraces, which are local varieties developed through centuries of farmer selection; and elite lines that have been selectively bred and adapted. The samples were analyzed through genotyping-by-sequencing, a rapid and cost-effective approach that allows for an in-depth, reliable estimate of genetic diversity.

The results of the study suggested that many of the tested landraces and synthetics have untapped, useful genetic variation that could be used to improve modern wheat varieties. When combined with elite wheat germplasm, this genetic variation will increase stress adaptation and quality traits as well as heat and drought tolerance, thus leading to new wheat varieties that can better survive under climate change. The study also found new genetic variation for vernalization, in which flowering is induced by exposure to cold, and for glutenin, a major wheat protein responsible for dough strength and elasticity. Based on the information generated by the study, over 200 of the diverse seed samples tested have been selected for use in breeding, since they contain new specific forms of genes conferring drought and heat stress tolerance. This new genetic diversity will help bread wheat breeding programs around the world create new varieties to feed the world’s growing population in a changing environment.

This research is part of CIMMYT’s ongoing Seeds of Discovery (SeeD) project, which is funded by the Mexican Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock, Rural Development, Fisheries and Food (SAGARPA) through the Sustainable Modernization of Traditional Agriculture (MasAgro) project, as well as the CGIAR Research Program on Wheat (WHEAT). SeeD works to unlock the genetic potential of maize and wheat genetic resources by providing breeders with a toolkit that enables their more targeted use in the development of better varieties that address future challenges, including those from climate change and a growing population.

To read the full study, please click here:

Citation:

Sehgal D, Vikram P, Sansaloni CP, Ortiz C, Pierre CS, Payne T, et al. (2015) Exploring and Mobilizing the Gene Bank Biodiversity for Wheat Improvement. PLoS ONE 10(7): e0132112. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0132112

Related Publications:

Exploiting genetic diversity from landraces in wheat breeding for adaptation to climate change (2015) Lopes, M.S., El-Basyoni, I., Baenziger, P.S., Sukhwinder-Singh, Royo, C., Ozbek, K., Aktas, H., Ozer, E., Ozdemir, F., Manickavelu, A., Ban, T., Vikram, P.

Coping with climate change: the roles of genetic resources for food and agriculture, Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO)

CIMMYT scientist receives award from China for wheat research

Written by on January 3, 2016. Posted in News. 1 Comment on CIMMYT scientist receives award from China for wheat research

Award recipients (L-R) Minggang Xu, Shaokun Li, Ming Zhao, and Zhonghu He. Photo: CIMMYT

BEIJING, China (CIMMYT) – Top wheat scientists from the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT) and other research institutions are the recipients of a prestigious award from China’s State Council.

Zhonghu He, distinguished scientist and country liaison officer in China, together with CIMMYT’s long-term collaborators from the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Science and agricultural science academies in seven provinces, received the award for developing high yielding, disease resistant, and broadly-adapted varieties from CIMMYT germplasm. China’s President Xi Jinping and Prime Minister Li KeQiang of the State Council attended the ceremony last week at the Great Hall of The People in Beijing.

“This award is the result of more than 30 years of CIMMYT-China collaboration, reflecting the importance of our work in the country” said He. The award recognized work leading to 18,000 CIMMYT wheat accessions stored in Chinese gene banks, adaptation of CIMMYT wheats to China through multi-locational trials and molecular markers, successful breeding for multiple resistance to rusts and powdery mildew based on adult plant resistance, the development and extension of 45 leading varieties derived from CIMMYT germplasm and the training of Chinese scientists. This success is also largely due to the long-term commitment of CIMMYT scientists such as Sanjaya Rajaram, Ravi Singh, and Javier Peña.

Wheat harvest in Songzanlinsi, Yunnan, China. Photo: R. Saltori

CIMMYT and China started collaborating in the early 1970s, shuttle breeding between Mexico and China to improve wheat disease resistance was initiated in the mid-1980s, and the CIMMYT-China Office was opened in 1997. More than 20 Chinese institutes have been involved in germplasm exchange and training.

Chinese wheat breeders have increasingly used CIMMYT breeding stocks to generate new wheat varieties, with CIMMYT germplasm contributing about 7 percent of the genetic material in Chinese wheat varieties during the past three decades and about 9 percent after 2004. More than 26 percent of all major wheat varieties released in China since 2000 contain CIMMYT germplasm, contributing to higher yield potential, rust resistance, and better quality wheat. Overall, 3.8 million to 10.7 million tons of added wheat grain worth between $ 1.2 billion and $ 3.4 billion (based on 2011 prices) have been produced as a result of CIMMYT germplasm, according to the “Impact of CIMMYT Wheat Germplasm on Wheat Productivity in China” authored by Jikun Huang and his colleagues at the Center for Chinese Agricultural Policy of the Chinese Academy of Science (CAS).

Cereal systems initiative speeds growth of mechanized technologies in India, report shows

Written by on January 3, 2016. Posted in News.

CSISA contributes to increased adoption of climate-resilient practices. Photo: CIMMYT

NEW DELHI, India (CIMMYT) — Major impacts of CIMMYT’s Cereal Systems Initiative for South Asia (CSISA) include success in increasing access to and affordability of modern farming technologies and practices for smallholder farmers across India, according to a new report.

The initiative, which began in 2012, resulted in positive impacts and has built a robust service economy to improve access to new technologies for smallholder farmers, said Andrew McDonald, CSISA project leader.

“India has a large number of smallholders, especially in eastern states where the average landholding size is decreasing and machine ownership by farmers is often not economically viable,” McDonald said. “Unless we build a robust service economy to facilitate uptake of new technologies, they would be beyond the reach of most smallholders.”

CSISA has developed a network of nearly 2,000 service providers in eastern India over the past three years to accelerate the expansion of sustainable intensification technologies, resulting in improved yields of up to 20 percent and increased farmer incomes through cost savings of $100 per hectare, the publication reports.

The report also details CSISA’s contribution to increased adoption of climate-resilient practices such as early planting of wheat and the use of zero-tillage seed drills, which help farmers overcome labor shortages during rice cultivation through mechanical rice planting.

“CSISA has built a compelling body of evidence for the importance of early planting to combat the negative effects of rising temperatures,” McDonald said.

“As a result, public perception and official recommendations have changed, and more than 600,000 farmers are now planting wheat earlier in the Indian states of Bihar and Uttar Pradesh.”

Additionally, CSISA helped popularize hybrid maize, which has increased yields and improved food security.

“Enhancing the productivity of the rice-wheat cropping systems in South Asia’s Indo-Gangetic Plains is essential for ensuring food security for more than 20 percent of the world’s population,” said McDonald. “CSISA, in close collaboration with national wheat programs, has released new wheat varieties with higher yield potential, which perform well even in stress-prone areas.”

These results were achieved during CSISA’s second phase, from 2012 to 2015, through collaborative work with national research and extension systems, research institutes, state governments, non-governmental organizations, private companies and farmers,.

Read the report:

interactive web page , magazine format , pdf

About CSISA

Led by CIMMYT, the Cereal Systems Initiative for South Asia (CSISA) aims to sustainably improve cereal productivity, food security and increase farmers’ income in South Asia’s Indo-Gangetic Plains, home to the region’s most important grain baskets. www.csisa.org

For more information, contact:

Anuradha Dhar

Communications Specialist

International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT)

a.dhar@cgiar.org

Norman Borlaug works with researchers in the field. (Photo: CIMMYT archives)

From east Asia to south Asia, via Mexico: how one gene changed the course of history

Written by on January 3, 2016. Posted in Features. 59 Comments on From east Asia to south Asia, via Mexico: how one gene changed the course of history

This story is one of a series of features written during CIMMYT’s 50th anniversary year to highlight significant advancements in maize and wheat research between 1966 and 2016.

EL BATAN, Mexico (CIMMYT) — In 1935, Japanese scientist Gonjoro Inazuka crossed a semi-dwarf Japanese wheat landrace with two American varieties resulting in an improved variety, known as Norin 10. Norin 10 derived varieties eventually ended up in the hands of Norman Borlaug, beginning one of the most extraordinary agricultural revolutions in history. This international exchange of germplasm ultimately saved hundreds of millions of people from starvation and revolutionized the world of wheat.

The journey of semi-dwarf wheat from Japan to Mexico may have begun in the 3^rd or 4^th century in Korea, where short wheat varieties are thought to have originated. From East Asia, wheat breeders began to seek and utilize dwarfing genes to breed varieties with high yield potential, resistance to lodging and the ability to produce more tillers than traditional varieties.

The term Norin is an acronym for the Japanese Agricultural Experiment Station spelled out using Latin letters. From 150 centimeters (cm) that other varieties measured, Norin 10 reduced wheat plant height to 60-110 cm. The shorter stature is a result of the reduced height genes Rht₁ and Rht₂.

Pictured above is a cross between Chapingo 53 - a tall variety of wheat that was resistant to a fungal pathogen called stem rust - and a variety developed from previous crosses of Norin 10 with four other wheat strains. Photo: CIMMYT — Pictured above is a cross between Chapingo 53 – a tall variety of wheat that was resistant to a fungal pathogen called stem rust – and a variety developed from previous crosses of Norin 10 with four other wheat strains. Photo: CIMMYT

Norin 10 began to attract international attention after a visit by S.D. Salmon, a renowned wheat breeder in the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), to Marioka Agriculture Research Station in Honshu. Salmon took some samples of the Norin 10 variety back to the United States, where in the late 1940s Orville Vogel at Washington State University used them to help produce high-yielding, semi-dwarf winter wheat varieties, of which Gaines was the first one.

In neighboring Mexico, Norman Borlaug and his team were focusing their efforts on tackling the problem of lodging and rust resistance. After unsuccessfully screening the entire USDA World Wheat Germplasm collection for shorter and strong varieties, Borlaug wrote to Vogel and requested seed containing the Norin 10 dwarfing genes. Norin 10 was a lucky break, providing both short stature and rust resistance.

In 1953, Borlaug began crossing Vogel’s semi-dwarf winter wheat varieties with Mexican varieties. The first attempt at incorporating the Vogel genes into Mexican varieties failed. But after a series of crosses and re-crosses, the result was a new type of spring wheat: short and stiff-strawed varieties that tillered profusely, produced more grain per head, and were less likely to lodge. The semi-dwarf Mexican wheat progeny began to be distributed nationally, and within seven years, average wheat yields in Mexico had doubled. By 1962, 10 years after Vogel first supplied seed of the Norin 10 semi-dwarf progeny to Borlaug, two high-yielding semi-dwarf Norin 10 derivatives, Pitic 62 and Penjamo 62, were released for commercial production.

As the figure below indicates, these wheat varieties then led to a flow of other high-yielding wheat varieties, including Sonora 64 and Lerma Rojo 64, two varieties that led to the Green Revolution in India, Pakistan and other countries, and Siete Cerros 66, which at its peak was grown on over 7 million hectares in the developing world. The most widely grown variety during this period was the very early maturing variety Sonalika, which is still grown in India today.

[Reproduced from Foods and Food Production Encyclopedia, Douglas M. Considine]

In the early 1960s South Asia was facing mass starvation and extreme food insecurity. To combat this challenge, scientists and governments in the region began assessing the value of Mexican semi-dwarf wheat varieties for their countries. Trials in India and Pakistan were convincing, producing high yields that offered the potential for a dramatic breakthrough in wheat production but only after agronomy practices were changed. Without these changes, the Green Revolution would never have taken off.

From left to right: Norman Borlaug, Mohan Kohli and Sanjaya Rajaram at Centro de Investigaciones Agricolas del Noreste (CIANO), Sonora, Mexico, in 1973. (Photo: CIMMYT)

Borlaug had sent a fewdozen seeds of his high-yielding, disease-resistant semi-dwarf wheat varieties to India to test their resistance to local rust strains. M.S. Swaminathan, a wheat cytogeneticist and advisor to the Indian Minister of Agriculture, immediately grasped their potential for Indian agriculture and wrote to Borlaug, inviting him to India. Soon after the unexpected invitation reached him, Borlaug boarded a Pan Am Boeing 707 to India.

To accelerate the potential of Borlaug’s wheat, in 1967 Pakistan imported about 42,000 tons of semi-dwarf wheat seed from Mexico, Turkey imported 22,000 tons and India 18,000 tons. At the time this was the largest seed purchase in the history of agriculture. Wheat yield improvement in both India and Pakistan was unlike anything seen before.

Fifty years on, we face new challenges, even though we have continued to make incremental increases to average yield. There is an ever-increasing demand for wheat from a growing worldwide population with changing dietary preferences. The world’s climate is changing; temperatures are rising and extreme weather events are becoming more common. Natural resources, especially ground water, are also being depleted; new crop diseases are emerging and yield increases are not keeping pace with demand.

Borlaug and his contemporaries kicked off the Green Revolution by combining semi-dwarf, rust resistant and photoperiod insensitive traits. Today, a new plan and commitment to achieving another quantum leap in wheat productivity are in place. The International Wheat Yield Partnership, an international public-private partnership, is exploiting the best wheat research worldwide to increase wheat yield potential by up to 50%. This one-of-a-kind initiative will transfer germplasm to leading breeding programs around the world.

Cover photo: Norman Borlaug works with researchers in the field. (Photo: CIMMYT archives)

CIMMYT upgrades Pakistan’s national germplasm collection and distribution facility

Written by on December 18, 2015. Posted in News.

As a step towards modernizing and strengthening Pakistan’s national coordinated breeding programs, CIMMYT upgraded the seed storage facility of the National Agricultural Research Center (NARC) to meet international standards. The state-of-the-art facility offers a number of services such as damage control of stored wheat including avoiding both quantitative and qualitative losses, maintaining a record of incoming and outgoing seed, and tracking it until it reaches its destination.

Funded by the Wheat Productivity Enhancement Program (WPEP), the germplasm collection and distribution facility was formally inaugurated by Shahid Masood, member of the plant science division, Pakistan Agricultural Research Council (PARC), on 20 November 2015. CIMMYT Country Representative Imtiaz Muhammad, PARC Chairman Nadeem Amjad, NARC DG Muhammad Azeem Khan, and agricultural experts from national and international organizations graced the occasion with their presence.

Upon unveiling the foundation stone, Shahid spoke about the intention behind setting up the facility, which is to provide an international standard for maintaining the quality of wheat seed and seed of other crops and keep track of national and international germplasm.

Atiq Ur Rehman Rattu, National Wheat Coordinator, PARC, briefed the group on the system that will be used to stop seed mixing, fumigate, package the seed, and record services before distributing seed packets to collaborators across Pakistan.

“This establishment will substantially improve grain quality in Pakistan. It will connect the international seed sector with national partners to conduct trials after maintaining a record of the incoming material and trace it to the end delivery points,” said Imtiaz. The attendees acknowledged the efforts of the WPEP and especially of CIMMYT in enhancing Pakistan’s national breeding facilities. Azeem highlighted the importance of quality seed for increased productivity and said that the new facility will maintain and distribute pure, high-quality seed to national collaborators.

Agricultural mechanization highlighted at farmers’ field day in Bangladesh

Written by on December 18, 2015. Posted in News. 3 Comments on Agricultural mechanization highlighted at farmers’ field day in Bangladesh

Shahidul Haque Khan

To introduce modern agricultural machines to farmers of Jhenaidah, Bangladesh, a farmers’ field day (FFD) was held on 17 November 2015 at the M.K. High School, Kulfadanga, Maharajpur, Jhenaidah. The FFD was jointly organized by CIMMYT and IRRI under the USAID funded projects Cereal System Initiative for South AsiaMechanization and Irrigation (CSISA-MI) and Rice Value Chain (RVC).

Sk. Nazim Uddin, Mechanization Project Director at Bangladesh’s Department of Agricultural Extension (DAE), said that farmers need modern agricultural machinery and proper training, which is being provided by CIMMYT.

While addressing farmers, chief guest Hamidur Rahman, DAE Director General, pointed out that USAID funded agricultural projects are playing a vital role in introducing agricultural mechanization in Bangladesh and said, “Our population is increasing, whereas the cultivable land is decreasing day by day; we need to adopt complete mechanized systems in agriculture to meet the challenge of producing more food from less land. In this context, CIMMYT and IRRI are doing a great job that everybody should know about.” He also expressed his satisfaction with the public-private partnership initiated by CIMMYT’s CSISA-MI project. William J. Collis, CSISA-MI Senior Project Leader, expressed his hope that mechanization will push forward the agriculture of Bangladesh within the next 10 years and thanked the private sector for its continuous support of the country’s agricultural machinery sector.

At the field day, participating farmers learned about modern agro-machinery and mechanized cropping systems that help reduce tillage to conserve soil health, while saving time, labor, and expenses, and maximizing profit. Detailed discussions were held on how to make tillage options accessible at a lower price, and increase the use of machines through local service providers (LSP). A significant number of farmers expressed their willingness to become LSPs and earn extra income. They also requested subsidies for purchasing the agro-machines and starting their own business.

Farmers and guests later visited field plots where they witnessed demonstrations of several machines, such as a rice transplanter and reaper, a new planter called the hand crank spreader, and the power tiller operated seeder. These demonstrations were presented by private sector companies RFL, Metal, ACI, and Janata Engineering as part of their agro-machinery promoting activities. Afterward, a feedback session was conducted where farmers and LSPs expressed their opinions of the machines, their use and profitability.

Other special guests at the field day were Muhammad Nuruzzaman, Project Management-Coordinator, Economic Growth, USAID Bangladesh; Md. Sirajul Islam, Chief Scientific Officer, RARS, Bangladesh Agricultural Research Institute, Jessore; Subrata Kumar Chakrabarty, Project Manager, CSISA-MI, CIMMYT; and Kevin Robbins, Deputy Project Manager, CSISA-MI, iDE-Bangladesh. The program was chaired by Khairul Abrar, Additional Director, DAE, Jessore. Also present were Deputy Directors of DAE from Jessore, Magura, Jhenaidah, Chuadanga, Meherpur and Kushtia districts; the Chairman and members of Kulfadanga Union Parishad, local elites, school teachers, and large numbers of farmers.

CIMMYT maize varieties in high demand in Pakistan

Written by on December 18, 2015. Posted in News.

AbduRahman Beshir and M. Imtiaz

Pakistan imports more than 85% of its hybrid maize seed, which costs the country about US$ 60 million each year. Due to importation and other factors, the price of hybrid maize seed ranges from US$ 6-8 per kg, the highest in south Asia.

During a NARC-CIMMYT maize field day held on 25 November 2015, Muhammad Azeem Khan, Director General of Pakistan’s National Agricultural Research Center (NARC), said, “We are seeing valuable and precious contributions from the AIP [Agricultural Innovation Program] maize program which will help to lessen the dependency on imported hybrid maize seeds.” In his welcoming address to about 200 participants, the NARC DG mentioned the importance of reopening the CIMMYT office and reviving its activities after a gap of more than two decades.

CIMMYT’s maize activities in Pakistan are being implemented more widely under the recently launched AIP. M. Imtiaz, CIMMYT’s Country Representative and AIP project leader, welcomed the delegates and urged stakeholders to make an all-out effort to deliver maize varieties and hybrids particularly to resource-poor farmers.

Seerat Asghar, Federal Secretary for National Food Security and Research, reminded participants about the role CIMMYT played in helping Pakistan to become self-sufficient in wheat, and described the collaboration between Norman Borlaug and Pakistani scientists. He stressed that this type of collaboration must continue in order to achieve similar results in maize. The Federal Secretary also highlighted AIP’s maize activities, which have introduced a wide range of maize germplasm to Pakistan including vitamin A enriched, biofortified maize hybrids and stem borer resistant open-pollinated varieties (OPVs), among others.

Under the AIP maize program, which started its field evaluation work in February 2014, CIMMYT has evaluated about 100 set of trials consisting of more than 1000 maize hybrids and OPVs in all provinces and regions of Pakistan. In less than two years, the national agricultural research system has identified about 50 hybrids and OPVs suitable for further validation and commercial production. “Pakistan can be taken as CIMMYT’s new frontier for maize where positive impacts can be achieved sustainably,” said AbduRahman Beshir, CIMMYT’s maize improvement and seed systems specialist. “Such fast results are not happening inadvertently; rather, they are creating strong collaborations, and developing confidence and trust in national partners will result in meeting set targets effectively.”

AIP maize is a multi-stakeholder platform consisting of 20 public and private partners who are directly involved in Pakistan’s maize evaluation and validation network. The number of stakeholders is expected to increase as the program further expands product testing and deployment in different parts of the country. During the field visit, Umar Sardar, R&D manager at Four Brothers Seed Company, noted the performance of different maize hybrids and expressed his company’s interest in marketing white kernel varieties in KPK provinces. Similarly, Jan Masood, Director of the Cereal Crops Research Institute (CCRI), asked CIMMYT to allocate some of the entries for the benefit particularly of small-scale farmers in the mountain areas of Pakistan.

During the field day, CIMMYT principles for allocating products to partners were also announced. Ten private and public institutions have submitted applications to CIMMYT’s Global Maize Program to obtain CIMMYT maize germplasm for further validation and commercialization in Pakistan; those requests are now being reviewed by a panel of maize experts working with CIMMYT in Asia.

After visiting demonstration plots and trials, the chief guest, Federal Minister for National Food Security and Research Sikandar Hayat Khan Bosan applauded CIMMYT’s efforts to foster the production and delivery of affordable quality seed. In his concluding remarks, the Minister said, “The country is importing a huge amount of hybrid maize seed, which contributes to the high input price for maize farmers, particularly those with limited resources. We need to strengthen our local capacity especially in hybrid maize seed production in order to enhance availability, accessibility, and affordability of quality seeds to our farmers.” Minister Bosan also noted the role of PARC, CIMMYT, and USAID under AIP.

PARC Chairman Nadeem Amjad expressed his gratitude to all the stakeholders and organizers of this national event. Former PARC Chairman Iftikhar Ahmad and Shahid Masood, former member of PARC’s plant science division, received awards from the chief guest in recognition of their contributions under the AIP program.

Representatives of local and multinational seed companies, public research institutes, relevant government institutions, and USAID, as well as progressive farmers and policymakers attended the field day.

To read more about the event, go to:

http://tvi.com.pk/new-high-yielding-maize-varieties-introduced-in-pakistan/

http://24news2day.com/2015/11/26/usaid-funded-innovation-program-introduces-new-maize-varieties/

http://pakobserver.net/detailnews.asp?id=280397

http://www.sabahnews.net/national/new-maize-varieties-introduced-commercial-use/

http://www.newsmedialive.com/usaid-funded-innovation-program-introduces-new-maize-varieties/