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.

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/

Cross-regional efforts produce a toolbar for direct seeding of maize

Written by on December 18, 2015. Posted in News. 1 Comment on Cross-regional efforts produce a toolbar for direct seeding of maize

Cheap, light, versatile… and locally manufactured

Direct seeding of maize using a two-wheel tractor has been made possible over the past decade or so by manufacturing companies in China, India, and Brazil (among others) that produce commercially available seeders. Several of these seeders have been tested for the past two or three years in Ethiopia, Kenya, Tanzania, and Ethiopia under the Farm Mechanization and Conservation Agriculture for Sustainable Intensification (FACASI) project supported by the Australian International Food Security Research Center (AIFSRC).

One of the best performing commercially available seeders (in terms of field capacity, precision in seed rate and planting depth, crop emergence, etc.) is manufactured by the Brazilian company Fitarelli. However, this seeder is expensive (above US$ 4,000), difficult to maneuver (especially in small fields), and lacks versatility (minimum row spacing is 80 cm).

In response, several initiatives have aimed at producing toolbar-based seeders to be manufactured locally and cheaply, that could be used in different configurations (to seed one, two, or more rows) and could perform other operations (such as forming planting beds). One such toolbar is the Gongli seeder, which is well suited to sow small grain crops such as wheat and rice in Asian fields, but not maize under typical field conditions in Africa. Two years ago, Jeff Esdaile, inventor of the original Gongli, and Joseph Mutua, from the Kenya Network for Dissemination of Agricultural Technologies, produced a modified version of the Gongli – the Gongli Africa + thanks to funding from CRP MAIZE (as reported in Informa No. 1862). In parallel, another toolbar using a different design was produced by Jelle Van Loon and his Smart Mechanization/Machinery and Equipment Innovation team at CIMMYT-Mexico.

Both the Gongli Africa + and the Mexican toolbar have their strengths and their weaknesses. Both have also been judged as too heavy by local service providers. Thus, CRP MAIZE and the Syngenta Foundation for Sustainable Agriculture co-funded a two-week session (8-27 October) in Zimbabwe to develop a “hybrid toolbar” having the strengths of both the Gongli Africa + and the Mexican toolbar but weighing under 100 kg. Jeff Esdaile, Joseph Mutua, and Jelle Van Loon spent the entire two weeks manufacturing three prototypes of the hybrid at the University of Zimbabwe. The two-week session also served as hands-on training for staff of three of Zimbabwe’s major manufacturing companies of agricultural equipment (Zimplow LTD, Bain LTD, and Grownet LTD) as well as representatives of the informal sector.

The hybrid toolbar is expected to sell for a quarter of the price of a Fitarelli seeder, although its performance (in terms in term of field capacity, fuel consumption, precision, and crop emergence) is expected to be equivalent. Its weight suits the needs of local service providers better and it is infinitely more versatile (several configurations are possible depending on the desired row spacing, soil conditions, the amount of mulch, etc.). The hybrid toolbar will be thoroughly tested in Zimbabwe during the coming months. A prototype will be shipped to Bangladesh and another to Mexico for further testing and to share the design.

A Fitarelli seeder is good at establishing a maize crop under no-till conditions, but expensive, difficult to operate in small fields, and heavy. Photo: Frédéric Baudron

The first hybrid toolbar being tested at CIMMYT-Harare. It is cheap, easy to maneuver, light, and versatile. Three local companies and informal sector representatives have been trained to manufacture it locally. Photo: Frédéric Baudron

Precision levelers are climate-smart machines equipped with laser-guided drag buckets to level fields so water flows evenly into soil, rather than running off or collecting in uneven land. This allows much more efficient water use and saves energy through reduced irrigation pumping, compared to traditional land leveling which uses animal-powered scrapers and boards or tractors. It also facilitates uniformity in seed placement and reduces the loss of fertilizer from runoff, raising yields. (Photo: CIMMYT)

Agriculture can help the world meet climate change emission targets

Written by on December 11, 2015. Posted in Director General's corner.

As world leaders meet in Paris this week to agree on greenhouse gas emission targets, we in the field of agricultural research have a powerful contribution to make, by producing both robust estimates of the possible effects of climate change on food security, and realistic assessments of the options available or that could be developed to reduce agriculture’s contribution to greenhouse gas emissions.

Agriculture is estimated to be responsible for about a fifth of global greenhouse gas emissions, and this share is increasing most rapidly in many developing countries; it may even increase as fossil fuels become scarcer and phased out in other sectors.

The solution being put forward today is climate-smart agriculture (CSA), which involves three components: adaptation, mitigation, and increased productivity. Adaptation is essential to cope with the impacts that cannot be avoided and to maintain and increase the global food supply in the face of resource constraints; mitigation can lessen but not prevent future climate changes.

Though CSA has been held up as an answer to the challenges presented by climate change, some would argue that it is no more than a set of agricultural best practices. Indeed, this is what lies at the heart of the approach.

In addition to making agriculture more efficient and resilient, the overall purpose remains to sustainably increase farm productivity and profitability for farmers. This is why over the last few years we have begun talking about the ‘triple win’ of CSA: enhanced food security, adaptation, and mitigation. But those who dismiss CSA as mere best practice ignore the value of seeing through the climate change lens, and guiding research to respond to expected future challenges.

To begin with, crop performance simulation and modeling, in combination with experimentation, has an important role to play in developing CSA strategies for future climates.

In a publication titled “Adapting maize production to climate change in sub-Saharan Africa,” several CIMMYT scientists concluded that temperatures in sub-Saharan Africa will likely rise by 2.1°C by 2050 based on 19 climate change projections. This is anticipated to have an extreme impact for farmers in many environments. Because it takes a long time to develop and then deploy adaptation strategies on a large scale, they warned, there can be no delay in our work.

This explains why CIMMYT is taking the initiative in this area, seeking support to develop advanced international breeding platforms to address the difficulty of developing drought-tolerant wheat, or bringing massive quantities of drought- and heat-tolerant maize to farmers through private sector partners in Africa and Asia.

Our insights into the causes and impacts of climate change lead us to important research questions. For example, how can farmers adopt practices that reduce the greenhouse gas footprint of agriculture while improving yield and resilience?

Colleagues at CIMMYT have challenged the idea that the practice of no-till agriculture (which does not disturb the soil and allows organic matter to accumulate) contributes significantly to carbon sequestration. I think it is important that we, as scientists, explore the truth and be realistic about where opportunities for mitigation in agriculture lie, despite our desire to present major solutions. It is also important to take action where we can have the greatest impact, for example by improving the efficiency of nitrogen fertilizer use.

Nitrous oxide emissions from agriculture have a climate change potential almost 300 times greater than carbon dioxide, and account for about 7% of the total greenhouse gas emissions of China. Improved nutrient management could reduce agricultural greenhouse gas emissions by the equivalent of 325 Mt of carbon dioxide in 2030. Overall, supply-side efficiency measures could reduce total agricultural emissions by 30%.

Some practices, such as laser land leveling, fall into both the adaptation and mitigation categories. Preparing the land in this way increases yields while reducing irrigation costs, the amount of water used, nutrients leached into the environment, and emissions from diesel-powered irrigation pumps.

Findings such as this offer real hope of reducing the severity of climate change in the future, and help us build a case for more investment in critical areas of agricultural research.

For climate-smart agriculture, the challenge of feeding more people and reducing emissions and environmental impact is not a contradiction but a synergy. We are improving our ability to predict the challenges of climate change, and proving that it is possible to greatly reduce agricultural emissions and contribute to global emission goals.

To face challenges such as climate change, we need high quality multi-disciplinary science combined with approaches to address problems at the complex systems level. Since my involvement in early large-scale studies, such as Modeling the Impact of Climate Change on Rice Production in Asia (CABI/IRRI, 1993), I am pleased to see that so much progress has been made in this regard and encouraged that our research is contributing to greater awareness of this vital issue and solutions to address it.

Interview with CIMMYT Director General Martin Kropff in Pakistan

Written by on December 8, 2015. Posted in Features.

From 23 – 26 August, 2015, CIMMYT’s Director General Martin Kropff visited Pakistan to attend the Agricultural Innovation Program’s (AIP) annual conference in Islamabad. Following the conference Kropff met with the CIMMYT team to talk about his observations, suggestions and way forward for continued impact in Pakistan.

Q: Is there room for improvement in the agricultural sector in Pakistan?

A: With an average wheat yield of nearly three tons per hectare, Pakistan’s agricultural sector is in a good position but there are still many opportunities to grow. As highlighted by the Federal Minister for National Food Security and Research, Sikandar Hayat Khan Bosan, technologies such as precision agriculture and hand-held technologies for soil testing, to increase yields present new opportunities. Many farmers’ I met at this year’s AIP conference are not using these improved technologies, and AIP can help ensure they have access.

Q: What is the role of public-private partnerships in agricultural development?

Kropff talking to CIMMYT-Pakistan team. Photo: Awais Yaqub/ CIMMYT

A: The private sector is essential for scaling up new technologies. CIMMYT, United States Agency for International Development (USAID), and heads of international and national companies in Pakistan and other AIP partners are discussing opportunities for future collaborations. This won’t be just a project on maize or wheat – but a full systems approach incorporating the entire value chain.

Q: How can we improve the seed industry’s capacity?

A: When I was Director at Wageningen University, we established an African Agribusiness Academy. Ambassadors from the university would organize groups of young entrepreneurs from across Africa to innovate and learn from our scientists, and vice versa. This type of partnership and co-learning could help AIP improve the industry and farmers’ lives as well as build relationships with the private sector.

Q: What has been your experience with Pakistani scientists and how can they continue to grow?

CIMMYT-Pakistan team photo with CIMMYT Director General Martin Kropff and former CIMMYT Director General Thomas Lumpkin (front row, fourth and fifth from the left, respectively). Photo: Awais Yaqub/ CIMMYT

A: Pakistani CIMMYT scientists are at a really good level. At CIMMYT we are not just conducting research but also applying it in the field, and we need to keep innovating with Pakistan’s national centers and scientists. We also need to continue training and mentoring Pakistan’s future scientists – students from national universities that are an incredible asset to future development.

CIMMYT encourages women farmers in Pakistan to grow their own wheat

Written by on November 27, 2015. Posted in News.

Woman farmer receiving wheat seed at the festival. Photo: Amina Nasim Khan

Farmers, students, scientists, and researchers showed keen interest in new agricultural technologies and practices offered by CIMMYT at the women farmers’ festival organized by Lok Sanjh Foundation at the National Agriculture Research Centre (NARC), Islamabad, Pakistan, on 11 November 2015.

At the festival, CIMMYT showcased high yielding wheat varieties that are resistant to rust, especially Ug99, as well as biofortified and normal yellow and white maize varieties, and information on conservation agriculture.

CIMMYT encourages farmers young and old, men and women, to grow their own wheat for a food secure world. As part of CIMMYT’s mandate to ensure food security, 2,500 smallholder farmers received seed of Faisalabad-08, Punjab-11, Pakistan-13, and NARC-11, wheat varieties that are resistant to rust, including Ug99, at the festival. Seerat Asghar, Federal Secretary, Ministry of National Food Security and Research, Imtiaz Muhammad, CIMMYT country representative, and Nazim Ali, USAID Pakistan representative, distributed the seed.

The team collected farmer information for future follow-up on the wheat varieties’ performance and yield improvement. More than 60% of the recipients were women farmers from the Pothwar region of Punjab province, including Chakwal, Fateh Jang, Gujar Khan, and Rawalpindi, Mardan district of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, and Islamabad.

Seed distribution ceremony during the women farmers’ festival. Photo: Amina Nasim Khan.

CIMMYT scientist Ravi Singh receives honor for wheat genetics, breeding

Written by on November 26, 2015. Posted in News. 57 Comments on CIMMYT scientist Ravi Singh receives honor for wheat genetics, breeding

15273920523_9dd77c5145_o — Distinguished scientist and wheat breeder Ravi Singh at the CIMMYT Toluca research station in Mexico in October 2014. CIMMYT/Julie Mollins

EL BATAN, Mexico (CIMMYT) – Scientist Ravi Singh has been named a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) this week for his “distinguished contributions to the field of agricultural research and development, particularly in wheat genetics, pathology and breeding.”

Singh, who leads wheat improvement and rust resistance research at the International Center for Maize and Wheat Improvement (CIMMYT), is among 347 members awarded the honor this year by the scientific organization AAAS, which also publishes the journal “Science.”

The fellows were honored due to their scientifically or socially distinguished efforts to advance science or its applications.

During more than 30 years at CIMMYT, Singh has made significant contributions to enhancing food security throughout the developing world. His work has led to the application of durable resistance to control fungal wheat rust diseases, which result in almost $3 billion in crop losses a year. As a result of this work, many farmers do not need to protect their crops with costly fungicides, boosting the potential for organic farming.

Singh’s research has shown that globally effective, durable resistance to leaf, yellow and stem rust fungi in wheat involves interactions of slow rusting genes that have additive effects and that the accumulation of four or five of these genes results in a level of resistance comparable to immunity.

His research group has identified 11 diverse slow rusting genes and discovered that some slow rusting genes confer partial resistance to multiple diseases. These include genes Lr34/Yr18/Sr57/Pm38, Lr46/Yr29/Sr58/Pm39, Lr67/Yr46/Sr55/Pm46 for leaf, yellow and stem rusts, and powdery mildew, respectively.

Singh was a co-investigator for research that led to the cloning of pleiotropic geneLr34, a landmark in understanding the genetic mechanism for slow rusting resistance that is conferred by a unique gene belonging to ABC (ATP Binding Cassette) transporter of PDR (Pleiotropic Drug Resistance) subfamily.

His research team have identified and designated 25 genes in wheat, including: Sr8b, Sr55, Sr57 and Sr58 for stem rust resistance; Lr31, Lr46, Lr61, Lr68 and Lr72 for leaf rust resistance; Yr18, Yr27, Yr28, Yr29, Yr30, Yr31, Yr46, Yr54 and Yr60 for yellow rust resistance; Pm39 and Pm46 for powdery mildew resistance; Bdv1 for barley yellow dwarf virus tolerance; SuLr23 for suppression of leaf rust resistance; Sb1 for spot blotch resistance; and Ltn1, Ltn2 and Ltn3 for leaf tip necrosis.

More recently, his research group identified various Quantitative Trait Loci that confer slow rusting resistance to stem rust including the highly virulent Ug99 stem rust race-group.

Singh was also part of the global research team that isolated the wheat gene Lr67, revealing how it hampers fungal pathogen growth through a novel mechanism. CIMMYT scientists created and field tested genetic mutations of Lr67, to pinpoint the gene’s exact location in the wheat genome.

CIMMYT-derived wheat cultivars with durable rust resistance cover more than 25 million hectares in the developing world, contributing billions of dollars through enhanced yield potential and yield savings in epidemic years.

Singh’s research team has also developed various widely grown current wheat varieties in various countries with enhanced grain yield potential of five to 15 percent combined with heat and drought tolerance and good processing quality.

More recently, the team also initiated breeding wheat with enhanced levels of grain zinc and iron concentration in grain, which are being tested in India and Pakistan to improve the nutrition of women and children with chronic micronutrient deficiency.

Singh has penned 200 peer reviewed journal articles, 26 book chapters/extension publications, 80 published symposia, and 212 symposia abstracts that he has authored and co-authored.

He has also received the “Outstanding CGIAR Scientist Award,” the 2015 China Friendship Award, and awards from China’s provincial governments in Sichuan, Yunnan and Xinjiang. He is a fellow of the American Society of Agronomy, Crop Science Society of America, American Phytopathological Society and the National Academy of Agricultural Sciences of India.

Singh and the other new AAAS fellows will be presented with an official certificate and a gold and blue rosette pin in February during the organization’s 2016 annual meeting in Washington, D.C.

WPEP helps farmers produce wheat seed for a food-secure future

Written by on November 13, 2015. Posted in News. 1 Comment on WPEP helps farmers produce wheat seed for a food-secure future

Wheat seed distribution in Nankana-Sahib, Punjab province. Photo: Monsif ur Rehman/CIMMYT Pakistan — Wheat seed distribution in Nankana-Sahib, Punjab province.
Photo: Monsif ur Rehman/CIMMYT Pakistan

As part of seed multiplication and distribution, an objective of the Wheat Productivity and Enhancement Program (WPEP), CIMMYT-Pakistan distributed quality wheat seed free of charge to smallholder farmers in Punjab province with the aim of replacing outdated, susceptible wheat varieties.

A distribution ceremony was held at the Wheat Research Institute (WRI) Faisalabad on 3 November 2015. The event was attended by Makhdoom Hussain, WRI-Faisalabad Director, and M. Imtiaz, CIMMYT Country Representative.

In the third round of wheat seed distribution by WPEP, each of 40 farmers received 25 kg of seed of PAKISTAN-2013 and NARC-2011, wheat varieties derived from CIMMYT germplasm that are resistant to rust (especially Ug99).