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.

WPEP enhances the capacity of national researchers and ensures quality wheat seed production in Pakistan

Written by on October 23, 2015. Posted in News.

Imtiaz Muhammad addresses the opening session. Photo: CIMMYT-Pakistan.

The Wheat Productivity Enhancement Program (WPEP) held a training course on national seed technology, organized by CIMMYT in partnership with Pakistan’s Federal Seed Certification and Registration Department (FSC&RD), on 10-12 September 2015 in Islamabad.

During the opening session, CIMMYT Country Representative Imtiaz Muhammad informed the participants on the WPEP’s mandate for accelerated wheat seed multiplication of rust resistant varieties including stem rust resistant varieties with a focus on Ug99, its constraints, and early generation seed multiplication of newly released varieties.

The training covered variety maintenance including head rows, progeny rows, progeny blocks, breeder seed production, variety registration, seed multiplication of pre-basic, basic, and certified seed, plant breeders’ rights, seed enterprises and up-scaling of varieties resistant to Ug99 and other rusts.

Training participants. Photo: CIMMYT-Pakistan.

The course was attended by 60 participants including seed certification officers, seed analysts, and seed growers, as well as representatives of public and private seed companies, agriculture training institutes, the agriculture extension department, and research institutes. Also in attendance were women seed analysts from the seed regulatory department.

Accelerated seed multiplication of pre-release varieties is needed to produce seeds of varieties resistant to Ug99 and other rusts and deliver them to the farming community. WPEP facilitates the screening of wheat breeding lines for both seedling and adult plant resistance to Ug99. This training will enable the participants to better assist wheat breeders during variety maintenance activities and accelerated pre-basic seed multiplication and will provide a sound base for multiplying basic and certified seed. Participants also held extensive discussions on quality seed production, improved agronomic practices, seed diseases, seed storage, and seed handling during transport.

CIMMYT-WPEP has already provided pre-basic and basic seed to public seed corporations, private seed companies, and farmers throughout the country in order to have large quantities of quality seed available, with the expectation that seed certification will be arranged locally. This training will facilitate testing of crop and seed purity, which is required for crop and seed certification.

At the closing, Seerat Asghar, Federal Secretary, Ministry of National Food Security and Research, and FSC&RD Director General Shakeel Ahmad Khan acknowledged CIMMYT’s continuous contributions and its cooperation in holding such a valuable training course in Pakistan. These types of courses create awareness of variety maintenance and early generation seed multiplication, which are essential for achieving sound certified seed production in Pakistan.

Global conference underscores complex socio-economic role of wheat

Written by on October 20, 2015. Posted in News.

SYDNEY, Australia, October 9 (CIMMYT) – A recent gathering of more than 600 international scientists highlighted the complexity of wheat as a crop and emphasized the key role wheat research plays in ensuring global food security now and in the future.

Specialist scientists and other members of the global wheat community attended two back-to-back wheat symposiums stretching over nine days from September 17 to 25 in Sydney, Australia. The first, a workshop hosted by the Borlaug Global Rust Initiative (BGRI), focused on Ug99 wheat rust disease. At the second, the five-day International Wheat Conference, which is held every five years, scientists dissected topics ranging from the intricate inner workings of the wheat genome to nutritional misrepresentations of wheat in the popular media.

Hans Braun, head of the Global Wheat Program at the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT) and the CGIAR Wheat Research Program, delivered a keynote presentation focused on new research, which shows that about 70 percent of spring bread and durum wheat varieties released in developing countries over the 20-year period between 1994 and 2014 were bred or are derived from wheat lines developed by scientists working for the CGIAR consortium of agricultural researchers. On a global basis, more than 60 percent of the released varieties are related to CIMMYT or International Center for Agricultural Research in the Dry Areas (ICARDA) germplasm.

Benefits of CGIAR wheat improvement research, conducted mainly by CIMMYT and ICARDA, range from $2.8 billion to $3.8 billion a year, he said, highlighting the economic benefits of international collaboration in wheat improvement research.

“Investment in agricultural research pays a huge dividend,” said Martin Kropff, CIMMYT’s director general, during a keynote address. “Investment in public research is a ‘triple win,’ leading to more food and income for the rural poor, lower prices for the urban poor, and extra stability and income for farmers in developed donor countries such as Australia, where gains are tens of millions a year.”

Bram Govaerts, who heads sustainable intensification efforts for CIMMYT in Latin America and leads the MasAgro project, demonstrated how minimal soil disturbance, permanent soil cover, and crop rotation can simultaneously boost yields, increase profits and protect the environment. Under MasAgro, some 400,000 hectares have been planted using improved technologies and agronomic practices; more than 200,000 producers are involved, of which 21 percent are women.

Sanjaya Rajaram, former CIMMYT wheat program director and 2014 World Food Prize laureate, described how wheat production must increase from the current 700 million metric tons a year to 1 billion metric tons a year by 2050 in order to keep up with population growth. Wheat currently provides 20 percent of calories and 20 percent of protein in the global human diet, he said, adding that the world’s food supply also faces the threat of climate-change related global warming.

“To date, scientists have been unable to sufficiently increase yields to meet demand through hybridization,” Rajaram said. “It’s time to invest in biotechnology to ensure yields can provide nourishment for an ever-hungrier planet. Simultaneously, we must maintain balance in the food chain and restore depleted carbon in the soil. Such concerns as disease resilience, seed diversity, water management and micronutrient imbalance must also be tackled.”

Ethiopia-based CIMMYT scientist David Hodson provided a retrospective on 10 years of Ug99 stem rust surveillance, while Kenya-based CIMMYT scientist Sridhar Bhavani provided an overview of progress made in breeding durable adult plant resistance to rust diseases and combining rust resistance in high yielding backgrounds over the past decade.

The Ug99 virulent disease threatens food security as it creeps steadily from its origin in Uganda towards the breadbasket regions of Asia.

“Technology can help us fight Ug99 stem rust, but we’re always going to need good field pathologists and researchers on the ground,” said Hodson, who also runs the Rust Tracker website.

Despite efforts to develop wheat that is resistant to damaging stem, stripe, and leaf rusts, these diseases, which have existed for 10,000 years, will continue to thwart scientists, said Philip Pardey, a professor in the Department of Applied Economics at the University of Minnesota, adding that the annual global investment in wheat rust research should be $108 million a year in perpetuity.

Pardey determined in a recent study that global losses from all three rusts average at least 15.04 tons a year, equivalent to an average annual loss of about $2.9 billion.

Jessica Rutkoski, a quantitative geneticist who works as an adjunct associate scientist at CIMMYT and an assistant professor at Cornell University, discussed the implications of new technologies for more durable resistance to rust.

Wheat physiology was also under discussion, with CIMMYT physiologists Matthew Reynolds and Gemma Molero delivering presentations on phenotyping, pre-breeding strategies, genetic gains, and spike photosynthesis. Their work also involves the use of ancient landraces, which may hold the secret to creating wheat resilient to global warming caused by climate change.

CIMMYT’s Alexey Morgunov demonstrated how a number of ancient landrace genotypes grown by farmers in Turkey have shown signs that they are resistant to abiotic and biotic stresses, which could help in the development of heat and disease resistant wheat varieties.

CIMMYT’s Zhonghu He discussed progress on wheat production and genetic improvement in China, while Sukhwinder Singh described his work characterizing gene bank biodiversity and mobilizing useful genetic variation – pre-breeding – into elite breeding lines. Bhoja Basnet covered hybrid wheat breeding at CIMMYT.

A session on nutrition and wheat targeted some of the myths swirling around wheat and gluten. CIMMYT’s Velu Govindan gave an update on his research into breeding and delivering biofortified high zinc wheat varieties to farmers. Zinc deficiency limits childhood growth and decreases resistance to infections.

Kropff also delivered a keynote presentation on wheat and the role of gender in the developing world, which preceded the BGRI Women in Triticum Awards, presented by Jeanie Borlaug Laube, daughter of the late Nobel Peace Prize laureate and CIMMYT wheat breeder Norman Borlaug.

Kropff explained that each component of the strategy for research into wheat farming systems at CIMMYT includes a gender dimension, whether it is focused on improving the evidence base, responding to the fact that both women and men can be end users and beneficiaries of new seeds and other technologies, or ensuring that gender is considered part of capacity-building efforts.

Bekele Abeyo, CIMMYT wheat breeder and pathologist for sub-Saharan Africa, won a $100 prize in the BGRI poster competition for his poster explaining the performance of CIMMYT-derived wheat varieties in Ethiopia.

A team of Kenyan scientists were recognized for their contribution to the protection of the global wheat supply from Ug99 stem rust disease. Plant pathologist Ruth Wanyera and wheat breeders Godwin Macharia and Peter Njau of the Kenya Agriculture and Livestock Research Organization received the 2015 BGRI Gene Stewardship Award.

CIMMYT wheat breeder Ravi Singh wins China’s Friendship Award

Written by on October 19, 2015. Posted in Features.

EL BATAN, Mexico (CIMMYT) – Gains in China’s agricultural productivity over the past 30 years are due in large measure to smallholder farmers who have readily adopted innovative farming practices introduced by scientists, said a top wheat breeder during a speech at the country’s annual Friendship Awards.

Ravi Singh, a chief wheat breeder and distinguished scientist at the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT), was among 50 foreigners from 21 countries working in China, who received the prestigious award in Beijing last month in recognition of their contributions to China’s development.

“China is now the largest wheat producer in the world and continues to increase production and productivity while reducing the amount of land sown with wheat by about 20 percent – it’s a remarkable success story,” Singh said.

“I commend and salute the Chinese government for rigorously supporting agricultural research and development, and more importantly farmers, with transformative policies that were crucial to achieve goals.”

Singh’s key contributions to China’s agricultural development over the past 30 years involve sharing improved germplasm, knowledge about rust-disease resistance genetics and leading various types of training, including mentoring post-doctoral Ph.D. graduates as part of an agreement between CIMMYT and the Chinese government.

The Friendship Award, first established to recognize experts from the Soviet Bloc in the 1950s, abolished in the 1960s during the Cold War and reintroduced in the 1990s, is China’s highest award for foreign experts who have made outstanding contributions to the country’s economic and social progress. Since its reinstatement, 1,449 Friendship Awards have been conferred, according to the Xinhua news agency.

CIMMYT scientist Ravi Singh receives Friendship Award from China's Vice-Premier Ma Kai. CIMMYT/Handout — CIMMYT scientist Ravi Singh receives Friendship Award from China’s Vice-Premier Ma Kai. CIMMYT/Handout

“The new generation of well-trained Chinese scientists with access to modern laboratories and field facilities are well equipped to find innovative solutions to the challenge of feeding an ever-increasing global population,” Singh said, referring to U.N. projections that the current population of 7.3 billion will increase 33 percent to 9.7 billion by 2050.

“I feel deeply grateful and satisfied with the remarkable progress China has made in enhancing food productivity and incomes of millions of women and men small-scale farmers who embraced innovations and responded to the crucial responsibility of enhancing food production,” he added.

Currently, the country consumes almost 117 million tons of wheat a year and produces about 130 million tons of wheat a year, according to the Wheat Atlas. China, home to 1.4 billion people, is the most populated country in the world and represents 19 percent of the world’s population, the U.N. Department of Economic and Social Affairs reports.

Several CIMMYT scientists have received the China Friendship Award, including the 2014 World Food Prize laureate Sanjaya Rajaram, with whom Singh initiated his career at CIMMYT.

Additionally, Hans Braun, head of CIMMYT’s Global Wheat Program and the CGIAR Research Program on Wheat, noted agronomist Thomas Lumpkin, CIMMYT’s director general from 2008 to 2015, and scientists Surindar Vasal, Jose Luis Araus and Ken Sayre have been honored with the Friendship Award in previous years. Vasal was jointly awarded the World Food Prize with Eva Villegas in 2000.

“The Chinese government and people will never forget the positive contribution that foreign experts have made to China’s development and progress,” said the country’s Vice Premier Ma Kai at the 2015 Friendship Award ceremony.

Singh has also received three provincial friendship awards from China.

CSISA wheat breeders plan for future gains in South Asia

Written by on October 19, 2015. Posted in News.

Participants from four south Asian countries attended CSISA’s annual review meeting at Karnal, India. Photo: Bal Kishan Bhonsle

The growing interest of national agriculture research system (NARS) of South Asia in genetic gains and seed dissemination work in Cereal Systems Initiative for South Asia (CSISA) objective 4 (wheat breeding), 50 scientists from Bangladesh, Bhutan, India and Nepal assembled at Karnal, India on September 2-3, 2015 for the 7th Wheat Breeding Review Meeting of this project. The meeting was organized by CIMMYT’s Kathmandu office with support from CIMMYT-Delhi/Karnal office and led by Dr. Arun Joshi. Dr. Ravish Chatrath, IIWBR provided strong support as local organizer.

The other CIMMYT participants were Etienne Duveiller, Uttam Kumar and Alistair Pask. Participants included representatives of: the Wheat Research Centre of Bangladesh (Dinajpur); Bangladesh Agriculture Research Institute (BARI), Ghazipur; India’s Directorate of Wheat Research (DWR), Karnal and Shimla; the Indian Agricultural Research Institute (IARI), Delhi and Indore; Punjab Agricultural University, Ludhiana; Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi; the University of Agricultural Sciences, Dharwad; Uttarbanga Krishi Vishwa Vidyalaya, Coochbehar, West Bengal; Jawaharlal Nehru Krishi Vishwavidyalaya, Jabalpur and Powarkheda; Govind Vallabh Pant University of Agriculture and Technology, Pantnagar; Indian Institute of Science Education and Research (IISER), Kolkata, Mohanpur, Distt. Nadia, W. Bengal; Nepal’s National Wheat Research Program (NWRP), Bhairahwa; Nepal Agricultural Research Institute (NARI); Khumaltar of Nepal Agricultural Research Council (NARC) and Renewable Natural Resources (RNR), Research and Development Centre (RDC), Bajo, Bhutan.

The CSISA meeting began with remarks by the chief guest, Dr. Indu Sharma, Director, IIWBR, Karnal along with Dr. Md. Rafiqul Islam Mondal, Director General, BARI; Etienne Duveiller, CIMMYT, Delhi and Arun Joshi, CIMMYT, Kathmandu. Within a wider framework of discussing issues concerning wheat improvement, the CSISA meeting reviewed the progress of the 2014-15 cycle, and established work plans for the coming crop cycle. Arun Joshi presented a summary of the achievements in wheat breeding over last 6 years and highlighted the impressive results obtained in varietal release, seed dissemination and impact in farmer fields. Dr. Etienne informed he challenges of climate change and the ways our program should be shaped to handle these issues. Dr. Mondal expressed his happiness that CSISA wheat breeding has been very successful in contributing to enhancement of wheat production and producitity in Bangladesh and other countries through a vigourous wheat breeding and seed dissemination with strong linkage with national centres.

Dr. Indu Sharma highlighted the significance of collaborative research with a regional perspective and told the audience about the successes being achieved by CSISA in wheat research especially in handling rust resistance and heat tolerance in south Asia. She expressed his appreciation for new research efforts under CSISA and said that “the South Asia-CIMMYT collaboration is paramount to the food security and livelihood of the farmers.” She also said that seeing new challenges there is much more need for such collaborative research efforts for the economic prosperity and good health of agriculture sector in south Asia.

Four review sessions were conducted, chaired by NARS colleagues Dr. Indu Sharma, Dr. Mondal, Dr. Ravi Pratap Singh and Dr. S.P. Khatiwada. Three sessions were used to present review reports and work plans from the 10 research centers, while two other sessions discussed progress in physiology, spot blotch and strengthening linkage of wheat breeding with seed dissemination and capacity building in South Asia. A major discussion was held to devise strategies to strengthen research to handle future threats to wheat such as yellow rust, early and late heat stress, water scarcity and to enable environment for fast track release of varieties so that new seed can reach to farmers as soon as possible.

Arun Joshi also highlighted major achievements in CSISA wheat breeding through very able collaboration by national centres in South Asia. He emphasized that breeding for biotic and abiotic stress tolerance gained momentum through CSISA by developing varieties with faster grain filling and flexibility to adapt to a range of sowing dates. Not only these new varieties were developed, improved networking with public and private sector seed hubs enabled fast track inclusion of these varieties in seed dissemination chain. The increase germplasm flow from CIMMYT, Mexico enriched Indian gene bank with a large reservoir of diverse set of genotypes for current and future used. The continued inclusion of resistance to Ug99 and other rusts in wheat lines kept diseases at bay and safeguarded farmers. There is increased use of physiological tools for heat and drought tolerance and stronger links were established between breeders, seed producers and farmers. Another significant achievement was strengthened capacity building in the region.

A talk on wheat research as Borlaug Institute for South Asia (BISA) was delivered by Uttam Kumar, CIMMYT. Likewise progress on CRP project on spot blotch was presented by Shree Pandey and Ramesh Chand, India. A talk on wheat breeding at Bhutan was presented by Sangay Tshewang. He was happy to inform that through this networking and collaboration with CIMMYT, Bhutan was able to release three new wheat varieties after a gap of 20 years.

On the 2nd day, a visit to IIWBR was organized. Dr. Indu Sharma and her team of scientists led by Dr. Ravish Chatrath facilitated this visit. The participants were taken to different laboratories and current research activities were explained. The participants from Nepal, Bangladesh and Bhutan expressed desire for increased exchange visits among research institutions of countries in south Asia.

The review meeting enabled CSISA wheat researchers to measure their achievements compared to the challenges being encountered and enabled an environment to discuss future strategies to augment research activities better tuned to future targets in the region. The participants were of the view that strong linkage and coordination between the national research program, the CIMMYT team and other stakeholders especially those in seed business is needed to achieve comprehensive progress towards increasing food availability and better livelihood of masses.

5th International Cereal Nematode Initiative Workshop

Written by on October 13, 2015. Posted in News.

Photo: Participants signing in at the registration desk. Photo: Deliang Peng

The 5th International Cereal Nematode Initiative (ICNI) Workshop was held in Ankara, Turkey, on 12-16 September 2015. During the opening ceremony, 70 representatives from 21 countries were welcomed by Ali Osman Sari, Deputy Director General, Directorate of Agricultural Research and Policies, Turkish Ministry of Food Agriculture and Livestock (MFAL), Birol Akbas, Plant Health Department Head, MFAL, and Alexey Morgounov, Head, International Winter Wheat Improvement Program and CIMMYT-Turkey CLO.

During his opening speech, Sari gave a general presentation on MFAL and expressed his full support for workshop participants who tackle problems caused by cereal nematodes. Morgounov welcomed the participants and thanked donors for supporting the workshop. An invited speaker, Hafiz Muminjanov from FAO, gave a talk on FAO’s plant production and protection activities in Central Asia. Beverley Gogel, another invited speaker, presented the statistical analyses used in Australia to understand genotype by environment interaction in field and glasshouse experiments and determine the resistance of varieties to Pratylenchus. The next day, the third invited speaker, Hakan Ozkan, gave a presentation on using DNA molecular markers for disease resistance in plant breeding.

Workshop proceedings edited by Abdelfattah A. Dababat, Hafiz Muminjanov, and Richard Smiley were designed and printed by FAO and cover such subjects as biological management of nematodes, molecular techniques for nematode identification, cereal nematode biology and development, gene expression, and resistance. The quality of the scientific program and the participation of nematologists from various countries made for a highly successful meeting.

Cereal-Nematode-Initiative-Workshop2 — Photo: Participants in the 5th International Cereal Nematode Initiative Workshop, Ankara, Turkey. Photo: CIMMYT–Turkey.

The conference was coordinated and organized by Abdelfattah Dababat, CIMMYT-Turkey nematologist, as part of the ICARDA CIMMYT Wheat Improvement Program (ICWIP), and funded by CIMMYT, MFAL, DuPont, Bisab, Dikmenfide, GRDC and Syngenta as the main donor.

The 6th International Cereal Nematode Symposium will be held in Morocco in 2017. The date and place will be posted on CIMMYT’s home page in the coming months. For more information, please contact Abdelfattah A. Dababat (a.dababat@cgiar.org) or Fouad Mokrini (fouad_iav@yahoo.fr.), local organizer of the 6th Symposium in Morocco.

India visit: Dr. Martin Kropff, Director General, CIMMYT

Written by on October 9, 2015. Posted in Features. 1 Comment on India visit: Dr. Martin Kropff, Director General, CIMMYT

Photos courtesy of Anu Raswant

From 28 September to 2 October, CIMMYT Director General Martin Kropff visited different research sites in several states of India. The following reports detail his visit.

CIMMYT Emeritus Director General Dr. Tom Lumpkin receives prestigious 8^th MS Swaminathan Award

Dr. Tom Lumpkin receiving the M.S. Swaminathan Award from Dr. M.S. Swaminathan and Dr. Raj Paroda, Chair, Trust for Advancement of Agricultural Sciences. Dr. Martin Kropff, CIMMYT DG, attended the award ceremony.

Dr. Tom Lumpkin, former CIMMYT Director General, received 8^th MS Swaminathan Award for Leadership in Agriculture in a glittering ceremony organized by the Trust for Advancement of Agricultural Sciences (TAAS) at the Indian Agricultural Research Institute (IARI), New Delhi, on September 28. This year’s award was a special occasion as the award was presented by Dr. Swaminathan himself. The Award is conferred on individuals “who have done outstanding research work in the field of agriculture, animal sciences, and fisheries.” The first award was given in 2005 by the President of India, Dr. A.P.J. Abdul Kalam, to Dr. Norman E. Borlaug, Nobel laureate who led the development and spread of high-yielding wheat varieties in the developing countries during 1960s and 70s, which culminated in Green Revolution that saved billions of people from starvation.

On this occasion, Dr. Lumpkin said, “I’m humbled and greatly honored by this award. Swaminathan and Borlaug were visionaries who worked together and made their case courageously to the political leaders to get appropriate technologies into farmers’ hands. We must do the same, if South Asia is to provide nutritious food for more than 1 billion people who will live here in 2050, without further degrading land or depleting groundwater.”

While addressing the gathering, Dr. Swaminathan praised the work of Dr. Lumpkin in strengthening wheat and maize research in India and lauded his efforts in establishing the Borlaug Institute for South Asia.

CIMMYT-India Office Inaugurated by Dr. Martin Kropff, CIMMYT Director General, and CIMMYT Senior Management

CIMMYT DG inaugurating the renovated regional office of CIMMYT in India.

Dr. Martin Kropff, along with Drs. John Snape, Tom Lumpkin, Marianne Banziger, H.S. Gupta, Etienne Duvellier and B.S. Sidhu inaugurated the renovated CIMMYT-India office on September 30, 2015 by cutting a ribbon and unveiling a commemorative plaque. A large gathering of the staff from CG centers and ICAR along with Dr. S. Ayyappan, ICAR Director General, were present. Strategically located in the National Agricultural Science Center (NASC) complex, the renovated office can now accommodate 25 staff and has improved facilities. At the gathering, Kropff reiterated the importance of working as ‘One CIMMYT’ and ‘One CG’ to achieve food security in South Asia.

Visit to BISA Research Center at Ladhowal, Punjab

CIMMYT DG inaugurating the solar-powered micro-irrigation system at Ladhowal center of BISA.

CIMMYT DG Dr. Martin Kropf, accompanied by Drs. John Snape, Board Chair CIMMYT; Thomas A. Lumpkin, Ex-DG, CIMMYT; Marianne Banziger, DDG, CIMMYT, Etienne Duveiller, Director Research, CIMMYT-South Asia, and Dr. B.S. Sidhu, Commissioner, Agriculture, Punjab Government, visited BISA’s research center at Ladhowal on October 01, 2015. They were received by Dr. H.S. Gupta, BISA DG, and BISA staff members at the farm. They were taken around to see the research activities. The visiting team was impressed with the state-of-the-art facilities at the farm and the research work being conducted. Dr. Kropff and visiting dignitaries inaugurated a solar-powered micro-irrigation system installed with financial support from the Government of Punjab.

The visiting team evinced keen interest in the experiments on subsurface irrigation in the water-smart block where farmers can save 50-60% water without yield penalty. Kropff was pleased to learn that the latest technology in phenotyping in collaboration with Kansas State University is being used at BISA

DG CIMMYT with staff members of BISA at Ladhowal farm in Ludhiana

and that wheat lines with a 15-17% yield advantage have been selected and passed on to national partners under GWP. This will help increase the overall productivity of wheat in India in general and Punjab state in particular.

Dr. H.S. Sidhu, Senior agricultural engineer, showed various agricultural implements that have been developed at BISA center and have contributed to the adoption of conservation agriculture. Some of them are in great demand not only in India but in neighboring countries like Pakistan and many countries of Africa. At the end of the visit, a presentation summarized the development of Ladhowal farm since it was handed over to BISA. Dr. Kropff commented, “I am impressed with the facilities and high quality of research being conducted at BISA.”

Visit to Farmers’ Fields near BISA’s Ladhowal Center

CIMMYT DG Dr. Martin Kropff and Commissioner, Agriculture, Govt. of Punjab, Dr. B.S. Sidhu interacting with farmers in a climate-smart village near Ladhowal.

During visit to BISA Research Center at Ladhowal, Dr. Martin Kropff, along with CIMMYT’s senior management team, visited farmers’ fields near Ladhowal village and talked with farmers about climate-smart agricultural practices. The farmers showed use of the Green Seeker in rice crop and briefed the team on the conservation agriculture practices adopted by them. Dr. B.S. Sidhu, Commissioner, agriculture, Govt. of Punjab, shared that Punjab Govt. subsidizes the purchase of the Green Seeker so that farmers are encouraged to buy this instrument and save nitrogen.

DG Martin Kropff and Senior Management Visit Punjab Agricultural University, Ludhiana, Punjab

CIMMYT DG visiting rice fields with Dr. B.S. Dhillon, Vice Chancellor, Punjab Agricultural University, Ludhiana.

Dr. Martin Kropff, along with Drs. John Snape, Tom Lumpkin, Marianne Banziger, H.S. Gupta, Etienne Duvellier, and B.S. Sidhu, visited Punjab Agricultural University, Ludhiana, on October 1, 2015. He was received by the Vice Chancellor, Dr. B.S. Dhillon, who took the delegation around the farm and showed the research being conducted at this premiere university of India that was one of the major players in ushering the Green Revolution in India.

Directors of research and extension briefed the team on research on cereals, pulses, oilseeds, and horticultural crops. Dr. Kropff and members of the team showed keen interest in the quality research being pursued at the University.

Visit to Climate-Smart Villages in Haryana, India

CIMMYT DG visiting climate-smart villages in Karnal, Haryana, India.

Dr. Martin Kropff, CIMMYT DG, visited the CIMMYT-CCAFS participatory strategic research and learning platform in Taraori, Haryana, along with Drs. John Snape, Board Chair CIMMYT, Dr. Thomas A. Lumpkin, former CIMMYT DG, Marianne Banziger, DDG, CIMMYT, H.S. Gupta, BISA DG, and Etienne Duveiller, Director of Research, CIMMYT-South Asia, on October 02, 2015. Dr. M.L. Jat, Senior Cropping System Agronomist and Coordinator of CCAFS South Asia, explained the research portfolio of CIMMYT’s Sustainable Intensification Program in northwest India. He explained how layering of resource-efficient technologies can help in adaptation to frequent climate and biological changes under a particular set of agroecological conditions. During the visit to the climate-smart villages, the overall approach of developing, adapting, and scaling CSA through innovation and learning platforms in a participatory mode involving youth and women was highlighted. The portfolios of CSA interventions (water, energy, carbon, nutrient, weather and knowledge based) are chosen to suit local agroclimatic conditions and are being implemented through innovative partnerships with farmers and farmer cooperatives, to build resilience to climate change, and increase productivity and income. Dr. Martin Kropff sent a message to Dr. Bruce Campbell, CCAFS Director, saying:

“Dear Bruce, I just visited the climate-smart village project of M.L. Jat of CIMMYT in Haryana. Very impressive and a great enthusiasm with the farmers. Really exceptional work. I hope we can keep up the good work in the new phase of CCAFS.” In his immediate response, Bruce said, “Hi, Martin, I agree. It is great work.”

CIMMYT DG Martin Kropff and CIMMYT Senior Management Meet the Honorable Chief Minister, Government of Punjab

CIMMYT DG apprising the Hon’ble Chief Minister, Govt. of Punjab, about the research activities undertaken at BISA Center in Ladhowal.

Dr. Martin Kropff, CIMMYT DG, accompanied by Drs. John Snape, Board Chair; Thomas A. Lumpkin, former CIMMYT DG; Marianne Banziger, CIMMYT DDG, and H.S. Gupta, BISA DG, paid a courtesy visit on the Hon’ble Chief Minister of Punjab Shri Parkash Singh Badal on October 02, 2015. Dr. Kropff apprised the Hon’ble Chief Minister about the infrastructure development and research activities going on at the Ladhowal center of BISA. The Chief Minister expressed keen interest in the activities of BISA and urged CIMMYT management to take the technology developed at BISA farm to farmers’ fields.

While thanking the team for sparing time to visit him, the Chief Minister promised full support to BISA and hoped that BISA will prove to be a milestone in heralding a second Green Revolution in India.

Visit to the Research Platform at CSSRI, Karnal, Haryana, India

CIMMYT DG visiting the research platform at ICAR’s Central Soil Salinity Research Institute, Karnal, Haryana.

The team, comprised of Drs. Martin Kropff, DG, CIMMYT, John Snape, Board Chair CIMMYT, Thomas A. Lumpkin, former CIMMYT DG, Marianne Banziger, CIMMYT DDG, H.S. Gupta, BISA DG, and Etienne Duveiller, Director of Research, CIMMYT-South Asia, visited the CSSRI-CSISA Research Platform at Karnal, Haryana, on Oct. 2, 2015. Dr. D.K. Sharma, Director, ICAR-CSSRI, welcomed CIMMYT’s new DG and senior management and highlighted the CIMMYT/CSSRI partnership and how important it is in relation to salinity and food security under the emerging climate change scenario. He stressed sustainable intensification and climate-smart agriculture for efficient resource management to address issues such as soil quality, labor shortages, water, and energy in the current changing climate in Indian IGP. He suggested to Dr. Kropff that the research platform on sustainable intensification initiated under CSISA at CSSRI should be continued for the next few years through support from CIMMYT because this platform acts as a production observatory to monitor the long-term changes and helps to give future research direction. Dr. H.S. Jat, CIMMYT senior scientist and platform coordinator, explained the outputs of CIMMYT’s on-going research activities being carried out in collaboration with CSSRI, Karnal.

Setting the stage for delivering high zinc wheat in South Asia

Written by on October 6, 2015. Posted in News.

Public and private sector partners in HarvestPlus’ biofortified wheat research and dissemination network in South Asia got together at ICRISAT, Hyderabad, on 10-11 September to discuss progress on breeding research, producing seed for target populations, and strategies for accelerating seed production and fast-tracking commercialization of biofortified zinc-rich wheat varieties.

Partners from India, Nepal, Bangladesh and Pakistan, as well as delegates from the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR), various state agricultural universities, NGOs, small and medium-size private seed companies, processors, millers, and progressive farmers discussed topics such as critical gaps and opportunities in outreach strategies, priority upscaling interventions, and policy incentives for fast-track adoption of improved high Zn wheat varieties.

ICAR Deputy Director General (Crop Science) J.S. Sandhu inaugurated the workshop with a formal presentation on India’s Consortia Research Platforms (CRP) for improving nutritional quality of major staples and emphasized the extraordinary nutritional challenges that country faces, e.g., some of the highest rates of childhood stunting and malnutrition in the world. Wolfgang Pfeiffer, HarvestPlus Director (Product Development and Deployment), highlighted the success of HarvestPlus partners in disseminating nutrient-dense wheat, reaching 50,000 farm households and providing biofortified wheat to a quarter of a million household members by 2015. Parminder Virk, Product Development Manager at HarvestPlus, urged participants to set up a fast-track commercialization pipeline to enable nutrient rich wheat varieties to reach smallholder farmers fast.

CIMMYT Wheat Breeder Velu Govindan discussed advances in the development of competitive high Zn wheat germplasm at CIMMYT, Mexico, to satisfy the needs of national program partners, while Arun Joshi, Senior Wheat Breeder, CIMMYT-South Asia, emphasized the crucial role of public and private sector partners in ensuring farmers have rapid and long-term access to nutrient rich wheat seed. Ravish Chatrath, IIWBR, summarized the results of a special biofortified wheat trial conducted across locations in India.

HarvestPlus Wheat Biofortification meeting held at ICRISAT, in Patancheru. Photo credit : HarvestPlus.

V.K. Mishra, Banaras Hindu University, reported that farmer-participatory varietal selection trials have enabled the identification and release of competitive high Zn wheat varieties for fast-track commercialization in the eastern Gangetic Plains (EGP) of India. The new varieties are not only nutritionally superior, but also drought tolerant and resistant to rusts and other foliar diseases. They are being commercialized in India as truthfully-labeled seed under different names by private companies and farmers’ seed production networks.

Reflections of a wheat trainee: Zaki Afshar, Afghanistan

Written by on October 5, 2015. Posted in Features. 1 Comment on Reflections of a wheat trainee: Zaki Afshar, Afghanistan

Zaki Afshar grew up in the small city of Puli Khumri in northern Afghanistan, and visited his father’s seven-hectare farm every weekend. In this farming locality where the staple crops are wheat and rice, Afshar saw the impact agriculture could have on a community.

“A big part of why I chose agriculture was because I saw how hard the farmers worked and still suffered,” said Afshar. “I wanted to know how I could help them. Why were they not using the advanced technologies I saw available in other parts of the world?”

According to the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), 60% of Afghan citizens rely on agriculture for their livelihoods. Wheat is the chief crop in Afghanistan, covering 2.5 million ha and providing about 60% of the daily calorie intake of an average Afghan. “We have a very basic agricultural system,” explained Afshar. “You will only see machinery used for plowing and threshing, not for sowing or even harvesting.”

Afshar attended Balkh University in Mazari Sharif and received a degree in Agricultural Plant Science. He currently works at the CIMMYT-Afghanistan office as a project associate in the wheat improvement program. The CIMMYT-ARIA (Agricultural Research Institute of Afghanistan) joint wheat breeding program is relatively small and new. Afshar’s dream upon starting at CIMMYT was eventually to join the wheat breeding team. Last March, Afshar was able to make this dream a reality, by participating in CIMMYT’s 2015 Basic Wheat Improvement Course (BWIC). This three-month intensive course at the Norman E. Borlaug Experiment Station in Ciudad Obregón, Sonora, Mexico, targets young and mid-career scientists and focuses on applying breeding techniques in the field.

“On my first field visit after returning home, I realized how different things were in Kabul than in Obregón,” said Afshar. “Because our program is very new, we have fewer breeders and need more training. I am excited to share with them everything I learned in Mexico.”

In Obregón, Afshar was able to meet scientists from all over the world and learn about breeding methods used in various regions worldwide. For Afshar it was extremely important to come to Mexico to receive his training. At the end of the BWIC, Afshar was honored with the most improved wheat breeder award.

“Through this course I learned how to be a breeder, how different breeders work and new information in wheat breeding,” said Afshar. “The most exciting moment was when I joined my team back in Afghanistan. It was easy for me to score and differentiate between different types of rust, and I realized that everyone in the field was paying attention to what I had to say.”

Martin Kropff visits China

Written by on October 5, 2015. Posted in News.

Martin Kropff made his first official visit to China as CIMMYT Director General from 28 August to 1 September. He was accompanied by his wife and by Thomas Lumpkin, CIMMYT’s former DG. Major activities included meeting with Jiayang Li, President of the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences (CAAS), and visiting the potential site for a new China-CIMMYT center in Tongzhou, located an hour’s drive from CAAS headquarters. Kropff also met with Jiangguo Zhang, Vice-Minister and Administrator of the State Administration of Foreign Expert Affairs (SAFEA), and officially presented a statue of Norman Borlaug to him in recognition of SAFEA and Jiangguo Zhang’s personal support for the CIMMYT-China collaboration.

The visitors from CIMMYT also had a fruitful discussion with the China Scholarship Council (SCC), which has sponsored 18 visiting scientists at CIMMYT. Liu Jinghui, SCC Secretary General, was very impressed with CIMMYT’s impact both worldwide and in China and agreed to increase the allowance of visiting scientists and postgraduate students from US$ 900 per month to US$ 1400 at CIMMYT HQ and all regional offices. Each year, SCC will offer more than 10 scholarships, ranging from 12 to 24 months, to train at CIMMYT. A memorandum of understanding between CIMMYT and SCC will be signed soon. In addition to these activities, Kropff visited China’s National Nature Science Foundation and met with CIMMYT Board Member Feng Feng.

Kropff also visited the CIMMYT office at CAAS and attended presentations by CIMMYT staff stationed at four locations. He mentioned that he will continue the work Tom Lumpkin did in China, which is the reason they decided to travel together. Maize and wheat are, respectively, the first and third leading crop in China. CIMMYT has worked with China for over 35 years; it opened its China office in 1997 and will continue to expand its collaboration.

CIMMYT helps the Seed Entrepreneurs’ Association of Nepal devise its organizational strategy

Written by on October 5, 2015. Posted in News.

In response to the interest expressed by the Seed Entrepreneurs’ Association of Nepal (SEAN), CIMMYT-Nepal organized a meeting with SEAN and the Nepal Agricultural Research Council (NARC) on 29 July 2015 at NARC’s Agriculture Botany Division, Khumaltar, as an activity of the CIMMYT-led Cereal System Initiative for South Asia-Nepal (CSISA-NP).

Following its interaction with the National Seed Association of India (NSAI) and Indian seed businesses during an event organized by CSISA-NP in the first and second week of June, SEAN decided to devise a strategic roadmap and upgrade its organizational strategy. The specific purpose of the July meeting, which was attended by 19 participants from SEAN, 3 from NARC and 4 from CIMMYT-Nepal, was to study SEAN’s vision, mission and goal, and how they could be updated in the current era of globalization, technological innovation and deregulation.

Increasing farmers’ access to quality seed is important for enhancing Nepal’s food security. To this end, CSISA-NP has been helping small and medium seed enterprises accelerate their growth in an integrated manner. To facilitate their growth, the current situation of seed enterprises, the challenges they face and their potential for growth were recently documented, and the outcomes will be presented at the National Seed Summit on 14-15 September 2015. In addition, representatives of 15 Nepali seed enterprises visited Indian seed companies in May 2015 to learn from their experience, and a memorandum of understanding (MoU) was signed between NSAI and SEAN to foster partnership between them.

Speaking on behalf of SEAN, its president, Laxmi Kanta Dhakal, said that to catalyze the implementation of the MoU between their organization and NSAI, SEAN needs to develop appropriate strategies to address its internal issues as well as reshape partnership modes with potential national and international stakeholders.

Initiated in 1989, SEAN was registered in Nepal in 1991 as a non-profit organization and now comprises 500 members, including seed entrepreneurs engaged in producing, processing and marketing seeds and other agricultural inputs. SEAN’s main purpose has been to organize individual entrepreneurs and private companies to foster capacity building, lobbying and advocating on behalf of seed entrepreneurs, thereby strengthening the national seed industry.

At the meeting, Gurbinder Singh Gill gave a lecture on how to develop the strategic roadmap and facilitated the session where SEAN started working on its mission, vision and goal statements. Gill also shared case studies from different countries and organizations to encourage SEAN’s leadership team to start working at the organizational level. Once these themes are discussed and detailed by SEAN at the organizational level, CSISA-NP will hold a workshop to decide on the way forward. This should lead to an implementable strategic plan for the next five or ten years.

NARC, SEAN and CIMMYT colleagues engaged in establishing a strategic road map for seed enterprises in Nepal.

Towards the end of the meeting, NARC Director (Crops and Horticulture) Shanbhu Prasad Khatiwada said that strong linkage and coordination between the national research program, SEAN, seed enterprises and the CIMMYT team are needed to achieve comprehensive progress towards solving Nepal’s food security issues. He said that this was the first meeting of its kind in Nepal where SEAN, NARC and CIMMYT came together to reshape the organizational strategy of the only seed association of Nepal.
The event was opened by Arun Joshi, Country Representative of CIMMYT-Nepal, facilitated by CIMMYT consultants Narayan Khanal and Gurbinder Singh, and by K.C. Dilli, Monitoring and Evaluation Specialist, CIMMYT-Nepal.

Pakistani stakeholders evaluate the performance of CIMMYT maize germplasm across Punjab

Written by on October 5, 2015. Posted in News.

Participants visit CIMMYT maize trials during the traveling seminar. Photo: M. Waheed Anwar/CIMMYT-Pakistan

Pakistan’s maize sector is heavily dependent on imported hybrid seed, which accounts for 85-90% of the annual seed supply. Such huge imports not only cost the country about US$ 50 million every year, but also mean that Pakistani maize farmers have to pay US$ 6-8 per kg for hybrid seed, depending on the variety and the availability of seed on the market. Availability and affordability of quality seed of widely adapted maize varieties are the key to unlocking the production and productivity potential of maize, Pakistan’s third most important cereal crop.

To address this issue, which is a priority of the government of Pakistan, CIMMYT is conducting maize intervention activities under the Agricultural Innovation Program for Pakistan (AIP), a USAID-funded project. Under the AIP program, CIMMYT has introduced more than 700 diverse maize lines from its regional breeding hubs in Colombia, Mexico and Zimbabwe, and has evaluated them under Pakistan’s diverse ecologies since early 2014.

The germplasm consists of hybrids and open-pollinated varieties with enhanced nutrient content (quality protein maize and varieties enriched with pro-vitamin A) and wide adaptation that have consistently performed well over the past three seasons.

Discussion on CIMMYT maize germplasm at a private seed company research station. Photo: M. Waheed Anwar/CIMMYT-Pakistan

Based on the performance of the materials, CIMMYT, in partnership with Pakistan Agricultural Research Council (PARC), organized a traveling seminar to give stakeholders the chance to evaluate the performance of CIMMYT maize germplasm in Punjab Province. The evaluation focused mainly on spring maize and took place on 15-17 June 2015. Experts from 12 public and private institutions (including seed companies, agricultural universities and public research institutions) evaluated the performance of the materials at different sites across the province.

The event also gave stakeholders the opportunity to share their trial management and field data recording experience. Participants thanked CIMMYT and PARC for creating such a unique platform where stakeholders showcased their activities and discussed and shared information on how CIMMYT materials perform across the different sites. According to AbduRahman Beshir, CIMMYT-Pakistan maize improvement and seed systems specialist, “When we first introduced the range of CIMMYT maize hybrids and OPVs in early 2014, we were not sure how they would perform, particularly in harsh environments where the temperature often exceeds 40 ⁰C.” He added that after such an aggressive intervention, CIMMYT is now at the product allocation phase based on partners’ selection and requests. Today it is clear that CIMMYT has much to offer its Pakistani partners not only in their efforts to produce hybrid seed locally and achieve self-sufficiency, but also to enhance local maize breeding programs through enriched gene pools.

Message from Borlaug-Ruan international intern Sweta Sudhir, Turkey, summer 2015

Written by on October 5, 2015. Posted in Blogs.

Sweta in the field in Konya, peeling wheat stems to score for crown rot symptoms. Photo: Gul Erginbas Orakci

As a small-town Iowa girl, I have grown up around farms my whole life but never quite grasped the complexity of the issue of food insecurity. Two years ago, my understanding of food insecurity could be summed up in an image of a barren desert in sub-Saharan Africa. Yet that January I embarked on a journey that would take me from my hometown in Iowa, to the state capital and, finally, to Eskişehir, Turkey.

This past summer I spent eight weeks in Turkey as part of the Borlaug-Ruan International Internship of the World Food Prize Organization. My deep thanks to Mr. Brad Horton, Lisa Fleming, and Ambassador Quinn for this opportunity. Working in the soilborne pathogen lab of CIMMYT-Turkey, I was introduced to the devastating impact of nematodes and fusarium on wheat yield. Reading journal articles before I came to Turkey, I simply saw numbers on a sheet of paper, but as I visited the field sites in Eskişehir, Yozgat, and Konya and as I conversed with my mentors Dr. Abdelfattah A. Dababat and Dr. Gül Erginbas-Orakci, I was able to see the devastation these pathogens cause on yield and the livelihood of farmers.

Zero-till wheat raises farmers’ incomes in eastern India, research shows

Written by on September 30, 2015. Posted in Features.

Farmer-with-wheat-harvest — Photo Credit: Vinaynath Reddy / CIMMYT

In a study published last month in Food Security, CIMMYT researchers reported that wheat farmers’ total annual income increased by 6% on average with the introduction of zero tillage (ZT) in Bihar.

While studies done in the past in the eastern Indo-Gangetic Plains (IGP) have shown ZT impacts in field trials or controlled environments, this research is believed to be the first that studied actual impacts in farmers’ fields in eastern India.

ZT allows direct planting of wheat without plowing, sowing seeds directly into residues of the previous crop on the soil surface, thus saving irrigation water, increasing soil organic matter and suppressing weeds.

“We found that the prevailing ZT practice, without full residue retention, used by farmers in Bihar has led to an average yield gain of 498 kilogram per hectare (19%) over conventional tillage wheat, which is in contrast to the results of a recent global meta-analysis” says Alwin Keil, Senior Agricultural Economist, CIMMYT and the lead author of this study.

The global meta-analysis published last year compared crop yields in ZT and conventionally tilled production systems across 48 crops in 63 countries. It reported that ZT is only profitable in rainfed systems and when it is combined with full residue retention and crop rotation. “However, in Bihar, marginal and resource-poor farmers cannot afford to leave the full residue in the field as they use the rice straw to feed their livestock,” says Keil.

According to Keil, the divergent findings of the meta-analysis may be caused by the fact that most of the reviewed studies were conducted in moderate climatic zones (U.S., Canada, Europe, China) and results were aggregated across various crops.

Bringing a Wheat Revolution to Eastern India

Compared to the prosperous northwestern states, the eastern IGP is characterized by pervasive poverty and high population density, and its resource-poor farmers are more prone to the risks of climate change. Bihar has the lowest wheat yields in the IGP with an average of 2.14 tons per hectare.

To feed a growing wheat-consuming population, Bihar currently imports wheat largely from Punjab, where yields have stagnated over the last five years due to an over-exploitation of resources, especially water.

While ZT is widespread on the mechanized farms of Punjab and Haryana, seat of the first Green Revolution in India, farmers in the eastern IGP are yet to benefit. “There is also evidence that the positive effect of ZT is larger in areas with low agricultural productivity (generally low yields, such as Bihar) than in areas with higher productivity (such as Punjab, for instance),” remarks Keil.

Increasing Access among Smallholders

The study concludes that ZT users reap substantial benefits, and that this technology could help close the growing yield gap between production and consumption of wheat in Bihar. A 19% yield increase would translate into a production increase of 950,000 MT, which exceeds the total wheat imports into Bihar (868,000 MT in 2011).

However, with low ownership of tractors and ZT drills, large-scale adoption of ZT in eastern India hinges on an expansion of the network of service providers, who can custom-hire these kinds of services to smallholder farmers.

With public and private sector partners, the CIMMYT-led Cereal Systems Initiative for South Asia (CSISA) has supported the development of ZT service providers among tractor owners by facilitating the purchase of ZT drills and providing technical trainings and know-how since 2009. Consequently, the number of ZT service providers in Bihar increased from 17 in 2011 to 1,624 in 2014, servicing a total of approximately 44,700 acres.

“Furthermore, we found that only 32% of non-users of ZT in our sample were aware of the technology. Hence, increasing the number of service providers to enhance farmers’ access to ZT has to go hand-in-hand with large-scale information campaigns to raise their awareness of the technology,” says Keil.

Minimizing yield losses via conservation agriculture

Written by on September 28, 2015. Posted in News.

Last year, climatic variability such as untimely rainfall was devastating in northwest India. Mid-season rainfall resulted in massive yield losses during winter 2014-15. Starting that season, a case study of wheat adaptation to climatic risks was undertaken in Karnal by Sakshi Baliyan, a young female student, as an internship project under CIMMYT-CCAFS. The project aimed to evaluate yield losses as evidence of the difference zero till makes in coping with unseasonable rainfall.

The study focused on the vulnerability of wheat yields to untimely mid-season rainfall by comparing conventional vs. conservation agriculture (CA) practices. To construct the database, during the 2013-14 and 2014-15 winter seasons, wheat yield data were collected from 100 randomly selected farmers who produced wheat using conventional tillage and conservation agriculture in 14 climate-smart villages (CSVs) in the Karnal district of Haryana.

The results revealed that CA-based systems produced higher wheat yields (6% higher in 2013-14 and 13% higher in 2014-15) than conventional tillage systems. The study also found that farmers who practiced conventional tillage during winter 2014-15, which had untimely heavy rains, averaged a 19% yield loss, whereas those practicing CA averaged a yield loss of only 10% in the same locations.

These interesting results indicate that the next step should be to introduce climate-smart agricultural practices (CSAPs) in policy decision making. A more in-depth study should be undertaken to verify the results and establish environmentally and farmer friendly policies at the state and national levels. Policies that calculate subsidies and compensations considering the agricultural practices used by farmers are required to motivate them to adopt CSAPs. This will not only reduce losses in times of uncertainty, but also generate gains in favorable times.

Rebuilding livelihoods: CIMMYT supports agricultural recovery in Nepal

Written by on September 23, 2015. Posted in Features.

Farmer-uses-minitiller-in-Nepal — Farmer uses a mini-tiller in mid-west region of Nepal 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 to date, has had huge negative impacts on the country’s agriculture and food security. Around two-thirds of Nepal’s population relies on agriculture for their livelihood and agriculture contributes to 33 percent of Nepal’s GDP. It is estimated that about 8 million people have been affected by the earthquakes, with smallholders in hilly regions being most hard-hit.

The earthquake 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 shortages of agricultural labour. Widespread damage to seed and grain storage facilities have affected smallholder farmers’ ability to secure their harvested crops through the rainy season.

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

“Even if seed is available, the capacity for farmers to plant and harvest crops has been severely diminished due to the loss of draft animals and the exacerbation of labor shortages,” said Andrew McDonald, CIMMYT Principal Scientist and CSISA Project Leader. “We will reach more than 33,000 farming households through seed and grain storage facilities, mini-tillers and other farm machines, agricultural hand tools, technical training and agronomy support,” added McDonald.

The program will provide 50,000 grain storage bags, 30 cocoons for community grain storage, 400 mini-tillers and other modern agriculture power tools (e.g., reapers, maize shellers, seeders), 800 sets (5 items in a set) of small agricultural hand tools, and 20,000 posters on better-bet agronomic practices for rice and maize. “We will first focus on getting small horsepower 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 powering small pumps for irrigation,” said Scott Justice, Agricultural Mechanization Specialist, CSISA-NP.

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

For effective coordination and monitoring of activities in the program, Central Level Management Committee, District Level Management Committee and Local Level Management Committee have already been formed. They aim to identify most earthquake affected areas within a district and will ensure efficient and transparent distribution of support items.

Dr. Adhikari, Joint Secretary, MoAD, highlighted that the Ministry feels a real sense of ownership over this program and is committed to implementing the activities through its network. He said 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 Agriculture Development Strategies of the Government of Nepal, which focuses on community-wide inclusive development.