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.

Looking to the future with CAAS and China

Written by on May 22, 2012. Posted in News.

the-chinese-academy1 Whilst Director General Thomas Lumpkin is in China meeting with the ex- and current Presidents of the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences (CAAS) in Beijing, a delegation of six CAAS representatives took the opportunity to come to El Batán to discuss collaborations between CIMMYT and China and opportunities for future projects. Li Jinxiang, Vice President, Ye Zhihua, Director General of the Institute of Quality Standard and Testing Technology for Agro-Products, Chen Wanquan, Director Generation of the Institute of Plant Protection, Li Sijing, Vice President of the Graduate School, Niu Liping, Deputy Director General of the Logistic Service Center, and Wang Jing, Project Officer of the Department of International Cooperation of CAAS visited CIMMYT while in Mexico for the G20 meetings.

Director of Research and Partnerships, Marianne Bänziger, presented on behalf of Lumpkin, highlighting that CIMMYT “benefits from a very strong contribution from China, not only in terms of partnerships, but also from Chinese students”. Seven students from China completing their PhD research at CIMMYT were also on hand to welcome the visitors and discuss their work.

In recent years, China’s largest crop has switched from rice to maize. Last year, 192 million tons of maize was harvested, but despite this record yield, China still needed to import 2 million tons of maize from the US alone. This deficit is partially due to increasing levels of meat consumption in China; per capita consumption of pork is expected to reach 38kg this year and a bad harvest could result in food shortages and price hikes worldwide. For this reason maize yields are a high priority for CIMMYT and maize breeder Félix San Vicente presented CIMMYT’s Global Maize Program to the visitors.

China is also the world’s largest producer of wheat (producing 17% of total yield), though the 2011 harvest was heavily affected by drought. Etienne Duveiller, Associate Director of the Global Wheat Program, presented CIMMYT’s recent developments and discussed a particular area of interest, the Wheat Yield Consortium, with the delegation. Marianne Bänziger reiterated “I think the WYC is one of the most incredible examples of international cooperation with 32 institutions working together to develop a strategy to raise wheat yields and meet the challenges ahead. We want to put wheat yields on track in order to sustain future generations”.

Globally, three countries produced half of the world’s grain last year –China, India, and the US. With 75 percent of the world’s spring wheat varieties and 50 percent of the developing world’s maize varieties coming from CIMMYT, partnerships with these key grain producing countries are a high priority. As stated by Marianne Banziger, “CIMMYT would like to strengthen our partnership with China and be prepared to address the future. No group can do it alone.”

Director General visits Nepal

Written by on May 16, 2012. Posted in News.

LumpkinNepal-NARI-KHUMALTAR1 CIMMYT director general Thomas Lumpkin visited Nepal during 01-03 May 2012. One of the main objectives of his visit was to discuss the Borlaug Institute for South Asia (BISA) launched last year in India, and the potential for Nepal to follow a similar model, with Nepal Agricultural Research Council (NARC) and CIMMYT scientists.

Lumpkin also had fruitful technical and administrative discussions with international and national CIMMYT staff based in Kathmandu. Together with several NARC directors—including Tek Bahadur Gurung (director of administration and interim executive director), B.N. Mahto (director of planning and coordination), and Neeranjan Adhikari (director of crops and horticulture)—he visited three potential sites at NARC’s Khumaltar research station, on the outskirts of Kathmandu, where the main Nepal BISA administrative building and research and training facilities could be located. From CIMMYT, the group also included Guillermo Ortiz Ferrara, country liaison officer (CLO) for Nepal, Nirmal Gadal and Dilli Bahadur K.C. of the Hill Maize Research Project (HMRP), and CIMMYT-Nepal office manager Surath Pradhan.

“CIMMYT is interested in expanding the crop improvement and crop management systems research and development activities being conducted in collaboration with the Ministry of Agriculture and Cooperatives, NARC, and all the other partners who have been associated with CIMMYT in Nepal for more than 40 years,” said Lumpkin. “We look forward to a Nepal BISA that can enable CIMMYT and its partners to deliver greater impact toward the food security in the country.” On behalf of NARC, Tek Bahadur Gurung expressed NARC’s interest and unconditional support to make the Nepal BISA a reality. NARC management, the CIMMYT CLO, and other senior CIMMYT staff based in Nepal will soon meet to develop a strategy and start the process of designing and implementing BISA Nepal.

On the second day of his visit, Lumpkin was invited to deliver a lecture at the Nepal Agricultural Research Institute (NARI) on “Food security in South Asia: Opportunities and challenges for agro-eco-scientists”. More than 50 scientists from NARC and NARI attended the lecture, which generated a lot of interest and a lively discussion. Lumpkin was also asked to inaugurate a sports event at Khumaltar organized by NARC, making the first serve in a volleyball tournament. Colleagues observed: “Not a bad serve for a person who travels more than 200 days a year!”

Bangladesh seed summit

Written by on May 15, 2012. Posted in News.

Food security is highlighted as one of the main priorities for Bangladesh in the country’s Investment Plan, and a sustainable seed supply constitutes a pivotal component of food security. With this in mind, a maize and wheat “seed summit” was jointly organized by the Ministry of Agriculture (MoA) and CIMMYT at the Hotel Lake Castle in Dhaka on 26 April 2012.

The event was chaired by Anwar Faruque, additional secretary for the MoA, and Shirazul Islam, research director of the Bangladesh Agriculture Research Institute (BARI). There were about 30 participants representing the MoA, the Bangladesh Agricultural Research Council (BARC), the Bangladesh Agricultural Development Corporation (BADC), several seed companies, CIMMYT, the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI), and the United States Agency for International Development (USAID).

Aimed at developing a strategic roadmap for sustainable seed production, the meeting provided an opportunity for specialists from across the region to share their knowledge and experiences. Naseer Uddin Ahmed, chief seed technologist at MoA, and Md Nuruzzaman, director of seed and horticulture at BADC, talked about opportunities and challenges for sustainable seed production and dissemination in Bangladesh. CIMMYT consultant Stephen Waddington shared findings from the Seed Sector Scoping Study for South Asia.

Anwar Faruque stressed the need for the private sector and government to work jointly to ensure the availability of affordable, quality seed for resource-poor and marginal farmers. CIMMYT maize breeder Bindiganavile Vivek described that very approach being pursued under the International Maize Improvement Consortium (IMIC)-Asia, saying it was gaining popularity across Asia.

Participants expressed considerable interest, particularly at the possibility of accessing finished hybrids.

On behalf of the Bangladesh Rehabilitation Assistance Committee (BRAC), Sudhir Chandra Nath spoke alongside M.A. Razzaque, executive director of Lal Teer Seed Company, and B.I Siddidue of Siddiquis Seeds, on private seed production challenges and opportunities in Bangladesh and associated expectations from the public sector.

A “Roundtable Discussion for Roadmap Development” was led by CIMMYT agricultural economist Frederick Rossi, where many issues and follow-ups were identified, including ways to encourage private sector involvement. Much discussion was generated on how to increase the relevance of maize hybrids from BARI and therefore reduce dependency on importing hybrid seeds from elsewhere. Private company representatives expressed their interest in improving the diversity, efficiency, and sustainability of wheat and maize seed systems. The CIMMYT Bangladesh office will help to organize a series of follow-up meetings to reach a consensus on the fundamental features of a sustainable and functional seed system for Bangladesh.

Quality Analysis for Wheat

Written by on May 14, 2012. Posted in Features.

CIMMYT E-News, vol 2 no. 9, September 2005

quality1 CIMMYT’s wheat quality lab expands and upgrades to meet growing demand of wheat for diverse food uses.

If you live in the Middle East or North Africa, you probably eat couscous. Chapati, a type of flat bread, accompanies meals in India. Many have noodles with meals in China. As varied as these foods are, they all come from wheat but require different characteristics to be considered of “good quality”—so that the wheat will mill and bake well for the desired preparation. CIMMYT works to provide farmers worldwide with wheat that will be valued in their area and has recently expanded capacity to meet growing demand, which for developing countries is nearing 300 million tons of wheat per year.

“To make a wheat variety good for both the farmer and the eater, you need to consider yield, disease resistance, and quality,” says Roberto J. Peña, Head of Grain Quality at CIMMYT. Peña works with breeders at CIMMYT and national programs all over the world to test wheat quality. Traits such as yield and disease resistance are obvious at harvest, but examining quality traits such as starch content and elasticity require complex and time-consuming tests. These difficult tasks have become easier with a new laboratory and upgraded technologies.

To reduce the time it takes to screen for quality traits, CIMMYT has equipped a quality laboratory in Ciudad Obregon in northwestern Mexico, in addition to the lab at headquarters. Now thousands of wheat lines can be screened for quality immediately after being harvested in Obregon. CIMMYT wheat breeders can see the results before they plant the next round of wheat lines. Looking at desirable quality traits much earlier in the breeding process will save time, money, and plot size as it will be easier for breeders to plant only wheat with high quality and all of the other traits they are looking for.

Peña intends to make more use of techniques like near infrared spectroscopy (NIR) analysis and marker-assisted selection (MAS) to enhance the efficiency of quality testing. “By screening thousands of lines quite simply, we are able to have a clear vision of what wheat lines aren’t going to be useful—we’re implementing modern technologies for improving end-use and nutritional quality,” he says.

Near infrared spectroscopy can be used to evaluate grain texture, starch, protein, elasticity, and mineral content. By looking into these attributes it is possible to determine whether the environment or crop management influenced the quality—all of this without the effort of milling the wheat into flour, making dough, and finally baking it. When the tests are complete, the same grain can be planted and the breeder knows what to expect.

By using MAS data from CIMMYT’s molecular biology lab, Peña and his team can take a glimpse at a particular wheat line’s DNA to determine if particular genes are present or absent. They can also see what genes have a more relevant role in defining quality, as well as tell if wheat carries high or low levels of protein. For example, if wheat has high levels of protein, it will be more elastic. In the future, they hope to start testing for the presence of specific genes associated with milling efficiency and starch properties.

By continuing to select for quality, CIMMYT hopes to enable farmers to grow wheat for quality food, whether it be couscous, chapati, or sliced bread.

For further information, contact Roberto J. Peña (j.pena@cgiar.org).

“Hot spots” in Maize for Dry Regions in the Developing World

Written by on May 14, 2012. Posted in Features.

CIMMYT E-News, vol 2 no. 10, October 2005

hotspot A new genomic map that applies to a wide range of maize breeding populations should help scientists develop more drought tolerant maize.

Throughout the developing world, drought is second only to soil infertility as a constraint to maize production, and probably reduces yields worldwide by more than 15 percent (more than 20 million tons) annually. Lines have now been drawn on a new battleground: a map of the chromosomes that shows important areas that help maize resist drought.

Of the world’s three most important cereal crops (rice, wheat, and maize), maize has the most complex genetic structure. As maize has been bred and adapted to many different growing environments, selection has produced a crop that contains significant differences in levels of genetic diversity. But many genes and genetic sequences should be the same or similar. Scientists are hopeful that genetic traits for drought tolerance can be found in such shared genomic sections, across a wide range of tropical maize types. A new consensus map of genes across maize populations may be the key to identifying universal genetic “hot spots,” those genomic regions that confer drought tolerance in diverse settings to varying degrees.

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“Are there any regions in the maize genome that come out as ‘hot spots’?” Jean-Marcel Ribaut and his team have asked. Known to scientists as quantitative trait loci (QTL), these regions tell scientists approximately where the genes determining a particular plant trait are located. The QTL is not a gene itself but a genomic region in which genes of interest are probably located. Prior genomic maps of QTLs for drought tolerance in tropical maize applied only to specific maize lines or populations. The CIMMYT team and partners have developed a single map that combines available drought QTL data from many trials of different tropical maize types in diverse environments. “Having all the QTL information integrated into a single map should allow us to identify the outstanding genomic regions involved in drought tolerance,” Ribaut says.

Scientists have measured drought related traits such as ear number, chlorophyll, and carbohydrate content of maize plants in the field, and have extracted and analyzed DNA from the same plants in order to plot the traits on the genomic maps. Ribaut, now Director of the Generation Challenge Programme, and CIMMYT molecular geneticist Mark Sawkins hope to link the traits they measured in the field with regions in the maize DNA.

“The idea is ambitious,” says Ribaut, “for it should allow maize breeders to select the right parents for drought tolerant maize by ensuring they have these important regions on their genome.”

With funding from the Rockefeller Foundation, members of the project team will give courses on this approach in to NARS scientists in Kenya and China over the coming months.

For further information, contact Jean-Marcel Ribaut (j.ribaut@cgiar.org) or Mark Sawkins (m.sawkins@cgiar.org).

Improved maize varieties and partnerships welcomed in Bhutan

Written by on May 14, 2012. Posted in Features.

CIMMYT E-News, vol 5 no. 11, November 2008

nov02 Sandwiched between China and India, the Kingdom of Bhutan is a small country that relies on maize in a big way. But maize yields are typically low due to crop diseases, drought, and poor access to seed of improved varieties, among other reasons. CIMMYT is committed to improving Bhutan’s food security by providing high-yielding, pest-resistant maize varieties to farmers and capacity-building for local scientists.

“If there is no maize there is nothing to eat,” says Mr. S. Naitein, who farms maize on half a hectare of land in Bhutan. But it’s not easy to grow, he says, citing challenges such as animals (monkeys and wild boars), insects, poor soil fertility, drought, poor access to improved seed varieties, and crop diseases like gray leaf spot (GLS) and turcicum leaf blight (TLB).

But since planting Yangtsipa—an improved maize variety derived from Suwan-1, a variety introduced from CIMMYT’s former regional maize program in Thailand—Naitein has seen a real improvement in his maize yields. The local maize variety yielded 1,700 kilograms per hectare, whereas Yangtsipa gave him 2,400 kilograms per hectare, a 40% yield increase.

“It’s no wonder that Yangtsipa is by far the most popular improved variety among Bhutanese farmers,” says Guillermo Ortiz-Ferrara, CIMMYT regional cereal breeder posted in Nepal. “Nonetheless, many local varieties of maize still occupy large areas of the country and don’t yield well.”

Maize is a staple food in Bhutan. Many people eat Tengma (pounded maize) as a snack with a cup of tea and Kharang (maize grits) are also popular. “Among the food crops, maize plays a critical role in household food security, especially for the poor,” says Ortiz-Ferrara. About 38% of the rural Bhutanese population lives below the poverty line and some 37,000 households cultivate maize. It’s estimated that 80% of this maize is consumed at the household level, according to Bhutan’s Renewable Natural Resources Research Center (RNRRC).

Leaf us alone: CIMMYT maize varieties help combat foliar diseases

Many farmers in Bhutan have been struggling with crop diseases that cut maize yields. “The recent outbreak of gray leaf spot and turcicum leaf blight affected 4,193 households and destroyed over 1,940 hectares of maize crop,” says Thakur Prasad Tiwari, agronomist with CIMMYT-Nepal. He estimates that maize is grown on 31,160 hectares in the country.

Gray leaf spot is a devastating leaf disease that is spreading fast in the hills of Bhutan and Nepal. To deal with this threat, CIMMYT sent more than 75 maize varieties with possible resistance to GLS and TLB to Bhutan in 2007. Tapping into the resources of its global network of research stations, CIMMYT sent seed from Colombia, Zimbabwe, and Mexico that was planted in GLS and TLB ‘hot spot’ locations in the country.

Ortiz-Ferrara and Tiwari then worked with Tirtha Katwal, national maize coordinator-Bhutan, and his team to evaluate these materials for their resistance.

“Together we identified the top performing lines for gray leaf spot and turcicum leaf blight which will be excellent candidates for Bhutan’s maize breeding program,” says Ortiz-Ferrara. “We are now combining their disease resistance with Yangtsipa, because we know it is high-yielding and well-adapted to Bhutan.”

Kevin Pixley, associate director of CIMMYT’s Global Maize Program, helped to develop a detailed breeding scheme or work plan for Bhutan’s national GLS breeding program. “We want to provide capacity-building for local maize scientists so they themselves can identify and breed varieties that show resistance to crop diseases,” he says.

“We feel more confident in moving forward with the next steps in our breeding program,” said Katwal. He and his team also attended a training course on seed production, de-tasselling, and pollination given by Dr. K.K. Lal, former CIMMYT maize trainee and former chief of the Seed Quality Control Center at the Ministry of Agriculture and Cooperatives (MoAC) in Nepal.

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That’s what friends are for: CIMMYT, Nepal, and Bhutan collaboration

In 2001, Bhutan began collaborating on maize research with CIMMYT-Nepal, the National Maize Research Program (NMRP) of Nepal, and the Hill Maize Research project (HMRP) funded by the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC) in Nepal. The terrain and agro-climatic conditions of Bhutan and the Nepalese highland are similar, meaning that technologies adapted for Nepal will likely work well in neighboring Bhutan.

CIMMYT aims to facilitate regional and national partnerships that benefit farmers. For instance, during the past 7 years CIMMYT-Nepal has worked with NMRP and RNRRP to introduce 12 open-pollinated varieties (OPVs) to Bhutan. These modern varieties yield more than the local varieties whose seed farmers save to sow from year to year. Included in these 12 OPVs were several quality protein maize (QPM) varieties; these have nearly twice as much usable protein as other traditional varieties of maize.

nov04 “Our CIMMYT office in Nepal has assisted Bhutan with maize and wheat genetic material, technical backstopping, training, visiting scientist exchange, and in identifying key consultants on research topics such as grey leaf spot and seed production,” says Tiwari.

Simply put, CIMMYT has useful contacts. For example, at the request of Bhutan’s Renewable Natural Resources Research Center (RNRRC), CIMMYT-Nepal put forward Dr. Carlos De Leon, former CIMMYT regional maize pathologist, to conduct a course on identifying and controlling maize diseases in February 2007. In September 2008, CIMMYT and HMRP also recommended two researchers (Dr. K.B. Koirala and Mr. Govinda K.C.) from Nepal’s NMRP to give a course on farmer participatory research that has been successful in the dissemination of new technologies.

“Ultimately, our goal is to improve the food security and livelihood of rural households through increased productivity and sustainability of the maize-based cropping system,” says Thakur Prasad Tiwari.

For information: Guillermo Ortiz-Ferrara, cereal breeder, CIMMYT-Nepal (g.ortiz-ferrara@cgiar.org) or Thakur Prasad Tiwari, agronomist, CIMMYT-Nepal (tptiwari@mos.com.np)

Fellows Program, World Food Prize Laureates Highlight Borlaug’s 90th

Written by on May 14, 2012. Posted in Features.

March, 2004

borlaug_photo1 US Secretary of State Colin Powell paid tribute to Iowa and in particular to one man, known as the father of the Green Revolution, who was born there 90 years ago.

“On behalf of the American people, on behalf of President Bush, we gather to thank heaven for the great state of Iowa,” Powell said at a State Department ceremony to announce the 2004 World Food Prize Laureates on 29 March. “Most of all, we salute Iowa’s own, Norman Borlaug, for creating the World Food Prize and for his own prize winning work against hunger.”

US Secretary of Agriculture Ann Veneman joined Powell in honoring Dr. Borlaug’s 90th birthday in Washington DC. In front of more than 200 guests, including FAO Director General Jacques Diouf, USAID Administrator Andrew Natsios, World Bank Vice President and CGIAR Chair Ian Johnson, CGIAR Director Francisco Reifschneider, and CIMMYT Director General Masa Iwanaga, Veneman described the Norman E. Borlaug Agricultural Science and Technology Fellows Program to be inaugurated by the United States Department of Agriculture.

“Thanks to Dr. Borlaug’s pioneering work in the 1960’s to develop varieties of high-yielding wheat, countless millions of men, women and children, who will never know his name, will never go to bed hungry,” Powell said. “Dr. Borlaug’s scientific breakthroughs have eased needless suffering and saved countless lives. And Dr. Borlaug has been an inspiration to new generations across the globe who have taken up the fight against hunger and have made breakthroughs of their own.”

A tribute to Dr. Borlaug’s individual pursuit of using science and technology to fight hunger, the Fellows Program will focus on strengthening agriculture in developing countries by incorporating and advancing new science and technology. Proposed by Texas A&M University’s Agriculture Program and established by the USDA, it will give scientific training to fellows from developing countries and support exchanges among university faculty, researchers, and policy makers.

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The program aims to prepare professionals who want to lead developing countries in agricultural research and education while embracing the values that Dr. Borlaug’s life and work represent. It will be managed by the USDA’s Foreign Agricultural Service, the US Agency for International Development, the US Department of State, land grant colleges, and Texas A&M University, where Dr. Borlaug is professor emeritus.

In 2004, an initial group of fellows from around the world—especially Africa, Latin America, and Asia—will begin training or research programs at US schools, government agencies, private companies, international agricultural research centers such as CIMMYT, and nonprofit institutions. The program will span such diverse areas as biotechnology, food safety, marketing, economics, and natural resource conservation, and it will include studies of policies and regulations to foster the use of new technology.

The US$ 2 million research grant given to the Texas Agriculture Experiment Station by USDA-Cooperative State Research, Education, and Extension Service will be managed by a Consultative Committee, which comprises representatives from universities, foundations, government agencies, and countries affiliated with Dr. Borlaug’s work. This committee will serve as a donor council, advise on the selection and placement of fellows, and evaluate the program.

At the US State Department, Secretary of State Powell named the new World Food Prize Laureates: Yuan Long Ping of China and Monty Jones of Sierra Leone, who have made advances in high-yielding rice.

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Borlaug founded the World Food Prize in 1986 to honor people who have made important contributions to improving the world’s food supply. Endowed since 1990 by businessman and philanthropist John Ruan, this international award recognizes achievements of people who have improved the quality, amount, or accessibility of food in the world to advance human development.

World Food Prize Laureate Yuan has revolutionized rice cultivation in China. Known as the Father of Hybrid Rice, he helped cultivate the first successful and widely grown hybrid rice varieties in the world. More than 20 countries have adopted his hybrid rice, and his breeding methods have helped provide food for tens of millions of people.

World Food Prize Laureate Jones, formerly a rice breeder at WARDA—the Africa Rice Center—in Côte d’Ivoire, successfully made fertile inter-specific African and Asian rice crosses that combined the best characteristics of both gene pools. This “New Rice for Africa,” or NERICA, has higher yields and better agronomic characteristics for African conditions.

Jones and Yuan will receive a $250,000 prize to share in October.

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Dr. Borlaug has dedicated 60 years to building knowledge and fostering development in poor countries. Since the mid-1940s, when he arrived in Mexico to work on an agricultural project that was the forerunner of CIMMYT, he has worked tirelessly in the cause of international agricultural research. The innovative wheat varieties that he and his team bred in Mexico in the 1950s enabled India and Pakistan to prevent a massive famine in the mid-1960s and to initiate the Green Revolution. This achievement earned Dr. Borlaug the Nobel Prize in 1970 and created extensive support for a network of international agricultural research centers, known as the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR).

In order to meet the 1996 World Food Summit goal of cutting in half the number of chronically hungry people by 2015, Powell said the international community must reduce the number of undernourished people by an average rate of 22 million people per year. The current rate is only a decrease of 6 million people per year. Of the more than 800 million severely malnourished people in the world, 80 percent are women and children, he said, but famine is entirely preventable in the 21st century.

More information on the Borlaug Fellows Program: http://www.usda.gov/Newsroom/0125.04.html

More information on the World Food Prize: http://www.worldfoodprize.org

Don’t put all your eggs in one basket: Bangladesh tries maize cropping for feed

Written by on May 14, 2012. Posted in Features.

CIMMYT E-News, vol 6 no. 2, February 2009

feb02 Demand for maize has popped up across Asia, but much of the grain is enjoyed by poultry, not people. In Bangladesh, maize is a fairly new crop, yet demand in this country already mirrors that of neighboring nations like China and India. A recent CIMMYT report explores these emerging trends and the efforts to incorporate sustainable and economically viable maize cropping systems into a traditionally rice-based country.

“Simply put, people have more money,” says Olaf Erenstein, a CIMMYT agricultural economist. “Asia’s population growth has slowed and incomes have increased. This means dietary demands and expectations are changing as well.”

With extra money in their pockets, many people across Asia are starting to desire something with a bit more bite. In the past 40 years, increased prosperity and a related meat demand have sent two-thirds of global maize production toward animal feed instead of direct consumption. Currently, 62% of maize in Asia is used to feed livestock while only 22% goes straight to the dinner plate. This is not surprising, as total meat consumption in the seven major Asian maize-producing countries1 rose 280% between 1980 and 2000. Poultry, particularly, plays a large role. During the same time period, poultry production rose 7% each year in Asia, compared to a 5% global average.

The bare-bones reason for this shift is that it takes more grain to produce meat than would be used if people ate the product directly. Grain-to-meat conversion ratios for pork are on the order of 4:1. Chicken is more efficient, requiring only 2 kilograms of grain feed for a kilogram of growth. Either way, when people substitute meat for grain, grain production must increase to meet the demand.

From a farmer’s perspective, this is not a bad thing, and what is occurring now in Bangladesh illustrates how farmers can benefit, according to a recently published CIMMYT study. With a 15%-per-year increase in Bangladesh’s poultry sector since 1991, the feed demand has opened a new market for maize. And since the country’s current average per person poultry consumption is at less than 2 kg a year—compared to almost 4 kg in Pakistan, 14 kg in Thailand, and 33 kg in Malaysia—the maize and poultry industries have plenty of room to spread their wings.

What came first: The chicken or the seed?

The poultry industry in Bangladesh employs five million people, with millions of additional households relying on poultry production for income generation and nutrition. “Only in the past 10 to 15 years, as many people got a bit richer, especially in urban centers, did the market for poultry products, and therefore the profitability of maize, take off in Bangladesh,” says Stephen Waddington, who worked as regional agronomist in the center’s Bangladesh office during 2005-07 and is a co-author of the CIMMYT study.

“Many maize growers keep chickens, feed grain to them, and sell the poultry and eggs; more value is added than by just selling maize grain,” he says. “Most Bangladeshis have no history of using maize as human food, although roasting cobs, popcorn, and mixing maize flour with wheat in chapattis are all increasing.” Waddington adds that maize could grow in dinnertime popularity, as the price of wheat flour has increased and the price of maize grain remains almost 40% lower than that for wheat.

Worldwide, more maize is produced than any other cereal. In Asia, it is third, after rice and wheat. But due to the increasing demand for feed, maize production in Asia has almost quadrupled since 1960, primarily through improved yields, rather than area expansion. Future rapid population growth and maize demand will lead to maize being grown in place of other crops, the intensification of existing maize lands, the commercialization of maize-based production systems, and the expansion of maize cultivation into lands not currently farmed. The International Food Policy Research Institute estimates that Asia will account for 60% of global maize demand by 2020.

Maize in Bangladesh is mainly a high-input crop, grown with hybrid seed, large amounts of fertilizer, and irrigation. While a successful maize crop requires high inputs, it also provides several advantages. “Maize is more than two times as economical in terms of yield per unit of land as wheat or Boro rice,” says Yusuf Ali.”Maize also requires less water than Boro rice and has fewer pest and disease problems than Boro rice or wheat.” The maize area in Bangladesh is increasing around 20% per year.

Maize-rice cropping challenges

“The high potential productivity of maize in Bangladesh has yet to be fully realized,” says Yusuf Ali, a principal scientific officer with the On-Farm Research Division (OFRD) of the Bangladesh Agricultural Research Institute (BARI) and first author of the CIMMYT study. Bangladesh has a subtropical climate and fertile alluvial soils, both ideal for maize. From only a few thousand hectares in the 1980s, by 2007-08 its maize area had expanded to at least 221,000 hectares, he said.

Maize in Bangladesh is cropped during the dry winter season, which lasts from November to April. The other two crops commonly grown during winter are high-yielding irrigated rice (known in Asia as “Boro,” differentiating it from the flooded paddy rice common throughout the region) and wheat. Adding another crop into the mix and thereby increasing cropping diversity is beneficial for farmers, offering them more options.

Rice, the traditional staple cereal crop in Bangladesh, is grown throughout the country year round, often with two to three crops per year on the same land. So as the new crop on the block, maize must be merged with existing cropping patterns, the most common of which is winter maize sown after the harvest of paddy rice. And since rice is the key to food security in Bangladesh, farmers prefer to grow longer-season T. aman rice that provides higher yields than earlier-maturing varieties. This delays the sowing of maize until the second or third week of December. Low temperatures at that time slow maize germination and growth, and can decrease yields more than 20%. In addition, the later-resulting harvest can be hindered by early monsoon rains, which increase ear rot and the threat of waterlogging.

Another problem with maize-rice cropping systems is that the two crops require distinct soil environments. Maize needs loamy soils of good tilth and aeration, whereas rice needs puddled wet clay soils with high water-holding capacity. Puddling for rice obliterates the soil structure, and heavy tillage is required to rebuild the soil for maize. This is often difficult due to a lack of proper equipment, time, or irrigation. Moreover, excessive tillage for maize can deplete soils of nutrients and organic matter. Thus, as maize moves into rice-based cropping systems, agronomists need to develop sustainable cropping patterns, tillage management options, and integrated plant nutrient systems.

Support and supplies vital for success

“For a new crop like hybrid maize to flourish, there needs to be a flow of information and technology to and among farmers,” Waddington says.

In collaboration with the Bangladesh Agricultural Research Institute (BARI), the Department of Agricultural Extension (DAE), and various non-governmental organizations, CIMMYT provided hands-on training for maize production and distributed hybrid seed (which tends to be higher-yielding and more uniform, but must be purchased and planted each year to experience full benefits) to over 11,000 farm families across 35 districts in Bangladesh from 2000-06. A CIMMYT report showed that farmers who received the training were more likely to plant their maize at the best times and also irrigated more frequently and adopted optimal cropping patterns and fertilizer use, resulting in higher yields and better livelihoods.

“This training is vital, since the country is full of tiny, intensively-managed farms. Maize tends to be grown by the somewhat better resourced farmers, but these are still small-scale, even by regional standards,” says Waddingon, adding that farm families were eager to improve their maize-cropping knowledge and their fields.

Other efforts include BARI’s development and release of seven maize hybrids largely based on germplasm from CIMMYT. Two of the hybrids consistently produce comparable grain yields to those of commercial hybrids. The Institute is also working on short duration T. aman rice varieties that have yields and quality comparable to traditional varieties and could thus allow timelier planting of maize.

Power tillers seed the future

Another important advancement is the power-tiller-operated seeder (PTOS) created by the Wheat Research Center (WRC) of BARI. Originally for wheat, the machine has been modified and used to plant maize. Additional PTOSs need to be built, tested, and marketed. Another promising piece of equipment in the works is a power-tiller-operated bed former. Because making and destroying soil beds between every rice/maize rotation is not practical or efficient, the WRC-BARI/CIMMYT farm machinery program is working on a tiller that simultaneously creates a raised bed, sows seed, and fertilizes. This is vital since the turnaround time between rice and maize crops is limited. Like the PTOS, further testing and promotion are needed.

Though much work is still required to incorporate maize fully and sustainably into Bangladesh’s cropping systems, it has already spread across the country quicker than anticipated. Even so, scientists believe future production will fall short of demand. This gap provides farmers an additional crop option, and plants maize in a good position for future growth in Bangladesh.

For more information: Enamul Haque, program manager, CIMMYT-Bangladesh office (e.haque@cgiar.org).

1 China, India, Indonesia, Nepal, the Philippines, Thailand, and Vietnam were identified in a CIMMYT study as Asian countries with more than 100 K hectares sown with maize. At the time of the study, Bangladesh did not meet this maize area requirement and therefore is not included in this statistic.

CIMMYT–China Wheat Quality Conference Highlights 10 Years of Collaboration

Written by on May 14, 2012. Posted in Features.

June, 2004

iwqc_group
Which food crop is traded in larger quantities than any other in the world? The answer is wheat, and China produces more of it than any other country. With more than 150 participants from 20 countries in attendance, CIMMYT and China held their first joint wheat quality conference in Beijing from 29 to 31 May. The conference focused on progress in China’s wheat quality research, educated participants about quality needs of the milling industry and consumers, and promoted international collaboration.

In recent years, advanced science has been making wheat more nutritious, easy to process, and profitable. Scientists can improve quality characteristics such as grain hardness, protein content, gluten strength, color, and dough processing properties. Quality improvement, however, is not an objective, one-wheat-fits-all-purposes kind of business. Wheat end products vary by region and require grain with different characteristics. For example, 80% of wheat in China is used for noodles and dumplings, but the desired wheat quality for those products might not be appropriate for pasta in Italy or couscous in North Africa.

“You can see a wide variation of wheat use reflecting cultural influences over many centuries,” says CIMMYT Director General Masa Iwanaga, who gave a keynote presentation at the conference about the benefits of adding value to wheat to improve the livelihoods of poor people. Iwanaga says he is impressed by China’s wheat quality research and emphasis on biotechnology in recent years.

Participants from major wheat producing regions such as China, Central Asia, India, the European Union, Eastern Europe, the United States, and Australia presented updates on a variety of topics related to the global wheat industry and quality management. The participants included experts in genomics, breeding, crop management, cereal chemistry, and the milling industry, among others.

The US, Australia, Canada, and the EU see Asia as a good market for their wheat, says Javier Peña, head of industrial quality at CIMMYT. Asian foods such as noodles have been becoming more popular in the west, says Peña, while traditional western wheat-based foods have been gaining popularity in Asia. The milling industry has been growing to meet this increasing demand. “It was evident that globalization is influencing consumers’ preferences,” he says.

Conference participant and CIMMYT wheat breeder Morten Lillemo thinks the organizers did a good job assembling top lecturers to provide information. Chinese wheat breeders have been paying a lot of attention to improving quality, he says, and participants now understand the characteristics that traditional Chinese end products require.

“China is the largest wheat producer in the world, but the quality of their wheat is highly variable, even for traditional products like steamed bread and noodles,” says Lillemo. “For me it was most interesting to learn about the wheat quality work going on in China, which challenges they have, and how they are dealing with them.”

The 10-year-long CIMMYT–China collaboration has been fruitful. Chinese wheat has been used to develop new varieties with Fusarium and Karnal bunt disease resistance, high yield potential, and agronomic traits such as lodging resistance and rapid grain filling. In turn, CIMMYT has helped to improve the productivity, disease resistance, and processing quality of Chinese wheats. It has also developed human resources and helped build research infrastructure.

“The progress China has made in this period has been impressive in the areas of molecular biology, breeding, and food processing,” says Peña, who thought the conference covered a good balance of topics, ranging from genetics to consumer preferences. “The government is really supporting the research. They have new buildings and modern equipment for molecular biology and wheat quality testing.”

The Quality and Training Complex sponsored by the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences and CIMMYT is a new effort. It offers a testing system for various wheat-based foods, facilities for genetic studies and other research using molecular markers, and training for graduates, postdoctoral fellows, and visiting scientists.

Along with improved wheat and better cropping practices that help farmers save money on costly inputs, such as water, Iwanaga believes that more marketable maize and wheat grain will be important for improving the profitability of maize and wheat production in developing countries. He would like to increase the benefits that farmers reap from their harvests by bettering a range of traits, including taste, texture, safety, and nutrition with added protein or vitamins. That way, farmers can earn more money from better quality wheat.

Conference presentations covered a wide range of topics: molecular studies of the evolution of the wheat genome; new tools to assess heat tolerance and grain quality in wheat genotypes; molecular genetic modification of wheat flour quality; the biochemical and molecular genetic study of glutenin proteins in bread wheat and related species; the molecular investigation of storage product accumulation in wheat endosperm; molecular and conventional methods for assessing the processing quality of Chinese wheat; challenges for breeding high-quality wheat with high yield potential; the impact of genetic resources on breeding for breadmaking quality in common wheat; wheat quality improvement by genetic manipulation and biosafety assessment of transgenic wheat lines; and quality characteristics of transgenic wheat lines.

The conference was organized by the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences / National Wheat Improvement Center, the Chinese Academy of Science, CIMMYT, BRI Australia, Limagrain, and the Crop Science Society of China. It was sponsored by the Ministry of Science and Technology, the Ministry of Agriculture, the National Nature Science Foundation of China, the Grains Research and Development Corporation, and Japan International Cooperation Agency.

For information: Zonghu He

Plowing through poverty

Written by on May 14, 2012. Posted in Features.

CIMMYT E-News, vol 6 no. 4, June 2009

As part of the global work to test and disseminate conservation agriculture, CIMMYT and partners have introduced and promoted new agricultural machinery in Bangladesh, helping farmers to improve their crop yields, food security, and livelihoods.

Bangladesh and CIMMYT: decades of partnership, commitment, and achievement

Written by on May 14, 2012. Posted in Features. 1 Comment on Bangladesh and CIMMYT: decades of partnership, commitment, and achievement

CIMMYT E-News, vol 5 no. 8, August 2008

01a Work by CIMMYT with researchers, extension workers, policymakers, and farmers in Bangladesh for nearly four decades has helped establish wheat and maize among the country’s major cereal crops, made farming systems more productive and sustainable, improved food security and livelihoods, and won ringing praise from national decision makers in agriculture, according to a recent report published by CIMMYT.

“CIMMYT is one of the leading centers of the CGIAR …working in Bangladesh since the early 70s…initiating multi-dimensional work for varietal improvement, improved crop management, conservation of natural resources, and human resource development,” says Dr. Md. Nur-E-Elahi, Director General, Bangladesh Rice Research Institute, citing the center’s contributions to the development of high-yielding maize and wheat varieties, wheat-rice and maize-rice systems, whole-family training, small-scale farm mechanization for conservation agriculture, and triticale (a wheat-rye hybrid) for fodder. “CIMMYT’s contributions to agricultural research and development in Bangladesh are highly recognized.”

Building capacity among scientists and farm families
More than 140 Bangladeshi wheat and maize scientists and extensionists have taken part in courses at CIMMYT-Mexico or come as visiting scientists in crop breeding, agronomy, pathology, cereal technology, experiment station management, seed production, economics, heat stress, and resource conserving practices. Dozens of scientists from Bangladesh have also attended conferences or international workshops organized by the center and partners. Finally, joint efforts in crop, soil, and water management research over the last 20 years have added to expertise in Bangladesh.More often than not, women and children contribute substantively to farm activities, so CIMMYT and the Wheat Research Centre (WRC) developed and refined a whole-family-training approach that has boosted adoption of improved cropping practices. “We’ve reached over 27,000 women and men farmers on maize and wheat production, and around 700 small-scale dairy farmers,” says Anton Prokash Adhikari, CIMMYT-Bangladesh Administrator. Follow-up studies in 1996 among a randomly-selected subset of families who attended training sessions showed a 90-100% adoption of improved practices. After training, maize farmers adopted a range of improved production practices, planting the crop on more land and raising grain yields by 0.8 tons per hectare. “This type of training has raised the quality of farming in Bangladesh,” says Adhikari.

With an average of over 1,000 inhabitants per square kilometer, Bangladesh is among the world’s most densely-populated countries, and nearly two-thirds of its people work in agriculture. The country furnishes a case study for the future of farming in developing countries: as a result of intensive cropping rotations, every square centimeter of arable land is used 1.8 times a year, and resources are stretched beyond what is normally considered “sustainable.” A recent report on CIMMYT efforts in Bangladesh gives an interesting account of how, through broad partnerships and sustained research for farmers, an international agricultural center can help improve farmers and consumers’ lives.

Joint work brings food and windfalls

“The last quarter century of work by a small team of dedicated CIMMYT staff and their colleagues in Bangladesh national programs has brought improvements in local and national income, food security, human nutrition, and well-being,” says agronomist Stephen Waddington, who worked for CIMMYT in Bangladesh during 2005-2007. “This is easily seen by any visitor to Bangladesh, where nowadays many otherwise poor people regularly have wheat chapattis for their breakfast, a glass of milk from triticale fodder-fed cows for their lunch, and maize-fed chicken, eggs, or fish for their dinner.”

Bangladesh emerged on the map of significant wheat-growing countries in the 1980s, according to Waddington. “Wheat became the second major cereal after rice, contributing to food security and human nutrition, and improving the livelihoods of resource-poor farmers and urban consumers,” he says. “Nineteen of the twenty-four wheat varieties released in Bangladesh carry CIMMYT lines in their backgrounds.” Much crop management and soil research for wheat was conducted in joint Bangladesh Wheat Research Center (WRC)-CIMMYT programs.

With climate change, enter maize and alternative crops

After playing a crucial role in Bangladesh agriculture, wheat production has declined in recent years, due chiefly to higher temperatures that hamper grain filling and incubate wheat diseases. But maize has become increasingly popular, partly in response to rising demand from the poultry sector for feed. “Last year farmers produced 1.3 million tons of maize, and output and interest are growing ,” says Enamul Haque, Senior Program Officer for CIMMYT-Bangladesh. “Maize fits well in Bangladesh’s climate, soils, and intensive farming systems.”

Again, CIMMYT has helped in a big way, providing improved maize lines adapted to local conditions, offering expertise in hybrid-based maize breeding and crop management research, helping to promote dialogue on enabling policies that foster productivity and effective markets. “Six out of the seven maize hybrids released by the Bangladesh Agricultural Research Institute, in recent years contain CIMMYT maize lines, and there is significant use of CIMMYT maize by emerging private breeding companies,” says Haque.

Finally, in recent years, triticale has become a source of high-quality green fodder for small-scale dairy producers during the cool, dry, winter season. “Dual-purpose fodder and grain triticale can produce 7 to 12 tons per hectare of fresh fodder, and as much as 2 tons per hectare of grain for poultry feed or for chapattis,” says Haque. All triticale varieties sown in Bangladesh come from CIMMYT.

Mechanization and resource-conserving practices

Within the last decade or so, agriculture in Bangladesh has become highly-mechanized: 8 of 10 farmers use two-wheel tractors, which are more apt for their small and scattered land holdings than the four-wheel variety. Since 1995, Haque has worked with the WRC and local organizations to promote a varied set of implements for reduced, more efficient tillage and seeding. One key aim has been to enable farmers to sow wheat or other crops directly after rice harvest in a single day—instead of after two weeks of back-breaking, fuel-hungry plowing—thus saving money and allowing the new crop to mature before the pre-monsoon heat shrivels the grain.

Craig Meisner (left), a CIMMYT wheat agronomist during 1990-2005, contributed significantly to CIMMYT's presence, partnerships, and achievements in Bangladesh. — Craig Meisner (left), a CIMMYT wheat agronomist during 1990-2005, contributed significantly to CIMMYT’s presence, partnerships, and achievements in Bangladesh.

“To date thousands of farmers have adopted a small, two-wheel tractor-driven implement that tills, seeds, and covers the seed in a single pass,” says Haque. “This reduces turn-around between crops by 50%, cuts costs 15-20%, saves 30% in irrigation water and 25% in seed, and improves fertilizer efficiency—all this, as well as increasing yields by 20%, for wheat.” Owners of the single-pass seeding implement often hire out their services, earning USD 1,000-2,000 a year and each helping 20-100 other farmers to obtain the above-mentioned benefits. In addition, the reduced tillage implement and practices help address labor shortages that constrain farm operations at peak times, and are opening lucrative opportunities for machinery manufacturing and repair businesses.

For the future, CIMMYT staff are testing and promoting with researchers and farmers the use of permanent, raised beds and straw retention systems that can increase yields as much as 50% in intensive, wheat-maize-rice cropping sequences. Future activities of CIMMYT-Bangladesh will also focus on strengthening wheat and maize breeding programs, system-based research and resource-conserving practices, and the use of maize as food, fodder, and feed. “We’d also like to do more capacity building, study soil health and nutrition, and better disseminate useful technologies to farmers and extension agents,” Haque says, “but much depends on the resources available.”

Extensive partnerships key to past and future success

“CIMMYT has worked with national programs, NGOs, the private sector, farmers, donors, and policy planners,” says Md. Harun-ur-Rashid, Executive Chairman, Bangladesh Agricultural Research Council, and Director General, Bangladesh Agricultural Research Institute. “These joint programs have accumulated an impressive array of achievements and benefits.”

In addition to the key partners cited above, CIMMYT has worked with agricultural universities in Bangladesh, the Department of Agricultural Extension, the Bangladesh Livestock Research Institute, the Soil Resource Development Institute, the Bangladesh Rural Advancement Committee (BRAC), the Bangladesh Chashi Kollan Samity, the Bangladesh Institute of Nuclear Agriculture, Deoel Agro Industries Complex Ltd., and the Mahbub Engineering Workshop at Jamalpur. IRRI; ILRI; ICRISAT; IFDC; FAO; Murdoch University, ACIAR, and CSIRO, in Australia; Cornell University, Texas A&M University, Winrock International, and the Helen Keller Foundation, USDA, in the USA.

For more information: Enamul Haque, Senior Program Manager, CIMMYT-Bangladesh (e.haque@cgiar.org)

Aguas negras: An agricultural revolutions buds in Mexico

Written by on May 14, 2012. Posted in Features.

Just outside Mexico City, a group of farmers who grow maize and other crops using sewage water are adopting cutting-edge conservation agriculture techniques to save on irrigation and reduce their costs.

Geraldo Gálvez Orozco is a man with wrinkles as deep as his voice and hair that is decidedly neither gray nor white. After concluding his 40-year career as a math professor Gálvez went looking for a new challenge and found it in farming.

Gálvez is a 79-year-old Hidalgo native who has been farming in the Mezquital Valley for 15 years. The valley is nestled in the rolling mountains of southwest Hidalgo State, situated 60 kilometers north of the country’s capital, Mexico City. It is a region known for many things; the Mezquital trees that canvas its hills, an arid climate, and surprisingly, a thriving agricultural sector. Despite the region’s parched soils—the Mezquital Valley receives an average of only 527 mm of rainfall each year— about half of the valley’s residents are farmers.

Putting waste to work

Since 1789, Hidalgo’s farmers have relied heavily on an unusual form of irrigation—wastewater from Mexico City. The valley’s farmers use the sewage water, referred to as ‘aguas negras’ or black water, to irrigate 563 square kilometers of grain. It is the largest wastewater-irrigation system in the world.

Using sewage water to irrigate food crops may raise the suspicions of some, but 10% of the world’s crops are irrigated using some form of sewage, according to the IRC International Water and Sanitation Centre. Farmers in India, China, Pakistan, Jordan, and Israel apply the practice. Wastewater is spiked with nutrients or ‘natural fertilizers’, so crops are enriched without the added cost of fertilizer. Precautions are taken to ensure the crops irrigated by the aguas negras are of the highest quality. By Mexican law, farmers can only use sewage water to irrigate cereal and fodder crops. Maize and alfalfa are the most popular.

Adopting in the face of change

Today, the farmers of the Mezquital Valley are facing change. Within the next two years, the black water irrigation supply will decrease due to a new government initiative to purify Mexico City’s wastewater and reuse it within city limits.

To reduce their water use and maintain their soils, farmers in Hidalgo are switching from traditional agriculture practices to an innovative way of farming that is used extensively in Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, and the USA.

From arithmetic to agronomy

Gálvez started experimenting with conservation agriculture-based practices eight years ago when he heard of its benefits from a fellow farmer. He began by trying zero-tillage, a practice whereby crops are seeded directly into field residues without plowing, and a key proponent of resource-conserving farm practices. Today, on the three-hectare farm where Gálvez grows maize and oats, maize husks and cobs litter the ground. Husks and cobs that assure any curious passer-bys that Gálvez indeed practices conservation agriculture, as leaving crop residue is another foundational principle.

“Since switching to conservation agriculture, I have noticed a small increase in my yields compared to what I used to produce under irrigation, but I don’t do it for the yields. Living in a climate like this, keeping my soils in good condition is my number one priority,” Gálvez says, “that’s why I practice conservation agriculture.”

According to Fermín Hernández Méndez, a graduate of CIMMYT’s conservation agriculture-certification course and a technician with the Mexican subsidiary of Monsanto, ASGROW seed company, Gálvez isn’t the only farmer in Hidalgo changing his ways. “In Hidalgo, conservation agriculture is a revolution,” said Hernández, “Farmers are adopting the practice because they know that a change is coming— a change that is most likely going to strain their soils.”

The work of the Mexico-based Conservation Agriculture Program in the Mezquital valley is funded principally by the Mexican Agricultural Secretariat under the MasAgro initiative and by Monsanto-ASGROW, as well as with support from numerous foundations and local organizations.

For soil’s sake

It can be seen in the Mezquital Valley, as well as around the globe, that farmers who have practiced traditional agriculture for generations are adopting conservation agriculture. This is because today, more than ever before, global changes are threatening agriculture and food security worldwide.

Climate change, drought, soil degradation, and a rapidly growing populace are taking effect, and traditional farming practices can’t keep up. In the face of this adversity, farmers are switching to sustainable farming practices –practices that use fewer resources, facilitate healthy, nutrient-rich soils, and improve farmers’ yields.

Conservation agriculture is a forward-thinking way of farming based on three principles: minimum soil movement, covering the soil surface with crop residues and/or living plants, using crop rotations to avoid the build-up of pests and diseases. These principles are widely adaptable and can be used for a variety of different crops in varied soil types and environments.

Sustainable and beneficial

Mezquital Valley farmers receive record yields due to their nutrient-rich irrigation system. Farmers in Mexico’s highlands – where crops rely on precipitation alone – are not so lucky, but because of conservation agriculture’s water-saving benefits, these farmers have produced acceptable yields in dry years when neighboring fields withered. During the 2009 drought in the Central Highlands, farmers who practiced conservation agriculture harvested up to 125% more maize than those who farmed the traditional way.

Other attractive benefits of conservation agriculture are its cost and labor savings. Reducing or eliminating plowing allows farmers to sow and fertilize a field in a single sweep, rather than multiple passes. Decreasing machinery use saves time, fuel, money, and wear and tear on machinery.

Combining higher yields with lower costs, conservation agriculture allows farmers in rainfed areas to earn more and save more. This meant an average net return that was almost twice as high as the earnings of traditional practitioners. The average net return of Mexican highlands farmers who practice conservation agriculture was more than 800 USD per hectare compared to the approximate 400 USD per hectare that conventional highlands farmers reaped. It is no secret that conservation agriculture is putting more money in farmers’ pockets and more food in mouths around the world.

A smooth transition

Although the benefits of conservation agriculture are numerous, its adoption worldwide faces hurdles. One is the competition for crop residues, which often have great value as forage. Also, farmers are skeptical about shifting from the traditional farming method, including tillage, which they and their peers have practiced for generations.

As a conservation agriculture-certified technician, Hernández works to help smooth the transition. “It’s nothing more than a question of culture,” he replied, when asked why some farmers are hesitant to adopt the new principles. “It’s not that they don’t believe us or think we mean ill, it’s simply that they are afraid of change.”

Yet these hurdles begin to appear less daunting as farmers face rising temperatures, sky-rocketing fuel prices, and looming water shortages, not to mention mounting demands to grow more food grains locally, rather than importing them. To help farmers, researchers are exploring and promoting flexible ways to apply conservation agriculture. For instance, they suggest that farmers keep a minimum of 30% ground cover year-round. The remaining residues can be used or sold as forage. The new system also opens opportunities for more diversified cropping, including growing fodder crops, which can provide additional income for farmers.

Patience paying off

“I’m not worried for myself, I have all I need. I am worried for my children. The land needs to stay healthy and fertile for the future generations,” Gálvez says as his shoes, one step behind his wooden cane, crunch through the corn husks and stalks that blanket his fields. The air is dry and the sun is searing, yet Gálvez’s crops seem at home in their arid environment.

New maize and new friendships to beat Thai drought

Written by on May 14, 2012. Posted in Features.

CIMMYT E-News, vol 5 no. 3, March 2008

CIMMYT fosters regional partnerships and provides seed to help researchers in Thailand get drought resistant maize to farmers.

“We are very, very dry,” says farmer Yupin Ruanpeth. “Last year we had a drought at flowering time and we lost a lot of yield.” In fact, she explains, during the last five years, her family’s farm has suffered from severe drought three times in a row. The soil is good and in a year with no drought they can harvest five tons of maize per hectare, but last year they could only harvest three tons per hectare.

Geographically, the Thai province of Nakhon Sawan lies only a short drive from lush lowland paddy fields, but it seems a world away. In this region the rainy season (between May and September) brings enough water for a single crop, usually of maize or cassava, and in the dry season the fields lie fallow. Almost all maize in Thailand is rainfed, grown under similar conditions

mar01 At the Thai Department of Agriculture’s Nakhon Sawan Field Crops Research Center, Pichet Grudloyma, senior maize breeder, shows off the drought screening facilities. Screening is carried out in the dry season, so that water availability can be carefully controlled in two comparison plots: one well-watered and one “drought” plot, where watering is stopped for two weeks before and two weeks after flowering. Many of the experimental lines and varieties being tested this year are here as the result of the Asian Maize Network (AMNET). Funded by the Asian Development Bank, this CIMMYT-led project has brought together scientists from the national maize programs of five South East Asian countries to develop drought tolerant maize varieties and deliver them to farmers.

AMNET achievements

“We already have two releases under AMNET,” explains Grudloyma. These are varieties produced by the national maize program, focusing prior to AMNET on resistance to the disease downy mildew, which have also proved themselves under drought screening. The first, Nakhon Sawan 2, was released in 2006. The second, experimental hybrid NSX 042029, has been popular in farmer participatory trials and with local seed companies, and is slated for release in 2008. “This is the best hybrid we have,” says Grudloyma with pride. “It’s drought tolerant, disease resistant, and easy to harvest by hand.” The two hybrids incorporate both CIMMYT and Thai breeding materials, a legacy of Thailand’s long relationship with the Center.

In current work under AMNET, the Thai breeders are crossing lines from the national breeding program with new drought tolerant materials provided each year by CIMMYT. “We screen for drought tolerance in the dry season and downy mildew resistance in the rainy season, and take the best materials forward each year,” explains Grudloyma. “We now have many promising hybrids coming though.”

Funding from the project has also had a big impact on the team’s capacity to screen those hybrids. “We had a small one to two hectare facility before; now we have four hectares with a perfect controlled-irrigation system. Because we’ve been in AMNET, we have good varieties and good fieldwork and screening capacity. This is leading to other projects, for example we’re currently working with GCP [the Generation Challenge Program].” Thailand has also taken on a role in seed distribution, receiving and sharing seed from the AMNET member countries, and testing the varieties on the drought screening plots at the Research Center.

Sharing knowledge across borders

mar02 For Grudloyma, this collaborative approach is a big change. “We’ve learned a lot and gained a lot from our friends in different countries. We each have different experiences, and when we share problems we can adapt knowledge from others to our own situations.”

The Thai researchers can come up with many examples of things they have learned from their AMNET partners. “We saw the very friendly relationships between a number of seed companies and the Vietnam team, and we tried to modify the way we worked in Thailand,” says Grudloyma. “This year we shared promising hybrids with seed companies before release. Before that we just worked with farmers and small seed producers, and the seed companies could buy seed after varieties were released.” The result has been wider distribution of new drought tolerant varieties: this year the group received orders for enough parental materials for NSX 042029 to produce 300 tons of seed.

“We learned how to evaluate farmer preferences better from the Philippines team,” adds Amara Traisiri, an entomologist working on responding to these preferences. “We now use their method in all our field trials with farmers and we’re getting a more accurate picture of what farmers want.” This information caused the group to include ease of hand harvest as another trait to consider in their breeding program, after realizing how important it is to farmers. And the learning continued at this month’s annual regional training meeting. “Today, we learned a system for farmer participatory trials,” says Grudloyma, referring to a session on planning and analyzing trial data from CIMMYT maize breeder Gary Atlin. “With these new ideas to direct us we’ll be able to get better results.”

Almost all Thai maize farmers grow improved hybrid varieties, and for Ruanpeth, her priorities are clear. “Drought tolerance is very important”, she says, and dismisses other traits, such as yellow color. “No, I want varieties that are drought tolerant.” She likes to try the latest hybrids and has grown more than 10 commercial varieties. She eagerly accepts the suggestion from Grudloyma’s team to try their new hybrids on a small area this year.

The project has built capacity and relationships that will endure, according to Grudloyma. “Our station is now very good at working with drought,” he says, “and we’ll continue cooperation and providing germplasm. We already have plans for collaboration with China and Vietnam.” CIMMYT’s role in providing germplasm and access to new knowledge and technologies has been vital, as has its leadership. “It’s very hard to get hold of germplasm from anywhere except CIMMYT,” says Grudloyma. “It’s also difficult to come together: we needed an international organization to coordinate and facilitate regional interaction. With CIMMYT everything is easier.”

For more information: Kevin Pixley (k.pixley@cgiar.org)

Deadly wheat disease hits primetime Australian TV

Written by on May 14, 2012. Posted in Features.

cimmyt-ug99 CIMMYT-led international efforts to identify and deploy sources of resistance to the virulent Ug99 strain of stem rust have received coverage on ABC1, the primary television channel of the Australian Broadcasting Corporation.

Stem rust spores, carried large distances by the wind, are no respecters of borders. The battle against the disease is one which requires global collaboration—and is attracting global media interest. “Wheat is our most important crop and [stem rust] is arguably the most damaging of all the pathogens of wheat, it destroys crops,” explained Professor Robert Park of the University of Sydney’s Plant Breeding Institute in an episode of Catalyst, ABC’s flagship science series, aired on 04 August 2011.

Ug99 is able to overcome the resistance of popular wheat varieties, making this new stem rust a major threat to world food security. In East Africa, where Ug99 first emerged, it has devastated smallholder wheat crops. ABC’s reporter Paul Willis visited the Njoro research station in Kenya, where the Kenya Agricultural Research Institute (KARI) hosts a large-scale program now screening around 30,000 wheat lines from all over the world each year—including those brought from Australia by Park.

“What we’ve got here is materials that we receive from several developing countries. As you can see there’s Australia, there’s China, Nepal, Bangladesh. So everyone wants to test their material and see if it is actually resistant to Ug99,” said CIMMYT molecular breeder Sridhar Bhavani, pointing out plots of wheat in the field at Njoro.

Working together, scientists have made substantial process in understanding Ug99 resistance and developing new wheats. “So far we’ve characterised close to about fifty genes for stem rust resistance,” said Bhavani. Producing suitable varieties and getting them to farmers is an ongoing challenge, but Willis strikes an optimistic note: “This looks like the hope for the future. It’s a strain of wheat called “King Bird” that was developed by CIMMYT and is now deployed all around the world. And it looks like it’s got very high levels of resistance against Ug99.”

The complete video clip, with transcript, is available at: http://www.abc.net.au/catalyst/stories/3285577.htm