As a fast growing region with increasing challenges for smallholder farmers, Asia is a key target region for CIMMYT. CIMMYTâs 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.
What is diversity worth? That is the issue addressed by âEconomic Analysis of Diversity in Modern Wheat,â a new collaborative publication that explores the economics, policies, and complications of modern wheat diversity.
Everyone wants the best, and farmers are no different. But when a large number of wheat farmers opt to sow the same improved varieties on large extensions of cropland, long-term diversity could be sacrificed for relative short-term gains.
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 âŠworking in Bangladesh since the early 70sâŠinitiating 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.
“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.
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.
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 dayâinstead of after two weeks of back-breaking, fuel-hungry plowingâthus saving money and allowing the new crop to mature before the pre-monsoon heat shrivels the grain.
“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 efficiencyâall 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.”
“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)
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 GĂĄlvez 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 GĂĄlvez went looking for a new challenge and found it in farming.
GĂĄlvez 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 countryâs 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 regionâs parched soilsâthe Mezquital Valley receives an average of only 527 mm of rainfall each yearâ about half of the valleyâs residents are farmers.
Putting waste to work
Since 1789, Hidalgoâs farmers have relied heavily on an unusual form of irrigationâwastewater from Mexico City. The valleyâs farmers use the sewage water, referred to as âaguas negrasâ 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 worldâs 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 ânatural fertilizersâ, 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 Cityâs 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
GĂĄlvez 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 GĂĄlvez grows maize and oats, maize husks and cobs litter the ground. Husks and cobs that assure any curious passer-bys that GĂĄlvez indeed practices conservation agriculture, as leaving crop residue is another foundational principle.
âSince switching to conservation agriculture, I have noticed a small increase in my yields compared to what I used to produce under irrigation, but I donât do it for the yields. Living in a climate like this, keeping my soils in good condition is my number one priority,â GĂĄlvez says, âthatâs why I practice conservation agriculture.â
According to FermĂn HernĂĄndez MĂ©ndez, a graduate of CIMMYTâs conservation agriculture-certification course and a technician with the Mexican subsidiary of Monsanto, ASGROW seed company, GĂĄlvez isnât the only farmer in Hidalgo changing his ways. âIn Hidalgo, conservation agriculture is a revolution,â said HernĂĄndez, âFarmers are adopting the practice because they know that a change is comingâ a change that is most likely going to strain their soils.â
For soilâs 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 canât keep up. In the face of this adversity, farmers are switching to sustainable farming practices âpractices that use fewer resources, facilitate healthy, nutrient-rich soils, and improve farmersâ 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 Mexicoâs highlands â where crops rely on precipitation alone â are not so lucky, but because of conservation agricultureâs 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 farmersâ 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, HernĂĄndez works to help smooth the transition. âItâs nothing more than a question of culture,â he replied, when asked why some farmers are hesitant to adopt the new principles. âItâs not that they donât believe us or think we mean ill, itâs simply that they are afraid of change.â
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
âIâm 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,â GĂĄlvez 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 GĂĄlvezâs crops seem at home in their arid environment.
CIMMYT fosters regional partnerships and provides seed to help researchers in Thailand get drought resistant maize to farmers.
âWe are very, very dry,â says farmer Yupin Ruanpeth. âLast year we had a drought at flowering time and we lost a lot of yield.â In fact, she explains, during the last five years, her familyâs 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
At the Thai Department of Agricultureâs 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 âdroughtâ 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.
âWe already have two releases under AMNET,â 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. âThis is the best hybrid we have,â says Grudloyma with pride. âIt’s drought tolerant, disease resistant, and easy to harvest by hand.â The two hybrids incorporate both CIMMYT and Thai breeding materials, a legacy of Thailandâs 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. âWe screen for drought tolerance in the dry season and downy mildew resistance in the rainy season, and take the best materials forward each year,â explains Grudloyma. âWe now have many promising hybrids coming though.â
Funding from the project has also had a big impact on the teamâs capacity to screen those hybrids. âWe had a small one to two hectare facility before; now we have four hectares with a perfect controlled-irrigation system. Because weâve been in AMNET, we have good varieties and good fieldwork and screening capacity. This is leading to other projects, for example weâre currently working with GCP [the Generation Challenge Program].â 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.
For Grudloyma, this collaborative approach is a big change. âWeâve 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.â
The Thai researchers can come up with many examples of things they have learned from their AMNET partners. âWe 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,â says Grudloyma. âThis 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.â 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.
âWe learned how to evaluate farmer preferences better from the Philippines team,â adds Amara Traisiri, an entomologist working on responding to these preferences. âWe now use their method in all our field trials with farmers and weâre getting a more accurate picture of what farmers want.â 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 monthâs annual regional training meeting. âToday, we learned a system for farmer participatory trials,â says Grudloyma, referring to a session on planning and analyzing trial data from CIMMYT maize breeder Gary Atlin. âWith these new ideas to direct us weâll be able to get better results.â
Almost all Thai maize farmers grow improved hybrid varieties, and for Ruanpeth, her priorities are clear. âDrought tolerance is very importantâ, she says, and dismisses other traits, such as yellow color. âNo, I want varieties that are drought tolerant.â She likes to try the latest hybrids and has grown more than 10 commercial varieties. She eagerly accepts the suggestion from Grudloymaâs 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. âOur station is now very good at working with drought,â he says, âand weâll continue cooperation and providing germplasm. We already have plans for collaboration with China and Vietnam.â CIMMYTâs role in providing germplasm and access to new knowledge and technologies has been vital, as has its leadership. âItâs very hard to get hold of germplasm from anywhere except CIMMYT,â says Grudloyma. âItâs also difficult to come together: we needed an international organization to coordinate and facilitate regional interaction. With CIMMYT everything is easier.â
For more information: Kevin Pixley (k.pixley@cgiar.org)
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 collaborationâand is attracting global media interest. âWheat is our most important crop and [stem rust] is arguably the most damaging of all the pathogens of wheat, it destroys crops,â explained Professor Robert Park of the University of Sydneyâs Plant Breeding Institute in an episode of Catalyst, ABCâs 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. ABCâs 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 yearâincluding those brought from Australia by Park.
âWhat 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,â 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. âSo far we’ve characterised close to about fifty genes for stem rust resistance,â said Bhavani. Producing suitable varieties and getting them to farmers is an ongoing challenge, but Willis strikes an optimistic note: âThis looks like the hope for the future. It’s a strain of wheat called âKing Birdâ 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.â
The complete video clip, with transcript, is available at: http://www.abc.net.au/catalyst/stories/3285577.htm
Three high-quality wheat varieties developed by researchers from the Shandong Academy of Agricultural Science and the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Science (CAAS), drawing on CIMMYT wheat lines and technical support, were sown on more than 8 million hectares during 2002-2006, according to a recent CAAS economic study. They contributed an additional 2.4 million tons of grainâworth USD 513 million, with quality premiums.
âImproving processing quality has become an extremely important objective for sustainable development of the wheat industry in China,â says Zhonghu He, CIMMYT wheat expert in the country and researcher at the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Science (CAAS). He was part of a joint research team from CAAS and Shandong Academy of Agricultural Science (Shandong AAS) that combined Chinese and CIMMYT wheat lines to develop three outstanding varieties for making pan breads and noodlesâmainstays on Chinese dinner tables.
The three varieties were sown cumulatively on more than 8.0 million hectares in China during 2002-2006, adding an additional 2.4 million tons of grain to Chinese wheat production and some USD 411 million to wheat farmersâ incomes, according to analyses by the Agricultural Economy and Development Institute of CAAS. âFarmers benefited by an additional USD 101 million in quality-based premiums,â says He, âand USD 8 million more was generated through marketing seeds of these varieties. Finally, the improved quality of these wheats has greatly benefited the milling and food industries.â
The research team has received two Scientific Progress Awards from Chinaâs State Council, as well as awards from the Shandong Provincial Government (2003) and Beijing Municipal Government (2006). In December 2007, in a ceremony in the Great Hall of the People, the team was given the 2007 Award for Outstanding Agricultural Technology in the Asia-Pacific Region of the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR). âThis is the only research team in the Chinese agricultural community that has produced such impact and received such high honors from the provincial and central governments in recent years,â says He.
The wheat quality research team also established methodologies to test for Chinese noodle quality and for applying molecular markers. âA total of 72 scientific papers have been published in refereed journals on this work, including 19 in leading international journals,â says He. âBesides being used throughout China, the molecular marker and noodle evaluation procedures are widely used in Australia and at CIMMYT.â
Chinese and CIMMYT wheat researchers have carried on joint research since the early 1970s, helping both parties to develop varieties with enhanced disease resistance and higher yields, among other traits. CIMMYT has contributed particularly to the quality of Chinese wheats. Two of the varieties emerging from the work described above were improved for grain quality through cross-breeding with the CIMMYT wheat genotype Saric F74. The breeder who developed them, Liu Jianjun, attended CIMMYT training courses and did his MSc thesis on noodle quality under the supervision of He and of Roberto J. Peña, head of industrial quality at CIMMYT. CIMMYT and China have jointly organized more than a dozen training courses, workshops, and conferences involving at least 1,000 Chinese researchers.
On 04 December 2007, CAAS and CIMMYT launched a three-year joint breeding initiative worth USD 1 million per year to develop new wheat varieties that tolerate heat and droughtâhelping farmers face climate changeâand that resist major diseases of the crop.
âOf particular concern is the new, virulent strain of stem rust, Ug99, which appeared in eastern Africa eight years ago but has since moved on prevailing winds to the Middle East and could soon threaten the vast wheat lands of Asia,â says He. âOne of the varieties, Jimai 20, developed by the CAAS-Shandong team, was the only wheat cultivar from China to show high resistance to Ug99 in field screening in Kenya.â
For more information: Zhonghu He, wheat breeder (zhhe@public3.bta.net.cn)
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Farmers in Yunnan Province are increasingly reacting to climate change by using maize seed for drought conditions developed by CIMMYT in collaboration with the Yunnan Academy of Agricultural Sciences.
Forming part of southwest Chinaâs rugged terrain, the Yunnan Province mountain chains create spectacular vistas in every direction. Unfortunately, the scenic landscapes also make life tough for farmers. Only 5% of the province is cultivated land. Still, agriculture is a pillar of the provincial economy, and maize is the most commonly grown crop.
Faced with a mean elevation of over 2,000 meters and average slopes as steep as 19 degrees, Yunnan farmers have adapted by growing maize on the hills and mountains. This so-called âdown-slope cultivationâ has fed Yunnan for generations, but it has drawbacks, like increased erosion. Yunnan is one of the areas in China most seriously affected by erosion.
Missing the monsoon?
Besides their tremendous ability to adapt, farmers have one other ally in the continual struggle to grow maize in this unlikely environment: the monsoon. Yunnan Province has a subtropical climate and an average annual rainfall of more than a meterâvery generous for maizeâand most of which normally falls during the growing season, May to October.
But todayâs farmers in Yunnan have a new concern: what happens when the monsoon fails to appear? Itâs not a hypothetical question. In 2010, severe weather in southwest China resulted in the regionâs worst drought in a century. In the months prior, large swaths of Yunnan hadnât received adequate rainfall. Then the rainy season ended early, temperatures rose, and drought set in, ultimately affecting more than 60 million people and destroying billions of dollars worth of crops. In 2011, drought re-occurred in eastern Yunnan, affecting a large area of maize.
Now farmers are left wondering if these phenomena are flukes or part of a larger trend. In fact, climate change models suggest the fluctuations in rainfall will continue and increase in intensity. Yunnan’s maize farmers may no longer be able to count on the monsoon.
Better maize: Part of the answer
The solution, put simply, is to change. And helping farmers to change from the only thing theyâve ever known takes patient expertise. Some of that has come from a team led by Dr. Fan Xingming, Director General, Institute of Food Crops, Yunnan Academy of Agricultural Sciences (YAAS), in partnership with CIMMYT.
Drawing on sources from CIMMYTâs maize and wheat seed bankâwhich conserves 27,000 unique collections of maize seedâFan and his group have developed 22 hybrids, several of which possess improved performance under drought and multiple disease resistance. Because they produce consistently higher yields and better incomes for Yunnan farmers, the hybrids have been a hit. Today they cover approximately 200,000 hectaresâ15% of Yunnanâs annual maize areaâand have increased farmersâ incomes by approximately USD 200 million between 2000 to 2010. One of those developed, Yunrui 47, is drought tolerant and performed well in 2011 in severely droughted areas in Yunnan, including Zhaotong, Wenshan, Xuanwei, and Huize.
Some are more resistant to insect infestation and rot than older maize varieties. Because of this, their grain can be stored longer. Instead of selling their harvest in January when prices are low, farmers can keep it until June, when prices are better. The hybrid Yunrui 88 is high-yielding and resistant to several of the regionâs most damaging maize diseases, according to Dan Jeffers, a CIMMYT maize breeder based in Kunming. âYunrui 88 has been highly resistant to maize dwarf mosaic, resistant to leaf blights, and shows intermediate resistance to ear rot,â he says. âIn addition, it yields an average of around 9 tons per hectare of grain.â
Another of the hybrids, Yunrui 8, is an example of quality protein maize, a high-lysine and high-oil hybrid that is more nutritious for humans and farm animals, as well as being highly resistant to ear rots. Yunrui 8 has been recommended by the Ministry of Agriculture of China as the leading national variety in 2010. It is the most popular hybrid in Yunnan, with a cumulative coverage of 0.5 million hectares in the province.
Farmers have testified to the nutritional quality of the hybrid grain. Huan Yuanmin and her husband grew Yunrui 8 on 4.6 hectares for 3 years. Utilizing the profits from their surplus harvests, they bought 200 pigs and fed them hybrid maize grain. âWe noticed that with the hybrid maize, our animals grew faster and were more robust,â says Huan. âThe sows gave more milk, so suckling pigs could be weaned three-to-five days ahead of the normal of 28 days.â This in turn raised the familyâs profits. âEven the skin and hair of the pigs became shinier,â she added.
International partnerships bring benefits for farmers
Staff of YAAS began collaborating with CIMMYT in 1976. Over the decades, that relationship was strengthened by the personal visits of CIMMYT regional maize staff and the late Nobel Peace Prize Laureate and wheat breeder, Dr. Norman Borlaug. According to Fan, CIMMYT germplasm was the basis for Yunnanâs strong maize production and breeding program. âCIMMYT experts have helped Yunnan in many ways, including training and sharing expertise,â he said. âI really appreciate this and sincerely hope we can continue cooperating, progressing in maize breeding, and developing more hybrids that will allow farmers to contribute to the food security of people in less developed areas.â
For more information: Dan Jeffers, maize breeder (d.jeffers@cgiar.org)
Related story:
CIMMYT helps build scientific strength in Turkey.
When you first meet Gul Erginbas and Elif Sahin standing side by side in an experimental wheat plot in Turkey, what stands out are the differences between them. One is dressed very traditionally, head and body covered, the other is in close-fitting denim jeans. It seems these two young postgraduate students could not be less alike. But when it comes to science the external differences disappear. These are two committed and talented young people who hope to make a difference in their own country. They are already making a difference for CIMMYT.
âI really depend on them,â says Julie Nicol, the CIMMYT soil-borne disease pathologist, based in Turkey. âWe work in close collaboration with the Turkish Ministry of Agriculture and several universities. Both women have started working on their doctoral degrees, supervised by key university experts and myself. This is a highly effective way to build capacity in applied research both for Turkey and the world.â Having bright and committed students on the ground is also very beneficial to CIMMYT.
The Anadolu Research Institute at Eskisehir is one of Turkeyâs oldest and most important agricultural research stations, especially for winter wheat breeding. It is about a three-hour drive east of the capital city, Ankara, on the broad and rolling Anatolian plateau. At this station CIMMYT (together with ICARDA and Turkey) works in winter wheat breeding and also in Nicolâs area of specialization, finding ways to reduce the threat to wheat from pathogens in the soil, the microscopic worms and fungi that cause damage underground long before the impacts are seen in the part of the wheat plant that is above the ground.
Both Sahin and Erginbas have supervisors at their own universities in Turkey but having a CIMMYT scientist like Nicol as a co-advisor really helps. âShe brings us a global perspective and makes sure we work with care and precision,â says Elif. âAnd she really knows the field. It is easy to learn from her,â adds Gul. âWith this experience, I hope I can contribute to science in Turkey in the future.â
Erginbas is just beginning work on a project to screen wheat for resistance to a disease called crown rot. It is caused by a microscopic fungus in the soil called Fusarium culmorum (related to but not the same as the Fusarium fungus that causes head blight in wheat) and can cause farmers serious loss of yield. Her first tests have been with plants grown in a greenhouse on the station. Later she will expand her work to the field and as part of her program will spend some time in Australia with the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization (CSIRO). Since there is some evidence that the fungus that causes crown rot can survive for up to two years in crop residues, there is a great interest in this work as more farmers adopt reduced tillage and stubble retention on their land.
Sahin is focusing on an underground pest called the cereal cyst nematode, a tiny worm that can cause great damage to the root system of the plant. It can be responsible for losses of up to 40% of rainfed winter wheat in Turkey and there is evidence that the nematodes are very widespread in west Asia, North Africa, northern India and China. Sahin, funded by a scholarship from the Turkish funding body TUBITAK, is looking for sources of resistance to the pest.
These pathogens are especially damaging when wheat is grown under more marginal conditions, and so the work in Turkey that these two young students are doing may have its greatest impact where farmers struggle the most.
For more information: Julie Nicol, pathologist (j.nicol@cgiar.org)
Triticale finds a niche in Bangladesh
âThis is just what I was looking for,â says Al Mahmoud Hasan, a farmer near the town or Rangpur in Bangladesh. âI wanted a crop to fill the fallow gap between the rice crops.â
In Bangladesh rice is king, with farmers often growing two rice crops a year. Now, in a pilot project funded by the Danish development agency, Danida, a new crop is making its debut. The aim of the on-farm trials is to see if triticale can make a difference in the lives of Bangladeshi farm families who keep dairy cattle.
Triticale is a cross between wheat and rye that CIMMYT researchers and partners have improved and promoted over recent decades. It makes good animal fodder because its leaves and stem are high in protein. In Bangladesh triticale was virtually unknown. Cows can eat Napier grass when it is in season but feed mostly on a diet of dry rice straw, a poor quality fodder. CIMMYT researchers realized that even in the intense cropping system in Bangladesh, there might be room for triticale as a high-quality cattle forage, filling a gap in the cropping season and a gap in cattle diets.
During the rainy season virtually every farmer in Bangladesh grows aman or monsoon rice. Then during the dry season they usually grow another rice crop (called boro), wheat, or even tobacco. Triticale can fit that second crop niche. The idea is to plant triticale as early as possible after the rice harvest and then cut it at 30 days and again at 50 days. The green cuttings are used as fodder. When the crop does mature, the grain can be used to feed chickens or ground and combined with wheat flour for Chapatti, the standard flat bread of south Asia.
Rokeya Begum has cash and 20% more milk from triticale-fed cows.Farmers who grow two full rice crops also have an option with triticale. That is because there is a 60 day fallow period between the two rice crops. It isnât enough time for triticale to mature and produce grain, but it is long enough to produce good green fodder. That is exactly what Al Mahmoud Hasan is doing. He and his family were among 120 households participating in the trials throughout Bangladesh. He, his wife and his two oldest children received instruction in triticale cultivation as part of a whole family training system organized by CIMMYT and partners.
Participation and training has paid off for other farmers, including Rokeya Begum and her family. She sold her first triticale cut to neighbors and used the money to buy new clothes for an important religious festival. Mrs Begum also says her cows are giving 20% more milk on triticale than they did on a diet of rice straw.
The triticale seed for the trials came from CIMMYT in Mexico. The one-year pilot project is near its end and the data are not yet analyzed but reports from participating farmers are encouraging. Many like Mrs. Begum say their neighbors will buy seed from them for next season so they too can try triticale.
For further information contact Stephen Waddington (s.waddington@cgiar.org)
A USAID-funded study by Rutgers economist Carl Pray concludes that present and future impacts of the Asian Maize Biotechnology Network (AMBIONET)âa forum that during 1998-2005 fostered the use of biotechnology to boost maize yields in Asia’s developing countriesâshould produce benefits that far exceed its cost.
Organized by CIMMYT and funded chiefly by the Asian Development Bank (ADB), AMBIONET included public maize research institutions in China, India, Indonesia, the Philippines, Thailand, and Vietnam. âDespite the small investmentâabout US$ 2.4 million from ADB and US$ 1.3 million from CIMMYTâthe network was successful in increasing research capacity, increasing research output, and initiating the development of technology that should benefit small farmers and consumers,â Pray says.
Pray estimates that farmers in Thailand and Southern China are already gaining nearly US$ 200,000 a year by sowing downy-mildew-resistant hybrids from the project. Prayâs future projections are much more dramatic. An example is drought tolerant maize: if such varieties are adopted on just a third of Asiaâs maize area and reduce crop losses by one-third, farmers stand to gain US$ 100 million a year. Furthermore, in India AMBIONET has improved knowledge, capacity, and partnerships with private companies; a 1% increase in yield growth from this improvement would provide US$ 10 million per year, according to Pray.
AMBIONETâs applied approach stressed formal training and attracted Asian researchers to work on maize germplasm enhancement and breeding. This included graduate students, scientists who switched from an academic to an applied-research focus, and advanced-degree scientists with experience in DNA markers and mapping for maize. Many noted that the partnering of molecular geneticists with breeders strengthened their interactions and the exchange of expertise. The project also boosted funding for maize breeding research. Several AMBIONET labs used project money to leverage significant institutional and government grants. Major research programs emerged from AMBIONET in India and China.
In a 2003 interview, Shihuang Zhang, leader of a project team at the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciencesâ (CAAS) Institute of Plant Breeding, said: âAMBIONET came along at the ideal time for us. We were able have some of our young people trained and start our lab. Then in 1998 and 1999, China changed the way research was funded. WeâŠwere able to get big projects for molecular breeding.â The CAAS group used the initial money, equipment, training, and advice from AMBIONET to start the fingerprinting, mapping, and a markers lab, as well as to hire leading national maize breeding and molecular genetics experts. According to Pray, this eventually converted the group into Chinaâs major maize molecular breeding and enhancement program.
Benefits were not confined just to individual labs, as groups shared knowledge and resources across borders. The Indonesian team, for example, sent two young scientists for extended training in the laboratory of B.M. Prasanna, at the Indian Agricultural Research Institute in New Delhi. Veteran Indonesian maize breeder Firdaus Kasim reported this to be extremely useful: âPrasanna showed our scientists how to do downy mildew and genetic diversity research. He was a very good teacher. After they came back they made a lot of progress.â Prasanna also provided lines that the Indonesian trainees fingerprinted in diversity studies and 400 primers (markers) for downy mildew resistance.
Lines, data, and markers from AMBIONET are in use region-wide. For example, sugarcane mosaic virus was identified as a serious constraint in several countries, and partners are using resistant lines developed under AMBIONET. Based on information from diversity studies conducted under the project, Vietnamese researchers are developing hybrids that resist lodging and are drought tolerant.
Research projects provided the focal point for AMBIONET, with training activities, annually meetings, and the technical backstopping contributing to the programsâ success. âThe combination of collaboration, cooperation, and competitionâŠwas impressive,â says Pray, in the studyâs closing statement. âThis is the way good, collaborative research is supposed to work.â
For more information contact Jonathan Crouch (j.crouch@cgiar.org)
CIMMYT, with support from the Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research (ACIAR), has been working on maize in Afghanistan for more than ten years, and has contributed to the releaseâled by the Agricultural Research Institute of Afghanistan (ARIA)âof four maize varieties. Historically, the national research and seed systems have not been as proactive for maize as they have for wheat. However, recognizing that maize can be an effective contributor to overall food production, the recent past has seen efforts to give maize its due importance as a food crop in Afghanistan. To this end, the first ARIA-CIMMYT maize workshop was held at the ARIA conference hall in Kabul on 30 April and 01 May 2012, with the aims of further systematizing maize research in the country and coordinating the efforts of stakeholders.
Maize is the fourth most important cereal crop in Afghanistan, accounting for about 6.8% of total cereal production. It has traditionally played a significant role in Afghan food, and during the pre-conflict period Afghanistan grew maize on about half a million hectares, with production reaching 0.7 million tons and productivity at 1.3â1.6 t/ha. During the last decade, productivity has ranged between 0.9 and 2.6 t/ha with signs of improvement, but the area planted to maize has fallen to about 180,000 hectares and total production has hovered around 0.3 million tones. The country has been importing maize to meet its needs, spending about four million USD during 2009.
The workshop was inaugurated by Sahib Dad Pakbin, senior advisor to ARIA. He welcomed the CIMMYT initiative and said he hoped the workshop would lead to increased coordination and more effective contributions by maize researchers in the country. Rajiv Sharma, CIMMYTâs country liaison officer for Afghanistan, highlighted the important supplementary role maize could play in enhancing wheat-based farm-level productivity. A total of 28 participants attended and gave presentations at the workshop, from ARIA, CIMMYT, the Afghan Ministry of Agriculture, Irrigation and Livestock (MAIL), FAO, the International Center for Agricultural Research in the Dry Areas (ICARDA), and private sector seed companies. The themes covered included the importance of maize in Afghanistan, maize agronomy, maize breeding, seed production, and the maize research network in Afghanistan.
All the participants were excited by the opportunity to collaborate with fellow researchers, in particular the ARIA maize researchers by the chance to connect with colleagues from other research stations. They expressed immense satisfaction at being able to share and link their proposed research plans for the ensuing maize season. ARIA director Qasem Obaidi thanked CIMMYT for its contributions in providing this opportunity and expressed the wish that it would be repeated in years to come to facilitate meaningful coordination, not only among researchers but also other stakeholders such as seed producers.
QTL IciMapping is freely-available public software capable of building high-density genetic maps and mapping quantitative trait loci (QTLs). Compared with previous versions, the latest version has five new features: dominant/recessive markers are considered in recombination frequency estimation, map construction and QTL mapping; a new functionality called IMP can be used to build an integrated map from multiple genetic linkage maps sharing common markers; a new tool called 2pointREC can be used to estimate the pair-wise recombination frequency in biparental populations; many more markers can be handled by this softwareâ for example, it can perform map construction and QTL mapping of more than 5000 markers; and linkage map figures are improved.
The software is project-based; kernel modules for building linkage maps were written using C#, those for QTL mapping were written using Fortran 90/95, and the interface was written using C#. QTL IciMapping runs on 32 and 64-bit computers with Windows XP/Vista/7 and .NET Framework 2.0(x86)/3.0/3.5. Research and development of the software was supported mainly by the CGIAR Generation Challenge Program, National 863 Program, 973 Program, and the Natural Science Foundation of China. The latest version is freely available (here). For more information, contact Dr. Jiankang Wang (jkwang@cgiar.org or wangjk@caas.net.cn).
Ensuring a market for maize seed produced using community based seed production (CBSP) in the value chain system, and enhancing management and marketing competencies of local partners are among the strategic activities in Phase IV of the Hill Maize Research Project (HMRP), supported by SDC and USAID. The HMRP, in collaboration with the National Maize Research Program (NMRP), completed a 20-day training course on maize seed production technologies (15 days) and seed business plan development and marketing (5 days). The course took place at NMRPRampur, Chitwan, from 27 March to 16 April 2012. A total of 31 participants (11 women) attended the course; they were selected from CBSP groups collaborating with HMRP and are expected to work as community seed promoters in their respective groups afterwards.
The first course component on maize seed production technologies covered diverse topics, such as agronomic practices in maize seed production, farmersâ practices in maize varietal development, source seed production technologies, crop management technology (including insect pest management), improved seed production through CBSP, quality control, and truthful labelling. The second component covered HMRP seed marketing strategies, agricultural marketing, seed production costs, maize seed value-chain analysis, seed business plan development, bookkeeping at the CBSP group level, potential sourcing of local state funds by CBSP groups, the importance of gender equity and social inclusion in the CBSP approach, an introduction to cooperatives and private companies, and the basic legal requirements to establish them.
Each trainee developed a comprehensive action plan and presented it on the last day of the course. Participants were evaluated before and after each course component and the first-ranked candidate was recognized. Speaking at the closing session, Dr. K.B. Koirala, NMRP National Coordinator, expressed his appreciation to the HMRP and emphasized the importance of this type of training for empowering local communities. Dr. G. Ortiz-Ferrara, HMRP Team Leader, thanked the course participants, training coordinator, and resource persons for their help and cooperation in making the course a success. Finally, Dr. Koirala and Dr. Ortiz-Ferrara jointly distributed certificates and training kits to all participants.
A two-day workshop on potential technologies and policy environments for smallholder rainfed maize farming systems of Jharkhand state, India was organized jointly by Birsa Agriculture University (BAU), CIMMYT, and the International Plant Nutrition Institute (IPNI) during 16-17 April, 2012 at Ranchi, Jharkhand, India. The outcomes of the workshop will form part of CIMMYTâs IFAD-funded project on âSustainable Intensification of Smallholder Maize-Livestock Farming Systems in Hill Areas of South Asiaâ and the MAIZE CGIAR Research Program (CRP).
There were 69 participants in total, including scientists, extension agents (KVKs), and students from BAU; key officials from the state department of agriculture National Food Security Mission (NFSM); and scientists from IPNI, the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI), and CIMMYT. The workshop was inaugurated by BAU vice chancellor M.P. Pandey, while sessions and break-out group discussions were facilitated by Kaushik Majumdar, director of IPNIâs South Asia Program; JS Choudhary, state NFSM director; AK Sarkar, dean of the College of Agriculture at BAU; ILRI scientist Nils Teufel; CIMMYT scientists M. L. Jat and Surabhi Mittal; and IPNI deputy director T. Satyanarayana.
The workshop was made up of presentations on key topics, break-out group discussions, and a brainstorming session. The overall key themes were: (1) current status, constraints, and opportunities in different regions of Jharkhand , (2) conservation agriculture in maize and wheat systems, (3) approaches for crop-livestock integration, (4) integrated farming systems for food and nutritional security, (5) optimizing nutrient management for improved yield and profitability, and (6) approaches for inclusive growth for Jharkhand.
The five break-out groups discussed conservation agriculture (CA); site-specific nutrient management (SSNM); integrated farming systems and crop livestock interactions; enabling policies; and knowledge gaps, partnerships, networks and scaling-out strategies. The discussion outcomes were particularly focused on technology targeting and enabling environments and policies.
Agriculture in Jharkhand is at very low cropping intensity (~114%), despite good rainfall in most districts. The most critical issues include: rolling topography with very small holdings, leading to severe erosion due to lack of appropriate rainwater harvesting; soil acidity; lack of high-yielding stress-tolerant cultivars; very limited mechanization; and poor farmer access to inputoutput markets, coupled with resource poverty.
Building on the experience of CIMMYTâs hill maize project in the state, the participants agreed that optimizing cropping systems deploying CA practices could alleviate many of these problems, and sustainably increase crop production and productivity. Integrating CA with SSNM has shown promising results in improving nutrient use efficiency, currently another bottleneck in productivity gains due to inappropriate nutrient use. Crop-livestock integration is also key, as animals dominate farming in Jharkhand.
To implement these technologies and practices on a large scale, policy support is crucial. The outcomes of the workshop are being documented to serve as a policy paper for prioritization and implementation of technologies by the state, with the goal of arresting land degradation, improving crop productivity, and improving resource use efficiency and farm profitability.
The bi-annual Board of Trustees (BoT) meeting commenced at CIMMYT headquarters at El BatĂĄn on 31 March 2012. In his opening report to the board, Director General Thomas Lumpkin described developments at CIMMYT over the past 6 months. âOur stature is rising. Our capacity is rising. But the challenges we are facingâespecially taking into consideration climate change and population increasesâare just daunting,â he said.
This session of meetings was the first chaired by Sara Boettiger, who has served on the BoT for the past eight years, and took over the position of Board Chair from Julio Antonio Berdegué Sacristån in October 2011. Boettiger, originally from the US, also serves as an Adjunct Professor at UC Berkeley in the Department of Agricultural and Research Economics.
During the meetings, Boettiger applauded CIMMYTâs âreputation for professionalism from our partners and collaborators.â CIMMYTâs funding strategy was also highlighted as forward thinking and innovative. Rather than the traditional model of investment from industrialized nations such as the US, Germany, and the UK, CIMMYT has undergone a shift in its funding in the past 5 years, with the largest proportion of funding currently sourced from emerging market countries.
During a summary report to CIMMYT staff on 04 April 2012, Boettiger stated, âglobally, emerging markets are going to be the strength of the world. These will be the powerhouses funding agricultural development.â Recent reports show that half of the worldâs GDP comes from emerging markets. They also produce a third of the worldâs exports and are home to 85 percent of the worldâs population. In recent years, CIMMYT has made a concerted effort to strengthen linkages with emerging market countries such as India, where CIMMYT launched the newly established Borlaug Institute for South Asia (BISA) in October 2011, as well as China where CIMMYT currently has the largest research capacity of any of the CGIAR centers.
Upcoming events were also discussed during the meetings, including the G20 in Mexico, and the impending visit to CIMMYT of the CGIARâs new CEO, Frank Rijsberman, who will come in June after representing the CGIAR at Rio+20.
During the four-day meeting, BoT members had their first opportunity to tour the construction sites and new facilities being developed at CIMMYT headquarters. The projectâwhich is to include new biotechnology buildings, labs, greenhouses, and housing facilitiesâwill conclude later this year and an event to officially inaugurate the facilities is set to take place by 2013.
The next BoT meeting will take place in October 2012.
