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Location: Pakistan

For more information, contact CIMMYT’s Pakistan office.

Pakistani representatives make a welcome return to CIMMYT Mexico

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DSC_0914 For some attendees, the unveiling of the new Norman E. Borlaug statue at CENEB was particularly poignant. It was a young Pakistani researcher who, in 1961, selected the variety that later became known asMexipak; a high-yielding, white grain wheat that became one of the mega-varieties that launched the Green Revolution. In 1966, Pakistan imported 41,000tons of Mexipak seed from Mexico – one of the biggest seed imports in history. Quarantine restrictions would make this a difficult task today, but it is estimated thatthis large-scale mission saved one million people from starvation and famine during the Green Revolution.

Norman Borlaug continued his relationship with Pakistan, though CIMMYT had to close it’s office there in the 1980s. This office was reopened in 2010,and during this year’s Visitors Week at CENEB, Ciudad Obregon, CIMMYT was delighted to welcome a delegation of eight Pakistanis, representing thePakistani Agricultural Research Council (PARC), the Ministry of Food Security and Research, the Nuclear Institute for Food and Agriculture, and the Directors General of Agriculture Research from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KPK) and Sindh, two of Pakistan’s fourprovinces. Rick Ward, Head of CIMMYT’s office in Pakistan, accompanied the delegates, who joined four Pakistani Borlaug Fellows currently conducting research at CENEB.

Syed Ghanzanfar Abbas, Director of Mechanization, PARC, said that visiting CIMMYT-Mexico was “a dream come true”. The delegates were delighted to see the research that CIMMYT is conducting at CENEB, and enjoyed hearing the presentations and meeting CIMMYT staff.

Spreading the word on CA from Mexico

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AC21“It is very difficult to find conservation agriculture machinery. You have to go to China or India to get it,” said Mahesh Kumar Gathala, new CIMMYTBangladesh-based cropping systems agronomist for South Asia. Gathala, a native of India, was just one of the 15 participants invited to attend a five-week conservation agriculture course at CIMMYT-El Batán, Mexico, where improving machinery and professional capacity were hot topics.

Begun in late May 2011, the course combined research advances in multidisciplinary approaches to sustainable crop management with the vast experience of countries in Asia, Africa, and Latin America. The main aim was to enhance participants’ understanding of the use and application of conservation agriculture sowing technologies and relevant agricultural implements in irrigated and rainfed wheat and maize production systems.

The participants came from Bangladesh, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Morocco, Tunisia, India, and Turkey. For many, it was their first time in Mexico. They spent most of their time at CIMMYT-El Batán, but also visited the Toluca station and farmers’ fields in Hidalgo to see CA practices in action and share experiences from their own countries.

Gathala noted the major differences in CA farming in Mexico and South Asia. “Fields are much smaller in Bangladesh, and crop residues are in much higher demand as animal feed,” he said. “These conditions make CA more difficult to push.” A CA practitioner for a decade, Gathala nonetheless felt the course was useful: “There is always something new to learn and share.”

Participant Raju Teggelli of India agreed. “I enjoyed the coursework, especially the practical experience. I found the instrument calibration and the hands-on training most useful,” said the Entomologist from the University of Agricultural Sciences, Raichur, in Karnataka, India.

Sincere thanks to all who made the course possible, and especially to the participants for their valuable and engaging contributions.

Exploring wheat improvement

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Nepal-training1The Wheat Research Center (WRC) in Bhairahawa welcomed 20 early and mid-career wheat breeders from four CSISA countries (Bangladesh, India, Nepal, and Pakistan) to its scenic campus in Nepal’s Terai region to participate in a two-week regional Wheat Improvement and Pathology course which was organized in collaboration with Nepal Agricultural Research Council (NARC) from 29 November- 12 December 2010.

The course, the first of its kind, was prepared and led by Arun Joshi, CIMMYT-Nepal wheat breeder, to stress the importance of a multidisciplinary approach to wheat improvement. The program was officially opened by NARC Executive Director Bhartendu Mishra, and included lectures on modern breeding methods and approaches, genetic diversity, wheat pathology, experimental design and statistical analysis, conservation agriculture, participatory variety selection, literature and data sources for wheat scientists, e-learning, and knowledge management. Diversity was prevalent among the participants, visible in their backgrounds, levels of experience and the variety of organizations which they represented. Resource persons represented CGIAR centers, NARS institutions and NGOs of the region. It was also great to see several young women scientists among the participants. Special thanks to staff of NARC/WRC Bhairahawa for providing a great venue and logistical support; and to Mr. Surath Pradhan for course administration.

Renewing and reinforcing partnerships in South Asia

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As part of global efforts to strengthen CIMMYT’s presence with key partners in important maize and wheat production regions, in recent weeks Tom Lumpkin met with high-level agricultural research directors and other CIMMYT friends in India and Pakistan.

In Pakistan during 25-28 June, discussions with Dr ME Tusneem, Chair of the Pakistan Agricultural Research Council (PARC), covered renewed collaboration on topics such as research to combat Ug99, the new strain of stem rust that is moving out of eastern Africa to threaten South Asia’s wheat crops. CIMMYT and Pakistan are also developing a new memorandum of understanding on partnerships and moves to reopen the center’s office in that country. Important contributions to the work and discussions have come from former CIMMYT wheat cytologist, Dr Mujeeb-Kazi, who led CIMMYT’s efforts to develop synthetic wheats, and Dr Mushtaq Gill, long-time CIMMYT partner and champion of zero-tillage in Pakistan.

In meetings in India during 30 June-01 July, it was agreed with Dr Mangala Rai, Director General of the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR), to develop a new five-year workplan that will be signed at the CIMMYT BOT meeting in India in October. Lumpkin also visited with Dr Gautam, ICAR DDG for Crops; Dr Mishra, Director of the Directorate of Wheat Research (DWR), and Dr Dass, director of the Directorate of Maize Research (DMR), and interacted with directors and staff of National Bureau of Plant Genetic Resources (NBPGR), the Indian Agricultural Research Institute (IARI), and the Directorate of Maize Research (DMR).

Lumpkin thanked Olaf Erenstein, CIMMYT agricultural economist and liaison officer in India, for organizing the visits and accompanying him, in representation of the center. “Olaf arranged very productive programs in Islamabad and Delhi that should greatly reinforce CIMMYT’s stature in South Asia,” he said.

Advanced wheat improvement

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Eight breeders from developing countries arrived in El Batán this week to attend the Advanced Wheat Improvement course. They come from India, Pakistan, Sudan, Egypt, Ecuador and South Africa and will study wheat improvement techniques in Mexico for the next three months. The new course is currently the longest being offered in the CG system. On Saturday, participants move to Ciudad Obregón, where the real work begins.

Scientific renewal

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Three scientists from Pakistan have just concluded a two-week visit to CIMMYT that included a stopover in ObregĂłn during the harvest. The visitors were Nafees Sadiq Kisana, National Coordinator for Wheat, Barley and Triticale, Mukhtar Alam, International Cooperation Office Ministry of Agriculture, and Liaquat Ali Hashmi, International Liaison & Training Officer with the Pakistan Agricultural Research Council (PARC).

For Kisana it was a homecoming. In 1983 he was a Wheat Program trainee with CIMMYT for eight months. “It was interesting to see how much the work at Obregón has developed in that time,” he says. For Mukhtar Alam, the visit to Mexico and CIMMYT was a first, though he says CIMMYT was not a new name for him. “I heard about CIMMYT from the time I was a student,” he says. “But coming here I found CIMMYT friendlier, more open and more focused than I had expected.”

As a result of this visit, and a visit to CIMMYT last year of the PARC chairman, Pakistan will again start sending visiting scientists to CIMMYT. There has been no coordinated program for almost a decade, but starting later this year the first of up to 30 mid-career Pakistani agricultural scientists will spend time at CIMMYT. “It will be useful for our scientists, who are well-qualified to give focus to their work and exposure to an international organization,” says Ali Hashmi.

The program is being funded by the government of Pakistan in conjunction with the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO).