Skip to main content

Location: Pakistan

For more information, contact CIMMYT’s Pakistan office.

Cross-sector collaboration needed to boost wheat production in Pakistan

Written by on . Posted in News.

ISLAMABAD (CIMMYT) – Agronomy experts from across Pakistan gathered earlier this month to discuss progress in Pakistan since 2014 under the USAID funded Agricultural Innovation Program (AIP). At the meeting, 23 national partners shared their progress and evaluation of new techniques, planters and their dissemination in the wheat based systems of Pakistan.

The International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT) and the Pakistan Agricultural Research Council (PARC) drew 80 participants from both private and public spheres to the conference where they discussed key issues such as Pakistan’s large yield gap, residue management techniques and ways to increase efficiency in fertilizer and water management.

AIP has reached more than 11,000 farmers in Pakistan through demonstration, training and farmer days. AIP promotes dissemination of sustainable farming activities such as zero-tillage wheat planting after rice and legume crops, ridge planting of wheat, improved fertilizer management in wheat and rice, direct seeding with multi-crop planters, wheat panting with Zero-Tillage Happy Seeders in rice residue and maize planting with small planters in Pakistan.

In Pakistan, wheat is grown on more than 9 million hectares annually, yielding roughly 2.8 tons of grain per hectare, yet falls below the global average of 3.2 tons per hectare due to a wide yield gap, improper residue management techniques, inefficient fertilizer and water management.

Ghulam Muhammad Ali, Member and AIP focal person of PARC, said that there is a need to increase per unit area productivity in the crop sector as cultivated land is decreasing because of housing and climate-related degradation. Private sector active involvement in research and dissemination would also help to increase agriculture productivity in the country.

AIP is working with private-public partnerships to move beyond educating stakeholders in new technologies to helping farmers implement them in their fields. Their efforts have resulted in the local manufacturing and provision of planters and seeders to over 300 farmers in the provinces of Punjab, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Sindh and Balochistan, according to AIP Project Leader Imtiaz Muhammad.

All of the provided machines are operated under the practice of zero tillage, meaning farmers directly sow new seeds into the residue of the previous crop grown. The tools also help farmers maximize their production, since they sow seeds using an inverted T opener that breaks up the soil then distributes seeds evenly. Research has shown these methods increase yield and decrease carbon footprint.

Farmers preferred these machines due to their increased planting speed, reduction in loss of seed and seed breakage and the increased yield they saw using these machines. Local producers of zero-till machinery, such as Greenland Engineering are also benefiting, their sales have almost tripled, from 37 in 2016 to 150 in 2017 as adoption of the technology has expanded.

Azeem Kahan, Director General of the National Agricultural Research Center in Islamabad, emphasized the need for a national database of resource conserving technology such as planters and seeders, and said that the PARC collaboration with CIMMYT will focus on coordination that will help stakeholders share their knowledge about agronomic interventions in Pakistan.

Participants of AIP’s Agronomy National Meeting 2017 in Islamabad with Ghulam M. Ali, AIP Focal person. Photo: CIMMYT/K.Syed
Participants of AIP’s Agronomy National Meeting 2017 in Islamabad with Ghulam M. Ali, AIP Focal person. Photo: CIMMYT/K.Syed

Public-private partnerships boost maize productivity in Pakistan

Written by on . Posted in News.

ISLAMABAD (CIMMYT) – A recently held traveling seminar brought together private and public seed partners in Pakistan to enhance maize production and productivity in order to meet current demand and plan for future needs.

The seminar, hosted by the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT) in collaboration with Pakistan Agricultural Research Council (PARC), facilitated discussion around the demand for maize in Pakistan, which has experienced rapid growth in the last thirty years largely due to its demand for feed and food as a result of rapid population growth.

Pakistan is one of the top producers of maize in South Asia and it is the country’s third most important cereal, with production increasing 75 percent since 1990 due to the expansion of hybrid maize varieties in the spring season. However, the lack of a strong national seed system has caused the country to import 85 percent of its maize for roughly $50 million annually, making the retail price of seed very expensive for farmers.

Since 2013, CIMMYT’s Agricultural Innovation Program (AIP) has built public-private partnerships to catalyze equitable growth in agricultural production, productivity and value in Pakistan. AIP encourages leaders in the local private sector through product allocation and capacity building to produce quality maize seeds and enhance Pakistan’s seed sector.

During the traveling seminar – which was held for seven days in two phases – participants evaluated the performance of different CIMMYT maize products at the project’s partner research center, located in the Punjab province which is the hub of Pakistan’s yellow maize production and the major source of poultry feed, a robust industry growing 8-10 percent annually.

Participants also visited Khyber Pakhtun Khwa province where white maize is the dominant dietary staple. During the visit stakeholders were able to be better understand the dynamics of major maize producing areas and future production trends, various crop management technologies, adoption and utilization patterns, production constraints and dissemination of maize-based technologies.

Concluding the seminar, Yusuf Zafar, Chairman of the Pakistan Research Council commended CIMMYT for creating multi-stakeholder collaborations and actions towards increasing the production and productivity of maize in Pakistan. He pressed the private sector to take the lead in the production and dissemination of the new maize products shared under the AIP program.

CIMMYT’s Country Representative Muhammad Imtiaz, also called upon the private sector to continue to strive to meet the project’s goals of a self-sufficient maize seed sector after the project ends early next year.

Participants of maize travelling seminar visiting maize activities at MMRI-Sahiwal, Pakistan, 2017. Photo: E.Shakeel/CIMMYT
Participants of maize traveling seminar visiting maize activities at MMRI-Sahiwal, Pakistan, 2017. Photo: E.Shakeel/CIMMYT

Media highlight sustainable innovations in Pakistan during USAID tour

Written by on . Posted in News.

AIP researcher in the maize stem borer lab – the only facility in Pakistan for mass rearing of maize stem borers. Photo: A.Yuqub /CIMMYT
AIP researcher in the maize stem borer lab – the only facility in Pakistan for mass rearing of maize stem borers. Photo: A.Yuqub /CIMMYT

Islamabad (CIMMYT) — The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and along with local and national media recently toured agricultural initiatives led by the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT) at the National Agricultural Research Centre (NARC).

Yusuf Zafar, Chairman of the Pakistan Agriculture Research Council (PARC), highlighted the Agricultural Innovation Program’s (AIP) aim to improve farming practices and livelihoods in farming communities – especially for smallholders – across Pakistan.

Funded by USAID and led by CIMMYT, AIP has helped boost agricultural productivity by bringing new technologies to the sector while of sustainable practices, which has helped improve Pakistan’s overall economy, Zafar added. Agriculture is the largest sector of Pakistan’s economy, supporting half of the country’s labor force.

PARC Chairman Yusuf Zafar briefing media about USAID, PARC and CIMMYT partnership through AIP to improve farming practices and livelihoods across Pakistan. Photo: A.Yuqub /CIMMYT
PARC Chairman Yusuf Zafar briefing media about USAID, PARC and CIMMYT partnership through AIP to improve farming practices and livelihoods across Pakistan. Photo: A.Yuqub /CIMMYT

Muhammad Imtiaz, CIMMYT country representative in Pakistan and AIP project leader, briefed media representatives about the collaboration between USAID and CIMMYT along with the NARC and other partners. He highlighted key AIP successes, such as such as the introduction of new planting machineries and drip irrigation systems.

The tour also visited to maize fields at NARC where AIP initiatives in improved livestock, maize and wheat were showcased. AIP scholars – students who have completed their master’s degree in the U.S. with AIP funds – were also present and provided information on their experiences and accomplishments.

AIP will continue to scale out successful technologies, encourage innovation through national agricultural research systems and secure resources to combat climate change effects in agriculture.

Media coverage of the event:

Farmers in Pakistan benefit from new zinc-enriched high-yielding wheat

Written by Mike Listman on . Posted in News.

Hans-Joachim Braun (left, white shirt), director of the global wheat program at CIMMYT, Maqsood Qamar (center), wheat breeder at Pakistan’s National Agricultural Research Center, Islamabad, and Muhammad Imtiaz (right), CIMMYT wheat improvement specialist and Pakistan country representative, discuss seed production of Zincol. Photo: Kashif Syed/CIMMYT.
Hans-Joachim Braun (left, white shirt), director of the global wheat program at CIMMYT, Maqsood Qamar (center), wheat breeder at Pakistan’s National Agricultural Research Center, Islamabad, and Muhammad Imtiaz (right), CIMMYT wheat improvement specialist and Pakistan country representative, discussing seed production of Zincol. Photo: Kashif Syed/CIMMYT.

ISLAMABAD (CIMMYT) – Farmers in Pakistan are eagerly adopting a nutrient-enhanced wheat variety offering improved food security, higher incomes, health benefits and a delicious taste.

Known as Zincol and released to farmers in 2016, the variety provides harvests as abundant as those for other widely grown wheat varieties, but its grain contains 20 percent more zinc, a critical micronutrient missing in the diets of many poor people in South Asia.

Due to these benefits and its delicious taste, Zincol was one of the top choices among farmers testing 12 new wheat varieties in 2016.

“I would eat twice as many chappatis of Zincol as of other wheat varieties,” said Munib Khan, a farmer in Gujar Khan, Rawalpindi District, Punjab Province, Pakistan, referring to its delicious flavor.

Khan has been growing Zincol since its release. In 2017, he planted a large portion of his wheat fields with the seed, as did members of the Gujar Khan Seed Producer Group to which he belongs.

The group is one of 21 seed producer associations established to grow quality seed of new wheat varieties with assistance from the country’s National Rural Support Program (NRSP) in remote areas of Pakistan. The support program is a key partner in the Pakistan Agricultural Innovation Program (AIP), led by the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT) and funded by the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID).

“Over the 2016 and 2017 cropping seasons, 400 tons of seed of Zincol has been shared with farmers, seed companies and promotional partners,” said Imtiaz Muhammad, CIMMYT country representative in Pakistan and a wheat improvement specialist.

Zincol resulted from the CIMMYT’s “biofortification” breeding research, focused on enhancing nutrient levels in the grain of key food crops. Scientists develop biofortified crops using diverse genetic resources, including wheat landraces and wild relatives with the genetic potential to accumulate zinc in the grain.

Genes for enhanced grain zinc content from those sources are crossed into adapted, high-yielding varieties, over repeated cycles of selection involving many thousands of plants.

“One year after the release of Zincol, wheat farmers on more than 320 hectares are sowing the variety,” Imtiaz said.

He also noted that 15 tons of Zincol seed was shared free of charge for testing with 600 farm families in Sukkar District, Sindh Province, through an initiative of World Vision-Canada and HarvestPlus, a CGIAR research program dedicated to the study and delivery of biofortified foods.

Zincol harvests as high as other widely grown wheat varieties, but its grain contains 20 percent more zinc, a critical micronutrient missing in the diets of many poor people in South Asia. Photo: Kashif Syed/CIMMYT
Zincol yields as much other widely grown wheat varieties, but its grain contains 20 percent more zinc, a critical micronutrient missing in the diets of many poor people in South Asia. Photo: Kashif Syed/CIMMYT

Wheat: Vehicle for enhanced nutrition

Pakistan produces more than 25 million tons of wheat a year. The country has an annual per capita consumption averaging around 124 kilograms — among the highest in the world and providing over 60 percent of inhabitants’ daily caloric intake. The staple wheat-based foods are chappatis or a flat bread baked on the walls of large, cylindrical clay ovens.

Particularly in remote areas of Pakistan, human diets too often lack essential micronutrients such as zinc. According to a 2011 nutrition survey, 39 percent of children in Pakistan and 48 percent of pregnant women suffer from zinc deficiency, leading to child stunting rates of more than 40 percent and high infant mortality.

Zinc deficiency is also known to cause diarrheal disease, lower respiratory tract infections, malaria, hypogonadism, impaired immune function, skin disorders, cognitive dysfunction and anorexia, according to the World Health Organization.

“Given its role as a key food staple, wheat with enhanced levels of zinc and other micronutrients can contribute to better nutrition,” said Velu Govindan, a CIMMYT wheat breeder who specializes in biofortification and helped develop Zincol.

“Zincol also carries the genetic background of NARC 2011, a popular, high-yielding Pakistan wheat variety that resists wheat stem rust, a deadly disease that threatens wheat worldwide,” Govindan added.

As part of AIP and HarvestPlus, as well as with numerous public and private partners and farmer seed production groups in Pakistan, CIMMYT is leading the extensive evaluation, distribution and seed production of Zincol, said Krishna Dev Joshi, a former CIMMYT wheat improvement specialist who worked on the project.

“With modest resources and limited amounts of seed, we tested and promoted Zincol over the last two years in Balochistan, Punjab, and Sindh, covering 15 districts and engaging nearly 700 farmers,” Joshi explained.

Joshi said farmer seed producers and private seed companies were able to provide another 100 tons of seed in 2016, enough to sow more than 2,500 hectares in 2017 and over half a million hectares in 2018.

“Zincol reached farmers nine years after the initial breeding cross in 2007, several years more quickly than is the norm in Pakistan, partly because it was tested simultaneously in national and provincial trials,” Joshi added. “Zincol is part of a suite of new, micronutrient-enhanced wheat varieties bred by CIMMYT and partners for use in South Asia, a region whose inhabitants consume 100 million tons of wheat each year.”

For India, Govindan and partners created a new biofortified wheat variety using synthetic parents crossed onto WH1105, a CIMMYT-derived high-yielding variety grown in India’s Northwestern Plain Zone. The new variety out-yields other popular varieties by as much as 8 percent and has a 20 percent higher zinc content, as well as good resistance to yellow rust disease. Another new Indian variety, Zinc Shakti, has a 40 percent greater grain zinc content and is being marketed by the private sector and spread via farmer-to-farmer seed sharing.

New planters promote environmentally-friendly farming in Pakistan

Written by on . Posted in News.

Direct seeding of rice with a multicrop direct-seeding rice planter in Sheikhupura, Punjab. Photo: Abdul Khaliq
Direct seeding of rice with a multicrop direct-seeded rice planter in Sheikhupura, Punjab. Photo: Abdul Khaliq

ISLAMABAD (CIMMYT) – Farmers and research partners are praising innovative, locally manufactured farm implements that support conservation agriculture, with costs savings and soil and water conservation benefits, in rice-wheat farming rotation that cover more than 2.2 million hectares in Pakistan.

In a meeting in May 2017 at the Rice Research Institute Kala Shah Kaku, Punjab Province, Pakistan, farmers expressed satisfaction with the performance of nearly 200 locally-produced implements they received to test during 2016-2017, which allow seed of rice, wheat and other crops to be sown directly into unplowed and unflooded fields, including the stubble and other residues from preceding crops.

In traditional practices, rice plantlets are transplanted by hand into puddled fields, after 4 to 6 weeks of being grown in nurseries on the borders of the paddies.

“This requires enormous amounts of water and labor, both of which are expensive and in short supply,” said Muhammad Akhter, Director of Pakistan’s Rice Research Institute. “Moreover, puddling every season degrades the soil structure and depletes fertility, and flooded rice fields emit significant amounts of methane, a major greenhouse gas.”

After rice harvest, farmers typically burn rice residues, generating large noxious clouds, and drive tractor-drawn plows repeated over fields to prepare seed bed. They then sow wheat through broadcasting of the seed.

Since the 1990s, public research programs in South Asia have been working with the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT) and advanced research institutes to test and promote a suite of innovative practices, including reduced or zero tillage, which allow rice-wheat farmers to save money, better steward soil and water resources, cut greenhouse gas emissions and stop the burning of crop residues.

Locally manufactures direct-seeded rice planter and zero-till Happy Seeder. Photo: Abdul Khaliq
Locally manufactures direct-seeded rice planter and zero-till Happy Seeder. Photo: Abdul Khaliq

Direct seeding of rice in unplowed, unpuddled fields can provide improved plant density and productivity of irrigation water, saving in the end a quarter of the water used in flooding rice crops.

In 2014, the CIMMYT-led Agricultural Innovation Program (AIP), supported by the United States Agency for Development (USAID), imported a multicrop zero tillage planter for rice and several zero tillage “Happy Seeders” to Pakistan from India for wheat, to be tested on farmers’ fields in five districts of Punjab by experts from the Punjab Agriculture Research and Extension Department, Engro Fertilizer and machinery manufacturers.

All tests were successful, and the following year CIMMYT worked with private machinery manufactures who produced the first locally-modified versions of both seeding implements.

Greenland Engineering Daska, a leading zero tillage drill manufacturer in Pakistan, collaborated with CIMMYT to adapt the rice planter’s inclined plate seeding system, offering an optimum planting density and thereby providing 10 percent higher rice yields than with the previous design.

Sharif Engineering, a zero tillage seed drill manufacturer of the Faisalabad region, modified the Happy Seeder so that farmers were able to sow wheat directly into heavy rice residue field and thus avoid burning the residues.

Sharif Engineering manufactured 13 Happy Seeders with AIP support; these were sold to farmers on 52:48 cost sharing basis in 2016, according to Mirza Ghazanfar, country representative for the company. Irfan Iqbal of Greenland Engineering said that company had produced and marketed 185 rice planters to farmers during 2016-17.

Akhter praised the efforts of USAID and CIMMYT to spread environmentally-friendly rice-wheat farming technologies to farmers of rice-wheat region.

Breaking Ground: AbduRahman Beshir is revitalizing Pakistan’s maize sector

Written by on . Posted in Features.

TwitterBGAbduBreaking Ground is a regular series featuring staff at CIMMYT

EL BATAN, Mexico (CIMMYT) – In Pakistan, maize is the third most important cereal crop after wheat and rice and it is the first in productivity among all the cereals. However, Pakistan imports about 90 percent of the hybrid seeds used to produce the crop, costing the country as much as $60 million annually. Furthermore, the genetic diversity of the currently available maize varieties is not diverse enough to adapt to the varied agro ecologies of Pakistan.

To address these issues, AbduRahman Beshir, maize improvement and seed systems specialist with the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT), and his team, working under the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID)-funded Agricultural Innovation Program (AIP) for Pakistan, are developing climate-resilient, biofortified and biotic stress-tolerant maize to enhance the maize seed sector.

“Pakistan can be considered as a new frontier for CIMMYT’s maize impacts,” Beshir said. “Except for some limited maize activities in the early 1980s, there were no coordinated research activities in the past 32 years. I am glad to revitalize and breathe new life into Pakistan’s maize sector.”

Almost half of children under age 5 are reportedly malnourished, Beshir said, adding that protein, vitamin A, and other micronutrient deficiencies in Pakistan are rampant, while the mortality rate is among the highest in South Asia.

Beshir’s work targets these underprivileged groups and in the foreseeable future, he hopes to see nutritional benefits improve significantly.

Throughout his life, Beshir has witnessed how small scale farmers are often unable to fulfill their basic needs as they struggle to get fair market prices for produce, in part due to middlemen and a lack of information in the market.

He grew up in Ethiopia, a country where agriculture is the mainstay of the economy, accounting for 80 percent of employment, according to UNDP.  The livelihoods of Beshir’s grandparents and most of his relatives were dependent on agriculture, but his parents switched to a sideline business selling agricultural and food related products.

“I was brought up observing my parents’ entrepreneurial skills and efforts, but they wanted their children to pursue a career in science,” Beshir said, explaining how his parents encouraged him to attend university. “My father used to call me ‘doctor’ when I was a fourth grade pupil to inspire me in my education.”

Earning an undergraduate degree in agriculture and plant sciences was a life changing experience for Beshir, serving as an eye opener to the dire need for educated agricultural professionals to transform the livelihoods of rural farmers.

“Since then, I developed a passion on how to increase profits for rural farmers through technology promotion and targeted intervention.”

Beshir earned a Ph.D. in plant breeding from the University of the Free State, Bloemfontein, in South Africa, and was awarded a gold medal for his research project highlighting the severity of malnutrition in parts of sub-Saharan Africa and the ways quality protein maize seeks to address the issue.

Before joining CIMMYT in 2013, Beshir was the national partner in Ethiopia for a CIMMYT-led project on quality protein maize development and drought-tolerant maize for Africa.

“My involvement in these projects gave me a good grasp of how CIMMYT’s impact-oriented interventions practically change the life of farmers and brought a maize revolution in my country, in partnership with local institutions,” he said.

His current work in Pakistan mainly involves extensive testing of various maize products sourced from CIMMYT breeding hubs in Colombia, Mexico, Zimbabwe and the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA). Since 2014, more than 2,200 maize entries have been tested through the project.

Test samples consist of biofortified maize, as well as maize varieties that can tolerate major biotic and abiotic stresses, and they have been evaluated on more than 300 different sites in Pakistan. Such large scale testing is unprecedented in the history of maize in Pakistan.

Beshir’s led efforts resulted in the allocation of 49 market ready maize products (hybrids and OPVs) to partners in less than three years, a process that would otherwise have taken eight to 10 years to develop even a single product. The allocation of the new maize products has also given partners access to CIMMYT’s parental lines and breeder seeds, so that they can continue to lead sustainable seed businesses even after the project ends.

“Our intervention is the first program in Pakistan to introduce and identify biofortified maize, including pro-vitamin A, quality protein maize, and zinc-enriched hybrids/open pollinated varieties suitable for Pakistan,” Beshir said, adding that the research also led to the inauguration of the first maize stem borer mass rearing facility in Pakistan.

The facility will help national programs develop maize germplasm tolerant to maize stem borer attacks.

“As imported hybrid seeds are simply unaffordable to millions of small scale maize farmers, our research will enable local companies to provide affordable options to farmers,” he said.

New Publications: Consumer preference for GM food in Pakistan

Written by on . Posted in Publications.

A day laborer in Islamabad, Pakistan pauses from his work of harvesting wheat by hand. Photo: A. Yaqub/CIMMYT
A day laborer in Islamabad, Pakistan pauses from his work of harvesting wheat by hand. Photo: A. Yaqub/CIMMYT

MEXICO CITY (CIMMYT) – While genetically modified (GM) foods continue to be a topic of debate in much of the developed world, few studies have focused on consumers’ acceptance of GM food in developing countries.

A new study from researchers at the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT) used a comprehensive primary dataset collected from 320 consumers in 2013 from Pakistan to analyze the determinants of consumer acceptability of GM foods in the country.

The researchers found that GM foods were more accepted among female consumers as compared to male consumers. In addition, older consumers were more willing to accept GM food compared to young consumers. The acceptability of GM foods was also higher among wealthier households. Low price is the key factor leading to the acceptability of GM foods.

Read the full study “Acceptability of GM Foods among Pakistani Consumers” here and check out other new publications from CIMMYT staff below.

Breaking Ground: Akhter Ali helps transform agriculture sector in Pakistan

Written by on . Posted in Features.

AkhterAliBreaking Ground is a regular series featuring staff at CIMMYT

EL BATAN, Mexico (CIMMYT) – Akhter Ali always knew he wanted to have an impact on the livelihoods of farmers in Pakistan.

“I come from a farmer family – the poverty and inequality of rural communities always disturbed me,” said Ali, who was born in Multan district, Pakistan. “I knew from a young age I wanted to do something to help my community and the rural poor throughout my country.”

Ali, an agricultural economist at the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT), is working to sustainably increase agricultural productivity and incomes for farmers through the Agricultural Innovation Program (AIP), an initiative funded by the U.S. Agency for International Development to build up the country’s agriculture sector through the development and dissemination of new agriculture technologies.

“Agriculture supports nearly half of Pakistan’s population – more than two thirds for those living in rural areas –  and accounts for over 20 percent of Pakistan’s gross domestic product” Ali said. “Strengthening this sector by connecting and addressing the needs of different actors in rural markets is key to poverty reduction and achieving food security.”

Despite the significant role of agriculture to the economy, the sector has only grown 2.8 percent in recent years due to weak market structures, resource depletion and other challenges. Ali, along with other researchers, is analyzing how maize and wheat farmers can access the best seed, technology and practices to sustainably increase crop yields across the country.

“If we want to boost farmer livelihoods, we need to change how farmers work by ensuring they know how to sustainably manage their land, water and other resources,” Ali said. “We then need to ensure that the markets in which these farmers operate are stable so that they have easier access to agricultural inputs like seed.”

Ali’s research over the past four years at CIMMYT has focused on making these goals a reality, from conducting comprehensive surveys, which are expected to help develop the durum wheat market in Pakistan, to adoption and impact studies of such sustainable technology as zero tillage machines and precision land levelers, now used by thousands of farmers throughout Pakistan.

“There are 80,000 farmers – 20 percent of which are women, whose numbers are growing – working with AIP who have adopted these new, sustainable technologies,” said Ali. In the future, Ali hopes to see his work continue to be used as a tool by policy makers, extension workers and others.

“We still face challenges with farmer access to seed, from engaging women to market constraints, so it’s critical we create policies that facilitate sustainable development in rural communities,” Ali said.

Shifting trends in Pakistan from urbanization to climate change will make it even more necessary to understand how rural communities operate in the coming years, he said, adding that policies supporting its development will be key to feeding the country and alleviating rural poverty.

Pakistan releases first quality protein maize varieties

Written by on . Posted in News.

Field evaluation of QPM hybrids by team of experts in Harappa, Punjab. Photo: M. Waheed Anwar
Field evaluation of QPM hybrids by team of experts in Harappa, Punjab. Photo: M. Waheed Anwar

ISLAMABAD (CIMMYT) – For the first time, Pakistan will release quality protein maize (QPM) varieties for commercial consumption, which could help boost nutrition across the country where nearly half of all children are chronically malnourished.

In January 2017, Pakistan’s maize variety evaluation committee approved QPHM200 and QPHM300, two QPM hybrids, for large-scale cultivation in Pakistan. Developed by the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT) in Colombia and evaluated and selected in Pakistan by the National Agricultural Research Center (NARC), these QPM hybrids can potentially yield up to 15 tons per hectare (ha) – over three times the national average – and can be provided to farmers for less than half the price of currently imported hybrid seeds.

Field evaluation of QPHM200 at Rawalakot, AJK, Pakistan. Photo: Muhammad Ashraf/NARC
Muhammad Hafiz (left) inside his QPHM300 field. Photo: M. Waheed Anwar

Maize is Pakistan’s third most important cereal following wheat and rice, producing one of the highest average grain yields in South Asia. While the majority of Pakistan’s maize is used for poultry feed, it is a major food source in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Gilgit Baltistan and the territories of Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK). These areas experience some of the highest rates of child malnutrition.

Normal maize is deficient in essential amino acids lysine and tryptophan, key protein building blocks that can’t be synthesized by human body and must be acquired from food sources. As a result, when human diets are comprised mainly of maize, consumers face a risk of malnutrition, particularly those with high protein requirements like young children, pregnant or lactating women. Conventionally bred QPM grain, which has been shown to improve nutritional status, has enhanced levels of lysine and tryptophan while the kernels have a favorable texture and flavor.

QPM was recently introduced to Pakistan through the CIMMYT-led Agricultural Innovation Program (AIP) in collaboration with national partners with support from the United States Agency for International Development. The commercialization of the two QPM hybrids was aimed at boosting nutrition by alleviating protein deficiency, particularly for low income communities where affording protein rich diets is difficult.

Field evaluation of QPHM200 at Rawalakot, AJK, Pakistan. Photo: Muhammad Ashraf/NARC
Field evaluation of QPHM200 at Rawalakot, AJK, Pakistan. Photo: Muhammad Ashraf/NARC

In addition, providing low cost feed like QPM to the poultry industry can also enhance the nutritional status of the country, an industry that is growing 8 to 10 percent annually.

“The taste of the cob is unique, it’s good quality,” said Muhammad Hafiz, a QPM grower from Pindi Bhattain area in central Punjab who participated in pre-commercialization trials of the hybrids.

The QPM hybrids were primarily selected based on their yield advantage. Farmers were open to adopting them since they performed better in many locations than normal commercial hybrids. The added benefit of quality protein will also help promote the hybrids while combating malnutrition.

The continued production of quality seed through retention of protein quality complemented by effective delivery mechanisms to farmers are important steps to scale up use of the hybrids. An active role by NARC and other value chain actors in Pakistan can help make seeds more easily accessible and available.

Radio broadcast highlights maize improvement in Pakistan

Written by on . Posted in News.

AIP maize radio talk show panelists. Photo: Amina Nasim Khan
AIP maize radio talk show panelists. Photo: Amina Nasim Khan

ISLAMABAD (CIMMYT) — Public and private sector maize stakeholders came together to discuss the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center’s (CIMMYT) maize interventions and innovations in Pakistan during a recent radio talk show hosted by the Pakistan Broadcasting Corporation.

The radio talk show was organized by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and focused on maize development under the CIMMYT-led Agricultural Innovation Program (AIP), supported by USAID in collaboration with national partners. The Pakistan Broadcasting Corporation conducted the show in Urdu and English and aired it throughout the country.

One of the show panelists, Zahid Shafique, program leader from Pakistan’s National Agricultural Research Center, gave an overview of AIP’s interventions and expressed the hope that the program will help Pakistan develop affordable hybrid maize seed, which is currently sold for $6-8 per kilogram, one of the highest prices in South Asia.

Faisal Hayat, deputy manager of the seed company Jullundur Private Limited, noted that CIMMYT’s joint evaluation of hybrids and open-pollinated varieties (OPVs) with AIP maize partners has helped the private sector develop improved hybrids and OPVs that are better adapted to Pakistan’s diverse climates. Capacity building efforts to ensure quality seed production is key to ensuring the sustainability of AIP after its completion said Nazim Ali, an agricultural economist with USAID.

CIMMYT was represented by maize improvement and seed systems specialist AbduRahman Beshir, who briefed the panelists about the introduction and nationwide testing of diverse germplasm and the allocation of well adapted maize hybrids and OPVs to partners.

Crop sensors sharpen nitrogen management for wheat in Pakistan

Written by on . Posted in News.

Wheat researcher with Green Seeker at Wheat Research Institute Sakrand, Sind Province, Pakistan. Photo: Sarfraz Ahmed
Wheat researcher with Green Seeker at Wheat Research Institute Sakrand, Sind Province, Pakistan. Photo: Sarfraz Ahmed

ISLAMABAD (CIMMYT) – Pakistani and the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT) scientists are working with wheat farmers to test and promote precision agriculture technology that allows the farmers to save money, maintain high yields and reduce the environmentally harmful overuse of nitrogen fertilizer.

Wheat is planted on more than 9 million hectares in Pakistan each year. Of this, 85 percent is grown under irrigation in farming systems that include several crops.

Farmers may apply nearly 190 kilograms of nitrogen fertilizer per hectare of wheat, placing a third of this when they sow and the remainder in one-to-several partial applications during the crop cycle. Often, the plants fail to take up and use all of the fertilizer applied. More precise management of crop nutrients could increase farmers’ profits by saving fertilizer with no loss of yield, as well as reducing the presence of excess nitrogen that turns into greenhouse gases.

Precision nutrient management means applying the right source of plant nutrients at the right rate, at the right time and in the right place. CIMMYT is working across the globe to create new technologies that are locally adapted to help farmers apply the most precise dosage of fertilizer possible at the right time, so it is taken up and used most effectively by the crop.

CIMMYT and the Borlaug Institute for South Asia (BISA) have developed the application “urea calculator” for cell phones. In this process, a Green Seeker handheld crop sensor quickly assesses crop vigor and provides readings that are used by the urea calculator to furnish an optimal recommendation on the amount of nitrogen fertilizer the wheat crop needs.

National partners observe the Green Seeker at work at Rice Research Institute, Kala Shah Kaku, and Punjab, Pakistan. Photo: Abdul Khalique
National partners observe the Green Seeker at work at Rice Research Institute, Kala Shah Kaku, and Punjab, Pakistan. Photo: Abdul Khalique

Tests with the crop sensor/calculator combination on more than 35 farmer fields during 2016 in Pakistan results showed that 35 kilograms of nitrogen per hectare could be saved without any loss in grain yield. This technology is being evaluated and demonstrated in Pakistan as part of the CIMMYT-led Agricultural Innovation Program (AIP), supported by the United States Agency for International Development in collaboration with Pakistan partners.

CIMMYT recently began work in four provinces of Pakistan, providing Green Seekers and training to AIP research, extension and private partners. Fifty-five specialists in all took part in training events held at the Wheat Research Institute Sakrand, Sind Province; the Rice Research Institute KSK, Punjab Province; and the Model Farm Service Center, Nowshera, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Province.

Training and new partnerships will help national partners to demonstrate and disseminate sustainable farming practices to wheat farmers throughout Pakistan.

Water-saving maize holds potential to boost farmer resilience to climate change in Pakistan

Written by on . Posted in News.

Evaluating CIMMYT's white maize germplasm at CCRI. Photo: CIMMYT
Evaluating CIMMYT’s white maize germplasm at CCRI. Photo: CIMMYT

ISLAMABAD (CIMMYT) – New varieties of white maize in Pakistan have the potential to both quadruple savings of irrigation water and nearly double crop yields for farmers, thereby building food security and conserving badly needed water resources for the country.

Maize is the third most important cereal crop in Pakistan, which at a production rate of four tons per hectare, has one of the highest national yields in South Asia. Maize productivity in Pakistan has increased almost 75 percent from levels in the early 1990s due to the adoption and expansion of hybrid maize varieties. The crop is cultivated both in spring and autumn seasons and grows in all provinces throughout the country.

However, Pakistan is expected to be severely affected by climate change through increased flooding and drought, and is already one of the most water stressed countries in the world. If the country is to be able to meet future food demand, new maize varieties that can grow with less water under harsher conditions must be developed and adopted by farmers.

The Cereal Crops Research Institute (CCRI) in Pakistan’s Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province – an area particularly reliant on white maize for food, unlike other parts of the country where yellow maize is predominantly used for animal feed – recently tested nine white maize varieties (hybrids and open-pollinated varieties) provided by the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT) that demonstrated tolerance to water stress conditions.

Two of the early-maturing, open-pollinated varieties gave above average seed yields even though farmers irrigated the fields just twice, compared to the usual eight to ten times necessary with currently grown varieties. These varieties can also be harvested in less than 100 days and yield seven to 10 tons per hectare (ha) under good management practices – over twice the national average of four tons per ha – giving farmers time to grow another crop within the same season and produce nearly double the current national average yield.

Team of researchers evaluating CIMMYT's white maize germplasm at CCRI. Photo: CIMMYT
Team of researchers evaluating CIMMYT’s white maize germplasm at CCRI. Photo: CIMMYT

CCRI will distribute about 1000 kilograms of these seeds to about 100 farmers across the province in the coming autumn season, which farmers will be allowed to keep for subsequent seasons. These varieties will not only contribute to climate mitigation strategies but also help farmers adopt new, sustainable cropping systems. In addition to meeting food demand, these new varieties also can alleviate the scarcity of livestock feed in Pakistan, contributing to the country’s food and nutritional security.

The CIMMYT-led Agricultural Innovation Program (AIP), which receives support from the United States Agency for International Development, is helping to bring affordable, climate resilient and water efficient maize options to market. Since the launch of the program in 2013, Pakistani researchers have identified more than 80 CIMMYT hybrids and open-pollinated varieties that are well adapted to the country’s diverse environments.

Learn more about how AIP is sustainably increasing agricultural productivity across Pakistan here.

National maize stem borer mass rearing laboratory inaugurated in Pakistan

Written by on . Posted in News.

Islamabad (CIMMYT) — CIMMYT, in partnership with the Pakistan Agricultural Research Council (PARC), inaugurated the first national maize stem borer (Chilo partellus) mass rearing laboratory at the National Agricultural Research Center in Islamabad on 25 October 2016.

Unveiling the inaugural plaque of the first national maize stem borer mass rearing laboratory in Pakistan. Photo: CIMMYT

Maize stem borer (Chilo partellus) is a destructive insect pest of maize in Pakistan. Yield losses because of this pest are estimated to reach 10-40% and in some severe incidences up to 60% losses have been reported. Application of insecticides is one of the practices mostly used by resource-rich farmers. However, cash-trapped small scale farmers have to face the yield losses unless they apply cultural practices which vary from place to place. The other alternative, perhaps the better option, is the use of tolerant varieties. Maize germplasms that have inherent resistance/tolerance to maize stem borer not only save farmers money from the lower use of pesticides, but also help to have a greener agriculture by reducing greenhouse gas emissions.

Ribbon cutting ceremony by Nadeem Amjad, acting Chairman of PARC. Photo: CIMMYT
Ribbon cutting ceremony by Nadeem Amjad, acting Chairman of PARC. Photo: CIMMYT

Identification of host-plant resistance in maize is part of the commissioned projects under the Agricultural Innovation Program (AIP) for Pakistan. Under AIP, stem borer resistance maize varieties sourced from the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA) are being screened to identify the varieties best adapted to Pakistan’s maize growing ecology.

Habib Iqbal, maize entomologist, explaining about the maize stem borer mass rearing facility. Photo: CIMMYT
Habib Iqbal, maize entomologist, explaining about the maize stem borer mass rearing facility. Photo: CIMMYT

To accelerate this screening process, it was necessary to have a stem borer mass rearing facility where larvae could be produced in mass and thereafter released in maize varieties as a form of artificial infestation. “Until recently, it was not possible to conduct such activities in Pakistan due to the non-availability of such a facility. Thanks to the collaboration of PARC and CIMMYT and the generous support from USAID, we are now officially opening the first stem borer mass rearing laboratory in Pakistan,” said M. Imtiaz, CIMMYT’s Country Representative and AIP Project Leader, during his inaugural speech.

Opening address by Md. Imtiaz, CIMMYT’s country representative in Pakistan. Photo: CIMMYT
Opening address by Md. Imtiaz, CIMMYT’s country representative in Pakistan. Photo: CIMMYT

Nadeem Amjad, acting Chairman of PARC, said: “During the last couple of years, we have seen very promising results under the AIP maize program. The introduction of high yielding climate resilient maize germplasm, the distribution of protein enriched maize seeds to farmers, testing of pro-vitamin A and zinc enriched maize hybrids and the introduction of biotic stress tolerant maize varieties are among the unique interventions which were not well addressed by Pakistan’s maize sector for long.” During his concluding remarks, Amjad also added that the inauguration of the laboratory will further cement PARC’s decade’s long collaborations with CIMMYT. He thanked CIMMYT and USAID for their generous support.

Nadeem Amjad, acting chairman of PARC, delivering his closing speech. Photo: CIMMYT
Nadeem Amjad, acting chairman of PARC, delivering his closing speech. Photo: CIMMYT

The field screening under artificial infestation is showing encouraging results where some entries show more than 90% survival rate by resisting the pest attack. “We need to document the results and further check in upcoming seasons to confirm these preliminary results so that tolerant germplasm can be available to end users in the shortest time possible,” says AbduRahman Beshir, CIMMYT’s Maize Improvement and Seed Systems Specialist. The inauguration ceremony was attended by scientists and stakeholders from the public and private sector and USAID. During the inauguration, it was announced that the national laboratory will serve as a training and research center for students and researchers from the public and private sector of Pakistan.

receive newsletter

Pakistani farmers adopt new and improved agronomic techniques

Written by on . Posted in News.

Participants in AIP Agronomy’s 2016 meeting at held at the Islamabad Hotel, Islamabad, Pakistan. Photo: Mushtaq
Participants in AIP Agronomy’s 2016 meeting at held at the Islamabad Hotel, Islamabad, Pakistan. Photo: Mushtaq Ahmed/PARC

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan (CIMMYT) — “I believe that crop management technologies can only be transferred to farmers with the active involvement of public, private sector and farmers,” said Nadeem Amjad, Chairman of the Pakistan Agricultural Research Council (PARC) at the inaugural session of the Agricultural Innovation Program (AIP) Agronomy’s annual meeting held in Islamabad, Pakistan, on 2-3 August 2016. He acknowledged the efforts of CIMMYT and its national partners in developing and disseminating crop management techniques to the country’s farming community.

The meeting was jointly organized by CIMMYT and PARC under USAID’s AIP for Pakistan. Agriculture professionals belonging to 23 national partner institutions shared progress on AIP’s agronomy activities, and discussed implementation-related issues and future activities. The inaugural session was attended by 60 agriculture professionals from various provincial and federal research institutes, agriculture extension services, universities, private companies and international research centers, who are involved in agronomy research and in disseminating conservation agriculture (CA) technologies among the farming community under AIP.

Inaugural session of the meeting. From left to right: Imtiaz Hussain, Ahmed Bakhsh, Nadeem Amjad and Imtiaz Muhammad. Photo:
Inaugural session of the meeting. From left to right: Imtiaz Hussain, Ahmed Bakhsh, Nadeem Amjad and Imtiaz Muhammad. Photo: Mushtaq Ahmed/PARC

On this occasion, PARC Member Ahmed Bakhsh Mahar welcomed meeting participants and said the meeting was a forum where all stakeholders could review AIP’s progress, discuss issues and future plans, and share their experiences.

CIMMYT Country Representative and AIP Project Leader Imtiaz Muhammad informed participants that 23 national public and private sector partners are collaborating on disseminating crop management practices in 42 districts of the country under USAID-funded AIP for Pakistan. CIMMYT is also collaborating with agricultural machinery manufacturers to locally produce new planters that have already been tested in the country.

Imtiaz Hussain, Cropping System Agronomist, apprised the participants that conservation agriculture techniques such as zero-tillage wheat, ridge planting of wheat; new seeders like the zero-till Happy Seeders, push row planters, multicrop zero-till planters and nutrient management techniques have been disseminated to more than 7500 Pakistani farmers through 1000 on-farm demonstrations, 22 training courses and 78 farmer days. AIP Agronomy also facilitated training of 131 staff members of partner institutions and helped train more than 800 farmers and support staff in the project area.

Azeem Khan presiding the concluding session of the AIP Agronomy meeting in Islamabad. Photo:
Azeem Khan presiding the concluding session of the AIP Agronomy meeting in Islamabad. Photo: Mushtaq Ahmed/PARC

After successfully evaluating them, CIMMYT initiated local production of the zero-tillage Happy Seeder for wheat planting on combine harvested rice fields in Punjab, a multicrop planter for direct seeding rice and a push row planter for planting maize. As part of the collaboration with local machine manufacturers, Greenland Engineers and Petal Seeds provided 32 multicrop zero-till planters and 30 push row planters, respectively, to farmers in the project area. CIMMYT, in collaboration with national partners, has also focused on evaluating site-specific nutrient management techniques, such as a leaf color chart in rice and the handheld Green Seeker sensor for nitrogen management in wheat.

National partners agreed that AIP would focus on building the capacity of farmers and service providers in improved technologies, providing the Green Seeker to national partners, and manufacturing and disseminating new seeders like the lightweight Happy Seeder and push row planter.

When closing the AIP Agronomy annual meeting, NARC DG Muhammad Azeem Khan said that crop productivity in Pakistan can be improved significantly by focusing on crop management. He also stressed that efforts should focus more on training service providers and on providing implements for CA sustainability. He proposed developing a database on the adoption of CA techniques in the country and establishing CA working group.

Push row planters manufactured and distributed locally among smallholder maize farmers in Pakistan

Written by on . Posted in News.

Ameer Sani, a local manufacturer, produces push row planters in his workshop in Mardan. Photo: CIMMYT
Ameer Sani, a local manufacturer, produces push row planters in his workshop in Mardan. Photo: CIMMYT

ISLAMABAD — Last year, the CIMMYT-Nepal office helped to introduce push row planters for small maize farmers in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Province (KP) in Pakistan. After a successful evaluation of these planters on more than 50 farmer fields in the districts of Nowshera, Mardan and Peshawar, CIMMYT collaborated this year with the Cereal Crops Research Institute (CCRI) and Petal Seed, a local seed company, for the local production of these planters.

In KP, maize is planted on 0.42 million hectares, and more than 60,000 farmers plant hybrid maize through traditional methods like broadcast and line sowing. These traditional methods are less precise – a lot of seed is wasted – and very labor intensive.

Push row planters have a vertical seed metering system that helps to place the maize seed at a proper plant-to-plant distance. They can also apply fertilizer and seed in one operation in tilled fields, thus saving labor costs, reducing planting time, and improving plant population and maize productivity.

Farmers with push row maize planters in Mardan. Photo: CIMMYT
Farmers with push row maize planters in Mardan. Photo: CIMMYT

The push row planters are manufactured and distributed locally on a cost sharing basis. Ameer Sani, a local manufacturer, assembles the planters in his workshop in Takht Bhai, in the district of Mardan. Farmers were satisfied with the performance of these locally manufactured planters, and on 21 July, 30 push row planters were distributed among smallholder maize farmers from the KP province during a farmer gathering in Mardan.

On this occasion, Iqbal Hussain, Director General of Agriculture Extension Services in KP, appreciated the efforts of USAID and CIMMYT, and advised the farmers that sharing the push row planters for maize planting would help to maximize benefits among the farming community in the village. Dr. Muhammad Imtiaz, Project Leader of the Agricultural Innovation Program for Pakistan (AIP), told the farmers that AIP would support the distribution of another 100 planters among KP farmers.

Raham Dil, a farmer from the village of Per Sadi in the district of Maran, not only used the planter on his own farm, but also offered it to 40 fellow farmers in his village and the surrounding areas, which resulted in more than 200 acres of maize planting.