Location: Ethiopia

For more information, contact CIMMYT’s Ethiopia office.

Seed technologists benefit from production training

Written by on December 5, 2013. Posted in News.

By Adefris Teklewold and Dagne Wegary

Developing Ethiopia’s seed sector can help bring quality protein maize (QPM) to people at risk of protein deficiencies, participants in a seed production training course learned last month. To enhance the skills of public and private seed company agronomists and seed quality inspectors, the Nutritious Maize for Ethiopia (NuME) project hosted a QPM seed production training course from 30 October to 1 November. With funding from the Department of Foreign Affairs, Trade and Development (DFATD) of the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA), NuME aims to bring QPM to farmers in the major maize-growing areas of Ethiopia. Seed sector capacity building is a key component of the project, along with advancing and sharing QPM technology.

Fikre Markos, plant health and regulatory director of the Federal Ministry of Agriculture, said the seed system in Ethiopia remains underdeveloped. “The country’s seed companies are inefficient due to capacity limitations and can benefit from training for seed technologists,” he said. Nearly 40 participants – including five women – attended the training. Seed agronomists represented seven private seed companies, four public seed enterprises, and one farmer cooperative union, while seed quality inspectors were drawn from the Federal Ministry of Agriculture, three regional bureaus of agriculture and three zonal seed quality laboratories. Four agricultural research institutes producing breeder, pre-basic and basic QPM seed varieties were also represented.

Jennifer Bloom, second secretary for food security and agricultural growth for DFATD, addresses the trainees.

Jennifer Bloom, second secretary for food security and agricultural growth for DFATD, opened the workshop and commended CIMMYT for bringing relevant partners to help implement NuME.

NuME Project Leader Adefris Teklewold said the project is aligned with the government of Ethiopia’s growth and transformation plan and millennium development goals. The NuME project focuses on gender parity in achieving these goals. Women are targeted in the project’s education and communication efforts to identify ways they can benefit from QPM. “The project addresses the issues of food and nutritional security and also focuses on promoting and ensuring gender balance and opportunities for women,” Teklewold said. “Through disseminating QPM technology, the project aims to support stakeholders’ efforts to challenge intra-household power imbalances.”

Presentation topics included clarifying the difference between QPM and non-QPM germplasm; QPM variety development and promotion; identification and maintenance of true-to-type varieties and parental lines; effective planning of QPM seed production; field management of seed production; post-harvest handling and marketing and principles of seed quality control and inspection. QPM contains higher levels of essential amino acids than normal maize. The QPM trait is recessive, meaning seed production requires careful quality control so the trait is not lost.

The trainers–experts drawn from CIMMYT, the Agricultural Transformation Agency of Ethiopia, the Ethiopian Ministry of Agriculture, Ethiopian Institute of Agricultural Research, Sasakawa Global 2000 and Ethiopian seed Enterprise – brought a wealth of information and knowledge to improve the skills of seed technologist and quality inspectors.

Participants said the training would benefit their personal careers as well as help them meet NuME’s high-quality seed production objectives. The training not only enhanced their knowledge of QPM seed technology but gave them insight into its role in food and nutrition security, they said.

Markos presented certificates to the participants and closed the training by saying the private sector is crucial for varietal development, seed production and dissemination and asked participants to use the training to improve QPM seed production and quality control in Ethiopia.

Demonstration sites showcase conservation agriculture in Ethiopia

Written by on November 28, 2013. Posted in News.

By Moti Jaleta/CIMMYT

Farmers discuss their experiences with conservation agriculture technologies. Photo: Moti Jaleta

Farmers showcased the benefits of conservation agriculture in retaining soil moisture, reducing erosion and improving organic matter during field demonstrations in Ethiopia last week. The demonstrations were hosted by the Conservation Agriculture and Smallholder Farmers in Eastern and Southern Africa (CASFESA) project in Jabitehnan and South Achefer Districts.

The project, which is funded by the European Union International Fund for Agricultural Development, aims in part to show that conservation agriculture is sustainable and profitable, through demonstrations in randomly-selected villages in several African countries. Each conservation agriculture demonstration plot in 28 villages was visited by neighboring farmers in the last two months, raising awareness about the technology. The farmers’ field day and endof- season field evaluation were held during 9-10 November for farmers hosting conservation agriculture demonstrations, as well as extension and development agents in the demonstration villages and researchers from CIMMYT and the Amhara Regional Agricultural Research Institute. Other attending included delegates from the Amhara Region Bureau of Agriculture, Amhara Seed Enterprise, Merkeb Multipurpose Marketing Cooperative Union, the Jabitehnan and South Achefer District Office of Agriculture and the West Gojjam Zone Administration and Agriculture Office.

Participants visit and evaluate conservation agriculture demonstration plots at Ato Hunegnaw’s farm in the Care-Gurach village of the South Achefer District, Ethiopia. Photo: Moti Jaleta

Farmers hosting demonstration plots said they saw conservation agriculture as a productivity-enhancing, labor-saving technology. Maize planted on conservation agriculture plots germinated three-to-four days earlier than that planted on conventional tillage plots. It was better anchored to the soil and resisted the wind without lodging. Intercropping cowpea with maize as a forage crop was introduced this season to reduce the pressure on the use of maize residue as livestock feed. Apart from its feed value, cowpea and maize intercropping suppressed weed germination and growth both on conventional and conservation agriculture plots.

Maize plants on both types of plots with cowpea intercropping were less dry than those on plots with only maize. Though farmers pledged to expand conservation agriculture technologies on their farms during the coming production season, they voiced concerns about the challenges of crop residue retention due to the local practice of free communal grazing on stubble after harvest. District and zonal administrators asked farmers to put community-based bylaws and enforcement mechanisms in place that restrict free grazing and livestock movements in farm plots after harvest. Participants brainstormed other solutions to facilitate the use of conservation agriculture in the region.

Trees keep Ethiopia’s wheat cool and productive

Written by on November 21, 2013. Posted in News.

By Frédéric Baudron/CIMMYT

Researchers with CIMMYT’s Global Conservation Agriculture Program (GCAP) in Ethiopia have found that use of agroforestry systems involving an indigenous tree could mitigate climate change effects in Ethiopian smallholder wheat systems. Specifically, their study showed that maximum temperatures under the canopy of Faidherbia albida, a nitrogen-fixing, acacia-like species found throughout African savannas, were constantly 4 to 5°C lower than temperatures outside the canopy.

Wheat grows under the canopy of F. albida around mid-October in Mojo area, Ethiopia.

By 2050, the maximum daily temperature in wheat-growing areas of Ethiopia is predicted to rise by 2 to 3°C. This could significantly reduce yields of wheat, a crop that accounts for 18 percent of Ethiopia’s cereal area and nearly a fifth of its cereal production. The crop is key to the food security and incomes of smallholder farmers who grow it. CIMMYT researchers are studying the effect of scattered trees that are currently common in farmers’ field.

Keeping trees in fields for the production of firewood and fencing materials is extremely common in Ethiopia. “But these trees have other functions and may positively affect the productivity of crops underneath,” said Frédéric Baudron, CIMMYT cropping systems agronomist based in Ethiopia. In addition to more wheat-friendly temperatures, the benefits of F. albida in wheat systems are manifold, according to Baudron. “Soil moisture increases greatly under the canopy, resulting in a greener wheat crop for a longer period of time,” Baudron said. “The presence of F. albida also fosters longer wheat leaf blades, a greater number of tillers per plant, longer spikes and a higher number of seeds per spike — all of which translates into higher stover and grain yields.” Moreover, the incidence of wheat diseases like fusarium wilt and head smut diminishes under the tree canopy. Trigo2

Under the World Agroforestry Centre (ICRAF)-led project Trees4Food, funded by the Australian International Food Security Centre (AIFSC) and managed by the Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research (ACIAR), GCAP-Ethiopia studies interactions between food crops and various indigenous trees in wheat- and maize-based systems. In the case of F. albida, there are no tradeoffs between the provision of tree products and the crop yield underneath. Research aims to come up with management practices – such as proper fertilization rates, genotypes of crops, pruning management and tillage practices – that maximize the existing synergy.

With other tree species commonly found in Ethiopian fields (such as Acacia tortilis, Cordia africana, or Croton macrostachyus), these tradeoffs are often substantial. In that case, research aims to come up with management practices that minimize competition. The project is being implemented in Ethiopia as well as Rwanda.

Conservation agriculture demonstration plot opens in Ethiopia

Written by on November 11, 2013. Posted in News.

The GCAP-Ethiopia team stands in the demonstration plot. From left to right: Yodit Kebede, Ph.D. candidate; Michael Misiko, innovation scientist; Tesfaye Shiferaw, Ph.D. candidate; Dereje Tirfessa, research assistant; Frédéric Baudron, system agronomist; Hae Koo Kim, crop physiologist; and Elias Berta, project manager. Photo: Antenane Abeiy Ejigayehu — The GCAP-Ethiopia team stands in the demonstration plot. From left to right: Yodit Kebede, Ph.D. candidate; Michael Misiko, innovation scientist; Tesfaye Shiferaw, Ph.D. candidate; Dereje Tirfessa, research assistant; Frédéric Baudron, system agronomist; Hae Koo Kim, crop physiologist;
and Elias Berta, project manager.
Photo: Antenane Abeiy Ejigayehu

By Frédéric Baudron/CIMMYT

Next time you are on the International Livestock Research Institute’s Addis Ababa campus, which hosts CIMMYT-Ethiopia, you can see the demonstration plot set up by the local Global Conservation Agriculture Program (GCAP) team.

The plot has four treatments for wheat and maize: conventional tillage and flat planting, conventional tillage and bed planting, conservation agriculture and flat planting and conservation agriculture and bed planting. A two-wheel tractor was used for tillage, bed shaping and planting. The plot will serve as a demonstration and training site for CIMMYT partners and visitors. The plot is the first demonstration site at the office since it was opened in 1987.

Visitors interested in seeing CIMMYT-promoted conservation agriculture technology in Ethiopia previously had to drive from Addis Ababa to the Ethiopian Institute of Agricultural Research (EIAR) research stations at Ambo(120 km), Melkassa (106 km) or Debre Zeit (48 km).

Course teaches farming system analysis

Written by on November 1, 2013. Posted in News.

By Frédéric Baudron /CIMMYT

An international group of Ph.D. students was trained on farming systems and rural livelihoods during a course this month in Ethiopia. CIMMYT, Hawassa University and Wageningen University organized “Farming System and Rural Livelihoods: Adaptation and Vulnerability” from 6-18 October.

Twenty-five Ph.D. students from 17 countries – including Burkina Faso, Ethiopia, Ghana, the Netherlands, Niger, Nigeria, Portugal, Rwanda, South Africa, Sweden, Uganda, the United States and Zimbabwe – participated. CIMMYT Ph.D. students Yodit Kebede, Tesfaye Shiferaw and Alain Ndoli also attended the course. The course provided participants with the theory behind farming systems analysis; participatory methods to characterize farming systems; practical use of the sustainable rural livelihood framework; methods of farm-scale yield gap analysis; and methods for scenario analysis and optimization. The four study sites were targets of the Sustainable Intensification for Maize-Legume systems in Eastern and Southern Africa (SIMLESA) project in southern Ethiopia. Frédéric Baudron from CIMMYT Ethiopia was one of the course supervisors. He co-organized field activities, assisted students with group assignments and gave a lecture titled “Farming System (Re)Design and Scenario Development.”

Workshop advances promising maize and wheat technology modeling

Written by on October 18, 2013. Posted in News.

By Sika Gbegbelegbe, Kindie Tesfaye and Uran Chung/CIMMYT

A workshop on modeling promising maize and wheat technologies brought together modelers, breeders, physiologists and socio-economists in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, from 27 to 30 August. The workshop was organized by the CGIAR Research Program on Policies, Institutions and Markets (PIM). Workshop attendees reviewed progress made on modeling maize and wheat technologies; reached agreement on the conceptual framework developed for modeling benchmark, promising and ‘ideal’ technologies; identified and prioritized traits and crop management practices for foresight analysis of maize and wheat systems; identified plausible adoption pathways relative to estimating the benefits of investments in promising and “ideal” technologies; and facilitated interaction and data exchange among scientists working in different fields.

Bekele Shiferaw presented on workshop objectives, the importance of foresight analysis – or studies on the future of agriculture – in identifying priorities, threats to food security and the role modeling plays in foresight. Progress on modeling maize and wheat technologies was presented by Sika Gbegbelegbe, Kindie Tesfaye and Uran Chung from CIMMYT. Senthold Asseng, a crop modeler from the University of Florida, shared insights on the methodological concepts used in crop modeling. CIMMYT’s Kai Sonder presented progress on improving maize and wheat mega-environments – or specially classified maize and wheat growing regions – and domains that are important for geospatial crop modeling. Breeders and physiologists shared their insights on relevant traits and performance characteristics of improved germplasm. P.H. Zaidi and Biswanath Das presented on maize while Bekele Abeyo and Marta Lopes presented on wheat. Participants also discussed the bioeconomic impact of climate change, including the impact of weather extremes on food security in the developing world.

Participants visited ongoing wheat and maize research activities at the Kulumsa and Melkassa Agricultural Research Centers. CIMMYT collaborates with both research centers, which are part of the Ethiopian Agricultural Research Institute (EIAR). Attendees talked about the role of modeling in foresight, breeding and physiology, trait identification for modeling, model data requirements, data availability and data gaps during working sessions. The maize working group agreed on minimum datasets that need to be collected in field trials for modeling and progress on breeding improved germplasm with tolerance to drought, heat and other stresses. It also agreed on the need to revise the current maize mega-environments.

The wheat working group focused its discussion on tolerance to drought and heat stresses and key traits that influence yield potential. The wheat breeders and physiologists shared their knowledge on key traits and reached an agreement with the crop modelers on how such traits should be translated in crop models.

Climate change workshop addresses research outputs in Ethiopia

Written by on October 17, 2013. Posted in News.

By Kindie Tesfaye

Climate change research in Ethiopia must be nationally relevant for research outputs to be used broadly – from farms to influencing policy – a CIMMYT researcher said at the country’s National Climate Change Adaptation Workshop last month. The Biometrics, GIS and Agrometeorology Directorate (BGAD) of the Ethiopian Institute of Agricultural Research (EIAR) organized the event with CIMMYT, the CGIAR Research Program on Climate Change, Agriculture and Food Security (CCAFS) and the Rockefeller Foundation. More than 50 participants from CGIAR centers, the community, federal and regional research institutions, NGOs, the media and universities attended the workshop in Addis Ababa on 19 September. The purpose of the workshop was to receive feedback from stakeholders on the climate change research EIAR is conducting with its partners.

Major issues presented, discussed and displayed at the workshop included: decadal and seasonal climate forecast information provided to farmers; the mainstreaming of climate change; the trends and implications of extreme climatic events; downscaling future climate data for local climate change analysis; drought frequencies and trends; climate change vulnerability mapping; and climate database building. Fantahun Mengistu, Director General of EIAR, said climate change is already affecting Ethiopian agriculture in the form of frequent droughts and floods, which affect the livelihoods of millions of smallholder farmers. He added that the Ethiopian government is aware of the challenges posed by climate change and has policies, strategies and programs in place to increase the resilience of the agriculture sector and the economy, such as the national Climate Resilient Green Economy (CRGE) strategy.

CIMMYT’s Kindie Tesfaye said the major reason CIMMYT-CCAFS works with EIAR and other stakeholders in Ethiopia is to make its climate change research applicable on a national level. The climate research outputs generated by BGAD and partners were used as inputs during the development of Ethiopia’s CRGE strategy and in advising the firm developing the national climate change adaptation strategy. BGAD Director Andualem Shimelis highlighted the importance of agriculture in Ethiopia’s economy and its vulnerability to the threat of climate change. He said Ethiopia needs to adapt agriculture to the threat of climate change because agriculture is crucial in achieving food security and advancing rural development. Promoting integrated agricultural technologies and knowledge of climate science in Ethiopia’s development arena is not a choice, but a matter of survival, Mengistu said. All those involved in climate change research and development should work together in order to contribute to a climate-adapted agricultural sector and a climate-resilient economy in the country.

Learning to breed insect-resistant maize at CIMMYT-Kenya

Written by on August 21, 2013. Posted in News.

“The trip was an eye opener for me. We have no mass rearing facility in Ethiopia; neither do we practice artificial infestation of stem borers. We only undertake natural infestation for our trials, which does not give uniform infestation, leading us to wrong conclusions,” said Midekssa Ardessa from Bako Agricultural Research Center at the Ethiopian Institute of Agricultural Research (EIAR), who visited CIMMYT-Kenya during 21-27 July 2013 with a team of scientists from Ethiopia, Uganda, Tanzania, and Mozambique, to gain hands-on experience in breeding insect-resistant maize. “We are now very knowledgeable on mass rearing of stem borers and on running an insectary after our visit and practical sessions at the CIMMYT Katumani Insectary,” added Abiy Dibaba from EIAR’s Melkasa Agricultural Research Center. “At the CIMMYT Kiboko Postharvest Lab, we learned a lot about maize weevils and the larger grain borer, and how to screen maize for resistance against these postharvest pests.”

The visit, organized and facilitated by the Insect Resistant Maize for Africa (IRMA III Conventional) and the Water Efficient Maize for Africa (WEMA) projects, aimed to build capacity in maize breeding for insect resistance using conventional approaches, insect resistance screening, and management of field and lab infestations. Participants came from EIAR; Kenya Agricultural Research Institute (KARI); Selian Agricultural Research Institute (SARI), Tanzania; National Biological Control Program, Tanzania; Ministry of Agriculture, Tanzania; National Crops Resources Research Institute (NACRRI) of the National Agricultural Research Organization (NARO), Uganda; and National Institute of Agronomic Research (IIAM), Mozambique.

“The visit provided an opportunity for the scientists to understand IRMA’s and WEMA’s research work in Kenya and a forum to share experiences in mass rearing, breeding, and pest control among participating countries,” said Stephen Mugo, CIMMYT principal scientist/maize breeder and IRMA and WEMA projects coordinator. It is also a learning process for CIMMYT scientists, he added. The team visited CIMMYT insect pests resistant germplasm nurseries and trials at the Embu, Kirinyaga University College, and Kiboko sites where they learned how to set up, infest, manage, and take data on stem borer trials and nurseries. At the KARI-Katumani IRMA III Conventional collaborative stem borer mass rearing facilities, participants learned to set up, equip, and manage stem borer mass rearing; in Kiboko they focused on the set up, management, and data collection for storage pests screening. The field and lab practical sessions were facilitated by CIMMYT scientist/entomologist Tadele Tefera.

The annual IRMA project’s program has trained more than 50 scientists since its inception in 2009. “Most of us talk very easily and confidently about insect rearing. However, it is quite a challenge when we engage in the practical aspects,” said Tefera. “What we have exposed you to is just a tip of the iceberg in the business of mass rearing of insects. There is still a lot to learn, much of it by yourself as you engage in the practical aspects of it.” The participants appreciated the effort taken by the organizers. One of them, Egas Nhamucho of IIAM, said: “Infestation of maize with stem borers was a real learning point for me, a real delicate task of picking out very tiny 10 insect larvae, ensuring that you do not pierce and kill them with the camel brush, and carefully and strategically placing them on each maize plant. The practical sessions really made me appreciate some of the tasks we have always taken for granted.”

Concluding the event, CIMMYT scientist/maize breeder Yoseph Beyene called on the participating scientists to ensure that as many people as possible get access to the knowledge they gained. “Invest in people to effectively and successfully undertake your research,” he said.

WEMA project manager Sylvester Oikeh thanked CIMMYT scientists for the support they provided to the Ugandan team in setting up the Namulonge Insectary. “I am looking forward to other countries emulating Uganda and setting up their insectaries,” Oikeh added.

Wheat-for-Africa gains momentum

Written by on August 2, 2013. Posted in News.

Wheat-for-Africa Wheat was not a traditional staple in much of Africa, but urbanization, a growing middle class, and changing lifestyles are driving a rapid increase in demand for it. The urban and rural poor in Africa eat wheat, as do more prosperous consumers, and demand is burgeoning with rising populations. But leading wheat producing countries in Africa grow enough to meet at most 40% of their demand, so the continent imports more than US$ 15 billion-worth of grain each year.

Efforts to put wheat on the food and trade agenda in Africa recently came together at the Forum for Agricultural Research in Africa (FARA) meeting in Accra during 15–20 July 2013, when senior research, development, and policy experts met with representatives of CGIAR’s WHEAT research program to develop a strategy for promoting African wheat production. “The idea is to put together all the actors—the production side, the legislation, the demand and markets,” said Victor Kommerell, manager of the CIMMYT-led WHEAT Program. “Initially the strategy should focus on gathering more evidence of production and market potential, particularly regarding smallholder farmers’ chances to grow wheat as a cash crop, and then looking at future consumption and regional trade.”

The connections made at FARA in July followed the release of a key study in late 2012 at the ground-breaking conference Wheat for Food Security in Africa in Addis Ababa. Shortly after that conference, African Union agriculture ministers endorsed wheat as a strategic crop for Africa. Their heads of government, at African Union level, endorsed this a few months later.

“As a rough-and-ready estimate, most countries are fulfilling less than a quarter of their wheat production potential,” said CIMMYT socioeconomist Bekele Shiferaw, a key author of the wheat study. “There are many opportunities both to expand the area devoted to wheat and to increase yields from existing acreage.”

According to Shiferaw, this will require a fundamental change in the way participants look at the entire wheat value chain—from farm to market and from government office to donor boardroom. More research is needed on potential constraints on improved wheat production, including issues related to markets, land, labor, and how food aid is distributed.

Challenges affecting farming at different scales in different country contexts must be carefully considered—from small farms’ lack of mechanization, labor, and access to markets, to problems that have undermined large-scale wheat farming projects in Africa in the past. The aim is to ensure the best mix of small, medium, and large farms, as well as fitting options to the differing conditions of high- versus low-population density nations and current highland wheat-growing areas. The 2012 study focused on rainfed wheat, according to Kommerell. Irrigated wheat also has great potential—and unique challenges—in Africa. Release of a report by WHEAT on irrigated wheat for Africa is planned for September 2013.

CIMMYT-CCAFS modeling team discusses gender in Ethiopia

Written by on July 29, 2013. Posted in News.

Exploring the potential for integrating gender at a range of scales in the work of the CIMMYT-CCAFS modeling team, members of the team accompanied by colleagues from the International Water Management Institute (IWMI) gathered in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, on 4 July 2013 for a half-day explanatory CIMMYT-CCAFS Gender and Modeling Workshop. The workshop was organized by gender consultant Cathy Farnworth as part of a wider drive to bring gender into CIMMYT-CCAFS work.

The workshop began with a series of presentations, first of which was by IWMI hydrologist Tracy Baker. Baker focused on ‘Incorporating gender and other perceptions into physically based modeling environments,’ emphasizing that incorporating gender into modeling was part of a wider need to integrate the complexities of human nature into models. Gender incorporation can improve models because women and men use landscapes in different ways, Baker stressed, pointing out Participatory Geographic Information System (PGIS) modeling as one option that may offer insights into gendered uses of landscape. Baker demonstrated gendered uses and perceptions of landscape through a case study of her own work in Kenya, in which she showed that women and men use the same landscape in very different ways.

CIMMYT climate economist Songporne Tongruksawattana discussed ‘Gender issues in farm household modeling’ describing a typical household model and the challenges climate change poses for intra-household decision-making.

CIMMYT’s crop modeler and GIS specialist Kindie Tesfaye presented work on ‘Biophysical and economic modeling at scale,’ conducted by himself, Sika Gbegbelegbe, Uran Chung, and Kai Sonder, and focused on simulating climate change impacts and scenarios and the role of promising technologies at different spatial and temporal scales. He concluded his presentation by listing pertinent questions on the opportunities and challenges of incorporating gender into biophysical and economic modeling.

CIMMYT’s agricultural anthropologist Michael Misiko’s work was titled ‘Handling gender issues in agriculture: A tricky balance between biophysical and social facets’, and examined how mechanization in conjunction with the promotion of conservation agriculture (CA) exposes gender relations in farming systems and can lead to both opportunities and new inequalities between women and men. He pointed out that while machines and tools are not gendered and can be used equally by women and men, in practice women are frequently not able to take advantage of machinery. From a purely technical point of view CA should be ideal for women, since it should minimize drudgery, particularly weeding, but in reality women’s tasks are often hard to mechanize due to their intrinsic nature, women’s often small and scattered plots, and because women are not a target priority group for mechanization by extension agents.

The workshop continued with a group discussion led by Baker. Issues raised and discussed included: How to ask the right questions at the right scale? How can we combine PGIS derived maps created by women/men and different ethnic communities? Whose voices are prioritized? Who participates and why? Who decides who participates? Whose reality are you trying to capture?

Participants then discussed ways forward and agreed to create a gender and modeling taskforce and a cross-CGIAR forum for discussion and engagement; they hope to follow up with another, larger-scale, workshop in 2014. Later, CIMMYT-CCAFS modeling team members discussed how to strengthen gender in their work plans.

CIMMYT’s work highly appreciated in Ethiopia

Written by on July 19, 2013. Posted in News.

Bekeles-Ethiopia The third Dialogue on Ethiopian Agricultural Development: Agricultural Research for National Development in the Face of Climate Change and Food Security was held during 4-5 July 2013 at the Haramaya University of Agriculture, Haramaya Harar. The Dialogue aimed to provide a platform for discussion on agricultural research for development and transformation of the sector for food security in Ethiopia.

The Dialogue was attended by World Food Prize Laureate and distinguished professor Gebissa Ejeta; two members of the agricultural standing committee of the Ethiopian parliament; alumni of the Haramaya University working at various national, regional, and international top-level positions, such as Berhane Gebrekidan, Sime Debela, Zemedu Worku, Ephirem Mamo, and Solomon Bekure; senior staff of Haramaya, Jimma, Hawassa, Dire Dawa, and Mekele universities; members of USAID’s Capacity to Improve Agriculture and Food Security (CIAFS); representatives of the Ethiopian Institute of Agricultural Research (EIAR); the Ethiopian Seed Enterprise; CIMMYT; and ILRI.

Panel discussions covered 60 years of agricultural research in Ethiopia; agricultural research at regional institutes and Ethiopian universities; perspectives of users of technologies generated by the national agricultural research system (NARS); linking research at international levels with NARS for greater impact; the Ethiopian experience; presentations on contributions of agricultural research in Ethiopia in terms of food security, foreign earnings, and climate change adaptation; reflections on dialogues and issues deserving special attention; and recommendations for enhancing efficiency and productivity of NARS.

Three CIMMYT scientists –Drought Tolerant Maize for Africa project leader Tsedeke Abate, Bekele Shiferaw from the Socioeconomics Program, and Bekele Abeyo from the Global Wheat Program– presented during the panel discussions. The presentations were followed by a Q&A session, during which CIMMYT was named as top-rated CG center in Ethiopia due to its contributions, along with other institutions and centers, to national agricultural education, research for development, and extension with outputs and impacts. CIMMYT was commended by the current and former EIAR directors general and deputy director general, as well as Haramaya University senior alumni and political representatives, for its long-standing relations and close collaborative work with the NARS in generating technologies, strengthening national capacities, and reaching farmers.

As the meeting assessed the gaps and constraints of agriculture for development, ways forward, and future continuity of the dialogue, Abeyo assured the participants that “CIMMYT is committed to continue and maintain its high-quality contributions to Ethiopia.”

Tracking the adoption patterns in maize and legume farming system in Ethiopia

Written by on July 19, 2013. Posted in News.

DSC_5826_Group-photo-900x4001 Myths and cultural practices can block farmers’ acceptance of a new technology, particularly the principles of reduced tillage, residue retention, and cropping rotations that underlie conservation agriculture. This was one observation in a recent visit to farmers in four districts in Ethiopia by Australian International Food Security Centre (AIFSC) director, Mellissa Wood, and AIFSC Biosecurity and Food Safety Manager, Dennis Bittisnich.

Farmers in one village who continued intensive tilling instead of conservation agriculture said that tillage helps control crop diseases. Many Ethiopian farmers also keep livestock, so crop residues have higher value as fodder for cows than as cover for soils. “Maize stover is also used as fuel for cooking fires,” said CIMMYT socioeconomist Menale Kassie, who is also regional leader for the project Adoption Pathways to Sustainable Intensification in Eastern and Southern Africa. “Understanding the constraints and incentives affecting adoption is crucial, if innovations are to be relevant for farmers.”

The four-year adoption pathways project is funded by AIFSC, managed by the Australian

Fatuma Hirpo on her conservation agriculture demonstration plot where she has intercropped drought tolerant maize variety Melkassa II with beans.

Centre for International Agricultural Research (ACIAR), and led by CIMMYT, in collaboration with national universities and research institutes in Ethiopia, Kenya, Malawi, Mozambique, and Tanzania; the University of Queensland, Australia; the Norwegian University of Life Sciences; and the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI).

According to Menale, the project is closely linked to the Sustainable Intensification of Maize-Legume Systems for Food Security in East and Southern Africa (SIMLESA) program; working where SIMLESA has been promoting and testing conservation agriculture using demonstrations on farms and on national agriculture research stations.

Farmers learn from their peers, particularly early adopters and those who lend their farms to showcase the practices. Fatuma, a widowed mother of 10 and an early adopter who farms with help from her children, says reducing tillage has cut her work load. She is a role model to other farmers—a rare feat for a woman, according to village sources—and neighbors have decided to try conservation agriculture after seeing Fatuma’s crops flourish.

“The project will evaluate the data and use the rich survey information to advise on potential policy and technical interventions,” said Yirga, researcher with the Ethiopian Institute of Agriculture Research (EIAR) and country coordinator for the project. Innovative livestock management and community engagement can help, according to Chilot Yirga, as can providing alternative cattle feeds such as intercropped legume fodders, which also enrich soils by fixing nitrogen. “The way to show this is through on-farm demonstrations,” said Wood, lauding the researchers for the on-station trials and on-farm engagement. “In Australia, conservation agriculture is very important as we have a lot of drought and changing rainfall patterns; CA makes us more productive.”

SIMLESA scientists receive agronomy training in South Africa

Written by on July 19, 2013. Posted in News.

SIMLESA-ARC-trainees Fifteen young scientists from SIMLESA partner and spillover countries were recently trained by the Agricultural Research Council of South Africa (ARC-SA) on various aspects of agronomy and innovation learning platforms (ILePs), including conservation agriculture principles, nitrogen fixation, experimental design and field layout, agro-climatology principles, and data collection and analysis.

The training took place during 06-17 May 2013 at three ARC institutes: Institute for Soil, Climate and Water (ARC-ISCW), Plant Protection Research Institute (ARC-PPRI), and Grain Crops Institute (ARC-GCI), and aimed to expose the scientists to grain production information and to enable assimilation of terms, theories, and principles through practice. The training was based on experiential learning principles and employed a variety of interactive learning methods, scientific presentations, discussions, multiple practical sessions in the laboratory, and field demonstrations.

During field visits, such as the one to SOYGRO, a company manufacturing rhizobium inoculant and related products, trainees got to experience how the grain industry functions in South Africa from manufacturing and packing to the distribution processes.

Trainees also visited the NAMPO Harvest Day in Bothaville, Free State, taking place during the NAMPO Agricultural Trade Show, one of the largest privately organized and owned exhibitions in the world and the largest agricultural machinery and livestock show in the Southern Hemisphere. The show draws more than 650 exhibitors each year from all over the world, including Australia, Sweden, the USA, Italy, Brazil, and Germany. Another visit on the program was to the Unit of Environmental Sciences and Management at the North-West University, where Professor Driekie Fourie introduced the trainees to the University research programs and related study fields. Before the trip, Professor Johnny van den Berg from the University had given an introductory talk on integrated pest management.

The program was coordinated by CIMMYT agronomist Fred Kanampiu, Yolisa Pakela-Jezile from ARC-CO, and Annelie de Beer from ARC-GCI. Participants are expected to use their newly acquired knowledge and skills to train their colleagues.

Under the Memorandum of Understanding between ARC and CIMMYT under SIMLESA, ARC is responsible for organizing capacity building of scientists and extension officers in the five target countries (Ethiopia, Kenya, Malawi, Mozambique, and Tanzania) and the seven spillover countries (Uganda, Botswana, Rwanda, and South Sudan). SIMLESA is funded by the Australian government through ACIAR.

Four new maize varieties released in Ethiopia

Written by on June 26, 2013. Posted in News.

A happy farmer holding cobs of BH547 (right hand) and BH546 (left hand).

The national productivity of maize, one of the most important staple crops grown in Ethiopia, is close to 3 tons/ha, a 50% increase since 2008. This increase is attributed mainly to the use of new technologies, including improved varieties such as the ones developed and provided to smallholder farmers by the Ethiopian Institute of Agricultural Research (EIAR) and CIMMYT. This year, the National Maize Research Program of EIAR in collaboration with CIMMYT released four new varieties for high-potential and drought-prone maize growing areas.

The new varieties include BH546 and BH547, intermediate maturing, three-way cross hybrids released for high-potential maize growing areas, and MH140 and Melkassa-1Q for drought-prone areas. The varieties were either developed from CIMMYT source germplasm or they contain CIMMYT inbred lines as one of their parents. BH546 has a yield advantage of 30% and 10% over BH540 and BH543, the most popular hybrids adapted to the same agro-ecology, with a mean yield potential of 8.7 tons/ha across several locations under optimum management conditions. Its narrow semi-erect leaves make it desirable for high-density planting and inter-cropping with legumes, a common practice in most maize growing areas of the country. BH547 has a grain yield advantage of 26.4% and 7% over BH540 and BH543, respectively, and mean grain yield of 10 tons/ ha. Farmers participating in variety selection preferred the hybrids over the popular varieties for their bigger cob size, good husk cover, high yield potential, and better reaction to known diseases of the area.

MH140, originally developed by CIMMYT-Zimbabwe, is a highly stable high-yielding hybrid tolerant to drought and low nitrogen stresses, as well as major foliar diseases of the central rift valley of Ethiopia. MH140 showed a yield advantage of 18% and 10% over the popular hybrids of the drought prone areas, MH130 and MHQ138, respectively. Melkasa1Q, developed for dry and marginal maize growing areas of Ethiopia, is a quality protein maize version of an extra-early maturing open-pollinated variety Melkasa-1 developed through backcrossing-cum- recurrent selection. The whole grain of Melkasa1Q contains 3.9% lysine and 0.9% tryptophan, about twofold of the levels in Melkassa-1; it shows an 11% grain yield increase over Melkasa-1, with mean grain yield of 4.6 tons/ha.

EIAR in collaboration with CIMMYT and the Ministry of Agriculture have begun variety demonstration and popularization to promote the seed delivery system. Private and public seed companies involved in seed production can take up these varieties and embark on their production and marketing.

EIAR thanks CIMMYT breeders, seed specialists, and project leaders Dagne Wegary, Dan Makumbi, Amsal Tarekegne, Cosmos Magorokosho, Tsedeke Abate, and Mulugeta Mekuria for their technical and financial support leading to the release of the varieties.

Giving power to African farmers: learning from the Indian experience

Written by on June 4, 2013. Posted in News.

Bhopal-096 From 29 April to 10 May, 16 agricultural engineers, agronomists, machinery importers, and machinery manufacturers from Ethiopia, Kenya, Tanzania, and Zimbabwe took part in a study tour in India organized by CIMMYT, the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR), the Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research (ACIAR), and the Australian International Food Security Centre (AIFSC). The tour was organized as part of the “Farm Mechanization and Conservation Agriculture for Sustainable Intensification” (FACASI) project to identify opportunities for exchange of technologies and expertise between India and Africa and strengthen South-South collaborations in the area of farm mechanization. The project is funded by AIFSC and managed by ACIAR.

India is the world’s largest producer of pulses, and the second largest producer of wheat, rice, potatoes, and groundnuts. But would India’s agricultural performance be that high if the number of tractors in the country was divided by six and the number of draught animals by three? Such a reduction in farm power would bring Indian agriculture close to the current situation of Kenya and Tanzania. In India, most agricultural operations are mechanized, including planting, harvesting, threshing, shelling, and transportation to the market; in Africa, these are generally accomplished manually. Bringing African agriculture closer to the situation in India is the goal of the FACASI project. This tour was designed as the first step in the construction of an enduring trilateral partnership between Africa, India, and Australia, consolidated by CIMMYT, to facilitate exchange of research and development results in the area of farm mechanization.

During his opening speech, S. Ayyapan, ICAR director general, stressed the importance of farm mechanization for agricultural intensification, pointed at the commonalities between the circumstances of Indian and African smallholders, and invited the group to develop concrete country-specific proposals regarding possible partnerships with India. The participants then spent five days at the Central Institute of Agricultural Engineering (CIAE) in Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh state, where they were exposed to various low-cost gender-friendly technologies for post-harvest operations and weeding; sowing, fertilizing, spraying, and harvesting technologies adapted to animal traction; two-wheel and four-wheel tractors; as well as conservation agriculture based technologies. Through calibration exercises and other field activities, participants gained hands-on experience with these machines. The group also visited the Central Farm Machinery Training and Testing Institute in Budni.

The second part of the study tour took place in the states of Punjab and Haryana, where the group interacted with scientists from the Punjab Agricultural University (PAU) and the Borlaug Institute for South Asia (BISA), and was exposed to various Indian innovations including laser land levelers operated by two-wheel tractors, relay direct seeders, multi-crop planters, crop threshers, and rotary weeders. They also participated in a discussion session organized by a farmer cooperative society at Noorpur-Bet focusing on institutional innovations encouraging farmer access to mechanization, and interacted intensively with Indian agribusinesses such as National Agro-Industry, Dashmesh Mechanical Engineering, Amar Agro Industries, and All India Machinery Manufacturers Association.

The study tour was concluded by a visit of the Central Soil and Salinity Research Institute (CSSRI) in Karnal to observe the role of conservation agriculture in reclaiming degraded land, and a visit to the Indian Wheat Research Centre in Karnal.

The lessons learnt in India will be put in practice in Ethiopia, Kenya, Tanzania, and Zimbabwe through the FACASI project. The study tour has generated several ideas for the development of new machines by African engineers and created contacts between Indian manufacturers and African machinery importers which may materialize into business opportunities.