Mayi Plus
The Feed the Future Haiti – Mayi Plus project seeks to improve the quality of maize seed supply, test new varieties for local adaptation and support the development of the maize seed industry in Haiti.
Archives: Projects
Heat Stress Tolerant Maize for Asia (HTMA)
The Heat Stress Tolerant Maize (HTMA) for Asia project is a public-private alliance that targets resource-poor people and smallholder farmers in South Asia who face weather extremes and climate-change effects. HTMA aims to create stable income and food security for resource-poor maize farmers in South Asia through development and deployment of heat-resilient maize hybrids.
South Asian farmlands have been increasingly experiencing climate change-related weather extremes. If current trends persist until 2050, major crop yields and the food production capacity of South Asia will decrease significantly – by 17 percent for maize – due to climate change-induced heat and water stress.
In response, CIMMYT and partners are developing heat stress-resilient maize for Asia. The project leverages the germplasm base and technical expertise of CIMMYT in breeding for abiotic stress tolerance, coupled with the research capacity and expertise of partners.
OBJECTIVES
- Future climate data obtained from the recent CIMP5 database, and future and current heat stress hot-spots in South Asia are mapped
- Genome-wide association studies revealed multiple haplotypes significantly associated heat tolerance, including nine significant haplotype blocks (~200 kb) for grain yield explaining 4 to 12% phenotypic variation individually with the effect size varied up to 440 kg/ha.
- A total of 17 first generation heat tolerant hybrids formally licenced to project partners for deployment and scale-out in their targeted geographies/market in stress-prone ecologies of South Asia
- New base germplasm, including early generation lines and pedigree populations, with enhanced levels of heat tolerance shared with partners to use in their own breeding programs.
- Over 130 maize researchers and technical staff from India, Nepal, Pakistan and Bangladesh, including 32 women and 99 men, were trained on various aspects of developing stress-resilient maize through four training course workshops organized under the project.
- Strong phenotyping network for heat stress in South Asia, with well-equipped locations and trained representatives.
FUNDING INSTITUTIONS
- United States Agency for International Development – Feed the Future
PRINCIPAL COORDINATOR
Exploiting the Potential of Genotype Microbiome Interactions to Promote Sustainable Soil Health in Southern Africa
This project will lead to the identification of genes of interest to help guide breeding efforts to boost yield stability and resilience in low fertility agriculture systems subject to drought.
Affordable, Accessible Asian (AAA) Drought Tolerant Maize Project
Smallholder maize farmers in marginal environments in Asia are prone to drought due to either scanty/erratic rainfall or falling groundwater levels.
The Affordable, Accessible, Asian (AAA) Drought Tolerant Maize Project is a partnership among CIMMYT, the Syngenta Foundation for Sustainable Agriculture, national agricultural research systems of Indonesia, Philippines and Vietnam to develop drought-tolerant maize for smallholder farmers in Asia.
AAA combines complementary technologies and comparative advantages, such as CIMMYT’s global expertise in drought-tolerant maize breeding, Syngenta’s elite germplasm bred for Asia, the national partners’ local knowledge of farmers’ requirements and their germplasm testing network.
This project covers a gamut of upstream and downstream activities: marker discovery (genome-wide association studies); trait discovery (understanding root structure and function-lysimetrics); marker applications (genomic selection); drought phenotyping facilities (rhizotronics, rain-out shelters; managed drought stress screening locations); germplasm development; hybrid deployment; and linking with potential hybrid commercialization partners.
Objectives
- Validation of drought-tolerant genetic markers
- Rhizotronics studies reveal importance of root functional traits in determining drought tolerance
- Genomic selection is proving to be a powerful strategy for developing improved source populations
- Promising results from hybrid trials in India and Indonesia indicate the value of this innovative partnership model
Funding Institutions
- Syngenta Foundation for Sustainable Agriculture (SFSA)
Principal Coordinator
Bindiganavile Sampath Vivek
Drought Tolerant Maize for Africa Seed Scaling (DTMASS)
The Drought Tolerant Maize for Africa Seed Scaling (DTMASS) project was officially launched in 2014 with the aim to meet demand and improve access to good-quality maize through production and deployment of affordable and improved drought-tolerant, stress-resilient and high-yielding maize varieties for smallholder farmers.
Led by CIMMYT and implemented through in-country public and private partnerships, DTMASS emphasizes scaling up and scaling out of drought tolerant maize seed, and uptake of the same among smallholder farmers. Over its lifespan, the project aims to produce close to 12,000 metric tons of certified seed for use by approximately 400,000 households, or 2.5 million people, in six countries in eastern and southern Africa.
DTMASS target countries (Ethiopia, Kenya, Mozambique, Tanzania, Uganda and Zambia) account for 25 percent, or 252 million, of the people in sub-Saharan Africa, and 41 percent of the maize production areas. DTMASS builds on the progress made by Drought Tolerant Maize for Africa and other complementary CIMMYT maize projects in Africa, including Improved Maize for African Soils and Water Efficient Maize for Africa.
Climate Resilient Maize for Asia (CRMA)
Climate Resilient Maize for Asia is supported by Germany’s development agency GIZ, and implemented as a public-private partnership, which targets enhanced resilience among resource-poor, maize-based farming families in South and Southeast Asia by providing them with abiotic stress-tolerant maize hybrids adapted to rain-fed stress-prone production systems for crop diversification, intensification and higher yields.
Most of the maize in Asia is grown as a rain-fed crop, which is prone to vagaries of seasonal monsoon rains. This is clearly reflected in the productivity of maize under rain-fed systems — usually less than half of the irrigated system. The erratic distribution pattern of monsoon rains results in drought or water logging at different crop growth stages, which is the main factor responsible for relatively low productivity of rain-fed maize. Due to the possibility of uncertain economic returns, farmers often hesitate to invest in improved seed, fertilizers and inputs, which further add to poor yields of rain-fed maize. Climate change effects are further threatening an already challenging maize mega-environment in the Asian tropics, which are identified as subject to climate change effects, with high vulnerability and low adoption capacity.
The project deals with high priorities of Asian stakeholders related to improving maize production in the face of current and anticipated effects of climate change and access to diverse and valuable maize germplasm, building upon the GIZ-funded project known as “Abiotic stress tolerant maize for increasing income and food security among the poor in South and Southeast Asia,” where significant progress is being made towards understanding the rain-fed stress-prone agro-ecologies in South and Southeast Asia, development of improved maize germplasm with enhanced levels of tolerance to drought, waterlogging or combined stress tolerance.
OBJECTIVES
- Using data on elevation, aridity index and mean annual rainfall, a climate similarity map with a total 30 zones was developed for South Asia. This is useful in planning regional hybrid trials respective environment analogue.
- New hybrid combinations by crossing promising stress-tolerant lines and evaluated across moisture regimes, including managed drought and waterlogging stresses, and optimal conditions, and a set of 50 promising hybrids are ready for large-scale adaptive trials.
- Among the inbred lines developed under the project, four most promising lines were globally released CML (CIMMYT Maize Lines), namely CML-562, CML-563, CML-564 and CML-565, for use in low-land tropical breeding programs targeting stress-prone rainfed environment.
- Total 18 Quantitative Trait Locus (QTLs) for grain yield under waterlogging and 21 QTLs for grain yield and anthesis-siling interval under drought were identified using genome-wide association studies and analyses of bi-parental populations. These validated genomic regions are candidate for introgression into elite Asia-adapted genetic background.
- Breeder ready marker assays (KASP assays) have been developed for the 18 significant genomic regions that typically explained more than 10 percent of phenotypic variance under water-logging stress.
- Protocol for rapid-cycle genomic selection (RC-GS) optimized with regards to constitution of suitable target population, and suitable statistical model for genomic selection.
- Genetically enhanced cycle (C2) of two multi-parent synthetic populations were developed by inter-mating top 5 percent progenies with high genotypically estimated breeding values (GEBVs) were submitted for subjecting to double haploid for deriving new generation of stress-resilient maize lines
FUNDING INSTITUTIONS
- Germany’s development agency GIZ
PRINCIPAL COORDINATOR
Agricultural Innovation Program (AIP)
The Agricultural Innovation Program (AIP) for Pakistan is working to sustainably increase agricultural productivity and incomes in the agricultural sector through the promotion and dissemination of modern technologies/practices in the livestock, horticulture (fruits and vegetables) and cereals (wheat, maize and rice) sector. The CIMMYT-led project aims to foster emergence of a dynamic, responsive, and competitive system of science and innovation in Pakistan.
This unique project places particular emphasis on building partnerships between public research and those it serves, including farmers and the private sector. AIP operates through three activity windows: commissioned projects, a competitive grants system and human resource development. Within these activity windows AIP addresses complex agricultural systems, but is divided into four “science windows’” including cereals and cereal systems, livestock, vegetables and perennial horticulture. The key indicator of AIP’s success is the number of small farmers who adopt or benefit from productivity or value-enhancing technologies.
OBJECTIVES
The long term goals of the project are food security, environmental protection, gender sensitization and poverty reduction through the adoption of sustainable technologies, resource management practices, advance agricultural models and improved systems.
Building resilience, self-reliance and a reliable business model
Buena Milpa
The Buena Milpa project in Guatemala, conducted in collaboration with the country’s Agricultural Science and Technology Institute (ICTA), is aimed at implementing a sustainable intensification strategy for agriculture while reducing poverty, malnutrition and environmental damage.
The project, managed in collaboration with the U.S. Agency for International Development’s Feed the Future program, is based in the highlands of Guatemala, a region recognized for its diversity of maize varieties, flora and fauna. Farmers grow a wide variety of crops, including beans, legumes, pumpkin, fruit trees and native plants.
Through Buena Milpa, CIMMYT’s Sustainable Intensification Strategy for Latin America, with its focus on biodiversity conservation, participative breeding, soil conservation, farm diversification and maize, helps to conserve maize landraces and other important plants in the region.
Guatemala, where maize is a key food staple, is known for its wide maize biodiversity. The maize fields of most highland farmers are part of farm systems which includes animal husbandry (chickens, sheep or cattle). These complex farm systems diversify diets diet and sources of family income.
A range of soil conservation methods popular with farmers help preserve biodiversity. A variety of grasses, trees and other plants are used to ensure soil and field conservation.
Most of the maize in the region is grown on steep hillsides. Farmers have very little land and use as much of it as possible for crop production. Water and soil conservation practices aim to reduce the propensity to landslides, decrease erosion through soil cover, minimize the effects of erosion and help to settle the materials and soils mobilized through erosion.
The Buena Milpa project improves native maize landraces, increases productivity, improves plant architecture, grain and seed quality, thereby mitigating losses due to the effects of climate change and decreasing maize reserves, especially during periods of seasonal hunger.
Most farmers involved in the project belong to a Mayan ethnic group that has historically been marginalized and excluded from development processes. A social inclusion strategy fosters the participation of indigenous people, women, children, the young and the elderly in order to benefit everyone involved in maize production systems.
Links with other actors foster activities to generate information that raises awareness about how people are socially excluded, to inform and sensitize local actors about social dynamics that limit inclusion.
OBJECTIVES
- Natural resource conservation
- Soil and water conservation strategies to reduce erosion and maintain soil water
- Understand maize diversity in the highlands of Guatemala
- System diversification, taking into account different types of farms in the region
- Design social inclusion strategy
- Set up community seed banks to be the base of biodiversity conservation and participative breeding efforts
- Foster innovation and reduce food insecurity and malnutrition
- Increase sustainability of maize-based systems in the highlands
- Empower farmers and train strategic actors by linking research to farmers’ needs and facilitating information exchange
Stress Tolerant Maize for Africa (STMA)
The Stress Tolerant Maize for Africa (STMA) project aims to diminish devastating constraints in maize production across sub-Saharan Africa. The project develops improved maize varieties with resistance and tolerance to drought, low soil fertility, heat, diseases such as Maize Lethal Necrosis and pests affecting maize production areas in the region.
STMA operates in eastern (Ethiopia, Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda), southern (Malawi, South Africa, Zambia, Zimbabwe) and West Africa (Benin, Ghana, Mali, Nigeria). These countries account for nearly 72 percent of all maize area in sub-Saharan Africa and include more than 176 million people who depend on maize-based agriculture for their food security and economic well-being. Climate change effects like drought, a lack of access to resources like fertilizer and other stresses increase the risk of crop failure that negatively affects income, food security and nutrition of millions of smallholder farmers and their families.
The project will develop 70 new stress-tolerant varieties using innovative modern breeding technologies, and promote improved stress-tolerant varieties expected to increase maize productivity up to 50 percent. The project aims to produce estimated 54,000 tons of certified seed to put into the hands of more than 5.4 million smallholder farmer households by the end of 2019.
Objectives
- Use innovative breeding tools and techniques applied for increasing the rate of genetic gain in the maize breeding pipeline.
- Increase commercialization of improved multiple-stress-tolerant maize varieties with gender-preferred traits by the sub-Saharan African seed sector.
- Increase seed availability and farmer uptake of stress-tolerant maize varieties in target countries.
- Optimize investment impact through effective project oversight, monitoring, evaluation and communication.
Drought Tolerant Maize for Africa (DTMA)
The Drought Tolerant Maize for Africa project aims to mitigate drought and other constraints to maize production in sub-Saharan Africa, increasing maize yields by at least one ton per hectare under moderate drought and with a 20 to 30 percent increase over farmers’ current yields, benefiting up to 40 million people in 13 African countries. The project brings together farmers, research institutions, extension specialists, seed producers, farmer community organizations and non-governmental organizations. It is jointly implemented by CIMMYT and the International Institute for Tropical Agriculture, in close collaboration with national agricultural research systems in participating nations. Millions of farmers in the region are already benefiting from the outputs of this partnership, which includes support and training for African seed producers and promoting vibrant, competitive seed markets.
Achievements:
- Between 2007 and 12, participants marketed or otherwise made available 60 drought tolerant hybrids and 57 open-pollinated varieties to smallholder farmers
- In addition to drought tolerance, the new varieties and hybrids also possess such desirable traits as resistance to major diseases
- Engage government officials in policy dialogue to help fast-track varietal releases and fosters competitive seed markets and more
widespread access to quality seed at affordable prices - Help ensure farmers’ access to the best possible products and services, coordinate various capacity-building events and
activities for maize breeders, technicians, seed producers, extension workers, non-government organizations and farmer groups - Provide technical and advisory support to 50 African undergraduate and 28 African graduate students
- Expand smallholder farmers’ use of drought and other stress tolerant maize seed to benefit 30 to 40 million people and provide added grain worth $160-200 million each year in drought-affected areas of sub-Saharan Africa
Principal coordinator
Tsedeke Abate
Cereal Systems Initiative for South Asia (CSISA)
Intensive cereal cropping systems that include rice, wheat and/or maize are widespread throughout South Asia. These systems constitute the main economic activity in many rural areas and provide staple food for millions of people. The decrease in the rate of growth of cereal production, for both grain and residue, in South Asia is therefore of great concern. Simultaneously, issues of resource degradation, declining labor availability and climate variability pose steep challenges for achieving the goals of improving food security and rural livelihoods.
The Cereal Systems Initiative for South Asia (CSISA) was established in 2009 to promote durable change at scale in South Asia’s cereal-based cropping systems.
The project’s aim is to enhance the productivity of cereal-based cropping systems, increase farm incomes and reduce the environmental footprint of production through sustainable intensification technologies and management practices.
Operating in rural “innovation hubs” in Bangladesh, India and Nepal, CSISA complements regional and national efforts and involves public, civil society and private sector partners in the development and dissemination of improved cropping systems, resource-conserving management technologies, policies and markets. CSISA supports women farmers by ensuring their access and exposure to modern and improved technological innovations, knowledge and entrepreneurial skills that can help them become informed and recognized decision makers in agriculture.
The project is led by CIMMYT with partners the International Rice Research Institute and the International Food Policy Research Institute and funded by the U.S. Agency for International Development and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.
OBJECTIVES
- Promote resource-conserving practices, technologies and services that increase yield with less water, labor and input costs
- Impart new knowledge on cropping management practices, from applied research
- Improve access to market information and enterprise development.
- Strengthen policy analysis to remove constraints to the adoption of new technologies
- Build strategic partnerships and capacity to help sustain and enhance the scale of benefits of improved cereal growth
Core research to impact themes within CSISA include:
- Coping with climate extremes in rice-wheat cropping systems
- Accelerating the emergence of mechanized solutions for sustainable intensification
- Strengthening the foundations of agro-advisory and precision management through knowledge organization and data integration at scale
- Increasing the capacity of partners to conduct participatory science and field reconnaissance to target and prioritize development interventions