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research: Genetic resources

The world’s largest maize ear contest 2015

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Contest winner Domingo Fránquez Flores from the nearby village of Coapan, with a maize ear 44 centimeters long. Photo: Victor Vidal/INIFAP
Contest winner Domingo Fránquez Flores from the nearby village of Coapan, with a maize ear 44 centimeters long.
Photo: Victor Vidal/INIFAP

On 14 August 2015, I was one of the judges in the contest to find “The World’s Largest Maize Ear” held in Jala, Nayarit, Mexico. The contest is one of the most popular events during the week-long celebration in honor of the town’s patron saint. This was the third time I was a judge, and the contest has become an annual highlight for me in my role as one of the custodians of the world’s maize genetic diversity. The Jala landrace will always hold a special place in my heart, not just because of its size, which is impressive, but also because of the culture surrounding it and the dedication of the people who grow it.

I met my friend, Dr. Victor Vidal, INIFAP maize breeder and enthusiastic supporter of maize genetic resources, at the flagpole on the main street separating the twin towns of Jala and Jomulco. Our first stop was the stall of the family of Don José Antioco Elías Partida of Coapan, the winner of last year’s contest, and a winning contestant for many years. We learned that sadly, Don José had died earlier in the year. However, two of his sons, continuing the family tradition, entered the contest this year.

At 4:45 p.m., the contestants gathered in the auditorium of the town hall, and watched a video about Jala maize, created by Dr. J. Arahón Hernández Guzmán, a local “boy” who got his Ph.D. at Cornell, and is now a professor at the Colegio de Posgraduados in Puebla. He presented Victor and me with copies of his video. Afterwards, the “convocatoria” (list of contest regulations) was read out loud. There was a bit of discussion about the rule that the maize be grown under “natural conditions,” i.e., no irrigation.

We judges were called to the stage, introduced, and the convocatoria was read once again. We split up into three teams, and the contestants, three at a time, were called up to have their five ears of Jala maize shucked and measured. The largest ear was selected, and its length and the contestant’s number were written on pieces of masking tape that were stuck on the ear. The contestants’ names and the length of their largest ear were announced, and photos were taken. Most ears were 30+ cm long, only a few were 40+. The crowd definitely kept track, cheering loudly for their friends, and especially for the 40+ ears. The very first farmer who came to our table had the winning ear, at 44 cm. As the contest proceeded, there would be a murmur of disappointment when another farmer had an ear that was almost a winner.

Judging Team #2 in action, shucking and measuring Jala maize on stage, including Denise Costich (CIMMYT), and Victor Vidal (INIFAP) on the right. Photo: Victor Vidal/INIFAP

Once all the shucking and measuring are completed, there is always an interval while the data from the different teams are collated and the winning places are assigned. During this time, my friend Victor gave an explanation of why some of the ears did not produce kernels (the reason: lack of pollination). As it happened, one of the oldest contestants had brought in an ear that was 48 cm long, but none of the grain was filled, so it had to be disqualified. However, this showed that there is genetic potential for still larger ears. With the approval of the mayor of Jala, Victor proposed that another contest be held at harvest time, when the ears would be mature enough to be stored and eventually germinate. Having the contest at harvest time would allow for further selection and improvement of the Jala landrace; in addition, seed of the outstanding phenotypes could be stored in germplasm banks.

At the end of the contest, there was a moving ceremony in memory of the late Don José Elías, and his family came on stage to accept the tribute. Three generations of proud Jala maize growers stood before the crowd, the youngest held in the arms of his father, exemplifying a tradition that keeps maize landraces alive and well as an integral part of the culture and food security of Mexico and the world.

Three generations of the family of the late Don José Antioco Elías Partida, accepting an award recognizing Don José’s contributions. Photo: Denise Costich/CIMMYT

Contributions from Victor Vidal

Impacts of international wheat improvement research: 1994 – 2014

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Improved wheat varieties developed using CGIAR breeding lines, either in cross-pollinations or as direct releases, cover more than 100 million hectares — nearly two-thirds of the area sown to improved wheat worldwide, new research (Lantican et al., in press) shows. Benefits in added grain from CGIAR wheat research range from $2.8 to 3.8 billion each year — a very high return for the work’s annual, public funding of only $30 million, according to the full-length study. Consistent and secure funding is crucial to maintain the research and institutional capacities required to deliver such impact, particularly given the mounting challenges facing wheat food security and farm livelihoods in developing countries.

According to the study, the impacts derive largely from research and development activities conducted by the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT) and the International Center for Agricultural Research in the Dry Areas (ICARDA), both members of the CGIAR Consortium of agricultural research centers, with support from the CGIAR Research Program on Wheat (WHEAT) and partners worldwide including national research programs, advanced research institutes, and private companies.

Findings show that since 1994, farmers globally have enjoyed access to 4,604 improved wheat varieties and that there is continued and significant use in the developing world of CIMMYT and ICARDA wheat lines, which are bred and shared freely through international partnerships. CIMMYT-derived varieties alone cover as much as 80% of the wheat area in South Asian countries and, in sub-Saharan Africa, more than 90% of the area in Kenya and in Ethiopia.

More than a quarter of all wheat varieties and 40 percent of all spring wheat varieties released in this century contain CIMMYT germplasm.

In addition to profiting farmers in the developing world, where CIMMYT and ICARDA’s efforts are focused, the surplus grain produced also benefits wheat consumers — particularly the poor who spend a large portion of their income on food — according to evidence cited.

Specifically, the authors made reference to the study of Stevenson et al. (2013), published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, which showed that, in the absence of CGIAR wheat improvement, global wheat prices would have been 29-59% higher in 2004 than they actually were.

Evidence also shows that elite wheat lines from CIMMYT or ICARDA are immediately useful for most wheat improvement programs worldwide and that their use saves a decade or more of cross-breeding for those programs. Moreover, far from representing a bottleneck in diversity, breeding stocks from the two centers have significantly enhanced the genetic diversity of improved wheat, particularly for critical traits like yield potential, grain processing quality, disease resistance, and early maturity, according to research cited by the authors (Warburton et al. 2006; Huang et al. 2015, pp. 13-14).

Finally, in contrast to the commonly-held belief that modern varieties are less resilient than farmers’ traditional varieties, the authors cite the study by Gollin (2006) showing that the increased use of improved wheat varieties over the past 40 years has made grain yields more stable and actually reduced farmers’ risk.

In addition to leading the world’s largest publicly-funded wheat improvement networks, CIMMYT and ICARDA delivering impact through extensive partnerships and longstanding research on productive and sustainable cropping practices. Crucial to their success are initiatives that foster farmers’ access to quality seed of new varieties and capacity-strengthening activities that target individuals and partner institutions. Notably, the two centers maintain, study, and share seed collections of wheat genetic diversity comprising nearly 200,000 unique samples wheat landraces, improved varieties, and wild relatives.

The new study proves that international collaboration on wheat research continues to provide the impressive returns on investments, as occurred during the 1960s-70s. Wheat breeding impacts at that time helped to spark the Green Revolution from which the 15-member CGIAR arose and to keep food prices at historically low levels for decades (Evenson and Gollin in Science, 2003).

Wheat farming in an age of changing climate and shifting markets

Although the costs of basic food commodities have fallen recently, they are still well above the decades-long, stable levels that preceded the 2008 food crisis. Worse, despite low grain prices, global stocks have shrunk 30% from levels at the outset of the millennium (Brown, L.R. 2012. Full Planet, Empty Plates; The New Geopolitics of Food Scarcity.). Reverberations of relatively local disturbances, like droughts or crop disease outbreaks, now cause inordinate price spikes and worsen food insecurity for the world’s poorest.

Looking forward, by 2050 the current global population of 7.3 billion is projected to grow 33 percent to 9.7 billion, according to the United Nations. Demand for food, driven by population, demographic changes and increasing global wealth, will rise more than 60 percent, according to a recent report from the Taskforce on Extreme Weather and Global Food System Resilience. Wheat farmers must meet this rising demand from the same or less land area, while confronting more extreme and erratic rainfall and temperatures and using inputs like water and fertilizer much more effectively.

As the world’s policymakers begin to acknowledge the interconnected nature of food, energy, water, and peace, every effort made to improve global food security is an investment in the future of humanity. Food insecurity drastically affect all sectors of society; either through hunger, high food prices, or social conflicts that send massive waves of desperate refugees in flight.

Farmers have met repeated food security challenges since the Industrial Revolution, with the support of science and focused development efforts, but science and development require investment. Wheat breeding and crop management research have long horizons – typically, for example, it takes much more than a decade for a variety to go from initial crosses to farmers’ fields.

The requisite research and institutional capacities for this work also take years to develop, but can be lost very quickly in the absence of committed policy support and consistent and secure funding. Publicly-funded wheat research barely has the resources to maintain the essential breeding and capacity building activities that underpin the impacts documented in this new publication, which will be released in November 2015 and aims to set the record straight on the magnitude of CGIAR contributions to global food supplies.

As of 2015, CIMMYT and ICARDA have agreed to operate their wheat research as a single joint program. They are struggling to find support for work on new technologies, such as advanced phenotyping platforms for heat and drought tolerance, or advanced global consortia focusing on traits that dramatically raise the genetic yield potential of wheat. Those and other tools and initiatives will be crucial for public wheat breeding research to partner effectively with the private sector and keep step with societal demands for food security and nutrition.

Funded through the CGIAR Wheat Research Program, the study is based on a survey sent to 94 countries that produce at least 5,000 tons of wheat each year. Responses came from 66 wheat-growing countries — 44 of them developing countries that account for nearly all the developing world’s wheat output. Survey data were complemented with information from published wheat varietal guides, figures on wheat varietal area insured or grown, papers in scientific journals, technical bulletins, and on-line sources including the US Department of Agriculture National Agricultural Statistics Services (USDA-NASS), the Annual Wheat Newsletter, and wheat area, production and yield statistics from the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO). The study updates results of Lantican et al. (2005).

Lantican, M.A., T.S. Payne, K. Sonder, R. Singh, M. van Ginkel, M.Baum, H.J. Braun, and O. Erenstein. In press. Impacts of International Wheat Improvement Research in the World, 1994-2014. Mexico, D.F.: CIMMYT.

Azerbaijan and Georgia showcase progress in wheat breeding during IWWIP Traveling Seminar

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The International Winter Wheat Improvement Program (IWWIP) held its 2015 International Winter Wheat Traveling Seminar in Azerbaijan and Georgia on 24 May. More than 40 participants from 18 countries attended the seminar, which covered more than 1,000 kilometers in four days.

Beyhan Akin, CIMMYT Wheat Breeder, and Mustafa Kan, IWWIP Turkey Coordinator, taste bread baked from new varieties during the welcome ceremony.
Beyhan Akin, CIMMYT Wheat Breeder, and Mustafa Kan, IWWIP Turkey Coordinator, taste bread baked from new varieties during the welcome ceremony.

Winter wheat is a major food crop in Central and West Asia, where it covers 14 million hectares. IWWIP, a cooperative program between CIMMYT, Turkey’s Food, Agriculture and Livestock Ministry and the International Center for Agricultural Research in the Dry Areas (ICARDA), develops germplasm for Central and West Asia and serves as a mechanism for global winter wheat germplasm and knowledge exchange.

Every two years, IWWIP conducts international traveling seminars to assess progress in the development, adoption and impact of new varieties and gather feedback from partners. Previous seminars have been conducted in Turkey, Ukraine, Uzbekistan, Bulgaria and Romania. This year’s seminar was funded by Turkey’s Food, Agriculture and Livestock Ministry and by FAO’s Central Asia Office, which also provided technical support and supported three participants.

IWWIP winter wheat varieties and spring wheat varieties from international centers occupy more than 70% of Azerbaijan’s total wheat area and contribute substantially to food security through their high yields and resistance to stripe rust, a disease prevalent in the region.

Participants gathered in Baku then went on to visit Azeri Research Institute of Farming, the Genetic Resources Institute, and Gobustan and Terter Experiment Stations. “Participants were very impressed by the experimental and breeding work at all sites visited,” said Alexey Morgounov, Head of IWWIP. “There is an established system of wheat germplasm screening, selection of superior germplasm, official testing and release, multiplication and promotion.”

Alexei Morgounov, CIMMYT Wheat Breeder, discusses germplasm performance with scientists from Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan. Photos: H.Mammadova, Azeri Research Institute of Farming.
Alexei Morgounov, CIMMYT Wheat Breeder, discusses germplasm performance with scientists from Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan. Photos: H.Mammadova, Azeri Research Institute of Farming.

In Georgia, the group participated in a field day at Lomtagora Farm, where new winter wheat varieties were identified and promoted.  The group also visited the Georgian National Research Center experiment station and reviewed the crop research being conducted there. Lomtagora Farm hosted a summary meeting featuring several key presentations on food security, application of new genomic tools and fast multiplication and promotion of new varieties. Recommendations for future IWWIP activities discussed at the meeting included expanding and improving current breeding and germplasm exchange activities and focusing on training young wheat breeders in Turkey.

“An important outcome of the seminar was the establishment of personal connections between participants, as well as building formal ties,” said Morgounov. “The group was highly impressed by the new generation of young, intelligent and driven wheat breeders and researchers in Azerbaijan and Georgia, and we look forward to a successful seminar in 2017.”

UAVs provide researchers in NW China with a new view of agriculture

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The DJI Spreading Wings S900 Hexo-copter fitted with an MKII Canon SLR Visual Camera flying over winter wheat near Wuzhong City, China. Photo: Jack McHugh/CIMMYT
The DJI Spreading Wings S900 Hexo-copter fitted with an
MKII Canon SLR Visual Camera flying over winter wheat
near Wuzhong City, China. Photo: Jack McHugh/CIMMYT

We have come a long way when it comes to obtaining aerial images of our research sites. My colleagues and I once used helium-filled balloons and twin cameras to obtain infrared and color images in an all-day operation; now we use unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) fitted with high-resolution lenses and multispectral cameras to take dozens of images over large areas in a matter of minutes.

Farmers and researchers need to know every square meter of their fields, to determine spatial variability, take remedial action and implement adaptive controls and responses. UAVs can achieve this without anyone setting foot in the field. In an era where we are time- and resource-poor, we can accurately assess the health of entire fields in mere minutes, which could have an enormous impact on agriculture.

However, in Northwestern China, the notion of using UAVs to take aerial pictures in an agricultural setting evokes suspicion, elicits numerous questions and is extremely novel.

The way it was in 2007. Troy Jensen and Amjed Hussain of the University of Southern Queensland, utilizing a helium-filled balloon for aerial imagery of a cabbage research trial in SE Queensland. Photo: Troy Jensen
The way it was in 2007. Troy Jensen and
Amjed Hussain of the University of Southern
Queensland, utilizing a helium-filled balloon
for aerial imagery of a cabbage research trial
in SE Queensland. Photo: Troy Jensen

As a result, we have to provide detailed explanations and gain permission from a number of local authorities before we can undertake what is a simple non-invasive task that would normally go unnoticed on a farm in Australia or Mexico.

CIMMYT-China’s Global Conservation Agriculture Program (GCAP) and the Ningxia Academy of Agricultural Sciences obtained permission from the Wuzhong City Agricultural Mechanization Bureau to fly a UAV. Earlier this month, my colleague Mr. Zhang Xuejian, Director of the Information Research Institute, enlisted a local UAV operator to take images of conservation agriculture, relay cropping and wheat variety trials at a demonstration site near Wuzhong City in Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region.

Although the Information Research Institute has a fixed-wing UAV with sophisticated imagery equipment, the system is somewhat dated and requires extensive documentation, a landing strip and up to six operators. However, the GCAP-Ningxia Academy of Agricultural Sciences collaboration recently demonstrated the flexibility, capability and efficiency of a modern, multi-rotary wing UAV that rapidly produces imagery and readily displays agronomic traits, farm management and genetic responses not easily appreciated or identified at ground level. Given the success of this demonstration, we will seek funding to buy a new aircraft and develop proximal sensing and imagery within the region.

Smallholder farmers need accurate, inexpensive, readily-available data to increase production, but have traditionally not had access to precise spatial information due to time, money and labor constraints. UAVs can collect visual, thermal and hyperspectral data, which when analyzed provide a broad range of information that would otherwise be unavailable. UAV imagery can also focus on specific biotic and abiotic issues such as diseases, crop stress and farm management. UAV technology would provide breeders and agronomists in NW China not only a new view of agriculture, but also a new path to achieving increased production and food security, while conserving natural and human resources.

View-sky

CIMMYT receives “Excellence Through Stewardship” certification

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CIMMYT has been awarded an Excellence Through Stewardship (ETS) certificate of achievement for successfully completing the ETS audit requirements for its operations in Mexico and Kenya. ETS is a global, not-for-profit industry-coordinated organization dedicated to “promote the responsible management of agricultural technology, through encouraging product stewardship and quality management systems practices and by educating the public.” The ETS audit was an independent third-party review of CIMMYT’s quality management system and standard operating procedures (SOP) for transgenic research. “The successful ETS certification is an important milestone in implementing and modeling – teaching and demonstrating – responsible stewardship of transgenic research,” according to Kevin Pixley, Director of CIMMYT’s Genetic Resources Program. CIMMYT is the first CGIAR center to achieve ETS certification.

CIMMYT has had a clear policy guiding its work in transgenic crops since the mid 2000s. Principles include respecting sovereignty and safety and assisting partners to responsibly avail the technologies, if their countries have the legal framework and regulatory capacity and if they request CIMMYT collaboration or assistance. Transgenic research is a small part of CIMMYT’s breeding portfolio and no CIMMYT-derived wheat or maize variety currently sown by farmers is transgenic. CIMMYT’s involvement in transgenic research can help ensure that transgenic crops remain an accessible option for resource-poor farmers.

Morris dedicated her life and career to understanding and developing wheat genes.

Super woman: Rosalind Morris an “outstanding wheat cytogeneticist”

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Rosalind Morris was a pioneer in agricultural science at a time when there were very few women scientists. Her achievements were groundbreaking: in 1947, Morris and Leona O. Schnell became the first women to graduate with doctoral degrees from Cornell University’s department of plant breeding.

That same year, Morris became the first female faculty member hired in the agronomy department at the University of Nebraska at Lincoln (UNL). Later, in 1963, she became the first woman honored as a fellow of the American Society of Agronomy.

“Morris became an outstanding wheat cytogeneticist. She was a mentor to many wheat scientists, and a meticulous teacher,” said Thomas Payne, head of the Wheat Germplasm Bank at the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT).

Born in Wales in 1920, Morris had the unique opportunity to study agricultural sciences at a time when most college-age males were involved in World War Two. She earned her Bachelor of Science in Agriculture from the University of Guelph and was soon accepted into the graduate program in the plant breeding department at Cornell University.

During her career, Morris taught graduate courses in plant genetics and cytogenetics, exploring cell function and structure with a particular emphasis on chromosomes. She also became a junior partner in experiments to test the effects of X-rays and thermal neutrons on crop plants, studies, which are said to have grown out of concern over the effects of atomic bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki during World War Two.

Morris succeeded in developing wheat genetic stocks, or wheat populations generated for genetic studies, that have worldwide importance in explaining wheat genetics. Her work provides a premier resource base for the emerging field of functional genomics, which explores how DNA is translated into complex information in a cell.

Though Morris is now retired, she often feels “homesick” for her work, according to an interview with the Agricultural Institute of Canada, a sign of the passion which truly makes her a super woman.

Any views expressed in this article are those of the author and not of the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center.

WheatMatters Podcast # 1

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Photo credit: Xochiquetzal Fonseca/CIMMYT

In this episode of the Wheat Matters podcast we tour CIMMYT’s seed bank and find out why genetic resources are a cornerstone for crop improvement and an essential ingredient to meet current and future food security challenges.

Harnessing Mexico’s Sun: CIMMYT Installs 920 Solar Panels in Green Initiative

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Mexico’s solar thermal and photovoltaic resources are among the world’s best. Just one square of 25 kilometers in the State of Chihuahua or the Sonoran desert would be sufficient to supply electricity to the entire country.1 Mexico’s Secretariat of Energy (SENER) predicts the country will have 6 gigawatts (GW) of solar energy installed by 2020, although less than 1% of that is currently installed. The Mexican Government offers no direct subsidy to solar energy.

Demand for electricity in Mexico is increasing, and 22 GW will be needed by 2025. Energy costs are rising 8-10% annually. Despite little government intervention, the private solar sector in Mexico has been booming, experiencing triple-digit growth rates every three years over the past ten years and becoming one of the fastest growing solar energy markets globally.

CIMMYT is actively taking advantage of solar energy’s potential in Mexico.

“The project started a year and a half ago, when the German Corporation for International Cooperation (GIZ) offered to fund self-efficient energy projects,” said Francisco J. Peñafort Olivas, Facilities Manager at CIMMYT-El Batan. “They gave us €750,000 EUR this January to install 920 solar panels that produce 275 kilowatts (KW) of energy. This produces about 12% of the total amount of energy CIMMYT demands per month, saving us around US $35,000/year.”

Photo: Francisco Peñafort/CIMMYT

Peñafort pointed out that, unlike most organizations taking advantage of Mexico’s solar resources, CIMMYT requires energy 24/7 to power the genebank and other biosciences chambers. “We are planning to implement two more phases in this solar panel project and reach 495 KW of power, which would supply around 22% of CIMMYT’s energy and save nearly US $63,000 per year,” he said.

At least another €4 million EUR are needed for CIMMYT to achieve self-efficiency, but this is a step in the right direction. The solar panels have a 25-year warranty, and if a panel fails or falls below 80% efficiency, it is immediately replaced. “We also installed equipment to measure the energy we’re expending and monitor how each panel is working, and we’re sharing these data with CIMMYT’s genebank and the German Government,” said Peñafort.

CIMMYT is investing in other green initiatives as well. For example, it is replacing all the lights in the genebank with light-emitting diode lights, which will save around US $400 per year in energy. According to Peñafort, new energy-saving air conditioning systems are being installed throughout the campus. The solar panels are a long-term investment in CIMMYT going green and, in pursuit of self-sufficiency, the Center will continue to expand its solar program with other renewable initiatives.

 

1    Assuming a net system efficiency of 15%, based on the SENER and the German Technical Cooperation Agency 2009 study “Renewable Energy for Sustainable Development in México”

CIMMYT appoints a new regional representative for Africa

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StephenMugo_w.jpg
Stephen Mugo
 CIMMYT has appointed Stephen Mugo as the new CIMMYT–Africa Regional Representative (CRR) and the CIMMYT–Kenya Country Representative (CCR). He takes over these two roles from the late Wilfred Mwangi, who served CIMMYT for 27 years, the last of them as Africa Regional Liaison Officer before his demise in December 2014. Mugo brings to the position 32 years of experience in agricultural research, 17 of them in service to CIMMYT under different capacities, including his current role as CIMMYT’s leader in the Water Efficient Maize for Africa (WEMA) Project.

BekeleAbeyo w
Bekele Abeyo
 CIMMYT has two other offices in Africa: the Ethiopia country office with Bekele Abeyo as the CIMMYT–Ethiopia Country Representative (CCR), and the Zimbabwe country office with Mulugetta Mekuria as CCR. Mulugeta also doubles as the Southern Africa Sub-Regional Representative.Together, Stephen Mugo, Bekele Abeyo and Mulugetta Mekuria serve as the CIMMYT contact persons in Africa for donors and governments, and they oversee regional and local office operations.

Mulugetta Mekuria
Mulugetta Mekuria
 CIMMYT has 200 staff based in Africa, of whom one-third are internationally recruited and two-thirds are locally recruited. CIMMYT executes nearly 40 percent of its regional targeted activities in Africa. These activities are in collaboration with partners in 24 countries, besides other sister CGIAR centers.

BMPrasanna w
B.M. Prasanna
 CIMMYT’s overall research oversight is managed globally through five research programs – the Genetic Resources Program (led by Kevin Pixley, based in Mexico), the Global Maize Program (led by B.M. Prasanna, based in Kenya), the Global Wheat Program (led by Hans Braun, based in Mexico), the Conservation Agriculture Program (led by Bruno Gerard, based in Mexico) and the Socioeconomics Program (led by Olaf Erenstein, based in Mexico).

Link: Our work in Africa

Global partnership propels wheat productivity in China

Written by Mike Listman on . Posted in Features.

Benefits of three decades of international collaboration in wheat research have added as much as 10.7 million tons of grain – worth US $3.4 billion – to China’s national wheat output, according to a study by the Center for Chinese Agricultural Policy (CCAP) of the Chinese Academy of Science.

Described in a report published on 30 March by the CGIAR Research Program on Wheat, the research examined China’s partnership with CIMMYT and the free use of CIMMYT improved wheat lines and other genetic resources during 1982-2011. The conclusions are based on a comprehensive dataset that included planted area, pedigree, and agronomic traits by variety for 17 major wheat-growing provinces in China.

“Chinese wheat breeders acquired disease resistant, semi-dwarf wheat varieties from CIMMYT in the late 1960s and incorporated desirable traits from that germplasm into their own varieties,” said Dr. Jikun Huang, Director of CCAP and first author of the new study. “As of the 1990s, it would be difficult to find anything other than improved semi-dwarf varieties in China. Due to this and to investments in irrigation, agricultural research and extension, farmers’ wheat yields nearly doubled during 1980-95, rising from an average 1.9 to 3.5 tons per hectare.”

The new study also documents increasing use of CIMMYT germplasm by wheat breeders in China. “CIMMYT contributions are present in more than 26 percent of all major wheat varieties in China after 2000,” said Huang. “But our research clearly shows that, far from representing a bottleneck in diversity, genetic resources from CIMMYT’s global wheat program have significantly enhanced China varieties’ performance for critical traits like yield potential, grain processing quality, disease resistance and early maturity.”

WILL CHINA WHEAT FARMING RISE TO RESOURCE AND CLIMATE CHALLENGES?

Photo: Mike Listman/CIMMYT
Photo: Mike Listman/CIMMYT

The world’s number-one wheat producer, China harvests more than 120 million tons of wheat grain yearly, mainly for use in products like noodles and steamed bread. China is more or less self-sufficient in wheat production, but wheat farmers face serious challenges. For example, wheat area has decreased by more than one-fifth in the past three decades, due to competing land use.

“This trend is expected to continue,” said Huang, “and climate change and the increasing scarcity of water will further challenge wheat production. Farmers urgently need varieties and cropping systems that offer resilience under drought, more effective use of water and fertilizer, and resistance to evolving crop diseases. Global research partnerships like that with CIMMYT will be vital to achieve this.”

Dr. Qiaosheng Zhuang, Research Professor of Chinese Academy of Agricultural Science (CAAS) and a Fellow of Chinese Academy of Science, called the new report “…an excellent, detailed analysis and very useful for scientists and policy makers. CIMMYT germplasm and training have made a momentous contribution to Chinese wheat.”

KALRO and CIMMYT: cementing a longstanding relationship

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All this week, CIMMYT headquarters in Texcoco, Mexico, has the honor of hosting Dr. Eliud Kireger, the Acting Director General of the Kenya Agricultural and Livestock Research Organization (KALRO). Today, we sit with him for a candid conversation on crop research in Africa.

According to Dr. Kireger, one of the burning issues in agriculture today in Eastern and Southern Africa is “low productivity per unit area. The increase we’ve seen in yields across different countries is largely due to expansion in land area.” He attributes this low productivity per unit area to lack of technologies and knowledge that can boost productivity. This dearth translates itself in many ways such as not using fertilizers, improved seed or mechanization.

Another key factor hampering production is climate change, which in Eastern and Southern Africa manifests itself mainly through drought, floods, frost and hail. “There is also an increase in new pests and diseases, as well as postharvest losses, low value addition and lack of regulated markets which erodes the incentive to work hard and produce more. All these are the issues we need to address in our research and development agenda,” Dr Kireger says.

Finance and romance
The crunch in all this is low funding for the agricultural sector. African heads of state committed to devoting a minimum of 10 percent of their national budgets to agriculture in the 2003 Maputo Declaration. Not only have few nations honored this commitment, it is also a disadvantageous relationship, as Dr Kireger reveals. “For example, in Kenya, agriculture accounts for 30 percent of the GDP but the exchequer allocates less than two percent to agriculture, and even less to research. We therefore rely on our partners and collaborators in funding most of our research and development work, and that is where partners like CIMMYT come in to help us bridge the gap by accessing funding we would not otherwise have got, by training our scientists, and by helping us obtain high-quality germplasm.”

Dr. Eliud Kireger (left), KALRO Director General, in deep discussions with CIMMYT scientists during his visit to CIMMYT headquarters. He was accompanied by Stephen Mugo (right), CIMMYT’S Regional Representative for Africa and also country representative for Kenya. Dr. Kireger also met with CIMMYT's senior leadership.
Dr. Eliud Kireger (left), KALRO Director General, in deep discussions with CIMMYT scientists during his visit to CIMMYT headquarters. He was accompanied by Stephen Mugo (right), CIMMYT’S Regional Representative for Africa and also country representative for Kenya. Dr. Kireger also met with CIMMYT’s senior leadership.

But it is a reciprocal relationship between CIMMYT and KALRO, with CIMMYT too enjoying KALRO’s generosity through a rich potpourri of priceless resources – land for field and laboratory work; a robust nationwide network covering all corners of Kenya; immense social capital accumulated through time by a known, tested and trusted name; community mobilization; and local liaison with policy- and decision-makers on sensitive matters such as germplasm exchange and other weighty issues. “In Kenya CIMMYT does not have land, but since we work together, KALRO allows us to use their land for our work,” notes Stephen Mugo, CIMMYT–Africa Regional Representative and also Kenya Country Representative, who has accompanied Dr Kireger to CIMMYT Headquarters. “These are the benefits of synergy: ‘What you do not have, and I have, we share’. There is no single institution — working alone — that can be able to address all the challenges facing agriculture. From very early on, CIMMYT decided that the only way was to team up with national institutions and work together, so that CIMMYT-developed germplasm , know-how and technologies reach intended beneficiaries countrywide for the benefit of maize and wheat farmers. CIMMYT and KALRO jointly design common projects on clear and specific areas to improve maize and wheat, then seek funding for these projects to address drought tolerance, crop pests and emerging diseases.”

CIMMYT–KALRO MLN screening facility at KALRO's premises in Naivasha, Kenya.
CIMMYT–KALRO MLN screening facility at KALRO’s premises in Naivasha, Kenya.

One such emerging disease is maize lethal necrosis (MLN), which CIMMYT and KALRO are jointly tackling through ultra-modern shared facilities for MLN screeing and for doubled haploid (DH) technology that both stand on KALRO land. “With these facilities, we are able to screen a large volume of germplasm from both the public and private sectors. DH technology allows breeders to very rapidly— especially for cross-pollinated crops like maize — develop parental lines in about 18 months than can then be used to develop hybrids,” says Mugo. “With conventional methods, the same process could take anywhere between six and eight years. Once we identify maize types that are disease-resistant, drought-tolerant or good for low-nitrogen soils, we can fast-track them for rapid hybrid development. KALRO also facilitates exchange of germplasm — particularly important now in the face of MLN — by liaising with other government agents such as the Kenya Plant Health Inspectorate Service. This helps not only Kenya but also other countries, including both the public and private sector. By working together, institutions are able to solve problems that at first glance seem insurmountable,” Mugo observes.

KALRO and CIMMYT started working on climate-smart crops long before the term was coined. The goal was ‘insurance’ to increase production during drought. CIMMYT embarked on research from the late 1980s to increase production even when drought strikes. Collaboration with KALRO in this work started in the early 1990s, and did not stop there. “We now have a large network of research sites in Eastern and Southern Africa,” says Mugo.

The next frontier, and the future we need not fear if we prepare
Touching on genetically modified crops, Dr. Kireger laments “the negative publicity and misinformation on transgenics. To counter this, one of the first courses of action we are taking is making information available to the general public. Transgenic materials have the potential to resolve some of the problems that we have in Eastern and Southern Africa. We are working together with CIMMYT to provide information to the public because the largest fault-line is lack of information, which opens the door for misinterpretation. This hampers and dents the good work that is being done.”

Mugo concurs: “The only way to address this is for research institutions like KALRO and CIMMYT to provide the correct information, based on authoritative and impartial research findings, for informed public debate on benefits and risks, and how to mitigate risks. For example, research has shown the economic and environmental benefits of transgenic insect-resistant maize which eliminates pesticide use. This shows that transgenics can be deployed to solve problems that conventional means are at present unable to solve. One of these is the need to produce more food for an ever-increasing global population. To achieve this goal, we need to deploy all the technologies at our disposal, including transgenics.”

And switching emphasis from maize and headquarters to wheat and the field, Dr Kireger’s next stop in Mexico this week is Obregon, to get first-hand experience on CIMMYT’s work on this other crop that both institutes work on – not very common in Africa, as most of CIMMYT’s partnerships there focus exclusively on maize. Watch this space for more updates including videos!

And may this fruitful and mutually beneficial collaboration endorsed at the highest levels continue to grow from strength to strength!

Links:

Maize and wheat Super Women campaign highlights diversity

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IWDbuttonEL BATAN, Mexico (CIMMYT) – A social media crowd sourcing campaign initiated to celebrate the achievements of women has led to more than a dozen published blog story contributions about women in the maize and wheat sectors.

Each year, International Women’s Day gives the world a chance to inspire women and celebrate their achievements. This year, the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT) put out a call asking for blog contributions from the social media community.

CIMMYT asked readers to submit stories about women who have made a difference in the maize and wheat sectors, including women involved in conservation agriculture, genetic resources, research, technology and related socio-economics.

The “Who is Your Maize or Wheat Super Woman?” stories are featured on the CIMMYT website from Monday, March 2, 2015 in the lead up to International Women’s Day on Sunday, March 8, 2015.

Contributions include blog stories about women from Britain, Canada, Guatemala, India, Indonesia, Kenya, Mexico, and the United States. Their stories will also be made available in Spanish-language.

SUPER WOMEN BLOG POSTS:

CIMMYT

Tottori University students visit CIMMYT

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Masahiro Kishii of CIMMYT’s Global Wheat Program gives students a tour of the Wellhousen-Anderson Genetic Resources Center. Photos: Xochiquetzal Fonseca
Masahiro Kishii of CIMMYT’s Global Wheat Program gives students a tour of the Wellhousen-Anderson Genetic Resources Center. Photos: Xochiquetzal Fonseca

A group of 16 undergraduate students and three professors from the University of Tottori, Japan, visited CIMMYT on 26 November. The visit was the last stop of a three-month study visit to Mexico, which also included visits to the Universidad Autonoma de Baja California Sur (UABCS) and the Centro de Investigaciones Biológicas del Noroeste S.C. (CIBNOR).

Jelle Van Loon, leader of smart mechanization for CIMMYT’s conservation agriculture program in Mexico, teaches students about machinery development.

The students began their visit with an overview of CIMMYT from Isabel Peña, Head of Institutional Relations-Latin America, followed by a meeting with Dr. Masahiro Kishii, a Japanese scientist formerly of Tottori University who now works in wheat cytogenetics in CIMMYT’s Global Wheat Program. The group was then given a tour of the Wellhousen-Anderson Genetic Resources Center and the labs of the Biosciences Complex.

The day concluded with a visit to the Global Conservation Agriculture Program’s D5 demonstration plot, where the students learned about developments in machinery and post-harvest technology.

Isabel Peña, Head of Institutional Relations-Latin America, welcomes students to CIMMYT.

Updated Web Wheat Atlas 3.0 prioritizes user experience

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Wheat Atlas
Wheat at sunset at CIMMYT headquarters near Mexico City. CIMMYT/Julie Mollins

EL BATAN, Mexico (CIMMYT) — Got a question about wheat? Whether you are a scientist, a researcher or simply interested in learning more about the vital staple crop that provides 20 percent of the world’s calories, the Wheat Atlas can help.

The online resource developed by the Global Wheat Program (GWP) at the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT) provides statistics on wheat production and trade, wheat varieties, production challenges and international wheat nurseries, which evaluate the suitability of wheat to diverse environments.

“Although the primary users are wheat scientists, we know from anecdotal evidence that donors and policymakers are also using it,” said Petr Kosina, who led the development and recent revamp of the interactive website.

The Wheat Atlas was the brainchild of Hans Braun, GWP director, he explained, adding that the project evolved into a collaboration involving Kosina, web master Paul Moncada, senior scientist David Hodson and Tom Payne, head of the Wheat Germplasm Bank, which stores seeds. CIMMYT’s Geographic Information Services team created maps.

Improvements include a redesign of site structure and navigation based on user trends observed in data provided by Google Analytics and a 2013 survey. The website now features daily wheat news on the homepage.

“The work is ongoing,” Kosina said. “We’re in continuous ‘beta mode’, improving the functionality of the site and user experience. For example, we’re developing an online submission form for users to input data on newly released wheat varieties and a wheat scientists’ ‘hall of fame’. Before the end of the year we’ll also improve data visualizations.”

The website provides up-to-date information on new wheat varieties being released worldwide, as well as data from the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization, the U.S. Department of Agriculture, the World Bank and the U.N. Development Programme.

Since the official launch of the Wheat Atlas in 2009, web traffic has increased to an average of 2,200 unique visitors a month, said Kosina, who works closely with webmaster Moncada.

“We’re very happy with recent access statistics, which have improved since the Search Engine Optimization we did earlier this year, but we need secure funding for bigger plans and development,” he said. “We need a new source of funding.”

The Wheat Atlas was supported until 2013 by the Durable Rust Resistance in Wheat project, which aims to reduce the devastating impact of stem rust disease on wheat, led by Cornell University.

The CIMMYT library has a large historic database of scientific publications with descriptions of new wheat varieties compiled over a 15-year time span, Kosina said.

“My dream is to consolidate this database with the Wheat Atlas and GRIS, the world’s largest database of wheat germplasm, with more than 160,000 accessions, and make it available online in the Wheat Atlas – this would be absolutely unique and smashing,” he added.

Every two years, the site managers gather information to provide a snapshot of the most important wheat varieties grown by farmers in developing countries, including acreage estimates. Mina Lantican in CIMMYT’s socio-economics program is conducting the 2014 review as part of an impact assessment study.

Scientists ship 2 tons of wheat seed samples around the world

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Wheat Seed Samples Around the World
Juan Hernandez Caballero (L) and Victor Cano Valencia, prepare to load wheat samples onto a van at CIMMYT headquarters in El Batan, Mexico, for shipment overseas. CIMMYT/Julie Mollins

EL BATAN, Mexico (CIMMYT) — Wheat farmers can boost yields and protect crops from pests and disease by using improved seed varieties, but in the developing world more than 80 percent of farmers use poor quality varieties, losing potential earnings and putting food security at risk, according to research.

Farmers often sell and trade wheat seed among themselves without having much knowledge about the size of the yield they can expect and how a particular variety fares with regard to climate, soil type or disease resistance.

Scientists at the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT) are continuously developing improved varieties and each year seed samples — known as International Wheat Nurseries — are sent out to government and university research institutions and national agricultural research systems around the world.

“Wheat plays a vital role in food security,” said Tom Payne, head of CIMMYT’s Wheat Germplasm Bank, which stores almost 145,000 wheat varieties collected over the past 60 years. “We’ve been sending out wheat samples each year since 1974, so if you do the math that’s 367 tons over the years.”

In October, 1,720 kilograms (3,790 pounds) of experimental seeds were shipped to India, one of 75 current recipient countries.

Overall, the 2014 international shipment of seeds delivered in 351,990 sample envelopes weighed 9,230 kilograms. Recent recipient countries included Algeria, Pakistan, Turkey, Ukraine and Sudan.

SORTING SEEDS

Over the past 24 years, Efren Rodriguez, head of CIMMYT’s Seed Distribution Unit has overseen the five-month process of preparing, packaging and shipping of wheat seed samples.

“This year the seed requests we received filled 94 boxes,” Rodriguez said. “Seeds are requested at the end of summer prior to planting season. Each box is filled with envelopes of wheat seed and weighs up to 10 kilograms (22 pounds).”

Seeds arrive at CIMMYT’s headquarters near Mexico City in June in bags weighing from 10 to 35 kilograms from CIMMYT’s research station in Mexicali in northeastern Mexico accompanied with paperwork naming the varieties for inclusion in the shipment.

The seed is sorted according to instructions from the wheat breeders, cleaned with chlorine, rinsed in an industrial restaurant-style dishwasher, doused in protective fungicide, dried, placed in small envelopes by machine, then boxed.

“Research institutions plant the seeds, which have different characteristics designed to solve particular problems – for example, they may be heat, drought- or disease-resistant – and then recommend varieties for general release and sale to farmers,” Rodriguez said, explaining that the seeds tested and selected by the international research programs are incorporated into national wheat breeding or growing programs.

CIMMYT also distributes wheat nurseries as part of a partnership with Turkey and the International Center for Agricultural Research in the Dry Areas (ICARDA).

Globally, wheat provides 20 percent of the world’s daily protein and calories.