The Maize Lethal Necrosis (MLN) Gene Editing Project uses gene editing technology to transform four elite CIMMYT maize lines which are susceptible to a devastating maize disease known as MLN. The disease first appeared in Kenya in 2011, and by 2013 it had reduced maize yields across the country by an average of 22%, resulting in loss of production worth $180 million and forcing many smallholder farmers to abandon planting maize. By 2014 it had spread to D.R. Congo, Ethiopia, Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania and Uganda, hence posing a major threat to the food security and livelihoods of millions of Africans.
CIMMYT and its partners have responded to the problem by successfully developing MLN-tolerant hybrids through conventional backcrossing, which takes approximately 4-5 years. On the other hand, with the use of a gene editing technology known as CRISPR-Cas9, the breeding process can be accelerated, thereby reducing the time required to 2-3 years only, so that smallholders get faster access to improved maize varieties.
In partnership with Corteva Agriscience — which has significant expertise in the genome-editing field and who is the technology owner — and KALRO (Kenya Agricultural and Livestock Research Organization), CIMMYT scientists have been able to make a breakthrough via the CRISPR-Cas9 technology. The technology, Clustered Regularly Interspersed Short Palindromic Repeats (CRISPR) along with CRISPR-associated System (Cas) containing Protein 9, functions to replicate natural mutations in maize that will help strengthen its resistance to MLN. At the same time, this precisely targeted crop improvement process eliminates the transfer of many undesirable genes that would often accompany the desired ones as with the case in traditional backcrossing.
Under this project, four CIMMYT inbred lines, that are parents of two commercial hybrids in eastern Africa but susceptible to MLN, have been selected to undergo gene editing to become MLN-resistant. The edited, MLN-resistant lines will in turn be used to produce MLN-resistant hybrids which will still carry all the farmer-preferred agronomic traits including drought tolerance, similar to other elite maize hybrids developed by CIMMYT and released through partners.
CIMMYT is working in close collaboration with KALRO and other partners from the public and private sectors to increase the number of MLN-resistant Africa-adapted inbred lines and hybrids, as well as to make deployment efforts. By 2025, subject to compliance with regulatory procedures, commercial seeds of the gene-edited MLN-resistant elite maize hybrids will be available to up to 20,000 smallholder farmers for approximately 40,000 hectares of planting. In line with the CGIAR Principles on the Management of Intellectual Assets and CIMMYT’s constant endeavor to treat its improved germplasm as international public good, the MLN-resistant hybrids will be available royalty-free and seed companies entering into commercialization/licensing agreements in connection with this project will not be allowed to charge smallholder farmers higher seed cost. In this way, more farmers in MLN-affected countries in eastern and Central Africa can eventually benefit from increased supply of high-yielding, MLN-resistant and affordable maize products.
B.M Prasanna, Director of CIMMYT’s Global Maize Program and the CGIAR Research Program on Maize, says agriculture scientists have set their focus on making cultivation a profitable venture.
The CIMMYT germplasm bank is located near Texcoco, Mexico and is known for Norman Borlaug, father of modern agriculture and the “Green Revolution” who fought hunger in the later 1940s.
Hundreds of agricultural professionals in Bangladesh were trained in the latest fall armyworm management strategies as part of a new project that will strengthen efforts against this threat to farmers’ income, food security, and health. The new project, Fighting Back Against Fall Armyworm, is supported by USAID and the University of Michigan.
As part of the project, last November over 450 representatives from government, nonprofits and the private sector participated in three-day training to learn how to identify, monitor and apply integrated pest management approaches.
Fall armyworm presents an important threat to farmers’ income, food security and livelihoods as it continues to spread across the country, in addition to health risks if toxic insecticides are indiscriminately used, said Tim Krupnik, senior scientist and agronomist at the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT). It is anticipated the course participants will pass on knowledge about the pest and appropriate control practices to around 30,000 farmers in their respective localities.
“Participants were selected for their ability to reliably extend the strategies that can be sustainably implemented by maize farmers across the country,” explained Krupnik. “The immersive training saw participants on their hands and knees learning how to scout, monitor and collect data on fall armyworm,” he said. “They were also trained in alternatives to toxic chemical pesticides, and how and when to make decisions on biological control with parasitoids, bio-pesticides, and low-toxicity chemical pesticide use.”
Following its ferocious spread across Africa from the Americas, fall armyworm first attacked farms in Bangladesh during the winter 2018-2019 season. Combined with highly apparent damage to leaves, its resilience to most chemical control methods has panicked farmers and led researchers to promote integrated pest management strategies.
In this context, the 22-month Fighting Back Against Fall Armyworm project will build the capacity of the public and private sector for effective fall armyworm mitigation.
The hungry caterpillar feeds on more than 80 plant species, but its preferred host is maize — a crop whose acreage is expanding faster than any other cereal in Bangladesh. The pest presents a peculiar challenge as it can disperse over 200 kilometers during its adult stage, laying thousands of eggs along its way.
Once settled on a plant, larvae burrow inside maize whorls or hide under leaves, where they are partially protected from pesticides. In a bid to limit fall armyworm damage, farmers’ indiscriminate application of highly toxic and inappropriate insecticides can encourage the pest to develop resistance, while also presenting important risks to beneficial insects, farmers, and the environment.
Reaching every corner of the country
Participants of the Fighting Back against Fall Armyworm trainings visit farmers’ fields in Chauadanga, Bangladesh. (Photo: Tim Krupnik/CIMMYT)
As part of the project, CIMMYT researchers supported Bangladesh’s national Fall Armyworm Task Force to develop an online resource to map the spread of fall armyworm. Scientists are working with the Ministry of Agriculture to digitally collect real-time incidents of its spread to build evidence and gain further insight into the pest.
“Working with farmers and agricultural agencies to collect information on pest population and incidence will assist agricultural development planners, extension agents, and farmers to make informed management decisions,” said Krupnik, who is leading the project.
A key objective is to support national partners to develop educational strategies to facilitate sustainable pest control while also addressing institutional issues needed for efficient response.
“In particular, the Government of Bangladesh has been extremely responsive about the fall armyworm infestation and outbreak. It developed and distributed two fact sheets — the first of which was done before fall armyworm arrived — in addition to arranging workshops throughout the country. Initiatives have been taken for quick registration of microbial pesticides and seed treatments,” commented Syed Nurul Alam, Entomologist and Senior Consultant with CIMMYT.
“It is imperative that governmental extension agents are educated on sustainable ways to control the pest. In general, it is important to advise against the indiscriminate use of pesticides without first implementing alternative control measures, as this pest can build a resistance rendering many chemicals poorly effective,” Krupnik pointed out.
To this end, the project also consciously engages members of the private sector — including pesticide and seed companies as well as agricultural dealers — to ensure they are able to best advise farmers on the nature of the pest and suggest sustainable and long-term solutions. To date, the project has advised over 755 agricultural dealers operating in impacted areas of Bangladesh, with another 1,000 being trained in January 2020.
Project researchers are also working alongside the private sector to trial seed treatment and biologically-based methods of pest control. Biocontrol sees researchers identify, release, and manage natural predators and parasitoids to the fall armyworm, while targeted and biologically-based pesticides are significantly less of a health risk for farmers, while also being effective.
The 22-month project, funded by USAID, has 6 key objectives:
Develop educational materials to aid in reaching audiences with information to improve understanding and management of fall armyworm.
Assist the Department of Agricultural Extension in deploying awareness raising and training campaigns.
Prepare the private sector for appropriate fall armyworm response.
Standing task force supported.
Generate data and evidence to guide integrated fall armyworm management.
The Fighting Back Against Fall Armyworm in Bangladesh project is aligned with Michigan State University’s Borlaug Higher Education for Agricultural Research and Development (BHEARD) program, which supports the long-term training of agricultural researchers in USAID’s Feed the Future priority countries.
To achieve synergies and scale, the project will also be supported in part by in-kind staff time and activities, through linkages to the third phase of the USAID-supported Cereal Systems Initiative for South Asia (CSISA), led by the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Centre (CIMMYT). CSISA and CIMMYT staff work very closely with Bangladesh’s Department of Agricultural Extension and the Bangladesh Maize and Wheat Research Institute (BWMRI) in addition to other partners under the Ministry of Agriculture.
The grower of the world’s largest corn cob is farmer Jesús Nazario Elías Moctezuma, who won the annual corn cob competition in Jala, Nayarit, in December. He acknowledges the work of INIFAP, CIMMYT and the Mexico Corn Tortilla Foundation to recuperate native maize species.
Maize plants at the MLN screening facility in Naivasha, Kenya. (Photo: Jennifer Johnson/CIMMYT)
The maize lethal necrosis (MLN) artificial inoculation screening site in Naivasha, Kenya, will begin its phenotyping (screening/indexing) cycle of 2020 at the beginning of January 2020, which will continue in four other intervals throughout the year. Interested organizations from both the private and public sectors are invited to send maize germplasm for screening.
In 2013, the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT) and the Kenya Agricultural & Livestock Research Organization (KALRO) jointly established the MLN screening facility at the KALRO Naivasha research station in Kenya’s Rift Valley, with support from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and the Syngenta Foundation for Sustainable Agriculture.
MLN was first discovered in Kenya in 2011 and quickly spread to other parts of eastern Africa. The disease causes premature plant death and unfilled, poorly formed maize cobs, which can lead to up to 100% yield loss in farmers’ fields.
CIMMYT and partners are dedicated to stopping the spread of this deadly maize disease by effectively managing the risk of MLN on maize production through screening and identifying MLN-resistant germplasm. The MLN screening facility supports countries in sub-Saharan Africa to screen maize germplasm — for hybrid, inbred and open pollinated varieties — against MLN in a quarantined environment.
This is the largest dedicated MLN screening facility in East Africa. Since its inception in 2013, the facility has evaluated more than 200,000 accessions — more than 300,000 rows of maize — from more than 15 multinational and national seed companies and national research programs.
Partners can now plan for annual MLN phenotyping (screening/indexing) during 2020 with the schedule below. The improved and streamlined approach for MLN phenotyping should enable partners to accelerate breeding programs to improve resistance for MLN for sub-Saharan Africa.
More than 11,000 scientists signed on to a recent report showing that planet Earth is facing a climate emergency and the United Nations warned that the world is on course for a 3.2 degree spike by 2100, even if 2015 Paris Agreement commitments are met.
Agriculture, forestry, and land-use change are implicated in roughly a quarter of global greenhouse gas emissions.
Agriculture also offers opportunities to mitigate climate change and to help farmers — particularly smallholders in developing and emerging economies who have been hardest hit by hot weather and reduced, more erratic rainfall.
Most of CIMMYT’s work relates to climate change, helping farmers adapt to shocks while meeting the rising demand for food and, where possible, reducing emissions.
Family farmer Geofrey Kurgat (center) with his mother Elice Tole (left) and his nephew Ronny Kiprotich in their 1-acre field of Korongo wheat near Belbur, Nukuru, Kenya. (Photo: Peter Lowe/CIMMYT)
Climate-resilient crops and farming practices
53 million people are benefiting from drought-tolerant maize. Drought-tolerant maize varieties developed using conventional breeding provide at least 25% more grain than other varieties in dry conditions in sub-Saharan Africa — this represents as much as 1 ton per hectare more grain on average. These varieties are now grown on nearly 2.5 million hectares, benefiting an estimated 6 million households or 53 million people in the continent. One study shows that drought-tolerant maize can provide farming families in Zimbabwe an extra 9 months of food at no additional cost. The greatest productivity results when these varieties are used with reduced or zero tillage and keeping crop residues on the soil, as was demonstrated in southern Africa during the 2015-16 El Niño drought. Finally, tolerance in maize to high temperatures in combination with drought tolerance has a benefit at least twice that of either trait alone.
Wheat yields rise in difficult environments. Nearly two decades of data from 740 locations in more than 60 countries shows that CIMMYT breeding is pushing up wheat yields by almost 2% each year — that’s some 38 kilograms per hectare more annually over almost 20 years — under dry or otherwise challenging conditions. This is partly through use of drought-tolerant lines and crosses with wild grasses that boost wheat’s resilience. An international consortium is applying cutting-edge science to develop climate-resilient wheat. Three widely-adopted heat and drought-tolerant wheat lines from this work are helping farmers in Pakistan, a wheat powerhouse facing rising temperatures and drier conditions; the most popular was grown on an estimated 40,000 hectares in 2018.
Climate-smart soil and fertilizer management. Rice-wheat rotations are the predominant farming system on more than 13 million hectares in the Indo-Gangetic Plains of South Asia, providing food and livelihoods for hundreds of millions. If farmers in India alone fine-tuned crop fertilizer dosages using available technologies such as cellphones and photosynthesis sensors, each year they could produce nearly 14 million tons more grain, save 1.4 million tons of fertilizer, and cut CO2-equivalent greenhouse gas emissions by 5.3 million tons. Scientists have been studying and widely promoting such practices, as well as the use of direct seeding without tillage and keeping crop residues on the soil, farming methods that help capture and hold carbon and can save up to a ton of CO2 emissions per hectare, each crop cycle. Informed by CIMMYT researchers, India state officials seeking to reduce seasonal pollution in New Delhi and other cities have implemented policy measures to curb the burning of rice straw in northern India through widespread use of zero tillage.
Farmers going home for breakfast in Motoko district, Zimbabwe. (Photo: Peter Lowe/CIMMYT)
Measuring climate change impacts and savings
In a landmark study involving CIMMYT wheat physiologists and underlining nutritional impacts of climate change, it was found that increased atmospheric CO2 reduces wheat grain protein content. Given wheat’s role as a key source of protein in the diets of millions of the poor, the results show the need for breeding and other measures to address this effect.
CIMMYT scientists are devising approaches to gauge organic carbon stocks in soils. The stored carbon improves soil resilience and fertility and reduces its emissions of greenhouse gases. Their research also provides the basis for a new global soil information system and to assess the effectiveness of resource-conserving crop management practices.
CIMMYT scientist Francisco Pinto operates a drone over wheat plots at CIMMYT’s experimental station in Ciudad Obregon, Mexico. (Photo: Alfonso Cortés/CIMMYT)
Managing pests and diseases
Rising temperatures and shifting precipitation are causing the emergence and spread of deadly new crop diseases and insect pests. Research partners worldwide are helping farmers to gain an upper hand by monitoring and sharing information about pathogen and pest movements, by spreading control measures and fostering timely access to fungicides and pesticides, and by developing maize and wheat varieties that feature genetic resistance to these organisms.
Viruses and moth larvae assail maize. Rapid and coordinated action among public and private institutions across sub-Saharan Africa has averted a food security disaster by containing the spread of maize lethal necrosis, a viral disease which appeared in Kenya in 2011 and quickly moved to maize fields regionwide. Measures have included capacity development with seed companies, extension workers, and farmers the development of new disease-resilient maize hybrids.
The insect known as fall armyworm hit Africa in 2016, quickly ranged across nearly all the continent’s maize lands and is now spreading in Asia. Regional and international consortia are combating the pest with guidance on integrated pest management, organized trainings and videos to support smallholder farmers, and breeding maize varieties that can at least partly resist fall armyworm.
New fungal diseases threaten world wheat harvests. The Ug99 race of wheat stem rust emerged in eastern Africa in the late 1990s and spawned 13 new strains that eventually appeared in 13 countries of Africa and beyond. Adding to wheat’s adversity, a devastating malady from the Americas known as “wheat blast” suddenly appeared in Bangladesh in 2016, causing wheat crop losses as high as 30% on a large area and threatening to move quickly throughout South Asia’s vast wheat lands.
A community volunteer of an agricultural cooperative (left) uses the Plantix smartphone app to help a farmer diagnose pests in his maize field in Bardiya district, Nepal. (Photo: Bandana Pradhan/CIMMYT)
Partners and funders of CIMMYT’s climate research
A global leader in publicly-funded maize and wheat research and related farming systems, CIMMYT is a member of CGIAR and leads the South Asia Regional Program of the CGIAR Research Program on Climate Change, Agriculture and Food Security (CCAFS).
CIMMYT receives support for research relating to climate change from national governments, foundations, development banks and other public and private agencies. Top funders include CGIAR Research Programs and Platforms, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Mexico’s Secretary of Agriculture and Rural Development (SADER), the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), the UK Department for International Development (DFID), the Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research (ACIAR), Cornell University, the German aid agency GIZ, the UK Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC), and CGIAR Trust Fund Contributors to Window 1 &2.
Mainassara Zaman-Allah is a physiologist and abiotic stress phenotyping specialist. His research is largely devoted to harnessing the power of remote sensing for next-generation field phenotyping that is compatible with maize breeders needs and provides opportunities to significantly minimize selection cost while maximizing selection efficiency. He has also played a key role in the development of standardized screening phenotyping techniques, protocols for key abiotic stresses relevant to maize breeding.
Food entrepreneur Jorge Gaviria had the idea to small-scale farmers one by one who had surplus corn, buy it from them at market price and then import it to the United States. He partnered with CIMMYT to build up relationships with farmers, working out intricate systems that would determine fair prices and ensure that they were only buying surplus corn.
Geoffrey Ochieng’, a smallholder farmer from northern Uganda. He plants the UH5051 variety on his land. (Photo: Joshua Masinde/CIMMYT)
Zambia’s vice-president has recently called to reduce maize dominance and increase crop and diet diversification in his country. The reality is that maize is and will remain a very important food crop for many eastern and southern African countries. Diet preferences and population growth mean that it is imperative to find solutions to increase maize production in these countries, but experts forecast 10 to 30% reduction in maize yields by 2030 in a business-as-usual scenario, with projected temperature increases of up to 2.7 degrees by 2050 and important drought risks.
Knowing the importance of maize for the food security of countries like Zambia, it is crucial to help maize farmers get better and more stable yields under erratic and challenging climate conditions.
To address this, the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT) and its partners have been developing hundreds of new maize varieties with good drought tolerance across sub-Saharan Africa. Stakeholders in the public research and African seed sectors have collaborated through the Drought Tolerant Maize for Africa (DTMA) project and the Stress Tolerant Maize for Africa (STMA) initiative to develop drought-tolerant seed that also incorporates other qualities, such as nutritional value and disease resistance.
A groundbreaking impact study six years ago demonstrated that drought-tolerant maize significantly reduced poverty and food insecurity, particularly in drought years.
A new study from CIMMYT and the Center for Development Research (ZEF) in the main maize growing areas of Zambia confirms that adopting drought-tolerant maize can increase yields by 38% and reduce the risks of crop failure by 36%.
Over three quarters of the rainfed farmers in the study experienced drought during the survey. These farming families of 6 or 7 people were cultivating 4 hectares of farmland on average, half planted with maize.
A balancing act between potential gains and climate risks
Drought-tolerant maize has a transformational effect. With maize farming becoming less risky, farmers are willing to invest more in fertilizer and other inputs and plant more maize.
However, taking the decision of adopting new farm technologies in a climate risky environment could be a daunting task. Farmers may potentially gain a lot but, at the same time, they must consider downside risks.
As Gertrude Banda, a lead farmer in eastern Zambia, put it, hybrid seeds have a cost and when you do not know whether rains will be enough “this is a gamble.” In addition to climate uncertainty, farmers worry about many other woes, like putting money aside for urgent healthcare, school fees, or cooking nutritious meals for the family.
Information is power
An additional hurdle to adoption is that farmers may not know all the options available to cope with climate risks. While 77% of Zambia households interviewed said they experienced drought in 2015, only 44% knew about drought-tolerant maize.
This inequal access to knowledge and better seeds, observed also in Uganda, slows adoption of drought-tolerant maize. There, 14% of farmers have adopted drought-tolerant maize varieties. If all farmers were aware of this technology, 8% more farmers would have adopted it.
Because farmers are used to paying for cheap open-pollinated varieties, they are only willing to pay half of the hybrid market price, even though new hybrids are performing very well. Awareness campaigns on the benefits of drought-tolerant maize could boost adoption among farmers.
According to the same study, the potential for scaling drought-tolerant maize could raise up to 47% if drought-tolerant varieties were made available at affordable prices at all agrodealers. Several approaches could be tested to increase access, such as input credit or subsidy schemes.
These impact studies were made possible through the support provided by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and the US Agency for International Development (USAID), funders of the Stress Tolerant Maize for Africa (STMA) initiative.
It’s been eight years since maize lethal necrosis (MLN) was first reported on the African continent. When it appeared in Kenya’s Bomet County in 2011, a sense of panic swept across the maize sector. Experts quickly realized that all maize varieties on the market were susceptible to this viral disease, which could wipe out entire maize fields.
Spearheaded by the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT), a rapid regional response involving national agriculture research systems (NARS), national plant protection organizations and seed sector partners was set up. The response involved multiple approaches: rigorous surveillance, epidemiology research, disease management across the seed value chain, and screening and fast-tracking of the MLN-tolerant maize breeding program.
Now, CIMMYT and its partners are reflecting on the tremendous impact of transboundary coalition to contain the devastating disease.
“Country reports show there are now much less incidents of MLN in the region. We have effectively contained this disease as no new country in sub-Saharan Africa reported MLN since Ethiopia in 2014. This is a great achievement of an effective public private partnership,” noted B.M. Prasanna, Director of CIMMYT’s Global Maize Program and the CGIAR Research Program on Maize.
He was speaking at the closure workshop for the MLN Diagnostics and Management project and the MLN Epidemiology project on October 15-17, 2019, in Nairobi, Kenya. Experts from research, plant health and seed sector organizations from eastern and southern Africa reflected on the tremendous impact of the transboundary coalition to contain MLN across the region.
“The outbreak of the disease in Uganda in 2012 was a huge challenge as all the maize varieties and hybrids on the market were susceptible. With the support of CIMMYT and other partners in the national agriculture research systems, we got access to Bazooka, a high-yielding, drought- and MLN-tolerant maize variety that has helped in containing the disease,” said Godfrey Katwere, marketing manager for NASECO.
Until now, 19 MLN-tolerant and -resistant hybrids have been released, helping to keep the disease away from farmers’ fields and to stop its spillover to non-endemic countries in sub-Saharan Africa.
CIMMYT team members check for traces of the maize chlorotic mottle virus (MCMV) in maize plants during a visit to the MLN screening facility in Naivasha, Kenya. (Photo: Joshua Masinde/CIMMYT)
Science in action
The MLN screening facility, established in Naivasha in 2013, has been key to a better understanding of the disease and to setting up MLN hybrid tolerance and resistance breeding efforts. The facility, funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and the Syngenta Foundation for Sustainable Agriculture, has supported public and private partners to screen over 200,000 germplasm with around 300,000 rows of maize.
State-of-the-art epidemiology research has been carried out to identify how the disease could be transmitted and the best diagnostics methods along the seed value chain.
MLN is caused by the combination of the maize chlorotic mottle virus (MCMV) and any of the viruses belonging to the Potyviridae family.
As part of the project, studies showed that moist soil had higher MCMV virus loads than dry soil. The studies — conducted by Benham Lockhart of University of Minnesota and Peg Redinbaugh, a professor at Ohio State University and Research Leader and Research Plant Molecular Geneticist at USDA — indicated that MCMV can stay active in runoff water, and helped in understanding how the disease is transmitted and how to define management protocols.
“Crop debris may also act as source of MCMV inoculum but for a limited period of up to two months,” said L.M. Suresh, CIMMYT Maize Pathologist, in reference to soil transmission studies conducted by CIMMYT. “A host-free period of two months is, therefore, recommended for effective management of MLN,” he noted.
Rapid and low-cost MLN-causing virus detection methods such as immunostrips and ELISA-based tests were adopted at scale.
“After optimizing the protocols for MLN viruses’ diagnosis suitable for African systems, we transferred these technologies to [national plant protection organizations] and seed companies, not just within the endemic countries but also to the non-endemic countries in southern and west Africa, through intensive trainings,” Prasanna explained. “We created a digital MLN surveillance tool under the Open Data Kit (ODK) app for NPPOs and other stakeholders to effectively carry out MLN surveillance on the ground. The survey information is captured in real time in farmers’ and seed production fields coupled with rapid immunostrips MLN tests,” he remarked.
According to Francis Mwatuni, Project Manager of the MLN Diagnostics and Management project, this proactive and collaborative surveillance network has been an important outcome that helped curb MLN from spreading to non-endemic regions. “In 2016, we only had 625 surveillance points. By 2019, the surveillance points in all the target countries stood at 2,442, which intensified the alertness on MLN presence and how to effectively deal with it,” Mwatuni said. In total, 7,800 surveillance points were covered during the project implementation period.
Over 100 commercial seed firms have also been trained on how to produce MLN-free seed to facilitate trade within the endemic nations and to ensure the disease is not transferred to the non-endemic countries via contaminated seeds.
Participants at the MLN projects closure workshop stand for a group photo. (Photo: Joshua Masinde/CIMMYT)
Sustaining the fight
Researchers continue to work to lessen MLN’s resurgence or new outbreaks. In 2018, incidents in all endemic countries, except Ethiopia, declined sharply. One suggested explanation for the upsurge in Ethiopia, especially in the northwestern region, was reduced use of pesticide for fall armyworm control, as compared to previous years where heavy application of these pesticides also wiped out MLN insect vectors, such as maize thrips and aphids.
At the end of the projects, partners urged for the scale-up of second-generation MLN-tolerant and -resistant varieties. They explained farmers would fully benefit from recent genetic gains of the new improved varieties and its protection against MLN.
“Despite the success registered, MLN is still a major disease requiring constant attention. We cannot rest as we redirect our energies at sustaining and building on the gains made,” said Beatrice Pallangyo, principal agricultural officer in Tanzania’s Ministry of Agriculture, Food Security and Cooperatives.
After the success containing MLN, stakeholders suggested the need to stay alert on other transboundary pests and diseases such as the tar spot complex, which could be a major threat to Africa’s food security in case of an outbreak.
Ever wondered why farmers prefer a certain maize variety over another? What crop traits different farmers value? How they make their seed selections at the market? Pieter Rutsaert, an expert in markets and value chains with the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT), analyzes the important factors that African farmers consider when purchasing maize varieties at agro-dealers and the implications for how the seed industry can better meet farmers’ needs.
Maize is the most important cereal crop in Africa, grown on over 29 million hectares of rainfed farmland and consumed daily by around 50% of the population. However, increasingly erratic weather patterns threaten the performance the maize varieties grown, putting household food security at risk.
“African smallholders typically plant maize seeds they are familiar with, but these varieties often lack the attributes to tolerate harsher weather including droughts, extreme heat or disease stress,” Rutsaert explains.
“Despite the existence of maize varieties bred to stand up to harsher weather, their intrinsic attributes alone are not enough to convince farmers to leave their preferred varieties. These stress-tolerant varieties need to be properly marketed to be competitive and increase their market share.”
With previous experience as a marketing consultant in the food industry, Rutsaert brings unique skills and approaches to CIMMYT’s Stress Tolerant Maize for Africa (STMA) project, to help businesses develop new seed distribution and marketing strategies to get climate-resilient varieties into farmers’ fields.
Pieter Rutsaert (right) discusses a research study questionnaire with consultant enumerator Victor Kitoto. (Photo: Jerome Bossuet/CIMMYT)
Market intelligence on climate-smart seed
Rutsaert sees local agro-dealers as a strategic entry point for researchers to gather information on the varying farmer interests and conditions as information about seed demand is revealed at the point of purchase.
Despite large investments to support seed systems in sub-Saharan Africa, including investments to upgrade agro-dealer capacity, there is limited evidence into how women and men take decisions on maize seed purchases to support development initiatives.
“The agro-dealer space is where farmers decide what inputs to buy. In addition to providing farmers access to inputs at competitive prices, front-line agro-dealers offer technical assistance, such as advice on input use and production practices, and short-term credit for input purchases.”
Thus, agro-dealers offer the chance to learn about farmers’ unique conditions and ensure they adopt the right variety. Gathering these insights has the potential to support locally owned small and medium enterprises that produce stress-tolerant varieties, suited for local conditions, says the marketing expert.
An agent from a seed company (right) promotes sales at an agro-dealer shop. (Photo: Pieter Rutsaert/CIMMYT)
Marketing strategies for agro-dealers
Compared to multinational seed companies, local seed businesses are expected to show greater willingness to seek out traditionally underserved segments of the seed market, such as poorer farmers or those located in less-favored production regions. However, local seed producers and retailers generally lack marketing capabilities and have a limited understanding of the costs and benefits of different approaches to market their seed, Rutsaert says.
“Without effective marketing strategies responding to the needs of different clients, farmers will stick to the seeds that they know, even when this might not be the best for their situation,” he continues.
Based on the market information gathered, Rutsaert works with agro-dealers to develop retail strategies, such as targeted marketing materials, provision of in-store seed decision support, and price incentives, to help women and men farmers get the inputs that work best.
Rutsaert says he is committed to use his private sector experience to improve CIMMYT’s understanding of the seed sector and build the capacity of local agro-dealers to distribute climate-resilient maize varieties throughout the African region.
The Stress Tolerant Maize for Africa (STMA) project seeks to develop maize cultivars with tolerance and resistance to multiple stresses for farmers, and support local seed companies to produce seed of these cultivars on a large scale. STMA aims to develop a new generation of over 70 improved stress tolerant maize varieties, and facilitate the production and use of over 54,000 metric tons of certified seed. The STMA project is funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and USAID.
In an historical first, during the 2018-19 season Nepal’s National Maize Research Program (NMRP) coordinated the production of 4 tons of seed of a leading maize hybrid, as part of national efforts to boost maize production and meet rising demand for the crop.
NMRP oversaw production of Rampur Hybrid-10 seed, in collaboration with the Heat Tolerant Maize for Asia (HTMA) project funded by the USAID Feed the Future Initiative and led by the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT), the Nepal Seed and Fertilizer (NSAF) project, and local seed companies and farmer cooperatives.
“Producing hybrid maize seed and getting quality seed to farmers at a reasonable price involves multiple stakeholders,” said P.H. Zaidi, CIMMYT maize physiologist and HTMA leader. “NMRP is pursuing a public-private partnership model to have key value chain components in place for this. The success this year may encourage other companies to switch from producing seed of open-pollinated maize varieties to that of hybrids, which are higher yielding.”
Lumbini Seed Company alone harvested 2.5 tons of hybrid seed from one hectare of land, helping to debunk the common myth that production of maize hybrid seed was impossible in Nepal, according to Zaidi.
“Lumbini did good groundwork to identify a suitable season and site for seed production, helping them to achieve a good hybrid seed harvest in their first-ever attempt,” said Zaidi. “The NMRP and other seed companies contributed valuable knowledge and advice to improve and scale up hybrid maize seed production.”
Maize is a critical food, feed and fodder crop in Nepal, providing nearly 20% of people’s food energy and accounting for around 33% of all cereal production in the high hills regions, 39% in the mid-hills region, and 9% in the Terai. Over two-thirds of hill-region maize is eaten directly as food on farm homesteads, whereas 80% of maize in the Terai and neighboring regions is used as feed.
Demand for feed maize is skyrocketing, as consumers switch from starch-based foods to animal protein and dairy products. Current national maize production satisfies less than a third of feed industry demand, requiring maize grain imports that reached 4.8 million tons in 2017-18.
Against this backdrop, many smallholder farmers still grow local or open-pollinated maize varieties, which are usually low yielding.
Scientists from CIMMYT and Nepal’s National Maize Research Program (NMRP) talk to Lumbini Seeds staff at their hybrid seed production plot in Bairawah, Nepal. (Photo: Lumbini Seeds)
Based in Rampur, Chitwan, and established in 1972, the NMRP has developed and released 29 open-pollinated and 5 hybrid maize varieties, including Rampur Hybrid-10, with technical support from CIMMYT. Multinational companies have registered 54 other maize hybrids for marketing in Nepal. To date, nearly all hybrid seed is imported.
Other partners in efforts to produce hybrid seed in Nepal include the farmer cooperatives Namuna Sahakari and Jhapa, as well as the companies SEAN Seed in Kathmandu and Unique Seed Company in Dhangadi. NMRP is also developing and registering new high-yielding hybrids. Some nucleus and breeders seed is being produced by the Agricultural Research Station (ARS) and Regional Agricultural Research Station (RARS) of the Nepal Agricultural Research Council (NARC).
The NMRP and participating seed companies expect to meet half of Nepal’s hybrid maize seed requirements through such domestic seed production within five years, with the objective to achieve complete seed self-sufficiency later on.
District agricultural officers listen to feedback from a maize farmer who grows MHM4070 in drought conditions. (Photo: UAS-R)
Small-scale maize farmers beset by erratic rainfall in the state of Karnataka, India, who adopted a new, drought- and heat-tolerant maize hybrid are harvesting nearly 1 ton more of grain per hectare than neighboring farmers who sow other maize varieties.
The climate-resilient hybrid RCRMH2 was developed in 2015 by the University of Agriculture Sciences, Raichur (UAS-R), Karnataka, as part of the Heat Tolerant Maize for Asia (HTMA) project. It was marketed in 2018 under the commercial name MRM4070 by Maharashtra Hybrid Seeds Company (Mahyco) in hot and dry areas of Karnataka, where crops are watered exclusively by rainfall.
“This hybrid is made for our stress-prone areas, as it gives guaranteed yields in a bad year and is inferior to none under good rainfall conditions,” said Hanumanthappa, a farmer and adopter of the variety in Gadag District. “In bad years, it can not only feed my family but also my cattle,” he added, referring to the hybrid’s “stay-green” trait, which allows use of the leaves and stems as green fodder for livestock, after harvesting the cobs.
A pack of MRM4070 seed marketed by Mahyco.
Droughts and high temperatures are a recurring problem in Karnataka, but suitable maize varieties to protect yields and income loss in the state’s risk-prone agroecologies had been lacking.
Mahyco marketed some 60 tons of hybrid seed of MRM4070 in Karnataka in 2018 and, encouraged by the overwhelming response from farmers, increased the seed offering to 140 tons — enough to sow about 7,000 hectares.
A 2018-19 farmer survey in the contrasting Gadag District — with poor rainfall — and Dharwad District — good rainfall — found that farmers in Gadag who grew MRM4070 harvested 0.96 tons more grain and earned $190 additional income per hectare than neighbors who did not adopt the hybrid. In Dharwad under optimal rainfall, MRM4070 performed on a par with other commercial hybrids.
In addition to providing superior yields under stress, MRM4070 had larger kernels than other hybrids under drought conditions, bringing a better price for farmers who sell their grain.
Agriculture officers and scientists from the University of Agricultural Sciences observe the performance of MRM4070 in drought-stressed field in Gadag district of Karnataka, India. (Photo: UAS-R)
Led by the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT), in collaboration with national maize programs, agriculture universities, and seed companies, and with funding from the United State Agency for International Development (USAID) Feed the Future Initiative, HTMA was launched in 2012 to develop stress-resilient maize hybrids for the variable weather conditions and heat and drought extremes of Bangladesh, India, Nepal and Pakistan.
Dagne Wegary works as maize breeder, mainly focusing on the development and deployment of high yielding, and abiotic and abiotic stress-tolerant maize varieties for resource-poor farmers in eastern and southern Africa. He is coordinating multi-location on-station regional variety trials that are conducted in collaboration with NARS and seed companies in eastern and southern Africa.
Before moving to Zimbabwe in 2019, Wegary worked as CIMMYT’s maize seed systems specialist based in Ethiopia. During this period, he contributed to the release of several maize varieties, production and distribution of early generation seeds of selected varieties, which boosted maize production and productivity in the country. He is also actively involved in technical capacity building of NARS and seed company partners.
