Technical assistant Tigist Masresra examines breeding trials at the Ambo Research Center in Ethiopia. (Photo: Peter Lowe/CIMMYT)
After declining for nearly a decade to around 770 million, in the last three years the number of hungry people has shot up to more than 850 million. At the same time, erratic weather and crop pests and diseases are ruining harvests, intensifying farmersâ risks, and threatening local and global food security.
In an article for Rural 21, I describe how plant breeding has changed over the last four decades and which methods the international research community is developing to master present and future challenges.
Many maize farmers in sub-Saharan Africa grow old varieties that do not cope well under drought conditions. In the Oromia region of Ethiopia, farmer Sequare Regassa is improving her familyâs life by growing the newer drought-tolerant maize variety BH661. This hybrid was developed by the Ethiopian Institute of Agricultural Research (EIAR), using CIMMYT’s drought-tolerant inbred lines and one of EIAR’s lines. It was then officially released in 2011 by the EIAR as part of the Drought Tolerant Maize for Africa (DTMA) project, funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and continued under the Stress Tolerant Maize for Africa (STMA) initiative.
âGetting a good maize harvest every year, even when it does not rain much, is important for my familyâs welfare,â said Regassa, a widow and mother of four, while feeding her granddaughter with white injera, a flat spongy bread made of white grain maize.
Since her husband died, Regassa has been the only breadwinner. Her children have grown up and established their own families, but the whole extended family makes a living from their eight-hectare farm in Guba Sayo district.
Sequare Regassa (wearing green) and her family stand for a group photo at their farm. (Photo: Simret Yasabu/CIMMYT)
On the two hectares Regassa cultivates on her own, she rotates maize with pepper, sweet potato and anchote, a local tuber similar to cassava. Like many farming families in the region, she grows maize mainly for household food consumption, prepared as bread, soup, porridge and snacks.
Maize represents a third of cereals grown in Ethiopia. It is cheaper than wheat or teff â a traditional millet grain â and in poor households it can be mixed with teff to make the national staple, injera.
In April, as Regassa was preparing the land for the next cropping season, she wondered if rains would be good this year, as the rainy season was coming later than usual.
In this situation, choice of maize variety is crucial.
She used to plant a late-maturing hybrid released more than 25 years ago, BH660, the most popular variety in the early 2000s. However, this variety was not selected for drought tolerance. Ethiopian farmers face increasing drought risks which severely impact crop production, like the 2015 El Nino dry spell, leading to food insecurity and grain price volatility.
Under the DTMA project, maize breeders from CIMMYT and the Ethiopian Institute for Agricultural Research (EIAR) developed promising drought-tolerant hybrids which perform well under drought and normal conditions. After a series of evaluations, BH661 emerged as the best candidate with 10% better on-farm grain yield, higher biomass production, shorter maturity and 34% reduction in lodging, compared to BH660.
The resulting BH661 variety was released in 2011 for commercial cultivation in the mid-altitude sub-humid and transition highlands.
The year after, as farmers experienced drought, the Ethiopian extension service organized BH661 on-farm demonstrations, while breeders from CIMMYT and EIAR organized participatory varietal selection trials. Farmers were impressed by the outstanding performances of BH661 during these demos and trials and asked for seeds right away.
Seed companies had to quickly scale up certified seed production of BH661. The STMA project team assisted local seed companies in this process, through trainings and varietal trials. Companies decided to replace the old hybrid, BH660.
Comparison of the amount of certified seed production of BH660 (blue) and BH661 (red) from 2012 to 2018. (Source: Ertiro B.T. et al. 2019)
âIn addition to drought tolerance, BH661 is more resistant to important maize diseases like Turcicum leaf blight and grey leaf spot,â explained Dagne Wegary, a maize breeder at CIMMYT. âFor seed companies, there is no change in the way the hybrid is produced compared to BH660, but seed production of BH661 is much more cost-effective.â
EIARâs Bako National Maize Research Center supplied breeder seeds to several certified seed producers: Amhara Seed Enterprise (ASE), Bako Agricultural Research Center (BARC), Ethiopian Seed Enterprise (ESE), Oromia Seed Enterprise (OSE) and South Seed Enterprise (SSE). Certified seeds were then distributed through seed companies, agricultural offices and non-governmental organizations, with the technical and extension support of research centers.
Sequare Regassa stands next to her fields holding a wooden farming tool. (Photo: Simret Yasabu/CIMMYT)
From drought risk to clean water
After witnessing the performance of BH661 in a neighborâs field, Regassa asked advice from her local extension officer and decided to use it. She is now able to produce between 11-12 tons per hectare. She said her family life has changed forever since she started planting BH661.
With higher maize grain harvest, she is now able to better feed her chickens, sheep and cattle. She also sells some surplus at the local market and uses the income for her familyâs needs.
Sequare Regassa feeds her granddaughter with maize injera. (Photo: Simret Yasabu/CIMMYT)
âIf farmers follow the recommended fertilizer application and other farming practices, BH661 performs much better than the old BH660 variety,â explained Regassa. âIf we experience a drought, it may be not that bad thanks to BH661âs drought tolerance.â
Regassa buys her improved seeds from the Bako Research Station, as well as from farmersâ cooperative unions. These cooperatives access seeds from seed companies and sell to farmers in their respective districts. âMany around me are interested in growing BH661. Sometimes we may get less seeds than requested as the demand exceeds the supply,â Regassa said.
She observed that maize prices have increased in recent years. A 100 kg bag of maize that used to sell for 200â400 Ethiopian birr (about $7â14) now sells for 600â700 Ethiopian birr (about $20â23). With the increased farmersâ wealth in her village, families were able to pay collectively for the installation of a communal water point to get easy access to clean water.
âLike womenâs role in society, no one can forget the role maize has in our community. It feeds us, it feeds our animals, and cobs are used as fuel. A successful maize harvest every year is a boon for our village,â Regassa concluded.
In a blog post and video released today, Bill Gates talks about the essential role the CGIAR system plays in feeding the world. He highlights the work the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT) is doing to develop and spread the use of drought-tolerant maize varieties. “One of the leading CGIAR research centers is CIMMYT, the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center. They are working on improvements to maize that are more productive, that are resistant to drought and diseases. It’s a leading example of the amazing work the CGIAR system does to help smallholder farmers,” Gates says.
In 2018, Bill Gates launched a campaign about climate change, because he worried not enough people understood the dimensions of the problem. In a previous blog post, he reminded readers that not only the energy sector is concerned, but also âthe other 75%â â in particular agriculture and food systems. We need innovations to reduce our carbon footprint, Gates explained, but also to help the most vulnerable to cope with the effects of growing climate risks.
Rainfed smallholder farming families in sub-Saharan Africa are particularly at risk, as their livelihoods depend on unpredictable rainfall patterns. By the 2030s drought and rising temperatures could render 40% of the continentâs maize-growing area unsuitable for current varieties.
Drought-tolerant maize varieties could improve the climate resilience and the livelihoods of millions family farmers across Africa. The innovations offered by these varieties are affordable and scalable.
Behind the scenes
The video crew films and interview in a seed storage room. (Photo: Jerome Bossuet/CIMMYT)
A team from Gates Notes came to drought-prone Machakos county in Kenya to visit farmers who are growing drought-tolerant hybrid maize. This variety, developed by the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT) and sold in the county by Dryland Seeds Limited under the SAWA brand, can yield up to 20% more than other drought-tolerant hybrids, explained the companyâs managing director, Ngila Kimotho.
Despite limited rainfall in the village of Vyulya, Veronica Nduku harvested well-filled maize cobs. Her neighbour, who grows a local variety, had a less successful harvest.
CIMMYT developed these varieties under the Drought Tolerant Maize for Africa (DTMA) initiative, a ten-year project which finished in 2015. This work is continuing under the Stress Tolerant Maize for Africa (STMA) initiative, which is developing maize varieties that cope well with drought and other climate stresses. So far 3.5 million farmers in 13 African countries are benefitting from stress-tolerant maize varieties.
The video crew sets up the interview with Veronica Nduku. (Photo: Jerome Bossuet/CIMMYT)
Expert Mexican scientists and farmer cooperatives have formed a non-profit organization to support small-scale landrace maize farmers who continue to conserve and plant seeds of their own native heirloom varieties. The civil association, known as ProMaĂz Nativo, intends to work collaboratively on projects to improve the lives of native maize and milpa farm families. Group members include national and internationally recognized maize experts, ethnobotanists, socioeconomists, food and nutrition scientists, marketing experts, maize farmers and farmer groups.
The civil association has also created a collective trademark, Milpaiz, which can be used by farmers to demonstrate the authenticity of the native maize varieties they grow and sell. This trademark will certify that a farmerâs maize is native to their community and derived from their continuous selection of seed. It will also certify that it is grown by small farmers and that they are selling only the surplus of their crops after feeding their own family. The trademark will also make a transparent effort to connect these farmers to a culinary market which values the quality, rarity and history of their production.
âMexico is the center of origin of maize, and home to much of its genetic diversity. This initiative will allow us to certify that products are truly landrace maize from smallholder farmers, so that the benefits reach the smallholder farmers that have provided us with this biodiversity,â said Flavio AragĂłn, a genetic resources researcher with Mexico’s National Institute for Forestry, Agriculture and Livestock Research (INIFAP).
Members of the association gather for a photo at the launch event. (Photo: ProMaĂz Nativo)
Researchers like Aragon, members of farmer groups and local chefs attended the official launch of ProMaĂz Nativo on June 14, 2019, at the World Trade Center in Mexico City, during restaurant trade fair ExpoRestaurantes.
Edelmira Linares, ethnobotanist at the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM) and member of the association, emphasized that the collective trademark Milpaiz covers all crops grown in the traditional milpa intercrop farming system in Mexico: maize, beans, squash, edible greens, amaranth, pumpkin seeds, and certain vegetables.
âThe trademark will make it easier for income to reach the farmers, will allow smallholder farmers to sell their products in supermarkets and to have a legal presence,â said Amanda Galvez, a food chemist at UNAM and president of ProMaĂz Nativo.
Traditional milpa products: native maize, beans, squash, chilies and other local fruits and vegetables. (Photo: Martha Willcox/CIMMYT)
Fair and sustainable market growth
Many smallholder farmers continue to plant the same native maize varieties that their parents and grandparents planted, developed in their villages and regions and improved by farmer selection dating back to their ancestors. These varieties are prized by their local communities for their unique flavors, colors, texture and use in special dishes â and the global culinary community is catching on. Native maize, or landraces, have become extremely popular with chefs and consumers in the past few years, drawing attention and imports from across the world. However, increased demand can mean increased vulnerability for farmers.
Many maize experts in Mexico were concerned with how to best support and protect smallholder farmers navigating this increase in demand. Without guidelines and transparency, it is difficult to ensure that farmers are being fairly compensated for their traditional maize, or that they are able to save enough to feed their own families.
In a discerning culinary market, a symbol of certification such as the collective trademark could serve to differentiate the families who have long been the guardians of these native varieties from larger commercial farmers who acquire these heirloom seeds. But there was no pre-existing space for these guidelines to be determined and developed.
âThere is a depth of expertise on maize in Mexico, but these experts all work at different institutions, making it more difficult for all of them to collaborate on a project like this,â said Martha Willcox, landrace improvement coordinator at the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT).
âThe formation of this civil association is truly novel in the history of native maize in Mexico, and its strength comes from the expertise of its members, made up entirely of Mexican scientists and Mexican farmer co-ops,â Willcox explained.
She initiated and facilitated the formation of this group of scientists and continues to work closely with them as an advisor. âThis association will help provide a space and network where these experts can work together and speak in one voice to support maize and maize farmers.â
CIMMYT does not have a seat in the association but has played a key role in its facilitation and has provided funding to cover logistics and fees related to the formation of the organization, through the CGIAR Research Program on Maize (MAIZE). Mexicoâs National Commission for the Knowledge and Use of Biodiversity (CONABIO) has also participated in the logistics and facilitation of the formation of the organization.
Members of the association pose with CIMMYT staff that helped facilitate the creation of the group. (Photo: ProMaĂz Nativo)
The International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT) operates five agricultural experiment stations in Mexico. Strategically located across the country to take advantage of different growing conditions â spanning arid northern plains to sub-tropical and temperate climatic zones â the stations offer unique and well-managed testing conditions for a variety of biotic and abiotic stresses.
Heat and drought tolerance in wheat is the focus of study at Ciudad ObregĂłn, while the humid, cool conditions at Toluca are ideal for studying wheat resistance to foliar diseases. The tropical and sub-tropical settings of Agua FrĂa and TlaltizapĂĄn respectively are suited to maize field trials, while at El BatĂĄn researchers carry out a wide variety of maize and wheat trials.
A new video highlights the important and valuable contribution of the five experimental stations in Mexico to CIMMYTâs goal of developing maize and wheat that can cope with demanding environments around the world, helping smallholder farmers in Africa, Asia and Latin America adapt to challenges like climate change, emerging pests and disease, and malnutrition.
Featuring aerial cinematography and interviews with each stationâs manager, the video takes viewers on a journey to each experimental station to highlight the research and management practices specific to each location.
In addition to their role in breeding maize and wheat varieties, CIMMYTâs experimental stations host educational events throughout the year that train the next generation of farmers, policymakers and crop scientists. They also provide the canvas on which CIMMYT scientists develop and test farming practices and technologies to help farmers grow more with less.
Some of the stations also hold historical significance. Ciudad ObregĂłn and Toluca are two of the sites where Norman Borlaug set up his shuttle breeding program that provided the foundations of the Green Revolution. It was also in Toluca, while at a trial plot alongside six young scientists from four developing nations, where Borlaug first received news of his 1970 Nobel Peace Prize award.
L.M. Suresh leads CIMMYT’s maize pathology efforts in sub-Saharan Africa. He regularly contributes to Global Maize Program projects that have strategic significance in maize pathology, disease diagnosis, epidemiology and disease resistance.
Suresh also works on maize lethal necrosis (MLN) phenotyping with public and private partnership at CIMMYT and the Kenya Agricultural and Livestock Research Organization’s (KALRO) joint research station in Naivasha, Kenya. His team has phenotyped around 200,000 maize germplasm from various partners and 19 MLN resistant/tolerant hybrids have been released in east Africa so far. He has supported the training of more than 5000 researchers, students, extension workers, private seed company executives and farmers in rapid disease diagnosis and his contributions have helped to prevent further MLN spread throughout eastern and southern Africa.
Nominations are now open for the 2019 MAIZE Youth Innovators Awards â Latin America!
These awards are part of the efforts that the CGIAR Research Program on Maize (MAIZE) is undertaking to promote youth participation in maize agri-food systems. These awards recognize the contributions of young women and men under 35 who are implementing innovations in Latin American maize-based agri-food systems, including research for development, seed systems, agribusiness, and sustainable intensification.
Latin America is the birthplace of maize and home to much of its genetic diversity. Maize is a main staple food across the continent and plays an important role in local culture and gastronomy. However, maize faces many challenges, from climate change-related stresses such as drought and heat to emerging pests and diseases. These challenges cannot be solved without the participation of young people at all levels of the maize value chain, from farmers to researchers and change agents. Over one-fourth of Latin Americaâs total population is between the ages of 15 and 29 â approximately 156 million people, the largest proportion of young people ever in the regionâs history. By encouraging and empowering young people to develop innovative solutions to these challenges we can strengthen maize agri-food systems and improve food security in Latin America and across the world.
The MAIZE Youth Innovators Awards aim to identify young innovators who can serve to inspire other young people to get involved in maize-based agri-food systems. Part of the vision is to create a global network of young innovators in maize-based systems from around the world.
Award recipients will be invited to attend the 23rd Latin American Maize Reunion (XXIII ReuniĂłn Latinoamericana del MaĂz) in Monteria, Colombia October 7-10 where they will receive their awards and be given the opportunity to present their work. The project meeting and award ceremony will also allow these young innovators to network and exchange experiences with MAIZE researchers and partners. Award recipients may also get the opportunity to collaborate with MAIZE and its partner scientists in Latin America on implementing or furthering their innovations.
MAIZE invites young innovators to apply and CGIAR researchers and partners to nominate eligible applicants for any of the following three categories:
Researcher: Maize research for development (in any discipline)
Farmer: Maize farming systems in Latin America
Change agent: Maize value chains (i.e., extension agents, input and service suppliers, transformation agents).
We ask nominators/applicants to take into account the following criteria and related questions:
Novelty and Innovative Spirit: To which specific novel findings or innovation(s) has this young person contributed? (in any of the three categories mentioned above)
Present/Potential Impact: What is the present/potential benefit or impact of the innovation(s) in maize-based agri-food systems?
To apply:
Applications should be submitted online, through the Application Form by July 22, 2019.
Key dates:
Opening date for nominations: June 19, 2019
Closing date for nominations: July 22, 2019
Notification of winners: August 6, 2019
NOTE:Â Nominations received after the closing date will not be considered.
Additional information:
A PDF version of this Call for Nominees is available here.
Nomination/Application Guidelines can be found here.
The Application Form can be found here and is also available on the MAIZE and YPARD websites.
This award is sponsored by the CGIAR Research Program on Maize (MAIZE) in collaboration with YPARD (Young Professionals for Agricultural Development).
Manje Gowda is a maize molecular breeder based in Kenya with CIMMYTâs Global Maize Program. His current research focuses on the identification, validation and deployment of novel genetic variation into elite germplasm, integrating knowledge on plant breeding, quantitative genetics, and molecular breeding to improve maize breeding efficiency.
In close collaboration with CIMMYT maize breeders, he implements forward breeding and genomic selection in CIMMYTâs Eastern and Southern Africa maize breeding programs. He gives maize breeders access to the newest genotyping technologies and is involved in the development of high quality seeds through rigorous application of marker based QA&QC.
In 2018, CIMMYT continued to innovate and forge strategic alliances to combat malnutrition, tackle the effects of climate change and respond to emerging threats.
Building on the release of a new wheat genome reference map, our researchers more precisely tagged genes for valuable traits, including disease resistance, heat tolerance, and grain quality, in more than 40,000 CIMMYT wheat lines.
In collaboration with our partners, CIMMYT released 81 maize and 48 wheat varieties. More than 40,000 farmers, scientists and technical workers across the world took part in over 1,500 training and capacity development activities. CIMMYT researchers published 338 journal articles.
As the maize-hungry fall armyworm spreads from Africa to Southeast Asia, CIMMYT joined with more than 40 partners in an international consortium to advance research against the devastating insect pest.
CIMMYT used a scaling approach to extend the benefits of crop research to more farmers and consumers in developing countries in transformative and lasting ways. Smallholder farmers in Mexico, Pakistan and Zimbabwe are benefitting from the use of appropriate machinery and implements for efficient and climate-smart agriculture. A manual developed with the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations offers technical and business advice for local entrepreneurs offering mechanized services, such as sowing or threshing, to smallholder farmers.
As part of taste tests in Ethiopia, Kenya, and Tanzania, consumers indicated their willingness to pay a premium for quality protein maize (QPM), which contains enhanced levels of the amino acids needed to synthesize protein.
A CIMMYT-led study on gender has explored the lives and viewpoints of 7,500 men and women from farming communities in 26 countries, providing invaluable information that will lead to better productivity and food security.
2018 showed us that the passion and values of staff and partners help CIMMYT to have major impact on the livelihoods of smallholders and the poor. This Annual Report pays tribute to them.
A farm worker carrying her baby on her back weeds maize in Tanzania. (Photo: Peter Lowe/CIMMYT)
A new study shows that youth can face higher land rental prices than older farmers in Tanzania and other parts of sub-Saharan Africa.
âThe rising importance of land rental markets reflects increasing rural population densities in many parts of the continent,â said Jordan Chamberlin, an agricultural economist with the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT) and study co-author.
âEvidence that the effective costs of rental market participation are relatively higher for younger farmers suggests that the markets are not yet mature,â Chamberlin explained. âThis appears to stem partly from weak contract enforcement norms that make land rental arrangements more sensitive to trust and reputation. That puts younger farmers, who have not yet built up such social capital stocks, at a disadvantage.â
Young people today are already inheriting less land than previous generations and waiting longer to obtain the land they do inherit, according to the authors, who observe as one result a rising dependence on labor markets.
âWage incomeâs importance will continue to rise in rural areas of sub-Saharan Africa, but policymakers should also foster equitable access to land for young agricultural entrepreneurs,â said Chamberlin.
The authors recommend measures such as tenant-landlord âmatchmakingâ programs, arrangements that encourage land sales by older farmers to younger farmers, and clarifying and simplifying regulations and procedures for title conversions and land purchases.
âLocal governments may also share information about land rental rates for different areas, to provide a reference for rental negotiations,â added Chamberlain.
Francelino Rodrigues prepares an UAV for radiometric calibration for multispectral flight over a maize tar spot complex screening trial at CIMMYTâs Agua FrĂa experimental station, Mexico. (Photo: Alexander Loladze/CIMMYT)
A new study from researchers at the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT) shows that remote sensing can speed up and improve the effectiveness of disease assessment in experimental maize plots, a process known as phenotyping.
The study constitutes the first time that unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs, commonly known as drones) with cameras that capture non-visible electromagnetic radiation were used to assess tar spot complex on maize.
The interdisciplinary team found among other things that potential yield losses under heavy tar spot complex infections could reach 58% â more than 10% greater than reported in previous studies.
Caused by the interaction of two fungal pathogens that thrive in warm, humid conditions, tar spot complex is diagnosed by the telltale black spots that cover infected plants. (Photo: Alexander Loladze/CIMMYT)
âPlant disease resistance assessment in the field is becoming difficult because breedersâ trials are larger, are conducted at multiple locations, and there is a lack of personnel trained to evaluate diseases,â said Francelino Rodrigues, CIMMYT precision agriculture specialist and co-lead author of the study. âIn addition, disease scoring based on visual assessments can vary from person to person.â
A major foliar disease that affects maize throughout Latin America, tar spot complex results from the interaction of two species of fungus that thrive in warm, humid conditions. The disease causes telltale black spots on infected plants, killing leaves, weakening the plant, and impairing ear development.
Phenotyping has traditionally involved breeders walking through crop plots and visually assessing each plant, a labor-intensive and time-consuming process. As remote sensing technologies become more accessible and affordable, scientists are applying them more often to assess experimental plants for desired agronomic or physical traits, according to Rodrigues, who said they can facilitate accurate, high-throughput phenotyping for resistance to foliar diseases in maize and help reduce the cost and time of developing improved maize germplasm.
âTo phenotype maize for resistance to foliar diseases, highly trained personnel must spend hours in the field to complete visual crop evaluations, which requires substantial time and resources and may result in biased or inaccurate results between surveyors,â said Rodrigues. âThe use of UAVs to gather multispectral and thermal images allows researchers to cut down the time and expenses of evaluations, and perhaps in the future it could also improve accuracy.â
Color-infrared image of maize hybrids in the experimental trials under fungicide treatment (A1) and non-fungicide treatment (A2) of tar spot complex of maize. Image data were extracted from two polygons from the two central rows in each plot (B).
Technology sheds new light on phenotyping
Receptors in the human eye detect a limited range of wavelengths in the electromagnetic spectrum â the area we call visible light â consisting of three bands that our eyes perceive as red, green and blue. The colors we see are the combination of the three bands of visible light that an object reflects.
Remote sensing takes advantage of how the surface of a leaf differentially absorbs, transmits and reflects light or other electromagnetic radiation, depending on its composition and condition. The reflectance of diseased plant tissue is different from that of healthy ones, provided the plants are not stressed by other factors, such as heat, drought or nutrient deficiencies.
In this study, researchers planted 25 tropical and subtropical maize hybrids of known agronomic performance and resistance to tar spot complex at CIMMYTâs experimental station in Agua FrĂa, central Mexico. They then carried out disease assessments by eye and gathered multispectral and thermal imagery of the plots.
This allowed them to compare remote sensing with traditional phenotyping methods. Calculations revealed a strong relationship between grain yield, canopy temperature, vegetation indices and the visual assessment.
Future applications
“The results of the study suggest that remote sensing could be used as an alternative method for assessment of disease resistance in large-scale maize trials,â said Rodrigues. âIt could also be used to calculate potential losses due to tar spot complex.â
Accelerated breeding for agriculturally relevant crop traits is fundamental to the development of improved varieties that can face mounting global agricultural threats. It is likely that remote sensing technologies will have a critical role to play in overcoming these challenges.
âAn important future area of research encompasses pre-symptomatic detection of diseases in maize,â explained Rodrigues. âIf successful, such early detection would allow appropriate disease management interventions before the development of severe epidemics. Nevertheless, we still have a lot of work to do to fully integrate remote sensing into the breeding process and to transfer the technology into farmersâ fields.â
Funding for this research was provided by the CGIAR Research Program on Maize (MAIZE). Â
On May 15, 2019, as part of the CGIAR System Council meeting held at the ILRI campus in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, around 200 Ethiopian and international research and development stakeholders convened for the CGIAR Agriculture Research for Development Knowledge Share Fair. This exhibition offered a rare opportunity to bring the country’s major development investors together to learn and exchange about how CGIAR investments in Ethiopia help farmers and food systems be more productive, sustainable, climate resilient, nutritious, and inclusive.
Under the title One CGIAR â greater than the sum of its parts â the event offered the opportunity to highlight close partnerships between CGIAR centers, the Ethiopian government and key partners including private companies, civil society organizations and funding partners. The fair was organized around the five global challenges from CGIAR’s business plan: planetary boundaries, sustaining food availability, promoting equality of opportunity, securing public health, and creating jobs and growth. CGIAR and its partners exhibited collaborative work documenting the successes and lessons in working through an integrated approach.
There were 36 displays in total, 5 of which were presented by CIMMYT team members. Below are the five posters presented.
How can the data revolution help deliver better agronomy to African smallholder farmers?
This sustainability display showed scalable approaches and tools to generate site-specific agronomic advice, developed through the Taking Maize Agronomy to Scale in Africa (TAMASA) project in Nigeria, Tanzania and Ethiopia.
Maize and wheat: Strategic crops to fill Ethiopiaâs food basket
This poster describes how CGIAR works with Ethiopiaâs research & development sector to support national food security priorities.
Addressing gender norms in Ethiopiaâs wheat sector
Research shows that restrictive gender norms prevent womenâs ability to innovate and become productive. This significantly impacts Ethiopiaâs economy (over 1% GDP) and family welfare and food security.
Quality Protein Maize (QPM) for better nutrition in Ethiopia
With the financial support of the government of Canada, CIMMYT together with national partners tested and validated Quality Protein Maize as an alternative to protein intake among poor consumers.
Appropriate small-scale mechanization
The introduction of small-scale mechanization into the Ethiopian agriculture sector has the potential to create thousands of jobs in machinery service provision along the farming value chain.
About the CGIAR System Council
The CGIAR System Council is the strategic decision-making body of the CGIAR System that keeps under review the strategy, mission, impact and continued relevancy of the System as a whole. The Council meets face-to-face not less than twice per year and conducts business electronically between sessions. Additional meetings can be held if necessary.
How food is produced, consumed, and how much is lost or wasted shapes the health of both people and planet. The EAT-Lancet Commission report, released in January 2019, brought together 30 interdisciplinary scientists from across the globe to propose a dietary pattern that meets nutritional requirements and promotes health but uses less environmental resources.
The report promotes diets consisting of a variety of plant-based foods, with low amounts of animal-based foods, refined grains, highly processed foods or added sugars, and with unsaturated rather than saturated fats.
The EAT Food Forum 2019 is taking place in Stockholm June 11-14, 2019. Natalia Palacios, maize quality specialist at the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT), will participate in a panel of agricultural research experts organized by CGIAR which will explore the implications of the EAT-Lancet report in the Global South, particularly for small farmers.
Palacios and her CIMMYT colleagues Santiago Lopez Ridaura, agronomist, and Jason Donovan, socioeconomist, got together for a conversation with CIMMYT editors to analyze how EAT-Lancet recommendations adapt to smallholder farmersâ realities.
Can nutrition bring the food system together?
Santiago Lopez Ridaura: Nutrition is the perfect setting to create system approaches to food. Nutrition involves everything: production quality, the genetics of the seed, input supply, output demand, as well as the purchasing power of farmers, dietary and cooking habits. It truly requires an interdisciplinary approach to look at food systems through a nutrition lens.
Natalia Palacios: We must stop thinking about the crop and think about the diet. Interdisciplinary and inter-institutional research is key to improve nutrition and agricultural sustainability in the context of smallholder farmers in Africa, Asia and Latin America.
Lopez-Ridaura: An economic analysis, a soil fertility study, or pest and disease breeding alone does not give us a holistic view of the food system. However, nutrition gives us the opportunity to have an integrated view. Equally, sustainability and avoiding food loss relate to all parts of the food system.
Itâs a synergy of things. CIMMYT has been advocating for a systems approach to maize and wheat farming and nutrition, and sustainability fits right in with this.
Jason Donovan: Itâs time to develop that dialogue, including specialists from different fields such as nutritionists, economists, agronomists, breeders and gender specialists when we investigate and form research questions on the health benefits and sustainability of our food systems and take holistic view of how all these things come together.
Palacios: A shift in our priority research is needed. It is important to integrate resilient production with nutrition. Focus only on productivity should no longer be the driver. We might not need big changes in the technologies and interventions, but we need to make sure nutrition and consumer demands are included.
There is no silver-bullet solution. You need to take action from different points, whether it is biofortified crops, intercropping for diversified diets or access to markets.
Is the EAT-Lancet report a recipe for a planetary diet?
Palacios: The report takes a global focus and is overwhelmingly targeted at high income nations. However, if we look at its five strategies, they are actually applicable for low- and middle-income countries as well: Seek international and national commitment to shift toward healthy diets; reorient agricultural priorities from producing high quantities of food to producing healthy food; sustainably intensify food production to increase high-quality output; strong and coordinated governance of land and oceans; and halve food losses at the production side and food waste at the consumption side.
Lopez-Ridaura: Rather than a recipe, the commission proposes a âreference healthy dietâ that will need to be adapted to different regions and cultures. More importantly, the trajectories towards such diet will probably be very different, depending on the region and culture, the current dietary habits of the population, and the production systems they are based on.
In some cases, consumption of meat and sugars will need to decrease, but in other regions it might need to be increased. It all depends on the current situation.
Donovan: The report highlighted the sustainability issues around our food production. Although it was focused toward high-income countries who consume a lot of proteins. One of the big questions I had after reading it was the âhowâ question. In a lot of countries where we work â in Africa, Asia and Latin America â the consumption of meat is increasing at a rapid pace.
So, the question that struck me was how do these societies with fast rural and urban transformations, and an increasing taste for animal-based food products, fit into the context of the report? How can we promote plant-based diets in these contexts?
Adjusting their diets towards a universal healthy reference diet would be difficult as there is little room for maneuver.
Is adaptation the key to success?
Lopez-Ridaura: Yes, adaptation is needed and I think the EAT-Lancet Commission colleagues are well aware of that. The healthy reference diet needs to be seen as such, as a reference, with some basic principles regarding food quantity and quality as well as sustainable use of resources.
Each region, sub-region or even families and individuals will need to adapt their dietary habits and production systems in order to attain healthy diets and halt the degradation of the resource base.
Palacios: It is important to look at smallholder farmers in the context of diet and sustainable agriculture. We need to ask, what are they growing? How are they growing it? How are they eating it? What do they sell?
Quite often smallholder farmers are already using agricultural practices that improve their nutrition and benefit the environment. For example, look at the milpa farm system: it combines maize, beans, squash, chili, tomatoes and seasonal fruits to provide a diverse plant-based diet. The milpa system, combined with crop residue retention and other conservation agriculture techniques can improve soil fertility.
It is important that these initiatives are promoted through national and local government policy and supported by the private sector if they are to have real impact on the health of people and the planet.
Donovan: Local policies to promote healthy diets and diversification in the field are being put in place â Latin America is a good example. However, this is not at a scale where it can have real impact on the health of people and environments. There is pressure on the private sector to respond, especially considering the increasing consumption of processed foods. It is important to engage with the private sector on issues of nutrition and sustainability.
Solutions will be at multiple levels when we look at nutrition and food systems. Too often the actors in a food system act alone, for example many NGOs, universities, and government programs. There needs to be unity in action â players need to work together as creators of holistic solutions. This is currently a gap, as many nutritionists do not look at agriculture or food systems. Addressing this can have a significant impact on the health of family farmers in Africa, Asia and Latin America.
