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research: Innovations for development

Opening the door to commercial fodder production

Written by Sarah McLaughlin on . Posted in Features.

The paired challenges of population growth and climate change have put smallholder farmers in Zambia in a squeeze. In the Southern Province, the center of agricultural production for the nation, smallholder dairy farmers struggle to increase their production of fodder to commercially viable levels in the face of a long dry season that climate change is intensifying.

Smallholder farmers looking to support their families, enhance the local food supply, and sustain economic growth in their areas are at a distinct disadvantage because agriculture in Zambia is dominated by massive commercial operations with plentiful capital, large tracts of land, and expensive machinery, with most of their output marked for export.

The International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT) is partnering with the German development agency Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) and the University of Hohenheim to identify key barriers and sustainable pathways to smallholder farmer success through a mechanization working group. This work is being carried out through the global initiative One World No Hunger, which launched Green Innovation Centers for the Agriculture and Food Sector (GIC) in 15 member countries in 2014.

“Mechanization is a critical aspect of responding to these problems and the core business of the GIC is to develop knowledge,” said Chimuka Mulowa, a GIC cooperative development advisor based in Choma, Zambia. “Our efforts provide training to smallholder farmers with a focus on adaptive mechanization as a critical ingredient in a holistic approach. Projects in the past have purchased equipment, but we integrate knowledge with existing infrastructure.”

Smallholder homestead with irrigation and fencing to protect developed pasture, Namwala, Southern Province, Zambia. (Photo: Vuyo Maphango)

In Zambia, the GIC works with 22 cooperatives to reach 10,000 small-scale farmers with training sessions on fencing land to grow grass, climate smart breeding, irrigation, and more. The GIC has reached their training goal, but implementation of new practices has been more difficult, with only about half the farmers adopting what they have learned so far.

To better understand the challenges smallholder farmers face in Zambia, Mulowa and the GIC partnered with researcher Vuyo Maphango, who was completing his master’s degree in agricultural economics at the University of Hohenheim under the supervision of Lennart Woltering, a senior scientist at CIMMYT. Woltering developed a tool called Scaling Scan which analyzes barriers to growth for successful innovations in the pilot stage and brings focus to key ingredients for expansion.

Mulowa and Maphango used Scaling Scan to assess the progress of the GIC efforts in Zambia. As they expected, for smallholder farmers trying to get into commercial fodder production, financing was a challenge. At $35,000 USD for a machinery like hay balers used once per year, it can take a farmer up to a decade to recoup such an investment. But Scaling Scan also identified surprising challenges, such as a lack of collaboration and uneven dissemination of knowledge and skills.

Tractor carrying hay bales, Choma, Southern Province, Zambia. (Photo: Vuyo Maphango)

“There was a lot of progress coming out of the Scaling Scan process,” Maphango said. “Growing the cooperatives of farmers is a critical GIC focus now, and this helps with the finance issues as well. Where farmers can’t afford to buy or develop high-quality seed, they can come together, share which seeds are working best for them, and help each other adopt best practices. Staying close as a cooperative also gives farmers stronger bargaining power with the ability to pool together finances.”

More affordable equipment will also help. Smaller, less expensive choppers and chuff cutters ($1500-2000 USD) are already available for silage production, but there is not a well-established tradition of employing silage production in Zambia, and farmers there have struggled to adopt it. Similar machines are making their way onto the market for fodder production and will require farmers to develop a new set of technical skills.

Mulowa and Maphango are also rethinking approaches to training. As an incentive, non-government organizations (NGOs) often pay participants for their time when they attend training sessions, but government ministries can’t sustain this practice beyond the end of a project due to lack of funding. For a deeper level of skill and knowledge development, GIC wants to help farmers see the benefit of training as providing its own incentive–continuing professional education will pay off, both in terms of better agricultural and business practices, and better financial outcomes. The key to this transition is results. When farmers see their yield improving because of skills and practices they developed in training, they will be hungry for more.

Success, for Zambian smallholders, is a door that is opening slowly but surely. “Early adopters are making progress,” Maphango said. “Some are growing their own grass, others are fencing their land and developing irrigation.” As these practices take root, and farmers share victories with cooperative members; the value of ongoing training becomes clear, and the door may open further for others to walk through.

Cover photo: Hay bales on a commercial farm, Chisamba, Central Province, Zambia. (Photo: Vuyo Maphango)

Two-wheel tractors transform smallholder farming communities in Masvingo

Written by Tawanda Hove on . Posted in News.

Women’s representative test drives a two-wheel tractor at a seed fair, Zimbabwe. (Photo: Tawanda Hove/CIMMYT)

The two-wheel tractor has been a life changer for Ranganai Muzorori.

At a recent seed and mechanization fair in Zimbabwe, the maize farmer, who purchased the tractor on a lease-to-own basis, said he now enjoys bigger earnings.

Not only has he realized a significant change in his income due to the tractor, he no longer has to struggle to shell maize because he now has access to a machine that strips the corn off the cob.

In a day I can shell about 10 tons, which is helpful for saving precious time, Muzorori said.

Land preparation is also less arduous. “We no longer rely on animal draft power or our own manual labor, but the tractor,” he added.

Due to the versatility of the tractor, which has multiple attachments depending on the task that needs to be done, he has also secured a formal annual contract with Great Zimbabwe Hotel in the southeastern city of Masvingo. He attaches a trailer to the tractor to collect garbage and transport it to the dump, diversifying his income beyond conventional on-farm earnings.

Before the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT), in partnership with Zimbabwe’s government extension arm Agritex (Department of Agricultural, Technical and Extension Services), introduced low-cost tractors and small engine-operated farm machinery, such innovations were just a dream for many farmers in Zimbabwe who could not afford to pay $30,000 USD.

“We need to move with the times, the days of relying on either draft power or manual labor should be a thing of the past,” said Caleb Mnkandla, an Agritex supervisor. “With more exposure forums for farmers like this, we can accelerate the adoption of mechanized agriculture even at a smallholder farmer level.”

Improved mechanized tools are also now available to smallholder farmers.

Increased efficiency lightens load

A recent surge of January and tickborne diseases, which affect livestock, added to difficulties faced by many communal farmers due to draft-power shortages during land preparation and planting seasons.

This has translated to reduced yields for many farmers as the timing and efficiency of land preparation and planting has a direct impact on crop yields.

Other farmers in Masvingo are also seeing the transformative capabilities of such mechanization, as reflected in testimonials during the R4 Rural Resilience and ZAMBUKO seed and mechanization fair held in October.

The project – funded by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC), and the World Food Programme (WFP) – is intended to reduce the arduous manual labor associated with the use of hand operated ploughs and tools.

“Smallholder production systems in Africa have been heavily comprised of intense drudgery which makes farming less attractive for youth and difficult for women,” said Abdul Matin, a lead scientist with CIMMYT.  “The new mechanization technologies we are bringing in are meant to reduce drudgery and cost, and add increased efficiencies to smallholder farmer operations.”

Private sector partners demonstrate the multi-functionality of two-wheel tractors. (Photo: Tawanda Hove/CIMMYT)

Greater accessibility through financing

In a joint collaboration, Agritex and CIMMYT provide an innovative financial scheme under which service providers pay a commitment fee of $500 USD to access the machinery. They then receive a grace period of four months and pay instalments of $100 USD a month for 20 months. The project covers half of the machinery cost as risk sharing.

So far, there are 34 service providers participating in Masvingo, offering mechanization services to smallholder farming communities for a fee. The project is a scalable pilot for the rest of the country.

The service provider model puts the focus on the asset owners, who not only enjoy the benefits of the mechanization, but also offer services to surrounding farming communities which causes exponential impact, Matin said.

The package of services farmers have been accessing include tillage, transportation, shelling and threshing services.

Tractors can be used for transportation year round, providing steady income for service providers.

The fair provides a platform to demonstrate and showcase the impact of the new technology to farmers, said Pamela Chirwa, project coordinator for CIMMYT’s Global Maize Program in the Southern Africa Regional Office located in Zimbabwe, who coordinated the event.

“We need to continuously expose farmers to other farmers who have moved on to mechanized production,” she said. “Such farmer-to-farmer extension makes it easier for others to adopt technology as they relate to each other better.”

“Adopting improved maize seed varieties alongside two-wheel tractors and other machinery will also improve capacity and potential earnings,” said Christian Thierfelder, a principal scientist with CIMMYT, addressing farmers in Masvingo, emphasizing that for conservation agriculture, mechanized equipment is a labor-saving technology.

The democratization of innovation

Written by Sarah McLaughlin on . Posted in Features.

When the Norwegian Red Cross hired Kristian Wengen and his consulting firm Tinkr to launch a “Scaling for Success” initiative, he found himself at a crossroads. From international aid projects aiming to address the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) to private companies seeking to expand their market, everyone was talking about the challenges of scaling up – expanding and sustaining successful programs to reach a greater number of people – but there were few clear paths to solutions.

Wengen worked with CIMMYT to adapt the Scaling Scan. (Photo: Kristian Wengen)

The Scaling Scan has solutions to offer

But when Wengen came across a project using a tool called the Scaling Scan that identifies and analyzes 10 critical elements for assessing the scalability of any pilot project, he knew he had found a way forward. He was excited, but also worried because the project using the Scaling Scan had concluded.

Concerned he would lose access to the best tool he had found by far, Wengen connected with Lennart Woltering, who created the Scaling Scan for the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT) in collaboration with a Dutch-supported project on private-public partnerships called the PPPLab. Woltering and Wengen began a dialogue regarding repurposing the Scaling Scan for Wengen’s context.

“What I like about the Scaling Scan is that it works on a very detailed level to produce systemic results,” said Wengen. “It brings a simple approach to the complex problems of scalability, which allow organizations to achieve efficient solutions, regardless of their geographic or demographic context.”

The Scaling Scan focuses attention on discrete components – from finance and business cases to technology and skills – which are necessary to successfully scale an innovation. But it also spurs insight into how each of these necessary ingredients complement each other as a project prepares to successfully transition, reproduce, and expand.

Wengen believes the most effective work of the Scaling Scan happens in team conversations, and it helps deliver clear feedback that can form the basis of discussions that go straight to the heart of the matter. While the challenges of scaling an innovation are complex, the Scaling Scan cuts through the noise and focuses attention on solving the most important problems, whether related to leadership, collaboration, or public sector governance.

Scaling the Scaling Scan

In their conversations, Wengen and Woltering identified opportunities for improving the Scaling Scan. For example, Wengen is building a digitized, web-based version that, like the original Scaling Scan, will be freely available. He calls it a scorecard, a smaller version which capitalizes on the ability of the Scan to promote productive dialogue that moves a project forward. “I am thrilled to help broaden the reach of the Scaling Scan, as making it available for a much wider audience will democratize innovation,” Wengen said.

“Kristian’s adaptations are exactly how I designed the Scaling Scan to work,” said Woltering. “I wanted it to be straightforward enough to be useful across a broad range of business and development applications and flexible enough to be tailored to the specific needs of a particular region, culture, or marketplace.” Seeing how Wengen has utilized the Scaling Scan across a variety of markets has spurred Wennart to develop the Scaling Scan website, where other interested practitioners can download the tool and share their own innovations. “The Scaling Scan truly has utility across the broadest geographies and socioeconomic ranges,” said Wennart.

Wengen is hoping his scaling scorecard will help drive success in a new collaboration he is undertaking with Innovation Norway, a state-owned organization that helps Norwegian businesses grow and export promising products and services. Wengen believes his scorecard will add immense value to a diverse set of projects ranging from business management software helping bakeries reduce waste and increase profits to zero-carbon ocean-going ships and virtual medical training systems.

This kind of transfer and growth shows that even the Scaling Scan itself can be scaled up from the tropics to the Arctic Circle, and Woltering can’t wait to see where the next successful adaptation will spring up.

In Burkina Faso, a business model for mechanization is providing hope

Written by Sarah McLaughlin on . Posted in Features.

Ouattara Ali grows rice and maize on a small parcel of land in a village on the outskirts of Bobo Dioulasso, Burkina Faso’s second-largest city.

In the eight years since he began farming, he has faced significant challenges because he depends on traditional practices. Other smallholders in the community are in a similar situation, which limits their ability to realize greater prosperity.

A steady trickle of young adults is leaving the area to find work in the city as an alternative to the difficulty of trying to make ends meet on limited hectarage, coping with erratic harvests and with no guarantee of long-term financial stability.

This story is not unique to Ali and his community – it is familiar across Burkina Faso and other nations where the problems of food security, reliable employment, and dependable income limit economic development in rural areas.

Mechanization as a business

To help communities tackle these challenges, in 2014 Germany’s Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) created the special initiative One World No Hunger, which launched Green Innovation Centers for the Agriculture and Food Sector (GIC) in 14 countries in Africa and two in Asia. In Burkina Faso, the GIC focuses primarily on the sesame and rice value chains in the Hauts-Bassins, Cascades, Boucle du Mouhoun, and Sud-Ouest regions.

These initiatives include the introduction of mechanized agricultural practices that can increase yields of maize, rice, and other crops. In connection with GIC, farmers like Ali have used machines across the full agricultural value chain – from seed development to post-harvest – to improve their own crop yields. Mechanization has also enabled them to offer their services for hire to other farmers in the area.

Mechanization is a significant economic driver for boosting development of farm areas, but to achieve sustainable success and maximize the ability to bring transformative change to communities, business model development must be a critical focus area.

One of Ouattra Ali’s two-wheel tractors that he uses to provide machinery hire services to nearby farmers. (Credit: Rabe Yahaya/GIZ)

In August, the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT) and Deutsche Gesellschaft fuer Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH, collaborated with the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and Germany’s University of Hohenheim to host a webinar on business models for agricultural mechanization projects. Joining the conversation were 48 participants from countries including Burkina Faso, Nigeria, Benin, and Vietnam.

During the webinar, FAO Senior Consultant Karim Houmy presented research on business models from two case studies of agricultural mechanization hire services in sub-Saharan Africa. Houmy found five basic types of business model, each with its own structure, complexity, and requirements, but he also outlined common features that characterize all successful models.

Many models, a few key principles

The basic business model for agricultural mechanization involves a farmer who uses machinery on their own crops, and then subsequently provides the same services to neighboring farmers. This model is probably the simplest and least expensive. Any smallholder who can procure the necessary machinery, parts, and training can launch this small business, generate additional income, and help neighbors increase their yield. This model also has limits, however, as it restricts farmers to a relatively small footprint of clients whose farms are located near the service provider.

At the other end of the scale is an enterprise model where an entrepreneur does not own any farm machinery but uses mobile phones and geographic information system (GIS) technology to connect farmers with service providers. This model provides a much greater geographical scope as well as greater opportunities for growth and innovation. It also adds layers of complexity that require a network of intermediaries – from machinery dealers and mechanics to booking agents – and bank financing.

The more diverse in operational offerings a business model is, the more promise it holds for generating economic growth and food security. This occurs by spreading activity across a wider geographic region, providing yield-increasing services for more farmers, employing more workers, and generating increased demand up and down the supply chain.

In addition to laying out the range of business models in operation today, Houmy identified success factors important for all, including long-term access to financing and local infrastructure, both of which are structural issues that entrepreneurs have less immediate control over. GIC works to address this shortcoming by involving a broad range of stakeholders, including government actors, in addressing issues of sustainability.

Houmy encouraged entrepreneurs to focus on areas like cultivating a skilled staff, building close links with processors and aggregators, and diversifying the services they offer. This sort of business model training can translate into significant improvements on the ground.

Building a business

Life began to change dramatically for Ali when his local agricultural bureau connected him to the GIC in his area.

Through his relationship with GIC, Ali gained access to some basic mechanized farming equipment, including disc plows, harrows, and planters, which revolutionized his work. He now prepares his rice and maize fields more quickly and evenly. He plants them more efficiently and spends less time harvesting while producing equal and sometimes higher yields. To support this transition, GIC provided training in agricultural mechanization, seed production, and financial management.

Initially, Ali sustained an injury while using a harrow and trailer. Thankfully, this did not slow him down for long, he said. He learned how to regularly tighten components of the machine to avoid further injuries and other safety problems.

Soon, Ali began using his machines to provide services to his neighboring farmers as well, helping them with land preparation, transportation, and planting.

Today, 22 local farmers use Ali’s services, and his community is experiencing the benefits. Less time is spent on planting and harvesting while agricultural yields are increasing. Mechanization marked a sharp decline in the drudgery associated with farming tasks, especially for the area’s youth and women.

Ali is thinking about the future by expanding and diversifying. He plans to buy a seeder and a thresher if he can get financing, and he is interested in additional training. He is developing a business plan for a larger enterprise that would be “the farmers’ one-stop shop” for mechanization services in his area. With the profits so far, he has built a house for his wife and two children and bought a small car.

GIC has supported 26 service providers like Ali in Burkina Faso as well as others in Benin, Mali, and Kenya. Over time, the proliferation of sustainable agricultural operations like Ali’s, as well as their growth into more complex and more profitable business networks, holds enormous promise for rural areas where food security, sustainable employment and a baseline of prosperity have been elusive for far too long.

Cover photo: Workers on Ouattra Ali’s farm outside of Bobo Dioulasso, Burkina Faso. (Credit: Rabe Yahaya/GIZ)

Connect rural areas with digital innovations to unlock climate resilience for hundreds of millions of farmers

Written by Sarah McLaughlin on . Posted in News.

A female farmer using digital agricultural tools. (Credit: C. De Bode/CGIAR)

Research shows that digital innovations can increase small-scale farmers’ incomes, boost the adoption of better practices, and increase resilience to climate shocks while reducing the gender gap and managing food system risks. However, these benefits are not universal. More than 600 million people and 40 percent of small farms are still not covered by mobile internet, especially in those countries most dependent on agricultural production. Across low- and middle-income countries, women are 7 percent less likely than men to own a mobile phone and 15 percent less likely to use mobile internet.

A new CGIAR Research Initiative, Digital Innovation, has been launched to research pathways to bridge this digital divide, improve the quality of information systems, and strengthen local capacities to realize the potential of digital technologies.

Read the original article: Connect rural areas with digital innovations to unlock climate resilience for hundreds of millions of farmers

CGIAR Initiative: Digital Innovation

Written by Sarah McLaughlin on . Posted in Uncategorized.

Digital innovations can enable an unprecedented transformation of food, land and water systems for greater climate resilience and sustainability. To realize this potential, multidisciplinary expertise across the CGIAR must find solutions to three challenges affecting the Global South: 

  1. The digital divide: digital technologies and infrastructure do not meet people’s needs, especially women and rural populations. More than 600 million people live outside the reach of mobile networks, two-thirds of them in sub-Saharan Africa. 
  2. Weak information systems: available information is inadequate or does not reach those who need it most. More than 300 million small-scale producers lack access to digital climate services. Weak information systems prevent evidence-based policy responses and lead to missed opportunities to reduce poverty and increase economic growth. 
  3. Limited digital capabilities: digital literacy and skill levels across the Global South remain low, particularly for marginalized and food-insecure individuals and groups such as women.

Objective

The Digital Innovation Initiative aims to develop and support digital innovations to stimulate the inclusive, sustainable transformation of food, land and water systems in the areas of investments that policymakers could make to close the digital divide, information delivery systems that allow more people to take action against predicted risks, and ways for partner organizations and marginalized communities to enhance digital capabilities, access resources and opportunities. 

This objective will be achieved through:

  • Generating evidence on impacts of digital innovations and collaborative partnerships to create an enabling environment for digital ecosystems, unlocking local innovators’ access to investments and advanced technologies. 
  • Developing a suite of tools and guidelines to bridge the digital divide, ensuring that gender equality and social inclusion underly the development of digital innovations, research programs and their implementation. 
  • System dynamics modeling to understand complex dynamics in agrifood systems and support natural resource management authorities in equitably allocating water and land resources and managing risks. 
  • Real-time food system monitoring to provide timely and reliable information to stakeholders by applying AI-driven analytics of satellite remote sensing, internet-connected sensors, and other ground-truthed data from multidisciplinary sources. 
  • Strengthening partners’ capacity to collect real-time data, conduct data analytics and make data-driven decisions to enable equitable digital platforms and services.

Why co-creation is vital for sustainable agriculture

Written by Sarah McLaughlin on . Posted in News.

Agricultural mechanization engineer Subash Adhikari adjusts a maize shelling machine on a farmer´s verandah in Rambasti, Kanchanpur, Nepal. (Credit: P. Lowe/CIMMYT)

The adoption of climate-smart agricultural production processes and technologies is a vital strategy in attempts to mitigate the global impacts of climate change without compromising on food security. However, supporting farmers to permanently implement new technologies and approaches requires a deep understanding of their needs, robust training, and effective transfer of knowledge.

At the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT), projects across the Global South aim to embed agrifood systems that are sustainable for all.

To share how CIMMYT empowers farmers and develops new technologies, Director General Bram Govaerts attended a panel event hosted by the Business Council for International Understanding (BICU) on September 19. For an audience of foreign government officials, multilaterals, and private sector executives, panelists introduced new perspectives to support global food security efforts and inspire greater collaboration.

Partnership approach

Panelists were asked to explain the technologies that can be unlocked by agricultural financial mechanisms, referencing how research and development is keeping pace with the quick adaptations needed by farmers to address climate change.

Examples from CIMMYT’s participation in the AgriLAC Resiliente CGIAR Initiative, a project for sustainable agricultural development in Latin America and the Caribbean, highlighted the innovative partnerships that are pushing forward research and development in the sector, enabling food systems and actors to act quickly to meet food security needs, mitigate climate hazards, stabilize communities and reduce forced migration.

Scientists are conscious of ensuring that solutions to one challenge are not the cause of new problems elsewhere; co-development is essential to this, ensuring the views of all actors are represented. Using the Integrated Agri-food System Initiative (IASI) methodology, created by CIMMYT in partnership with the Alliance of Bioversity International and the International Center for Tropical Agriculture (CIAT), projects can develop strategies and actions with a significant likelihood of supportive public and private investment that will transform food systems.

Expertise from farmers

Even the best agricultural technology in the world is only effective if it is used. When discussing barriers to the implementation of technology, Govaerts emphasized CIMMYT’s mechanization prototyping, co-creation, and experimentation work that bridges the gap between farmers and scientists and encourages adoption of new methods and tools.

Having farming influencers onboard has proved priceless, as these people co-create prototypes and experiments that demonstrate results and offer assured testimony to reluctant stakeholders.

Innovations can transform livelihoods, giving farmers a way to increase income and provide stability and better opportunities for their families – which is the most appealing reason for adoption.

Training programs are also fundamental, ensuring skills and knowledge around new technologies are freely available to farmers, technicians, and researchers. CIMMYT projects such as MasAgro in Mexico, has trained more than 3,000 producers and 400 technicians in sustainable agriculture, with more than 70,000 producers participating in educational events during the pandemic.

Hunger and climate change – a dual problem?

Conversation also centered on whether the development of new technologies is aiming to confront world hunger and climate change as separate issues, or whether solutions can be suitable for both challenges.

Essential actions to mitigate the food crisis require a global perspective, acknowledging that unexpected crises will always arise. For example, Russia and Ukraine account for 28% of the world’s wheat exports, so high prices are linked to supply chain disruption. More than 2.5 billion people worldwide consume wheat-based products, so the effects of these disruptions could mean significant hunger and potential civil unrest. Nations already in crisis, such as Yemen, Sudan and Ethiopia, may be worse hit, but other countries with high dependency on imports like Egypt are also affected.

Govaerts highlighted the inextricable links between the causes of food insecurity and climate change. He underscored CIMMYT’s holistic approach to overcoming widespread impacts on the global food system, such as the concurrent challenges of COVID-19, climate change and the Ukraine crisis, by co-developing lasting solutions incorporating these three elements:

  • Extensive research on climate change adaptation and mitigation in maize and wheat-based production systems across Africa, Asia, and Latin America.
  • Climate focused research aims to help smallholder farmers adapt to climate shocks and to raise and maintain yields profitably and sustainably by reducing greenhouse gas emissions.
  • Capacity building for stakeholders in the development and application of new technologies.

Many other deep disruptions are on their way. It is time to invest in science, research, innovation, technologies, and start practicing teamwork to allow those investments to translate into a better future for the planet, and for us.

About BICU:

BICU is a leading business-supported non-profit education initiative, established by President Eisenhower of the United States in 1955 for the purpose of facilitating public-private partnerships and high-level business to government dialogue.

Greenhouse upgrades at BWMRI for wheat blast research

Written by Sarah McLaughlin on . Posted in News.

Md. Sayedul Islam inaugurated the greenhouse complex along with Golam Faruq and Md. Benojir Alam. (Credit: Timothy J. Krupnik/CIMMYT)

A new greenhouse complex, built with financial support from the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT), at the Bangladesh Wheat and Maize Research Institute (BWMRI) was inaugurated on 13 August 2022. The greenhouse was built at BWMRI’s headquarters in Dinajpur, Bangladesh.

This complex has a room for generator, a sample preparation room and space for a small laboratory. These upgrades will add new momentum for greenhouse activities and BWMRI and CIMMYT scientists designed the facility to accommodate wheat scientists from Bangladesh and other countries.

The BWMRI has been working to combat wheat blast disease since 2016, with financial and technical support from CIMMYT and other investors. CIMMYT has also assisted the Government of Bangladesh in developing an early warning system for wheat blast.

Because of the challenging phenology of synthetic wheat and introductions from winter and facultative wheat zones, field condition evaluation of these germplasm is difficult and the greenhouse will help ease this hurdle. Additionally, several pathological experiments investigating the biology of wheat blast will now be able to be performed in the new greenhouse facility.

Supplementary activities at the greenhouse include disease screening and research into unlocking the genetics of host resistance. The installation of a diesel generator will keep the greenhouse running in case of power outages.

Visitors to the newly constructed greenhouse at the Bangladesh Wheat and Maize Research Institute. (Credit: Rezaul Kabir/BWMRI)

Md. Sayedul Islam, Secretary of the Ministry of Agriculture, inaugurated the greenhouse complex. Additional attendees at the opening included Shaikh Mohammad Bokhtiar, Executive Chairman of the Bangladesh Agricultural Research Council (BARC), Golam Faruq, Director General of BWMRI, Mirza Mofazzal Islam, Director General of the Bangladesh Institute of Nuclear Agriculture (BINA), Debasish Sarker, Director General of the Bangladesh Agricultural Research Institute (BARI), Md. Benojir Alam, Director General of the Department of Agricultural Extension (DAE), and Md. Abdul Wadud, Executive Director and Additional Secretary at the Bangladesh Institute of Research and Training on Applied Nutrition (BIRTAN). Timothy J. Krupnik, country representative of CIMMYT in Bangladesh, was also present.

Excellence in Agronomy Initiative commences in Africa

Written by Sarah McLaughlin on . Posted in News.

CGIAR researchers and partners outside the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI) campus in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, where the workshop took place. (Credit: Enawgaw Shibeshi/CIMMYT)

The Excellence in Agronomy for Sustainable Intensification and Climate Change Adaptation Initiative launched in east and southern Africa on July 28-29 in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, at a workshop with panel discussions and ideation sessions to determine key actions for the project.

The Initiative aims to deliver agronomic gain at scale for millions of smallholder farming households in prioritized farming systems, with emphasis on supporting women and young farmers, to demonstrate measurable impact on food and nutrition security, income, water use, soil health and climate resilience.

Co-creation of agricultural solutions with farmers is integral to the Initiative through the engagement of modern tools, digital technologies, and behavioral science.

At the workshop, participants created a shared understanding of the Initiative’s goals for the region, laid groundwork for in-country planning and implementation, and increased visibility of the Initiative. Attendees agreed on the need to reevaluate beyond the boundaries of traditional agronomic practices and microeconomic challenges, considering policies at national and regional levels.

Roundtable discussions between participants highlight priorities and opportunities for the Excellence in Agronomy Initiative in east and southern Africa. (Credit: Enawgaw Shibeshi/CIMMYT)

Combining expertise from across CGIAR research centers, private sector actors and government agriculture departments, the Initiative takes a data-based approach to offer demand-driven solutions. This was of particular appeal to Eyasu Elias, deputy minister at Ethiopia’s Ministry of Agriculture, who described the approach as “truly commendable” in comparison to conventional supply-driven approaches.

Elias, who was represented by a delegate at the event, highlighted Ethiopia’s current three priorities: managing acid soils; managing Vertisols so they utilize their natural productive potentials; and adopting practices that mitigate the formation of salt-affected soils.

“Attaining food security will be a tremendous challenge under current conditions,” explained Elias’ representative. “More than ever, we need innovative agronomic solutions that enhance nutrient use efficiencies; we need solutions that can be crafted from locally available alternatives. Collaborations that allow co-creation, co-design and participatory technology generation along these lines are appreciated from our end.”

Women harvest wheat in India. (Photo: J. Cumes/CIMMYT)

Earlier wheat planting will boost yields in eastern India

Written by Sarah Fernandes on . Posted in Blogs.

“For several years, we’ve been building dense data sets with colleagues from the Indian Agricultural Research Council, which have allowed us to unravel complex farm realities through big data analytics, and to determine what agricultural management practices really matter in smallholder systems,” said Andrew McDonald ’94, M.S. ’98, Ph.D. ’03, associate professor of soil and crop sciences in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences. “This process has confirmed that planting dates are the foundation for climate resilience and productivity outcomes in the dominant rice-wheat cropping systems in the eastern sector in India.”

McDonald is first author of “Time Management Governs Climate Resilience and Productivity in the Coupled Rice-Wheat Cropping Systems of Eastern India,” published July 21 in Nature Food with a consortium of national and international partners, including scientists from the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT).

The research was conducted through the  Cereal Systems Initiative for South Asia (CSISA). CSISA, which is led by CIMMYT with the International Rice Research Institute and the International Food Policy Research Institute as research partners, was established in 2009 to promote durable change at scale in South Asia’s cereal-based cropping systems.

Researchers found that farmers in eastern India could increase yield by planting wheat earlier – avoiding heat stress as the crop matures – and quantified the potential gains in yields and farm revenues for the region. They also found that the intervention would not negatively impact rice productivity, a key consideration for farmers. Rice alternates with wheat on the cropping calendar, with many farmers growing rice in the wet season and wheat in the dry season.

The study also provides new recommendations for rice sowing dates and types of cultivars, to accommodate the earlier sowing of wheat.

“Farmers are not just managing single crops. They are managing a sequence of decisions,” said McDonald, who has a joint appointment in the Department of Global Development. “Taking a cropping systems approach and understanding how things cascade and interlink informs our research approach and is reflected in the recommendations that emerged from this analysis. Climate resilient wheat starts with rice.”

The research is the result of years of collaboration with international groups and government agencies in India, which have identified the Eastern Ganges Plain as the area with the most potential growth in production. The region will become essential, McDonald said, as the demand for wheat grows, and climate change makes production more difficult and unpredictable; just this year, record heat waves in March and April and food shortages caused by the war in Ukraine – both of which prompted India’s government to instate a ban on wheat exports – have highlighted the need for increased yields and more sustainable farming practices.

“In the bigger sense, this research is timely because the hazards of climate change aren’t just a hypothetical,” McDonald said. “Many of these areas are stress-prone environments, and extreme weather already constrains productivity. Identifying pragmatic strategies that help farmers navigate current extremes will establish a sound foundation for adapting to progressive climate change.”

Poverty is endemic in the Eastern Ganges Plain, and the region is dominated by small landholders, with varying practices and access to resources. The breadth and specificity of the data collected and analyzed in the study – including field and household survey data, satellite data, and dynamic crop simulations – allowed researchers to understand regional small farms’ challenges and the barriers to change.

“At the end of the day, none of this matters unless farmers opt in,” McDonald said. “There’s a spatial dimension and a household dimension to opportunity.  If we can  target approaches accordingly, then we hope to position farmers to make management changes that will benefit the entire food system.”

The study was co-authored with researchers from the Australian Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development, the International Rice Research Institute, the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center, the International Food Policy Research Institute, the Indian Council of Agricultural Research and Bihar Agricultural University. The research was supported by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and the U.S. Agency for International Development through grants to the Cereal Systems Initiative for South Asia, which is led by the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center.

This piece by Caitlin Hayes, was originally posted on the Cornell Chronicle website.

Ecological farming a boon for staple crop farmers in Africa, new study finds

Written by Mike Listman on . Posted in Press releases.

Elufe Chipande (left), a farmer at Songani in Zomba District, Malawi, is rotating maize (background) and pigeonpea (foreground) under conservation agriculture practices to improve soil fertility and capture and retain more water. Christian Thierfelder (center), a cropping systems agronomist working out of the Zimbabwe office of CIMMYT, advises and supports southern African farmers and researchers to refine and spread diverse yield-enhancing, resource-conserving crop management practices. Photo: Mphatso Gama/CIMMYTSRUC

An international team of scientists has found that eco-friendly practices such as growing a range of crops, including legumes such as beans or pigeonpea, and adding plant residues or manure to soils can raise food crop yields in places such as rural Africa, where small-scale farmers cannot apply much nitrogen fertilizer.

Published in the science journal Nature Sustainability and examining data from 30 long-running field experiments involving staple crops (wheat, maize, oats, barley, sugar beet, or potato) in Europe and Africa, this major study is the first to compare farm practices that work with nature to increase yields and explore how they interact with fertilizer use and tillage.

“Agriculture is a leading cause of global environmental change but is also very vulnerable to that change,” said Chloe MacLaren, a plant ecologist at Rothamsted Research, UK, and lead author of the paper. “Using cutting-edge statistical methods to distill robust conclusions from divergent field experiment data, we found combinations of farming methods that boost harvests while reducing synthetic fertilizer overuse and other environmentally damaging practices.”

Recognizing that humanity must intensify production on current arable land to feed its rising numbers, the paper advances the concept of “ecological intensification,” meaning farming methods that enhance ecosystem services and complement or substitute for human-made inputs, like chemical fertilizer, to maintain or increase yields.

Boosting crop yields and food security for far-flung smallholders

The dataset included results from six long-term field experiments in southern Africa led by the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT). Africa’s farming systems receive on average only 17 kilograms of fertilizer per hectare, compared to more than 180 kilograms per hectare in Europe or close to 600 in China, according to Christian Thierfelder, a CIMMYT cropping systems agronomist and study co-author.

“In places where farmers’ access to fertilizer is limited, such as sub-Saharan Africa or the Central American Highlands, ecological intensification can complement scarce fertilizer resources to increase crop yields, boosting households’ incomes and food security,” Thierfelder explained. “We believe these practices act to increase the supply of nitrogen to crops, which explains their value in low-input agriculture.”

The CIMMYT long-term experiments were carried out under “climate-smart” conservation agriculture practices, which include reduced or no tillage, keeping some crop residues on the soil, and (again) growing a range of crops.

“These maize-based cropping systems showed considerable resilience against climate effects that increasingly threaten smallholders in the Global South,” Thierfelder added.

Benefits beyond yield

Besides boosting crop yields, ecological intensification can cut the environmental and economic costs of productive farming, according to MacLaren.

“Diversifying cropping with legumes can increase profits and decrease nitrogen pollution by reducing the fertilizer requirements of an entire crop rotation, while providing additional high-value food, such as beans,” MacLaren explained. “Crop diversity can also confer resilience to weather variability, increase biodiversity, and suppress weeds, crop pests and pathogens; it’s essential, if farmers are to improve maize production in places like Africa.”

Thierfelder cautioned that widespread adoption of ecological intensification will require strong support from policymakers and society, including establishing functional markets for legume seed and for marketing farmers’ produce, among other policy improvements.

“Dire and worsening global challenges — climate change, soil degradation and fertility declines, and scarcening fresh water — threaten the very survival of humanity,” said Thierfelder. “It is of utmost importance to renovate farming systems and bring us back into a safe operating space.”

Click here to read the paper, Long-term evidence for ecological intensification as a pathway to sustainable agriculture.

For more information or interviews:

Rodrigo Ordoñez, Communications Manager

Email: r.ordonez@cgiar.org

Tel: +52 55 5804 2004, ext. 1167

 

Researchers plan transformation of agrifood systems in South Asia

Written by Sarah McLaughlin on . Posted in News.

Representatives from CIMMYT and ICAR begin planning research for the Transforming Agrifood Systems in South Asia (TASSA) CGIAR Initiative. (Photo: Vikram/ICAR-CSSRI)

CGIAR researchers are taking an innovative approach to analyzing crop and farming systems, by emphasizing nutritional yield. “This is an unusual perspective for an agronomist to apply to our work,” said Timothy Krupnik from the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT). “However, farmers in India recognize the critical need to produce more nutritious food that is environmentally sustainable without losing yield levels.”To meet this need, more than 25 researchers from CIMMYT and the Indian Council of Agricultural Research’s Central Soil Salinity Research Institute (ICAR-CSSRI) met from 25-27 May in Karnal, in India’s Haryana state, to plan a collaborative research program on nutrition-smart agriculture.

The program is part of Transforming Agrifood Systems in South Asia (TAFSSA), a CGIAR Regional Integrated Initiative aiming to propel evidence into impact through engagement with public and private partners across the farm production-to-consumption continuum. The Initiative will achieve productive, environmentally-sound agrifood systems that support equitable access to sustainable healthy diets in the world’s most poverty-dense region.

Through three days of workshops, attendees met with more than 200 men and women farmers. They developed a common understanding of the research objectives, designed research for multi-criteria analysis of crop and farming systems with an emphasis on nutritional yield, and developed a joint action plan for data collection and analysis.

To provide attendees with context for the research program, Temina Lalani-Shariff, CIMMYT Regional Director for South Asia, presented an overview of CGIAR activities in India and CGIAR Research Initiatives globally. HS Jat, Principal Scientist (Agronomy) from ICAR-CSSRI also presented some of the institute’s ongoing research and experiments that are examining the effects of different crop rotations on the production of nutritious foods. This included a visit to ICAR-CSSRI’s research trials later in the day.

Workshop participants visit ICAR-CSSRI research trials. (Photo: Vikram/ICAR-CSSRI)

From the ground up

To improve on the participatory design of research and to tailor the Initiative’s work to on-the-ground needs, the second day of the program was dedicated to visiting farmers in the states of Haryana and Punjab. There, researchers discussed the proposed research priorities and experimental design with the farmers. The design and priorities were later amended based on this feedback.

During the workshop, researchers had a chance to run focus groups with farmers in India’s Haryana and Punjab states. (Photo: Timothy Krupnik/CIMMYT)

“This was an incredibly useful workshop for us,” said PC Sharma, Director of ICAR-CSSRI. “This represents a new way of thinking about how to approach crop rotations and production. Having the help of farmers and colleagues in the nutrition community to design our research means we can address multiple issues in one research program. This increases the value of our research and spreads the benefits wider.”

To conclude the workshops, groups presented on their field visits and selected crop rotations and management practices as part of agronomic trial design for nutrition-sensitive and environmentally efficient cropping systems, including consideration of implementation and data collection.

Scaling Out Small Mechanization in the Ethiopian Highlands

Written by Rodrigo Ordóñez on . Posted in Uncategorized.

The project goal is to provide smallholder farmers with appropriate mechanization technologies that reduce drudgery during farm operations.

The objectives of the project are:

  • To promote small-scale mechanization through awareness and demand creation, and service provision of appropriate technologies
  • To create employment along the mechanization value chain.

The project sites are located in Amhara, Oromia, SNNP (Southern Nations, Nationalities and Peoples) and Tigray regions of Ethiopia.

The target beneficiaries of the project include smallholder farmers who use traditional methods of farming, the youth who can be employed in service provision activities along the mechanization value chain, service providers, and private sector companies involved in equipment manufacturing and importing.

Through the project, smallholder farmers access planting, harvesting, post-harvest processing (threshing and shelling), irrigation and transport services from service providers located in their communities. The project operates under the Africa-RISING program led by ILRI in Ethiopia.

Rapid Point-of-Care Diagnostics for Wheat Rusts (MARPLE)

Written by Bea Ciordia on . Posted in Uncategorized.

MARPLE (Mobile And Real-time PLant disEase) diagnostics is a new innovative approach for fungal crop pathogen diagnostics developed by Diane Saunders’s team at the John Innes Centre.

MARPLE is the first operational system in the world using nanopore sequencing for rapid diagnostics and surveillance of complex fungal pathogens in situ. Generating results in 48 hours of field sampling, this new digital diagnostic strategy is leading revolutionary changes in plant disease diagnostics. Rapid strain level diagnostics are essential to quickly find new emergent strains and guide appropriate control measures.

Through this project, CIMMYT will:

  • Deploy and scale MARPLE to priority geographies and diseases as part of the Current and Emerging Threats to Crops Innovation Lab led by Penn State University / PlantVillage and funded by USAID’s Feed the Future.
  • Build national partner capacity for advanced disease diagnostics. We will focus geographically on Ethiopia, Kenya and Nepal for deployment of wheat stripe and stem rust diagnostics, with possible expansion to Bangladesh and Zambia (wheat blast).
  • Integrate this new in-country diagnostic capacity with recently developed disease forecasting models and early warning systems. Already functional for wheat stripe rust, the project plans to expand MARPLE to incorporate wheat stem rust and wheat blast.

Bangladesh Integrated Pest Management Activity (IPMA)

Written by Bea Ciordia on . Posted in Uncategorized.

The Bangladesh Integrated Pest Management Activity (IPMA) project aims to strengthen the capacity of agricultural stakeholders in Bangladesh by controlling and preventing the spread of current and emerging threats to ensure more efficient, profitable, and environmentally safe agricultural production and productivity.

Objectives

  • Increase the availability and affordability of integrated pest management measures for the prevention and spread of current and emerging threats
  • Strengthen the capacity of Bangladesh agricultural stakeholders, such as academia, financial institutions, government, judiciary, media, civil society, the private sector, and value chain actors, to implement integrated pest management measures
  • Enhance the adoption of integrated pest management by smallholder farmers to increase agricultural production and productivity, while reducing environmental hazards caused by indiscriminate use of pesticides