Mizanur Rahman is a Monitoring, Evaluation, and Learning Officer with the Sustainable Agrifood System (SAS) programâs Innovation Sciences in Agroecosystems and Food Systems theme across Asia. His role involves developing and implementing logical and conceptual data flows for analytical processes supporting decision-making at the project and donor level. He has more than 18 years of progressive experience with 12 years in research, monitoring, and evaluation.
Washiq Faisal is a Research Associate with CIMMYTâs sustainable intensification program, based in Bangladesh. He joined CIMMYT in 2014 and has been involved in applied agricultural research to tackle food insecurity through improved nutrient-rich, high-yielding varieties and sustainable agronomic practices for nearly 15 years.
Faisal is involved in innovative and multi-disciplinary research focused on the principles of sustainable and ecological intensification in smallholder dominated and tropical agricultural systems in Bangladesh. His current research focuses on climate-driven epidemiology of two crop diseases, Stemphylium blight of lentil and wheat leaf rust.
In collaboration with the Bangladesh Meteorological Department (BMD) and Bangladesh Department of Agricultural Extension, Faisal learnt how to use Agvisely, an agro-meteorological services tool providing location-specific advice to farmers.
A multitude of research on the benefits of conservation agriculture in South Asia has predominantly focused on favorable environments where farmers have reliable access to energy supporting irrigation and inputs.
In this new publication, scientists from the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT) explore the performance of conservation agriculture in under-developed coastal environments in southern coastal Bangladesh over a period of three consecutive years, including under rainfed conditions and/or with limited application of irrigation.
Responding to the identified research gap, this research tests the hypothesis that seasonally alternating tillage (SAT) practices that alternate between strip-tillage in the winter season for maize and conventional tillage (CT) prior to rice can reduce energy use, increase energy productivity, and reduce yield-scaled emissions while increasing or maintaining yield and profit, even under these challenging conditions.
Working with 35 farmers who managed experiments in partially irrigated and rainfed environments in southern coastal Bangladesh, researchers teamed up with farming communities to compare the full suite of conservation agriculture to SAT practices against CT and farmerâs own practices.
The research found that in these coastal environments, both conservation agriculture and SAT practices have the potential to increase cereal yields and energy productivity while reducing yield-scaled emissions, thereby enabling farmers even in challenging coastal environments to produce more while reducing energy use and mitigating greenhouse gas emissions.
However, in consideration of farmersâ aversion to the elimination of tillage in rice, the research suggests that adaptations in CA practices and seasonal tillage prior to rice may be a more practical fit for rice-maize systems managed by smallholders reluctant to eliminate tillage for rice in coastal Bangladesh.
This research gives implications for future research and development efforts to take into consideration farmersâ preferences or the trade-offs resulting from significant change to conservation agriculture management in otherwise fully tilled systems. It is also vital to integrate development efforts that focus not only on agronomic management, but also on building supportive value chains to improve availability and affordability of the inputs and farm machinery required to successfully establish crops with such practices.
Read the full study: Adapted Conservation Agriculture Practices Can Increase Energy Productivity and Lower Yield-Scaled Greenhouse Gas Emissions in Coastal Bangladesh
Cover photo: Long-term conservation agriculture in Rajshahi, Bangladesh. (Credit: CIMMYT/Sam Storr)
Despite womenâs essential role in agrifood systems, their contribution can be overlooked, with resources instead targeted towards their male counterparts.
However, advancements in technology now allow scientists to generate rich datasets that can aid analysis of the situational factors impacting women farmersâ participation in extension training services.
These developments have enabled scientists from the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT), Michigan State University, and Agricultural Advisory Society, a local NGO, to understand barriers to access and recommend improvements that will benefit women in Bangladesh.
Using a large dataset of 131,073 farmers in Bangladesh, researchers worked to identify ways to tackle gender exclusion in extension training. Scientists used machine learning to understand preferences according to gender and applied optimization theory and identified actionable ways to increase the number of farmers participating in video- and multi-media mediated trainings, while simultaneously improving gender inclusivity in public training events.
The study discovered strong gender specific considerations, such as the training sessionâs day of the week and time and the gender of the trainer, which prevented women from or encouraged them to take part in educational events.
It also demonstrates the potential for big data to transform our understanding of unstructured and semi-structured data into statistically verifiable insights that can genuinely impact farmerâs lives. Optimizing womenâs involvement in agrifood systems can additionally play an important part in efforts to enhance farm productivity, gender and social inclusion, and nutrition in Bangladesh and beyond.
Read the full study: Large-scale rollout of extension training in Bangladesh: Challenges and opportunities for gender-inclusive participation
Cover photo: Women in Bangladesh can benefit from improved inclusivity in extension training. (Credit: Sam Storr/CIMMYT)
In arid and semi-arid regions, soil salinity and sodicity pose challenges to global food security and environmental sustainability. Globally, around 932 million hectares are affected by salinization and alkalinization. Due to growing populations, anthropogenic activities and climate change, the prominence of salt stress in soil is rising both in irrigated and dryland systems.
Scientists from the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT) and the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) employed long-term conservation agriculture practices in different agri-food systems to determine the reclamation potential of sodic soil after continuous cultivation for nine years, with the experimentâs results now published.
Using different conservation agriculture techniques on areas cultivating combinations of maize, wheat, rice and mungbean, the study used soil samples to identify declines in salinity and sodicity after four and nine years of harvesting.
Evidence demonstrates that this approach is a viable route for reducing soil sodicity and improving soil carbon pools. The research also shows that the conservation agriculture-based rice-wheat-mungbean system had more reclamation potential than other studied systems, and therefore could improve soil organic carbon and increase productive crop cultivation.
Read the full publication: Long-term conservation agriculture helps in the reclamation of sodic soils in major agri-food systems
Cover photo: Comparison of crop performance under conservation agriculture and conventional tillage in a sodic soil at Karnal, Haryana, India. (Credit: HS Jat/ICAR-CSSRI)
Eva Marina Valencia Leñero is a Scaling Coordinator. She is an interdisciplinary professional focused on systems thinking and sustainability.
She has an Undergraduate degree in Law from the National Autonomous University of Mexico, and a MSc in Environmental Sciences, Policy and Management from the MESPOM Consortium with Lund University. She is interested in promoting sustainability in projects and policies, and has experience in the sectors of water, food, energy and climate change. She is interested in finding ways to scale impactful projects for food security.
Moreover, she has experience working at different levels in public organizations including the Mexican Energy Regulatory Commission, the Mexican Institute of Ecology and Climate Change, and the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe. She is the Founder of the Tricolor Coalition, a platform for sustainability transition in Mexico City.
Itâs a familiar problem in international agricultural development â a project with external funding and support has achieved impressive early results, but the money is running out, the time is growing short, and thereâs not a clear plan in place to continue and extend the programâs success.
Over the past seven years, the German development agency Deutsche Gesellschaft fĂŒr Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) established Green Innovation Centers in 13 countries in Africa and two in Asia, partnering with the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT) to support projects that introduce mechanization in a way that improves long-term food security and prompts economic growth. Now, as the project enters its final two years of funding, GIZ and CIMMYT are focused on ensuring the gains produced by the Green Innovation Centers are not lost.
Like any complex challenge, thereâs not just one solution to the sustainability problem â but CIMMYT is working to address a massive question around why pilots fail in agricultural development by implementing a systematic approach to scalability that recognizes the critical importance of context and puts projects on a sustainable path before the money is gone.
Training the trainers
As the Green Innovation Centers enter a crucial, final stage, a CIMMYT-led team recently completed training for seven GIZ staff from Ivory Coast, Togo, Ethiopia, and Zambia, who are now certified to facilitate CIMMYTâs Scaling Scan tool and train others to put agricultural innovations in their home countries on a solid path for growth. The training team included CIMMYT scaling advisor Lennart Woltering, CIMMYT mechanization support specialist Leon Jamann, and students from Germanyâs University of Hohenheim and Weihenstephan-Triesdorf University.
The Scaling Scan is a practical tool that helps users set a defined growth ambition, analyze their readiness to scale using ten core ingredients, and identify specific areas that need attention in order to reach the scaling ambition.
The GIZ staff learned to use the Scaling Scan by applying it to early stage innovations in their home countries, ranging from commercial fodder production in the Southern Province of Zambia to seed value chains in the Oromia and Amhara regions of Ethiopia.
What will scale up in Ethiopia?
In Ethiopia, smallholding farmers producing legumes, wheat and maize struggle to increase their yield to a level that can improve food security, generate higher incomes for producers and their families, and promote economic growth and jobs in agricultural communities. To help smallholders develop sustainable solutions, GIZ senior advisor Molla Dessalegn worked with his Green Innovation Center team to brainstorm and launch a range of 20 proposed innovations â from risk mitigation and new contract structures to introduction of new technology â all with the aim of improving agricultural yields.
To date, these innovations have introduced over 200,000 Ethiopian smallholders to new knowledge and practices to improve their output. But with the project exit bearing down, Molla and his team were eager to identify which innovations held the most promise for survival and growth beyond the endpoint. So they put their pilot projects to the test using the Scaling Scan.
The scan involves an intensive, day-long seminar originally designed for in-person delivery, but remote versions have also proved successful as COVID limited global travel. The scan focuses on thorough analysis and scoring of the current state of a pilot project and its potential for growth given the realities of conditions on the ground.
Facilitators lead project managers through evaluation of the ten ingredients required for successful scaling, from finance and collaboration to technology, know-how, and public sector governance. The outcome is a clear data set assessing the scalability of the pilot and directing attention to specific areas where improvement is needed before a project can expect serious growth.
An unexpected outcome
What emerged from the scan surprised Molla. Some of the strategies he saw as most successful in the early stages, such as a contract farming program, scored poorly, whereas the scan identified deployment of mobile seed cleaners as a solution that held particular promise for scalability. These outcomes prompted the team to refocus efforts on this strategy.
About 95 percent of Ethiopian smallholders rely on informal seed systems, either saving and reusing seed or exchanging low quality seed with other farmers. Seed cleaning plays a critical role in helping farmers build a high quality, high yield seed development system. Molla and his team had already worked with smallholder cooperatives in Oromia to distribute three mobile seed cleaners, and they knew these machines were being heavily relied upon by farmers in this region.
The Scaling Scan showed them, among other things, that the successful adoption of the seed cleaners had even more potential â it was an innovation that could be sustained and even expanded by local stakeholders, including the Ministry of Agriculture.
This result prompted Molla to recommend investment in additional mobile seed cleaners â four to serve cooperatives in the Amhara region and a fifth for the West Arsi district in Oromia. These machines are now in operation and helping additional smallholders improve the quality of their seed stock. This initial expansion confirms the Scaling Scan results â and CIMMYT plans to continue supporting this growth with the purchase of another round of seed cleaners.
The Scaling Scan also identified problems with the business model for sustaining the mobile seed cleaners through cooperatives in Ethiopia, and this outcome directed the Green Innovation Centers to partner with a consultant to develop improvements in this area. In this way, one of the most important values of the scan is its ability to guide decision-making.
Scaling up the future
Seed cleaners alone wonât solve every yield problem for Ethiopian farmers, but the scan has now guided the initial implementation â and contextual adaptation â of a new form of agricultural mechanization across two regions of the country, with the promise of more to come.
And thereâs more to come from the Scaling Scan as well.
Now that heâs received certification as a trainer, Molla plans to help farmers, officials, and other development workers adopt this rigorous approach to evaluating innovations that show potential. When funding for his project ends in 2024, he will be leaving 300,000 smallholders in Ethiopia with more than machines â he will be leaving them with the knowledge, experience, and practices to make the most of the technological solutions that are improving their yields today and building a more secure future for their communities.
As the Russia-Ukraine war continues to degrade global food security, the Australian who leads the global effort on improving wheat production has set out the concrete actions needed by governments and investors to mitigate the food crisis, stabilise supply and transition to greater agrifood system resilience.
Alison Bentley leads the Global Wheat Program at the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT), the renowned research organisation from which more than 90 per cent of the wheat varieties grown in Australia can be traced. She will be addressing the Crawford Fundâs international conference Celebrating Agriculture for Development â Outcomes, Impacts and the Way Ahead this week in Parliament House, Canberra. The conference will also be addressed by the Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry, Senator The Hon, Murray Watt.
âThe broad food security impacts of the Russia-Ukraine war highlight the fragility of the global food supply, but the war is only one of a multitude of problems that we’ll be facing for many years to come. Few will remain unaffected,â said Alison Bentley, who was the lead author in a recently published related article in Nature Food.
âMore than 2.5 billion people worldwide consume wheat-based foods. We need to move beyond defining the problem to implementing practical actions to ensure stable food supply, safeguard the livelihoods of millions of vulnerable people and bring resilience to our global agrifood system, and we will all benefit,â she said.
“The first priority is to mitigate the immediate crisis by boosting wheat production by bundling existing agronomic and breeding improvements and sustainable farming practices, just as Australia and other wealthy countries are doing. This will reduce dependence on imported grain and fertilizer in poorer countries.”
“We have learned since the Green Revolution that this must be done within agro-ecological boundaries, with high-yielding disease-resistant wheat and by mainstreaming capacity for pest and disease monitoring. Importantly, we also need to address climate change, gender disparities, nutrition insufficiency and increase investment in agricultural research,” she concluded.
The Fundâs annual conference will bring together international and Australian specialists to look at the mutual benefit and impacts of investment in global food security and poverty alleviation, and consider the effects of emerging threats including climate change and changing geo-political conditions on agricultural production, food chains and the environment.
Other speakers include international affairs specialist Allan Gyngell, climate change and security specialist Robert Glasser and renowned international economist Phil Pardey.
Contact for enquiries
Cathy Reade â Director of Outreach
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www.crawfordfund.org
All the powerpoints can be found on the website â youâll find them linked to each speakerâs presentation title on the program page.Â
Mobile phones are increasingly shaping the ways information is shared across industries, including in agriculture. The digitization of agricultural systems expedited by substantial efforts to narrow the digital divide and include smallholders means that data ownership and privacy issues are more relevant than ever.
The use of smartphone-based apps to improve accessibility to information for smallholder farmers has previously been under researched. In this publication, scientists from Ghent University and the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT) investigate incentives for smallholder farmers to use an agricultural advisory app in which data is shared using a designed discrete choice experiment.
Leveraging survey data from 392 farmers in Mexico, a conditional logit (CL) model was used to gain deeper insights into the preferences for attributes related to its usage. Groups and profiles were explored through a latent class (LC) model to investigate heterogeneity.
Farmers across ages were found to support the use of technology-based, site-specific extension services. The CL model results revealed farmersâ positive preference to receive support at first use and access to training, while they felt negatively towards sharing data with private actors. Meanwhile, the LC model demonstrates differences in preferences when farmersâ connectedness to the CIMMYT innovation hub and mastery approach goals variables are considered as a grouping variable. These variables also affect farmer preferences towards data sharing.
This studyâs main contribution is in demonstrating the importance of nonfinancial incentives and influence of data sharing on farmer preferences. Through this improved understanding, the potential of technology in improving farmersâ welfare can be further realized.
Read the study here: How to Make a Smartphone-Based App for Agricultural Advice Attractive: Insights from a Choice Experiment in Mexico
Cover photo: MarĂa del Refugio GalvĂĄn, a producer of barley from Irapuato, Guanajuato, Mexico, has been involved in the smartphone-app project. (Credit: Francisco AlarcĂłn/CIMMYT)
Him Lal Neupane has been in the business of agriculture for more than a decade. His company Annupurna Suppliers, in Banke District, Nepal, trades in agri products and has an annual turnover of around $626,000, up from $195,000 eight years ago.
Recently, Neupane has been heavily investing in maize. He says involvement from the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT) in market strengthening has given him the confidence to go big on the crop. He encountered CIMMYT through the meetings led by the organization in the district, as part of its Nepal Seed and Fertilizer (NSAF) project. In the meetings, he was able to hear perspectives on maize production from leading market experts, as well as government officials. Getting direct access to high level government representatives and agricultural scientists was incredibly fruitful and raised his confidence to invest in maize. He also got to air his own grievances about the industry and learn more from other farmers.
âI learnt that the project was invested in training farmers to produce better quality maize,â said Neupane. âIf we get quality products from farmers, I immediately deduced that there is a great chance that the product will keep doing well in the market.â
In 2022, Neupane bought a truck and has been constructing a massive storage facility that can store up to 4 million kilograms of produce. He has plans for proper grading and drying of maize in the facility to sell to industrial buyers.
The majority maize in Nepal is used as feed for the poultry industry, so there is high value for the crop in the market. âSince Nepal is a big consumer of poultry products and will remain so, it is inevitable that locally produced maize will sell,â explained Neupane.
Neupane went into agriculture because he could not secure employment after completing higher education. He grew up learning and practicing farming, so he understood farmersâ plights and wanted to start a company that would improve their lives. He also wants to grow the industry to curb the countryâs maize import dependence, which has been affected by recent disruptions like the Ukraine conflict and the pandemic. Annually, Nepal imports around $120 million worth of maize, which depletes the countryâs foreign currency reserves.
CIMMYTâs efforts in developing the maize market through value chain coordination and private public partnerships intend to help stakeholders at every level of the industry,âfrom farmers to suppliers like Neupane,âwhose companyâs growth represents a strong reinforcement of confidence in domestic maize production.
The confluence of climate change, COVID-19, and the war in Ukraine have placed enormous stress on food systems across the globe. Food insecurity spiked in 2020 and has stayed high, and the number of undernourished people is on the rise.
As we respond to this emergency, there is an opportunityâand a needâto strengthen the kind of strategic investments that will make our agrifood systems resilient to tomorrowâs shocks. âWe cannot be running crisis to crisis,â says Bram Govaerts, Director General of the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center, or CIMMYT, in this weekâs New Security Broadcast. âWe need to look at the underlying elements that are provoking these ripple effects.â
On the episode, ECSP Director Lauren Risi and ECSP Advisor Sharon Burke speak with Govaerts and his colleague Kai Sonder, head of CIMMYTâs Geographic Information System Unit, about how to address the unfolding food crisis as we simultaneously build food system resilience in the medium and long term. Drawing from their newly-published article in Nature Food, Govaerts and Sonder share approaches that governments, civil society, and private actors can take to tackle todayâs wheat supply disruptions and food insecurity. They also share past success stories and lay out key challenges moving forward.
Beyond the immediate humanitarian aid needed to boost food security, Govaerts identifies intensified wheat production and greater investments in local cereals as essential short-term priorities. Medium-term investments should focus on agricultural production that is agroecologically suitable, policies that support the adoption of improved crop varieties, and data analysis to target the vulnerabilities of smallholder farmers. And with long term goals in mind, Govaerts says that we need to ask âhow can we enhance our ecosystem diversity, resolve the gender disparity [in the agricultural sector] and invest in agrifood transformation from efficiency to resilience?â
Both experts emphasize that these approaches arenât meant to be taken incrementally. âWeâre really saying we need to start today, taking actions with an impact on the short, medium, and long term. It would be a mistake to only focus on the short-term actions that need to be taken,â says Govaerts.
Sonder acknowledges that transforming agricultural systems takes timeâand isnât easy. âYou need to invest in breeding systems. You need to build capacity and identify areas where that is easily possible,â he explains. âBringing out a new variety of wheat or maize or other crop takes up to ten years.â
Introducing new farming technologies can also come with challenges, since it requires making sure those technologies can actually be maintained. âYou have to ensure that there are mechanics who can fix [them] quickly, that thereâs a supply chain for spare parts,â observes Sonder. And securing sustained large-scale investment for research or program activities can prove difficult, as was the case for a study CIMMYT did on the potential for wheat in Africa. âThe ministers were very interested,â Sonder says. âBut other crisis come along, and then the funds go somewhere else.â
Despite the hurdles, there are plenty of examples of agrifood interventions with positive impact. For instance, one of CIMMYTâs current areas of work is in developing risk assessment and disease warning systems to allow people to act quickly before a crisis occurs. Sonder describes how his colleagues in Ethiopia had a recent success in identifying a risk of rust epidemic in collaboration with the government and stakeholders on the ground by using weather models. Â The joint effort allowed the government âto procure and to spread fungicides and to be prepared for that crisis,â he says.
Addressing the challenges that underlie world hunger will take both this kind of strategic medium-term action as well as longer-term transformationsâEven as we respond to the current hunger crisis with much-needed short-term efforts, we can also be reshaping our global agricultural systems for a more biodiverse, equitable, and resilient future.
This piece by Claire Doyle, was originally posted on New Security Beat
Achieving greater food security requires a continued increase in global wheat yields, which the developing world plays a central role in meeting. Newly published research covering 60 years of wheat yield trends in the Yaqui Valley, Mexico, provides insights into how farmers can increase yields to address this need.
By dividing the 60-year interval into three 20-year periods between 1960-2019 and correcting farm yield for the strong influence of inter-annual variation in January to March minimum temperature, scientists from Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO) and the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT) have taken steps towards advancing the sustainability of the Valleyâs wheat cropping system by studying farm yield for the irrigated spring wheat production environment.
Total yield increase, corrected for temperature and CO2 rise, relative to average yield in each period, was 4.17%, 0.47%, and 1.59% p.a. for 1960â79, 1980â99, and 2000â19, respectively. The breeding component, estimated by the increase in the Varietal Yield Index in farmersâ fields, rose at 0.97%, 0.49%, and 0.71% p.a., respectively. The remaining yield change (3.16, -0.02%, and 0.87% p.a., respectively) comprised the net effect of improved crop management (agronomic progress), plus that of off-farm changes.
In the first period, off-farm developments were bolstered by strong government financial support whereas developments in the second period were hindered by the breakdown of the traditional smallholder land system and withdrawal of government support. The final period experienced better prices and improved access to technical advice.
Wheat is likely to continue playing a dominant role in the Yaqui Valley for the next 20-year period, especially from potential yield increase through breeding. However, closing the yield gap is becoming more challenging due to fluctuations in energy price, goals to achieve net zero CO2 and environmental signals. The biophysical sustainability of the Valleyâs wheat cropping system requires urgent actions through better fertilizer management, greater cropping diversity, integrated management of biotic threats, acceptance of no-till, residue retention and controlled traffic.
Lessons from the Yaqui Valley bear importance for global wheat security given that without area increase and new technologies, food security will increasingly depend on developing countries.
Read the full publication here: Sixty years of irrigated wheat yield increase in the Yaqui Valley of Mexico: Past drivers, prospects and sustainability
Cover photo: Workers sowing wheat into sorghum residue. (Credit: CIMMYT)
After four decades, new site-specific fertilizer recommendations for rice have been introduced in Nepal that will help farmers increase the cropâs productivity by 10-30%, compared to their current practices.
The Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock Development (MoALD) endorsed the new fertilizer recommendations for rice crop at a consultative workshop in July 2022 held in Kathmandu. Developed by the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT), in close collaboration with the Nepal Agriculture Research Councilâs (NARC) National Soil Science Research Center (NSSRC) and International Fertilizer Development Center (IFDC), the new regime replaces the existing blanket approach of recommendations to help increase crop yields and fertilizer use efficiency.
The blanket approach assumed the whole country as one domain despite the heterogeneity in soils, other biophysical conditions and agronomic management practices, including crop varieties. As a result, fertilizers were under-utilized in low fertile soils or overused in farms with high soil fertility status, thereby farmers were not able to obtain the achievable yield.
Unlike the generic recommendations, the site-specific fertilizer management will help farmers to determine the cropâs fertilizer requirements based on soil fertility status of a particular farm, attainable yield target of the selected crop variety, cropâs yield response to fertilizers and agronomic management practices, such as irrigation, cropping systems etc. In other words, this new regime allows farmers to produce more with less fertilizers through a balanced application of fertilizers based on available soil properties.
Old is not always gold
Generally, soil fertility status changes every 3-5 years when there is continuous nutrient removal from soils due to an intensive cropping system with the adoption of high nutrient demanding improved and hybrid varieties. Thus, soil fertility management recommendations should be updated periodically but the existing recommendations were not updated since 1976.
Realizing the limitations, CIMMYT through the Nepal Seed and Fertilizer (NSAF) project, supported by USAID, worked with NSSRC and IFDC to formulate fertilizer recommendations for major cereal crops and vegetables for specific domains of the country.
Under NSSRCâs leadership, a âFertilizer Recommendation Committeeâ comprising of a dedicated team of soil scientists within NSSRC and NSAF experts was formed to develop site-specific fertilizer recommendations using the Soil-SMART framework for delivering balanced fertilizers to farmers. Based on soil fertility status, agro-climate, irrigation regimes and geography, the country was divided into six soil fertility domains â four in the Terai region (Eastern, Central, Western and Far-western), one in inner Terai and one in the hills. Under each domain, recommendations were based on the attainable yield, crop variety, and irrigation regime.
This approach was first tested for rice crop.
Formulating new recommendations for rice
Three fundamental steps were used to develop site-specific fertilizer recommendations, which included: i) selection of yield goal, ii) estimation of crop nutrient requirement, and iii) estimation of indigenous nutrient supplies. To collect this information, NSAF and the committee designed field trials on nutrient omission and nutrient rates to determine the yield limiting nutrients and their optimum rate, respectively. Data from fertilizer trials conducted by different research institutes and universities, including trials from the project sites were collected and analyzed by the team to see the cropâs yield response to fertilizers. A modeling approach called Quantitative Evaluation of fertility of the tropical soils (QUEFTS) was also used to estimate the indigenous nutrient supply and attainable yield target of rice for different soil fertility domains. This model was applied as an alternate to extrapolate recommendations in areas where field data were not available, considering large financial and human resources required otherwise to conduct numerous field trials across different soil types and agro ecological zones. The model was validated with field trial data before making extrapolation of the recommendations. The QUEFTS model used soil properties from Nepalâs first digital soil map to identify nutrient status and deficiency.
In addition to agronomic optimum rate, an economic analysis was also conducted to see economic variability of the recommendations.
The newly developed recommendations provide guidance for balanced fertilization as it includes micronutrients zinc and boron, and organic inputs in addition to three major nutrients âNitrogen, Potassium and Phosphorous (NPK). Results from field trials suggested that the new recommendation could increase rice productivity by 10-30% compared to existing farmersâ practice.
Advocating for endorsement
A three-day workshop was organized by CIMMYT and NSSRC to primarily share and approve the recommended fertilizer dose for rice crop as well as its relevance to achieve potential yield at farm level. Rajendra Mishra, joint secretary of MoALD inaugurated the event that was chaired by the Director of NARCâs Crop and Horticulture Research. Workshop attendees included MoALD, NARC, Department of Agriculture, USAID Nepal, secretaries from the Province Ministry of Land Management, soil scientists, university professors, agronomists and other high-level government officials.
During the workshop, NSAF explained the application of QUEFTS model with reference to the case of rice based on the field trial data for domain specific fertilizer recommendations. Shree Prasad Vista, soil scientist at NSSRC, summarized the results for rice as the approach and facilitated its approval from MoALD. The participants also discussed on strategies to link with the extension system to reach a large number of farmers through the three-tier governments. Fourteen research papers on nutrient management for major cereal crops were also reviewed at the event.
âI congratulate NARC for this historical work on updating the fertilizer recommendations after 46 years. Now, we are moving towards sustainable soil fertility management by adopting site-specific fertilizer recommendations,â said MoALD Secretary Govinda Prasad Sharma.
Although the recommendation for rice was a significant output of the workshop, fertilizer recommendations for other major crops will be carried out following a similar process.
NARCâs Executive Director Deepak Bhandari commented, âIt is our pleasure to move from a blanket approach to site-specific approach. This is a milestone for agricultural research in the country and I would like to thank all the scientists, NSAF project and USAIDâs support for this notable achievement.â
Similarly, speaking at the event, Jason Seuc, Director of Economic Growth Office at USAID Nepal, emphasized the importance of soil fertility management for achieving food security targets set by the Government of Nepal. Seuc remarked that a sustainable soil fertility management is critical not only for food security but also for reducing the environmental pollution.
From chemical fertiliser shortages to lack of irrigation, farmers in Nepal have been facing a multitude of human-induced problems every year. The most urgent concern is the climate crisis.
Erratic weather patterns, untimely and uneven rainfall and rapidly rising temperatures have got farmers by the scruff of their necks.
For the farmers, such dramatic climate change manifests in the form of floods, droughts and landslides, directly hitting their agriculture-dependent livelihoods. For the nation as a whole, the climate crisis worsens food insecurity.
The tales of the climate crisis are petrifying. However, not all hope is lost.
Interventions such as climate resilient seeds that are tolerant to extreme climatic stresses like drought, flooding or submersion have been discovered and implemented in phases, according to scientists, to help sustain agricultural productivity.
âDue to the increasing climate change impacts, farmers are facing challenges to produce traditional seeds used during normal situations,â says AbduRahman Beshir Issa, seed systems lead at the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Centre, South Asia Office.
âIn Nepal, farmers are witnessing both drought stress and excess moisture during the summer cropping season. In the spring season, high temperatures, coupled with drought stress, make it difficult for normal seeds or varieties to grow.â
With an increasing number of mouths to feed, and more pronounced effects of climate change yet to present themselves, climate-resilient seeds can help sustain Nepalâs agricultural productivity, according to crop development experts.
âClimate resilient seeds are crucial for food security. In addition, these crops are nutritionally important,â said Prakash Acharya, a senior crop development officer at the Seed Quality Control Centre. âWith changing climate, not all crops and seeds can endure even two-three days of drought or submergence or extreme heat.â
Approximately 3 million hectares of land is cultivated in Nepal, which is 21 percent of the total land area. Rice, maize and wheat constitute more than 80 percent of cereal acreage and production.
The overall cereal yield in Nepal is 2.6 tonnes per hectare, which is far lower than the regional and global average of 4.1 tonnes per hectare, indicating an overall low productivity.
Paddy constitutes the highest production, commanding a 20.8 percent share in the agriculture gross domestic product (AGDP).
Nepalâs economic wellbeing is intimately linked with the monsoon. Water from the skies is the lifeblood of Nepal’s Rs4.85 trillion economy which is farm-dependent, as nearly two-thirds of the farmlands are rain-fed.
A large part of the country gets nearly 80 percent of its annual rainfall during the four monthsâJune to September.
The production of food grains, mainly rice, depends on the amount and distribution of monsoon rainfall over the country. The monsoon rains also replenish ground water and reservoirs critical for drinking and power generation.
Analysing data from the past 33 years of minimum and maximum temperatures and rainfall, scientists predict drought to be the most important limiting factor for crop production, including paddy.
As paddy is sensitive to drought due to its high water requirement, scientists say there is a need for promoting “climate change-ready riceâ that can tolerate drought for up to months.
For instance, research in Nawalparasi in the central Tarai found that the existing paddy varieties would not sustain the yield potential of the present level after 2020.
In October 2021, unusual weather patterns led to a torrential downpour lasting three days, causing massive loss of agricultural harvests and physical infrastructure across many parts of Nepal.
In 2020, in East Rukum, continuous rainfall from January to September decreased maize yield. The drought that followed then destroyed the wheat crop. Right after, the heavy rains also wiped out potatoes and maize.
Climate projections further suggest changes in precipitation during the monsoon period (with variations from 14 percent to 40 percent), as well as the increased likelihood of heavy precipitation events.
Experts are concerned that such unpredictable changes in weather patterns will lead to a decline in agricultural productivity, further worsening food insecurity in the region.
âWe arenât food secure right now as well. And with climate change, it is only getting worse. In the long run, the condition of food security in Nepal will be alarming,â says Yamuna Ghale, agriculture and food security policy analyst who is also research director at the Nepal Centre for Contemporary Research.
Around 65 percent of Nepalâs population depends on agriculture for its livelihood, which accounts for 25 percent of the GDP.
With the increasing population and declining agricultural productivity, experts say that Nepal could sooner or later face food insecurity.
âEveryone has the right to food. But the current situation indicates that a food shortage is looming,â said Ghale, who is also an expert at the Food Security Coordination Committee under the Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock Development. âWe have to focus on climate-smart alternatives now, beginning with climate-resilient seeds.â
Climate-resilient seeds can withstand extreme conditions brought about by climate change. For example, drought-tolerant seeds can sustain periods of dry conditions, and submergence-tolerant seeds can withstand flood stress.
For example, improved varieties like Sukkhaa Dhan 4, Sukkhaa Dhan 5 and Sukkhaa Dhan 6 have an average yield of 4-4.5 tonnes per hectare, and under good irrigation conditions, the output can go up to 5.5 tonnes per hectare on an average.
Sukkhaa 6 has the ability to re-grow even two weeks after submergence.
Swarna Sub-1, Sambha Mansuli Sub-1, Cherang Sub-1, Gangasagar-1, and Gangasagar-2 are submergence-tolerant paddy varieties.
Rice varieties like Bahuguni-1 and Bahuguni-2 are both drought and submergence tolerant.
Similarly, maize varieties that are drought tolerant, such as Deuti, Manakamana-5 and Manakamana-6 are also available. Rampur hybrid-10 and Rampur hybrid-12 are heat-tolerant varieties.
Seto Kaguno is a promising variety of foxtail millet that is drought-tolerant and extremely climate-resilient.
Paddy varieties which possess the âSub1Aâ gene remain dormant during submergence, and conserve energy until the floodwaters recede. Paddy plants with the âSub1Aâ gene can survive more than two weeks of complete submergence. The plant recovers well from drought by growing new shoots.
âA character is incorporated into existing rice varieties to make them stress-tolerant or climate-resilient. This makes them fare better than traditional crops,â said Acharya.
âIn very recent years, because of climate change, we have begun researching drought- and submergence-tolerant seeds,â said Acharya.
These climate-smart varieties, which can survive under stress and retain desirable grain qualities, can create positive impacts on the lives of farmers, scientists say.
Since 1966, Nepal has released and registered 144 varieties of paddy seeds, according to the Agriculture Ministry.
Scientists say that a majority of these stress-tolerant varieties do not demand excess fertilisers or tillage methods.
The Nepal Agriculture Research Council (NARC) is spearheading various projects for producing and popularising drought- and submergence-tolerant seeds.
âUnder USAIDâs support, Nepal Seed and Fertiliser Project, paddy seeds which are drought and submergence tolerant are being produced and marketed in Nepal in partnership with the government and the private seed companies,â Issa said in an email.
The National Maize Research Programme of NARC has released heat stress-tolerant maize hybrids that can survive at high temperatures compared to traditional varieties.
Likewise, under the National Grain Legumes Research Programme of NARC, field testing of waterlogging-tolerant lentil varieties is being done to come up with varieties that can withstand excess moisture from unusual winter rains during the lentil growing season, according to Issa.
Despite the availability of stress-tolerant seeds, farmers are not much aware of the new varieties and are hesitant to adopt such seeds easily.
Due to lack of awareness, farmers hardly adopt new varieties and they prefer traditional varieties. Local governments too have failed to create awareness.
According to experts, Sukhaa Dhan 3, Samba Mansuli Sub-1 and Cherang Sub-1 are popular among farmers in the Tarai and mid-hills.
However, varieties like Bahuguni-2 have been rejected by farmers because âNepali consumers prefer non-sticky, fluffy rice as opposed to sticky varieties,â experts say.
Despite being both drought and submergence tolerant, such varieties are not adopted by farmers.
âFarmers are enthusiastic about using new ways and techniques of farming, but local governments have completely ignored investing in agriculture,â said Ujjal Acharya, freelance researcher on climate change and environment economics.
âThey have been more focused on building infrastructure, roads, bridges, temples and so on. Food security, climate resilient agriculture, organic farmingâall do not fall within the priorities of local governments,â he said.
However, scientists acknowledge that climate resilient crop varieties are only a part of the solution of the bigger climate-resilient agricultural system.
âIt is extremely important to develop climate-resilient crop varieties that can withstand extreme weather conditions, but seeds are just one part among the various solutions,â says Issa.
This piece by Aakriti Ghimire, was originally posted on The Kathmandu Post.
While previous studies have demonstrated the importance of organic material in soil for sustainable agricultural practices, there has been limited research into how organic material application affects the soil microbial community structures.
Researchers from El Centro de InvestigaciĂłn y de Estudios Avanzados del Instituto PolitĂ©cnico Nacional (CINVESTAV) studied soil from the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Centerâs (CIMMYT) long-term experiment in northwestern Mexico to determine the effect on the soil metagenome after adding easily decomposable organic residues. The soil was collected from plots where maize and wheat were cultivated without tillage on permanent beds with crop residue left on the soil surface since 1992.
Dried young maize plants were added to the soil in the laboratory. After three days of incubation, soil samples were analyzed using shotgun metagenomic sequencing to discover how the application of young maize plants affects the structure of microbial communities in arable soil, how the potential functioning of microbial communities is altered, and how the application affects the soil taxonomic and functional diversity.
Bacterial and viral groups were strongly affected by organic material application, whereas archaeal, protist and fungal groups were less affected. Soil viral structure and richness were impacted, as well as metabolic functionality. Further differences were recorded in cellulose degraders with copiotrophic lifestyle, which were enriched by the application of young maize plants, while groups with slow growing oligotrophic and chemolithoautotrophic metabolism performed better in unamended soil.
Given the importance of embedding and adopting sustainable agricultural practices as part of climate change adaptation and mitigation, the study improves our insight in a key aspect of sustainable agriculture, the management of crop residues.
Read the full study: Application of young maize plant residues alters the microbiome composition and its functioning in a soil under conservation agriculture: a metagenomics study
Cover photo: Wheat crops growing at CIMMYTâs long-term experiment site in Ciudad Obregon, Mexico. (Credit: Nele Verhulst/CIMMYT)